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

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

Mixing Desk Cake: The Making Of...

I've had such great feedback about the Mixing Desk Cake I made for my friend Dan that I thought I would share with you how I made it. For those that don't want to spoil the magic, look away now!

PS this is a longer post than normal so I recommend reading with a piece of cake and a cuppa :o)

Making The Cake

Dan's party was on Saturday night, so I began making the cake on the Thursday. I didn't have a cake tin big enough, so Melissa and I hopped in the car down to Chatawak, the lovely cake supplies shop in Peacehaven, where you can rent a 12" cake tin for a mere £1.50 per day. I've never made such a large cake before so I wanted to double check with the very helpful owner there as I'd also not tried the recipe before. I was starting to feeling a bit nervous at my inexperience before I'd even started, but I was still up for the challenge). My Home Guide To Cake Decorating has a madeira cake recipe for all cake sizes but for some reason the larger the cake, the smaller the proportion of eggs in the recipe. Also the proportions of self-raising flour and plain flour seemed to be the wrong way round so I asked Sue's advice. She checked against her recipes and said the amount of eggs seemed right but agreed there seemed to be a mistake with the flour and suggested I tried a small test cake swapping the quantities over.

So with added trepidation about the task ahead I went home and cooked a test cake with the tweaked flour quantities. This seemed to work well, but the cake was a little airier that I needed so I upped the proportion of plain flour against the self-raising flour when making the final mixture. I also added the zest of 5 lemons and substituted the milk for lemon juice for extra flavour (in hindsight when I tasted the cake the zest of 8 lemons would have been even zingier). And just to highlight how unprepared I was I didn't even have a mixing bowl big enough, so I mixed the cake in my large Le Crueset casserole pot instead!

When baking the cake I didn't want to take any chances, so I took extra care and double lined the tin with baking parchment and also wrapped the outside of the tin with a few layers of newspaper. To help the cake rise evenly I created a well in the middle of the mix - a tip I learned at pastry school.
As I put the cake in the oven I crossed my fingers, said a prayer to the cake god and hoped for the best. Just over 2 hours later, I was rewarded with a beautiful looking cake:

Cake just out of the oven

Scary moment number 1 - overcome!

I left the cake to cool in the tin on a wire rack, but while it was still warm I spiked it all over with a skewer and drizzled over a simple lemon syrup. I reserved a bit of the syrup to add between the layers. The cake was then left to settle overnight (wrapped and left in a cool dry place), which makes it easier to level and cut the layers the next day.

Cutting and Icing The Cake

Scary moment #2 was getting the cake out of the tin without it breaking. For this I decided to place the wire rack covered with baking paper on the top and flip it over. I then had to turn it the right way up again onto a large baking tray covered with foil. This procedure came with the added sound effects of Melissa screeching "Oh my god let me help you!" and similar panicked sounds but they seemed to help as it turned out without any problems.

Luckily the cake had risen pretty evenly so there wasn't much of a dome to level off (I think the well in the middle out really helped). I tried my cake leveller but with such a large cake it was about as much use as a chocolate teapot so I got out my big serrated knife instead which was much better:

Levelling the cake

I then needed to turn it upside down again so that the smoothest edge was on the top. I decided to put it straight onto the final board at this stage, secured with a good smearing of buttercream in the middle. I added strips of baking parchment around the sides of the cake to protect the board from being marked.

Time for scary moment #3 - cutting the layers. I really wanted to cut the cake into 3 layers but this was quite risky with this size of cake. Having gotten so far without anything going wrong I wimped out and just went for 2 layers. I scored around the edges to make sure it was even, then cut through with my serrated knife, working towards the middle.  

Cutting the layers

I got Melissa to cross her fingers for scary moment #4 - lifting the top layer off onto baking parchment. The trick is to be confident, and with the luck of the Irish I managed to get the layer off fine.
I brushed the exposed layer with the reserved lemon syrup for extra flavour and moistness, then smoothed on lemon curd buttercream:

Adding buttercream

Scary moment #5 - lifting the top layer back on and into position. I was on a roll with pushing through the nerve barriers on my last 4 scary moments, but if the top layer went on wonky it would have been difficult to fix so I really wanted to get this right. Luckily it magically (or should I say skilfully) sat down exactly square on top of the bottom layer.

