This is where I witter away about projects, recipes and all things sugar and cake.
March 23rd 2011
Belated Happy New Year??! I know it's been a while but in my defense I've been very very busy. Sugar and cake are now also selling into an italian cafe called Vero Cibo off Guildfords high street. It's run by an Italian American family, mainly Nick, who loved the samples I sent him but wondered if I could provide Italian cakes? My pleasure, I've been in love with Italy for years and this was a fine excuse to see whether they baked with the magic I'd assumed they did, or just with a regular recipe... The hazelnut and espresso torta is incredible (though I'll never again attempt to roast and skin huge quantities of hazelnuts - those beautiful delicate skins turned my kitchen into an autumn forest floor) , home made garibaldi better than anything you'll ever be able to buy (and yes, I realise Garibaldi is a British invention) and the orange and almond loaf is phenomenal considering it just happens to be dairy and gluten free! There are more on the list like pistachio loaf and pine-nut torta...will post when the chance comes in. The American influence also had a need for blueberry muffins and loved the lemon meringue cupcakes so they have those as well...and 'arguably the best coffee in Guildford', and who am I to argue. I've just delivered over 500 mini brutti ma buoni and 3 lots of mini garibaldi and a few large brutti ma buoni as a bonus lot...Get down there, I hear the cakes are amazing!!
So as you can tell Sugar and Cake is definitely taking the turn towards commercial baking and concentrating less on the bespoke stuff...I like to think we'll be in a unit and not just squeezed into my tiny kitchen by the end of the year... Ideally we'll be a bespoke commercial baker so if you need something particular made for your deli, shop, cafe or restaurant I'm your girl.
December 29th 2010
This has been an incredibly neglected blog of late but hopefully the gallery goes some way to explaining why!!
Winning Mr.Site's website of the month kicked off November in the best possible way. It's meaningless to everyone but me. But to this girl it meant that every late night of patiently working away on the site was worth it, despite the tiredness and frustration. I know it's not the humblest of stories that I gave but I the enthusiasm is utterly genuine...I'm still chuffed to bits, hehe.
The Christmas Fair in Hampshire came next and despite horrendous levels of sideways downpours i.e dramatically reduced numbers, I packed away very few cakes at the end of the day. Phew! There was proper homemade fudge, icing sugar dusted chocolate brownies, iced ginger biscuits trees, stars and hearts, white and dark chocolate dipped florentines, cupcakes of spiced carrot with orange buttercream, chocolate brownie ones with dark chocolate buttercream and chocolate shavings, victoria sponge (with the raspberry conserve hidden inside the swirl - designed for the occasion with snow balls instead of icing sugar), simple vanilla cupcakes for the children and plenty of tasting plates of everything including armagnac soaked christmas cake for christmas orders (it was a shame but I wasn't permitted to sell mince pies as there was a charitable stall dedicated to them). It was a great experience, helped immensely by lovely organisers and fellow stall holder Harriet. Thank you.
Shortly after the fair came a call from a television company who had an unusual request, would it be possible to make a cake that cracked and fell down? I'm sure it's possible (?!)...Oh and it needed to replicate an actual house in Warrick. OK. And could the cracks appear in particular places? Well...umm...Oh and it needed to travel to Warrick without me and remain intact until they needed to shoot it...OK... It was made from concrete coloured bricks of cake, buttercream, gingerbread, normal icing, fondant icingHave a look at the page dedicated to this immense and complicated cake, I still need to upload the image of the house that I worked from but it gives you a vague idea of the challenge involved. The product designer in me loved every minute but it took some restless nights of design and some restless days of testing to even get near to their request. The funniest part was that one of the managers arrived to pick it up, a lovely man who happened to dwarf the massive cake and so as we manoevered the huge, heavy cake out of the door I realised that the very tall and broad man with a very large, heavy cake was traveling up to Warrick through the freshly formed snow and ice in a very small mini. I kept my fingers crossed all weekend until finally the email came in saying it'd been a success. Phew again!
The snow and ice had quite an effect on December, more people wanted more cake so generally I was busier but less able to deliver! It's also much harder to hold a cake box with snow gloves on...Then there were the Christmas cakes and the Christmas themed orders for the deli, the mincepies, the trifle and the last minute cupcake orders and here we are shortly before the beginning of a New Year...Have a ball everyone and thanks for all the support this year, it's very much appreciated.
