Star Bakery

Stars and swirls

2011-08-31T17:39:00.006+01:00

So I've been saying for a while that big plans are afoot for Star Bakery and here it is - we're merging with a fellow cake company!

Heavenly Cupcakes is a Nottingham cake company run by the lovely Maidie Semiras and in order for us to continue on our quest to spread the cake love we've decided to merge and start a shiny new business specialising in premium baked goods.

We've decided to call it Swirls Bakery and you can see our Facbook fan page here.

Star Bakery will eventually start to wind down but with lots of orders on our books throughout the rest of 2011 and into 2012 we'll stay here and continue as normal for the immediate future - albeit with a VERY limited order book! Any clients who have confirmed orders with us will see no change in service.

I'll reveal more about our new business in weeks to come but the biggest change will be the introduction of a new minimum order for cupcakes - 100+. This might seem a lot but with so many yummy cake companies out there offering gift boxes now we want to be able to make you some amazing cake displays and create things in cake that can only be imagined...watch this space.

Oh and if you want to see our first Swirls product then watch this little video. And yes, that chair is made of cake.

Time, the one thing I can't bake.

2011-04-26T19:14:00.002+01:00

Oh, my poor little blog! When I first started Star Bakery way back in 2009 I decided that I just had to write a blog. It was my way of coping with working on my own for the first time in my life and *talking* to colleagues who were no longer just a desk away...

I never wanted this blog to be a duplicate of all my ramblings on Twitter and Facebook and I was determined to give you all a peek behind the scenes of my little home bakery.

But things have changed. I LOVE writing blog posts and being able to put thought into the subject of my next post but I have become increasingly busy over the last year and now I'm struggling to fit it all in. I also have a whole new host of local competitors out there and in order to ensure my ideas stay fresh and original, I can no longer pre-release ideas here or give sneak peek of things in the pipeline.

So instead of feeling guilty that I'm neglecting another task, I've decided to call time on my blog. For now.

I'll keep it here as I can see from my stats that people are still finding and using my blog regularly but I won't update with posts in coming months.

I've hinted before that things are changing for Star Bakery and I really mean it. As soon as I can share details, I will!

And don't forget, you can still tweet me or message me via facebook. I'm not going anywhere! Or maybe I am...

My gift - to you!

2011-03-15T08:40:00.003Z

Hello to my lovely readers, how are you all? Well, tomorrow I shall be starting 32nd year of life on this little planet and as I have no colleagues to indulge with cake (in the time honoured tradition of bringing cakes to work) I thought I'd treat you all with a VERY special limited time offer :)

I'd like to offer you a box of 12 mouth wateringly scrummy vanilla cupcakes topped with heaps of sweeties, and any other special toppings I can find in my big box of sprinkles, for only £10! Yes, £10 (normally £25).

This special offer is for COLLECTION ONLY because frankly, I am going to be busying myself with lovely birthday activities over the next 5-6 days and keeping the costs down mean I can create these yummy offers fo you all :)

Boxes can be collected on Friday 18 March (between 12-8pm) and Saturday 19 March (between 9.30 and 1pm). You can place your order by emailing liana@starbakery.co.uk and you can even pay online to make the whole process a lot quicker!

The box you'll be receiving will look like this:

This is a very limited offer so feel free to tell your friends and get ordering now! Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me...

The circle of cake life

2011-02-23T12:49:00.004Z

I made a cake for my Mother in Laws 60th birthday this weekend. I always like to make family cakes as it means putting some extra love into what I'm doing which always reminds me of how my Mum and Nana taught me to bake: my Nana says "Put love into what you're making and it will always turn out great". How true.

The other (slightly selfish) part I like about baking for family and friends is that I generally get to enjoy a piece of my efforts. By that I mean I am sometimes around for the cake cutting part!

Now some bakers says that this bit can be soul destroying. And I agree to some extent - to see all those hours of work 'destroyed' in a matter of moments can be harsh BUT for me, seeing the looks on peoples faces as they tuck in is the best part of the whole process!

So here I share with you a little picture which I thought summed up the end of a cakes life. Granted there are still some slices yet to be cut but the candles have been blown and cake has been enjoyed. What better way to celebrate a day.

2 years on and still rockin' the cupcake

2011-02-06T19:00:00.003Z

Well, my poor blog updates have really suffered in 2011! I apologise to all my readers that my posts have been sparse but I thought I'd make it up today with a little look back at 2010...

Firstly, last month I celebrated Star Bakery's 2nd birthday :) I always had dreams of having a successful little cake business but all of my lovely clients have turned my business into something so much more successful and beyond all expectations.

As some of you will remember I was made redundant in December 2009. Star Bakery was a part time venture for me (alongside a full time role in Marketing and Communications) up until that point and suddenly I had the opportunity to turn my dream into a reality. So, in January 2010 I worked around the clock to get my name out there and was rewarded with my busiest month since I started. I blogged, tweeted and Facebooked until I was blue in the face and it all paid off.

And then life changed. I found out I had another baby on the way (that baby has now become a little Milo by the way, a younger brother to Fin who's now 6) so instead of taking it easy I worked 14hr days, pencilled in a little maternity leave and carried on. I knew that if I didn't give my business my full attention that orders would soon fall off and I couldn't let all my hard work go down the drain.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my pregnancy and have always ensured that my family comes first but I don't think I could have ever predicted how much time my business would take to run.

I spend 14hrs+ a day working. That's not only baking, that's being online, delivering cakes, speaking to clients, meeting with clients, updating the website, thinking up new ideas, getting finances in order, creating new cakes, booking in stalls at events, doing countless opening and closing checks to satisfy my environmental health obligations etc etc. Weekends are now set aside for weddings and other events and my long suffering family not only survives on cake scraps (!) but I'm sure my son can reel off a list of the top wedding venues throughout Notts.... :)

So, why do I do it? Well, quite simple I LOVE my job. In this current climate there aren't many people out there who love what they do and even though I miss working with colleagues, I miss having PAID HOLIDAY (or any holiday actually!) and I could really do with eating a little less cake, I wouldn't change my job for the world. In recent weeks I've had no less than 3 Mums get teared up when they've seen their cakes. You just can't get better feedback than that!

But things are changing for Star Bakery. I've recently realised that my business needs to grow in order to cope with demand and with that in mind things are happening in 2011. I can't share the details with you all just yet but rest assured you'll be seeing more of us in the coming 12mths.

For now, it's all about getting out and about in Notts and attending events when and where I can. 8 events are now in the diary and I think I've had to print off my insurance liability certificates and trading standards signs more than I can count this week! We're at the Hucknall Beer Festival farmers market this week (11th Feb) and even though we're due to finish at 3pm, we're hoping to hang around for the evening attendees who might like a cake with their real ale!

So thank you. Thank you for reading my blog, tweeting with me, buying my cakes, complimenting my pictures on Flickr and asking your questions on Facebook. Think of me on Monday morning when you're starting up your computer or sitting on the bus on your way to work as I'll be preparing to make cake pops.

BEST JOB EVER.

It's all go here at Star Bakery towers!

2011-01-06T16:16:00.004Z

Just a quick post to say Happy 2011 everyone! Wow, as a kid I was sure we'd be surrounded by flying cars by now...

Well, we're still here and currently working hard on the Valentines range which will be introduced any day now. I'm quite excited about Valentines this year as it provide to be our busiest 'holiday' yet judging by last years figures! We actually ran out of delivery slots last year so I'm hoping that people get the cake bug again and fore go the usual flowers for more edible treats :)

How are all my lovely readers anyway? What are your plans for 2011? I need to sit down and set out my goals for this year as last year proved to me that whilst I have the drive to meet the demands of my life - its hard to judge how far I've come unless I set goals I can achieve and 'tick' them off throughout the year.

First goal? Get my youngest into nursery part time and regain some me time. He's just hit the 6mth milestone and whilst it pains me to lose him for one day a week its been over 7mths since I had a haircut and I can't think the brides at my next wedding fayre will be enthused by my scary mary hairstyle!

It's on the cards....

2010-12-21T22:20:00.004Z

Today I had an early Christmas present. Allow me to explain...

A few months ago a card company came across one of my pictures on Flickr and asked for permission to use it on one of their cards. Imagine how shocked I was that one of my little photos (and cakes!) was of interest to anyone other than cake fans!

Of course I said yes and after many emails, contracts etc we finally agreed that my image would be used and *possibly* printed on a greeting card made by Paper Rose.

Many months later and what should come through my letterbox today??...
My cards!

OMG. To say I am flattered, gobsmacked and extremely proud would be an understatement.

I'm currently trying to find out where you can buy them so keep an eye on my website where we'll no doubt announce stockists.

So with a spring in my step I start to enjoy Christmas preparations and prepare a little competition in the New Year so you can win some of 'my' cards to send to your loved ones. That's if I don't buy them all first...!

There's snow-business like......cake business?!

2010-12-04T17:18:00.005Z

Hello my snow covered readers - well you'll be snow covered if you're reading this from somewhere in the UK anyway! What a crazy week, school cancelled 3 days in a row, cars stuck in the snow and orders disrupted due to last minute parties being cancelled.

Luckily, we've only had to slightly postpone one order due to some edible images being ordered that arrived late due to the post. The cakes were delivered only a day later than they should have been and whilst we'll always do everything in our power to avoid any disruptions to your order, sometimes mother nature just gets her own way!

The big change in plans came when we had to cancel our attendance at the Ladies in the Living Room event in Nottingham. We were gutted to have to cancel this but safety came first and unfortunately we couldn't risk travelling in the first of the snow storms that came our way. A wise decision I hear now as taxi's were refusing to travel to more remote parts of Hucknall that night so I'm glad we cancelled as we might have been abandoned! On the plus side I hear the night was a huge success and they're hoping to hold another simliar event in Spring/Summer 2011 so we'll be there or be square.

Normal service will resume next week before the Christmas wedding rush and we *hope* to be able to start to announce dates for our cupcake classes which will be taking place in early 2011. We did think they would be taking place in December but we've had a number of wedding orders come in and we couldn't disappoint any of our lovely Christmas brides now could we :)

This is what 70 boxed cupcakes looks like!

2010-11-20T10:55:00.003Z

Just in case you ever wondered what lots of boxed cupcakes looks like then wonder no more - these are 70 rose topped cupcakes tied with personalised ribbon and finished with hand written name tags to act as favours at a wedding last weekend.

This was a really fun order that was booked last year and the time seems to have flown! I love how this couple have chosen to use cupcakes in a slightly different way rather than as the main cake and you can guarantee one thing - these favours won't get left behind....

Star Bakery on the road!

2010-11-08T19:45:00.003Z

We've been a bit busy recently so haven't been able to attend many events and although we'd normally try and attend a few Christmas fairs the truth is we're so busy with others orders we just can't get out and about as much as we used to!

I thought I'd let you all know about a few of our events this month where you can come along and buy CAKE nom nom nom:

Hucknall Wedding Fayre - if you're getting married or know someone who has yet to book their wedding cupcakes then tell them to come along and say hello when we attend the Hucknall Wedding Fayre this weekend. All of the details are on our Facebook page and don't forget, we'll have some tasting samples on hand....

The Elms Michealmas market - this is our first time attending what seems like a really fantastic family day out at The Elms school Christmas market. We'll have lots of Christmas themed goodies to sell on the day as well as being able to take bookings for Christmas orders.

Ladies in the Living Room - another first for us and for the Living Room in Nottingham. A fun filled night of Christmas themed shopping where the goodie bag you receive will be worth more than the ticket price! Tickets are selling fast and we'll have a large booth filled with cake displays as well as our new mini cupcakes for you to buy on the night.

