A week of ups and Sussex downs...

This last week we really seem to have been on a rollercoaster with the Brighton Bakery. 

At the start of the week I made a footballer birthday cake for our friends David and Denis that they both really loved and said it looked and tasted amazing (thanks guys). 

While I was in the middle of making their cake, the phone rang and I took our very first wedding cake order.  I'm so excited to make it and really proud we've reached this milestone, especially considering the website's only been up for 6 weeks!

On Thursday we got an email from Brighton Council to say that we've been allocated an allotment at the top of Whitehawk Hill.  There's a great community atmosphere there and a fantastic view over the Marina.  One day we'll be able to offer cakes with fillings made from our very own fruit trees :o)  Unfortunately the allotment is currently an undulating patch of brambles, weeds and rubbish... but Melissa and I aren't afraid of hard work and this allotment is going to be a huge part of the lifestyle that we dreamed of when we decided to move down to Brighton.

Yesterday we took part in the first ever Indulge Sussex Sunday in Hove.  We spent almost two full days preparing and baking our hearts out and were looking forward to finishing the week off on a high with a successful stall day. 

We set up our stall at the Hove Town Hall, and in pride of place was a Christmas showcake I made with carol singing penguins:

We had high hopes that we could get some pre-orders for our luxury Christmas Cakes as well as selling plenty of our regular sweet treats and cake slices.  We had some of our regular favourites plus new additions of Autumn Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes (completely yummy and totally vegan), Banana and Butterscotch Muffins (a great flavour combo) and a Seriously Good Chocolate Orange Cake (which definitely lives up to its name).  The weather seemed perfect for the indoor event - bright and sunny to get people out but with a cold wind to drive people indoors.  As the only cake stall and a potential for 2400 visitors surely this one was a sure thing?

The event started slowly at 11am but that's not unusual.  We'd learnt from experience that prime cake time is 3pm-5pm so we weren't too worried as it was sure to pick up later. 

At about 1.30pm at was still kinda quiet, but we figured people were having Sunday lunch and were probably going to come afterwards, plus it still wasn't quite cake o'clock.

It reached about 2.30pm there just still weren't many people coming through the doors. 2400 people?  We reckoned the total was more like 240.  The chances weren't looking that good for us to make much money.

At 3.30pm we still had an hour and a half to go when we realised that a couple of stalls behind us had already packed up and gone.  Ten minutes later the stall beside us (the excellent Lurgashall Winery) was also packing up.  The event organisers decided to wind up an hour early, right in the middle of caking hour.

Oh dear. Well it had to happen sometime - Sunday was our first market stall flop.  Two days of both Melissa and me working solidly (plus me preparing all the day before that too) and just taking into account our stall fee, ingredients and parking we came out with a loss of £7.64.  And we can't exactly sue ourselves for not earning the minimum wage...

But at least we did sell something (some stalls didn't even sell a single thing), we got our name out there and the people that did buy our cakes really seemed to enjoy them.  We've got a couple of leads for Christmas cakes and birthday cakes too so it's not all bad.  If you see it as a marketing exercise, £7.64 isn't a big price to pay. 

Plus we were home and unpacked by 4.35pm, so we walked up to our new allotment site and then considered our plan of action over a well earned pint looking out onto the sea as the sun went down.  We might not make much money, but I think Melissa and I are living the dream.

Brighton Bakery launches a new line of preserves

Now that we've done a few market stalls at various events we realise just how much work goes into making all our cakes and sweet treats with a huge bakeathon the day before.  After the last stall at Nigel's Eco Market, Melissa and I decided it would be a good idea to diversify the products we offer that have a longer shelf life than our cakes.  And we came up with the cracking idea of making a small range of delicious preserves. 

As is typical with us, we concocted our cunning plan rather late in the season, missing out on much of the summer bounty and so there are many fruits that are just not available locally or would simply cost to much to turn into lovely jam.  Sorry Melissa - no strawberry jam this year.

But one very cost effective seasonal fruity offering we were just in time for was my annual raid of the fruit trees in my dad's back garden!  He kindly donated several carrier bags full of damsons and three kinds of apples, plus some plums and raspberries and he even helped us forage some sloes and blackberries from the woods behind his house.  Fan-fruity-tastic - thanks Dad.

Over the last 2 weeks Melissa and I have been busy peeling, chopping, simming, stirring, rolling boiling and potting nearly 40 jars worth (so far) of lovely preserves, including Damson & Sloe Gin Jam, Tangy Russet Apple & Honey Jam, Plum Jam, Apple Date & Walnut Chutney and Plum & Russet Mincemeat which will make some delicious mince pies this Christmas.

