Critical-care nurse Sarah Turner of Methuen has combined her love of baking and of flowers with some serious creativity! Her side hustle, Sarah’s Bouqcakes, sells sweets that are almost too pretty to eat! MethuenLife photos by Patricia J. Bruno

“I went into nursing to help people and to make a difference, and I bake with love. And now I get to spread a little joy in two different ways.”
Critical-care nurse and Bouqcakes founder Sarah Turner

We all strive for balance in our lives, yet finding it is often a struggle. For Methuen’s Sarah Turner, the challenge was to be able to step away from the stress of her job while exploring her creative side. As a critical-care nurse, her 12-hour shifts were both mentally and physically exhausting, yet she loved her profession. Only in her early twenties, it wasn’t burnout that Turner was experiencing, but she realized the need to totally switch gears in her downtime.

“I had always been creative as a child,” she says. “As a young adult, that creativity was lacking from my life.”

Turner loves to bake and, for several years, she had been trying out cake recipes on friends and family. She also has a passion for flower-arranging.

“Growing up, it was just my mom and me,” she says. “She always had fresh flowers in the house, and we would make floral arrangements together. I still buy my mom flowers once a week and love arranging them with her. A couple of years ago on a whim, I made cupcakes decorated like flowers. Recently I came across photos that I had taken of the cupcakes and was inspired to take out my decorating tools and play around.”

Motivated to improve on her techniques, Turner invested in more frosting piping sets with a variety of tips designed for making petals and leaves and began teaching herself to make detailed flowers.

“I started out creating individual flowers on parchment paper,” she says. “Once my skills improved, I began making the flowers right on the cupcakes. At one point, I arranged a bunch of cupcakes together and it made such a statement. I shared photos on Facebook, and immediately had people asking if they could buy my cupcake bouquets.”

Feeling that she was on to something, Turner decided that this might just be the side gig she was looking for, and Sarah’s Bouqcakes was born. Using family recipes and tailoring others that she finds online, Turner offers flavors such as strawberry shortcake, blueberry lemon, churro and vanilla bean, all with buttercream frosting. Her favorite is carrot cake, the only cake she liked as a child, and a recipe she has customized.

“And by the way, these days, I like all flavors,” she adds.

Using a wide color palette in her frosting, Turner can create almost any flower, from soft-pink peonies to bright-red roses and blue hydrangeas. Pastels are always a favorite. Creating each flower free-hand onto the cupcake, she feels that her flowers are slightly abstract.

“Real flowers are not always perfect,” she says.

Still, her creations look like they were just picked from the garden. What makes her product unique is the presentation, since she never simply lines up the cupcakes in a bakery box. Stapling together sturdy paper cups into a honeycomb pattern, she then carefully arranges the bouquet by placing each cupcake into a cup. The arrangement is lovingly surrounded by layers of pleated paper and tied with a bow. The finishing touch is to add sprigs of real baby’s breath and sometimes stems of eucalyptus, but those are always placed in the folds of the paper so as not to interfere with the taste of the cupcakes.

As for the taste, Turner’s creations get rave reviews.

“My friends and family are my tasters as I nit-pick every recipe. Obviously, it’s not enough that the cupcakes look beautiful; they must taste great, too,” she says.

As a bonus for their support, Turner’s mom and boyfriend get to eat all the mistakes and leftovers. But is it difficult to put so much time and energy into designing and decorating something that will be gone in the blink of an eye? Not for Turner.

“I want each one to be a beautiful gift,” she says. “A gift that can be enjoyed from the moment they see it to the moment they taste it.”

Turner planned to officially launch her business around Mother’s Day of this year, but thanks to the power of social media, where she does all her marketing at this point, orders were coming in almost as soon as she posted her first photos.

“I have plans to expand,” she says, “but I value balance. And so far, this is the perfect balance for me. Baking is very relaxing; it shuts off the over-thinking part of my brain. At the hospital, I am in overdrive with critical thinking for 12 hours at a time. I enjoy creative thinking when I am baking and decorating.”

Turner admits she is uncertain how long this will remain a side hustle for her.

“Already, I am turning down those extra shifts at the hospital so that I can bake,” she says. “But right now it is the ideal balance. Doing two things, I never get tired of either one; and I love both of my jobs. I go through life with passion and kindness. I went into nursing to help people and to make a difference, and I bake with love. And now I get to spread a little joy in two different ways.”

For ordering and prices, see Sarahs.Bouqcakes on Instagram or message Sarah Turner on Facebook.

Patricia Bruno is a Methuen native, currently living in Haverhill. A writer and photographer, she is also the owner of The Winged Rabbit gift shop in downtown Haverhill.