Let's Get High Tea with DJs Frank Booker and Vee
Ahuriri Neighbourhood Food Market
$140
Bubbles, beats and treats - high tea, but not as you know it
Casandra (Cass) Delamere
Hawkes Bay native Casandra (Cass) Delamere has been baking since she was 16, leaving Napier Girls’ High School to pursue an apprenticeship at Heavens Bakery.
Chosen from 25 applicants, Cass completed her training in record time and hasn’t looked back.
After a decade in Australia, she returned to New Zealand during the COVID-19 pandemic to reconnect with her family and the vibrant local food scene.
Now part of the Bellatino’s Food Lovers Market team in Ahuriri, Cass specializes in French baking, cakes, and traditional pastries, showcasing her skills through creative and beautifully crafted treats.
Cass draws inspiration from her childhood memories of Hawkes Bay, particularly the vintage-style cakes she admired at Heavens Bakery. “Old-school Hawkes Bay baking is at the heart of my style,” she says. She loves experimenting with flavours and incorporates local ingredients like Bay View Black Doris plums and Tatsumi strawberries into her creations, with her lemon cake and chocolate olive oil cake among her specialties.
For Cass, baking is about passion, creativity, and community. “Finding a team that feels like family has been my biggest win,” she says. Her advice to aspiring bakers? “Just dive in and give it a go—you’ll know if it’s for you.”
Through her work at Bellatino’s Kitchen, Cass continues to celebrate the flavours and traditions of her beloved Hawkes Bay.