October 25th 2010
Halloween is on it's way and my week ahead is packed with cupcakes and biscuits aside from the bespoke birthday cake and the pumpkin seeking and carving, oh and must remember to squeeze in the making of the witches outfit for the small one. Frankly I'd get more rest in a haunted house (kidding, I'm always happiest when there's a challenge afoot).
It's a great time of year though and the early freezing temperatures are a great excuse for hot chocolate with various baked accompaniments...A weekend in Madrid was a welcome piece of calm before the storm of this week. They take their food and drink deliciously seriously and I was a seriously happy girl in my pursuit of an indepth understanding of the spanish palette. I've got to admit that despite the stunning crisp clear skies, a hot sun beating down on us, amazing sights and cracking vibe of the place all I can remember with crystal clarity is the delightful Mercado Plaza San Miguel ( what seems like hundreds of the most beautifully presented mini delicatessens, patisseries and bars encased in a shell of wrought iron and glass) and the joy of discovering fresh churros and hot chocolate. I'm ashamed to admit that by Sunday we were planning our time and direction based on the location of the best hot chocolate and churros (or porra the thicker version) that madrid could offer.
So for the uninitiated...Simple long loops of star piped, crisply fried doughnuts to dip in hot chocolate...well they call it hot chocolate but in reality it's rich dark chocolate sauce in disguise. I sat there eating and thinking of the sugar and cinnamon they could be rolled in...I know I know, it's clear I have a problem if I'm sitting there eating food of the gods and all I can think of is how the gods could up their game! I never said I wasn't a perfectionist...Just glad I don't have a deep enough pan to experiment with otherwise I'd be in trouble.
October 4th 2010
I paid two visits to the deli today, one in the morning to drop off freshly baked vanilla cupcakes with vanilla butter cream and the second visit was to have a rare cup of tea and a read of the sunday papers (I know it's monday but surely that's normal for all parents to unwrap the sunday papers later in the week? - just me then!) while the small one spent half an hour pretending to be a very sweet sugar-plum-fairy in the village hall.
It turned out to be 30 minutes of bliss with (aside from the papers) a perfect cup of earl grey, some banter about the hilarious whispering Ryder Cup commentary (sorry Andy) and the chance to be around for a wonderful complement. I can't tell you how happy it makes me (and slightly embarrassed actually) to know that not only a little boy loves his cake but his mum is genuinely pleased to try it and find it's delicious, not dry and not disappointing but actually really good!
I thanked them and explained that that's exactly why I do it because as a kid, on the very rare occasions that we had a cake out (my mum is a great cook, we even had competitions on the walk up the hill home as to what we thought we could smell waiting for us. My love affair very much started at home), on those occasions I loved choosing a cake. My mum will recount how I always chose the nicest looking piece and then didn't eat much of it. She'll tell you that my eyes were always bigger than my stomach and to an extent that's true but the real reason, that I couldn't put into words was that it wasn't as good as it looked. The chocolate wasn't chocolatey, the scone wasn't buttery but dry, the icing was sickly and tasteless, the jam was barely jam, the spiced buns weren't spiced at all...And i know that makes me sound fussy but the optimist in me always thought it would be better if only I could choose the right thing! It was such a treat to be there and the cake needed to reflect that, I was always cross with myself for being disappointed when my mum had gone to the trouble and expense of letting me choose something that purported to be great.
That's why you'll find me going on about beautiful looking cakes that promise so much but deliver nothing but disappointment. How many weddings have you been to where the cake looks incredible but when it's cut tastes of nothing? Or had elaborately iced biscuits that are sickly and tasteless? It's absolutely possible to make someone's day (from a 2 year old to an elderly lady or gentleman, whether in a cafe or at a party) with a promise that delivers. That's why I bake.
September 24th 2010
This morning I donned an apron and mingled with lovely locals at the Onslow Village Deli for 'the worlds biggest coffee morning'. The 2 long cakes (lemon drizzle and dense chocolate) I'd supplied disappeared pretty quickly considering it heaved down with rain all morning, (I'm surprised anyone ventured out at all) which was more a testament to peoples willingness to help Macmillan than a complement but there were some very appreciative and flattering comments as well. I managed to do a lot of washing up ( so much more enjoyable when it's not your own) but my highlight was meeting Emily, an american lady with an equal need to bake... there's something about meeting fellow food obsessives that's a bit like coming home.
