The Street Complex: Emma Vickers, The Domestic Goddess.

Emma Jane Vickers is 19, from Liverpool, and is possibly the most skilled girl in the kitchen that I know of.
She's just starting out at the moment, but is hoping to get an online business going, and then eventually a quaint bakery of her own called L'Amour Fou. You don't even have to see or taste her food to know that she makes good food, just the name L'Amour Fou gets me excited.

As we're rather good friends, she gave me the chance to talk to her about a few things.

Did you find a passion for baking at a young age? I have a family that loves to cook. Whether it be meals or sweet foods, i started cooking from the age of 5! When my nan used to look after me, we were always making flapjacks, meringues, apple pie. I had a childminder from the age of 5 - 13 and we used to make brandy snaps, fairy cakes, peppermint creams. Just the simple things that caught my eye and made me want more.

Did you always want to have your own cafe?
Not until last year. I never planned on making a career out of my passion for baking, I had an Events Organising course all set and ready to go, and then literally over night I knew that wasn't what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. I always wanted to be my own boss even what it came to the Events Planning. Having my own income, my own shop, and employing other people just seems so appealing to me.

What chef's would you consider yourself to be like or would want to work towards being like? I really adore and love Raymond Blanc, James Martin and I also have a new found love for Rachel Khoo. They all have that gleam in the eye that I have whenever I bake. It's not just a passion, but it feels like therapy for me. I can be in the worst mood, start baking a cake and just be happy and at ease.

Do you have any plans for you baking in the next few years?

Well I am currently looking for a job so I can start saving up and then move to France and live there for half a year or so in order to gain experience of the french cuisine and sweets they have there.

What would make your bakery different to the other French bakery's out there?

As a lover of organic and local produce, the things I make in the cafe will always be things that are in season and even things like the butter i'm going to try and make on my own! I want to show my customers that there are different things out there.
I plan on having vegan, gluten and lactose free options for my cakes as nowhere local to my area has those things to chose from and that can shorten the market down quite a lot!
I'll also provide breast feeding area for new mums as I know that some mums can get put off by going out to cafe's when they're not allowed to breast feed within the cafe.

What's your favourite thing to bake?

It'll easily have to be carrot cake or half and half bread. The outcome of them both always make me feel proud of what I do and I love the lovely compliments off people who eat what I bake.

Do you have any tips for anyone else wanting to get into baking? Professional or just as a hobby?

Don't be scared or put off if you get something wrong. Sometimes a mixture just won't work. You have to be prepared to experiment with recipe's and twist them into your own speciality. I've always been a perfectionist so I get really annoyed or upset if the outcome isn't what i wanted, but i always know exactly what to change, i mean even making scones is a pain for me because they never rise enough!
Build up your experience also, go to farmer's markers and sell small versions of what you like most and see what the public make of it