Archive for the ‘Cupcakes’ Category
Lost in cake world
Posted on: March 27, 2013
We’ve been so busy recently that I forgot we even had a blog…how bad is that? It’s been a funny old 6 months since we last blogged but the truth is there are just so many social media outlets these days it is truly hard to keep up, it’s a job in itself, on top of our ‘actual jobs’.
So what’s been happening? well other aspects of our daily lives seem to have been so busy and making cakes and running classes all take up our time. The baking-trend roller coaster does not seem to be losing momentum, indeed, there are still numerous new baking/cake decorating publications making there way onto the shop shelves and stores selling equipment, as well as actual cake shops, still popping up everywhere. Literally, there are now ‘pop-up’ shops opening on the high streets and in malls. I think they are a great idea as they do not involve the expense and dedication required involved in opening a full-on commercial property and they can be moved to popular areas depending upon demand.
So what else is news? Well, we have just published the dates of our new cupcake decorating classes on the website which you can see here: http://www.angelscakesandbakes.co.uk/angels-cakes-and-bakes-workshops.html
We accept Paypal now too which is a bonus for people, so no fuss, just an easy-peasy payment and booking procedure! So if you haven’t been on one of workshops yet then book early to avoid disappointment we always have loads of fun and there is so much to learn!
Look at the ladies here with their prize cupcakes! 🙂
Well that’s all for now, I’m off to make fondant willy’s, oh the joys of my job, Hope to see you soon! 🙂 xxx
Where did it come from, it just crept up on us from nowhere! Xmas is just a stones-throw away & boy have we been busy!
Our classes for 2011 ended in November but we had a lovely last class with many of our students returning for the festive workshop, which was great! They made some really lovely cakes and I got some great feedback from many of them to say how much they enjoyed the class and some of them also visited at the Xmas stall too!
The Xmas Food Fayre at Port Sunlight was very busy this year but I think there were more people taking leaflets about our cakes and enquiring about our classes than actually buying our delicious delicacies (which is still good news). I think that with the influx of cookery and baking programmes now on TV people are giving it a whirl themselves, and good on them too! We are always happy to have a stall at a couple of these types of events every year and spread the good cakey word, particularly about our workshops at Claremont Farm.
We were really happy with the stand this year, we do try to make it as festive as possible and the lights and voiles really added to that I think. Anyway there were loads of visitors and our mince pies sold out again (we can never make enough) thanks to a local DJ telling people about how fab they were, and we weren’t going to argue!
Our cream soda push pop cakes did not sell as well as we would have liked, they sold-out in the summer so I am guessing they are more of a summer thing, we made the syrup ourselves and were very pleased with the results so summery ‘cream soda push pop cakes’ here we come! A big seller were our sweetie-pops, they were a new line we added and basically consisted of marshmallows on sticks with white chocolate drizzled over and sweeties stuck on top, and they were yummy, even though I say so myself!
Our jam tarts are always a big seller too, they all sold out, along with our Baileys Cream cupcakes and our triple chocolate ones! So all-in-all it was successful and very festive, although we did do better last Xmas and at the summer Fayre (we sold out in 4 hours), I think this is more of a sign-of-the-times especially after talking to other stall holders who also said that business was slower than at previous events!
I wanted to share with you a picture of one of this years Caribbean Christmas Cakes we have been making, full of lovely fruits such as mango, dates and figs, lots of Caribbean rum and covered in golden brandy marzipan and Madagascan vanilla fondant!
I am not a massive fan of fruit cake if I am honest but I have saved one of these for Xmas day so that I can sample it myself and hopefully not be disappointed.
Other news is we are currently working on our new website which we are hoping will be up-and-running in early 2012, with lots of new exciting features and links, so watch this space, and we have also been approached about supplying our wares to a couple of outlets- more about that in the new year! (*fingers crossed*)
Well I must dash now as I have lots to do but all that remains for me to say, and all of us at Angels HQ, is have a fab Christmas and end of 2011 and I look forward to blogging in 2012! Thanks for reading Kim x
Cakes, cakes, cakes!!
Posted on: October 4, 2011
Long-time no post!
We have had such a busy time at Angels Cupcakes lately and our larger, celebration cakes have really taken off! I have posted quite a few pictures on Facebook so do check them out!
First let me get you up to speed on what’s been happening since the last entry.