September 10th 2010
Christmas orders are now being taken and you will be able to buy directly from sugarcake or order through the Onslow Village Deli (Guildford). Sugarcake's 'Everyday' cakes will be available to eat at the deli as of monday.
I know, I know, it's September (and i'm the first to moan about christmas festivities starting too early) but for a really delicious, memorable christmas cake you need to mature it for 2 - 3 months and pour huge amounts of armagnac on it during that time...Hence, chistmas orders are now being taken (for those of you who don't really like christmas cake don't be disheartened just skip the next paragraph and read the one after, there are endless cake possibilities for you too).
There are 4 designs to choose from this year and 4 different sizes (individual, small, medium and large) (available to view next week) and although they're not the cheapest cakes in the world, I can promise that you'll in no way be disappointed or feel cheated. Each one is made individually to a recipe that's been perfected over the years, they're filled with generous quantities of raisins, currants, sultanas, natural cherries, ground almonds, slivered almonds, zest and spices. No ingredient is skimped on and they will of course contain the best eggs and butter, oh and of course be drenched in armagnac. I like to cover them in a decent layer of marzipan and another decent layer of handmade royal icing (just soft enough to cut easily) and then add the finishing touches of handmade marzipan decoration and a matching ribbon.
That said, some people don't like marzipan, or icing for that matter or cherries in their cake...and that's why I make bespoke cakes in the first place. One year I made an italian christmas cake which was full of nuts and spices and chocolate and there is always German Stolen in our house at christmas for those that don't like christmas cake. Essentially it's the tradition of having a cake to cut and share with every christmas visitor that matters and not necessarily that it adheres to some format.
Then there's the star topped mince pies and the iced gingerbread shapes to consider but we can leave that until later in the year...
August 6th
I've been looking into Whoopie Pies...Hummm... I admit I dismissed them outright at first but I had to find out what they were, to satisfy my curiosity. At first glance I saw the 'need' for marshmallow based filling and thought omg, I mean I love sugar and sweet things but the combination of cake, marshmallow buttercream and icing with extra sugar decoration set even my teeth on edge...Am i sounding 80?!
The reality is much better,' Whoopie Pies' have humble beginnings and other less ridiculous names like 'black and whites'. They're supposed to be chocolate or pumpkin cakes with buttercream filling, no toppings and of various sizes. The marshmallow seems to come from the jars of marshmallow fluff that apparently make a quick alternative to the buttercream, as they've drifted over here the two things seem to have combined but don't quote me on that. They stem from the Amish communities in New England who are known for their love of simplicity and taking time over things.
I read that they're like a cakey biscuit, a bit dry and not as sweet as you might think and the NY Times reported that the idea of icing them and making them beautiful in form was crazy as it missed the point .
The various articles made me think. I agree, they must be easier to eat than cupcakes as they are basically a cake sandwich and the combinations must be limitless as cupcakes are but my real thought was how fantastic to be able to make individual mini cakes rather than the normal slice. No cases needed. Mini victoria sponges, mini coffee cakes...
When you look closely the recipes are weird but they must need to be a little different if the cakey biscuit is to make a dome. The other thought was that we have had sponge bites here for a very long time...I think there must be a happy place somewhere in the middle of the stateside version and our polite afternoon tea version. Something cuter and tastier, and that's what I'm working on...
Apparently the american bakery who started the cupcake craze (thanks to S.I.T.C) call theirs sweetie pies...much much better name. The story goes that originally the amish women would put them in the lunch-pails of the workers and if they got one they'd shout "Whoopie!'. Great story and by that reckoning the english version should surely be called Hooray cakes. Tea vicar?
July 8th
It's been so long but we've been busy sorting out the new cake house! In between the chaos lots of cakes have gone out the door and been happily received I'm glad to say... Testimonials are on the way. Business cards are also on the way as i've lost count of how many people have asked for one and it's a bit rubbish to scrabble around for a pen and a scrap of paper. The website is hopefully much improved, especially the image gallery and whilst the typewriter font looked good on a mac it looked rubbish on a pc. One day I'll hone the logo and start a shop and write a book and al those other things that need a 48hour day!
There are new cupcake cases and edible stars. My newest toy is a mix of oil based colourings from the states which produce vibrant colours rather than the muted shades.
