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The Cutest Cakes Ever!
I love these teeny tiny cakes created by Stephanie Kilgast, as seen on Topshop’s blog last week. Made for dollhouses (and available as jewellery) they sadly can’t be eaten but are gorgeous to look at!
Big Cat Cupcakes
Big Cat’s PR team Natalie Hartland and Chris Brown enjoy cupcakes by VCK at the company’s 10th Birthday celebrations last week. Vanilla iced cakes in black cases were decorated with orange jelly beans in line with the agency’s branding colours. The event was held at Birmingham’s Rotunda.
Chicubes!
Still on the subject of chickens, I’ve been informed that it’s national egg week. Of course it is. As I mentioned in a previous post, there seems to be a national day/week for everything. So I was sent a link to this product from Chicubes, as seen on today's This Morning; The Egg. Thought it deserved a mention, not just because it’s a nicer looking home for chickens than the standard coops, but also because it’s pink! And I love pink! The Egg is, apparently, ‘suitable for up to 5 chickens and includes a nesting area and perching bars and is the newest addition to the Chicubes range of housing’. It is available in approximately 100 colours but with a retail price of £800, I think our chickens will be staying where they are!
VCK's Newest Employees
March this year; after several years on the waiting list my husband finally gets an allotment. After much discussion as to whether we should get just half or a whole plot (we are beginners after all) he goes for two. I’m not impressed. So plans on how we are going to fill this immense area of space begin and chickens are mentioned. Again, not overly impressed. Six months on and we are now building a coop to home the six chickens that we have adopted from another plot. Currently in their own home, they will move into a new space on our plot where they are joined by some more chickens. And actually they are pretty cool.
We now have freshly laid eggs on a daily basis that are perfect for the cupcake making. And the feathery things are quite friendly. Forgiven for trying to peck my toes on our first meeting (I was wearing flip flops after all) the chickens get to have a wander around and are very good at going back into the coop. After four weeks of looking after Tikka, Korma, Chasseur, Thai Green, Tonight and Roastie, I am now impressed. Nice work ladies!
Cupcake Special Offer!
There seems to be a national week or official day for anything these days; National Jeans Day, National Complaining Day, National Hug Your Hound Day....the list goes on. So, not to be left out there is of course something for the cupcake, and it's not just a day but a whole week! National Cupcake Week officially runs from 13th-19th September and so in regognition of this event, we are offering 15% off all cake orders placed between those dates, so no excuse not to treat yourself or someone special. Please email us for full details of this offer.
Cox's Cupcakes
Two days to go until Shoe Designer Patrick Cox opens his very own cake shop in London's Soho. Teaming up with French Patissier Eric Lanlard, Cox, Cookies and Cakes will now open on 2nd September on Brewer Street, selling a selection of cookies, cakes and bars from a bakery situated above a sex shop. In keeping with the Soho theme, cakes promise to be very suggestive, but with good quality ingredients being of utmost importance. Plans to put flashing neon signs in the window such as 'moist', 'bite me' and 'better than sex' are an ingenious concept and I'm sure the bakery will have queues of customers lining the streets. I'll certainly be making a trip there myself when in London next month; the lucious lips topped cake takes my fancy!
It's a Girl!
Spoil mums-to-be with these mini cakes topped with sugar booties and a bit of sparkle. Available in pink or blue, or a mixture of both if baby's sex is a surprise! Also lovely at Christenings.
More than just a paper case
I love this range of cupcake cases from Vestlihouse. The leopard print caught my eye first but I also love the floral and the lace ones. Some nice ideas for cakes in their online photography too. Definately worth spending the money on these cases for a special occasion, and teaming up with some real flowers (sweet peas would be my choice) as they are certainly eye catching and very different.
VCK; Designed by Family
Dan at Family is my branding guru! He is responsible for the VCK brand and the design and build of the website. The latest addition are these flyers. Focusing on the cakes for the first set of flyers, his plan is to use more close up and abstract shots of the cake imagery once the brand becomes more established.
And a mention of August Animals for their post on Family. Great the VCK brand has made it to Australia, though delivery could be an issue if any orders get placed as a result of this!
Mini Mouthfuls of Joy!