We hope to see you at one of our events and its worth mentioning that we're getting pretty booked up for December so please let me know if you need anything - I'd hate to turn away any last minute orders :)

I shall call him.....Mini Me.

2010-10-18T19:37:00.003+01:00

We've had these little fellas on our menu for a while now but in case you hadn't seen them yet I'd like to introduce you to our 'cupcake minis' a two bite version of our standard size cuppies.

Our minis cost £1 and are available to our in multiples of 24 (it may sound like a lot but I dare you not to eat less than 3 in one go!).

We've found them really popular at weddings and other larger events where children will be feasting on cakes as our standard size cupcakes are sometimes a littler large for smaller tummies :)

On a separate note, if you haven't already 'liked' our Facebook page then come over and find out what you're missing as its the best way to stay on top of our latest news and find out about where we'll be appearing in coming weeks.

Cake Britain - yummy cake locally!

2010-10-12T10:16:00.003+01:00

I get a lot of email enquiries asking if I can send my cakes through the post, the simple answer being no. I suppose I could but can you imagine the mess they'd be in when they reached their destination? Yummy as it might be...

There are some very reliable cake makers who do offer a postal service (just google nationwide cupcake delivery) but another option is to use a new map set up by the lovely Cake Nest.

She has created a map featuring lots of lovely little cake bakeries like us so at a glance you can find a local cake maker who delivers to the area you need. You can find her blog post explaining it all along with a link to the map here.

Spread the word my lovelies - cake is closer than you think!

View Cake Britain in a larger map

Baking, babies and beyond

2010-10-01T17:27:00.003+01:00

Hello everybody! Long time no post, but now we're back with a vengeance after what seems like an eternity of baking and babies :)

So if you hadn't already gathered I've gone from mum-of-one to mum-of-two, here's a little peek of Milo who was born on 21st July:

I'm sure he'll already be a sugar addict after the amount of icing sugar I accidentally inhale on a daily basis but for now he seems content to sleep whilst the kitchen mixer is on so life is good. And whilst life has been hectic adding a new member to the family, I've also been thinking about Star Bakery and what's coming up for us over the next few months (those 3am feeds leave me a lot of time to think!).

There's a lot of demand locally for cupcake decorating classes so we're currently organising some classes to run before Christmas (more info in coming weeks) and we're booked into a wedding fayre in Hucknall and a Christmas market in Nottingham. Final details for all of these things are currently being organised so sign up to my newsletter to find out when, where and what's happening or make sure you 'like' our Facebook page as we post all events and up to the minute news on there.

Wow, I'm tired just thinking about all the fun things we're going to be getting up to this year but don't forget cake demand is still high and we only have a few dates left in October for orders so get in touch if you think you might be needing anything.

Until next time!

More baking fun at home!

2010-08-27T17:49:00.004+01:00

I love cake. That's a given.

But I love cake MORE when it's fun and you can't get more fun than funfetti cake! Whilst you can't buy funfetti cake in the UK (boo) I'm sure a lot of people have dabbled with colours/sprinkles in cake so I thought you'd like to see my efforts after a fun filled baking session with my son.

We decided to make a simple one layer cake as we just wanted to feed the family. I came across this blog a little while back and decided to give the listed 'White Cake' recipe a go. When you see a US recipe that calls for 'shortening' then you can use Trex which is available in most UK supermarkets now but if you don't have any to hand then just substitute for butter.

The recipe is really straight forward and produces a nice moist white cake. My advice would be to make sure you have some strong coloured sprinkles to add to your cake as the classic hundreds and thousands or pastel sprinkles will just get lost in your cake. I happened to have some really bright sugar strands to hand and they produced a really nice effect in the cake and completely melt away so no crunchy pieces in your cake!
I topped this cake with a really basic chocolate buttercream and my son generously sprinkled on the decorations! I hope you like our efforts.

Baking fun in the school holidays

2010-08-18T19:07:00.003+01:00

Here at Star Bakery we love to find an excuse to bake - and the school holidays is the perfect one. I love baking with my son for two reasons:

He loves to make (and consume) anything we make together and especially likes an excuse to get messy in the kitchen!
It's a cheap way to pass the time and have some proper one-on-one fun with my boy :)

We all have our favourite recipes that we like to make and I like to stick to the classics as some recipes are just MADE for kids! I thought I'd share a photo of our latest creation along with a link to the recipe we used.

We added a few extra bits to use up some white/dark chocolate chips that I had leftover along with some sprinkles that I had kicking around. The thing I like about these treats is you can use any ingredients you have leftover to jazz them up as long as you have the marshmallows as the main ingredient. I'm partial to adding peanut butter but my hubby hates the stuff so I omitted them this time :(

Let me know if you have any recipes to suggest, we have 3 weeks of holidays left so I am all ears!

Quick update and hello!

2010-08-10T14:00:00.004+01:00

As mentioned in my previous blog post we are no longer able to fit in any orders until after 1st October 2010 but I thought you still might like to see what we've been up to behind the scenes as cake is never far from our minds...

You can see all our latest work here and find out all our latest news by becoming a fan of ours on Facebook.

Normal blog posts will resume again in September so in the meantime please don't hesitate to drop me line at liana@starbakery.co.uk or leave a comment on this blog and I can get back to you.

Hope you're all having a great summer so far and I leave you with some images from a few weddings I have baked for recently - hope you like them!

These are a few of my favourite things

2010-06-28T10:13:00.003+01:00

Hello my lovely blog readers! Thank you so much for bearing with me over the last few weeks of 'no posts', although I am still pretty swamped with all things cake related I thought it might be nice if I post a few pics from recent cakes that I thought you might like. They may not be accompanied by much chat from me, but hey who doesn't like to ogle cake??

UPDATE: The posts on this blog might slow up a little while we enter our busy season but don't forget we are no longer taking on orders between 1st July and 30th September. All existing bookings are of course being fulfilled but do get in touch if you have any cake queries outside of these dates. We'll do our best to get back to you but our current email waiting time is 5 workings days so bare that in mind!

We're still here!

2010-05-26T11:35:00.003+01:00

Well, you can tell we're officially entering wedding season. It's been 8 days working straight through this last week and I have now decided to take 24hrs leave! Well, when I see 'leave' I mean catch up on emails of course...

Not that I'm complaining - I love this job and I've had so many fab clients these past few weeks it's just hard to say 'no' to work. And boy, have we had some fab requests and cakes to make recently! Peppa Pig, Handy Manny, Star Wars, shark cakes, giant cupcakes you name it we've made it. Don't forget you can view all our work on the website or see our full portfolio on Flickr.

The posts on this blog might slow up a little while we enter our busy season but don't forget we are no longer taking on orders between 1st July and 30th September. All existing bookings are of course being fulfilled but do get in touch if you have any cake queries outside of these dates. We'll do our best to get back to you but our current email waiting time is 5 workings days so bare that in mind!

I leave you with a few of my favourite pictures from this week and I look forward to releasing our Father's Day box next week!

Newsletter - May 2010

2010-05-06T09:52:00.004+01:00

Just a quickie to let you know our May edition of the Star Bakery newsletter is now available! You can view it by clicking on the image below OR if you'd like to have it delivered safely to your inbox then just drop us an email to newsletter@starbakery.co.uk and we'll do the rest.

This edition features our newest gift box inspired by the lovely weather we've been having. I hope you like it and as ever, don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any queries.

Happy caking everyone.

Gift boxes - changes to pricing

2010-04-29T11:21:00.003+01:00

Just a quick one today to let you all know we have now decided to make ordering our cupcake gift boxes even easier.

From Monday, 26 April ALL gift boxes will now be one price - £20 inclusive of delivery to any NG postcode!

You can view all of our gift boxes here. All of our gift boxes are made to order but we're happy to recreate a previous style if you see something you like in our gallery. And as an incentive to those clients who'd prefer to collect from our premises in Hucknall then you get your order bumped up to 12 cupcakes for the price of 9! That's right, 12 of our delicious cupcakes for the price of 9 - what more could you ask for? Drop me an email today liana@starbakery.co.uk to place your order.

Yuuummmmmm dolly mixtures.....

2010-04-22T16:24:00.004+01:00

The sweetie cupcake is fast becoming one of our most popular cupcakes this season! That and Red Velvet cupcakes are our two most ordered flavours. And it's easy to see why with it's mound of sugary goodness topped with sweets that remind me of my youth :)

These cupcakes were part of a larger order for a hen do and these were my favourite: lemon cupcakes, drizzled with homemade lemon syrup and topped with zesty lemon buttercream. Perfect for this lovely weather!

And in case you missed it I put out a question to all our lovely followers about what flavours you'd like to see on our menu. We had some GREAT suggestions including:

Key lime flavour: lime sponge filled with lime filling and topped with cream cheese frosting
Mocha choc chip
Cardamon and honey
Eton Mess
Vanilla fudge
Retro sweetie cupcakes: incorporating 80's style popping candy!

You'll have to keep an eye out for our newsletter which will announce the May special sometime soon but in the meantime if there's a flavour YOU'D like to see then leave us a comment and we can add it into the mix!

Feedback from YOU - to us!

2010-04-15T16:35:00.002+01:00

Just a quick post to draw your attention to a new bit on the Star Bakery website that will start to feature some of the glowing feedback we receive from you all!

I will eventually have a tab just for feedback and testimonials but in the meantime if you've had an order from us then you can leave us some feedback in a few ways:

Facebook: You can leave us a review on our fan page (assuming you're all fans of course)

Email: why not email us with your feedback so we can add it to the website on your behalf? We take pictures of all our work but any photos you have would be appreciated as I love to see how the cake/cakes look at your event. liana@starbakery.co.uk

Fabulous places: You can also leave us a review via Fabulous Places which features our little bakery.

And as a thank you for your feedback, we are offering 10% off your next order with us! (on all orders up to a value of £100). Don't say we never give you anything!

Quick update and cupcakes of course!

2010-04-07T14:52:00.002+01:00

The Star Bakery kitchen has been a hectic place this week with Easter bringing out the cake lovers in you but I just wanted to do a quick post to let you know we're still here (and baking!) and I hope to have a chance to do a proper post soon.

So what's on our radar? Well April and May are quite big months for weddings and birthdays so lots of exciting cakes to make and of course we need to unleash our Father's Day specials in time for the 20 June so all in all, lots to come!

But let me leave you with a picture of some of my fave recent cupcakes we did for Donna's 29th birthday. Her party was retro 1950's themed so we happily obliged and made her some fab record and ice cream soda cupcakes for her to display at the big party. Hope you like them!

Wordless Wednesday - red glittery sugar cookies

2010-03-31T10:34:00.002+01:00

Newsletter and Easter Egg Hunts...

2010-03-28T20:55:00.005+01:00

It's that time of the month again where we offer up our monthly newsletter for your delectation. This edition features more about our Easter Egg Hunt Cupcakes as well as a little insight into our recent adventures at our first Wedding Fair!

The past few weeks have been a bit jam packed here at Star Bakery towers (well, Star Bakery cul de sac anyway...) so our emails have fallen a little behind so please accept apologies if we haven't got back to you yet - we will, I promise!

As always, if you'd like to order an Easter Gift Box then just drop me an email at liana@starbakery.co.uk and we can get you booked in ASAP. The gift boxes are £22 (inc of delivery) but if you choose to collect then we can offer you the reduced price of £17. Can't say fairer than that can you? (collections are made by appointment only).

Happy Easter cupcake lovers x

My own personal cake!