Adding the top layer of cake

At this stage I was thankful I'd only done 2 layers insted of 3!

I then covered the outside of the cake with a thin layer of lemon curd buttercream and tried to make it as smooth as possible. 

Adding buttercream to top & sides of cake

Once the cake was fully iced with the buttercream I left it to the side and coloured the sugarpaste. I used White Renshaw Regalice sugarpaste and added Sugarflair liquorice colouring.

Coloured sugarpaste

I then rolled out the sugarpaste ready for covering the cake using plenty of icing sugar to stop it sticking. I also used the smoother over the paste while it was still on the board. What I hadn't taken into consideration though, was that the paste would end up being longer than my rolling pin (and my pin is pretty long) so this made my final scary moment #6 ever more nervewracking. I called Melissa for some moral support and we both held our breath as I folded the paste over the rolling pin and lifted it onto the cake. Luckily it went on and didn't leave any marks on the side from the pin:

Cake covered with sugarpaste

I then used smoothers over the top and sides of the cake and trimmed away the excess. I worked a little more at the edges to create a sharper line.

Smoothing the sugarpaste

To make the cake look more realistic as a mixing desk I brushed on some metallic lustre dust (I used Metallic Light Silver from The Edible Silk Range by Rainbow Dust).

Brushing on silver lustre

I then left the cake overnight for the sugarpaste to dry out before adding the buttons the next day.

Making The Decorations

Time for the fun bit!

Using the excess grey sugarpaste leftover from icing the cake, I worked in a little gum tragacanth to add strength. I created one knob to use as a template, and when I was happy with the size I rolled out sausages of paste and cut them evenly, using the template as a guide.

Cutting the mixing desk knobs

I then used the back of a paring knife to create the ridges down the side:

Creating the ridges

Then repeated the process over and over until I had enough. I needed 38 but made a few extra just in case there were any casulaties :o)  
I also created the sliders using black sugarpaste, again rolling a sausage and cutting even pieces, then shaping using the little knife again. I made 7 in black and 4 in grey, plus one black knob using the same method as before.

Shaping sliders

I rolled out more black sugarpaste for the small black buttons and the black plugs for the top plus a rectangle for the LED display. For the black buttons I simply cut 4 thin horizontal strips and cut again vertically to make 32. For the 6 black plugs I cut the paste using a large piping nozzle and marked the inner circle with a smaller nozzle and added 3 dots to each. I made the red and white component cables by securing liquorice inside red and white tapered sausage shapes and marking small lines with a paring knife at the top.

Finally I made 12 small grey jack plugs and 4 slightly larger grey plugs (to fit the red and white component cables) which I painted using the silver lustre mixed with a little gin (mmm - any excuse). Unfortunately I don't have a picture but here they all are on the finished cake:

Elements for top of cake

I then poured myself a well earned glass of wine as all the sugarpaste decorations needed to be left overnight to firm up.

Decorating The Cake

This was the morning of the party and said another prayer to the cake god as there was no time left to bake another one now.

I made up a batch of royal icing and several piping cornets out of silicone paper. I always forget how long it takes to do royal icing, especially when you need several different colours (I used white, red, blue, black, grey and green).

I piped the colours on to the top of the knobs (8 white, 12 red, 12 blue and 6 black) and left to dry before adding a thin line of grey on top to make the dial. The sliders all had a white line piped down the middle. Two of the four component plugs needed royal icing in the centre (1 red 1 white). I also piped the LED display with a grey bar and a red number 40 (as it's Dan's 40th birthday).

Then for the most exciting bit of the whole cake - adding all the decorations and making it come to life!

I used grey royal icing to secure all the elements (that way if any did show underneath it wouldn't be too noticeable). I started at the top with the plugs and then used a pen with edible ink to draw on the model number box. I had based this on Dan's actual mixing desk so I kept the same brand name, but made up the model number to be personalised for him.

