An ice-cream fanatic who flew supersonic on the Concorde was left amazed after receiving a birthday cake in the shape of her favourite ice cream tub.
Cecilia Leishman celebrated her 84th birthday with a cake in the shape and design of a Mackie’s of Scotland Salted Caramel ice cream tub.
The cake was made by Cecilia’s long-time friend Susan Stitt, a cake designer from Port Seton, East Lothian.
Cecilia was so stunned by the likeness of the cake that her granddaughter, Kirsty Allan, shared a photo on social media and sent it to the ice cream giant.
Mackie’s too were amazed by the cake creation, and followed up with a gift hamper containing items such as an ice cream scoop, apron and ice cream vouchers to celebrate her birthday.
The great-grandmother is such a fan of Mackie’s Salted Caramel ice cream, that she found herself eating three bowls a day during lockdown.
Cecilia, from Edinburgh, said: “I had no inclination whatsoever that I was going to be surprised with a cake like this for my birthday. My granddaughter told Susan about my love for Mackie’s Salted Caramel ice cream.
“When I was presented with the cake I was gobsmacked. Susan is very talented as it looks like the real thing.
“After I learnt my granddaughter had sent an image of my cake to Mackie’s, I was delighted to see they had shared it with their followers on social media – I felt famous!
“It was so kind of the team at Mackie’s to follow up with a lovely birthday hamper full of goodies.”
Throughout her life Cecilia has experienced some incredible moments from dining on the Orient Express to trailing through the Rocky Mountains in Canada as well as touring China and Hong Kong.
The grandmother added another experience to her bucket list by becoming one of 100 people to fly on the Concorde from New York to Edinburgh in 1996.
Cecilia celebrated her 60th birthday on the Supersonic aircraft after a cruise and week stay in New York.
Cecilia added: “My husband and I sailed to New York, which was a fantastic experience, to go past the Statue of Liberty towering over us was breath taking, but it was amazing to have the opportunity to be one of the few who got to travel on the Concorde from New York to Edinburgh.
“The flight took approximately 2hours and 40minutes, and I remember the pilot telling the cabin that we had gone supersonic and broken the sound barrier – to be honest I didn’t notice any difference.”
Cecilia’s love affair with Mackie’s ice cream began at a small restaurant in South Queensferry, adding: “We were going out for dinner, when I saw a sign at the window say ‘we sell Mackie’s here’.
“I didn’t know what Mackie’s was, so naturally I tried some and I’ve loved it ever since, and now their Salted Caramel is without a doubt my favourite flavour.”
Marketing Director of the family-run business, Karin Mackie, said: “Thanks to Cecilia’s family for sharing the lovely picture of her salted caramel ice cream tub birthday cake – it is amazing and looks even better as a supersize tub!
“We were delighted to hear that Cecilia’s simple joy is having some salted caramel ice cream every day and we send our best birthday wishes.”
Mackie’s is a fourth-generation family farm based, Westertown, is in North East Scotland – and Mackie’s still produce all their ice cream using fresh milk and cream from their own dairy herd on the farm.
The company’s sky to scoop ethos sees it create everything from milk to its packaging on site, powered predominantly by their own renewable energy – via four wind turbines, a 10-acre solar farm and a biomass energy plant. In addition, a £4.5million project is underway to install an innovative new low-carbon refrigeration system, set to be among the greenest in Europe and the first of its kind in Scotland.
