Setting up your own cake business from home. 5 pieces of advice.

I have had a blogging break. There is good reason for this, in April 2014 I decided to put my baking passion to good cause and start baking as a business. Some of you might have come to the blog through my post about my experience on The Great British Bake Off  , the experience made me ill. Really ill. I came down with a nasty bout of Shingles, it was a real wake up call about how the stress of the experience had affected me. I decided there and then I still wanted to follow the path of eggs and butter - but in my own way. While I was off for many weeks, bored (my over active mind never settles even when my body doesn't allow me to get off the sofa), I hatched my plan and it worked. The success of my business Lil's Parlour in less than a year has blown my mind. It has been hard work and a real learning curve. Most of all it has been satisfying and 9 months on I thought I would share my "top 5 pieces of advice" for anyone thinking of starting their own baking business. My little nuggets of advice are from my own experiences in the last 9 months and hope they help you. 

1) Make sure you are legal. 

I cannot stress this ENOUGH, this is why it is number 1 .. when you are producing food for people you need to cover yourself and your customers. No ifs, no buts.  "I only bake for friends of friends" is not a good enough excuse in court. You need to register with your local authority 28 days in advance of a single eclair coming out of your kitchen. You also need to get a copy of Safer Food Better Business and start filling it in. Be prepared to totally re-haul your kitchen, Monday nights dinner cannot be stored alongside Tuesdays cake in the fridge. All your dry goods will need to be stored in Tupperware and date dotted. You will need to think about allergens very carefully, if you have a passion of peanut butter it needs to be stored FAR away from your baking ingredients.  I also suggest getting yourself a food hygiene qualification. I completed the Level 3 in 6 weeks online, it was not only enjoyable but a real eye opener. Level 3 is probably excessive for most peoples tastes but  here is a great link to the Level 2.

 When you bake for other people it's not like when you cook for your friends and family. There are rules and paperwork. Lots of paperwork - can you be bothered with this? Think about it carefully before you commit. It's not an optional commitment. Have high standards from day 1. If you plan to take your goodies out on the road and sell at food festivals or other outdoor events you will need liability insurance. Finally don't forget the tax man .. you have to register as a business (I am a Sole Trader) and read up on tax returns and accounting.

2) Have a vision and stick to it ..

During my first few months trading I tried to be jack of all trades to all people. Bread? Sure! .. patisserie? No problem! It turned out to be a very time consuming operation where I was skipping from one thing to the next, basically I was trying to please people, not myself. I sat down and wrote a vision for what I wanted to produce, what did I enjoy doing the most? For me it was my own recipes done in tray bake and loaf form. From then on I wrote up a menu and stuck to it. I designed a logo and a colour scheme and stuck to it. Cafes are far more enthusiastic about having you on board when you have a clear vision and a clear brand. Also think carefully about your market. Who do you want to buy your cakes? Where do you want to sell them? Do you want to go high end or somewhere in the middle - these are all things you need to write down before you think about trading.

3) Go play up your own end! 

Or in other words do NOT copy other people. This is your business and it needs to be your vision. You need to develop your own unique style and recipes and trailing pintrest and facebook pages stealing other peoples ideas is not unique (but shockingly common). Obviously there are lots of things in the baking world that are going to be a copy - a Victoria Sponge for example, 4 ingredients make a sponge .. but how can you make yours slightly different? I use a higher fat content butter to make a lighter, moister sponge and home made vanilla infused sugar. Develop your own unique style of frosting flourishes or flavour combinations .. do something. Just don't stick to the same old same old. You need to stick out in the crowd. 

4) Price realistically and learn to say "no".

Remember, you want to run a business. In layman's terms this means you want to make profit.  It's a dog eat dog world out there but I have learnt that quality speaks for itself and customers will pay for quality. Do not undersell your talent and your TIME. TIME do you hear? It's not free - it needs to be added in, oh and how about that gas you use from your oven? The sanitizer, the shopping trips, petrol, cake boxes? ... These do not come for free. If you are working out your prices from ingredients alone your profit will be poor, in fact why bother? I am just speaking in real terms here. I think baking is one of the only arts (because it is an art - don't underestimate your talent) that people will offer you £20 for 2 days work. You may be tempted to take it - a sale is a sale after all but I really implore you to say no from day 1 to offers like that.  Be realistic about how long something is going to take you and charge accordingly. Also be realistic about how much you can take on, I would now much rather say no than produce a substandard product because I am pushed for time or rushing. 

