Grammy Award nominees Beyonce, Lizzo and Adele will likely receive goody bags containing items from Winnipeg-based online boutique bakery Flour & Flower when the 65th Grammys take place Feb. 5 in Los Angeles.

Rachel Nedelec, who started the business in August 2019, says it has been a “whirlwind” since she got news her products would be included in the bags.

“I found an address online and sent out a very random email on a whim. I thought, ‘What’s the worst that could happen?’ The next thing I knew they contacted me and approved us. We had to have the products shipped out on the 19th and we got the word yesterday that they had arrived safely,” she says.

Nedelec and her team of three at Flour & Flower worked 12-hour days over two weeks to prepare 550 petal pops; a white-chocolate pop adorned with a beautiful edible flower.

The baking quartet prepared 175 custom boxes, with three pops in each box. Designers had to quickly create packaging that would safely transport the delicate items.

The idea for the business came to Nedelec after she was asked to bake a cake for her grandfather’s birthday a few years ago.

Inspired by summer gardens, she included a few edible flowers in the cake she was making.

This led to her researching edible flowers in cakes. The rest is history.

“A lot of flowers are edible but not many are pesticide-free or grown organically like ours are. I like going into supermarkets or florists to look at flowers, but you can never put them on a cake because they are not safe to consume,” she says.

The team currently do all their baking in a rented commercial kitchen in Charleswood, but plans to open a storefront are on her radar.

Cake orders are taken online at flourandflower.ca and summer bookings are already filling up with wedding-cake orders.

The former dance teacher and vocal coach credits her baking prowess to time spent baking with her grandmother and mother.

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“I have always just loved doing it. This business just accidentally happened but in the best way possible. And while I am the business owner, it takes a group of amazing women, including my right-hand girl Madison Spence, to make things happen.

“The bulk of the baking is done by two women and Madi is like the director of operations; she bakes, she does all of our photography… Flour & Flower wouldn’t be a thing without her.”

The inclusion of the petal pops in the goody bags means big things for the business, she hopes.

“We have something really big in the works which I cannot publicize yet but which I hope to be able to talk about soon,” she says.

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

AV Kitching
Reporter

AV Kitching is an arts and life writer at the Free Press.

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