Mini cupcakes; great size but dangerous! So easy to pop one of these in your mouth and eat in one go. And then another. And maybe just one more. Before you know it the whole box has gone, and you're feeling really sick. Then guilt sets in! Joking aside, miniature cakes are great for kids or large events in which a standard size cupcake is a little too much. I had miniature cupcakes at my wedding reception last year, 200 of them and they were just enough having already had a big wedding cake during the meal. My Aunty kindly made the mini cakes for me and the above photo shows off the lovely bite sized pink and cream iced delights. The chocolate ones are VCK and are a gift for a friend as long as I resist the temptation to pinch just one, or maybe two...
Luscious Lemon!
Another hot, sunny day in the UK and for me the perfect (non-alcoholic!) drink on a day like this is a glass of lemonade with ice and a wedge of lemon. Tesco Premium Lemonade made with Scilian lemons is definately my favourite. The thought of fresh lemons and sunshine brings a mediterranean, holiday feel to a summer's day, and what better cake to eat on a day such as this, than the lemon cupcake. Made with the zest and juice of fresh lemons in both the sponge and the icing, this type of cupcake is the perfect choice, accompanied by my favourite lemonade or a lemon iced tea. Sit back and relax and dream of Italy!
Marie Curie Cupcakes
Today I provided a box of 12 cakes for a charity event for Marie Curie as a raffle prize. The event was to raise sponsorship money for a cycle ride by the event's organiser with all proceeds going to the cancer research charity. Vanilla cupcakes were decorated with blue icing and a yellow flower, in keeping with the colours of the charity's branding. Hopefully lots of money was raised and the lucky winner of the cakes enjoys them!
Festival Season!
So far this year the weather has been amazing, finally a real English summer has arrived. Which has meant great news for festival goers! Here is my friend Nat at the Moseley Jazz Festival, with an important ingredient from our picnic hamper; miniature vanilla cupcakes with plenty of sparkle!
World Cupcakes
England's second match is on tonight and as the sun was still shining, typically up until today, we had planned to have a BBQ rather than watching it in a pub. Not sure if that will still be the case but we still have lots of nice things to eat while we watch the game. Instead of making a pudding (although I really felt like making meringue with fresh strawberries and raspberries) I have gone for some World Cupcakes as dessert. With just a hint of a theme, I have created cakes with white and red striped butter icing, and also a set of football pitch cakes complete with retro footballing accessories. Do you recognise Bobbly Charlton out there?! If we win I'll be making some Gold Cupcakes for the celebratory after parties. Fingers crossed!
Cupcake Backlash?
A recent article in the Times stated that the cupcake was dead. Of course I disagree. Sure, they became popular a few years back (some thanks go to Sex and the City in which Carrie munches on pastel-coloured cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery) but in my opinion the charm and 'cuteness' of the cupcake still appeals and they are here to stay, for quite a while I hope.
It is assumed that the cupcake business has been taken over by Mums wanting to do something from home instead of going back to work, but that is not the case with me and if it were, so what! According to the BBC's Junior Apprentice screened last night, the cupcake business is worth £26.5 million. Not bad for a mixture of flour, butter, eggs and sugar. But it is the care that is taken into creating the perfect cupcake, the appealing decoration and the sweet taste that makes them truly gorgeous and appealing. There has been mention of the Whoopie Cake taking over, but can you really see those presented on a 6 tier cake stand at a wedding? Perfectly nice, but not as special. Check out M&S's creations if you haven't yet seen them.
So I won't post a link to the aforementioned review (despite being fairly amusing) instead I will give a mention to the Stylist in which an April edition champions the army of cupcake entrepreneurs. We are here to stay!
Website is Live!
Incase you hadn't seen, the Vanilla Cupcake Kitchen website launched yesterday and feedback has been really great, so thank you all for you lovely messages! A big thank you also to Dan Westwood of Family for the design and build of the website, Martin Donnelly of Mezzetty for the photography and Jim and Stephen for their technical input, much appreciated! Cakes coming your way very soon!!
Another satisfied customer!
I recently had an order for for a 1st birthday and was sent these photos of the birthday girl! Pink themed and a selection of vanilla and raspberry flavours, Maggie has given the seal of approval!
