thelittlecakery

Ideal Home Cake Decorator of the Year 2011!!!

2011-03-20T21:02:00.002Z

Who'd have thunk it!

My dear friend forwarded me an email about the competition some time back... I had my eye on it. It was organised by the event team behind the Ideal Home Exhibition 2011. But after a close family friend passed away it really wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind. Anyway, somehow I made some time to put together an entry for the competition.

The brief was to "create fabulous and spectacular cake designs worthy of the royal occasion" and a cake that would "celebrate the wedding and all that it embodies about the Great British spirit."

So on the morning of I set about trying to create a simple (only had 4 hours) but impactful design. Thinking about the 'Great British spirit' I decided to theme the cake around two things: our classic vintage heritage (which clearly has made it's comeback) and food!

When I got to the exhibition, I found that there were actually two categories - one of them was for the 'professionals' and then there was the 'other one' - for the rest of us! Lol. Did I have a slightly bruised ego?? Hell yes! I found out that the professional category was by invite only. However, my cake was pretty pansy compared to the cakes of the professionals!

I definitely have my sights set on the professional category for next year... (well, atleast one can try!)

This year the professional category was won by the wonderful Michelle of Michelle Cakes (http://www.michellecakes.co.uk/) and her highly skilled entry is below! Wow. This blew my mind - especially the carving of Kate it's brilliant!

Sing Up!

2011-02-24T19:16:00.000Z

Sing Up?? Seriously??

I have to say that I'd never heard of this organisation until they contacted me at The Little Cakery and asked us to create some customised cupcakes for them. So being the nosey parker that I am, I had a little wonder around on their website (http://www.singup.org/). In their own words, Sing Up "want to place singing at the heart of every school child's life".
At first glance, one might not understand how singing really can change lives and even help to build stronger communities - But for me, growing up in a culture where music wakes up the sleeping soul, it completely makes sense that they should, as they say, 'help kids find their voice'. A fantastic organisation - I wish them every success in their endeavours!

Anyway, enough of me rambling... Here's a snap of the scrumptulicious vegan and gluten free chocolate cupcakes topped with various characters from their branding and ofcourse their own logo.

And might I also add, the cupcake is being fashioned on a brilliant little bargain I picked up at Lakeland in Bluewater in the January sales - it is a simple little thing but at £3 who's going to complain??? :-)

Wedding Cakes in London

2010-03-31T09:45:00.001+01:00

The Little Cakery exhibited at the Northwood Golf Club 'In Wedding Fayre' on Sunday (28th March 2010).

We met some gorgeous brides, and some VERY organised brides (already planning for their 2012 weddings?!). We came across some wonderful ideas for weddings...

- Annie from Northwood is having a church wedding followed on by a Bar-B-Q reception - what a great idea! And she's looking for some gorgeous cupcakes for her chic/casual event.

- Charlotte and the Chocolate Fountain have got some fab offers on their chocolate fountains, with their lovely glow tables! They even offer kiddie size tables so the little ones cango and make their own mess!! The chocolate was deeelicious - ofcourse it was Belgian chocolate.

- Another bride was looking for a way to combine chocolate with lavender/purple.... so we suggested using white chocolate scrolls with a sparkle of purple lustre dust at the bottom of each scroll.... would love to see that idea come to life!!

Anyway, here are some snaps from the lovely day....

This was our display on the day. We wanted to demonstrate that The Little Cakery offer both the traditional tiered cakes, as well the vintage/chic cupcakes. The media bombards us with images and trends of wedding cupcakes, but it was surprising to see how many brides are still opting for the traditional three tiered wedding cake.

This polka dot wedding cake is a great way of achieving a retro design, which is 'something different' for your wedding, but not 'too different'. The red ribbon gives it a gorgeous 'edge' whilst the white polka dots give a subtle retro feel.

It's always nice to add bespoke elements to your wedding day. This musical note on a cupcake would be great for music fans and those that play instruments!