We have had 2 classes at our new venue; Claremont Farm, a full intensive learning day and a cupcake perfection class. The new venue is great because they have a professional kitchen which we can utilise and give more extensive demo’s etc.
This slideshow shows the ladies hard at work on the intensive class. I am always amazed at the beautiful creations they produce. Our next class is on Sunday and following that we are having a ‘Midsummer nights Dream’ themed cupcake class for Halloween instead of the traditional pumpkins/witches type decorating- route!
Whilst we are on the subject of Halloween below (& in slide show above) is a picture of a Spooky Gothic castle cake that we made for a Gothic-themed 30th Birthday party recently! The cake was a surprise but apparently went down a treat!
This cake was very popular on our Facebook site and occasion cakes generally, as I mentioned earlier, seem to be making a come-back! But we still love Cupcakes too, our Christmas Cupcake workshop sold out in September but we are really looking forward to seeing the creations our students produce on the Halloween class first! I will keep you posted! Check out our other cakes on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/AngelsCupcakesUK
Summer, sun and flowery cupcakes!
Posted on: July 27, 2011
- In: Cake | cupcake decorating class | Cupcakes | Photos | summer | Uncategorized
- 2 Comments
I am thoroughly ashamed that it has been over a month since my last blog-post, okay, okay so I always say something similar…’we’ve been really busy’, ‘up the wall’, ‘no time to turn-around’….its all true I swear!! Okay so whats been happening I hear you ask, well, now you come to mention it, we have been up the wall! Since the last blog-post which was a summary of our Secret Garden cupcake workshop we have also held a full-day intensive course; ‘Flower Power’, which concentrated on (obvious maybe) ‘Flowers’ and forming beautiful flowers for adorning cupcakes!
It was a great class and there were some beautiful creations like this one (bottom) which is a fine example of ‘less is more’
Occasionally students have a tendency to either over-load their cupcakes with decorations or run out of cupcakes and pile all the decorations they have made on to one cupcake! But I think this is a great example of a simple but beautifully adorned cupcake made with florist paste and a silicone mould! (which are my new best friends). Below are some other examples made by a student who, I am sure she wouldn’t mind me describing as a ‘tom-boy’, and whom produced some of the loveliest flowers I have seen for a while. I particularly like the pink one on the right hand-side!
So a successful day all round and I have since had lots of nice feedback from those who attended to say they really enjoyed their day! I am also glad to announce that we have a new venue for our courses, which will now be held at Claremont Farm on the Wirral in their professional kitchens! http://www.claremontfarm.co.uk/forthcomingevents.html check out this link to their website for upcoming events and more details of our courses!
Anyways, there is more news but I have to go, but I will share with you news of our latest event at Port Sunlight Village Fayre very soon! Thanks for reading our blog!
The Angels x
The Secret Garden Workshop (2)
Posted on: June 21, 2011
I cannot believe how quickly this month is flying by! Our workshop at the start of June was a great success, we had another full class and the students produced some beauties! We decided upon the ‘Secret Garden’ as a theme so that we could make some lovely creepy crawlies and flowers!
Above are just some of the students beautiful creations! Plus some pics of them hard at work!
For more pictures and updates see our facebook page ‘Angels Cupcakes’
Beautiful wedding cupcakes!
Posted on: April 7, 2011
Hi all,
its been a while but as usual it’s been busy here at Angels Cupcakes HQ. Anyways it is just a short blog post today to share some photographs of a recent wedding which we particularly enjoyed catering for. The colour scheme was Ivory and gold and we baked and decorated 2 different types of cupcakes. We made 4 dozen fondant topped vanilla sponge cupcakes in gold cases (below),
and 5 dozen vanilla buttercream topped sponge cupcakes in plain cream coloured cases (below).
We also made a wedding cake topper for the summit of the cupcake stand to really set off the design. A close-up is pictured below:
All of the cakes were topped with hand-made sugar flowers, around 400 in total and a total of around 500 edible pearls so it was quite a tall order but we enjoyed every bit of it!
We thought we would share these photos with you and if you would like to see the finished product please visit http://www.angelscupcakes.co.uk and look at the wedding tab under the gallery category! thanks for looking! P.S we still have a couple of places left on our cupcake decorating course on May 8th, for more info contact us at info@angelscupcakes.co.uk!
Cupcake Class: Hearts & Flowers!
Posted on: March 28, 2011
Following the success of our Cupcake Master-class last year, and after many enquiries, we now have a date for the next Cupcake decorating class which will take place on Sunday May 8th on the Wirral, near Cheshire.
