It all started in an Austrian vineyard

The lockdown in 2020 has certainly been a major factor in my decision to run my own business. Our family tradition has always been to entertain and make people feel welcome.

My grandmother in Langenzersdorf (a small village just outside Vienna) owned a vineyard and a Heurigen (a winebar selling homemade wine for 3 months of the year). Every September we were allowed to take one day off from school to help with harvesting the grapes. Backbreaking work but fun and the whole family (my mother had 4 sisters and 1 brother) would be involved. After the grapes had been harvested, pressed (we sometimes used our feet to squash them in the barrell) and filled into old oak barrels for fermentation, we would sit in the garden and enjoy a simple meal of bread, cheese and walnuts followed by homemade cakes. Every sister would bring their own favourite cake, so there was always plenty to go around. Happy times with lots of laughter and a great sense of achievement.

These childhood memories will stay with me forever, and gave me the inspiration to continue this tradition making time for friends and family whilst enjoying a wonderful slice of cake or bread.

Zuckermaus is a term of endearment meaning sweety, honey or sweetheart. As a mum I would often call my small children Zuckermaus and this has certainly stayed with them to this very day.

A typical family gathering at my grandma's house after a hard day at work at the vineyard.

My partner Nigel, who is a qualified baker and I attended many patisserie course, one for example run by Michael Mantl-Mussak, (Konditor) who worked amongst others at the well known Hotel Sacher in Vienna and Sheraton Grand Hotel in Munich.

We started off by selling our products at a weekly car boot market in Redbourn, but as the demand for our cakes grew, we expanded our attendance to weekly markets, farmers markets as well as pop up markets. We were lucky enough to engage enthusiastic friends and family using their expertise with designing our website and logo which helped to make our products more accessible to online customers. Thank you to all my Zuckermäuse for their input.

Keeping the tradition alive, following family recipes and only using the best natural ingredients available without using artifical colouring or flavouring has been in the forfront of all our tasks.

In our forthcoming blogs we want to inform you about events we are taking part in and share with you the history of recipes to enjoy your little slice of Austria.

We hope you enjoy what we have created and love baking for you.

Guten appetit

Barbara and team