Remind snotty customers that Asda (other supermarket ranges available) does a great range of celebration cakes - they come with free preservatives and e-numbers. If you value yourself and your talent your customers will value you. If someone claims they can get the same thing in Poundland let them go to Poundland. Really.

5) Get ready for the heat .. 

As in if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen. Running your own business is HARD WORK. HARD, HARD work, it is all consuming. It's nice to have a vision of standing the kitchen  in a pinny singing along to Doris Day but in reality you will be wearing a white coat, hair net and probably cursing your oven. You will probably become obsessed with finding a really good "allowed" hand cream and the washing up bottle will make you feel a bit queasy.  Be prepared to live your business 24/7 to succeed. The cake making will probably be the easy bit, the marketing, social networking, accounting, paperwork, cleaning (oh so much cleaning). Be prepared to be getting up at 5am to finish something off when you didn't get to bed until 1. Be prepared for customers to be contacting you on a Sunday, holiday, 3 in the morning (true story), be prepared for "emergency orders" and last minute changes. In a nutshell it's quite stressful - I say that in a positive way as I get a buzz off stress. I think that's probably one of the reasons I have been successful so far. Also another thing I have discovered is your customers really start to depend on you. It's a great feeling but also a pressure - can you live with this pressure? 

Finally .... a bonus tip ... 

6) Don't be a stranger.

One of the LOVELIEST things to come out of Lil's Parlour is the amazing array of people I have met also running their own enterprises. When you go to events do talk to people as these people will probably become your support network. Customers become friends and sometimes so can the competition! By surrounding yourself with a network of people in the same boat you can not only exchange ideas but you can support each other when the going gets tough, it leads to repeat business and new customers. It is true to good news travels fast (but bad news travels faster - see tip 1)  I have popped a few links to some of their businesses (mostly Facebook pages) below. 

Stevie at Maidens Fayre

Becky at Mommy Bear's Wax Melts

 Under Pressure Espresso

Spacehopper Events 

J21 Coaching 

Kate Molloy Communications 

A is for Alice.  

Pin up curl  

 

Why I shall never enter a TV "talent" competition ever again.

I have been sitting on this blog post for quite some time. You know one of those times when you wonder if you are doing the right thing? This is one of those times, however, in the spirit of democracy I felt now was the time to put my thoughts down on paper. Not only for myself but for anyone else that thinks they might like to be on the TV baking, sewing, or any other endeavor where you will be "judged" for the publics entertainment. 

You see my life has been on hold for 18 long months while I tried to live my dream of being in the Bake Off tent. From the first time I saw The Great British Bake Off I was hooked, so hooked I decided at the end of series 3 to apply to see if I could make it into the "tent of dreams". I sent off my application back in October 2012 (jeez, that long ago!) and thought nothing else of it. To my surprize after a string of phone conversations, answering the same mundane questions over and over and over again (I think this is the first test!!), 2 auditions (of which for contractual reasons I cannot tell you about!) I found myself on a train down to London to see a TV Psychiatrist. I HAD MADE IT ... I had made it as damn close as I could get for that series, I had been chosen to be the "Stand-by" to be honest I was gutted, but there was always that glimmer of hope that one of the 12 going into the tent might drop out, get stage fright, or just not turn up. The ever so friendly and ever present casting producers (who called daily for a pointless catch up) insisted it was an amazing opportunity, I had made it to number 13 out of 11,000 applicants. 2 other contestants (who shall remain nameless) had been stand bys before and it was a golden ticket for series 5, all I needed to do was stop my life for 5 months, prepare, test and submit all the same challenges as the guys who were going to get fame and recognition, oh and sign all rights to my recipes over to the BBC in the process. I didn't quite fit into the age / race / disability / insert-other-equality-gone-mad-statement here, but hey, you will next year .. sign here .. 

Well, it was irresistible .. wasn't it? 