2010-03-26T09:44:00.002Z

OK, so a few weeks ago I celebrated my 31st birthday. This alarmed me somewhat as I don't think I had time to get used to being 30 yet, where does the time go??

I chose to take a weekend break with the family to Bridlington in Yorkshire and we had a fab time. The holiday season is just about to kick off so we got all the fun of the beach/amusements being open with none of the crowds! We even found a few isolated spots where we could watch the waves hitting the cliffs as the sunset and it was amazing.
So my birthday came and went in a bit of a blur this year BUT the one thing that will stick with me forever is the cake my son decorated for me. I made a (shhhh) *boxed* cake for him (I can't help it - I love Betty!) to let loose on and gave him lots of my cake sprinkles to work with and he created this masterpiece for me. He was so proud of his work and right after he finished we sat down and enjoyed a piece of cake together.

Now THAT'S a birthday to remember :)

Spring has sprung and Easter is on it's way!

2010-03-16T12:26:00.002Z

Well, at least in Nottingham it has! This week has started off gloriously and today is my first day hanging out washing...ummm...maybe I should contain my excitement on that one...

Anyway, I shall be off the radar this week as we prepare for our first Wedding Fayre! Taking place at The Premier Inn in Hucknall the day promises to be filled with local businesses demonstrating what they have on offer for your big day.

Star Bakery will have loads of delightful samples to 'oooh' and 'ahhh' over and if you're lucky, we might even have some samples left for you to try! The day kicks off at 11am so some along if you can.

PLEASE NOTE: we are no longer taking bookings for July, August and September 2010 (unless of course you've already booked your date with us!)

And whilst we're busy making wedding cupcakes we'll also be whipping up some pretty special Easter cupcakes. I don't want to give too much away but this gift box promises to be a little different and suitable for men, women and children alike! Watch this space...

Got a cake business related query?

2010-03-09T11:30:00.002Z

In the last few months a lot more of my lovely blog readers have been in touch to ask questions about starting a cake business and whilst I am always happy to help I though it might be useful to post a few key websites that might be of use:

Flickr - not just a photo sharing website, Flickr has a number of groups you can join to meet other fellow cakers and post questions on a variety of subjects. My top picks for key groups to join include Cake Biz UK and Cupcakes UK. Cake Biz UK has been specially created for people thinking about starting/running a business and the forum is very active so you can get answers to any queries you might have.

Twitter - most people have heard of Twitter but it still takes some time to get used to! I love Twitter as I have 'met' some great cake contacts and if I do have a query I can just post it and I always get great responses often from people all over the world! It's also very inspirational as I choose to follow a lot of cake business people and you can see how they are doing and conduct some great market research just by spending a few minutes 'tweeting' per day!

They are just a few I can highly recommend and you can see some of my old posts which have a more detailed breakdown of other useful resources including Some really great advice and Making the most of whats online.

Of course if anyone does want to get in touch then please do so but bear in mind my inbox is currently overflowing so my response might be a little delayed!

March newsletter available now!

2010-03-03T13:18:00.003Z

Time for your monthly dose of Star Bakery news. Full of information on how to order our Mother's Day gift box and dates of when we are fully booked.

Please don't hesitate to drop me a mail at liana@starbakery.co.uk if you have any queries!

Happy reading :)

Mother's Day aka the eternal question of what to get for Mum

2010-03-02T10:30:00.004Z

Hello my lovelies! So, I have FINALLY managed to get round to making up a box of yummy cupcake treats that are sure to tickle your Mum's fancy this Mothering Sunday.

This is truly a box full of love. Lemony love to be precise. The cupcakes pictured are all lemon flavoured topped with vanilla lemon buttercream but they can come in any cake flavour (as long as all 9 are the same). I wanted to create a box which summed up the recent springtime weather so we've gone with some nice brights and flowers.

This box is £22 delivered to any NG postcode and can include the personal message of your choice. The only caveat being that these little beauties are only available to order until 12 March. My family are treating me to a little weekend getaway on 13/14 March so although I always try to offer delivery on seasonal holidays (even delivering on Valentines day this year!) these boxes will only be available for collection/delivery until 12 March 2010.

We make all our cupcakes fresh and as they are all extra moist they will last fine until Sunday but why not give your Mum an early treat? With 9 cupcakes in the box there might even be some to share...

Boxes boxes everywhere

2010-02-23T13:46:00.006Z

If this past Valentine's is anything to go by then we are in for a busy Mother's Day that's for sure! This was the scene in my kitchen on just one of our delivery days:

I've even had to buy a new fridge to accommodate the growing levels of stock I need to keep at one time! As I make all the cakes fresh I need to be prepared for those last minute orders which means late night dashes to the supermarket are a no go these days.

I am a little late with getting my Mother's Day designs out there and I know a few of at least a few people who have provisionally requested a box so I promise I will get something out in the next few days. I'm sure you're itching to see them!

And one of our recent gift boxes has proved so popular that we're thinking of offering it out as our springtime gift box, what d'ya think?

Star Bakery featured on Frillies for Fillies blog!

2010-02-20T21:35:00.004Z

The lovely Kate at Frillies for Fillies blog got in touch last week after featuring some Star Bakery love recently. She has a lovely blog filled with gorgeous pictures and posts about fashion and has even done a post about one of my favourite TV shows Mad Men (I LOVE that era for female fashion!).
She asked me to get involved in her monthly Local Focus feature and I jumped at the chance! Have a read of it here and check out the rest of her blog.

Thanks Kate, your blog is gorgeous and I am overjoyed to be featured on it x

A little mini break this week

2010-02-15T20:10:00.002Z

As many of you long suffering parents will know this week marks half term for schools around the country. A week when us parents groan and our kids rejoice - especially when it comes to spending our money!

I have tried to reduce my orders this week in the hope of spending some much needed mother/child bonding time but I will still be picking up emails and calls so please feel free to contact us if you have any order requests!

I shall be a little silent online so please be assured that next week marks a return to normal business and our February newsletter is due out next week too. Packed with ideas for Mother's Day and Easter so watch this space.

Non-edible cupcakes?!

2010-02-06T16:42:00.006Z

This post if a little off topic but I thought I'd share a fun time I recently had a friends party in Nottingham. My friend Beth rather ingeniously hired out a fun sewing class at the Textile Workshop in Nottingham so the 10 of us could have 3hrs of fun making and altering some of our favourite clothes.

Now, let's get this straight. I was worried as we sat down to start the lesson as the prospect of using a sewing machine terrifies me but the teacher (Sarah) was great and after taking a few other classes at the Workshop I knew it was going to be a relaxed and fun atmosphere. The evening didn't disappoint and I really enjoyed my first attempt at applique!

It had to be cupcake themed and I made a little addition to a plain white t-shirt as well as a little floral leaf that I am hoping to add to another shirt I have languishing in the wardrobe.

If you're local to Notts then I urge you to take a look at the Textile Workshop as they run lots of classes that are perfect if you are creatively minded. And even if you haven't used a sewing machine since you were a teen, you can end up creating some fab stuff and meeting some awesome people in the process :)

One month on and still going strong!

2010-02-01T10:33:00.003Z

OK, so technically that's not true. I mean Star Bakery officially opened for business last January (2009) but January 2010 is when I started this business full time. And do you know what? For the first time the other day I realised it's actually starting to feel like 'my job' and not just a part time hobby I do for to satisfy my creative side (and wallet!).

January was far busier than I ever expected it to be. I always knew people loved cupcakes but on average I get about 2 calls a day enquiring about placing an order so it seems Star Bakery's name is really getting out there in Notts.

With Valentine's day just around the corner I am already starting to plan my Mother's Day and Easter designs as well as starting to book stalls at events around the county. I love having a cupcake stall at an event, I genuinely love to see people's faces when they come across my stall and even more when they try a cupcake in front of me. Nothing beats the sense of pride that you get when someone eats something you have made - and falls in love with it. You just can't beat that.

I am currently ploughing a LOT of time into social media marketing i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and not only does it help to build my profile but it helps me to stay in touch with my counterparts around the country. As I no longer work in an office I need a way to get my daily gossip intake! Especially if it is more focused on cakes...

Well that's it from me today, I have a couple of big orders for this week that I am looking forward to getting my teeth into (not literally of course, I hope my Environmental Health Officer didn't read that...)

January newsletter available now

2010-01-25T11:15:00.003Z

The January edition of our newsletter is now available here.

And just a little note for anyone thinking about ordering a box of our cupcakes - our minimum order is now 9 cupcakes per order. We have decided to increase the minimum order size as many of you have been asking for orders in multiples of 9 so we thought we'd make it easier for everyone and now offer this as our minimum.

Enjoy!

The season of love is upon us

2010-01-23T14:48:00.002Z

I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted, being in this business means my work is very seasonal so I like to get started on ideas and themes nice and early. The one downside is that all the 'holidays' seem to go on forever! I can't believe we still have a few weeks till Valentines day, I feel like I have been making pink icing and heart shaped cookies for weeks. I'm not complaining though, I think I have the best job in the world!

The next edition of my monthly newsletter is due out this week but in the meantime I thought you might like to see some of my Valentines cookies that I have supplied to a local shop. Ten Green Bottles coffee shop in Mansfield is run by the lovely Rachel French who has recently started stocking some of our seasonal cookies. Today they took delivery of 100 of the cookies below so if you live locally then get yourself over there to try our sugar cookies with a lovely cup of coffee.
I have so much to update you on but just no time to do it so I will sign off now and if you haven't already subscribed for our newsletter then email me at newsletter@starbakery.co.uk or check back to my blog next week where you'll be able to download it for your perusal.

Valentines for the sweet toothed

2010-01-13T11:28:00.003Z

OK, hands up who stole the last week from me? Come on, there is no way I have been that busy that time has just escaped from me...on no...hold on I understand. Mr Time and Mother Nature got together and decided to gang up on me - no fair!

So like everyone else in the UK I have been at the mercy of the weather. My road is officially an ice rink and school has been shut a few times now so my day has been chaotic to say the least. But being housebound has also meant I've had some time to think about my Valentines cake designs and get some samples made for you all to see and voila......here they are! Now available in multiples of 9, this lovely gift box can be yours for only £20 delivered to any NG postcode. I've already had a few enquiries since posting the pictures yesterday so they are proving popular.

I am also planning to add some new Valentines cookies and a small Love Heart inspired cake into the mix so watch this space.

It's good I love pink buttercream and hearts!!

Yet another reason to eat cake!

2010-01-05T14:20:00.002Z

Welcome all to 2010, another year without flying cars but with copious amounts of cake and cookies to make up for it! Hooray!

And what better reason to buy edible treats than for the one you love than Valentine's Day. Yes, its only 6 weeks to go till we celebrate the most romantic day of the year and we really have got our thinking caps on here at the bakery. We will be offering new sized gift boxes (holding 9 cupcakes instead of 6), heart shaped cookies and personalised mini cakes for the cake lover in your life. Keep an eye on our website as we'll be posting our seasonal goodies soon.

Incidentally, today marks my first day of official self employment! An exciting time lies ahead for Star Bakery as I finally have time to do all of the things that will make this business bigger and better in 2010. Thank you all for your continued support over the past year, we have been consistently busier month on month and that's all thanks to all you cake fanatics out there.

Keep up the good work.

My favourite bit about Christmas is...

2009-12-20T18:37:00.009Z

...making a gingerbread house! It's a great traditional pastime to undertake in this festive season and there is nothing more enjoyable to me than sitting down with my 5 year old son and decorating our own little gingerbread house.

I have done this since he was a baby and although he might eat more sweets than he sticks to the house, the anticipation on finishing it is sometimes too much for him and he begs me to start eating it as soon as we've stuck on the last sweet.

