I'm pleased to report that the cake I did for Grandad's 87th (!) birthday was FAR more successful than Dad's birthday cake. A simple victoria sponge, with a gooey homemade (own recipe) strawberry and rhubarb jam. Yum!
I have no idea why, but I tend to struggle a little with baking any cake larger than a cupcake, so when it came out of the oven I was ecstatic to see it still looked like cake. MASSIVE bonus when you choose to bake for a living, dontcha think!? Then came the tricky part. Decorating.
I'd come this far, so I powered on through. It wasn't exactly easy. You know when you see the shows on Food Network, like Cake Boss and Amazing Wedding Cakes? You know how amazingly simple it looks to cover a cake? SO not easy! I crumb-coated and put the cake in the fridge, but even that was tricky because the jam oozed out the sides as I went. When I rolled out the fondant and lay it over the cake, it started to crack and tear all over the place. Strops were had. Big, screaming, stomping hissy fits, with smoke coming out my ears and everything.
Eventually, with help from my husband (who clearly has 'the knack' for this cake-covering stuff), the cake was covered, I decorated it and it ended up like this:
I do need some more practise at this, mind. Like an elderly woman on an HD TV, close-up shots are less forgiving...
It's far from perfect, but I'm not too unhappy with it and Grandad was really pleased, so all in all, still a win!
So moving on from that, I took a big step today. For a while now, I've said I would prefer to sell my products through cafe's and coffee shops or restaurants, rather than directly at events. I get a bit panicked dealing with all those people and handling the change, so I always had this plan in place, to approach local eateries, especially ones that prefer to stock local produce and understand avoidance of cross-contamination.
Well, today I did it. I spent the last couple of days baking up some samples, and this afternoon I took a sample box to The Little Pickle Deli Cafe in Boscombe. I've left them with a lovely man named Andrew, who will taste and discuss with his wife, and I'm to call them to see what they thought. Nervous doesn't begin to describe how I feel. Thank goodness I have some leftovers to nibble away my nerves with...! Wish me luck!
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| Devil's food cake, dark and white chocolate cheesecake, double-chocolate fudge cookies |
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