Rising online firm seeks tasty slice of cake market

Entrepreneur Mary Toner took inspiration from Airbnb and Pinterest to create online platform Bakers and Cakers which connects bakers and cake makers with customers.

Having trained as a pastry chef in a Michelin-starred restaurant, Chapter One, Ms Toner was running a bespoke cake business while working as brand manager for patisserie maker Ladurée in Ireland. She found she was spending a lot of time referring people to other bakers as she often didn’t have the availability or capacity to take the orders.

It soon became clear to her that while there are “thousands of amazing people out there making cakes, customers weren’t finding them”.