This is an example of one of our houses from 2007 (a minimalist offering):
And seeing as I am feeling especially festive and giving today I have decided to share with you the recipe I use for all my gingerbread cookies/houses. It's a really easy dough that makes a chewy cookie and is a great one to make with the kids (I use US measurements which can easily be translated via google):

3 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
6 tablespoons/90g room temp unsalted butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup treacle
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Whisk together all dry ingredients in a bowl and set to one side.
Beat together butter, sugar and egg until well mixed.
Add treacle and vanilla to the mixture and mix again.
Gradually add dry ingredients until it forms a sticky dough.
Wrap dough in clingfilm and set aside at room temperature for at least a few hours. The dough can be stored in a fridge but needs to be brought to room temperature before using.
Preheat oven to 375f and line your baking sheet with baking parchment. Roll dough out to thickness of 1/4" and bake for 8-9 mins.
Cool cookies on baking sheet and then move to cooling rack until completely cold.
Once cool, decorate with royal icing and sweets.

Here is how they look in cookie form. Now go forth and bake!

Christmas time, mistletoe and....cake??

2009-12-14T20:36:00.003Z

The last minute orders have been flooding in over the last week. It seems that, like me, many people leave the festive food shopping till last (the Christmas toy list comes first!) so I shall be up to my ears in glitter, cookie cutters and gingerbread to fulfill all the orders of my lovely customers..

And I can't think of a better way to be spending my time.
As a reminder to all you readers who might be considering a purchase from your friendly local cake maker: our Christmas edition of the newsletter is out and details all of festive baked delights whilst you can view some of our seasonal products here. But order soon, I'm not taking further orders after 18 December as we're nearly fully booked.

And I need time to watch 'Elf' and wrap my pressies!

Stalls, newsletters and the next phase

2009-12-08T19:53:00.003Z

Star Bakery is officially entering a new phase. As some of you might be aware I work full time alongside running this business but my workplace is currently making redundancies and I have opted to volunteer for redundancy. Today, my requested was accepted so into the new year Star Bakery will finally be becoming a fully fledged full time business for me!

This year has seen lots of up and downs for me so I go forward full of optimism for 2010, it can't get worse than 2009...I hope!

Further details will no doubt follow in coming months as I finally have time to run this business with the full gusto I have always wanted to but for now let's get onto some more cake related news.
Star Bakery appeared this weekend at Rufford Country Park Craft Fair and had a particularly good weekend selling out of our 350+ cupcakes, 100 sugar cookies and various other edible treats! We also met some FAB people and hope to make more contacts in coming weeks. Thank you to everyone who turned out in the cold wet weather, I really appreciate your support!

I will also be sending out a newsletter extra this week so don't forget to sign up if you haven't already, you wouldn't want to miss out on the most up to date news now would you??

Star Bakery newsletter debuts for Christmas

2009-11-23T20:33:00.002Z

Evening all! Some of you might have read my various posts over the past few weeks talking about to-do lists and all the things I want to accomplish in coming weeks and I am happy to say one of those things is now officially ticked off the list.

Star Bakery now has a newsletter that will be sent out on a monthly basis. The newsletter will feature seasonal specials, offers and information about what's happening in our kitchen.

If you'd like to subscribe to receive our newsletter straight into your inbox then please email us at newsletter@starbakery.co.uk You can read the first edition here.

Let me know your thoughts and if there's anything else you'd like to see in forthcoming issues.

So much to do, so little time!

2009-11-18T16:01:00.006Z

Whew! What a busy few weeks it's been - I honestly curse our 24 hour day sometimes, why can't you be more flexible father time??

So what's been keeping me busy? Well firstly, an influx of unexpected cake orders. I try really hard to accommodate all order requests, but my free time has paid the price. Some of you will know I also have a full time job I work alongside Star Bakery so my only 'baking time' is evenings and weekends. I'm not complaining though, all of my customers are fab and continue to challenge my creative skills daily.

I also had a stall at a local infant school in Beeston, Nottingham. It was at a Ladies Pamper Evening and I had a great time! We sold out of cupcakes and brownies and I must have given away over 100+ business cards so it was a marketing opportunity as well as a way to get my cakes out there. The tables were teeny tiny school tables so I felt like a cake giant!!

Finally, I have been trying to prepare for Christmas orders. My week between Christmas and New Year's is nearly booked with orders but I am having a market stall at Rufford in December and trying to design what lovely things to bring for people to buy. Gingerbread, cinnamon and fruit also feature heavily in my ideas but is there anything else you'd like to see on my stall? What item would you just HAVE to have?

I leave you this evening with a picture of some recent gorgeous little cupcakes I made for an order this weekend. The idea is taken from the Planet Cake book (AMAZING!!) and it's my new favourite cupcake...

Save the date!

2009-11-06T18:55:00.004Z

Star Bakery will be getting festive this December and appearing at our FIRST Christmas event at Rufford Abbey in Nottinghamshire.

I am sooo excited to have a stall there this year, I love Rufford and this time of the year is very special at the grounds with lots to do for the little ones while you shop! Here is a detailed extract from the events programme:

Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th December CHRISTMAS AURORA GIFT MARKET
11am - 6.30pm
Christmas is almost here, so forget the stress of the High Street and enjoy a leisurely browse for that special gift as traders from 50 stalls tempt you with a variety of handmade quality craft goods. Then, as darkness approaches, the market will be bathed in light as all 50 stalls will be illuminated to enhance your shopping experience and complement the Aurora Christmas lighting extravaganza. The market is held in the coach house courtyard against the backdrop of Rufford Abbey.

I hope you can make it along to visit us and say hello. We will be selling:

Handmade seasonal themed cupcakes and larger Christmas fruit cakes
Hand decorated sugar cookies in all shapes and sizes
Gingerbread cookies (like the ones above!)
Edible Christmas tree decorations to hang on your tree
Cake/cookie mix gift jars for the baker in your life
Boxed cake truffles
Handmade cake themed cards from the lovely Sarah Dawes

If there's anything else you'd like us to feature then let me know, I'm always welcome to ideas!

Cupcakes hitting the headlines again

2009-11-02T18:16:00.002Z

Bit late posting the link to this but one of my lovely Twitter followers alerted me to this article on the BBC website.

I think the 'cupcake revival' they speak of has been in the pipeline for at least the last 5-7 years, the UK has just taken a little longer to catch on commercially with bakeries only really starting to appear since 2005 (Star Bakery only came into existence in 2009 but the idea was there for a while...!). There are some exceptions of course, but I hear a lot of my London based pals commenting that cupcakes are now appearing everywhere in the past year.

This can't be a bad thing, surely? I for one hope cupcakes stay around forever but I accept somethings associated with cupcakes i.e. wedding trends, will move on. The only way to keep them on top is to constantly work on re-inventing styles and finding the 'next big thing' to capture people's imagination.

Here's hoping that what Star Bakery does best!

Star Bakery guest appearances

2009-10-28T08:29:00.003Z

Things have been pretty hectic the last few weeks since the website went live so my posts have been few and far between but I hope to rectify this over coming weeks.

I thought you might like to know that Star Bakery is making guest appearances all over the place! A few blogger's have contacted me recently asking to use some of my cake images and here they are in all their glory:

Pink Coffee Beans is a beautiful looking blog about baking, crafts and other pretty things. They have recently featured our yellow swirl cupcake in a post about the colour yellow.
Bettina Johnson Jewelery is a blog featuring some amazing jewellery pieces. She featured one of my gift boxes in a post detailing some other green items.
Hope Stamps Eternal is a card making and stamping blog. The featured one of my favourite photos, the chocolate bean topped cupcake, as inspiration for a card making challenge.

I love seeing my cupcakes being used especially as inspiration for different types of work. If you'd like to feature any of our photos then let me know so I can link to your blog too!

AND THE WINNER IS....

2009-10-21T19:24:00.002+01:00

Firstly a massive THANK YOU to everyone who entered the competition! I am truly gobsmacked by the number of fabulous entries we had to this competition. I have had SUCH a hard job picking a winner and in the end I needed some independent advice on who was going to receive my box of cakes. So without further ado the winner of 6 gorgeous caramel cupcakes is...

.....Jenny Williams!! Congratulations Jenny! For anyone that didn't see her entry she said "I think I (well my sister) deserve these yummy cupcake treats. She has just gone into queens medical centre to be induced (weds 21st 9.15am), baby being 2 weeks overdue and mummy feeling very fed up. Baby George is likely to be born either later today or tomorrow and caramel filled cupcakes would be the perfect treat for her in hospital (or at home) given that baby will be getting all the goodies and presents from friends! Also her other half cannot feed himself, and so a caramel cupcake would be the perfect tea for him, given she wont be cooking any time soon!"

Well how could refuse an entry like that!

But wait...with so many great entries to choose from and to say thank you for joining in this time I'd like to offer all entrants 20% off your next order with Star Bakery. I have a list of all of your names so if you haven't yet tried our cakes and would like to see what the fuss is about then drop me a line at liana@starbakery.co.uk and claim your discount! This discount is valid until 31 December 2009 so take a look at our website and see what tickles your fancy!

Competition time!

2009-10-20T22:24:00.002+01:00

This is a monumental time for Star Bakery, firstly our website is now LIVE! I have so many big thanks to make to the wonderful Al for his awesome work building/tweaking and catering to my every whim of web design but I will save that for another day. For now it's....

Competition time! To mark the occasion of a spangly new website and so many fabulous orders these past few weeks I have decided to offer a little thank you to everyone that has supported Star Bakery and made it all possible.

I have 6 of my newest cupcakes ready to give away! A brand new flavour to add to our collection it is a Caramel filled chocolate cupcake topped with vanilla buttercream. The caramel is homemade, gooey and sweet and would be perfect for the sweet toothed person in your life - or indeed just as a guilty pleasure for you!

All you have to do is tell me why you think you deserve these cupcakes! The best most deserving answer wins the cupcakes which will need to be collected from my premises just outside of Nottingham city centre. The cupcakes area ready for collection ASAP and will need to be collected by 8pm Thursday, 22 October 2009.

You can enter a variety of ways:

Leave a comment on this blog post
Tweet me @starbakery
Leave a message on my facebook page
Email me at liana@starbakery.co.uk

If you live outside of Nottingham then don't despair as we will be running another competition soon open to EVERYONE EVERYWHERE regardless of where you are in the world!

The competition closes Wednesday, 21 October at 7pm. The winner will be announced shortly after 7pm and will be free to collect their prize from 8pm tomorrow night.

New website launches soon!

2009-10-15T20:45:00.004+01:00

Apologies for the gap in blog posts, life has been increasingly hectic but at last I have some exciting news about Star Bakery...

Our website will be going live very soon - Hurray! One of my lovely talented friends has been busy building it and making it look lovely, and we're now at a stage where it should be ready to go live within the next week or so.

I can promise some exciting website opening offers and I'd really appreciate your feedback on our new site so keep your eyes peeled for tweets, facebook messages and a newsletter sign up service to keep you updated with all things Star Bakery.

In the meantime we are fully booked with orders for the next 10 days so I better get on with baking! And for your sweet tooth here is a gift box we delivered this week, great for all occasions!

Looking towards the future

2009-10-03T10:09:00.002+01:00

So much to do - so little time! I knew when I started this business life would be busy but as my 'to do' continues to grow, I realise that making this business successful is going to take everything I've got.

