COVID WARD NURSE QUITS NHS TO BE A BAKER
CARING FOR DYING PATIENTS LED TO DEPRESSION
A NURSE, who turned to baking to alleviate the stress of caring for critically ill Covid patients, has quit her job to become a full-time cake maker.
Phoebe Cross, a nurse for 10 years, had never baked until last year.
But returning home after 12-hour shifts at the Royal Derby Hospital at the height of the pandemic took its toll and left her needing a distraction.
She said: “It saved me. I was getting really down. You get in that really bad cycle. I lost all my motivation to do anything.
“We have a dog and used to go walking a lot but I was just too physically and mentally tired, so diverting my attention on to something else helped a lot and I turned out all right at it.”
Phoebe, 27, turned out more than all right. She has landed a job at the Rhubarb Kitchen, in Wirksworth, where she will be making a range of cakes and pastries for afternoon tea events and weddings.
She had been working on an orthopaedic ward when the pandemic first hit, but it turned into a Covid ward, where patients were receiving end-of-life care.
“I’m not used to that sort of nursing so I got quite depressed. Everyone was really scared. It was a horrible environment to be in. I was coming home absolutely exhausted, sleeping and going back to work,” said Phoebe, who was one of the first nurses to catch coronavirus.
“I thought I needed something to occupy myself and I saw a video on Instagram of someone making some really lovely cakes and wished I could do that,” she said.
After buying equipment and books, she set about teaching herself techniques, from flavouring sponges to icing and decoration.
“It was my best friend’s birthday so I made her a cake and she loved it. It was really fun doing it.
“Some other family members wanted cakes and I thought I’d do a little Instagram page, then people were messaging me for cakes.”
After contacting her local council and getting her hygiene certificate, she sold her first cake to a friend of a friend.
“Then I was inundated with orders,” she said. “I had strangers messaging me which was really bizarre as I didn’t think anyone would want to buy a cake off me.
“I had lots and lots of orders to the point I was having to turn them away. Then my shifts got really bad so I had to have a bit of a break from it and it wasn’t until after Christmas that I started practising even more.
“Now it’s led me to leave my current job,” said Phoebe, who later moved from Derby to Nottingham City Hospital’s burns unit. She quit her job there on Friday, with a parting gift of a Bakewell sponge with cherry jam for her colleagues.
Inspiration for a career change came from a friend who left her trainee psychologist job to work as a baker.
When Phoebe was offered the job at the Rhubarb Kitchen, it was too good an opportunity to turn down.
She said: “It’s mind-blowing. I emailed her saying I’m not qualified, I’m self-taught and I’ve only been doing it for a year and she got back to me straight away and said ‘you’ve got all the skills, why don’t you try it?’ I did have a long think about it. It’s completely different. “People don’t get offered that opportunity much so I thought I’d bite her hand off.”
When she starts on September 10, her first task will be to create a cake for a wedding fair – and her longterm ambition is to become a wedding cake designer.
She said: “I’ve been a nurse since I was 18. When I was at school I always wanted to do something with art.
“I did A-level art but there is no career in it unless you’re really, really good.
“I don’t regret nursing it at all. I loved it. Never in a million years did I think I would be quitting. That’s all I’ve ever known.
“I will miss it and I’m still going to do an odd shift to keep my registration up because I’ve worked this hard in my life and don’t want to quit completely.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet that I’m doing it but my family have been so supportive. I’ve always wanted to do design and I can do that in my cakes. I am really looking forward to it, but I’m nervous obviously. “Instead of the drip cakes and ones with vodka bottles on top I want to do something completely different, just a bit edgy because that’s how I am, a bit edgy and artistic so I want that to come through in my cakes.”
Her bakes have been tested out on hospital colleagues, family and her partner Aidan Doherty, 33, who has also made a big change careerwise to become an apprentice electrician.
Phoebe said: “He’s been a big inspiration, like if he can do it, I can do it.
“He has been my left arm and pushed me to carry on. He said if I wanted to do this he’d support me every step of the way, so that’s given me the extra confidence to go for this job.”
As well as working in the kitchen in Wirksworth, Phoebe will continue to run her Instagram page Phoebe Patisserie and will be taking orders on there.
“Fellow bakers have given me tips but I’ve learnt quite quickly you don’t share all your information as it takes years to get really qualified.
“It’s taken me until now, a year and a half later, to get the perfect buttercream recipe.
“It’s not as easy as making a cake and putting it together, there are so many elements to it. It’s gone wrong a lot of times but I guess that’s the trial and error of teaching yourself. I’m my own worst enemy.
“I criticise everything I do but I think that’s just me as a person.
“It’s really nice seeing people eating what you’ve made and being happy about it. When I’m baking I don’t feel like I’m at work. I could do it all the time.”
I don’t regret nursing at all. I loved it. Never in a million years did I think I would be quitting. That’s all I’ve ever known.