New Year Optimism

Well it's the new year, 2014! A time of optimism and a time of new beginnings! Guess what? In Wales it is raining, not just raining, but raining in Biblical proportions! It is cold and the wind is rattling the rafters. The days are grey and dark at midday and yet we are told that we should be making resolutions for a healthier, more fulfilling life! Who is selling us this lie? 

Surely, our instincts are telling us to carb up! Cwtch up warm and stay in doors in our pjs! At this very moment our central heating is on, candles are burning and. I and lying on the sofa with a hot water bottle under my bottom. 

I have a terrible guilty feeling, shouldn't I be donning my waterproofs, lacing up my    New trendy nikes and going for a winters run! Everything I read tells me to exercise, tells me to eat salads and to drink litres of   Water! I just want beans on toast, hot milky drinks and to veg out on my sofa! 

Maybe I should revert to baking, my usual comfort blanket. But it seems my creativity and motivation has gone! Long gone with all the Christmas festivities! Not  only do I not want to eat salad, but rich cakes and gooey desserts don't appeal either! Christmas overload of cream and pastries has made me loath sweet smells!  

And so I sit here, actually sitting requires too much energy, I slouch here watching crap on TV hoping that this sloath like state will pass! I'm sure it will, but I the meantime Im going to wallow in a state of inertia! Remember evolution tells us to hibernate at this time of year! No running, it's bad for your knees, no salad, the bagged stuff has been drenched in chlorine! Instead my pjs are comforting and the only thing getting me through this miserable time of year x

On today's table we have......

Lots of cakes this week! 

I have another nintento cake like this one

Lots of sweetie cupcakes. 

  

 

And when the fun is over I have loads and loads of invoicing and accounts to do!!! Boring!!!

But I the mean time! Ill get back to what I do best!

Here goes.....

Simple amazing food 2

So let me continue .... Chris copied me, (or did I copy him?) and had a beef thali! Exactly the same as mine but with tender  curried beef. You can see he looks happy with it. 

Pete went for a sweet potato fill tart with a watermelon salad and polenta. He said he could have eaten it all over again, even though the potions were a good size. 

 And Heidi had Tumbet!!! Now Heidi and I have fond memories of Tumbet on holidays in Mallorca and Pete makes a mean version of it. But again, no complaints from Heidi. Her plate was waffled down too!

So onto dessert. Chris and I had baked nectaries in a cardamon custard. They were stuffed with something like an almond and chocolate paste, but I can not be sure. I'm not a huge dessert fan and I was expecting something fruity and tangy. This wasn't to be! Whilst the bowl was lovely it wasn't really up my street. Chris however loved it.

Pete had Eton mess! Simple but always a winner! 

 

Heidi definitely won the dessert stakes. Her wedge of sticky toffee pudding was sheer bliss! Not sickly just perfectly warm and treacley sweet! Mmmm! Check it out:

No wonder she wouldn't look at the camera! She was too busy eating ....

All in all we all said we would definitely go back! It was a lovely exciting menu that we all enjoyed! Whilst Chris couldn't resist the beef Thali, Pete the Meat

 was meat free! Heidi loved the veggie choice as did I! It was great to see that some thought has go into how to make simple ingredients look and taste fab! I would say that it is an inspiring place for any veggie or food conscious person.

More pics .....

Heidi was so inspired that she even put her pinny on when we got home......

Simple amazing food

You didn't get great food in our school canteen and you don't often get healthy food from our office canteen either! So excuse me if I don't want to eat in a canteen on a Friday night! 

Well that was until we stumbled across  The Canteen in Spott. If you are looking for posh surroundings, then it is not for you. But if like us, you are looking for innovative menus with an emphasis on  creative veggie dishes, then The Canteen is the place for you! There is one meaty dish on offer for those of you that need your protein fix.

Anyway, what we ate: Pete and I had beetroot rawvoili to start! Neither of us knew what to expect but it was very light a sandwich of beetroot with a creamy herby centre. Different but good! Pete scraped his plate and licked his knife!!!! 

Heidi has stuffed peppers which were very tasty.

Chris went for white gazpacho - I nearly went for this too! 

Mains were and amazing veggie Thali plate. Perfectly spicy and cooked butternut squash and spinach curry, rice, a sweet fresh pickle of carrots, raita and poppadom!! My plate was left empty.

Busy busy busy

After a month of solid baking, of novelty cakes, wedding cakes, hen parties and birthdays, Wedding Fayres and craft tables I was, as you can imagine, pooped!!! Blogging hasn't been top of my agenda!

I've had a little more time to take stock this week! To answer emails, check on the website! Do the usual social media thing! I can catch up on the latest cake trends, practice a few techniques and enjoy baking without a deadline!!! Bliss !!!

So in the upcoming days I will post some cakes that I absolutely loved making! it like Tony Harts Gallery!! Watch out for Murph xxx

Here goes ....

I loved making this simple sprinkles cake! 

Pretty pink and delicate 

Hen party fun

80's boy slimer cake

Hawaii 50 

Vintage wedding chic 

I will post again soon x

A bit of product development

I am looking for the USP!! The thing that sets me apart from all the other cake makers and foodies out there!! And so I think I have found it!! It's simple really! It was there all the time!!!

It's Me and my crazy mad antics!!! The baking til 4 am!! The hour commute to work, the selling cakes whilst a naked fireman sprayed an audience of Middle Aged women with squirty cream!!!

So from now on the blog will describe the madness of my life!! Of my baking successes and the failures, the laughs and the tears...... Welcome to Brocks baking world xxxx

Fond(ant) Memories of Childhood Cakes

I've been allowed to let my creative side explode into the world of big celebration cakes!!!

The Happy Cupcake Kitchen 's cakes are designed especially for our clients and their special events. We have baked cakes for weddings, engagements, Hens, birthdays, christenings and much more!! Its great that people let us share in some of the biggest celebrations and occasions in their lives!!!

When I was small, my Mum knew a local baker who was more like an artist. It was a real treat to look through her portfolio of cakes on my kitchen table and choose a cake for my birthday. I didnt have presents because those cakes cost quite a bit even back then! But they made my birthday special - far more special than the lastest craze! Now at 30 I can chart each birthday with  the cake that I had. Cutting Hansel and Grettels House, Sad Sam and The Old Lady That Lived in a Shoe was difficult because they were so beautiful!! But eating one of the sugar dwarfs, or popping Snow Whites fondant head off was great fun!

I loved my Birthday cakes from Mrs Samuel. The light yellow sponge, cream and jam so cleverly stacked and carved,  perfect with a milky cup of tea, or wrapped in napkins to give my school friends. I must admit, my parents did spoil me with the latest computers, clothes and TV's for Christmas, but the best gift of the year was my Handmade Birthday Cake! This cakes was hand crafted especially for me! It was this feeling of love that inspired me to set up The Happy Cupcake Kitchen

My Mum never baked herself, but we never had shop bought cake, only homemade by my Grandmother or the birthday cake from Mrs Samuel, so to buy a cake from a supermarket was strange to me, they taste so crumby and fake! When you look at the ingredients list you will be shocked by the crazy lists of artificial ingredients and preservatives! Yuck!!!

I always loved baking with my Grandmother, and am lucky enought to still have her to ask a baking question or answer a cake dilema. I would never buy a shop made cake, so synthetic and dry! Its the difference betweeen having a Maccy D burger instead or a sirloin steak! They are incomparible!  So please dont cut corners and buy a cheap cake for your celebration, instead go get one made! The Happy Cupcake Kitchen uses only the best ingredients and crafts your cake from creaming the butter and sugar to incorparate lots of air, to handfinishing with the best quality, butter, marzipan and fondant. Cakes are bespoke to our customers requirements to make your celebration cake as memorable as mine were as a child.