But I am determined to keep all my balls in the air and want to offer you a sneak preview of what's to come with Star Bakery:

Website - finally up and running! The very next thing on my list is to import the content into my new website. It's ready to go but I'm not so I will set aside some time next week to finish it and get it launched.
Delivery! Yes, after numerous requests to deliver outside of Nottinghamshire I am meeting with a delivery company next week to discuss options.
Cakes for special diets - gluten-free and vegan cupcakes in time for Christmas.
Seasonal options - Halloween, Bonfire Night, Christmas, New year's! So many occasions suitable for cake.
Newsletter - a fortnightly/monthly e-newsletter telling you about all the latest Star Bakery news. It will also be published on this blog so make sure you check in regularly.

In the meantime, here is a little cake I made for my niece this week. As you might have read in my last post my brother was involved in a car accident. He was in surgery the day of her 6th birthday so she had a rough day and I thought I'd make her a special little cake to help cheer her up. He is doing much better by the way, making leaps and bounds in recovery and even having some time off the ventilator so I am hopeful for his condition.Thanks for all your messages of support and thanks for bearing with me these past few weeks. Star Bakery resumes normal business from Monday so look out for more posts, cakes and tweets!

What a week.

2009-09-25T21:36:00.002+01:00

These past 7 days have seen my the highest, and lowest, I have been on a long time. Why I hear you ask? Well come a little closer and I shall fill you in...

Firstly, The Nottingham Evening Post (my local paper) ran a lovely feature about Star Bakery. It was better than I could have hoped for and the journalist was so complimentary about my cupcakes. The article has led to a surge in emails/enquiries and I have had some great orders this week so I have lots to keep me going. This business has always been about having the opportunity to do something I love whilst making people happy and I feel that I am now one step closer to this.

However, instead in basking in the glory of this I was dealing with some devastating news that was delivered to me in the early hours of the Friday before the article came out. My brother had been involved in a very serious car accident and was in critical condition in a hospital 2.5hrs away.

Oh. My. God.

So, as I said - a week of mixed emotions. Throughout the week my brother has gone from being in critical condition to now starting to wake up. Don't get me wrong - his rehabilitation will be long but we now have some hope.

This week has involved travelling/baking/praying/crying/laughing and I had to make the tough decision to carry on with existing orders as I don't think my brother would want us to all put life on hold whilst he gets better. Baking has literally been my therapy this week.

So here I am, baking again and planning my next trip to the hospital. Life doesn't always go the way we expect but luckily for me my little brother is a stubborn old mule :) And for the emergency crews who saved his life - well lets just hope they like cake...

Purely for research purposes.

2009-09-17T20:32:00.003+01:00

Honestly. I mean, I wouldn't buy cupcakes from other people unless I was just checking the quality....would I??

Well, yes. Some people find it very strange that I continue to buy cupcakes from other competitors or that I can still manage to stomach cupcakes after being surrounded by them all day. But I assure you, once you have a sweet tooth its with you for good. And I do recommend you do thorough research of your local competitors or else how else can you know what you're up against?

So yesterday I decided to try some cupcakes from a stall at my local farmers market. My heart pounded just thinking about another competitor so close to me but my husband bought a box and we eagerly opened it to try the goods. And what a disappointment.

I say this not to diss my fellow cake maker but the sponge was dry and the icing had a weird texture. To conclude my research I asked my colleagues to sample the goods and many refused after seeing my disappointment. There is NOTHING more disappointing than a below par cake. It's practically sacrilege.

Onto test 2 = So today I was in London and at St Pancras station there is a shop called Peyton & Byrne. I have heard a few people commend them so I bought a box just before catching my train home. They were expensive at £2.50 each but the packaging was lovely and the shop was so nice I didn't mind paying the price.

The anticipation ate into me on the train home but I managed to ignore their calling me from the luggage rack above my head and instead waited until I finished my dinner when I got home to tuck in. Verdict - nice moist sponge but WAY too much icing! Now, I don't say this lightly - I am a icing lover but this buttercream was well and truly crusted over and I struggled to take a bite of cake and frosting together. My husband didn't rate them but I liked the chocolate one and have yet to try the others.

And besides - he would be bias wouldn't he? And that's why I love him.

Mummy's little helper

2009-09-13T09:34:00.004+01:00

This weekend was very exciting. All my orders were completed by Friday so I had 2 full days to spend with my boys! A family weekend is a rare occurrence of late so I like to make the most of them. Even if they do involve doing very little and slouching around the house...

But, I am a baker through and through so I knew there would be cake making of some description and Fin and I decided to make a cake. Just a simple white cake but to jazz it up we added coloured sprinkles to the batter. The sprinkles melt whilst cooking so you end up with little bursts of colour throughout your cake - a nice surprise for the kids!

Firstly, Fin did a great job and helped me add all the ingredients. At 4 years old he already knows how to turn on the kitchen aid so he did the mixing too! Once mixed we put it in a pan and waited. Now, patience is not a virtue of a 4 year old so we played in the garden to pass the time.

I then topped the cake with some chocolate frosting and then let the decorating begin. I made a plate of cake decorations up from my baking box and let Fin and the Hubby loose on the cake. Fin decided he wanted to make a house of sorts so that's what he did.

So here it is, a cake made by the Stevens family FOR the Stevens family. And it tasted wonderful.

I love roses. Especially edible ones.

2009-09-09T23:16:00.002+01:00

Chocolate cupcake with white fondant rose
Originally uploaded by Star Bakery

I am currently working on a few wedding orders and (I'm sure I will regret saying this) I am finding that I love making fondant roses! It must be thereuputic or something.

I really want to try and cover the top of one whole cake with lots of little roses so stay tuned for piccies if I ever get time to sit down and make 100 or so of them...

Cupcake cases from Icing Works

2009-09-04T21:38:00.002+01:00

The fab Jenny at Icing Works sent me a sample pack of cupcake cases to try out and they are gorgeous! I don't normally use print cases as clients tend to go for solid colours but I would re-think that now as I think they add a really funky dimension to the cakes.

The cases do go a little translucent after baking but this helps mute any bright patterns so your cake remains the focus of the scene!

I should have listended to my maths teacher.

2009-08-28T19:44:00.003+01:00

After many months of procrastinating (and nagging by my other half) I finally sat done today to get my finances in order.

As ever, my first port of call was Business Link who have some great hints/tips on how to set up your accounts system. I always go there whenever I have a business query and this gave me a really good indication of what information I have to capture. There isn't much that is legally required but you do need to know the basics when it comes to tax time!

So here I am, sitting in front of my laptop surrounded by receipts (prove above!). Blah. I have finally set up a basic spreadsheet detailing all of my outgoings for the business and now the challenge for me is to keep it up to date. I plan to make time every two weeks to update it all and the only tough part is working out how much electricity to attribute to my baking. Does anyone have any ideas on how to work this out? It's pretty tough as my premises is also my home but my electricity bills haven't gone up that much so its not easy to see how much I have spent in that area.

I am also starting to realise that working full time and running a business is proving pretty tough so I have reduced my hours of work to 30 per week when my little man starts school. It isn't a huge reduction (I currently work 35) but it means my days will be a little shorter to allow me more time with the family and I won't feel so guilty about all my baking each night!

Go on...

2009-08-22T22:23:00.003+01:00

Trio of pink pastel cupcakes
Originally uploaded by Star Bakery

...treat yourself. Or someone else you know!

I have been experimenting with photos and background colours so watch this space for more photos in coming weeks. I like the look of text on photos too hence me little message this evening.

I have been taking more photos in readiness for my new website (exciting times!) which should be ready soon. Can't wait!

Managing the quiet times

2009-08-17T21:16:00.003+01:00

When I started this business I was prepared for the quiet times. I was not prepared the busy times (!) but I knew not to let it get me down if things were slow. To help me stay focused, I have a list of 'things to do' that helps me continue to stay busy even when cake orders are few and far between.

For instance: when cake orders are frequent, my admin really falls by the wayside. I mean totally. It's all I can do to create an invoice/receipt for a client let alone log cake costs, payment, update social networking sites etc. So I try and fit it all into a quiet time. I make a list of what needs to be done - SFBB health & safety logs, receipt books etc and then everything else is saved up for a weeknight like tonight. I try not to beat myself up if things slide a little, I joke to my hubby that I already need an admin person! I have received some great advice from a friend who has her own business and she says to keep on top of the money situation. Doing your taxes can be hard enough without trying to find long lost receipts that you put in a 'really safe place'...

Something else I do when I have time is create cake dummy designs. I wasn't aware of cake dummies until I started doing my research into larger cakes but they are a great way to practise without having the cost of making a cake. I found some mini polystyrene cake dummies at M&S recently and I cover them in cheap white fondant from the supermarket and then sit down to try and create a design. I find it very therapeutic and its a great way to take some good photos for your website. Becky at Consumed by Cake recently told me that expanding foam can be used to make cupcake dummies and I plan to have a go at this soon! I will post pics as I am as intrigued as you.

The cake featured here is a 'dummy' and I wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't real. The main objective is to show the client what you can do so go on, have a go and show off a little!

Wahey - let's celebrate National Cupcake Week!

2009-08-12T19:45:00.004+01:00

It seems that we now have another way to celebrate all that is cake - and it's all thanks to National Cupcake Week.

British Baker is organising what will hopefully become an annual event to raise the profile of our favourite little cake from 14-19 September 2009.

And you too can get involved by supporting your favourite bakery or cupcake maker and placing an order of your favourite treats, in fact why not share the love amongst your friends and family and surprise them with a box of cupcakes?

A few of my clients have mentioned that they were not aware that I sell smaller boxes of cupcakes made to order. I need to look into this as I would hate for someone to come across my details and think "I only want a little box, I'm sure she couldn't possibly provide me with a few cupcakes that don't cost the earth". Well think again, whilst Star Bakery does have a minimum order of 6 cupcakes per flavour we can make you up a batch of your favourite cupcakes and deliver them to you (anywhere in the Nottingham area) starting at a very reasonable £11.

So go on, treat someone with a little ox of yumminess and don't forget to celebrate National Cupcake Week. I know I will be!

Welcome to Wedding Weekend

2009-08-10T21:26:00.003+01:00

Well, at least welcome to my post about Wedding Weekend! Those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook will have seen my posts about my hectic weekend working on two wedding cakes. The two cakes couldn't be more different and one was for some good friends of mine so the pressure was well and truly on!

I only have pictures of one of the cakes at the moment but I thought you might like to see how it all turned out. I have to admit I learnt A LOT from my cake making this weekend that I thought I would share:

Whilst I am working in this business on my own, I will not take on more than one wedding/special occasion cake per weekend. I still work full time in the week and I think I have finally realised what my limits are! The stress of finishing the cakes and baking them all from scratch just left me worn out and I don't think its fair my home life suffer from my tiredness all the time. I will sacrifice things for Star Bakery but not my family time. Cupcakes are a different story, I could make those until they come out of my ears!
I have already written before about my love of baking from scratch but I would consider buying cakes to carve/decorate as I currently use my little oven at home and I really had to keep on eye on the cakes in the oven to ensure they didn't over cook or drop. I also had to measure the heights of the cakes which took quite a lot of carving and batter arithmetic! I have a local bakery, Sweet Success, near me who sell cakes by the box and you just buy what you need and layer them with your own buttercream. I haven't quite decided yet but it would take the stress out of some of my cakes and I would ensure clients are fully aware of what I am doing. What are your thoughts on this?
Fondant, fondant, fondant. I don't know why I struggle so much with covering cakes in fondant but the bigger the cake, the tougher it was! I made a 12" square cake and had to make 3 attempts to cover it without any tears/stretch marks. It drove me MAD!! I used the rolling pin method where you lift the fondant with the pin but I still find that putting the cake on a turntable makes the fondant pull downwards once I put it onto the cake (before you get a chance to trim it). Does anyone have any advice on how I can do this without tearing my fondant? I use Cornflour/Cornstarch to roll the fondant out.