April Flowers
I love Springtime, for all the obvious reasons; warmer weather, flowers start to come out, lighter evenings. I particularly like April, such a pretty sounding month but it also happens to be my birthday towards the end of the month, any day now infact. The above cakes have not been made as a special sweet treat to myself celebrating 30 (something!) years on the planet, but were an order for a marketing agency in London. Raspberry and vanilla cupcakes with a Spring theme. Can brighten up any day!
Sesame Treat!
I was sent this image about a year ago and it remains to be, without doubt, the most creative cupcake ever made! Not only is it a very cool idea but perfectly executed. I still don't know exactly who made it but it certainly deserves another blog entry. I'd like to see an Elmo too.
Can't Say No to Chocolate
It's Easter weekend, and for me that means two things; Springtime and chocolate. I'm not a particularly religious person and so I associate the long weekend with warm, sunny weather, bunnies hopping around and lots of chocolate eggs. Of course the British weather cannot be relied upon and so the sun has not been out much (and I haven't seen any bunnies) but there is always chocolate guaranteed. Although VCK predominantly offers vanilla cupcakes, you can't say no to chocolate. I found some cute coloured chicks in Paperchase and so made a big batch of moist chocolate cupcakes, some topped with coloured buttericing to match my little chicks, and the rest with a rich chocolate buttercream. With so many ways to decorate cupcakes for Spring, watch this space....
Diamonds are forever...
..or in this case they are not. I came across these edible sugar diamonds today, available from Squires Kitchen. These eye catching jewels would look great on cupcakes at a Wedding, Engagement or, funnily enough, a Diamond Wedding Anniversary, adding plenty of sparkle!
How many attempts does it take to deliver a parcel?
Finally my business cards arrive! After being printed in record time, the courier company took nearly 2 weeks to deliver due to them being totally incompetant. When they did arrive they had a blue dot on them due to an error on the printing plate. There's a special name for it although I can't remember now. Anyway, after a reprint and the cards actually being checked this time before they sent them out, I have them. I've also had some nice stickers printed up for the cake boxes.
Branding and forthcoming website design by the very talented Dan at Family
The Birthday Girl
This is my friend Kel. She is lovely! So I made her some just as lovely cupcakes for her Birthday. I think she liked them.
Wonderful Inspiration
Last night I finally got round to going to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. And I absolutely loved it! Despite what the critics say, I feel that, visually, Tim Burton has brought the fantasy story to life once again, but true to his style. Although not particularly dark, unlike his previous films, it is humerous in part, vivid in colour and full of imagination and inspiration. I could be wrong, but i'm sure that there were no cupcakes on the Mad Hatter's table for tea. Had I have been his official cake supplier, I would have suggested a range of brightly coloured, zesty tasting, quirky cakes to accompany their cups of tea. Perhaps some clock topped cakes for the rabbit, some toadstools for the caterpiller and a special 'Eat Me' cake for Alice. I'd have then made my way to the castles, first to present the obligatory heart topped cakes to the Red queen, before making my last delivery of irridescent glitter topped cupcakes to the White queen. Job done.
Website Photography
I'm very fortunate to have access to a photography studio on a daily basis and so yesterday we photographed a selection of cupcakes for the upcoming VCK website. On this occasion we shot a range of pink and cream iced cakes with a range of toppings, and shortly after the shoot the guys in the studio were more than happy to test out the cakes!
Photography by Mezzetty
Mum's the Word
So for Mother's Day yesterday I treated Mum and Mother-in-Law (as well as the rest of the family) to some classic vanilla cupcakes, topped with pale yellow and deep pink buttercream and decorated with white cutout star/flower shapes. After a huge lunch, in which we didn't think we could possibly eat anything else, we still managed to force down a cake each, with Brother-in-Law managing two! The dog wasn't so lucky, although he did steal a few empty cake wrappers lying around!
Coming Soon....
The Vanilla Cupcake Kitchen website will soon be online, showcasing all the lovely cupcakes just waiting for you to treat yourself too! As the name suggests, vanilla cupcakes are the order of the day, although many other flavours are also on offer. Last weekend saw me create three kinds of cupcake for Mum's monumental 60th birthday; lemon, raspberry and Amaretto all topped with thick butter icing. They went well with a glass of pink champagne! No point in calorie counting that weekend.
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