These gorgeous things around the cupcakes are called cupcake wrappers. They're a great way of adding a touch of 'wow' to your cupcake display! A variety of colours and stles are available, please enquire with The Little Cakery.

Now this little bucket full of jelly beans was added as a decorative touch to our display. However, they down down a storm with many brides enquiring about prices for these little goodies. So, The Little Cakery will put together some quotes so that they can be used as display on your cake table, dessert table or for any other event - great for childrens parties when you're looking for something different.

This has now become somewhat of a classic design in its own time! The chocolate cigarello cake is a gorgeous cake, especially for those brides looking for a chocolate wedding cake. The ribbon could be any colour, and white chocolate scrolls could be used too.

Cupcake towers look as chic as ever, and really take the hassle out of cutting cake!

I had to show this picture! This is just a little glimpse of the great variety of cupcake cases that The Littl eCakery can offer. The are a great way of adding some colour to your cupcakes without the additional cost of handmade details.

Gucci Bag Cake

2010-02-26T16:14:00.000Z

Well fashion certainly seems to be the theme of the week!

Here's my first ever Gucci bag (cake and otherwise!). It was ordered by a lovely lady from South Bermondsey, and I think it was for her daughters 21st birthday bash!

At the Little Cakery we certanly had fun making it, and I hope they had fun eating it! Happy 21st to Mary. We even had it delivered via our ecofriendly courier, Green Planet Logistics. Really takes the hassle out of things on important days like birthdays!

Remember, there novelty items can also be ordered as Vegan, and Gluten Free cakes, as well as eggless ofcourse.

CupCake Chic at London Fashion Week

2010-02-23T17:24:00.001Z

Yep, you read right - The Little Cakery has been busy busy busy. We were fortunate enough to be the exclusive sponsors and suppliers of cupcakes to Vauxhall Fashion Scout at London Fashion Week this week.

Here's a snippet of what I sent them, but will post more official pics later....

Alice in Cupcakeland.... sorry, I meant Wonderland!

2010-02-22T19:54:00.000Z

So... it seems that i'm not very good at keeping my blog updated... my bad!

We've had so much going on, and there's so much to share with you.... BUT I'll start with the magic that be Alice in Wonderland. A few weeks we were kindly asked by Emel magazine to create some Alice in Wonderland themed cupcakes... and boy did we create!

Here are some snaps of the gorgeous cakes, now a new addition to our couture collection. These are all hand made, with a lot of love and devotion. They are probably the most time consuming creations we've designed to date!! But we like to think that they are an reflection of the attention to detail that we so enjoy putting into all of our cakes.

Anyway...feast your eyes and enjoy!

To enquire about Alice in Wonderland themed cupcakes and cakes, drop us line.

w: www.thelittlecakery.co.uk

e: eat@thelittlecakery.co.uk

t: 07875930829

Not suitable for grown-ups!

2009-12-27T18:16:00.000Z

Birthday parties were always a big thing in our family, and whenever possible Mum would always throw a birthday party for me and my sister. Mum did something different every year - some years she ordered the cake from a specialist and other years she attempted the cake herself. My favourite was a Garfield cake she put together, the novelty of it was what made it so memorable.

More and more parents seem to be 'theming' their kiddies birthdays, going all out on the celebrations, though childrens birthday parties really seem to be racking up the bill. Throughout 2009 we've done numerous kiddies cakes to suit a range of budgets - here are some highlights of our range which is not suitable for grown-ups!

Early on 2010 we'll bring you some tips and tricks for mum's and dad's to put together their children's birthday cakes themselves.

Kids often love novelty cakes, though this is where the biggest expense can occur. In situations like this going with a cake decorated with an edible image is a great budget saving option. This Aladdin themed cake, a 12" square which can provide approx 65 portions (usually more) is only £75. The cake was delivered to Gambado in Woodside Leisure Park, Watford.

This Snow White cake was probably one of the highlights of 2009. The dress forms the main part of the cake, and is made up of 4 x 8" layers. This would provide approx 45 portions, usually more, and is available at £95.

