Sweet treats just waiting to be found in Aramoho

An oasis of all things pink, ruffled, dainty and delicious has come to life in Aramoho.
Hiding away on Gibson St is a picture-book cottage, the home of Sue Crowley's new business, Cherry Cottage Cupcakes.
The business is the realisation of a dream for Ms Crowley, who opened her boutique shop, specialising in cupcakes and old-fashioned cakes, four months ago.
Although she doesn't profess to be an expert, Ms Crowley has experience on her side. Growing up with six siblings, Saturday was "baking day", and the tins were always full, she said.
Having made countless cakes for her own five children over the years, the idea of having her own cake shop had always appealed to her.
It wasn't until eight years ago when she was driving with her sister from Dunedin, she suddenly said, out of the blue, "I'm going to open a cake shop". After that it was just a matter of time.
"I had the idea, and it never went away in my head. So I just decided that I was going to do it, one way or the other, whether I was running a place or doing it from home."
Renting a shop proved too pricey, so she decided to remodel her garage into a commercial kitchen and shop, allowing her to work from home.
Designing the space exactly as she had always imagined it and naming the business for the grove of flowering cherry trees behind her house, Ms Crowley went as far as handmaking a striped awning for the shop.
The rest of the furnishing pretty much fell into place, she said. She had been collecting china and cake stands for years, and never really had a place to put them, but they fitted in perfectly on display at the shop.
Opening her shop on Saturday and Sunday from 9.30am-5pm, she bakes cupcakes and other small cakes fresh on the day. She also makes all her own cake decorations. In future, she hopes to extend her range into old-fashioned cheesecakes and other cakes from her childhood, like eccles cakes.
Her lemon yoghurt, lemon meringue, and chocolate cupcakes had proven popular, while she favours her espresso cupcake, or her date and tea mini-loaf with caramel topping.
She has also catered for birthdays, special occasions and will take orders for her cakes.
A cupcake made the perfect sized weekend treat, and people didn't have the time to bake like they used to, she said. "A cupcake is a mini version [of a cake] and they are so cute with their little papers, and you can be quite creative as well. It's a creative outlet for me."
She said she hoped to get her cakes into the Whanganui River Traders' market.