Young British Foodies

Who: Risham Shuja, 31 Lives: near Richmond

What she does: Founder and owner of Sweet Couture, a London cake boutique that she set up nearly four years ago specialising in hand decorated cakes and cupcakes. Her day is made up of “a little bit of everything” - developing flavours, teaching, organising deliveries, designing posters and marketing. “My whole day is spread between a billion different things. I have to find time to bake, style and develop recipes as all the products are things that I would eat and be happy with. Ideas usually come to me in the night. When I wake up, I’ll engage with all my staff to let them know what I’m thinking of doing.”

Signature creation: The Red Velvet cupcake. “I’m really proud of this. To make a proper Red Velvet, it takes quite a bit of technique to ensure that it doesn't come out too bitter. Ours sells out and it’s the one that I still continually eat, four years later. Around 50 per cent of our private orders are to do with Red Velvet.”

How she did it: Shuja had been working at Price Waterhouse Coopers but found it wasn’t creative enough and wanted to leave the office environment. “I’d done quite a lot of art in my spare time and then I happened to bake a cake for my partner and enjoyed the process of it. I was also suffering from depression at that time so this was quite therapeutic but it was also a brand new field which I enjoyed.” In 2008, she took to the books and learned the science of baking. In early 2009 she began working during the day, baking until about 3am and returning to work again. Since taking someone on to help in January that year, Shuja now runs a staff of 15 and sells on average around 1,000 cupcakes per day.

Why she does it: “It’s my baby. I enjoy the thrill of not knowing what’s going to happen during the day. There is still so much to do. I still haven’t mastered the art of retail or business 100 per cent successfully. I like a challenge, learning new things and developing my skill base, and that’s what drives me every day. And tomorrow’s unknown….”

Where you can find her: branches in Covent Garden, Canary Wharf and Selfridges and her new cupcake bike launches tomorrow (find it from 11.30am-7pm this Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday in Canada Place, E14, or at the “More London” festival on May 25)

sweetcouture.co.uk