Blossom’s First Birthday

I thought that as I’m coming up to my first birthday, or should I say Blossom Cakes and Bakes first birthday (I’m actually a wee bit older!), that it would be a good point to review my first year. Have I met my original objectives? Am I in profit? Am I still enjoying it? ....

My original aim  when I started was to set up a business that allows me to earn money flexibly around childcare commitments. As many parents will know this is not an inconsiderable challenge but I think I have achieved this, albeit with a small profit.

Have I enjoyed the work I’ve been doing? Yes I have. It’s nice to do something creative with your hands rather than sit at a computer all day, drive miles to a client or sit in a stuffy meeting room.

And so to the future. The main challenge is to develop the business into something that pays a bit more than the minimum wage! Once my youngest is in pre-school, I’ll have a bit more time to focus on the business (or is that wishful thinking?)... I’m thinking about a monthly cake club supplying  local businesses, cake decorating workshops and gluten-free cakes amongst other things.

Would I recommend this career choice to anyone else? Yes I think I would, but not in Hitchin – I don’t want any more competition!

The Perils and Pitfalls of Being a Bake-At-Home Mum

People think it’s all sweetness and light in the world of home baking but sometimes it’s not all plain sailing. Here are a few of the pitfalls and perils of being a bake-at-home Mummy (my hubby made up the ‘Bake-at-Home Mum’ bit, he’s very pleased with himself for that!):

• You have to fit in all the work when the kids are not around. You’ve got to meet food safety requirements in order to have your kitchen approved for use in a home- baking  business and little fingers and helpers don’t always don’t always make for clean caking. In practise this means I have schedule every activity around school hours, my toddler’s nap times and any child-free time in the evening.  If the toddler decides not to have a nap then the pressure’s really on.
• There’s often tempting cake off cuts and baking experiments around so it’s hard to resist the temptation to nibble (or scoff!). The waistband has definitely suffered since I started my baking business!
• Sometimes I have to shove hubby and the children out of the house on a Saturday morning so that I can finish off a cake to meet a lunch time deadline. Actually, that’s not such a hardship as I have the house to myself and I can listen to Radio 4 whilst I’m busy caking.
• There’s always something that needs doing, whether it’s updating the website, tweeting, posting photos on Facebook, researching product ideas or writing blog posts. This means that any time I’m sitting down in front of the TV I’ve got the laptop in front of me and I’m tap, tap, tapping away on the computer. I never really switch off from it. If I upgrade my mobile to a Smartphone I might never get away from it!

Whoopie Pies

I thought I ought to test out some of the recipes from the recipe books that seem to have proliferated on my kitchen window sill, so I made a start with ‘The Whoopie Pie Book’ by Claire Ptak.

What is a Whoopie Pie, you may well ask. Well they’re not pies at all, they’re cakes, basically two mounds of sponge which are sandwiched together with a creamy filling such as buttercream.

I first heard about Whoopie Pies about a year ago when they were being lauded as the new cupcake (cupcakes being so last year!). Well I don’t think they are going to replace the cupcake any time soon as they don’t offer the same possibilities for decoration and are a little less practical than cupcakes (if a cake can ever be practical!). However they are fun little (or large) sweet treats that anyone can have a go at making without going too wrong. They’re not meant to be pretty things,  their main aim in life is just cakey squishy loveliness.

Claire Ptak’s book is visually attractive and it pretty much does what is says on the tin.  There’s over 120 pages of whoopie pie recipes, some recipes for brownies, cookies and macaroons and a helpful section at the end of the book on techniques and equipment. I like recipe books that have a picture for each recipe and this has that. It gives you an idea of what you’re aiming for even if you don’t get there first time.

I fancied trying something a little different from the normal chocolate or vanilla so I opted for the Salty Caramel Whoopie. The recipe is fairly straight forward, you beat together brown sugar, and eggs, add in the dry ingredients and then mix in a cooled mixture of melted butter and milk. You then chill the batter for 30 minutes. You drop scoops of batter on a baking tray and then bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. You then let them cool on a rack.

The book says you should sandwich together the Whoopie halves with Caramel Swiss Buttercream. This requires double cream, sugar, butter and egg whites.  I had some spare buttercream left over from an order so I used this instead but I added little crumbs of toffee to give it a caramel taste. I topped off the pies with some melted milk chocolate and a sprinkle of toffee crumbs.

I wasn’t totally happy with my first attempt at this recipe as the sponge didn’t rise as high as I would have liked. I think I probably didn’t beat the sugar and egg mixture for long enough. However, they did taste good and I’ll have another go soon to get the pies to rise more.



It’s the Thought That Counts: 10 Romantic Things To Do For Under £10 in Hitchin

My husband asked me yesterday if we were going to part with any of our hard pressed funds to buy each other Valentine’s cards this year. His point was that we’ll look at them for 10 seconds and then put them on the bedside table for a couple of weeks until they are put in the bin.  It’s not the most romantic way of approaching Valentine’s but I guess he’s expressing a thought that  crosses a lot of people minds at the moment, why spend money on something that doesn’t have much longevity and may be doesn’t really reflect how much you care? I guess the argument is that it’s the thought that counts! Well if you’d like some inspiration for showing  your loved one that you do really care but don’t want to break the bank, then here are a few ideas you might like to try:

1.       Buy fresh berries and some posh chocolate, melt the chocolate in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. Dunk the berries in the melted chocolate and place on a non-stick sheet to set. You could do this the day before and keep in the fridge until you want to surprise your sweetheart with a yummy treat. You could have them for pudding, or munch them in front of the TV together or even have them for a decadent breakfast in bed (don’t blame me if you get chocolate on the sheets though!).

