Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Nicky T’s is the place to be in Oldmeldrum

If you love massive traybakes, Nicky T's will be right up your street.
If you love massive traybakes, Nicky T's will be right up your street.

If Nicola Currie looks familiar, well you’d be right. The hard-working mum has previously graced our pages with her delicious business, Nickytam’s Cakes N Bakes, where she was famed for creating Instagrammable cupcake bouquets.

Nicola, who lives in Daviot near Inverurie, was called upon to help celebrate many an occasion, before she decided to shut up shop after seven years of tasty tray bakes.

Nicola Currie who owns and runs Nicky T’s.

Having previously worked in retail management, you’d be forgiven for assuming that Nicola wanted to rejoin the corporate world once more.

But with every cupcake and every morsel of brownie, she was in fact baking her way to her ultimate dream.

Nicky T’s

Nicky T’s is a family run cafe based in Oldmeldrum, which has been doing a roaring trade for just over a year.

We caught up with Nicola and found out why her signature bakes paved the way to a dream career.

Inside Nicky T’s.

“We’ve been open since June last year, running my own cafe has always been a dream of mine,” said Nicola.

“I knew this location was just perfect, and of course I’ve loved baking since I was a child.

“My grandad used to make wedding cakes, I used to bake with him when I was little.

“He would have been so proud, I think he would have loved the cafe.”

“The main idea I had in my mind was for this place to become a hub, where people could come and chat,” Nicola Currie.

Fun, friendly environment

Swapping baking at home for your very own premises was a big step forward, but it didn’t stop Nicola from pushing ahead with her vision.

“The main idea I had in my mind was for this place to become a hub, where people could come and chat,” she said.

Colourful decor nside Nicky T’s.

“I wanted everyone to relax and enjoy, and of course have some tasty food.

“The vision was a fun, friendly environment.”

Food and drink options

Serving up breakfast and lunch, there’s certainly an impressive menu to choose from.

And if you’re worried about hungry school pupils queuing up from the nearby academy, well fear not.

A lunchtime feast.

“We run an independent takeaway which opens every day at 9am,” said Nicola.

“We wanted to welcome school children, but we didn’t want other diners to be disturbed.

“So this seemed like the perfect solution as it is self contained, you don’t need to come through the café to get to it.

Pictured is a Honey, Chilli and Cheese Panini.

“It’s not just school pupils who use the takeaway, we get plenty of people who pop in past from offices and we have a very similar menu to what’s in the cafe.”

Bad boy tray bakes

Alongside scrumptious paninis and classic jacket potatoes, Nicola has stayed true to traditional tray bakes, alongside some more interesting dishes.

“Baking is our number one thing and we have a reputation for our big bakes,” said Nicola.

Pictured is a Mars Crispy Fudge cake.

“Our rocky roads are enormous and our strawberry tarts are also popular.

“We’ve also created the bronut, which is a brownie baked in a mold to look like a donut and then topped with sweet treats. They always fly out the door.

“The big bad boy is a massive rocky road with a double layer of chocolate followed by caramel.”

Pictured is a Rocky Road and a Mars Crispy Fudge cake.

Team effort

With 11 members of staff in total, Nicola enjoys seeing them team put their heads together.

23-year-old Suzi Harper bakes up a storm in the kitchen, and Rachel Larsen is always on hand for support.

Nicola Currie with her staff.

“The team is just fantastic,” said Nicola.

“I am definitely a feeder and I just love seeing people enjoying my bakes, and their reaction when they take that first mouthful.

“It’s so satisfying.”

Pictured is a Ham and Egg Salad.

The McNick shakes are also pretty popular, and consist of whippy ice cream with a delicious selection of sauces to choose from.

When it comes to the most popular savory dishes, it seems you can’t beat a decent panini.

“We always have daily specials, we have a minimum of two specials on our board of different fillings,” said Nicola.

“Fajita and Cajun chicken always go down well.

“Considering I opened up right in the middle of a pandemic, we have been very well supported.

“We’re now looking to grow the business and add things such as a delivery service and more celebration cakes alongside cupcake bouquets, which were always my specialty.

“We’d also like to do evening events such as cheese and wine nights or ladies night.

“We want to keep building on the business and keep it popular.”

Bold plans are ahead for Nicky T’s.

A round of questions with Nicola Currie

What staples do you always have in your kitchen cupboards?

Flour and tomato sauce.

Tell us a secret for good baking?

Patience. Take your time and don’t ever rush it. Also be really careful with your measurements, it’s a science.

What three things would you take to a desert island?

My family, sun cream and some nice food for the barbecue.

If you had to serve a celebrity, who would it be and what would you dish out?

It would have to be someone funny, I love Peter Kay. I’d serve him one of our big bad boy tray bakes.

If you were a tray bake, what would you be and why?

I’d be something chocolate, like a brownie.

One of my long term talked about items is my brownies, for pure indulgence and because it is loved.

www.facebook.com/Oldmeldum.Cafe/

Conversation