A Baby Shower at The Tea Cup

As I sit here awaiting news of a the pending arrival of a friends new baby boy, I thought I'd tell you about the baby shower.

The Tea Cup is set down a narrow cobblestone lane way called Brewers Lane off of Richmond High Street, and is just one of a few boutique shops on the way towards Richmond Green. It's a rather quaint and traditional tea house where tea is served in an eclectic mix of unmatched crockery. I’d love to know where the pieces came from, perhaps saved from potential demise at a local garage sale or car boot. 

The owner who usually appears relaxed, was on this day, a little perplexed by the some 20 plus females that overwhelmed his little shop. Instead of a gaggle of geese he had a gaggle (quite literally) of women. While he had one helper, he was constantly running around and continuously mopping his brow in an almost Fawlty Towers – Manuel manner. Thankfully nothing ended up on any of our laps and Basil wasn’t running through yelling ‘Fire… Fire… Fire’.

My contribution to this event, other than trying to win a game of baby bingo (it is tradition to play games at these events), was some specially designed baby shower cupcakes;

My new personalised stamps - getting the business ready!

 To end today's blog i thought I'd delve into some history and research how the traditional high tea came about? After googling I found out the following;

 Anna, the 7^th Duchess of Bedford introduced the pot of tea and snack in the afternoon. Apparently she was known for complaining of getting a ‘sinking feeling’ mid afternoon. I think in modern terms that might be the mid afternoon chocolate craving.  Whilst back in Anna’s day it may have had something to do with the fact they typically only had two main meals a day, I’m not sure what excuse we can offer in modern times. Anyway back to the story, Anna started to invite her friends to these 'afternoon snacks' and gradually the practice extended and became popular amongst fashionable society. It then extended to hotels. 

Source : http://www.afternoontea.co.uk/information/history-of-afternoon-tea/

 Well back to my cup of tea and dreaming of scones.

One night in London

Sitting here on a Sunday afternoon, it's time to relax. 

I've had my daily coffee fix courtesy of my favourite local cafe in Kingston and I've finished decorating the Donna Hay lemon cupcakes I made last night. 

I've vibered Mum and Dad and caught up on the local gossip and skyped one of my brothers. The wonders of modern technology to stay in touch with family on the other side of the world!

My husband is in the bedroom finally putting up the Laura Ashley blinds we bought a couple of months ago. He had tried to tell me the electric drill had gone missing and so he wasn't able to do it, however after raising my eyebrows and giving him the 'I so don't believe you' look he conceded defeat and suddenly found it. Funny about that. 

Looking out the window our plants are blooming and all that is missing is some beautiful blue skies and sunshine. Oh well perhaps another day. 

So I'm pondering the week ahead and psyching myself up for what will be a very busy day tomorrow. I'm excited though because it will be a short week for us as my husband and I are taking Thursday and Friday off. It's been a trying few weeks with a close relative in hospital so time to take some R&R.

On Wednesday night we have my cousin from Australia over with his French girlfriend. While my husband is excited he gets to practice his French, I'm researching places to go in central London, a good Blighty old school pub perhaps and then somewhere nice along the Thames for dinner.

So where do you go if you only have one night in London?

A boat ride along the Thames?
Ride on the London eye?
Theatre perhaps?
Jack the Ripper walk....

Mmmmm so many options

Where and what would you do if you only had one night in London? I would love to hear your tips and suggestions.

Cakes Galore

The Cake International show is an annual London event which showcases sugarcraft, cake decorating and baking. I was lucky enough to attend over the weekend and spent hours wandering the aisles. It certainly is an event for those avid cake decorators and I left inspired about some of the products and ideas for my cupcakes. 

Here are a few photo's from the London cake competition ;

The Mulberry Handbag - this is all cake and sugarpaste. By Sandra Mitchell it won best in show for 2013!

Now how can you not be inspired by looking at those!

With thunder and hail coming down outside today (yes good old Blighty weather again!), I thought I'd spend time practising some new flowers. Here's the results;

Vintage Ruffle Flower

With some flower buds, roses and calyx

Happy decorating!

Cupcakes for Kids

This is my latest result as I delve into the world of cupcakes. 

I'm sure my nephews would love to get their hands on these, but I don't think they'd survive the 20 plus hour flight across to Oz. Sorry kids!

I hope you like them. If you have any ideas on a theme I can try next time, let me know...

What to do on a little chicken day...

Baking of course!

And if you don't know what a 'little chicken' or 'chicken little' day is... 'the sky is falling in, the sky is falling in'. In other words... an overcast, dull, dreary day with no blue sky.

One of the things on my to do list has been to trial a wedding cake. I'm debating whether or not to bake my own to save money. So yesterday I tried a Madiera cake. There were so many tips on how to cook it online i.e. place a bowl of water in the oven, wrap the tin in newspaper, scrape the batter away from the middle before baking.  I did try these, however it has come out quite crusty on the top and right now I'm too scared to cut it, so will leave it for a day.

After that I trialed Golden Cauliflower Soup with Moroccan Spices which I found on Foodily. A healthy and yummy soup if you're after something different.

  

And finally I decided to make H's favourite Lemon and Poppyseed cupcakes. This time I decorated them a bit differently... 

  

  

Now I think it's time to put my feet up with a glass of wine!

Baking day

There is nothing better than messing up the kitchen and getting creative. If I was working it's a great way to escape from the stress, but as I'm not, it's something to do outside of the gym, housework, wedding preparation, visa stuff and blogging!

The cupcake of choice today was banana. A little secret that was told to me a while back is that you can keep over ripe bananas in the freezer, since I've got a few of them now, I thought I had better make up a batch of banana cupcakes. 

To spice it up I also made a raspberry coulis, scooped out the middle and placed some inside before icing. Taste = yum, Look = well that's up to you... What do you think?

  

  

  

  

  

Pretty Pink with a Teddy Bear on Top

Today I ventured into the world of ‘official’ cupcake decorating. I put the official in inverted commas because I have been dabbling in decorating cakes for sometime now. 

The full days course was just down the road at a place in Putney called Cakes 4 Fun,  www.cakes4funshop.co.uk. With only 3 of us in the course, it was very hands on and we ended up with a dozen of them to bring home (H and I will be eating them for the next week!).

Thankfully I did learn some new techniques, but overall it did make me realise that I do know more than I thought. Perhaps it doesn’t just have to be a hobby...mmmm

Here are some pictures: