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.

 

My Alan Icing Sugar (sorry- bad pun) moments....

Well we have been busy talking up The Happy Cupcake Kitchen

After visiting a business advisor we have some serious decisions to make - do we bake for a living or bake in our spare time!!

How many Cupcakes have I gotta sell to make enough enough money to support myself? Put simply the answer is LOADS!!!!! Not just a lot but LOADS!!!! So we have been doing a cash flow forecast - check them out with this link!!! BORING Actually, jokes aside, they are not boring, but very interesting and vital if I am to test out my business ideas!

The other consideration is Cupcakes themselves! There are soooooo many ameteur bakers all wanting a piece of the cake action! The market is competitive, if not saturated, so how do I set myself apart? Our cakes are the best in Wales, they are yummy and look awesome - but how do I get that across to potential customers!?

The other consideration is whether, Cupcakes, as cute as they are, have longevity!? Is this just a passing phase in a fickle designer market - how do we adapt and change to the market demands!?

There are so many things to consider - so I am going to ask you? Our Market?

1. Do we bake for a living?
2.Will cupcakes survive into the future?
3. What else do we do to prove that we are the best cake maker in Wales?

Any marketers out there then please share you expertise?

Thankyou!!!!

x

Valentines shamentines !!

So it was Valentines Day on Tuesday  - the day that makes single people feel inadequate and long term couples feel like unromantic and miserable has beens. In fact, I reckon that there are more arguments on Valentines Day than any other day of the year!!! Scores of women with shattered illusions of faultless romance and sloppiness, only to be greeted by a dogeared Tesco value card given half heartedly by their hopeful partner. 

Surely romance should be spontaneous, heart felt and unprovoked - all lost on the big V. It dawned on me on Monday morning, when i awoke late, as usual, had to wash my hair and iron a blouse ( the later I usually avoid like the plague). Rushing into the shower, I slung by crumpled M&S best onto the ironing board with the intention of passing an extra hot iron over it after my shower. 5 minutes later, dripping wet, I ran across the landing to see a perfectly poised boyfriend, suited and booted, smelling of Hugo, calmly finishing his hair in the mirror. My dish rag of a shirt is now immaculately restored to its former glory; smooth, crisp and neatly hung on the radiator 'to keep it warm.'

It was at that moment - I thought of my preconceived understanding of romance. A childish dream of Hollywood films and 80s hair rock. All Fictional, made up and insincere. As I buttoned my shirt, tucked it into my pencil shirt, and put on my heels, I thought how thoughtful, how unprovoked and how real that one romantic moment had been. It cost nothing, but meant everything.
   

Cool to Cook

This week I am demonstrating the art of Cupcake decorating to groups of eager women who want to learn how to pile mountains of whipped up butter cream onto little mini sponges!

It got me thinking about the rise of baking? Why are so many women, young 20 to 70 somethings, wanting to learn to the kitchen skills that our grandmothers and great grandmothers undertook as part of their weekly errands?

Surely, the kitchen its association to women's work is a burden that the woman's liberation army would have shunned. Shouldn't we be burning our aprons along with our bras? Instead, educated women, professional women are now desperate to rekindle the forgotten arts of cooking. We are reclaiming the kitchen, our mixing bowls and spatulas and creating decadent, calorific, creations to tempt our friends and family.

10 years ago I was a student, desperate to fit in, be cool and trendy. I wanted a successful corporate career and thought I would be a highflyer; dressed in a powerful suit and elegant high heels. I dreamt of working hard and partying hard, of commercial decisions and risk taking! I would be too busy for a home life and far to important to be cooking the food I secretly loved to create. The only other mother Hubbard, who loved to feed and nurture, was ridiculed for her motherly charms. I didn't want to be that person.

So what happened in those 10 years? Now its cool to cook! The celebrity chef is king of TV, programme listings full of cooking shows!  The nutritionist is the medicine man of the 21st century, with celebrities following their every word and everywhere you look we are being sold the home cooked dream!
Its not cool to eat the convenience food that became popular in the 80's and 90's. Instead, it is avaunt guarde to eat fresh, shop local, cook ethical homemade grub.

Fern Cotton, DJ, sex kitten and rock fan, famously loves baking;  recently snapped in a black biker jacket and clutching a cake tin full of goodies under her arm. Her fashion forward profile inevitability finds young girls desperate to rustle up a batch of cakes.  Celebrity Great British bake off for sports relief will send thousands of amateur bakers out ready to try their first sponge. Cake and Sport? Really?

It seems that cake is cool, cake is King and if that is true, then the endless weekends spent baking with my Grandmother paid off. Baking is cool, Home cooking is cool!

The Happy Cupcake Kitchen runs Parties to teach ladies to bake again! It is therapeutic, you learn a useful new skill, you meet up with the girls much more fun than going to a souless wine bar in town! Plus you get to get messy and eat cake. Our classes are the ultimate indulgence! Women of Wales book now.



 

Last Minute Events

Thought I had a free weekend this weekend, and I did until 8 o clock on Friday night!

I got a call on the Cupcake Phone, it was an events company that I had make cakes for previously. They were asking for a last minute Cupcake Tower in Green and Silver for a Party at a rather exclusive venue in Cardiff! Of course I said, not worrying that they needed them by 12 noon on Saturday!

Several hours later of baking later and a kitchen covered in silver spray and glitter and the cakes were ready. I pulled up at the swanky venue which was being decked out in white carpet, candelabras and all sorts of vases filled with exotic vines and beautiful throws of white flowers. It was a hive of activity. The party organisers welcomed me and left me to set up a display as they gossipped about friends and their face book antics.

The extravagant party was being held for their Managing Directors birthday, he or she and their 30 guests were in for a treat. Nothing was too good for them, cocktails had been ordered and collected from London, the room decked out and of course a tower of Happy Cupcakes stood proudly as the centre piece. I couldn't help but be impressed and secretly jealous of the two young men's job. Who wont love to be organising a party like this.

As I left, I asked the rather indignant woman at the door when I could collect the stand. She rudely told me that at 12noon on Sunday she would be there and she was only going to be there so 'the boys' could empty the room of their stuff! She was so abrupt, I couldn't believe that this middle aged woman, could be so rude. There was obviously thousands being spent on that party, at her member only establishment, yet she was obviously unimpressed by this. It got me thinking about customer service. Its okay to be nice to those who could afford to be a member there, those who would be partying there that night, but not to the Cupcake Girl or indeed, the Events people!

I'm sure, most people would agree, that simple courtesy is a pleasure to both the giver and receiver, it costs nothing and just spreads a little happiness to those we meet. With that in mind I might send her some cupcakes, who knows, they might bring a smile to her face.

Cupcake Parties

This week I have been holding Cupcake Demonstraion Parties, not classes, Parties!

The aim of the 2 hour interactive session is to allow a group of girlies, (or Boyz) to get together and do something different and fun!

The party in Llanishen was fully booked, thanks to the help of Sue from Giggles Activities Cardiff! 24 Girls and 1 boy, who was misled into attending the class by his naughty wife! Although, by the end of the eveining he seemed very pleased with his sweet creations.

100 perfectly risen and golden cupcakes were stacked at the front of the class ready for the keen party goers to decorate! And decorate they did, we taught the basics of buttericing; swirls and roses wowed the girls (and boy) and soon they were impressed how with their own little cakes! Some girls, precisely piped, others randomly plopped icing on the top, but all had a great time and enjoyed the creative process.

All proudly took home a box of 4 cakes! Well some took 3 home after stuffing the 4th into their mouths! Children and partners eagarly awaited the little delights that the girls were fetching home/ All were impressed with what they were treated too!

The night was a success, great fun, great cakes and great ladies ( and one man)!

To book call 07725598096 or look up Giggles Activities Cardiff!



x

The Happy Cupcake Kitchen: And so it begins....

The Happy Cupcake Kitchen: And so it begins....: The Happy Cupcake Kitchen Blog begins... my social media journey grows and I am beginning to recognise the power of internet! What will t...

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Click to see our little website! https://sites.google.com/site/thehappycupcakekitchencardiff/

And so it begins....

The Happy Cupcake Kitchen Blog begins... my  social media journey grows and I am beginning to recognise the power of internet!

What will this blog follow? It will chart the beginning of the Happy Cupcake Kitchen. My need to nuture and nourish people, to design and create beautiful works of food art and to market and grow my own business. Ultimately, I want to fullfill a dream of working for myself, doing something I love!

Sound familiar? Im sure that many of you out there dream of something simular. Of waking up and doing something you love!? I have been told, by many cynics, that a past time that you love, turned into a business soon becomes a nightmare! Really - How? Why? Sure, it will be hard work, sure, it will require determination, but it will be my little business! I will learn new skills, ( like blogging, web site creation, legislation, marketing, finance ect), meet new and interesting people and groups and create a buisness plan, a brand, and an income! All with the help of CAKE!!!!

So grab a cuppa tea, sit back and enjoy the cake exploration! The evolution of a hobby into a business!