I am considering paying to go onto an intensive Squires cake course as I am mostly self taught and maybe my stress would be reduced if I actually knew officially what the tricks of the trade are. I haven't had any complaints on my cakes yet but it doesn't hurt to know as much as you can!

I can also happily announce that both cakes turned out wonderfully and were a hit at the weddings. That makes it all worth it.

Logo cupcakes

2009-08-03T10:22:00.003+01:00

One of my favourite cupcakes to make for customers are logo cupcakes. Don't get me wrong, I love making fondant decorations and buttercream swirls but logo cupcakes are fun because of the way people react when they see them.

I don't think people realise you can get edible images on cupcakes and they provide something a little different if you don't know what you're after. I am currently looking for a new edible image provider for cupcake sized images - I have a great lady who does my large sized toppers but she doesn't make smaller toppers so I have to cut them out of a large icing sheet when she sends them. I don't mind doing this but I'd rather have them pre-cut if possible.

I think I will also start to put the toppers on fondant circles to avoid the cake/frosting showing through the toppers or leaving them with a bumpy texture.

Here are some gaming cupcakes I made for my hubby's birthday a few weeks ago. And if you can recommend a good cupcake topper provider then please let me know!

Star Bakery's latest cake stall appearance

2009-07-29T20:00:00.003+01:00

After many nights spent deciding what cakes to stock on my stall, Star Bakery finally made its first appearance at Nottingham Pride.

We stocked just over 400 cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies and double chocolate brownies and took home only 20 cupcakes at the end of the day! We made chocolate/chocolate, vanilla/chocolate, lemon/vanilla, rainbow surprise, coffee/chocolate, peanut butter/chocolate and my favourite cream cheese/cinnamon. Peanut Butter and Rainbow Surprise were the clear favourites selling out after only a few hours. We also had some great enquiries and leads from local sellers which was only topped by the party atmosphere at the event.

The only downside, and a bit of advice for anyone running a a cake stall, make sure you ask for a stall far away from other strong smelling stalls. We were unfortunate enough to be placed near a BBQ pit which was constantly busy, but REALLY smokey. Not only did I smell of BBQ for hours afterwards, the smoke would change direction with the wind and choke me whilst I was talking to customers. I also think my cakes started to absorb some of the smokey flavour which was disappointing although I didn't get any complaints so that made me feel better.

I thought you'd like to see a few photos from the day. I also trialed a new idea by buying some new 15" cupcake boxes. They hold 36 muffin size cupcakes which is great for transportation and we kept them on the table with the lids slightly open so people could see a sneak peek of the contents! I also labelled them with Star Bakery stickers so reinforce my branding. I thought the white boxes added to that 'bakery feel' and I will definitely use them again if I get a big enough stall to fit them on.

There are some lovely people out there you know.

2009-07-27T20:42:00.002+01:00

I posted last week about Zen Cupcake who featured one of my photos and can you believe it, they have featured Star Bakery again!

After a tough weekend of cupcaking I needed a few days to put my head down and catch up with my family. I logged on tonight to find the MOST LOVELY post about Star Bakery over at Zen. And when I say lovely I really mean it!

Getting into this business is a non-stop, 24 hour job. I believe in treating others the way I would like to be treated so anyone who gets in touch with me always gets a response. I try to share my experiences with you all in the hope that you will be inspired in making your dreams come true and I was so happy (and choked!) to read a review that recognised me and has now given me the energy I need to get through a hectic next few weeks.

I hate to gush, but acts of kindness are so rare and I apreciate anyone who takes the time out to give praise to someone they only know in 'webworld'. And it means a lot.

Star Bakery featured on Zen Cupcake

2009-07-24T12:37:00.002+01:00

The fabulous blog Zen Cupcake featured one of my older cupcake creations on her blog to celebrate National Ice Cream Cone Day.

I follow Zen on Twitter, Flickr and her blog and she posts some great pccies for us cupcake lovers! Thanks again Zen!

Some really GREAT advice

2009-07-19T18:00:00.002+01:00

Happy Sunday all! Just came across a great post on one of my regular cupcake blogs Cupcakes Take the Cake. A great blog if you haven't already found it!

Rachel just wrote a really detailed and comprehensive post about promoting your cupcake business and I just wanted to draw your attention to that post as I know of few of you have contacted me recently because you follow my blog to read about my adventures setting up Star Bakery. And what an adventure it is...

Luckily, I do most of the things mentioned by Rachel already as I come from a Marketing/Media background but I cannot emphasise enough how vital I have found the online community around me. I am happy to share my experiences so far and I love hearing about yours so please leave a comment or get in touch with me directly at liana@starbakery.co.uk if there is anything you ever want to discuss!

And on another note, my website should be live soon! Customers have so far put up with my baisc holding page so I can't wait to get my hands on a sparkly new website just for me x

Fondant stamps - my new toys!

2009-07-17T21:35:00.000+01:00

I've seen a lot of cakes recently that have text on them, not hand written text, but lovely perfect stamped text which sits into the fondant on a cake or cake board.

I recently found out that many people use normal craft stamps to give this effect (using them only for cake decorating for hygiene purposes) and I thought this was a great idea! Craft stamps come in hundreds of shapes and sizes and if used properly can look fantastic on cakes and cupcakes covered in fondant.

I recently bought one of those make any message stamp kits from Wilton and have been playing with it on a dummy cake board covered in fondant. These are the results so far:

Pretty basic so far but I think with time, this effect can be used in many different ways. Most people press the letters into the cake board to print a message and then highlight the embossed letters with lustre/glitter. The idea behind the kit is to pipe over the letters but I like the fact somebody has decided to use them differently to come up with another decorating method. Brilliant!

Making the most of what's online

2009-07-12T09:48:00.000+01:00

When I first decided to start to make a go of my cake business I knew I would have to embrace as many online tools as I could. Not only are they free, but they allow you to reach more people than and make some great online friends who can help you on your way. Here is a few I use:

Flickr - a great photo album website that you can register with for free and upload up to 100MB of pictures per month. You can also pay for $25 per year to have a pro account and get loads more features and options for a very reasonable annual fee. Flickr also has some great group forums where you can get help and advice from others in your field. I joined a group called Cupcakes UK and we all post hints/tips/advice regularly. Also nice for feedback and idea sharing. Flickr also have a function called Explore where they pic the most interesting photos for a period and feature them on their website for everyone to see. Here are some of my photos that have been Explored recently:

1. Football cupcake, 2. Group shot of eggless cupcakes, 3. Dirt Cupcakes, 4. Lemon swirlie heaps on vanilla cupcake, 5. Rainbow cake

Twitter - one of the fastest growing forms of social networking in recent years. I joined a few months ago as Star Bakery and I now have over 200 followers reading my daily updates. It takes a little while to get used to 'twittering' but you 'meet' some great people online and can post photos etc to showcase your work. I regularly speak to people from all over the world and have even got some orders from people who follow me. I like to think that if people are interested in looking at my website then they might like to find out more about me and I think Twitter gives them an opportunity to see the real me.

Facebook - More and more people are on Facebook now and it's an ideal marketing environment for me as the demographic of facebook users has moved away from kids and teens to adults and parents getting in touch with old friends. This is perfect for me as one of my target audiences is parents. I have a fan page on Facebook (please join!!) and this allows me to keep people up to date with where I am and what I'm baking. I don't yet have a fully functional website so this is vital for me as I want to try and have a two-way communication with potential clients and allow them to see what I can do and where they can come and see me when I have a stall somewhere.

These are just some of the tools I use, do you have any recommendation's for me? How do you feel about Facebook and Twitter?

Domestic Goddess or not?

2009-07-05T18:21:00.000+01:00

When I decided to start in this business, one thing I took for granted was that you'd have to be a great baker. Surely it's a given?

But no, I have since discovered that quite a few great cake decorators buy there cakes from wholesalers to enable them to concentrate on making it look fabulous without having to worry about the cooking part. At first, this struck me as a bit odd but the more I think about it (and the more I try cake samples from my local wholesaler...) the more I realise that it's not where you get the cake from that counts - it's how it tastes.

There has always been a big debate about using box cake mixes and whilst I use these for my family (rarely, but it does happen) I am a baker at heart. I can easily buy a plain cake base from my local cake specialist but I think my clients buy from me because of taste and I don't want to set a precedent by going down this route just yet. I also find that the cost it takes me to make/buy is comparible. I don't think I would ever use a box cake mix for a client though - I am sure they would be able to tell and my costs reflect a homemade taste that you can't get from a box.

The debate rages on, I think its a personal choice and I think it depends on what your passion is too.

Working the markets

2009-06-23T20:14:00.000+01:00

With two successful market appearances now under my belt (!) I am starting to feel more confident about my product and more confident about selling on a stall.

A lot of people have recently been asking me lots of questions like how many cupcakes do you make, how do you package your product, how much do you charge and how do you know what flavours to sell. Well, firstly I have had my good friend Beth show me the way in terms of finding fairs, bookings stalls and seeting up and I think that has been invaluable to me. Beth used to have a stall selling funky kids clothes so she is a dab hand at knowing what to do. Let me share some of the information I have gained so far for anyone considering this route:

Finding a venue: I first used Craft People2000 as they are experienced at running events and generally provide you a table and venue in return for a table hire charge. Its normally a set price per event and I paid £60 for my first 2 day stall but this tends to be the high end of the market in Nottinghamshire so I expect most events to be cheaper. Beth tends find events, fairs and festivals and we then contact them directly to see if its possible to have a stall. The Sherwood Community Festival was advertised and we emailed the organisers and they managed to fit us in. Most of the time they want to see your Food Safety certificate, Public liabilty insurance and possibly other business documents but I now keep these in one file for ease of access and also keep e-copies so I can email them directly.

How many cakes to make: This is a tricky one! My first event was marred by terrible weather but we managed to sell over 270 cupcakes and various other baked goods in the course of 2 days. My second event was a sell out and we sold 250 cupcakes in 4 hrs so it really depends on the event. As a rule I will now ensure I have more cakes at a festival type event as people buy in smaller quantities but they eat them straight away so once someone spots a person eating your cakes they might seek out your stall as they need a sugar fix! I also provide cookies and other baked treats so I will stock up on those next time as they are easy to make in big batches and fill your stall with. Both events had footfalls of between 500-1000+. I think I would struggle with anything larger than 2000 at this stage of my business.

Packaging: I have invested in paper bags for small purchases and small white boxes (8x8x4") for purchases of 4 cupcakes or more. I did buy bigger boxes but they are hard to handle when you are busy as they come flat packed and your workspace is limited so buy something that you are comfortable handling or else you will get flustered as the orders come in thick and fast! I did buy some ribbon and stickers for the boxes but realistically I do not have time to make the boxes look 'pretty' so I now just put stickers on the boxes as we make them up and keep them under the stall for busy periods.

Flavours: At my first event I kept the flavours very simple and really made an impact by using lots of colours and styles. The 2nd event was more about flavours and you can see what I made here. The flavours went down well and it was easier for people to choose what they wanted this time as they didn't have to decide on which colour or style they liked best. I will definitely stick to more flavours for my next event but I keep them relatively simple to suit all tastes.

I also invested in a gazebo (as you can see from my pic!) which took about 20 mins to put up and just made my 'space' feel a little more like my own. It also stopped the direct sunshine getting on my cakes and a few spots of rain too!

Another day....another SELL OUT!!