Apple Date & Walnut Chutney

If you're feeling frugal or fancy a spot of jamming on a rainy day I can heartily recommend our preserving bible, the fantastic River Cottage Preserves handbook, where we found the recipes for the Plum Jam and the Plum and Russet Mincemeat.  I have made both of these a few times and they are great recipes to start off with as they are quite straightforward.  But we've gone a step further and developed a couple of recipes of our own which will make an appearance at our next stall.  If you can't wait until then to buy a jar then you can get out your pinny and make your own by following one of the recipes I'll be posting shortly.

Happy jamming xx

Another market stall success + new and improved website goes live

Yesterday Melissa and I spent the day selling our handmade wares at Nigel's Eco Market in the Lanes.  We had a great day, met some interesting and likeminded people, gave out lots of business cards and even made a bit of a profit - hurrah!
Check out Melissa on the stall, modelling one of our new Brighton Baker aprons:

There was a great vibe about the day, all the other stall holders we met were really friendly and were showcasing some fantastic products from recycled clothing and accessories to teacup birdfeeders - it was hard not to blow our takings before we'd even left the building. 

And just in time for the event, our new and improved website www.brightonbakery.co.uk is now live.  Thanks to Marc at Unemployedesigners for all his work on the site.  We still have a couple of tweaks to make and some more cake photos to be uploaded but please take a look and like us on Facebook.

Until next time, happy baking xx



Come and see us at Nigel's Eco Market in Brighton's Lanes this Saturday

It's been a wee while since we held a market stall but we've got another bakeathon tomorrow in preparation for Nigel's Eco Market this Saturday.  The Market runs from 10am - 5pm at the Friends Meeting House in the South Lanes in Brighton, where we will be selling our delicious handmade cakes and treats alongside stalls for cool eco products, upcycled furniture, handmade jewellery and loads more quirky and unique stuff.

We've got some of our well loved favourites like Beetroot Brownies and Luscious Lemon Trickle Cake, plus we're trying out two new seasonal cupcake flavours - Courgette & Camomile and Raspberry & Elderflower.

You might also like to know some of our green credentials:

• Many of our cakes contain vegetables, which are all locally grown and sourced from the Park Farm Shop in Falmer
• The eggs we use are always local and free range
• As far as possible we only use British ingredients, but for things we can't grow in the UK, such as lemons and cocoa, we buy Fairtrade
• Our kitchen is powered by 100% green energy from Ecotricity
• We make all our cakes and treats from scratch, by hand, less than one food mile away from the stall at Nigel's Eco Market
• All of our cakes are suitable for vegetarians, and we always have a selection of vegan treats (as well as dairy free and gluten free options for those with intolerances)
• We never use margarine or artificial flavours and as our cakes are all baked fresh the day before the event you can be sure there are no artifical preservatives

If you're in town on Saturday please come and say hello - if you're lucky there will be some free samples too :o)

All sold out at Picnic in the Park

I think the gods must have been smiling down on us yesterday because it was a glorious day in Queens Park for our second Brighton Bakery cake stall.  The sun shone all day as the harmonies of the Brighton Beach Boys sang out from the central stage and the families flocked in with their picnic blankets to fill the park in their hundreds.

While this story has a happy ending, it didn't start out so well.  Our last minute treasure hunt for a gazebo on Friday was utterly essential on the day but that morning it seemed to take forever to build.  Maybe investing the the more expensive concertina one would have been a better bet on reflection...

And while the park was packed to the brim with people, nobody seemed to be buying anything.   What was also a bit frustrating was that out of the 50 stalls there, 10 of them were selling cakes.  By 2pm I was getting really worried as we'd hardly sold anything and from chatting to the other stallholders around us we weren't the only ones.  Looking around the park people had brought tuppawares of food from home and didn't need to buy from us.  Melissa and I prepared ourselves that we were going to have to bring a lot of cake home.

But we just needed to have a little faith.  Cake o'clock hit at around 3pm and trade really picked up - over the next 3 hours we sold out of practially everything we had brought with us.  Result!

We gave away quite a few sample tasters and discounted the prices at the end of the day, which when I was totting up the totals today made quite a difference in the amount of money we could have made - it would have been so good if we had made it past the £100 mark.  But I think samples are important and we managed to double the amount of profit we made at the Kemptown Carnival with a third less stock - a real achievement.  We also gave out plenty of business cards and got some great feedback from the people that tried our cakes so there's not really much more we could have asked for.