‘Hearts and flowers’, our summer homage to cupcakes, will focus on the decoration element of cupcakes, enabling students to create a summery themed selection of cupcakes to take home (12 to be exact). The day will include a lovely lunch, refreshments as and when required and 2 boxes of 6 cupcakes lovingly decorated by your own fair hand.
This class will focus on buttercream piping techniques, creating hand-made roses and flowers and will also look at creating colour-schemes for events such as weddings and occasions which you keen cake-decorators may need to cater for!
For more information please e-mail us at info@angelscupcakes.co.uk and we will be happy to send you more details. Please note that places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis!
Thanks x
Apology & Baking study results!
Posted on: March 23, 2011
- In: Cake | Cake study | Cupcakes | Food | General News
- Leave a Comment
Hi all,
I have to firstly apologize for being so quiet for so long, I feel bad! let me say though that I have had a bit of a nightmare. We have been really busy (with one thing & another) here at Angels Cupcakes HQ, admittedly that is the good bit! But then we had an enquiry for a large order and unbeknown to the people who made the enquiry their whole address book was intercepted and they sent virus’s to everyone! Needless to say this was a nightmare for us because one thing led to another and we ended up having to order new hard drives, another back-up system etc. and some of the files were corrupt and irretrievable. So since our main system has been down we have been unable to access alot of our day-to-day information, passwords etc including coming on here to update our blog.
In the long run this has been good for us because firstly It has made us more vigilant about opening attachments from e-mails (even if we know the sender) and I would always recommend not opening an attachment unless you know you are being sent one and making sure (obviously) that your spam-ware/security is well up-to-date! And secondly because we have updated our operating system and programmes we now have a really efficient system which works much quicker, helping us to do stuff quicker and more efficiently. Happy days (now).
Anyways update & lecture over, but seriously if you do have important stuff on your hard-drive please BACK IT UP, BACK IT UP, BACK IT UP!
So, since we last got together we ran the study to see which products work best when baking sponge: we are not going to publish a research document which has been peer reviewed or anything and the study certainly was not stringent in all conditions but on the whole the outcome was this…..You get what you pay for! We found Lurpak butter worked better and tasted nicer both in the sponge and the buttercream that we made, compared to the cheaper versions. McDougals flour came out on top in the sponge stakes too! We are not endorsing (or being paid) to share these results by the way, but as professional cake-makers we wanted to make sure that we are giving our customers the best quality products by testing cheap versus expensive ones to see if it really does make a difference. We did find that when it came to sugar- there really was no difference but flour and butter were the most important factors when it comes to lighter sponger and more tasty results!
On the whole for lighter sponge cakes/cupcakes I would highly recommend McDougals flour, Lurpak butter, for both sponge and buttercream, and any sugar that you like, although we tend to use Tate & Lyle fairtrade icing and caster sugar. We did find that Aldi butter was also very nice and produced a lovely ivory coloured buttercream, but for lighter buttercream stick to Lurpak. We ALWAYS use free-range lion branded eggs, and we didn’t test eggs because we wouldn’t buy eggs that were from caged hens even for our study.
Anyway we hope this has been of some use to you all, we have found it really useful and will continue to use the best products we can find in our cakes. If you have any tips for bakers or any products you cannot live without please reply to this blog or join us on Twitter and let us know! Thanks for reading and we will post some lovely photos very soon!
Cupcakes Galore
Posted on: January 24, 2011
- In: Cupcakes | Food | Photos | Uncategorized
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We have been busy the last couple of months with both enquiries and orders and we’re hoping that February will follow suit! In fact for Valentines weekend we have a very special offer; a gift box of 6 cupcakes in 3 of our most popular flavours: Vanilla, Triple Chocolate and very lemony. Each box of cakes will be decorated with either pink or red valentines themed decorations including the personalised initial of your loved one. Each box also includes a matching bow in either pink or red, all this for only £10. For more information see the website www.angelscupcakes.co.uk Why give flowers when you can give the gift of cakes!
Last week we made some very nice personalised cupcakes for a 40th birthday, which also included the initial of the birthday lady, a nice bright pink letter ‘M’. The customers husband was kind enough to send me a picture of the cakes on one of our hired glass stands!
So if you are local to the Wirral and would like to give the gift of cupcakes this Valentines day drop us a line!
Angels Cakes & Bakes Blog 