Real Vanilla: Nature’s Unsung Hero – Janet’s second book – has been printed and, having received advance copies, we’re all set to step up our promotional efforts, starting with a European Launch event in Berlin. Being an exporting company, we have never lost touch with our friends in Germany, where our natural ingredients have been sold for the last 15 years. One long-time LittlePodder, Gabrielle Coffey, will host our launch at Mansfield Park, home of ‘the best vegan cakes in Berlin’. Keen to find out more, Paul gave Gabrielle a call. These are her words:

I am looking forward to hosting the book launch in Berlin. I started Mansfield Park with a friend back in 2017. It began as a catering business specialising in making good quality vegan cakes more accessible to Berliners. When I decided to switch to a vegan lifestyle in 2010, I found it was almost impossible to get good vegan cakes here. I had to bake them myself. In time, I realised that this could be a business.

In the beginning, we didn’t have our own café. Instead, we went to markets and supplied offices and cafés with our cakes. Then, when Covid hit and I was by myself, I set up an online shop and sold my cakes there. I didn’t want to open a café in Berlin because gastronomy is tough here. But as Mansfield Park kept growing, so did my wish to share my cakes, knowledge and ingredients with more people.

I knew from the start that I had to find a good supplier for vanilla paste. I’d been using recipes that required the best and most sustainable ingredients. German bakers tend to use vanillin in the main and the real vanilla that I was able to find stocked in supermarkets was often poor quality. I wanted something better for Mansfield Park and went on the hunt for a good vanilla supplier. I found LittlePod!

I love that LittlePod is a small business that is very down to earth. LittlePod is one of the few suppliers that I could find for vanilla paste and it’s also the closest for me here in Berlin. Placing orders has always been simple, shipment is fast and LittlePod’s social projects are important to me. Sustainability, fair trade and high quality aren’t just buzzwords for me or for Mansfield Park.

This is why I’ve always stuck with LittlePod. I’ve always put a lot of resources into sourcing vanilla, chocolate and other ingredients from the best suppliers for every cake that I make here. These ingredients have to be truly sustainable and ethical to be made into one of Mansfield Park’s custom cakes. Together we can make a difference. I care about these things and so do our suppliers and our customers.

Mansfield Park’s entire concept revolves around sustainability. Over time this has become our central theme. Our unique selling points are the use of the best and most sustainable ingredients that are not found in cake shops anywhere else in Berlin; high quality cakes for truly fair prices that are affordable for everyone; and the great taste of our cakes, of course – it’s the best that you can get!

We’re proud of our mission to make exceptional cakes available to Berliners! Using great ingredients in timeless designs, we create combinations that aren’t available anywhere else in Berlin. Whether it’s pistachio and raspberry or quark and passionfruit, our cakes are light and fluffy, not too sweet and always tasty. Plus Mansfield Park is located right in the heart of Berlin and couldn’t be easier to get to!

I have a deep love for the UK. I have a Master’s degree in English Literature and wrote a thesis on early feminist literature in England. My hypothesis was that Jane Austen was the first feminist author. Because my former business partner and I had these feelings and wanted to be strong independent women who take care of themselves, we called the business Mansfield Park. I think this – and everything mentioned above – makes us (Mansfield Park and LittlePod) ideal partners. Mansfield Park is the perfect place to launch Real Vanilla: Nature’s Unsung Hero!

Here in the UK, we couldn’t be more grateful to Gabrielle for her continuing support for LittlePod and our Campaign for Real Vanilla, and for hosting our European Launch event in Berlin. Sending vanilla hugs and our thanks to Gabrielle, Dorit and all our LittlePodders in Germany and beyond, we look forward to returning to Europe and seeing everyone soon!