My husband thought I was nuts, in fact to be honest, he was really cross with me for saying I would fulfil the role of "close but no cigar" for that year. I started on a 10 week crash course of staying up until 4am after my full time role as an SEN teacher developing, tasting, writing, submitting, tweaking and perfecting 9 weeks worth of signatures and show stoppers. The calls from the producers kept me going, "your recipes are AMAZING, we are so sad you are not on", once filming started I even recieved a lovely message from Mel & Sue saying "keep up the good work, see you next year!" It made the £1500 (this is an approximation but train tickets to Manchester, London, London again, and again oh and again plus ingredients, equipment and salary lost from the weekday auditions) easier to bare... as did the weekly phone calls telling me who had gone, what the technical was and who had got star baker. These names obviously meant nothing to me but I was assured it would be SO exciting to watch the series and know the outcome. I lapped all this up like some wounded puppy dog, just really pleased to be so close but so far .. I had to be on stand-by for the first 4 weekends of filming and was called to make sure I was at home so if I needed to be picked up it would be plain sailing. I even had to pack a bag .. That was my entire Easter holiday cancelled ... again, my husband was so pleased .. when most teachers were relaxing after a heavy term I was up 18 hours a day practicing filo pastry and pacing up and down waiting for a phone call.

Then the series was aired - and yes, it was thrilling, but annoying in equal measure, especially as I too had submitted a peacock bread, chai tea bread and the best opera cake ever (not as good as Mary-Ann in series 2 though, that was EPIC!) ... nothing stabbed harder than when someone with the same name as myself crashed out with a terrible decorative bread in the shape of a tomato. For godsake I was thinking ..  I could have done better than that. I know I speak for the majority of viewers who are saying the same thing but I had inside knowledge and when one of the contestants who had been very rude to me at a London audition went out in a blaze of underproved dough I grinned like a cheshire cat. This person was rude to me because I tried to help them when their own bake went horribly wrong , I suppose this should have been my first warning sign of ability to bake vs. entertainment value.


At the end of the series I could not WAIT to apply again. I thought this is IT, I have practiced like a trojan for 12 months, in fact I am now really quite good .. I know my Joconde from my chiffon, my filo from my flaky, what could possibly go wrong? I had even spent hours and hours designing recipes in different categories thinking if I got through it wouldn't be as stressful as last time as some things would be prepared.   So when after an agonising wait I received a phone call from the "new team" who asked me exactly the same questions as last year I was invited to another audition, and another where I was told I was sublime, wonderful darling, have you ever considered being a professional? We will see you soon .. I went home feeling pretty happy, I thought all that money and time invested is going to pay dividends this year. I had to sign the same gagging contracts ..  I was on my way .. 

Then strange things started happening, phone calls to my nearest and dearest asking if I had any qualifications in baking. No they said. They rang my employer asking for a copy of my qualifications, guess what - only a degree in History and a PGCE.  My husband was particularly confused as he said he felt like he was being interrogated. "They were just so persistent baby, they are convinced you have had training". Oh how I WISH I had been trained, it would have saved a lot of bloody time in the kitchen practising. I thought nothing of it and presumed it was just a new line of questioning. Then more calls started to come, "have you ever sold cake" the answer again was NO, of COURSE I haven't. Do you think if I was making money from my passion, my love, I would be applying to go on TV? You have to sign an agreement saying you had never sold cake or baking as a business, did they think I was so stupid to lie?  The reason for wanting to be on the Bake Off was so simple, I have always loved baking, I have always loved the programme, I'm a bit of an extrovert, I like a challenge .. why not? 

Then I heard nothing. We had been given a deadline and told to clear diaries for a possible appointment in London (you have probably noticed they want a lot of your time!). I waited, and waited, and lay in bed daydreaming about biscuit towers. I became tired and moody, I became quite difficult to live with. Work was the only place where I wasn't thinking about bread. At home I was still "practising". The phone rang and in about 20 seconds all my dreams came crashing down, "Hi Lucy, I'm afraid it's not the news you want to hear, your face doesn't fit this year". (YES - that is what she said - nothing about my baking my FECKING FACE DIDNT FECKING FIT!!). We also think you should open your own bakery as a professional .. I couldn't actually speak. My mind went blank and I just hung up. Obviously then a tirade of expletives came, but unfortunately for the poor lamb they were directed at my mother who at that time was driving me back from Matalan!

