30 Apr 2020
“It gives me something else to focus on and improve my cake-making skills, but although I love Bake Off, I am not sure I could cope with the stress” – Holly Sutton, final-year veterinary student.
James Westgate
Job Title
Holly Sutton with one of her baking creations.
A final-year veterinary student is hoping her cake-making skills can help her make it to the end of her course – even if she never makes it as far as The Great British Bake Off.
Holly Sutton is weeks away from qualifying as a vet, thanks to the virtual IMS programme that was put in place by the University of Surrey School of Veterinary Medicine just days after the coronavirus lockdown.
But with no parental support to pay her rent and unable to leave the house to work, Ms Sutton had been struggling to make ends meet.
Being a resourceful soon-to-be vet, however, she wasn’t about to sit around feeling sorry for herself, so dusted off her apron and rolling pin, and began baking her way off the breadline.
Ms Sutton said: “This started when my neighbour across the road asked me if I could bake a cake for his wife, who is a nurse for the NHS.
“I wanted to make it special as it was for her birthday and I got to present it to her – from a distance – just after one of the claps for the NHS the other week.
“After that, I just put a few feelers out to see if anyone else wanted my cakes and have now had seven orders, which is providing a really useful bit of extra money.”
With more orders expected, Ms Sutton has just invested in a 16kg bag of flour, but while the money from her cakes is useful, she benefits in many other ways by baking.
The pressures of the final weeks of her course and the disappointment of probably missing out on a traditional graduation ceremony have all taken their toll, and making cakes is clearly a good way for Ms Sutton to raise her spirits.
Ms Sutton added: “One of the main reasons I do it is because the veterinary degree just took a massive 180, and the baking gives me that sense of achievement and relieves a lot of stress that goes with finishing my course.
“It gives me something else to focus on and improve my cake-making skills, but although I love Bake Off, I am not sure I could cope with the stress.”