2.       Buy your sweetheart a little gift from The Yard at 23 Churchyard, Hitchin. They’ve got lots of pretty gifts for under £10 that will allow you to show your loved one you care and they might be something they want to keep for longer than a card.

3.       Borrow a book of love poetry from Hitchin Library (they need our support). You could look for something by W.H. Auden, Lord Byron or Shakespeare.

4.       Download some romantic music onto your sweetheart’s phone/player. You could go for some really cheesy 80’s stuff like ‘Up Where We Belong’ by Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes or something a little more modern like Ellie Goulden’s version of Your Song.

5.       If you’d like to get something a little whimsical why not have a look in Eric T. Moores second hand book shop. You could look for something that will appeal to their sense of humour or maybe something that just looks nice on the shelf.

6.       This is one more for the chaps but if your fella likes a nice pork pie then you can’t go wrong with a visit to Allingham Bros butchers (they do a rather nice faggot too!).

7.       How about treating your Valentine to a nice cup of coffee and a naughty slice of cake at Halsey’s Deli and Tearooms. They have some rather decadent chocolate and caramel covered brownie or their giant meringues are super sweet but have a lot less fat.

8.       For a really low cost treat why not buy some sweets from Merricks and give them to your Valentine to munch on at work.

9.       If you can spend your lunch our together then why not have a little picnic (weather permitting) on the river bank by St. Marys.

10.   And finally I can’t really miss an opportunity for a plug of my own yummy stuff now can I? There’s my lovingly baked and hand decorated iced heart biscuits. For £2.50 you can buy them with a short romantic message on them e.g. ‘Love You’ or get them  personalised with your sweetheart’s name. If you fancy something more decadent, then I’m doing chocolate or vanilla cupcakes decorated with hearts or roses. These start at £7.00 for 4. Here’s a link to my website: www.blossomcakesandbakes.co.uk.

And in case you’re interested I told my husband that I’d like a card on Valentine’s day (but that’s only ‘cause I’ve already bought him one!). We’ll see what happens on Monday!

Do you have any other suggestions for romantic things to do for under £10? Why not leave a comment?

Not Going Out

I’ve been struggling with what to write for this post as it’s all been a bit hectic here. Eldest child has Chicken Pox (or Chicken Spots as they have been renamed here) and is off school, youngest doesn’t have it yet but I guess it’s only a matter of time. So with two kids at home and not going out I’ve not had a lot of time to be inspired for the blog.

I have the prospect of 3 or 4 weeks of being confined to barracks as I have to wait until I’m sure the second child either gets the pox or doesn’t, before we can resume normal duties.

This means I’ve got to fill the day with stuff to do at home when eldest would normally be at school and I would be taking youngest to a toddler group or Music Train etc. I’ve printed off some topic cards from the Sparklebox website so I can do Home School with the eldest later and I’m hoping the youngest will be happy joining in or watching a bit of CBeebies!

To be honest it is a little frustrating having to abandon the normal routine, but I guess that’s part of the reason I’m a stay-at-home mum as I do have the flexibility to re-arrange or drop things to look after the kids without having to negotiate time off with an employer.  My baking schedule isn’t too mad so I can still meet my obligations this week but I won’t be able to get out to a useful networking event which is shame.

There, I promised that there might be the odd rambling blog post and here it is! Will try to get really inspired for the next one!

How to Bake the Perfect Cake

I'm not going to give you any amazing recipes just a little tip: practise!
It really is that simple, although I'm not saying its easy! The secret of good baking is getting the recipe right, following instructions and then working out what is the best setting on your oven. Start with an easy recipe - you can't go wrong with Delia - and then practise until you're happy with it. Then you can move onto something more challenging.

Other useful tips for baking the perfect cake include:

1. If you have children get your partner to take them out for the morning.
2. Make sure you have an accurate set of scales.
3. If it doesn't turn out right then try again.

And if all else fails you can always order a cake from your favourite local cake baker!

Getting to Know You ...

Getting to know everything about you (well me actually) ... Well may be not everything but as this is my first I thought I ought to introduce my self properly.

Well I'm Susan, I'm married with 2 kids and I run a baking business from home. I've not always been in the business of cakes and baking, in fact my background is originally in engineering. After I graduated I spent a few years doing techy things and then switched to sales which I did for a long time until I had my children.

The idea of setting up a baking business came about from spending too much time watching cake videos on youtube. I've been running the business for nearly a year now and its going ok so far.

Why am I writing a blog you may be asking. Well I won't lie to you, my ulterior motive is to raise the profile of my baking business but I also quite like the idea of writing things about what interests me and I think my husband might benefit as I might spending less time wittering away at him and do it in a blog instead!

So what can you expect to read about in future posts? Well there's the baking related stuff like recipe reviews and tips, cake book reviews, details of what product ideas I've got in mind and photos of the stuff I've been making. I'm also thinking about writing about the town where I live which is Hitchin, as its a nice place with lots of interesting people. And possibly anything else that's on my mind at the time.