So this is why I will never, ever put my talent and integrity in the hands of a bunch of TV producers again. All the time, money and emotional investment .. when it came down to it my, "face didn't fit". Last time I checked the shape of your nose or the colour of your skin didn't correlate with your ability to whip up a brilliant brioche which is what I thought the series was looking for. A week ago I was very, VERY angry, I felt used and tossed aside but as I write this I just feel pretty stupid. Stupid and a lot poorer. Maybe it just proves that normal people like me shouldn't enter the idea of going near a TV show, to me people have feelings, emotions, hopes, dreams and aspirations. To them I think I was just always just a name on a piece of paper (who this year had the wrong face again.) 



**A note on this piece, this is my own opinion and may not represent your own experience - I don't discourage anyone to apply, just know what you are getting yourself into!) ** 

The face that didn't fit - with the one person who kept me sane - and was also right all along (damnit!!) 

Fudge Iced Ginger Bread - Back to school dinners

Back in 2003 I had a website, a really successful website about the social history food and of school dinners in particular. I recreated them and it was incredible how much interest there was especially in the puddings, this was the days before The Bake Off, the baking "renaissance"  and the internet being saturated with recipes. I had a sort of monopoly .. I was even in discussions about a book with a publisher but then life happened, my Dad was taken from us and the hands of time seemed to stop, I couldn't face looking at the website anymore or even thinking about it, what was such a passion became sickening over night, the human brain is a funny old thing and I often think about what "could have been" if I had kept going. There is no point dwelling on the past though and those recipes are still there in the form of my tatty old 1960s Birmingham school meals handbook along with my scrawled improvements or modern measurements / temperatures so I thought it was about time I brought some of them back to life again! Of course there was Chocolate Concrete, Manchester Tart and Sticky Toffee Pudding but my personal favourite has always been this the "Fudge Iced Ginger Bread", oh how I LOVED it .. always being obsessed with my belly I used to dream about it all the way through double maths and would be absolutely gutted if my year group was on "last dinners" and it had all gone. It has been many years since I have made it but now as the delicious of waft of ginger still lingers in the air of my home I think the love affair is about to be rekindled... It is delicious served warm with a big portion of custard or cold on its own as an afternoon treat. It keeps for up to 5 days in a sealed container and actually improves with age, the longer you leave it the bigger the layer of sticky deliciousness on the bottom gets. 

Just a quick note on the recipe, for once margarine is best. Forget about it being made to force feed turkeys during the war and all that malarky just get yourself a tub of Stork and go with it! Butter just doesn't work as well. Also use the cheapest ingredients you have (really!!), remember school cooks had a really tight budget and there was certainly no room for organic this or fair trade that, I have used bog standard plain flour, granulated sugar and stork. I have used a free range egg though :) 

Ingredients:

For the cake: 

8oz Plain Flour

4 level teaspoons ground ginger 

4oz Stork or margarine

4oz granulated sugar 

8oz golden syrup

1/4 pint milk

1 egg 

1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

For the "fudge icing"

1oz margarine

2 dessertspoons of milk 

6oz icing sugar 

1. Prepare a swiss roll tin - line with parchment paper (it is REALLY important it is lined with non stick paper). Preheat your oven to 150c / gas mark 2 / 315F

2. Put the margarine, sugar, milk and golden syrup in a saucepan and melt on a low heat until all the ingredients are combined. Leave to cool for around 5 minutes.

3. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl and then sieve in the ground ginger. 

4. Beat the egg and bicarbonate of soda into the melted marg mixture.

5. Pour this into the dry ingredients and beat for 5 minutes (yes, 5 minutes). 

Your mixture should look like this (I always think carrot cake batter without the carrots)

6. Pour into the prepared tin and pop in the middle of the oven and bake for 50 minutes (yep, that isn't a typo, 50 minutes).

Meanwhile prepare the fudge icing. 

7. Put the butter and milk into a saucepan and melt over a low heat, this won't take long, take off the heat, turn the heat off.

8.  Beat in the icing sugar, beat until it is shiny and smooth, it will be rather yellow - don't worry about it! Put to one side to cool.

9. Take the cake out of the oven, if it is "hissing" it needs a couple of more minutes. It should be spongy and quiet firm. 

