Kayleigh Read who has started a vegan bakery called Deerly Beloved Bakery, with some of her vegan cakes. Apple and rosemary scones, left; green tea and pistachio whoopie pies, front right; and cinnamon whirls. Picture: Denise Bradley

A Norwich woman has turned her passion for vegan food into a new business venture.

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Kayleigh Read, 25, of Turner Road, Norwich, has had demand for her cakes since she started her own bakery from her home in early May.

Miss Read worked as a vegetarian and vegan cook for four years before starting Deerly Beloved Bakery from her kitchen.

She now supplies Rainbow Wholefoods, Pulse Cafe Bar and Tom’s Foodstore in St Benedicts Street.

“On my first day supplying Rainbow food store, I had a phone call at two o’clock saying could I bring some more in because they had sold out.”

Keen to shift the vegan stereotype, Miss Read said: “I make different food - it’s not all about stew. I make vegan cheese cakes, ganache cakes and lemon citron tarts.

“I think a lot of people think veganism is people who wear sandals and eat mung beans but in Brighton there’s some really amazing vegan restaurants and cafes.

“I hope with my cakes and dishes such as green tea and pistachio whoopie pies, cinnamon whirls and apple and rosemary scones that veganism will be seen in a new modern light.”

Miss Read was a vegetarian for eight years before becoming vegan when she met her partner, Kyle Baddeley.

She said: “I went vegetarian when I was 17. At that time you start making your own decisions on how you want to live your life. I didn’t like meat as a child, it was always the last thing I would eat on my plate.

“I was then a vegetarian and thought ‘I can live without milk chocolate’.”

Miss Read’s enthusiasm also comes from her love for animals.

“I care about veganism not just because of animal cruelty but also because the amount of meat that is eaten is just unsustainable.

“To produce beef, gallons of water is needed and a lot of methane is produced. Wholegrains produce a lot less emissions.” She said.

To celebrate vegetarian week this week, Miss Read will have a stall outside the Rainbow food store on May 29 at 11.30am.

Have you turned your passion into a business venture? Contact reporter Lucy Wright on 01603 772495 or email lucy.wright@archant.co.uk.