Christmas cake baking!

I know some of you may simply not want to even hear the word mentioned... but I couldn't resist a little blog about... Christmas! I have been baking Christmas cakes every day for the past week and my final ones are now happily baking in the oven.

I absolutely love the whole process of baking fruit cakes as they remind me of baking them with my mum when I was young. We would have a ritual every year in November when my dad was out at work and my brothers were staying with friends. We would soak the fruits the night before which was so satisfying and the smell... divine! Then we would mix and blend and chop and get it in the oven, once it was safely baking away we would watch films and eat crisp sandwiches (nice and healthy!) after about 30 minutes of baking, we could start to smell that beautifully homely smell, 5 hours later... it was done. As I write I can smell that same nostalgic smell of Christmas and feeling all warm and cosy at home!




I soak my fruits in brandy and then feed my cakes several times before Christmas, but you can of course soak them in whatever you fancy.

I will be at Kedleston Christmas Craft fair on the 27th and 28th November, with my individually iced Christmas cakes, some of the designs are pictured here. It will be a lovely event so I hope you can make it.

Cupcake decorating workshops with afternoon tea

Cupcake Decorating Workshops

Come and join us for a lovely afternoon of decorating cupcakes and afternoon tea. You will be served pots of tea until your hearts content, finger sandwiches, scones and slices of Victoria sponge, all of which are served on vintage china.



You are more than welcome to provide your own bubbly as I will supply the vintage coupes or flutes. Please just state this on booking.

Cupcake decorating workshop. You will learn how to create sugar master pieces and decorate your cupcakes in a creative, fun way. You will also learn how to make and use different icings. Come away with lots of useful tips and of course your finished cupcakes to share with friends and family.



Perfect for birthdays, hen parties, baby showers, gifts for friends and family and corporate events.

2011 dates

Vintage wedding ideas

I exhibited at the vintage wedding fair on Sunday and it was amazing! I love going there, getting inspiration and seeing all the fab products, dresses and ideas for a vintage wedding. I thought I would share a few as they are just too lovely to keep to myself!





Vintage afternoon tea wedding.

Treat your guests to afternoon tea, with classic cakes and pots of steaming tea, this will certainly keep them very happy. You can have a sit down wedding afternoon tea or let guests help themselves, whatever you decide you simply must have vintage china and cakes to complete the look.







Vintage style flowers

I recommend you contact Kerry at The Blossom Tree for vintage flowers, a very beautiful and professional florist...love!


Flowers by The Blossom Tree, Derbyshire




Wedding stationery.

I love Vintage Twee and Lucy Ledger Designs for creative, vintage inspired stationery for your wedding. They can create anything you like and are lovely ladies, I would highly recommend you get in touch with them immediately.






Fabulous vintage hair

Create your perfect hairstyle from any era, 1920's to 1950's, you name it Beth from The Vintage Beauty Parlour can create it for you... so fabulous. I was lucky enough to have my stall next to Beth so I certainly took the opportunity to photograph her and her beautiful ladies, styled ala 1940's. To get in touch with Beth, just call her on 07791 703 535 or email her at daviesbethany@rocketmail.com






There you go, lots of vintage ideas for you to create your perfect vintage wedding.

I will be at The Vintage Fair in London on the 14th November, serving tea and cake to the masses, so get down there, I urge you, its fab!

Wedgwood cupcakes

I designed some samples for a wedding cake consultation today. The bride booked with me, so I take it she liked them!




Watch this space for the final cake; its an amazing one, nothing I have done before and will certainly test my piping skills!

x

Original vintage weddings...

I have just completed another fantastic vintage wedding, the Bride and Groom were so creative and had some wonderful original ideas!

My job was to provide the afternoon tea for guests, so that I did. All guests were treated to 7 of my home made cakes; Victoria sponge, Coffee and Walnut, Lemon Drizzle and Chocolate and Cherry. The bride and groom had a Victoria sponge for their wedding cake, which I thought was fab.





My favourite part of this wedding set up was the little bride and groom area, with the cool deck chairs and vintage place settings, such a great idea, something I may well pinch if I ever get married!!



The venue was the really beautiful Beechen Hill Farm, Sue is a Twitter friend of mine so it was great to finally meet her in the flesh. They have a lovely farm and its a perfect place to get married, I would highly recommend it to anyone, as the personal service you receive is amazing.



So there you have it another vintage wedding done. I will be looking forward to meeting new brides and grooms at the vintage wedding fair this Sunday.


x

A stunning vintage wedding

I met Hannah and Rob at a vintage wedding fair in February this year; such a lovely couple to chat to you and very open about what they wanted, plus had their total trust in me straight away that they wanted me to just style it all how I had my stall table set out! They were great to work with in every way and not once did Hannah panic or get stressed out about any of the ‘at times complicated’ details.

They popped over to have a consultation with me and they were treated to an afternoon tea with cups of tea, Victoria sponge all round and examples of my china to look at. We chatted through exactly what they wanted and how they envisaged it all looking and well that was that, sorted! One vintage wedding coming up.







There was a vintage style wedding breakfast for 15 of Hannah and Rob’s closest friends and family, held at the Leopold Hotel in Sheffield and then later for the reception at St Paul’s Hotel. Both are lovely venues; very helpful and professional too. I loved the fact that the wedding breakfast was so intimate, I thoroughly enjoyed styling in all and making it look beautiful.



Everything you see on the wedding breakfast table is vintage, including the cutlery, all polished up and shining! Oh and I also sourced all of their napkins (all vintage) and created their name place tags. My lovely mum made the bride and groom Lavender hearts, they were for Hannah and Rob to keep. The only thing that isn’t vintage, is of course the cupcakes, they are fresh obviously.

They had a three tier buttercream finished cake of chocolate and vanilla flavours, topped with amazing flowers by The Blossom Tree for their main wedding cake. They also had my Victoria sponge, carrot cake and lemon drizzle all placed on vintage glass cake stands with pretty doilies to finish the look.







All of the flowers you see are provided by The Blossom Tree, they nearly brought tears to my eyes they looked so beautiful! For the reception they chose to have 14 3 tier cake stands filled with flowers and topped with old fashioned sweeties, very effective.





All in all I loved this wedding and I hope they enjoyed their day and that they will spend a life time of happiness together as they deserve it!

Congratulations Hannah and Rob!

My next vintage wedding fair will be on 19th September at the St George Hotel, Harrogate from 11.30am - 5pm. Entry is only £2.00. So any brides and grooms out there fancy a vintage style wedding then I advise you to come along as this fair is utterly fabulous with some really talented suppliers, beautiful vintage wedding dresses and of course vintage china hire and cakes!

I hope to see you there
x

A black and white wedding

Hello, not blogged for a while, I am saving up for an amazing vintage wedding blog that I will have for you in the next few weeks but in the meantime to assure you all that I haven't disappeared, here are my latest wedding cupcakes.

These were for a lovely couple; Alec and Victoria, they had a fairy tale, black and white wedding with candelabras entwined with ivy for their table centre pieces and gorgeous black name place cards tied to the backs of the chairs.. very stunning and the most eye catching wedding I have seen to date. The venue was the stunning Hassop Hall, very romantic but not good for those who suffer with car sickness, very windy roads indeed!




I am very much looking forward to seeing some of their pictures from the day, as I am sure they both looked gorgeous!