10. Beat the fudge icing again to remove any skin that has formed and pour over the hot cake. Spread all over with a pallet knife and leave to cool in the tin. 

11. When cool, slice and eat - or slice and store for up to 5 days in a sealed container. It lasts about 2 hours in my house though, half is already gone as I type! This is not a time for fancy pants photos on vintage platters so here is the final masterpiece! It is simple and so SO tongue tingling delicious and so, so light! 

Afternoon Tea at Hotel Du Vin Birmingham - Review

I love afternoon tea. What isn't there to love, an excuse to sit down with my favourite drink in the world and indulge in my favourite pass time .. eating cake and scones. 

Birmingham isn't the first place you think of when you think "afternoon tea" , if you are anything like me afternoon tea strikes up images of The Dorchester, The Savoy and my ultimate "one day" destination Claridges - all in London. When a colleague at work mentioned she had been for afternoon tea at Hotel Du Vin in BIRMINGHAM and that it was lovely I couldn't wait to investigate! In fact with in 24 hours I had booked, eaten and digested! 

Booking was easy through the website  or alternatively you can always take your chances and just turn up. Afternoon tea is served daily from 2pm - 5pm and is taken in the lovely surroundings of the lounge. The atmosphere is incredibly relaxed which I loved, you know you are in a lovely place but it doesn't feel stuffy or intimidating. We were seated around a lovely crisp, white table cloth set with beautiful linen napkins and silver cutlery, the seats themselves are really comfortable - overstuffed lounging chairs and a big soft sofa. The whole place has a real vintage "shabby chic" vibe - right up my street. 

So on to the main event! The waitress came with a menu and there are several choices, the standard afternoon tea for a very reasonable £11.00 (prices correct of May 2013), a traditional cream tea for £7.50 or for a long lazy afternoon with girlfriends the "G'n'T with a gin and tonic served in a teacup for £19.50.  As I don't drink alcohol the choice was easy for me - traditional afternoon tea it was. I went for a loose leaf afternoon tea and my companion went for Earl Grey. The tea arrived quickly in a lovely blue and white porcelain tea pot accompanied by sugar lumps and a jug of milk. My companion likes to drink her Earl Grey with honey and lemon and they could not have been more accommodating finding some out for her.  The teas were delicious, mine in particular was a very fresh, light afternoon tea perfect with a splash of milk. For anybody that is unsure about which tea to choose there is a tea sommelier on hand to help you with your choice. My favourite touch was a large pot of hot water for top ups - as a tea drinker extraordinaire this was certainly needed! 

After another short wait the waiter brought us our food. A lovely touch was going through everything on the platter explaining the contents. There were several traditional tiered afternoon platters piled up with delicate finger sandwiches (salmon on brown bread, cucumber, chicken and egg mayonaise), the sandwiches were lovely on fresh bread and buttered with real butter (this for me is really important!).  After the sandwiches we tucked into light Devon scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam. The scones were good but dare I say mine are better, you needed to knife to cut into them and I always think the sign on an excellent scone is the ability to tear it open with my fingers. The clotted cream was plentiful and delicious, the jam although tasty was definitely not home made and a little too sweet for my tastes. I prefer a tangy jam!

The finale was the top layer of petit fours, macarons, carrot cake, madalines and chocolate brownies. The stand out petit four for me was the madaline, really light and refreshing with just enough lemon to cleanse the pallet, perfect after a rich clotted cream scone. The carrot cake was moist with a nice sharp frosting, the brownie I am afraid I didn't get chance to try as my companions dove in before I had chance to taste (I hear they were delicious)! The only negative for me was the macaron, the texture was right with a crisp outside and a chewy centre but the taste was just non descript, I couldn't describe it as anything other than very, very sweet and they were so blue they stained my teeth - for several hours afterwards. I really don't like anything that contains that much food colouring, and dare I say blue is rarely recreated by nature as a food source so I generally shy away from blue food. I prefer a macaron coloured with natural colours from a raspberry or blackcurrant - with a taste to match. I guess I am just fussy about macarons! 

