A BAKER has become the first person from outside of Scotland to receive a prestigious baking award following a chance meeting on holiday.

Melissa Kirk, who runs the Cupcake Factory from her home in Newport, was awarded a Scottish Baking Award after spending the day in the kitchen with Melanie Andrews MBE, the director and founder of the awards, just a day after meeting her.

The pair struck up a conversation about their shared passion after being seated next to each other in a restaurant the night before.

“We were having dinner and Melanie was sat on the table next to us,” Mrs Kirk explained. “We got chatting about our passion for baking and we were chatting for hours.

“She offered the chance for me to bake with her in her kitchen near Loch Lomond the following day. We were planning on taking the kids to see a castle that day, but my husband offered to take them by himself so I could go.”

Mrs Andrews said: “We were baking for about seven hours and just chatting as we went along. She is a lovely girl and she’s a really great baker. It’s phenomenal some of the things she was baking.

“Unbeknown to Melissa, I was assessing her talent as we were baking

“Obviously, she was having to go back down to Newport so couldn’t take the cakes with her, so I ended up selling them in our shops. We were getting such good feedback on them.

“She impressed me so much that I decided to award her with her very own Baking Award. I have never awarded this outside of Scotland before. Who knows, this could be the first of many.

“I would hope this award can help her get started off with her business in Newport. I believe she is one to watch.”

Mrs Kirk is hoping that the award can help kickstart her new business.

“It’s massive,” she said. “There’s thousands of cake makers out there and to get the award from someone with Melanie’s reputation really boosts your confidence.

“I started the business just on Facebook but hopefully I can really push on now.

“It can be quite hard to get your products out there with so much competition, but I’ve started to book events now and can really push on.”