Sunday 28 August 2011

Vanilla Brown Sugar Breakfast Polenta


Its been a busy week. I have done a lot and baked a lot and run a lot. All good :)

I have made a load of 21st birthday cupcakes in vanilla, carrot and chocolate flavours


I have made and delivered a Golden Wedding Anniversary Cake



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Wednesday 24 August 2011

Eggnog Pancakes and Come Run with Me

(Warning. This blog post contains many, many images of woods and trails) I like pancakes, and I love to run. Join me for pancakes and a <virtual> run?


I don't make pancakes for breakfast very often. Partly due to morning time restrictions, partly due to the fact that they are a 'treat' for breakfast, and should not be the norm, lest they cease to be a treat and become mundane. But I felt like pancakes, I had time, and I have been running again recently so I can justify the sweet indulgence with a run.


I came across these on Joy the Baker and they just sounded different. Unusual. Spicy and interesting. So I chose them. The only small pitfall was that I did not have any buttermilk with which to make my buttermilk based pancakes. Did I say pitfall? Sorry, I meant potential pitfall, if I did not know how to make my very own buttermilk. Its great, easy, quick, and just the thing when you want pancakes and don't have any buttermilk in the fridge. Just 1 cup of milk and one tablespoon of lemon juice. Let it sit for a few minutes. Voila. Buttermilk. 
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Monday 22 August 2011

Wilmslow Market - Cake Pops Debut



Saturday was Sugarbird Cupcakes' debut appearance at Wilmslow Artisan Food Market market, offering our lovely cake pops to the people of Wilmslow. My very first market stall experience was a fantastic one. We arrived bright and early at 8am ready for set up, and after a little confusion managed to find out stall and start making it pretty. The table was dressed with first a white tablecloth and then a pink and white polka dotted wipe-clean tablecloth. The stand for the cake pops matched the tablecloth well, being polka dotted and checked, and all the little pops looked adorable in their stands. Somehow I managed not to forget anything, thanks to the checklist I'd made and the day ran smoothly.



I did receive wonderful feedback on the cake pops as people nibbled on the tasters, and although I think that many people still do not know what cake pops actually are, I think I have won over a few hearts and tastebuds to the world of the cake pop.

The flavours I took along were strawberry cheesecake filled, caramel apple, cappuccino and lemon and the strawberry turned out to be a firm favourite, selling out long before the other flavours. Mental note: make more strawberry next time!

 


One thing I loved about doing the market stall was seeing people's reactions to cake pops. They are not nearly as well known here in the UK as they are in the States, but people were very open to trying them once they realized that they were not in fact lollipops! I especially loved seeing how the children respond to tasting new things. A few little boys and their mums/dads would end up in front of the sample plate on my stall, and although I could see that they wanted to taste, they were often overcome at the last minute by bouts of extreme shyness that left them hiding behind their mum's skirts or their dad's jeans, with just one big, nervous eye peeking out, looking nervously between me and the cake. Sometimes the desire for sugar would overcome and they would reach a tentative little hand out and quickly snatch a (always the largest) piece before retreating back to the safety of their parents shadow to devour the treasured morsel.

 


It was a lovely day and I met many lovely people and hopefully scored one point for the cake pop on UK soil. I look forward to the next market which I have been told I am allowed to bring cupcakes to as well as the regular cupcake vendor sold out this time, so there seems to be a large market for the cupcake. Excellent! Hope to see you there.

X Claire

Orignal From: Wilmslow Market - Cake Pops Debut

Monday 15 August 2011

Big and Bright Rainbow Cake


Wow, I can;t believe I have neglected my blog for so long. I don't know where the time has gone in the last week. Well, I do know actually. Its gone on starting my new part time job - baking and cake decorating at The Cake Gallery in Bowden. What a gorgeous place and the people there are just lovely. Can't wait to get more stuck in this week :) Time has also been spent on my first wedding cake order, hurrah! I am SO excited to have the opportunity to make a wedding cake for a lovely couple who are getting married in 6 weeks. It will be a square, 3-tier cake. Separated by pillars so its super tall, and decorated with garret frills and yellow roses. I can't wait to get going on that one. I have also been planning the design for the golden wedding anniversary cake which I am doing in 2 weeks time. I think I have settled on the design now, so just need to go and get a baking tin and I will begin next week.