Edible ink pen - my new toy

I then worked across from the left, spacing things as I went before securing with royal icing so that I didn't go wonky. I scored lines with a knife and added the text before sticking down the sliders.

Assembling the final elements

Adding the knobs

Once all the elements were stuck down with royal icing, all that was left was to pipe the red, green and one black dots to the right of the cake and I was done. 

Time to stand back and admire my handiwork:

Final Mixing Desk Cake

Mixing desk - profile

I nearly forgot scary moment #7 - transporting the cake over 70 miles by taxi, train, bus and foot to the party in Soho without it getting damaged.   Next time I would really only ever deliver by car - taking it on a London bus can be treacherous but walking about a mile with a cake that is much heavier than you would think in a 16" box is no mean feat.

And scary moment #8 - was Dan going to like it?

Well this was really the best moment of all - he loved it.  It went down really well and everyone in the room was watching as I carried it in. Plus it tasted good - what more could I have asked for?  All in all I was really pleased it had all gone so well.

Bring on the next one!

An inspector calls

It's a legal requirement that all new food businesses need to register with the council 28 days before opening.  I was super keen and registered in January when we formed the company and we're still yet to sell a single brownie.  Ever since then I've been dreading the health and safety inspection and secretly hoped that we wouldn't have to have one. 

We were supposed to have our inspection 2 weeks ago, but unfortunately we had a builder in doing some plastering and he accidentally managed to blow the electricity circuit for the whole house an hour before our inspection.  I was so frustrated that Melissa had to make the phonecall to rearrange, but luckily the lady at the council was really understanding. 

So for the last two weeks I've tried to put to the back of my mind all the negative thoughts like maybe we're not allowed a basement kitchen, what if we need to buy a new kitchen table because our wooden one isn't hygienic enough, where are we going to be able to buy blue plasters??  And as I was trying to avoid a mild panic attack brought on by too much kitchen surface wiping, right on the dot of 10am, Jo the health inspector from Brighton and Hove Council turned up on our doorstep.

I'm not sure what I was expecting (Inspector Gadget maybe?) but Jo was very nice and extremely helpful. She didn't take any swabs of the surfaces or check how clean the inside of the cooker was but she did look inside the fridge so I'm glad it was spotlessly clean.  Most of the inspection was sitting at the kitchen table talking through our cooking, cleaning and storing procedures and most of it was common sense.  I'm happy to report that we are on the right track in most areas, the only recommendations she made were for us to get a fridge thermometer (and she's going to send us one in the post), a fly screen for if we want to open the window in the summer and for us to change our kitchen cleaner for one that's anti-bacterial.  Apparently Ecover is great for cleaning but doesn't actually kill germs - who would have known? 

We have a bit of paperwork to fill out but now my worries can be laid to rest - we've passed and are free to trade our own baked goods.  To celebrate Melissa and I had a beer with lunch and a piece of cake.  Well we may as well make the most of being home in the daytime....

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!

Market research part 2 - Brighton Farm Market & Brighton Street Market

Saturday was a gloriously sunny day down here in Brighton so Melissa and I decided to take a stroll along the seafront into town to check out the Brighton Farm Market that runs every Saturday in Brighton.  On the way there by accident we stumbled across the Brighton Street  Market right in the heart of the North Laines. 

The Brighton Street Market is a hotchpotch of different stalls selling everything from buttons to vintage clothes to antique furniture with a few food stalls thrown in for good measure.  It has a real ramshackle charm and would be a good place for us to start up a bakery stall as it's less intimidating than some of the other farmers' markets we've visited.  There are a couple of other stalls selling similar items such as brownies and muffins so we'd have to think of a way to make us stand out from the competition if we were to go for this one.  Before we left I sneakily clocked the number of different treats that were for sale at the stall most similar to the one we're planning - 13 - with an average price of around £1.50.

