Love makes the world go round

How cute are all these Valentines cupcakes from The Gourmet Cupcake Company? I don't think anyone would be disappointed to receive a box of these on Valentines day! The lovely "will you marry me" ones in the top pic can be customised to say anything you require and the heart ones are available in your choice of flavour and colour, although I personally like the black hearts as they're rather anti-soppy while still being romantic!

As well as offering a rather fabulous array of valentines cupcakes, The Gourmet Cupcake Co offer a couple of gift ideas for all you cupcake lovers out there.

First up are their cupcake kits, which feature everything you need to get started on cupcake baking for yourself, and include 50 of their gorgeous cupcake cases- you can find out more about the kits, and order, here. They also offer cupcake decorating classes costing £75 for weekdays (£95 weekends) which includes all materials, lunch and a dozen cupcakes to take home - lasting approx 6 hours this is the best value cupcake class I've come across online. They are also due to start classes in level two cupcake decorating soon, where you learn advance icing and decorating skills, further info on both levels of classes available here.

Finally, back to the Valentines selection - for every box they sell during Valentines week (8-14 Feb) they will donate £3 to Bliss' Cake a Difference appeal.

Photographs used with thanks to Gourmet Cupcake Company.

Cupcake decorating classes @ The Make Lounge

...or the night I realised I'm not particularly good at piping and that even if I was it's not really for me!

I was very excited about my cupcake decorating class at the Make Lounge on Tuesday however I left a little disappointed. Not because of the class which was good but because I realised that I don't particularly like buttercream (I prefer good old American butter and sugar frosting) and that I'm not really one that fru fru's my cupcakes with fancy decorations - I like sprinkles and lots of glitter :) 

There were about 10/12 of us in the class. First we learned how to spread buttercream with a pallete knife onto our ready prepared cupcakes - so far, so easy. Then came the more difficult tasks - firstly rolling our own piping bag for icing -this took me a few tries (all the while thinking "why would I do this you can buy them ready done from Lakeland"), but that's not a good attitude as I was here to learn, so I persevered and finally got it - my very own made piping bag! Then we were given lots of royal icing and some great food colour paste (v.good - someone unfortunately left a toothpic covered in the blue paste in the clean toothpick cup so I got covered in it - went home with blue hands and it took a lot of scrubbing to get it off!) and mixed up some colours for our piping. We then practiced on some greaseproof paper with stencils and I was quite proud of my butterfly as it was my first attempt at one! Then came the difficult bit - piping on the cake, freehand! The teacher, Michelle of Lavender Bakery, said a good way is to etch the outline onto the cake using a toothpick which maybe I should've tried as I was pants...it was my first time so I didn't feel too bad, until I looked around and it seemed most of the others were pro's with a piping bag - I did wonder (a bit meanly perhaps) why some people had come on the course when they all seemed to be fab at it already. I was a bit despondent when I left as mine didn't look as professional as a lot of those who were in the class but I cheered up when Manny was so excited to see them and so very proud of me (last time I used a piping bag I covered myself in the contents of it and this time I was completely buttercream free!). Looking at them now,they're not the prettiest but this really was my first proper go at icing so I'm actually quite proud of them. If you look closely you can see the glitter in the pics. Sorry the pictures aren't that great - my camera got all sticky from my blue hands! 

I do recommend taking the class however if you're a complete beginner like me perhaps having a little practice with a piping bag first is to be recommended! I shall be sticking with my cupcakes covered in lashings of frosting and plenty of sprinkles/glitter! I also realised that all my favourite cupcake places (Hummingbird, Outsider Tart, Buttercup, Crumbs and Doilies etc) stick to this style of cupcake - what's good enough for them is good enough for me!

Oh and "hello" to the girl who said she read about the classes on my blog if she's reading - I'm really sorry I've forgotten your name (I'm hopeless with names -sorry) - your cakes were absolutely gorgeous btw!

Fair Cake in the news

This weeks Look Magazine has an article about people who have turned their hobby into their living and includes Shikhita Singh who gave up her job in fund management to set up Fair Cake, recent winners of Londonist's cupcake throwdown.

The article also includes a few tips for anyone hoping to "get paid to make cake" including details of course run by Cakes 4 Fun on "starting your own cake business from home" which I may look into. I have been thinking for a while of trying to supplement my income with cupcakes but I'm not sure if there is any room in the market for another cupcake'r.

Shikhita is definitely proof that people can make a living doing something they love!

Cupcake decorating classes

Fancy learning how to decorate some pretty cupcakes? I do, so I've booked myself onto the Make Lounge's first cupcake decorating class on the 7th of July! Classes are being taught by Michelle from the Lavender Bakery.

If you’ve ever marvelled at custom cupcakes and wished yours could look as beautiful, here’s your chance to learn from an expert! We’ve teamed up with The Lavender Bakery to teach you skills that you can do at home, without purchasing costly cake decorating tools. At the end of the workshop, you’ll take home a box of your own delicious creations!

You’ll learn to spread buttercream icing like a pro, make and use piping bags, colour and work with royal icing to make simple as well as complicated and detailed designs, and even use edible pearlescent glitter!

All materials provided, including plenty of unadorned cupcakes and practice sheets. You’ll also take home recipes for cupcakes and buttercream and royal icing, plus a list of shopping resources and tips for successful decorating.

Piccies will of course be posted in due course!! I'm v.excited already - I've been dying to go to the Make Lounge for sometime but I'm absolutely hopeless with a sewing machine so this is right up my street! And I am looking forward to learning from Michelle, who kindly gave me a box of specially decorated I heart cupcakes cupcakes last year!

Thanks to The Make Lounge and Lavender Bakery for the pic!!