This gorgeous 'In the Night Garden' cake has to be a personal favourite! It captures the theme in its entirety and is a perfect choice for a childrens party with all of it's colours and shapes. 10" round, providing approx 45 portions and this one was delivered to Stanmore. Prices for this start from £70, and as shown is available at £120.

Nemo - who doesn't love Nemo?! This was a brilliant choice, a cupcake tower, which took most of the hassle and mess out of cutting a big cake into individual portions. This one is a 8" top cutting cake which would provide approx 25 portions, and with 24 cupcakes with a mix of flavours. This Nemo set is £110, and was delivered to Kent.

This Curious George cake was a design inspired by a fellow cake maker in Canada. My client wanted something bright and colourful, and most of all something that would form the centre piece of her son's 1st birthday celebration. This is definitaly one of our more time consuming creations, though the final result is absolutely outstanding. This one serves approx 90 portions, is a 12" and 8" tiered square cake, and as it is shown is £260. This cake was delivered to Harrow.

Corporate Cupcakes - This time it's personal

2009-12-16T11:55:00.000Z

These were for a lovely couple who run their own company, CocoRose. CocoRose specialise in gorgeous flat foldable shoes, great when you're on the go. They run this company outside of their full time jobs, and were also winners of the Home Enterprise Nation awards for UK 2009. The cupcakes were ordered for them to send to their PR contacts as a Christmas 'Thank You'.

The great thing about these was that we were able to completely personalise the cupcake. Each cupcake had a hand written 'Coco Rose' logo, in the colours to match their website, and also a pair of ballet pup type shoes. Most of the cupcakes were individually packaged (gorgeous packaging, I might add). And there was one box of 12, gift wrapped in our lush patisserie box and finished off with gold organza ribbon. Our eco friendly delivery chap, Danny from Green Planet Logistics, is out and about on the streets of London personally deliverying each package.

The cupcakes were Rose Vanilla Cupcakes, topped with Vanilla Buttercream with an itsy bitsy tiny hint of orange :-)

We've done a fair few corporate orders this year, including Diwali cupcakes for Barclays Wealth, and Dilwali cupcake gift boxes for Earnst & Young. But these gorgeous little treats for CocoRose were the most fun to put together! Shoes and cupcakes... what more could a girl ask for?

Something different for your wedding cake...

2009-12-15T16:06:00.000Z

Here's something different for your wedding cake. This is a gorgeous 6" eggless chocolate sponge. The sides, which are the main feature of this cake, are made using something called a 'chocolate transfer', and are made with an absolutely scrumptulicious belgian chocolate. Drop us a line to find out more. Am planning to try and have this available in a gluten version too - you can stay updated by following us on http://www.facebook.com/thelittlecakery.

Instead of flowers...

2009-12-10T23:23:00.000Z

I've been pretty bad at keeping the blog updated....my bad! Sorry! I will definitely try and do a better job of it now on. It's just that at The Little Cakery we've been busy with so many things.

Firstly, The website is nearly nearly very nearly done. Our designer, Tina Ghela, has been doing a fab job of trying out different looks and themes, and with Christmas up the road we're nearly set to launch with our christmas look website. Watch this space and we'll keep you updated.

We've also been totally overwhelmed with orders for cupcake gift boxes. Flowers just don't taste as good, and it seems that cupcakes can even make a great gift for men (and we all know how difficult it is to buy presents for men!). So, here are a few snaps of the giftboxes we've put together over the past month or so.

This first one was very last minute. Where possible we'd appreciate 3 days notice on celebration cakes and giftboxes. On occasion we get 24 hours notice and we try our best to accommodate those requests. But this one was seriously a last minute gift. A lovely lady working at Morgan Stanley called at 11am looking for a gift box to share by 2pm. I couldn't help but want to help her! So got to baking, and voila!! We even delivered it to her, by 1.45pm all was well again in the world of cupcakes. Remember, delivery in Canary Wharf is free, and we also deliver across Greater London.

This next one was a gift for a birthday boy over at Barclays Capital. What a perfect gift for bloke! I couldn't help but add a flower, though in my defense it is a blue flower! I heard these went down a storm.

