THE Ferrero Rocher Cake

… so I have been a bad blogger, it’s been 4 months since my last blog! The summer has been crazy in the bakery with back to back weddings keeping me out of mischief and the sun (not that we have had much of that). Hopefully this cake will make up for it!

The idea came as my lovely boyfriends birthday approached. Even though he told me not to make a cake as he knew how busy I had been, I just couldn’t leave him out. Now as far his favourite things go, it’s football, football and football. Last year I made him a Sunderland AFC shirt cake which went down well but I needed a change of theme. He  loves Ferrero Rochers… so I got to thinking. What could be better than a giant Ferrero Rocher! So there you have it.

Giant Ferrero Rocher Cake

The cake had a real chocolate case filled with delicious, moist chocolate sponge. The sponge was sandwiched with a hazelnut/chocolate frosting and covered in crushed Ferrero Rochers. It then had a thin layer of gold icing to finish it off. And just in case there wasn’t enough Ferrero Rocher goodness, I put some extra little treats in a ring around the cake. Heaven!

Giant Ferrero Rocher Cake from Baked Cupcakery

Top view of the Giant Ferrero Rocher Cake

 

Bake the Nation!

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the Happy Egg Company (those free range eggs in the cute little yellow boxes) about a competition they were running with the Jamie Oliver Magazine. We always use free range eggs at Baked and I love a chance to get creative so it sounded promising. The competition is called ‘Bake The Nation‘ and they want people to make them a baked masterpiece that sums up the UK. The bakery is very busy at the moment (at some point I’m sure I’m going to end up trying to put a cake in the computer and my phone in the mixer) but I was definitely up for the challenge!

I got my thinking cap on and then waited for a break in the baking to give it a go. I decided to take the ‘Bake the Nation’ title as inspiration and chose to literally bake the nation. As Baked Cupcakery specialises in cupcakes (you probably guessed that from the name), it had to be a cupcake creation. As much as I love London and all the things that go on there, I wanted to celebrate the whole of the nation. I looked at the 12 regions of the UK (12 is a good baking number so I thought that was a good sign) and came up with a design to represent each one. What resulted is below…

Cupcakes to celebrate the UK in 2012 for the Happy Egg Co. Bake the Nation competition.

Cupcakes to celebrate each region of the UK for the Happy Egg Co. Competition.

Here are the photos of all the regions… from the top!

Scotland

Traditional tartan cupcake with mini sporran to represent Scotland

North East

My home region! I have used the iconic Angel of the North to represent the North East.

North West

To celebrate the North West I chose a Lake District inspired scene with a Beatles Yellow Submarine!

Yorkshire & the Humber

Rolling hills and of course Yorkshire puddings with a full Sunday dinner (even the gravy!) to represent Yorkshire & the Humber.

East Midlands

The historic Sherwood forest and Robbin Hood for the East Midlands!

West Midlands

Spaghetti Junction cupcake for the West Midlands!

Wales

Welsh cupcake creation with rugby ball and daffodils.

East of England

Norfolk Broads cupcake to represent the East of England

South East

To celebrate the beautiful beaches we have in the UK!

South West

I took the iconic Eden project to represent this South West of the UK

Northern Ireland

Shamrock decoration on grassy cliff top for the Northern Ireland cupcake

And of course, not forgetting our Capital!

London

As the home of the Queen and with the Diamond Jubilee coming up in June, this seemed the best way to celebrate London!

I hope you enjoyed your tour of the UK through cupcakes. If you would like to enter the Happy Egg competition the closing date is the 1st of June… so plenty of time to get baking! Check out the other entries at the Happy Egg Co Facebook page, or to keep up to date with all of our baking creations, take a look at the Baked Cupcakery Facebook page (and give it a like if you wish )

A collection of cupcakes to represent each of the regions of the UK for the Jamie Oliver Magazine, Happy Egg Co. competition!

More Tea?

So recently I have been eating my own weight in scones… Afternoon tea is my new big thing. Lovely little treats on pretty stands and plates is all I have been dreaming about. After making an afternoon tea for my friends to enjoy on my birthday, I began to think this would be a great service to offer to other people (because it is a bit of a faff to put together!)… and so Baked Afternoon Tea Service was born!