The most exciting news is the possible start of a relationship with Onslow Village Deli, I've delivered samples of brownie muffins with vanilla buttercream swirls and some sticky flapjacks, a 3 layered victoria sponge and a tray of my favourite millionaires shortbread with the jackson pollock chocolate effect, I hope they go down well so I get to bake a variety of things for them alongside the bespoke cakes. It'd be great to be able to provide a little piece of delicious baking on an everyday basis. fingers crossed.
January 1st
Happy New Year!
December 14th
It's less than 12 days 'til Christmas and the tree looks beautiful, the mince pies are made and the cake is sitting wrapped in marzipan awaiting its icing and decoration.
Over the weekend my newly found plumber took delivery of 100 (plus 5 extra just in case and some brownies for his family) black and white cupcakes and a square, 7 tiered cupcake stand. Chris rang to say how delighted she was which makes my job all the more worth doing. I worked on 5 designs in the end with only one requested, black ties. I was reluctant at first due to the large amount of sugar paste needed to create them but they looked good with a stitched shirt edge to add to the detail. They were for a man who I'm reliably informed liked chocolate so my best brownies were produced (so my chief tester tells me) in batches of 12 and with very precise timing.
Sugar cake will have the keys to a new cake house in hours so once the new kitchen is finished I'll be advertising our services, just a tiny bit, to see whether I can fill a little gap... First and foremost will be Ben's Christening cake, a fitting first cake to come out of the new kitchen. We are always open for a cup of tea if you would like to see where we are, there's always a good chance of cake being there to help soak up the tea...
Merry Christmas everyone.
November 27th
It's been a while. There's been a Christening cake and a cake each for two 3 year olds delivered on the same day. Both were chocolate with chocolate buttercream but the fire engine was my first foray into sugar paste (as requested and who am I to refuse). Oh I absolutely understand the thrill of the endless possibilities but it tastes disgusting and it's made of horrible things. Glorified, edible playdough/fimo. I'm writing to Heston, there has to be another way and no, white chocolate dough won't cut it. More research needed.
In just over 24 hours I'll be presenting another cake to my very own cake loving girl who is also reaching the ripe old age of 3 (sometimes she says 11). She's so easily pleased but somehow the responsibility to please and wow seems even greater. Lolo is particularly indecisive though and different days have brought very different answers to the same question. After establishing firmly that a chocolate cake was necessary "what shaped cake would you like?" was answered by the following...A cow, a monster, a dinosaur, a fairy, lots of cakes, a butterfly, a hairy spider (we walk past one in the window of Heals most days and I have to pretend not to be generally terrified of arachnids)... Well I'm tempted by a three eyed monster but I know a fairy would be highly thought of too...Hummmm you'll have to wait and see.
Anyway in October it was officially Autumn but now we're wearing layers and gloves and hats so it's very definitely Winter and all I can think about is Christmas food and mulled wine. Yesterday evening I went to a Christmas party (they apparently knew it was November) and ate mini mince pies, amongst other nibbles, but I started calculating how many I'd need to make this year and couldn't quite concentrate on the conversation...I tolerated them when I was a kid but now it's a different story and without fail I make loads of mince pies and lots and lots of mini ones. I started making little mps in Oz when we had the big day next to the beach but I still got excited and bought a ham to cook and a tray to make mini mps and produced all the little niceties to go along with the barbie on the day... I've always been obsessed. Actually I discovered just how obsessed last time I moved and had 11 boxes of cookery books and more bakeware that any right headed girl should admit to.
In other sugarcake news, the other day I met a highly regarded plumber and picked his brains about plumbing before he surprisingly picked my cake laden brains. It turns out that his mother in-law Chris needs 100 black and white cupcakes for a surprise 60th birthday party...I'm delighted to have found a great plumber and a job, both a joy to be found. So coming to an image gallery soon...
Lastly I have a brilliant friend in the US of A and he's going to send me anything I request stateside, he's come up with a very technical plan. I appreciate Conway in a bigway.