The one thing I would have changed is going for a few pints to celebrate without eating dinner - I've really been paying for it with my hangover today... ;o)

So all that's left for me to say is a massive thank you to everyone that came and supported us and tried our cakes yesterday - hope you enjoyed them!

xx

Bakeathon for Picnic In The Park tomorrow

Yes the time is nigh and I've got my apron on and sleeves rolled up for a full marathon day of baking in preparation for tomorrow's market stall.  Already ticked off the list are the Sticky Jamaican Ginger Cake, Cinnamon and Courgette Cake and Nigella's delicious Italian Almond and Carrot Cake, and as I write there is a Luscious Lemon Trickle Cake rising nicely in the oven.
As you may have come to expect from me, this is no ordinary Lemon Cake I'm baking.  The surprise ingredient in this one is.... mashed potato.  I admit, this may sound like a cake catastrophe in the making, but I trialled the recipe as a thank you gift for our lovely friends Sheena and Nathan at the weekend and it was a real success.  The potato keeps the cake beautifully moist and it also happens to be naturally gluten free which is a bonus for the stall tomorrow. 

Even though this cake's a winner on the plate, getting it there is another matter.  This recipe is like a naughty toddler that doesn't want to do what it's told.  Perhaps it was the fact I was trying to make the cake with a hangover the morning before we were off on a 4 night camping trip and still hadn't packed that was the problem.  The mixture kept splitting when I added the eggs and I had to employ my secret trick of using the hairdryer to warm the outside of the bowl of the mixer to help it emulsify (this was advocated by my tutor at pastry school so I'm not completely barking!).  Then the mixture took about half an hour longer to cook than the recipe said it would and so it helped make us nearly an hour late to meet our friends for lunch.  I gave it some stern words that it had better behave as I strapped it in to the back seat of the car and prayed that it would be good on the 4 hour drive to Wales. 

Luckily it was and Sheena and Nathan seemed to love it.  Potato is such a mild flavour that you really can't detect it at all and it gives it a wonderful texture.  But if you're still a sceptic why not come by tomorrow afternoon to Queen's Park and try a slice?!

It's nearly ready to come out the oven so I must sign off and get back to the kitchen - 48 muffins, 32 brownies, 16 flapjacks and a Wholemeal Honey Cake still to go :o)

Recipe trials - Venetian Carrot Cake

Although I was really pleased with our debut stall success at the Kemptown Carnival last week, a couple of the cakes and treats I made were virgin outings and hadn't turned out quite as I had hoped.  With this in mind and with our upcoming market stall at the Picnic in Queens Park on Sunday 26 June Melissa and I made a pact that we would test every recipe first before selling to the public.  We also want to add a few more recipes suitable for people with food intolerences and special diets so we can offer something for everyone.  So baggy trousers at the ready, Melissa's on tasting duty and I'm back in the kitchen on a market stall mission.

Despite being the author of our worst selling recipe at the last market, I've decided to give Nigella another chance, and first up in the recipe trials is her Venetian Carrot Cake, which also happens to be naturally gluten free and dairy free.  I hate the idea of using artificial or substitute ingredients to make it suitable for those with intolerances so I'm pleased to have found this recipe which doesn't require any.  Now if you're imagining a tall and proud triple layered cake slathered with rich cream cheese frosting then you might be in for a suprise.  This is a carrot cake of a completely different breed.  It's handsome and elegant, unassuming and not at all show-offish, but boy is it delicious.  Rich, moist and almondy, studded with booze-soaked sultanas and rounded off with lemon zest and the comforting spice of nutmeg, Melissa and I both agree it's a real winner.

But it's not just about the taste.  They say the first bite is with your eyes and I'm not sure that people would be instantly invited to buy or licking their lips to try a slice.  We're just going to have to try a little harder to and offer free samples to show Brighton just how good it is. 

I also have a dilemma with the name - Venetian Carrot Cake just sounds pretentious and misleading.  For selling at a market stall... this just ain't a carrot cake. People expecting the flavour of a traditional carrot cake might be disappointed.  But it's so good I think it should be included, just with a little rebranding.  Therefore I open this up to the lovely readers of this blog - if anyone would like to offer a better name please leave me a comment!

Kemptown Carnival - our first market stall a success!

I have to start off this post with a huge THANK YOU to everyone that came down to support our Brighton Bakery stall at the Kemptown Carnival yesterday.  We had a really great day, met some lovely people and even managed to make a profit so I think we can proudly say that our first market stall was a success.

After a marathon baking session on Friday using as much local produce as possible (sourced from the excellent Park Farm Shop on the outskirts of Brighton) we arrived to set up our stall with over 200 sweet treats for sale.  As this was our first stall we could only guess at how much to bring, but based on 10,000 people coming to the carnival and the hefty £110 stall fee to cover we hoped that 200 was a good number that would at least cover our costs.

We didn't get off to the best start when the table we had hired from the carnival turned out to be 4 times the size we had ordered, but luckily we had a lovely stall neighbours Brighton Peach who lent us a larger tablecloth and we were good to go.

