CRAIG Finch was a successful utilities worker with a nice home and three adoring children.

But in a blink of an eye his world came crashing down around him when he found himself in prison for assault.

He spent 18 months behind bars in some of Britain’s toughest prisons including Strangeways and HMP Birmingham in Winson Green.

When his time was served he came out to find he was homeless, jobless and penniless and was forced to seek refuge in a Birmingham hostel.

“I was at rock bottom,” the 29-year-old says. “I had lost absolutely everything.”

But Craig found a ray of hope when he was offered the chance to become the first ever trainee on a new social enterprise scheme called Frost & Snow.

The not-for-profit cupcake bakery, supported by housing organisation Midland Heart, was launched about three years ago and is run by homeless people in a bid to equip them with new skills and offer a chance to turn their lives around.

Craig says: “I thought it was a great idea. I liked baking cakes with my children so I thought it would be something I would enjoy.”

As Craig was training, he sent off applications for more than 300 jobs, although having a criminal record was making it virtually impossible to even get an interview.

Eventually he clinched a job fixing water leaks, but loved his time at Frost & Snow so much that he decided to carry on volunteering for the bakery in his spare time.

Then in July 2011, his dreams came true when he was offered a full-time paid position as an assistant baker at the business.

“Although going to prison was an horrific experience, I think it was actually the best thing that ever happened to me,” says Craig. “If I hadn’t have ended up in a hostel I would never have known about Frost & Snow and I wouldn’t be where I am today.

“I love my job and the training I had gave me so much confidence to fulfil my dreams.”

Craig is not the only one to have benefited from Frost & Snow. Since it was first launched in the kitchens of St Eugene’s Court – a shelter in Digbeth for homeless Irish men aged over 60 – it has gone on to train almost 70 homeless people.

It is now based in The Snow Hill – a £10 million facility offering 46 apartments for homeless people. The building, in Old Snow Hill in the city centre, not only houses Frost & Snow’s bakery, but it also has a coffee shop dishing up lattes and cupcakes made by homeless people on the scheme.

As well as the bakery and cafe, Frost & Snow also has a permanent stall at the city’s Bullring shopping centre, selling cupcakes to shoppers.

Paul Kardaszewski is one of Frost & Snow’s permanent members of staff and helps to run the stall.

The 32-year-old Polish immigrant says he was “rescued” by the bakery after he suddenly became homeless two years when he lost his job working as a photographer for a press agency.

“I think Frost & Snow is incredible, it gave me my life back,” he says. “A lot of people assume homeless people are worthless bums who don’t want to help themselves, but that’s not the case.”

Frost & Snow, which has sold over 70,000 cupcakes so far, ploughs the cash it makes back into services for the homeless.

It also sells its cakes, which cost from £1.65 each, at Birmingham Hippodrome theatre and the Urban Coffee Company, which has cafes in Church Street in the city centre and at the Big Peg in the Jewellery Quarter.

The business also runs workshops to teach children how to bake, as well as selling cakes for weddings and corporate clients.

Simi Chopra, marketing and communications project manager at Midland Heart, says: “In a little over three years, we’ve gone from an initial idea to a fully-fledged business.

“We are passionate about cupcakes – each one we sell is hand-made, beautiful and ever so delicious.

“People like them and keep coming back for more and they tell their friends all about us and they come too.

“Yet, there’s much, much more to Frost & Snow than great tasting cupcakes.

“Everything we do, every day of the week, is driven by our desire to make a real difference to homelessness and have a lasting contribution to the well-being of our community.”

* For more information visit www.frostandsnow.co.uk.