About Jane's Patisserie

ABOUT ME

Hiya! I'm Jane Dunn. I’m a Food Writer, Photographer and Blogger from the South of England. My goal with this blog is to give you the fun, laughter, confidence and knowledge to bake and cook whatever you fancy!

I started this blog waaay back in November 2014, after discovering my love for food whilst in education! Thankfully (and amazingly to me), it's still going strong!

Before this blog, though I've had so many other jobs… recruitment for Christmas grottos, a barista, customer service, admin, finance, and more. It sounds bad to say I've had quite a few jobs at this age, but I never quite found my calling! (too cheesy?! My bad)! UNTIL NOW! Every single one of you 1.5M+ of you guys have made my wildest dreams come true, and enabled me to turn my passion into my full-time career!

HOW IT BEGAN

As a child, my grandmother loved baking. I remember she had a vast collection of cookbooks, every recipe covered in her own notes and adaptations. After she passed away and I grew up, as a little girl I loved experimenting and baking with her notes - she's really what inspired me to bake, and I hope she would be proud of me today.

I attended Ashburton Chefs Academy in the early half of 2014 on their Culinary Arts Diploma instead of a university as I loved food, and I wanted to have the best of the best teach me… and I loved it.

I was originally meant to start blogging to document my cookery school journey, but it was SO full on it was mad. I couldn't even keep up with myself let alone start a blog! My favourite part of the course (as you could probably guess) was the sweeter side of things, so I decided to start a blog after I’d graduated from the course instead!

From taking the plunge and blogging full time from February 2018, I took a massive risk but every day I am grateful for how it turned out! After finding my feet, my social accounts grew and grew, and I now have over 1.5 MILLION followers across my social media channels, and 60+ million of you view my blog every year, up to half a million every day, and I cannot even comprehend that it baffles me every day.

It sounds ridiculously cheesy to say that this blog is where I feel comfortable, but it's true! Baking cakes is my life. This blog is my life! I bake every day I can -  I bake for my friends, family, myself, and I love to invent and test new recipes! I actually personally prefer eating savoury food, but that's our little secret right?!

So far, I've found that my readers just adore all things cheesecake, no-bake and millionaires shortbread themed. Honestly, I can barely keep up! I love experimenting with different flavours and cuisines, so I'm always happy to post whatever my readers request! After all, you guys are the reason I'm here!

I love to research new recipes and concepts daily, experiment and test, so I hope you like the results! I try recipes from Celebrity Chefs, other Food Bloggers, and just recipes I come across whether in a magazine or on the internet! Some experimentations don't work quite so well, but others work truly brilliantly and have amazing feedback from my trusty taste testers.

MY DEBUT COOKBOOK

As a baker, I use soooo many different cookbooks and have a larger collection than I care to admit. I always dreamt of one day perhaps writing my own book, and maybe even getting it published to share it with you guys! I have written and released several of my own little e-books in the past as I was growing as a blogger and a baker - but nothing compares to seeing your physical book on a shelf in the shop.

Thank you to Ebury and my team there for giving me the chance, believing in me (sometimes more than I believed in myself) and enabling me to do this. ‘Jane’s Patisserie’ has done better than any of us ever expected. 

Three days after being released, I had sold 44,444 copies of my book - becoming the fastest-selling bakery book EVER! I reached #1 on Amazon multiple times in pre-orders and quickly became a Sunday Times Number One Bestseller, and since its release, and sold 150,000 copies within the first 3 months of it being released. SOMEONE PINCH ME!

WHAT I AM DOING

Since the success of Jane's Patisserie has grown so much I have had the opportunity to work with so many brands and been lucky enough to appear on television shows such as This Morning and chat about all things baking. The fact that my business has grown to the depths it has is mind-blowing - especially to now appear on live national tv with people I have always admired. 

I have always seen so many ideas, and I live off recipe requests from all of my followers - and I just always want to keep going, keep baking, and doing everything I do.

WHY I DO THIS

What I love most of all has never changed: the lovely messages and support I get from you guys. Honestly, it means so much just to know that I may have inspired you, or helped bring people together by baking, providing recipes with countless birthday cakes, celebration cakes, family meals, parties - important moments in everyone's life.

It all means so much the amount of love I get from you a lot - here on my blog, on my social media channels or even when some of you see me out and about!

Thank you all, happy baking and enjoy!

J x