All in all it was a lovely, delicious experience. Most importantly for me there was a sense of occasion,of doing something that didn't happen every day and for £11.00 per person I think that is a bit of an afternoon tea bargain for such high quality. The service was excellent, efficient but not overbearing and we were made to feel as if we were welcome to sit in those comfy chairs all afternoon if we had the time with unlimited tea top ups, the problem is with tea top ups most people know when to stop .. I do not, I can drink more tea than most people would believe physically possible so it was a good job for Hotel Du Vin I was on a schedule otherwise I would have drank the caddie dry. 

My recommendation is to go and try it, you will enjoy it - but skip the macarons unless you want blue teeth for the rest of the day (not a good look), and boy if you have had teeth whitening or veneers steer WELL clear!  

I still want to go to Claridges for Afternoon Tea but at least now I know there is a high quality local option and I can guarantee I will go again soon! If you know of anywhere else in Brum to indulge in my favourite afternoon pass time please let me know and I will pop along soon.

The full menu can be found here 


*This review contains my own views, I paid full price for the afternoon tea and the hotel are not aware I was planning to write a review for a blog* 

And the award goes to ...

I am so lucky to have some fantastic friends, most of whom have been with me since my school days. We have all grown up to be thoroughly nice people (grins widely) and all ended up being super creative and involved with all kinds of arts, crafts, enterprise .. and pretty good bakers to boot. One of these people is my friend and wonderfully creative business woman Ruth Bagnall who has recently launched her website The Polished Button. With the recent success of The Great British Sewing Bee (wasn't it fantastic!!?) I hope some of you have been inspired to "make do and mend" or even create a masterpiece with a Singer. Ruths website is a fantastic place to start, there is a glorious selection of vintage inspired fabric, buttons, findings and patterns - and due to Ruths background in theatrical costume many pieces of real vintage loveliness for you to behold .. and buy! I especially love the vintage Vogue patterns, reissued for recreation today. 

I am totally in LOVE with these 1950's apron patterns, as a collector of vintage aprons and tea towels these tick every box for me and may even encourage me to dig my sewing machine out of the cupboard again .. that's me there on the left discussing my next book deal while waiting on my buns to come out of the oven (honest ..) 

As part of my nomination for the award I have been set a few questions to answer for Ruth .. so here goes .. 

1. How long have you been blogging and why did you start? 

I've played around with various blogs for about 5 years. I had a successful blog called Chocolate Concrete where I played with and recreated old school dinner recipes, unfortunately due a family tragedy I forgot about the blog and it slipped by the wayside. I have also blogged about my weight loss journey, I have lost 3 and a half stone so far .. but this was a private blog, just somewhere for me to jot down my thoughts and keep me going, almost like a secret diary 2013 style. Lucy Scott Bakes Alot has come from the fact friends and family keep asking me to write down recipes for them so I decided to start a blog I would also love a career in food one day so I am hoping someone picks me up and offers me a book deal or a lease to an artisan cafe (please ..).

2. What do you do in the real world? 

My "real life job" is about as unrelated to baking as it could be. I am a lecturer in an FE College. I teach young adults with moderate learning disabilities, life skills, english, maths, ict. I do try and slip a bit of baking in where applicable .. I run at least one enterprise project a year where the students make a lot of cakes and sell them to make money for a trip to the seaside. I have a lovely job but it is becoming more and more apparent that I am looking for a change of direction into a more food led career. 

3. In your dream world where money was no object what would you make / create? 

This is EASY! My dream ever since I can remember is to open a community cafe / tea rooms. A place where people with learning disability in the local community can come and learn and work in the cafe to lead to a future where their employability is increased. I would also run cookery courses in bread, cakes and using seasonal produce. I have always wanted to work for myself so if money was no object that is exactly what I would do. I can't see myself ever being a lady of leisure, I get bored too easily. 

4. What area of crafting / making do you like the most? 

This one is not so easy! When it comes to food there is not much I don't enjoy doing. At the moment my biggest passion / challenge is patisserie. I also really enjoy photography, painting and randomly natural wax candle making. 

5. And least ... 

Washing up after a huge baking session!! 

6. What have you made that you have been most proud of and why? 

Recently I had a go at making filo pastry from scratch, it was something I would have never thought to do but needed to try it for a project. I LOVED it, I made Baclava with figs and pistachios and was so proud holding up my sheets of wafer thin filo. It made me realise that with practice and passion anything is obtainable in the culinary world! 

