Monday 11 July 2011

A sneak peak.... Sunday tea party

Just a little taster of the baked goods that I made for yesterday's tea party. The rest of the pictures should be up by tonight! These are the rasberry cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream icing, the recipe is in my second ever post!

Saturday 9 July 2011

Tea party preperations

So today i was supposed to check out prices for printing flyers, that sadly didn't get done! I got distracted in a cute little baking shop in Cork and bought a few too many cake decorations. My mam is having a little afternoon tea party tomorrow afternoon and I'm in charge of dessert...cupcakes naturally!!
I'll put some pictures up once they're done!
Happy Saturday!




Friday 8 July 2011

Tiptoe # 2

So next step in operation cupcake (original, I know) is tomorrow when I'll be heading to Cork city. I'm basically going to check out some office shops that do leaflet printing and find out how much it would cost to print maybe 20-50 flyers.
Have a delicious weekend!

The Country Market

So as I said earlier, today I was going to check out a country market held in my town to see if I'd be interested in selling my cupcakes there. Well I walked in and there were two old ladies sitting just by the door with a box of money, one just smiled and said just go in . So I did , into a big room where there were 2 other old ladies siting down in the corner chatting away and that was it. no one else! They had about 3 tables lined up that had brown bread, eggs and some queen cakes scattered on them...definitely no market for cupcakes!!

I Thought while I was there though I might as well buy something and support the local economy (ha by spending 1euro 60! every little helps they say!..)and bought 4 little buns, really cute, like ones i used to make when I was younger...they bought me right back:) So this tiptoe brought no business success but a lot of nostalgia...and who doesn't like nostalgia!

So I know this a baking blog but I am seriously obsessed with beyonce's new album, well the three songs I've heard from her anyway! I have been listening to this song on repeat for about a week, think it's time I bought the album!

Anyway today is step one of setting up my little cupcake business, well it's not so much of a step as a tiptoe but I said I would bog my journey so...!
This afternoon I'm going to a country market that's held in my town to check it out really. I had never even heard of it before last week so I'm not sure if many people even go to it. I want to see if it's popular and even if their would be an audience for my cupcakes. I'll keep ye informed:)

Happy Friday!

Strawberries and cream Birthday Cake




So this is a reeally simple recipe. I made it for my dad who loves a nice simple fresh cream cake, so for his birthday I made him this (I'm broke remember :S). Anyway It's a basic sponge mixture but sponge can often be dry and this is a really good recipe I think. Again, perfect for a summers day! filled with freash cream and strawberries, it's light but delish! enjoy!




175g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
3 eggs beaten
175g self raising flour, sifted

Two 7inch diameter sandwich tins


1. Preheat the oven at 180'C/ 350'F/gas mark4. Greases and line the sandwich tins.

2.Cream the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

3.Beat the eggs into the butter and sugar mixture, beating well after each addition.

4.Sift the flour over the mixture and fold in with a spatula.

5.Pour the mixture into the prepared tins. Smooth the top and bake in the oven for around 20.

6. Leave to cool in the tins for a few mins before turning them out and taking off the lining paper. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

7. Whip about 150 mils of cream and spread over one of the sponges. Cut some washed strawberries into thin layers and place over the cream until the cream is covered. Place second sponge on top, spoon a tablespoon of cream in about 8 spots around the top of the cake and top with half of a strawberry. Finally sift some icing sugar over the top and serve....with tea!

This is really the nicest the day it's made, as you're using fresh strawberries and cream it won't really last long so it's best made for a party where it will be snatched up in seconds!