It was a bit slow to begin with, but we figured 10am wouldn't be prime cake buying time (I think I might be in the minority of people that like cake for breakfast).  It was a shame that we were right at the far end of the street so we didn't get anywhere near the footfall of the stalls in the middle, but there's not much we could have done about that.  After lunchtime things really picked up and we had a pretty steady trade throughout the afternoon.  At about 4.30 we dropped our prices which really helped - maybe we had been a bit ambitious with our prices to start off with so we will definitely look at that next time as we did end up bringing a few things back home with us.

We had a few strange looks from people when they realised our cakes were made using vegetables, but once they tried some of the free samples of our beetroot brownies they were won over and they started to fly off the plate and ended up becoming our best seller of the day.  Our Lemon Marmalade Flapjacks and Sticky Jamaican Ginger Cake also went down really well.  But I was surprised that the Chocolate and Banana Muffins didn't really tempt anyone and the Chilli Chocolate Cake (which I thought would be a real winner) didn't sell very well either.  Maybe it was the prices, maybe the portion sizes or maybe it was the choice of products but we will definitely look at changing them next time.  We also had several people come up and ask us if we sold any vegan cakes so I will be doing some research and there will be a vegan option for our next stall.  Speaking of which, the next event we will be at is the Picnic in Queen's Park on 26 June (see how seamlessly I slipped that one in??)

Despite my best Apprentice-style selling efforts dropping everything to £1 for the last 20 minutes we did have quite a lot leftover so anyone stopping by at ours in the next couple of days will be leaving with a goodie bag of treats.  And even though we had leftovers, we managed to sell more than £200 worth of cakes which covered the cost of the stall and ingredients and gave us a small profit.  If we take into account my labour costs for baking and Melissa and my costs for running the stall on the day then it's not very impressive, but this was always going to be a learning experience and we knew we were never going to make a huge profit.  It was also about more than making money - we wanted to get our name out to promote the bespoke cake side of the business and as a marketing tool I think it went very well.  Lots of people picked up cards, we made a few contacts and I even got 2 minutes on the radio to plug our business so I think we can be pretty pleased with that.

So lessons learned, bring on the next stall!

Brighton Bakery at Kemp Town Carnival this Saturday!

I am very excited to announce that Brighton Bakery will have it's first stall at the Kemptown Carnival this Saturday 4 June.  As I write this post the delicious aromas of a Sticky Jamaican Ginger Cake that's in the oven right now are filling the kitchen and I will have to do my best not to eat all the produce before it gets to market ;o)

All our cakes will have a bit of a twist (as you may have picked up from reading this blog) - expect appearances from my Beetroot Brownies, Peanut Butter & White Chocolate Blondies and Apple Crumble Muffins as well as some new recipes including a Latin American Chilli Chocolate Fudge Cake I can't wait to make.

If you're in the area it's free to get in so please come along and show your support - if you're not able to make it then wish us luck and do a dance for the weather gods to pray for sunshine :o)

See you there!  x

Market research part 3 - Lewes Farmers Market

Last Saturday was another sunny Saturday in Sussex and Melissa and I were up nice and early to visit the monthly market in nearby Lewes.  We parked up and took the short stroll down the lovely high street to the bottom of the hill where the market is held.  Once you hit the middle of the street the market is really buzzing - plenty of locals all eager to find some interesting local produce.  And there's some really good stuff here.  From pots of living herbs to the furriest goats cheese I've ever seen there's a really vibrant range of stalls and goods to buy.  There are a few bakery stalls selling different kinds of cakes and breads but I think if we can give our sweet treats a bit of a twist there could definitely be room for a us to have a successful stall.
So now that we're peachy keen to sign up I hope that they reply to my requests for an application form soon!

A couple of minor setbacks

Inspired by our trips to Brighton Street Market and Brighton Farm Market at the weekend I decided to email them both along with nearby Lewes Farmers' Market to see about joining as a stallholder.  I've already started planning how the stall would look, which material to use in the homemade bunting to hang around the table and was getting really excited as this would be the first step in making our bakery dream a reality. 

I had a very nice email back from John, the organiser of Brighton Farm Market, but unfortunately they are completely full although he has put my details on the waiting list and will be in touch when they have some availability.  He had gone to the trouble of reading my blog and also gave some advice about ensuring we have a good mix of traditional favourites and also some more unusual seasonal cakes.  So while it's disappointing not to be able to get into the market just yet, it's good to know that our plan was going in the right direction and we're now firmly on the waiting list.

Then two days later I had a reply from Brighton Street Market to say that there are no vacancies there either and they already have 5 stalls selling brownies and muffins.  Oh dear.

There's still hope though - the lady at Lewes Farmers' Market is going to send me an applicaiton form (I need to chase her up on it though as it's been a couple of days!) and I know there are plenty more markets in Sussex that we can try.  In the meantime we'll just have to spend lots more time recipe testing!