When life hands you lemons, make lemonade, or if you’re Josie Rudderham, bake Lemonlicious Cupcakes topped with buttercream icing and candied lemon peel. When Josie decided to make a swift change from mortgage brokering, either by fate or chance, a former pastry school peer, Nicole Miller, was also dreaming of a sweet idea. The pair reunited on Facebook, and a few coffee dates later Cake+Loaf Bakery was born. “It was entrepreneurial love at first sight,” Josie recalls.
An estate sale landed them a cinder block space in Hamilton’s west-end. Layered in cracked drywall and dusty floors, it looked like a recipe for disaster. But family and friends rolled up their sleeves to help convert the rundown space into a charming bake shop. “It was a really great bonding experience that confirmed we could work together in not so great circumstances," says Josie.