October 11th
There's no disguising the fact that it's Autumn now, you know it's time to stop wearing flipflops when all you can see is your breath when you step out the door in the morning. I know it's only October but we spent the afternoon making Christmas cakes (sorry to all those, who, like me, hate any mention of christmas before the middle of November) The cake part is necessary this early for the flavours to mature (when you hear that know that it translates to 'time for a bottle of cognac to gradually seep in'). I always forget how long it all takes but really revel in the process of gathering all the ingredients, getting the balance of spices right (different year on year as each time it gets a little bit closer to perfect - well you only get to practice once a year!) and lining the tins. I don't know why but wrapping them in newspaper and tying them with string makes me feel like they're the most important part of christmas. Probably just the smell of the cognac as it soaks in to a warm spiced cake!
At the beginning of October sugarcake produced some nursery cupcakes (images in the gallery) especially for under fives. All packed with vanilla chocolate and buttercream and decorated in a fun but gentle way...Apparently they didn't last long.
The christening cake design has almost been finalised which I can't wait to get my hands on. There are also some birthday cakes to be made for some very important three year olds. Don't think that they don't notice. My mum used to let us all choose a different design every year and that was just as exciting as the idea of presents. There's a hickery-dickery-dock-clock cake story that still gets told but I'll bore you with that another time...
September 1st
The finished Alice in Wonderland cakes were delivered with one major flaw, the natural food colourings turned out to be light sensitive...Unbelievable. There was, of course, no mention from the manufacturers, or a note on the packaging. Originally I left the tiny colour testing pots next to a window for a weekend while away and thought, on my return, that the fading was because it had been so sunny. But, as I sat on the M25 for two hours (just half my journey time!)I watched them fade rapidly. Regan was still absolutely delighted but I won't be able to use them again as they're too unreliable, which is a shame. The jam tarts were also really popular, i made adult versions with special pastry and special jam (can't give out those kind of secrets) and the white hearts just finished them off nicely. I'll probably never be able to produce bare jam tarts again.
The Golden Wedding Anniversary cake went very well after covering a piece of ply wood that I had cut to size (ply over mdf as it has less flex) with gold paper and lining the underside of the cake with non-stick parchment. They seem to have various coloured foils for cake drums in the States, another thing to look into. Though it would be great to have a more contemporary solution to the chintz looking silver and gold boards. definitely a gap in the market if you don't want to cover your board in fondant paste.
Speaking of which...I do understand it's overuse now. It might taste terrible but it solves a huge amount of problems and makes modeling and shapes so easy, especially as marzipan has such a particular taste. Sugar paste and rolled fondant certainly isn't the lazy option but it doesn't require as much thought as decorating with taste in mind.
The next brief is for a 3 year olds birthday and I'm reliably informed that she likes princesses, mermaids and ballerinas...I'll keep you posted.
Lastly, now Autumn seems to have officially reared it's head can I remind everyone that there are lots of exciting things about a reduction in sunshine. Apart from the compulsory kicking piles of leaves around there are also toasted crumpets and pikelets, hot buttered toast with warmed jam (try it if you haven't already). Hot chocolates and toasted marshmallows, pies, tarts, puddings and creme anglaise instead of ice-cream... There is so much to look forward to despite the fact that it's starting to get dark much too early.
August 20th
I tested the natural colours today! They smell not dissimilar to an old health food shop but the actual colours are quite good. I think I will have to use pale versions of the actual colours and use lemon juice or rose water to mask the faint smell. As a friend pointed out, how can we have naturally coloured, jewel like Smarties and not a similar product for domestic application?...May have to do some more research and ask some pointed questions.
The gold dust has also arrived which looks great. I have had difficulty finding a large enough tray to bake a large slab cake in but the cake will now be made in shallow layers rather than in one piece. Just a pattern to design and a 50 x 60cm board of some description to find. Maybe Perspex or covered MDF, gold tinfoil is very elusive at this time of year though and everything has to be food safe, obviously...More research to do. I love my job.
August 4th
The very exciting Alice and Wonderland project has been approved (via Facebook)and will be delivered later in the month. Sketches can be seen on the site. Natural food colourings have finally been sourced from the states and are due to be tested next week, they were amazingly hard to find (you'd think they'd be readily available knowing what we know about e-numbers) but I've yet to see how they taste. It'd be a shame to have pretty miniature cakes that tasted of beetroot and saffron!
Next item to stock up on is gold dust... not quite as hard as it sounds. Will be working on some designs for a 50th wedding anniversary, definitely need to create a cake to replace the medal that the lovely couple deserve. Will keep you posted.