How I get my Kicks — Kerrie Ford

“I've always had a passion for cooking,” said Kerrie Ford, standing in her large, light-filled kitchen preparing a tray of melting moments for the oven.

“I loved cooking with my family as I was growing up and family and friends have always loved what I've made. Now I've turned my passion and my love for cooking into my business.”

Two years ago, after a bit of pressure from family and friends, Kerrie took the leap and founded her home-business Sweet Treats Connection — selling biscuits, slices and fruit cakes at markets and through local cafes.

“I had thought about it for quite a while,” said Kerrie. “Then I devised the name and took it to the next level. It’s been really exciting starting something from scratch and I only wish I had started doing this a lot earlier. If I had started 10 years ago that would have been fantastic!”

Each of Kerrie’s recipes has been tweaked and perfected over many years. She said her fruit cakes alone have been worked on for the past 11 years.

“I’m really happy with the them now. The secret is in the balance of all the fruit and spice and combinations of them, but it is really working well. A number of gentlemen have said that my fruit cake is the only treat they allow themselves to have,” she said.

Kerrie recently found out that she has been selected to exhibit her products this June at Handmade Canberra — a curated quarterly market that celebrates the best of Australian design and produce.

“I’m really looking forward to Handmade Canberra and seeing what happens from there,” said Kerrie. “There are 25,000 people that go to those markets and 800 exhibitors on the waiting list. It’s going to be very exciting to network and look at the other stall holders and learn from them. I just find it all very exciting and I'm really looking forward to Sweet Treats Connection being involved.”

Kerrie’s dream is to see her business grow enough to employ someone else locally to help her in the kitchen.

While she hopes to see her business succeed, for Kerrie the cooking is its own reward.

“I just feel like it truly represents me as a person and I love it that it is not something I've bought, it is something I've created myself,” said Kerrie.

“And I just love the thought of customers taking home my goodies to share with family and friends.”