7. What inspires you? 

My inspiration and ideas can come from anywhere really. I do like to recreate tastes of childhood which is why I am currently working on things like walnut whip cupcakes and Tangle Twister cheesecakes. The people that inspire me most have always been my family. I was brought up in a food obsessed brood and my Dad was a wonderful cook. I am also inspired by local artisans. As a child I watched every cooking program I could get my hands on so I definitely have been inspired by the late great Keith Floyd, Delia Smith, Paul Hollywood, Mary Berry, and more recently the wonderful, Hairy Bikers, Nigel Slater and  Greg Wallace!  

8. What has been your favourite blog moment so far? 

Definitely being contacted by Nigel Slater when I ran Chocolate Concrete to say how wonderful some of the recipes were! I still have that email and will probably frame it one day! 

9. Do you have a preferred way of working? Is there a radio station you listen to?

I HAVE to have a spotless kitchen. I can't work until everything is in the right place and sterilized  I am a bit of a hygiene freak. I also like to work systematically and plan ahead, I also have to clean up in between every stage. I love to listen to the radio while I bake, especially Absolute 90s for a bit of nostalgia or Radio 4. 

10. Who is your all time favorite person and why? 

Goodness. This is a challenge! I have to go with my Mom, Dad and Sister .. so that's 3!! We lost my Dad from a rare cancer back in 2006 and we miss him so much, he was incredible and although there is a huge gap in our lives now Mom, Lyns and I stick together (despite my Mom living over the other side of the world in Australia!). I have to pop my husband in here too .. he totally saved me after my Dads passing and puts up with all my wacky ways and chaotic thought processes on a daily basis .. it should be him nominated for an award! 

Now its my turn to nominate some other blogs for an award! The rules are that the blog should have less than 200 followers and I need to choose 10 .. I'm not sure I can get to 10 but ill give it a go! 

My nominations are: 

1. Xi and Bake to your hearts content. 

I met Xi at an audition for a well known baking show and I was blown away by one of the most passionate people about baking I have ever met! I loved the way as a scientist he was so precise and what this man didn't know about chiffon cake you could fit on a postage stamp! 

2. Lisa at United Cakedom 

I follow Lisa on Twitter and absolutely love reading her blog. She is an American baker in the UK so it is really interesting to see the "cross cultural" recipes and the blog is full of really yummy things I want to try. 

3. Emily Coates and Emilys Recipes and reviews. 

Another blog I found through Twitter (Twitter is really great by the way!!) I love the mix of recipes and reviews and the photography always makes my mouth water .. Emilys tweets are always a lovely mix of good humour and delicious food - right up my street! 

4. Jo and The Little Cake House 

This blog should come with a warning .. EVERY time I look I feel inspired to bake and increase my skills. Jo is a perfectionist and creates the most aesthetically stunning bakes. I love the nod to the Far East where on my own travels I was captivated by the beautiful, precise and tasty patisserie. This lady inspires me to pull my socks up and make my creations look better! 

Last but NOT list Kerry and  Kerry Cooks Blog, I came across this blog searching for rainbow cake ideas (which I never made in the end .. all the food colouring put me off but I am sure it's super amazing and certainly looks that way!) and favourited it as a fave daily read, she also blogs about cats and makeup - really a girl after my own heart. 

So, there are my nominations for an award .. and here are my questions to answer if any of you lovely lot want to take part! 

1. What is your favourite baking "discipline" and why - i.e, cakes, pastry, bread .. 

2. ... and your least favourite 

3. Do you watch The Great British Bake Off .. who is your favourite EVER contestant and why?

4. What made you decide to take up blogging, what keeps you carrying on? 

5. When you are not whipping up a storm in the kitchen what else ticks your boxes to pass the time? 

6. What has been your biggest baking success .... ?

7. And disaster .. 

8. From which country do you get your biggest baking inspiration, for example rustic italian breads or the good old British Victoria sponge? 

9. Who inspired you to take up baking?

10. What is the best cake / bake you have eaten and still dream about .. ? 

I look forward to reading the answers and until next time happy baking everyone :) ! 