After a short detour to feed my flea market addiction we then made our way to Brighton Farm Market.  A much more structured affair than the previous market, and with plenty of exciting looking food stalls arranged around Diplocks Yard this is a real foodie's dream.  The stallholders have all really taken care to display their goods in an attractive and interesting way which is a great plan to get people to stop and take a look.  This was really a step up from the Brighton Street Market and something Melissa and I would love to aspire to. 

We spoke to the lovely lady behind Baked Bliss, who sells organic cakes and baked goods.  Her bakewell bars were too tempting so I bought one while Melissa eyed up the last huge slice of carrot cake.  And the bakewell bar was really really good.  Darn it!  And it was made with homemade jam using fruit from her garden.  Double darn it!  There goes my trump card as that was exactly one of my plans.  Hmmm if we decide (and are able) to get a stall at the Brighton Farm Market then she would be major competition.  It would be easier if she wasn't so nice to go with it!  While we were talking, again I clocked the number of items she was selling (13 again - it must be lucky for some) and spied a good tip that she keeps her tasting samples in a tin for people to try, rather than having them laid out at the front.  I like this idea because it means less lost profits and also encourages interaction with the customers making them more likely to buy.  I'll be stealing that idea!

We also picked up some delicious local cheese from The Cheezerie (I know we're unemployed and can't really afford it but my homemade biscuits were crying out for some cheese to be eaten with) and then decided we had better leave before we spent any more of our life savings on the lovely things available at the market :o)

Until next time, happy baking x

A bit of market research

My partner and I love a good market.  In fact on our recent travels to Asia I think I took more pictures of the produce at food markets than of any of the amazing sites we visited!  And as I enjoy a good pun we decided our market research should start by literally checking out our local farmers' market to suss out the competition.  As luck would have it the monthly Shoreham Farmers' Market was running the first Saturday after we arrived back so we made the pleasant 10 minute drive along the coast to see what it was all about. 

We got there nice and early and ready to go with notebook and pen in hand when we hit the start of the blue and white striped gazebos we were suddenly struck with a pang of fear.  What if there were already too many people doing the same thing we wanted to do?  What if they were much better than us?  Why would any of the stallholders want to answer our questions if it meant giving tips to the competition?  How do we write down their prices subtley without them noticing?! 

So we chickened out of talking to the first bakery stall and decided to talk to a local poultry farmer about his eggs instead.  We want to source our ingredients as locally as possible (and in any case, a minimum percentage of local ingredients is a requirement of some of the farmers' markets nearby) so this could be a good first box ticked.  But then we realised that we should have done a little more preparation when we didn't know the answers to simple questions like how many eggs do we need each week!  I've guessed at 30-40 so it will be interesting to see how far off I am when we do start trading...

One of the main things I'm struggling to gauge before we start is just how much produce we will need to bake.  There were some stall holders that seemed to have piles of pies or mountains of loaves of bread - there's no way we can compete on that scale using our domestic oven without working flat out 24/7!  So bread is definitely ruled out.  There were also two cake sellers whose creations looked absolutely delicious -A Taste Of Dreams who sell small and large cakes of all sorts and Teddy's Tearooms who sell cakes by the slice.  But seeing the numbers of cakes that they brought to market means it's also probably unrealistic for us to try and create from our home kitchen.

And then the fear struck again.  We've risked our regular income and spent our savings on a new kitchen that might just be too small to start the business from.  It's a bit late to realise that now.....

So instead our cunning plan is that we've decided to plump for sweet treats that can be baked in batches - think brownies, muffins, flapjacks, bakewell bars, biscuits...  although I'm still none the wiser as to how many we'll need to bake for market!

Welcome! And so the story begins....

After taking night classes to help my baking skills catch up with my wide eyes, sweet tooth and hungry belly I decided to put my money where my mouth is (literally) and am going to try my darnedest to start a successful small bakery business.  So in November 2010 my lovely new wife and I both quit our jobs, sold our flat in London and moved to our favourite town on the sea to do just that.  We've spent the last couple of months renovating our new home in Brighton and going on our last holiday for what may be quite a long time.  Now that we're back, with the new kitchen really nearly finished we can finally get (egg) cracking!