2009-06-20T22:28:00.000+01:00

Hooray! Star Bakery had a stall at this year's Sherwood Festival in Nottingham. The festival ran from 12pm to 8pm but we had sold out by 4pm so we got to sit back and bask in the glory of all the people with thier bellies full of cupcake.

We made over 220 cupcakes in various flavours and 50 chocolate chip cookies for those non-cake types (yes, they do exist). It was a great day and a great atmosphere as it was a community festival so everyone is so keen to support local businesses. I have to say everyone I met seemed genuinely friendly and I got some great feedback which has put a massive grin on my face for the duration of this weekend.

I though you might like to see some photos from the day, is their a better job in the world?

I don't think so x

Star Bakery featured on Cupcakes Take the Cake

2009-06-16T13:40:00.000+01:00

I was very excited to see one of my cupcakes featured on one of my favourite cupcake blogs 'Cupcakes Take the Cake'. It is so nice to see your work being noticed by other people so I am very chuffed :)

Thanks ladies!

Eggless chocolate cupcakes - yum yum

2009-06-13T17:10:00.000+01:00

I started making these cupcakes last year for a lady who has an allergy to eggs. Her family had always resorted to buying her vegan cakes for special occasions but hadn't been impressed by them (no offence to vegan cake lovers, but Nottingham hasn't quite got the vegan cake right yet!).

So I found a recipe online, tweaked it a bit and the lady is now one of my regular customers. When she first tried this cake she loved it and commented that she had never had a 'proper' cake when she was a child years ago and now her family know where they can come for good, moist and chocolatey chocolate cake.

Here is the finished cupcake:
Here is the inside:
And finally, here is the recipe:

Makes 40 cupcakes or 1 9x13 inch cake

4 1/2 cups sifted plain flour
3 cups white/caster sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups cold water
3 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon chocolate extract (optional but makes it nice and chocolatey)

1. Preheat oven to 350f
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, soda and salt.
3. Add sugar and mix together.
4. Add oil, water and vanilla and mix until combined
5. Pour into cake pan or cupcakes cups. Bake for up to 1 hour as a cake or 22 minutes for cupcakes.
6. Leave to cool in wrappers before removing to a cooling rack.

Happy baking x

The things I use

2009-06-04T21:36:00.000+01:00

When I decided to start my business last year I did a lot of research and tried to find out as much as I could about pricing, packaging, delivery etc and I found out that...well, that there's not much detailed information out there for us newbies taking the plunge in this world of baking.

Don't get me wrong, there are forums and all the lovely people you meet on twitter, flickr, facebook etc but prices around the country are so varied that all the information you gather has to be taken with a pinch of salt.

I found a great book called Kitchen Table Tycoon which provided a great basis for me as it talks about how to manage work and family life at the same time. But still, I want to know where to get boxes from, I want to know who is the best sugarcraft supplier and which fondant is the best to use. A lot of these things are very personal so what is good for one person might be awful for another but I thought it might be useful if I tell you a few of my favourites for far:

Packaging/boxes - Ryepac has the cheapest boxes I have come across and after ordering lots of of stuff recently, I can say I would reccommend them to anyone needing catering supplies. They have so much and you can order samples (at a small cost) which I would urge you to do as you can get a feel for what you want to order on a larger scale without blowing the bank. You can find some great high quality cupcake boxes with inserts which look fab but for me they always seem to cost about £1 and that was too much of an overhead to have on my small cakes.

I buy 7" x 7" x 3" white cake boxes as people buy in multiples of 4's (especially if you offer them a '4 for 3' deal) I did buy some 8" x 8" boxes but I use them for customer orders. Keep in mind though that I sell from a stall so its different than just larger custom orders.

Pricing - How much to charge. The eternal question! My husband was my saviour here as he created a spreadsheet detailing the cost of my ingredients so that all I do is enter how much I have used of an ingredient and it tells me how much the entire recipe costs me to make. I can then divide this cost down and work out how much I need to charge at a minimum to make a profit.

BUT, don't forget you need to add in the cost of your cupcake wrappers, boxes, decorations if you want to end up in profit. It shocked me when I worked out exactly how much a simple cupcake costs me to make and I have decided to sell at £1 per cupcake, £1.50 for a bespoke designed cupcake. I'd love to afford fancy boxes and packaging but I am trying to build my brand by appearing at festivals and fairs etc so people will be more or less eating straight away and I don't want to waste money on things I can do without. There is some interesting software at Cake Boss which I haven't tried but it looks like the kind of system I have built so its worth further investigation.

I will continue the theme of this post this weekend but for now the kitchen, and a few cake orders, await. Happy baking x

Making some red velvet cupcakes

2009-05-31T20:56:00.000+01:00

I love Red Velvet cake. My only grievence is that you can't really find it in the UK so I only get to eat it if I make it or I happen upon it in my everday travels. I have tried to make it a few times but the recipes I find are always very complicated and I haven't found one thats a good 'fit' for me yet.

My lovely sister in law bought me the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook this week and I couldn't wait to try out some of the recipes as they all look so lovely and of course the first one I had to try was Red Velvet cupcakes. The recipe looked fairly easy and the picture made me want to grab it out of the book and eat it, so that's a good sign!

I don't want to reproduce the recipe for legal reasons but the book is in the shops now and I suggest you give it a go if you liked baked treats galore because that book is strictly for those with a sweet tooth.

The frostings are pretty basic but its good if you're just starting to bake as the recipes can be used as a basis as you build up your talents.

Happy baking!

More business work to do...and summer cupcakes!

2009-05-30T19:17:00.000+01:00

Just when I thought it was safe to go ahead and relax a little about all the business start up work, my mortgage company go along and request something else from me!

I can completely understand that they need information from me to ensure my business does not effect my home but they can't make up their minds about what they want and I keep getting requests for different items of paperwork and the whole issue is starting to get very exasperating! Oh well, all I can do is make copies of what I already have and send it over and hope that they accept what I send them. They know I have started the business already so I am not too worried.

On another note, I whipped up a quick batch of cupcakes earlier in the week and took some outdoor shots which is a first for me. I think they came out well and if the UK weather stays this nice then you might see more outdoor shots in coming weeks! Have you had a cupcake today?

Starting Star Bakery

2009-05-24T20:24:00.000+01:00

Late last year I decided to take the plunge and start my own cupcake business. I work full time so I always knew it would be a part time venture to start with and now business is picking up and a few people have asked me to share my experiences of how I actually set up my business – Star Bakery.

I thought it might be useful to list a few things I have done and note some of my experiences; I hope it can be of use. Please note: this information is based on starting a business in Nottinghamshire in the UK, everywhere is different so this is just a guide.

Where did I start…well I did lots and lots of research. I was online practically every day. I have a background in Marketing so this was second nature to me but it’s surprising how many people don’t do the market research first. Ask yourself some questions:

* What business do you want to be in? Cupcakes, cakes, cookies etc. Who will be your main audience i.e. weddings, families, vegan etc. Where will you be based?
* Is there a gap in the market for your business? What makes your business idea stand out?
* Are there any other similar businesses in your area? Who are they and where are they?
* What are their prices like? Can you be competitive and still make a profit?
* How will your business run? At home, from a stall at a regular market, online orders only etc

This period is when you find out about your competitors and look at what other people are doing. This is really important as your competitors are not necessarily your ‘enemies’ and it pays to know who they are. I still spend hours looking on the internet for inspiration and meeting online buddies to share experiences and ideas.

Really important one - Visit your local Business Link. This is invaluable, I have been to free courses on ‘How to start a business’ and ‘How to write a business plan’ and they have been fantastic. They give you all the support and advice you need and you even get your own personal business advisor for free!

Once you have an idea, try to write a basic business plan. It doesn’t have to be full of detail, my plan was written in a little notebook that I carry around with me to doodle ideas and recipes. The main point is to start to form a plan about how your business will take shape. What do you want to get from this business?Take a look at the Food Standards Agency website they will tell you everything you need to know about running a business from home and it is there guidelines that you will need to follow in order to start up. They can send you a free comprehensive pack containing loads of useful info and you can’t do anything until you have met their standards.

Book onto a ‘Food Hygiene’ course. Most council’s run these courses and they generally last for up to 2 days and cost under £100 (£60 in Nottingham!)

Contact your local council to register a ‘Food Business at home’. This involves completing a form and arranging a visit from the council to approve your premises. The council use the Food Standards agency guidance to check your property so make sure you are familiar with their guidelines. Again, this is another necessity. You can’t legally do anything without registering with your local council or you face a huge fine.

Contact your mortgage lender. Make them aware of your plan to change your home from a residential building to a commercial property. This only applies if you are cooking from the kitchen in your home but don’t risk them finding out and charging you, let them know from the start and they might just need a letter from you to confirm your plans.

These are all the practical things I did to start up. The other main part was about creating a spreadsheet to keep track of finances. My husband set up a sheet which I enter the weight of ingredients into and it pops out with a price per unit i.e. I tell it how much of each product I use and it tells me how much each cupcake costs to produce. This helps me set prices accurately and realistically. KEEP ALL RECEIPTS! Those tax people are savvy!

I had my logo designed by Tru Design, she is brilliant! I also set up a basic holding web page via Moonfruit to ensure customers have a way to contact me and find out more about my business.

Later this year I hope to have a fully functional webpage so it will be a one stop shop for potential clients instead of having to go via Flickr etc but for now, I have to work within a nonexistent budget so I am being thrifty!

I hope this info is of use to you, I didn’t realise there was so much to do when setting up and I am glad I can finally start to make my dream come true.

Star Bakery debuts to the public!

2009-05-18T20:40:00.000+01:00

Exciting times ahead - Star Bakery had its official public unveiling at the Rufford Park gift fair this weekend and would you believe it, we sold out of cupcakes!!

I took some time away from my normal day job (Communications and Marketing officer) and I baked up a storm with over 2 days of continuous baking in my little kitchen. I made:

200+ cupcakes in various flavours
30 Sugar cookie pops
30 Mini sugar cookies in bags
6 Bakeaway jars (recipes in a jar)

We got some great feedback from all the lovely customers and most people didn't even think our cupcakes were real so had to come back for a second look! The dirt cupcakes were a clear winner on the day and the other 'crafters' at the event were so accommodating that I can't wait to do my next event. There are so many fairs happening in Nottinghamshire over the next few months so I have to get my skates on and get myself booked in.

I have also had some orders emailed to me and starting to think that I might need to look into decreasing my hours in the office to keep up with demand. Exciting times indeed, I can't think pf anything better than to spend the rest of my days up to my elbows in buttercream :)

Baking up a batch of cupcakes

2009-05-08T22:13:00.000+01:00

If someone asked me what my favourite cupcakes were to make I would have to say choclate. The glossiness of the batter combined with the way they make my house smell just endear me so much these little bundles of chocolatey goodness so I thought I would share with you the recipe I swera by along with some pictures of my beautiful KitchenAid in action. (Seriously, how did I bake before with one??)

The recipe I use is from the wonderous Martha Stewart with her classic One Bowl chocolate cupcakes. I was sceptical at first but then I am a big follower of How to Eat a Cupcake and she gave them the thumbs up so who am I pass them by? They are soooo simple to make and you're guranteed to have the ingredients to hand so give them a go! Here is what I did with mine after they had cooled, topped them with a bit of my special recipe buttercream and a little fondant flower. Simple, yummy and a biteful of heaven for a chocoholic like me.

Anyone for a brownie?

2009-05-01T22:29:00.000+01:00

I'm helping a friend out tomorrow on her closing down stall sale for Crib Designs. I decided we'd need some fuel to get us through the day and what better to refuel with than good old chocolate brownies. Double chocolate brownies actually.

