Occasion Cakes Bolton’s Warburtons 150th cake in national advert

Occasion Cakes on Chorley Old Road has been serving Bolton for more than 40 years, providing all manner of elaborate and intricate treats in various shapes and sizes.

One of its repeat customers is town baking giant Warburtons, which has enlisted Occasion Cakes’ services any time it needs an intricate creation.

The cake business’s most recent order is no departure, either.

The cake (Image: Warburtons)

Warburtons is celebrating its 150th birthday this year, with its own ‘150 Years in the Baking’ campaign featuring Hollywood legend Morgan Freeman.

As part of the campaign, there will be animated billboards all over the country showcasing what appears to be a stack of Warburtons bread, but is actually a cake, with white toasting bread on the bottom, a tiger bloomer, a seeded batch and a pack of crumpets, with a ‘150’ candle on the top.

Manageress and co-director, Karen Andrew, said: “It will be shown all over the place, from Bolton to London, and our cake is on it.

“We do a lot of cakes for Warburtons, we have been going for 40 years, if they want cakes, then they come to us.

The billboard in London (Image: Warburtons)

“A lot of hard work has gone into it.”

She said that it was all “top secret” at the beginning, before the advert was released.

Karen added: “We feel very proud, we’re a small, independent team and we all work together, and we are all really proud of it.”

The entire Occasion Cakes team worked on the cake – Karen’s co-directors, Amanda Curley and Abby Sayers, as well as Candice Raby, Beth Raby, Sienna Isherwood and Susan Hughes.

Pictured L-R: Karen Andrew and Amanda Curley with the cake (Image: Warburtons)

This comes after the founder and former owner of Occasion Cakes, Angela Howarth, retired last year after four decades at the helm.

She founded it after entering the ‘Birth of a Business’ competition in November 1984, sponsored by Bolton Council, National Girobank and the then-Bolton Evening News. 

She beat all the competition, 63 other entrants, winning £7,000 with her idea of a specialist celebration cake company, with Occasion Cakes being born a few months later.