And here's another pic of yet another gift box for a birthday boy over at Hays Macintyre. Our gift cupcakes are packaged in sturdy cupcake inserts, lined with soft tissue paper and then the luxurious patisserie gift box is finished of with organza or satin ribbon.

Anyhoo, that's enough for now.... will most more about Christmas Cupcake Gift Boxes soon...

Chocolate Cupcake Tower - Music

2009-09-29T11:20:00.000+01:00

This gorgeous chocolate cupcake tower was one of two for a lovely, lovely customer. She ordered one for her husband's birthday, and one for her brother's birthday, both to be cut at their end of summer party at their lovely home in Stanmore, London.

The top cake is a 6" square decorated with a handmade 'mrdanga'. A 'mrdanga' is a drum instrument from India which is commonly used to play 'kirtan' or 'spiritual music' (see close up below). The theme really came to life with the musical notes and golden lotuses on the cupcakes. This was one of our 'clever cakes', with an eggless chocolate sponge filled and topped with the luxurious but not-to-sweet chocolate ganache buttercream... hhmmm.... totally yummo!

So, check out the pictures below....

And here's a snippet of what they said after their gorgeous party...

"Svarna was commissioned to make the cakes for our "Last day of summer party" at our home... My guests were overwhelmed by the presentation and the taste of the cakes was out of this world. My wife is very particular about whom she asks to cater for our parties. We were at Svarna's and Rishi's wedding at the The Grove this year, we are impressed by the attention to detail which went into their wedding and we knew Svarna had that unique sense of style and spirituality that we liked. This is reflected in the way she approaches her cake making. The photos only partially do justice to this piece of artistry and taste"

Clever Cakes?

2009-09-24T17:39:00.000+01:00

Well, thank you for wondering over to the blog spot of The Little Cakery. And ten days later I managed to write my second blog post! Now that I’ve finally gotten around to starting the official blog, it seems like the natural thing to do would be to tell you a little bit about ourselves.

As you may have already seen on our homepage, we’re a little cakery and cupcakery that love baking little (and the occasional big) goodies.
Well, ain’t that good marketing spiel?! :-) Yes, we are that, but we are also so much more than that. The goodies from The Little Cakery are products of a labour of love. Yes, we use organic ingredients. Yes, we also use Fair Trade ingredients. But you know what else we do? Many baking hours have gone into creating and perfecting some of our scrumptulicious goodies... a range which maybe we should call ‘The Clever Cupcake’ range – the perfect choice if you’re looking for cake couture without eggs... or maybe you’re looking for your sugar fix without dairy, or a weekend treat without wheat or even without gluten. And you know what else? They really do taste like little drops of heaven... you’d never have known they were so innocent.

So when you want to place your order, just call... or email... or twitter... or facebook... And if you’re looking for something different, just ask for a ‘clever cake’ :-)

Oh, and by the way... this is cake couture like you've never seen before... watch this space! Innocence and beauty... what more could you want from a little cupcake?

So as you can see, after investing a little love, devotion and sugar into our kitchens, The Little Cakery is now a flourishing little business, and so is our fan base. So, drop us a line or two, just to say hello, or make some suggestions.... and ofcourse, give us a try for your next celebration... especially if you need one or two evolutionary little goodies.

Thanks for visiting,

Svarna
thelittlecakery

2009-09-14T14:05:00.000+01:00

So in the spirit of National Cupcake Week, I'm FINALLY getting around to getting started on the official littlecakery blog! I'm not the most technical person on the planet, but hopefully will soon get around to customising this little space we have on the web!

So this blog will be about all sorts... cakes (ofcourse)... a bit about me... tips on planning weddings... getting started with your own cake business... and other random stuff too, like what happened to all the Rolos (I really can't find any), and what happened to the Hare Krishna's (well, they're actually celebrating 40 years in London this year!!)...

So there you have it.. cakes, frosted with a little randomness, but mostly cakes!

Will be back to post more

Svarna
thelittlecakery