ABOUT ELIZABETH POPPIES
meet Bek
Hi there! While Elizabeth Poppies is a very chic name, my name is actually Bek — and EP is my little corner of the baking world.
I’m a self-taught baker and cake decorator working from a tiny kitchen in Newcastle, where I create custom cakes and small-batch bakes for weddings, birthdays, celebrations and just because.
For years, baking was my creative outlet alongside my career in law. I always loved both and I realised I didn’t have to choose between the two.
So, while continuing my career in law, I decided to take Elizabeth Poppies seriously and give my baking the time and space it deserved. I’ve recently moved to part-time legal work, allowing me to spend the rest of my time building EP and seeing where it can take me.
I’m still finding and refining my style, but I know I love working with natural elements — fresh flowers, fruit, colour and all the little details that make a cake feel like a piece of edible artwork.
It’s a slightly unusual combination, but it feels very me: a little bit of law, a lot of baking, and two careers that use completely different parts of my brain.
Thanks for being here and following along as Elizabeth Poppies grows. And if you’re wondering where the name came from… keep scrolling.
More than just a name -
Elizabeth Poppies is named after two very special people, my Nana, Elizabeth (aka Betty) and my Pop, Tim.
My nana was a wonderful baker and an even more wonderful person. She always had something in the oven and somehow enough food to feed the entire neighbourhood. She was generous, creative and always making something.
My Pop was a New Zealand WWII veteran who lost his leg during the war. But if you’d met him, you probably wouldn’t have known it. He was the kind of person who simply got on with things. One time, he jumped down from his truck and ripped his pants, and his coworker of more than ten years stood there wondering where my Pop’s leg went. Pop passed away when I was young, but I still remember his work ethic, his sense of humour and his creativity. He was happiest in his woodwork shed or pottering around the garden, always making, fixing or growing something.
So, Elizabeth Poppies is a little tribute to them both. A name that carries two people who shaped my family, my childhood and, in more ways than they probably realised, the person I am today.
After obtaining my Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Criminology and after years of working in law, I eventually found myself gravitating more and more towards the kitchen. Baking started as something I love and slowly became something I wanted to build into a life of its own.
Now, Elizabeth Poppies is my little corner of the baking world, creating cakes, cookies, workshops and sweet things for people who want more than just a cake on the table.