So things are going well. The only slightly sore point is that I haven't received any orders from my website yet. I have done a lot more content writing this past weekend to make Google like it more, and I guess that takes time before it shows, but I am wondering if people just don't find it, or if there is something about the site that puts them off. If you are reading this and are at all curious, take a mosey on to my site and let me know what you think. Any feedback will be welcome! Thank you.
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Thursday 4 August 2011

Thyme, Sea Salt and Parmesan Flatbreads


If any of you have a blog (if there is anyone actually reading this) you might wonder if anyone reads the humble words you type. You may contemplate whether the thoughts and words jumbled together in your mind and hopefully somewhat eloquently put down in black and white on the screen, are ever seen by any eyes but your own. I wonder that. I wonder whether even my own mother reads my blog. Maybe now I'll find out. Or not. Interesting experiment. It takes time to read someones blog. There are a few that I follow. Some daily and some weekly. Some only when I am on the hunt for specific information, and some I come across accidentally. But to have one that you read all of, all the time. Thats not so common. Especially of the blog that are a bit more wordy than others. The funny, anecdotal, short-and-sweet ones are easier reading. Mine's not like that. I'm not funny. Not funny haha at least. But I like to believe I am intelligible at least, and perhaps contrary to my mother's belief, I am reasonably clever. Or intelligent rather. I don't like the word clever. It has negative connotations for me fore some reason. I have word bias. I am a word snob.



Today I came across the word evanescent in a quote. It is a word that I have to confess I know only from the band name. I had never heard it used in a sentence before. So I looked it up. It means: vanishing, fading away, fleeting. I like it. Its a good word. The quote I discovered it in was by Julia Child, an intelligent, educated lady who was not afraid to speak her mind. She said: "Noncooks think it's silly to invest two hours' work in two minutes' enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet." I once spent 2 days making a twice cooked brisket. It was sublime, and worth every second. I once spent 3 days making tiramisu, and did not think that a single second of my life had been wasted. Is that not why people create? For the enjoyment that the result brings, to themselves and to others? From the humble home cook who makes extra effort in the evening meal, to the worlds greatest chef; from the child who finger paints a portrait of the family pet, to the next picasso; we spend our time in the creation of great things because they are worth it for the pleasure they give. Whether it be pleasure for one meal time or pleasure for a lifetime. Giving joy to others is the reward. The reason.
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Wednesday 3 August 2011

Lemon Curd

 

 


I love lemon. Lemon cake, lemon tart, lemon cookies, lemon bars, you get the idea. I even eat lemon. Straight. Weirdo? I know. I can't help it.

So yesterday while making a bunch of low calorie cupcakes, I had some time to kill in between batches and I also had a whole load of egg yolks left over from using the egg whites in the cupcakes. As my brain was mulling over the potential uses for 8 egg yolks, my eyes fell on the big bag of lemons in the fruit bowl. Perfect! :) Lemon Curd!


My first memory of lemon curd is of my grandmother. I don't know if you can even buy lemon curd in South Africa. We certainly never had it in the house when I was growing up. But I do distinctly remember my grandma having jars of it that I am pretty certain she made herself. I remember it being used just as a topping for bread/toast, and the sweet, silky, lemony flavour has stuck with me.
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Tuesday 2 August 2011

Strawberries and Cream Cake Balls


I am doing a market stall next month, for the very first time. I am a little nervous. And I am work hard to decide what I am going sell, so that I can plan for what I need. I initially went for a stall with a view to doing cupcakes, but the market already had a cupcake supplier so they were not interested in another one, but asked if I can do anything else. Can I do anything else? I certainly hope that I can. So now the task of deciding what I will do, and getting all the supplies I need in order to execute that plan. Nervous? Oh yes.

 


My initial thought was brownies. Inspired by my Fat Witch Bakery book of Brownies, Blondies and Bars. Its gorgeous and the brownies are fantastic. And who doesn't like a chocolate brownie? So I have picked a couple of types of brownie, they will be good for chopping up into little tasters to lure passers by towards my stall. Then i need something else, something different. Having been to this market a few weeks ago, to scope out the competition, I know what will be on offer, and more importantly, what won't be. So the second pretty and delicious offering is the cake ball. These little gems are terribly in fashion at the moment, and I think that they (in their cake pop on-a-stick version) will be perfect for the market. They appeal to kids as they are like lollipops, they appeal to adults as they are good looking and easy to eat as one walks around a market. They are in fashion so appeal to those 'in the know' and they are delicious, so will hopefully generate return business. 
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