Cherry On Top

Wow! What an incredible weekend!

Thanks to everyone who came to see us, we hope the The Woodlands Cafe at Dunwood Park reopening was everything you’d hoped it would be. I know it was for us!

See you all back at the cafe on Wednesday ☕️🍰

I just want to say how humbled we have been to have received such an incredible turnout to The Woodlands Cafe at Dunwood Park today to mark our opening. I think the entirety of shaw came out to see us.

Big thanks to all our staff for making the wheels turn on what can only be described as an utterly chaotic 10 hours!

And to the whole community; all the dog walkers, work lunchers, park dwellers, bowlers, and general cake lovers, we appreciate you more than you’ll ever know. Today was incredible. Thank you all

Menus and opening times will be up as soon as we can!

See you for a brew tomorrow 10am-3pm ☕️🍰

Well that’s, we’re open! After what feels like a two minute lifetime of sleepless nights and cappuccino practice, the The Woodlands Cafe at Dunwood Park is officially up and running!

Our staff are ready and waiting for you.
Seeya in the park for a brew, people! ☕️🍰🥪

WORDY POST WARNING!

Morning, cake lovers!
Just wanted to pop out a quick post to answer a few questions I’ve been asked and to help everyone understand the new plans properly.

Firstly, Cherry On Top is still very much alive and well and hopefully will be for many years to come. Naturally, we may be less available for taking cake orders so always be early just in case we’re booked up.

Our yummy cakes and baked goods will still be on display throughout Oldham and Rochdale as they have been for the last 4 years. Nothing has changed from a business standpoint, just our kitchen is now based at the The Woodlands Cafe at Dunwood Park. Which leads me to our third point…

Dunwood is a gigantic and very important pillar of the Shaw community, and even though we’re from Heyside, I personally have been deeply imbedded throughout Shaw my entire life. It’s time I gave back to the place that saw me grow from a small child eating woolies pick ’n’ mix into a man getting fillings in the dentist that used to be woolies 😂

This cafe means as much to us as it does to the Woodlands gang so the agreement to work in collaboration was an easy one to make. We want you to know that this is not a takeover, we are beyond pleased to be officially working alongside the squad at the Woodlands to bring your much beloved cafe back to the park and to you, the Shaw community. The coffee will flow and the cakes will be baked!

One more important thing to mention is about the menu. This will please some and upset others but it needs to be addressed.
We are, of course, bakers. If you are expecting the full scale culinary prowess of Chrissy and Lee, I am sorry to disappoint you but that is not us. We will be serving food to fill your empty bellies but we will be operating on a much smaller scale as we don’t feel we would do it justice otherwise. You can expect to see sandwiches, toasties, and paninis, along with pastries and all the scrummy cakes you’re used to. You may even see some nice homemade soups from time to time too. This is not to say we will never branch out but for the foreseeable, you will see quite a different menu. However, if you would like a nice full English or anything else of that scale, feel free to visit the The Woodlands Cafe at Hollingworth lake or The Woodlands at The Willows, they have you covered!

Lastly, I would just like to thank the people that have helped move Cherry On Top from a tiny vision in my brain, to the behemoth it has become. From our wholesale clients to the celebration cake customers. We love you and wouldn’t be able to do it without each and every one of you.

Much love and seeya for a brew on the 9th (go easy on us will you! 😅)

Well this is a thing that happened… keeping a secret is really really hard!
Now let’s see if we can spin just one more plate…

Seeya on the 9th, cake munchers!

🚨🚨 NOT OVER 🚨🚨

As the old saying goes “it’s not over ‘till the fat lady sings”

We are so HAPPY that we are able to announce

WE ARE BACK!!!

It’s not quite the same but just as exciting as we are working in collaboration with the wonderful Cherry On Top.

We listened to all of you and it would seem a shame to let this place go to waste so we had to find a way to save it.

We very kindly ask of you to come and see us rain or shine!

Get the date in your diary

9th AUGUST WE RE -OPEN!!

Cherry on top are looking forward to seeing you all and can’t wait to get YOUR PARK thriving again.

🥰🥰🚨🚨🚨🥰🥰🥰🥳🥳☀️☀️☔️☔️☔️

Absolutely loved making this for a good friend of mine Si Fox’s grandma! What a landmark… Hope you had a great day Barbara 🎂

Nothing quite like a freshly baked cherry pie…
🥧🤤

Last minute teacher gift? We have one left £7.50 (gift wrapped, colours may vary)

Any takers?

Calling all 80’s kids… here’s your nostalgia fix for the week 🪩📼👻

One £10 snack box left…

Any takers?

*LIMITED STOCK LEFT*

1x bakewell, 1x snack box left

Okay, cake scoffers! Snack boxes are available today. Also, back by popular demand, “individual” Bakewell tarts!

Snack boxes contain:

🪨 Biscoff rocky road
🍪 Choc chip cookies
🥥 Jam & coconut slices
🫖 Buttermilk fruit scones

£10 per box

🍒 Bakewells are £5 each

Throwback to the time I did a mental cows head for a customer… I get some properly weird requests 🐄🐮🍰

This is literally my life… if I didn’t have branded shirts, we’d be wearing these 😂😂

Anyone fancy some snack boxes at the weekend? I might knock a few up if there’s some interest…

I love it when I get to be a nerd! The rope grab makes it I think 🪢👊🏼🪢

Sometimes keeping it simple really works… classy little number this one 👌🏼

Enjoyed this one! Simple yet effective… also, I love pokemon

Poké-nerds… Who would be in your squad as you make your way up victory road? 🍃⚡️

*EDIT* SOLD!

