Ailsa Cameron began Ailsa’s Kitchen in her mum’s kitchen during lockdown, and since going full time with her baking business, she hasn’t looked back.
The 28-year-old bakes from her home in Blairgowrie, supplying markets, cafes and catering for events.
She used to work as a chef, but found she was juggling her time between work and baking.
“I started doing treat boxes in my spare time, and I worked every single day of lockdown,” says Ailsa.
“It got so popular, and after lockdown was lifted I just said to my job I couldn’t do it anymore.
“I thought: ‘that’s it, I’m just going to go for it’.”
Ailsa then quit her job and started running her online business Ailsa’s Kitchen full time.
She had moved in with her partner at this point, and worked out of that kitchen, using a spare room for prep and storage.
“At the start it was terrifying,” she admits.
But while people want my cakes and I still love doing this, I’ll keep going.” – Ailsa Cameron of Ailsa’s Kitchen
“You’ve got a mortgage to pay for, and because my business is in my house, if I can’t afford to pay my mortgage, my business is also gonna fail. Because I won’t have the space to do it.
“So for the first few years, it was definitely stressful.
“But I just never had a quiet month, so I thought: I’ll just ride this out while it’s busy.
“And then, if it ever gets quiet or anything happens, I’ll admit defeat and happily work somewhere else.
“But while people want my cakes and I still love doing this, I’ll keep going.”
Queues ‘40-people-deep’ to get Ailsa’s Kitchen bakes
Now, with hungry customers queueing up almost an hour early at markets to get their hands on her bakes, Ailsa’s Kitchen in Blairgowrie has gone from “terrifying” to “amazing”.
“I’ve done between 15 and 20 markets now, and the queues? I can’t believe it,” laughs Ailsa.
“It’s so weird, but it feels really good. I still can’t really get my head around it.
“The queues were maybe forty-people-deep at one point. People were waiting around 40 minutes for them. That’s such a surreal feeling.”
“The markets are hard work though,” she admits.
“The three days leading up to the market are probably 16-hour days, because everything needs to be fresh.”
At her most recent market, she sold 35 different bakes, of a whopping 715 total items.
“It’s mad,” she laughs, “but the key thing for me is organisation. I have every day scheduled down to the hour.”
‘This is my creative outlet’
Ailsa’s Kitchen, with all her fun flavours and bakes, is a great way for Ailsa to explore her creative side.
“I’ve got four sisters and my mum, we’re all so creative in different ways.
“Like music, or art. My mum has always been so artistic and creative, we’d always be making stuff.
“This is my creative outlet.
“I’m not good at painting, or drawing or interior design or anything like that, but I really like matching flavours and coming up with new things.”
And the bakes Ailsa sells with her Blairgowrie business are never lacking in flavour either.
Her quirkiest bake over the last few years is the triple chocolate cookie, filled with Nutella and banana bread.
“Flavour is my main thing when it comes to baking,” says Ailsa, “I don’t like doing plain bakes.
“I always like to try unusual combinations, and I think that’s what people like about my bakes, that they can’t get them anywhere else.”
‘I doubted whether I was good enough’
Nevertheless, there are times when Ailsa finds herself doubting her abilities.
“Sometimes – well, actually a lot of the time – I’ll wake up at three in the morning, with my heart is beating out of my chest thinking about a cake that I did three years ago.
“Did they like it? Was it good enough? It is hard and it takes up so much brain power.
“But it is food at the end of the day and it’s supposed to be enjoyed.
“So although I feel stressed sometimes, I try to think I will cross that bridge when I come to it, and until then I just have to do the best I can.
“For so long, especially the first few years, I doubted whether I was good enough.
“I got to a point where I was like I either need to change the way that I think or I’m not going to be able to do this forever. Because it’s going to just drive me insane.
“So I started to believe in myself, and be more positive, and not think on the negatives.”
Getting returning customers at her markets helps to combat those feelings of doubt.
“The market I had on Saturday was a realisation that I must be good, because these are returning customers.
“I know they know it’s going to be good, and that feels great.”
Conversation