Fruit scone, cupcake and finger sandwich from out Afternoon Tea selection.

Baked has two spreads on offer with a minimum of 6 servings per order (that doesn’t mean to say you have to have 6 people eat it!). From finger sandwiches to macaroons and our delicious cupcakes of course, it is sure to go down a treat with friends and family. So whether it’s a girls night in or a family celebration – Afternoon tea is definitely the way to go

See more on our website!

There are two spreads on offer the ‘Dainty Spread’ and the ‘Splendid Spread’. You can choose to hire our beautiful, pink polka dot tea set and stands from just £18.00.

If you choose to hire our tea set then don’t worry about the washing up – we come and take all your jam covered dishes away!

Afternoon tea served on our pretty pink polka dot tea set.

Pink macaroon, strawberry, cupcake and finger sandwich.

Pretty in pink

What better way to spend the afternoon?

April Wedding Cupcakes & Cake Pops

The wedding season is starting up now and I just wanted to share the latest wedding I have catered for. The colour scheme was duck egg blue with dusty pink which looked beautiful when I visited the venue. I created a cupcake tower with a giant cupcake topping it off as well as cake pop place settings.

Cream, dusty pink and duck egg blue cupcake tower

Mini and regular wedding cupcakes on a tiered stand.

This was the first time I had made cake pop place settings for a wedding and I was really pleased with the results. The cake pops were done in the duck egg blue colour for male guests and the dusty pink colour for the female guests. They had mini pearl decorations and a shimmer. Cake Pops make amazing place settings and favours for your guests – two in one!

The cake pops look beautiful set out on all the tables.

Pink cake pop place setting.

Blue cake pop place setting with pearl details.

There was a request to have a special bride and groom cake pop for the bride and grooms table place setting. I have seen these before and think they are really cute but I hadn’t had a go myself. I loved the finished pops – think I will be having these when I get married!

Belgian chocolate dipped cake pop with pearl necklace detail for the bride.

Belgian chocolate dipped cake pop with mini bow tie for the groom.

If you would like to see more information on Baked Cupcakery’s wedding cupcakes and cakes, please visit our website!

Gold Engagement Cupcake Tower

I haven’t put a post up for quite a while, so I thought I would quickly share this recent cupcake tower. The bakery has been mad busy these past few weeks and there hasn’t been much time for anything else!

Beautiful tower for an engagement party.

Beautiful tower for an engagement party.

Beautiful tower for an engagement party.

Beautiful tower for an engagement party.

Beautiful tower for an engagement party.

A little favour…

I would be forever grateful if you could spare two ticks to nominate my business Baked Cupcakery for ‘Small Business of the Year‘ with Sun FM. After venturing into the corporate market with printed logo cupcakes I have catered for companies such as EDBS (250 for their awards ceremony) and Blue Bird Care (120 cupcakes delivered to valued customers). In December I received an order from Virgin Money for 2000 cupcakes to help their launch in January.

Since then the corporate side has really started to take off with 700 corporate cupcakes delivered to UKAR in Doxford Park and a potential 5000 order in the pipeline for June.

I hope this shows that cupcakes really do mean business!

I think that over the past few months I have shown what you can achieve with determination, hard work and support.

Nominate here! Thank you!!

700 Printed cupcakes for UKAR in Sunderland.

Virgin Money launch event with Baked Cupcakery's Cupcakes

Wedding Cupcake Tower

700 Corporate Cupcakes for UKAR

So the next large corporate order was delivered yesterday to UKAR in Sunderland… 700 branded cupcakes for their employees. Although no where near as many as the 2000 baked for Virgin Money last month it was still a large task! There was a bit more room to breathe in the bakery this time around and the bake went smoothly. With more corporate orders booked in for next month it seems cupcakes are definitely the smart business choice!

If you would like more information on our corporate cupcakes – visit our website.

700 Printed cupcakes for UKAR in Sunderland.

700 Printed cupcakes for UKAR in Sunderland.