Walnut Whip Cupcakes (Sweetie Challenge part 1)

I lost my baking mojo a bit in the last week or so,  I had been feeling a bit down in the dumps and didn't seem to be able to get inspired, however, last night during that lovely period of being awake and dropping off to sleep I remembered I had some frozen egg whites (as you do!!) and was thinking about what I could do with them, my mind is never far away from sweet delights and I wondered if I could have a go at making a Walnut Whip using Italian meringue? Hmm, I thought, might be tricky to get that cone shape without a mold .. so why not build the shape using cake as a base? zzzzzz .. 9 hours of sleep later they were still on my mind and all day at work ... SO, due to a particularly stressful day of safeguarding issues and running about like a headless Tutor I came home with my baking head in fifth gear and got cracking right away .. here is the result. This is the first of a series of recipes I have designed that remind me of my childhood, of a Sunday evening my Dad would always pop out to the local newsagent for treats and it was Mom who always wanted a Walnut Whip.

In brief the recipe is for a chocolate and walnut  American cupcake style sponge base, an Italian meringue "whip" with a slight lemony twist (I always thought Walnut Whips tasted like they had a bit of lemon in that fluffy bit ..) and a high quality Belgian chocolate shell - crowned with a walnut .. of course!


Makes 12 large cupcakes (Muffin size paper cases).

For the cupcake base (best results in a freestanding mixer). 

200g plain flour

5 tablespoons cocoa powder (I used Cadbury Bournville).
80g unsalted butter
260g golden caster sugar
4 flat teaspoons baking powder
240ml whole milk
2 medium eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (or extract).
50g finely chopped walnuts.

For the whip see "Italian Meringue" section of my Fruit Salad pie recipe, you will need a half quantity of this recipe.
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
If you feel like cheating .. I think you could probably use Marshmallow Fluff - although I have not tried this and can't be responsible if it's awful .. 

Chocolate Topping.

300g of the best quality milk chocolate you can afford. I used Lindt milk. 

12 whole walnuts.

Method 

1. Make the cakes


Preheat the oven to 180c and line a muffin tin with 12 wrappers.

Finely chop the walnuts.

Sieve the flour into the bowl of a freestanding mixer with beater attachment, add the sugar, baking powder, butter and cocoa powder.

Measure the milk in a jug and crack in the two eggs, finally add the vanilla bean paste.

Switch on the mixer containing the dry ingredients and butter and wizz until you have a fine breadcrumb consistency.

Keep the beater going and slowly pour in the milk, egg & vanilla mixture and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Add the walnuts and beat again until they are mixed in.

Pour the batter into the cake cases until they are 3/4 full.

Place the cakes on the middle shelf in the oven for 20 minutes. They will rise into a nice peak.

When baked remove from the oven and leave in the tin for around 5 minutes then remove them from the tin to cool completely on a wire rack.

2. Make the Whip

Follow my recipe for Italian Meringue but half the recipe


When the meringue is ready add the 1/4 teaspoon of lemon extract and give it a final whip.

Put the meringue in a disposable piping bag and place to one side.


3. Make them pretty 

 Take the cooled cakes and cut the peaks off each cake leaving a slight crater, in a similar way as you would make a butterfly cake (see photographs). 

Trim the end off the piping bag (you don't need a nozzle) and pipe a swirl of meringue inside the crater and into a peak, it can be as tall as you like ...

Melt 200g of the chocolate and remove from the heat, throw in the remaining 100g of chocolate and allow the heat to melt it naturally, stirring continuously with a metal spoon. 

When all the chocolate is melted allow it to cool slightly, you need the chocolate to be on the cool side when you apply the shell to your walnut whip, this is because the meringue might weep, even though Italian meringue should be quiet stable (you don't want to risk it after all your hard work).

Use a teaspoon and gently pour the chocolate over the meringue a teaspoon at a time, gently teasing the chocolate down to create a shell - patience and a gentle touch is essential here. You need the chocolate to totally encase the meringue and create a seal between the meringue and the atmosphere - this will mean the cakes will be fresher for longer. 

Finally crown each cake with a walnut half. 

Leave the chocolate to completely set. 

Enjoy! These will keep for 3 days in a sealed container (if they are around for that long). 

Recipe & photographs copyright Lucy Scott 2013