End of a great Bank Holiday Weekend

The weekend has gone too quickly! But it has been a fab one. Had a lovely BBQ at our friends and the weather was fab. And a bit of shopping which is always good.

Baking wise have done peanut butter, oreo cookie and coffee cupcakes. Made a slight change to my peanut butter ones by spreading peanut butter on top of the cake before putting on the frosting, was extra yummy! Have not yet made the red velvet cupcakes, will be doing those this week.

Things have gone quiet so need to fire up the marketing. Am looking into doing a farmers market. Think that would be a good way of getting the local people aware of me.

Think i am also going to have to fork out some money to get advertised in places too. Everything costs money! Need to also try more local deli's to see if they want to stock any cupcakes.

The Weekend has landed

Thank god it's Friday!!! Day job done and now for some serious work! Cupcakes!

Got a few to make as a sample for a local farm shop tomorrow. Hopefully they will put in a regular order. Just trying to work out pricing. As I obviously need to charge less than what I would a normal consumer as they need to sell them on. That's a thought for this evening.

Other things to do this weekend:

• More work on press release
• Costings of new recipes
• Order more business cards
• Sort out business bank account, had the form for a while now...
• Buy some fabrics for taking pics

Going to make some Red Velvet Cupcakes this weekend as would like to add it to the range. Below is the recipe i have got hold of, it's the one from Magnolia Bakery in NYC. Enjoy :-)

Ingredients
-3 ⅓ cups cake flour (not self-rising)
-¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
-2 ¼ cups sugar
-3 large eggs, at room temperature
-6 tablespoons red food colouring
-3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
-1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
-1 ½ teaspoons salt
-1 ½ cups buttermilk
-1 ½ teaspoons cider vinegar
-1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

Frosting:

-1 pound (two 8-ounce packages) cream cheese, softened and cut into small pieces
-6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces
-1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
-5 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

Directions
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Grease and lightly flour three muffin tins. Place cupcake papers in the tins.
-To make the cake: In a small bowl, sift the cake flour and set aside. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
-In a small bowl, whisk together the red food colouring, cocoa, and vanilla. Add to the batter and beat well.
-In a measuring cup, stir the salt into the buttermilk. Add to the batter in three parts, alternating with the flour. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overheat.
-In a small bowl, stir together the cider vinegar and baking soda. Add to the batter and mix well. -Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.
-Divide the batter among the prepared pans. Bake each tray for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 1 hour. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting:

-In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth, about 3 minutes.
-Add the vanilla and beat well.
-Gradually add the sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating continuously until smooth and creamy.
-Cover and refrigerate icing for 2 to 3 hours, but no longer, to thicken before using.
-When the cake has cooled, spread the frosting liberally on the cupcakes.
-Makes 36 cupcakes.

Time for Tea

Today i made some "tea party" style cupcakes. They turned out ok. Pic below.

One annoying thing is the white sugarpaste was very sticky and just wouldn't play ball when using my daisy cutter, it was getting stuck everywhere!

My new texture mat arrived today so was excited to use that. Still waiting for a few bits to be delivered to try out some new styles.

Have also been looking at getting car stickers done with my logo and a vinyl banner for when i do fayres etc.

There are so many things i want to do including planning a big launch party but with the day job as well it proves a bit more difficult. Looking forward to the day where i can focus on my passion fulltime-bring on the lotto win!!!!

Marketing Magic

Trying to focus on marketing at the moment. In the words of Bridget Jones I've been "fannying about with press releases".

Looking to write a couple and distribute with the hope that someone somewhere will want to do a piece on me!

Want to try cream cheese frosting, have always used buttercream but quite a lot of people have said cream cheese is yummy so of course i must sample them! Might throw some strawberries in :-)

Have to say I'm really impressed with Twitter. As a business tool it's fab. I've met lots of contacts and people doing the same sort of business and can share hints and tips. Fab. Check out my Twitter http://twitter.com/JessicasCupcake

Here are a couple of pics of some cupcakes I've made over the past couple of weeks (Next thing is to get a better camera and light tent for taking better pics!):


These were for a Royal Mail Team Meeting





For a Man Utd Painter and Decorator

Selection of Lemon, Strawberry and Vanilla Cupcakes

The first post!

Welcome to my blog. This is my 1st ever post after deciding to join the blogging world.

I run a cupcake bakery from home and it is something I'm very passionate about. There is something really special about the cupcake. It's such an indulgence and can come in many guises and is something I love to play around with and come up with creative ideas. Also the satisfaction i get from seeing people's eyes light up when they see and taste them is great. Especially when you have the opportunity to help a couple create a magical wedding by working with them to create the perfect cupcakes.

Today I've been ploughing through the internet looking for new suppliers and have ordered some bits from http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/ and http://www.cakecraftshop.co.uk/

Made a batch of lemon cupcakes with lemon curd filling today. Half for an order and half for the boyfriend to take to football for an after match treat. A much more excited welcome than an orange!

Tomorrow plan to try out some new decorating techniques if my new tools arrive.

Have seen some fantastic wedding cakes on http://www.maisiefantaisie.co.uk/

I'd love to branch out to bigger cakes in the future but think i'll stick to cupcakes for now!