Behind the Brand – Beatrix and Natalie Paull
We’re excited to introduce our new series, Behind the Brand, where we will take a closer look at the wonderful brands we stock in our store and the stories of the people behind them.
Every now and then a book comes along that really flaws you. You reach the end, close its cover, exhale, and then immediately want to start over. This was Beatrix Bakes by Natalie Paull for our team at NPJ Living.
While you could easily flip through this book in a lazy afternoon on the couch… it’s incredibly rich, and therefore is best savoured. Each recipe, story and secret tip leaves behind it a trail of the author Natalie Paull’s pure and enduring love of dessert.
We loved this book so much in fact, that it inspired our first ever NPJ Living Bake Challenge! Which you can find here.
The sweet tooth behind Beatrix Bakes
Beatrix is a tiny cake shop in North Melbourne owned by baker extraordinaire, Natalie Paull. On our days away from NPJ Living, you’ll likely find us standing in one of Beatrix’s signature winding cues around its block on Queensberry St.
We are not the only ones who are committed to this spectacular cake, you see.
Anyone who has devoured a slice of Beatrix’s red velvet cake will agree that Natalie was born to bake. Her first solo cooking adventure was a butter cake, that she made when she was seven. It was this cake in particular, that inspired a thunderbolt of baking love in her.
In her teens, while all of her friends were busy reading Smash Hits, Nat was wolfing down food magazines like Vogue Entertaining. The obsession had begun.
Nat then went on to bake and cook in restaurants, as a dessert cook, for a long time. But there came a point where she could no longer see her dreams in the industry. She took on an administration role for a few years, dabbing in spreadsheets.
But thankfully for us, it was not to be! It was in her office days that Nat realised she missed the kitchen terribly and the plans for Beatrix started to form.
In 2011 Nat found a very small shop on a sunny corner of North Melbourne, the suburb that she lived in. She signed the lease and Beatrix was born, with only space for a handful of seats but ideas for some pretty special cake.
For an inner-city cake shop, Beatrix has the calming feel of a country bakery. A rainbow of cake beaters hang from the ceiling and beneath them sits a majestic, mouth-watering glass case of treats. From coconut shag cake to banoffee pie, the baked goods at Beatrix have an ability to scoop you up on your lowest days and remind you how wonderful the world can be.
While Beatrix is still physically small in size, today it is a bustling business with a community of crazed fans.
And yet, Nat still bakes every day! She also eats a little piece of cake or salted caramel slice for breakfast every day too; which really summarises of why we love her and this book so much. Everything Nat does is infused with love and soul; from her craft and her customers, to each little slice of cake.
We love having Beatrix Bakes by Natalie Paull in our store. If you’d like to pre-order a copy of the Beatrix Bakes book email us at hello@npjliving.com.au. Or to go in the running to win a copy, you can find more details about our baking competition here.
All images by Hardie Grant.