I have used this recipe for a while now, it's based on a recipe I found online but I have tweaked it over time and it makes some lovely moist chocolatey brownies for the most chocoholic-chocolate addict. It doesn't make a traditional crispy crust brownie but a more dense cakey textured treat.

* 115g melted butter
* 50g unsweetened cocoa
* 175g granulated sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 80g plain flour
* 200g white chocolate chunks
* 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Grease or line bottom of an 8" square pan with greaseproof paper.
3. In a bowl, combine melted butter and cocoa. Stir well.
4. Add granulated sugar and mix well until fully combined.
5. Add eggs.
6. Stir in vanilla extract, flour and salt. Try not to overmix.
7. Stir in chocolate chunks and put mixture into pan.
8. Bake in pan for 25 minutes, the brownies are done when the toothick comes out with slight crumbs.
9. Cool completely in pan before removing to cut into squares.

Happy baking!

Caramel Shortbread aka the Diet Killer

2009-04-27T10:01:00.000+01:00

I have a guilty secret - I also love non cake treats...sssshhh! I had such a sweet craving last night so I whipped up a batch of Caramel/Millionaires Shortbread and it came out perfect. I use a recipe I found on All Recipes here with a slight amendment to the caramel section of the recipe. I will repost the entire amended recipe but please not I give full credit to the person who posted it at All Recipes:
Shortbread Base

150 g unsalted butter, softened
50 g granulated sugar
155 g plain flour

Caramel Filling

150 g butter
150 g packed light brown sugar
397ml can of condensed milk

Topping

200g Milk Chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C).
For the base - In a medium bowl, mix together butter, sugar, and flour until evenly crumbly. Press into a 9 inch square baking pan. Prick with a fork all over. Bake for 20 minutes.
For the filling - Place the butter and sugar into a non-stick pan and stir over a medium heat until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. To make a golden caramel, add the condensed milk, stirring continuously, until the first bubbles appear on the surface. Remove from the heat as soon as it comes to the boil.
Place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 1 minute, then stir and continue to heat and stir at 20 second intervals until chocolate is melted and smooth. Pour chocolate over the caramel layer and spread evenly to cover completely. Chill. Cut into 1 inch squares. These need to be small because they are so rich.

Please note: this shortbread is highly addictive.

How to do...Brush Embroidery.

2009-04-25T18:46:00.000+01:00

A little while back I enrolled with, and finished, a sugarcraft course at my local college in Nottingham. It was a great course, but a few weeks from the end I fell in the freak snow weather we had in February, and broke my elbow. Unfortunately for me this means I missed the last few lessons of the course, but I kept in contact with my lovely tutor. She is now re-running the course and has invited me back to re-sit the lessons I never got to attend. This week I learnt about brush embroidery.

I like the look of brush embroidery. You don't see it used very often nowadays but it makes a nice change from plain old royal icing and I think it would look nice on the side of a cake. I took a few photos at class where we practiced on some blue sugarpaste plaques and I thought it might be of interest for you to see how I did it:

1. Make a small amount of royal icing and a small piping bag from baking paper. Insert a decorating nozzle, I use a tip no. 1 to pipe my image but you could use any size that you're comfortable with. Fill the bag with a small amount of icing (you only need a few tablespoons worth) and get a good paintbrush ready with a small amount of water in a bowl nearby.

2. Trace the image you want to use onto tracing paper and lay it over the surface you want to decorate like a cake or icing plaque. If doing this on a cake, you could secure the paper with a blob of royal icing.

3. Re-trace your image with a sharp object, like a non toxic pencil, so it leaves an impression on your surface. In my photo you can see some pencil marks but I did it deliberately hard for my first attempt. You could also use a pin to make pin marks and follow those instead.

4. Pipe a small line of icing and using a fine paintbrush dipped in water, be careful not to overwet the brush as you only want it damp. Using broad downward strokes, pull the icing down from the line in a continous stroke towards the centre of your image. Continue to do this all of the way along your line and work quickly as the royal icing sets fast.

5. Follow your image doing a small section at a time. The image should start to look transparent with a thick white line around it.

6. The final image will dry quickly and can be created with any colour royal icing. Some people use buttercream to do this effect but I haven't tried it yet. I think this will look great on romantic/wedding cakes. I'd love to try it on a cupcake one day!

Hope you find this useful, and let me know you get on with it!

I have a lovely new lightbox...

2009-04-19T20:51:00.000+01:00

After months of posting photos and looking through albums of other cake makers, I have always known I have a cheap camera but wondered how everyone gets their photos to look so nice and clear? Well the other day I was reading one of my favourite blogs Cookie Crazie and read about her new lightbox made for her by her son.

What a revelation! My husband then went and made me a 'very' homemade version so I can show off my work in a better way (I don't have a lovely camera so I need all the help I can get!). Here is a picture of what it looks like and its rough and ready, but produces some lovely images. Check out my flickr account to see some more.

Giant cupcake - dressed!

2009-04-16T21:08:00.000+01:00

Here is my 2nd giant cupcake made using the Nordic tin I posted about yesterday. I made a chocolate poundcake recipe this time and it came out lovely again. It was a really moist recipe, I have heard lots of scare stories about the top of the cake overcooking and burning but both my attempts have been successful and I think the key is in cooking on a low heat for a long time (325f for 60-70mins).

This cake was requested by a client as a late easter present, the grass theme seems to be very successful at the moment so I am looking for a new decoarting challenge!

The butterfly and ladybird accents were made from homemade marshmallow fondant as I am trying to get to grips with using fondant more in my decorating. Roll on the next order!

Giant cupcake - first attempt!

2009-04-15T21:58:00.000+01:00

My husband recently bought me a Nordic Bakeware giant cupcake tin and I made my first cake in it late last week. My son and I just iced it with simple chocolate frosting and it was pretty messy but the cake came out great! I just used the recipe that came with the tin, it was quite complex compared to the cakes I normally make but it literally slid out of the tin when it was finished baking so I am impressed with their 'non-stick' claim as its actually true! I am making another chocolate version tonight so will post more pics of that soon.

I went shopping today...

2009-04-11T22:20:00.000+01:00

That was my first mistake. My 2nd mistake was to be let anywhere near a cake decorating section! In my defence I needed a new fondant rolling pin and I also needed somewhere to start to put my collection of icing nozzles. That mini drawer system is a revelation!

The flower plunger cutters, angled spatula and small star icing nozzle are pure indulgence but I work hard, so I thought I deserved a treat. Don't I??

My husband dispares...how do your partners cope with a cake obsession?

Easter cookies and cupcakes

2009-04-10T09:49:00.000+01:00

Here are the cupcakes and cookies from the earlier post.

Easter orders

2009-04-10T09:44:00.001+01:00

Tuesday saw a made rush of orders for Easter cupcakes as people started to realise that chocolate Easter eggs are sooooo last year. Well, saying that I have gone out and bought my family lots of eggs so maybe that's not true?...

So I thought I'd share some pics of my Easter treats with you - I ended up doing cupcakes and cookies in a springtime theme and then I had a cake order for an 80's TV show cake topped with an edible image. I find it difficult to get a sharp edge with a fondant cake so the edges are a bit rounded - does anyone know the best way to try and get a sharp edge to a cake?

Happy Easter/holiday weekend to you all. Pics all uploaded seperately.

Tweet me! Star Bakery is on Twitter!

2009-04-04T17:28:00.000+01:00

Follow my constant stream of bakery related news at twitter. Click here to join in and let me know what you're up to!

A little present for my best friend's birthday

2009-04-02T22:16:00.000+01:00

Here is tonight's latest offering, a chocolate cupcake topped with vanilla buttercream and homemade marshmallow fondant pink bow. The bow also has some edible bright pink glitter just to highlight it and make it a little more special. Best friends deserve it don't they?

Join us on Facebook

2009-03-29T20:13:00.000+01:00

Did you know you can follow Star Bakery on Facebook? Why not join us and become a fan, you can find out where we're up to and be eligible for some pretty good offers and discounts!

Star Bakery at the beach

2009-03-26T22:14:00.000Z

Even when I am on holiday I can't help but think about cupcakes...!

Cake decorating course

2009-03-23T20:28:00.000Z

Late last year I managed to find a local cake decorating course in my area (Nottingham) and I couldn't wait to sign up! The course filled up pretty quickly but I managed to get a space and it really has opened my eyes to so many more aspects of cake decorating.

The main focus of the course was learning to use Royal Icing and I thought you might be interested in seeing my first attempts with the white stuff. One of the photos shows how to learn to pipe letters perfectly using a number 1 piping nozzle. The trick really is in getting practiced using a template with some greaseproof paper. My letter piping was AWFUL before I practiced using this technique and I am glad to say its much better now! The snowflake picture shows some run out work I did for my christmas cake and I will go into more dteail about run outs soon as they can be used for so many things including adding some great shapes on your cupcakes.

My birthday cuppies

2009-03-22T16:46:00.000Z

So, when you are the cake maker in the family what do you do when it YOUR birthday?? Well, cupcakes are a given and I wanted to make my guests a little something different so I decided on multiple flavours and some amazing toppers to capture the spirit of my era. The 80's.

I love the fact that any image can be put on a cake and these turned out great as my guests stared and practically fought over which cake to have! Check out my flickr for more photos http://www.flickr.com/photos/starbakery/

Birthday pressies!

2009-03-20T19:11:00.001Z

I am all refreshed and back from a week away in Yorkshire, and as promised here are some photos of all the lovely things I receieved for my 30th birthday. I really do have the best friends and family!

Normal service resumes tomorrow with a few Mother's Day cupcake orders so pictures will be available soon.

And if you haven't gotten your Mother anything yet then hurry up, Mothers should be cherished!

Holidays and birthdays

2009-03-13T14:44:00.001Z

Well, Monday marks my 30th birthday so I am taking a much needed rest. I am baking up a storm for my party so will post pics as soon as I can but for now - I will have limited access to the internet so I hope to be online again w/c 23 March.

I will leave you with another pic of an order I delivered today. Happy eating x nom nom

Looking for inspiration

2009-03-12T20:52:00.000Z

It's always hard to come up with new ideas and not get stuck in a cake design rut - I think the baking and decorating side of things has always come easy but I am starting to realise I need a creative director! Luckily lots of lovely people on Flickr and the other blogs are always sharing ideas etc so I just need to keep my eyes open, take it all in and my designs will come.

A lovely little trio

2009-03-10T18:14:00.000Z

Here is a lovely little trio of vanilla cupcakes I made for a recent order. They specifically asked for pastel colours so I tried to make them all a little different. I did one of my classic cupcake swirls as a basis for the deisgn and topped with edible glitter, sparkles and sprinkles. I also made a white flower from homemade marshmallow fondant and I think it sits well with the pink frosting.

My own birthday party is coming up shortly so I am looking forward to branching out a little and working on designs that push my design boundaries! Wish me luck!

Follow us on Twitter!

2009-03-08T16:15:00.000Z

Star Bakery is now on Twitter, so come and follow us for frequent cake news! http://twitter.com/StarBakery

Welcome to the Star Bakery blog!

2009-03-08T15:47:00.001Z

This blog is linked to the current website holding page we have set up at www.starbakery.co.uk You can use this blog, or the website, to contact us about an order or just to enquire about products and pricing.

Star Bakery specialise in American style cupcakes, cakes and other baked treats made to order from our premises in Nottingham. This blog will include cupcake news, tutorials and business updates on a regular basis.

Happy eating from one cupcake fan to another
Liana