Got a bunch of spare £10 snack boxes, a couple of £5 Bakewell tarts and some vanilla muffins here for any cake munchers looking to get fat this weekend…

Message us if you’re interested 👌🏼

How cute is this little fam?! I like to think they’re a mum and two kids with a pet seal 🐧🦭 (I mean, they’re just water dogs after all)

Hope Courtney had a great day! Donna J Gartside

How satisfying is this rainbow gradient? 🌈 seems only fitting considering its pride month too! Happy pride, people! 🏳️‍🌈

Got to do this cake for my very own sister!
Ferrero Rocher cake with Nutella frosting 🌰🍫

Hope you had a great day Tracy Jewes 🎂

WARNING! The following post is VERY wordy but it is also VERY important. If you don’t want to read it all, just skip to the end for the sum-up

It’s took me a few days to find the words to write this but it’s something I feel strongly about as a small business owner and a local member of the community.

I arrived at work on Thursday morning only to receive a phone call from a big client of mine informing me of their immediate closure. Naturally the client herself was VERY upset about this news, more so that she then had to deliver this news to me, another small business. She knew that we rely on this business in order to survive and the thought of having to take that away from someone with whom she has worked so closely with for a little under 2 years was heartbreaking for her. After consoling her and assuring her that it couldn’t be helped and that it’s out of her control, I got to thinking about how this affects my position.

The simple answer… it kinda doesnt.

I do need to explain this, however.
I mean, of course it’s a massive loss in income but even before I got the news of the closure, I was already struggling to pay my way. From a business standpoint, my ingredients costs have risen, the gas and electric has also risen. On a personal level, my mortgage has gone up £200 per month, my personal energy bills and shopping bills have gone up, cost of living is so high that I can’t afford to spend any money on anything that isn’t the absolute basics. I haven’t taken a wage in the 5 years I have been in business but that is expected for a small business owner especially one who opened the doors in February 2020…
However, my business has grown exponentially in this time, yet I still seem to be in the same position. It’s crazy to think that a successful business can also be failing to make a profit
That said, I consider myself extremely lucky that I work with my family who are very understanding and patient when it comes down to it. This made me realise what the real problem is.

It would be super easy of me to sit here and blame it all on the government and although they do have a hand in it, it’s beyond just that. The problem is that we as a nation are now forced to chase the bargains. The only issue with that is we still feed the machine. Okay, so your items may be a bit cheaper from the bigger named store, the small business are forced to increase their prices to accommodate for the lack of shoppers. I personally have been too scared to put my prices up in case I actually cost myself out of business, and who am I kidding? Nobody is buying a birthday cake from me when they can buy the same from Asda for a quarter of the price. Now, I can only speak from the perspective of the industry I’m in but I know my cakes are on sale in a few independent retailers in Oldham and the surrounding areas. So let’s look at an example. My Cherry Bakewell is, for the most part, sold at £3.50-£3.75 a slice. I know that the Costa equivalent is £2.55… it’s also literally half the size of my slice of Bakewell meaning for the same amount, you’d be paying £1.88 for my fresh, home baked version. When you buy the cheaper slice at Costa, not only do you get less cake for more money, you also skip the opportunity to help 2 small local businesses.

These people aren’t faceless companies, but your friends, family, neighbours, and more importantly, REAL PEOPLE.
When you get a delivery from us, you know it’s been baked locally, with good quality ingredients, by either myself or my mum, and hand delivered by myself or my dad. Not for maximum profit, but to keep the roof over our heads.

For all the people who couldn’t get through all this text, I’ll sum it up.

I implore you all to shop local and help your neighbours. These people rely on your business to live. If your coffee shop has put their prices up 50p a cup, it’s because they physically need to so they can keep their families fed. Next time you decide to quickly nip to Starbucks to buy your coffee and cakes, remember that your £5.45 caramel frappe and £3.75 raspberry loaf cake often costs less from your local shop, your money stays in your local economy, and helps at least 2 families you might well know pay their rent that month.

Hopefully I’ll still be here next year to tell you how we managed to pull through. Until then, please do your part, folks, we seriously need you to…

Thanks for reading this

Simon 🍒

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Help us to keep all you cake lovers munching!

You know we mean business when the Gold Bars come out… 💛⭐️🏆

Cute little muffins done for a 30th. Who says you need a full cake to have fun! 🧁

Message us with your requests. I know you’re all hungry, don’t lie to me 🐷

Had the absolute pleasure of providing the cake for Mr and Mrs Taylor. The day was perfect! Thank you for allowing us the honour and very many congratulations!

Love is well good! ❤️💍🍾🥂

Sometimes you get some kinda strange requests but we’re always happy to oblige 🤴👑🎂

Cute little birthday cake here 🧸🎂

We cater to any budget and nothing is too much.
Message us with your enquiries

Your new home screen background… one for all you flapjack lovers 🐷📲