Fourteen-year-old Pearl Bruford from Bradley Stoke baked up a storm in 2021 for the second year running, raising £943 for the Brightwell Centre in Wheatfield Drive. Over the last year Pearl has baked Victoria sponges, cupcakes, chocolate sponges, birthday cakes, anniversary cakes, coffee cakes, tray bakes, loaf cakes and has even branched out into making treat boxes and chocolate coated strawberries. Pearl covered annual events including Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween and Christmas and had a stall selling her cakes at a local car boot for a ‘Big Bake’, all whilst attending school and online learning.

Pearl began baking at the start of lockdown in 2020 as a way to raise money for the charity, which provides therapies, services and support for people living with long-term neurological conditions.
The Pearl Bakes website has dedicated pages for the Brightwell Centre and gives them 50 percent of all proceeds from these cakes. The enterprise has grown rapidly, and Pearl has been inundated with orders from all around; even receiving an order from Canada! She now has over twelve hundred followers over Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Back in the summer, Pearl was invited to be a judge for the Brightwell Bake-Off – a baking competition held over six weeks by the Brightwell Centre. She was also invited to twice co-host Cupcake Hour on Twitter with the main host Wendy from Poppy’s Cupcakes – a weekly get together on Twitter for those that love baking and cooking which was a fantastic opportunity for her.

Pearl can be found on Facebook (Pearl Bakes) and her website is www.pearlbakes.com
You can also message her mother on 077790 25082 if you would like to order a cake (mum’s contact details are used due to Pearl’s young age). She is currently taking orders for Valentine’s Day.