The Travelling Tea Shop

Sorry its been a while....................

2011-06-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well April and May have been pretty busy months and so Ive been baking loads and not had time to blog. There has been lots of experimenting going on including graduation to big girls cakes so check out the photos below.

Chocolate butterfly cupcakes for a hen party

I have also been given the best tip in the world to get the best sponge cake EVER. Weigh your eggs (cracked) and use the same weight for butter, SR flour and sugar with a bit of baking poweder and a drop of milk.....the lightest yummiest sponge, trust me........You will probably be saying......didnt you know that but no.................I didnt!!!!!! Try it and let me know how you get on!!!!! Anyway on to the rest of the pics.........

Happy Birthday Lisa (the other one!)

Vanilla sponge and butter cream with tulips and plenty of glitterarti!!!

Chocolate (with chocolate sauce inside) and straweberry (yes you guessed it - strawberry jam inside YUM)

I love the colour this makes!!!! Thank you Squires Kitchen for all you do!!!!!

Nearly there......just shows how long its been since I blogged.......... My keyboard is aching!!!!!

A sideways birthday cake (I have tried and tried but I cant turn it round!!!!)

Christening cupcake and cake pop tower (side view)

Christening cupcake and cake pop tower (close up)

So thats me...... as you can see its been a busy time of baking but I have loved every minute!!!!!!

Also must just tell you....... I went to the Angel Food Bakery in Brighton this week, Devil Food and Peanut buttercream cupcakes are amazing, try them!!!! http://www.angelfoodbakery.co.uk/

Also also.... if you are in Brighton and want to indulge your passion for pretty party things and all things cupcake be sure to visit http://www.purple-heart.com/. Its awsome!

and if my husband asks....... I WAS working... honest!

Bye for now, love and all things sweet !
x

The Squires Sugarcraft Exhibition

2011-03-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

Wow I am buzzing with inspiration having just had a wonderfully indulgent 4 hours at the Squires Sugarcraft Exhibition in Farnham. There are some seriously talented cake makers out there. I have some new tools for my trade including snowflake lustre powder and loads of new icing colours! Cant wait to get started. Below are some pictures of the stunning cakes I saw!

Time For Tea

2011-03-10T03:25:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across a great article in the Mail Life section last sunday and thought I would share some tea trivia with you:

Charles II's Protuguese queen, Catherine Braganza, had grown up with a taste for tea, so it became fashionable in Britain
The East India company placed its first order for China tea to be shipped to Java in 1664.
By the end of the 18th Century tea drinking became a common activity for the entire population
Tea was still expensive which gave rise to smuggling until William Pitt the Younger cut taxes on tea......

and if you find that boring perhaps you will like this recipe for delicious scones..........

225g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons caster sugar

Pinch of salt

50g diced butter

75ml milk

1 egg

To serve - Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam of course!!!!

Preheat the oven to 220c/425f/gas 7. Grease your baking sheet in preparation for the scones. Put the dry ingredients in the mixer and blitz until they are well combined. Add the butter and blend again, finally add the egg and milk mixture (reserving about 2 tbsp for glazing) and bring it all together until it forms soft dough. If your mixture is a little sticky then you can add more flour as you gently knead the dough. Then simply flatten it out and cut out your scones. I prefer to keep them quite plump so aim for a 2cm thickness. Put the scones onto the greased sheet and brush them with the remaining egg and milk. Bake them for 8-10 minutes until they are golden brown. Allow to cool slightly but serve whilst still warm with your favourite blend of tea naturally...........................yuuuuuuuummmmmmmmy!

30th Birthday Cakes

2011-02-09T08:33:00.000-08:00

The birthday girl very kindly sent me some pictures of the 30th birthday cakes I made for her. They seemed to like them and I am LOVING my new cupcake caddy! Its the perfect thing for storing and transporting the cakes!!

Christening Cakes

2011-01-28T04:27:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Stephanie I have some lovely photos of the Christening Cakes I made last week. I hope you like them x

Little Roses

2011-01-28T04:22:00.000-08:00

I love making these little roses, they are fairly easy but look really beautiful on the top of cucpakes (or big cakes for that matter). They are for 30th Birthday cakes that I am making next week. The great thing about these flowers is that you can make them in advance (as long as you keep them in an airtight container). I will be making and posting a video on how to make them in the next week or so (we tried last night but the video skills need a little attention before we go live!). lots of love x

The Big Baking Weekend!

2011-01-23T12:27:00.000-08:00

Lots of cupcakes this weekend with button and butterfly cakes for a christening, cake pops for a childrens party and cakes for the first fair of the season!!!! Its great to get back out on the Fair circuit and meet all the other lovely stall holders. Cobham was the location today and made lots of great connections and met a fellow baker which is always good to swap a few ideas. Anyway here are some photos of this weekends creations........xx

Chocolate Buttercream Butterfly Cake

Vanilla Buttercream with Fondant Button

Rosewater Cupcake with Embossed Fondant

My Favourites, Chocolate and vanilla Cake Pops!

A selection of the weekends cakes (of which there were 120!)

Pirates and Princess

2010-11-21T08:26:00.000-08:00

The occasion was a third birthday party for 6 Pirates and Princesses so of course we had to have cakes to match! With nearly 70 children in attendance it was quite a baking session but we are very pleased with the results.

and of course cake pops for the party bags! Think the little angels went home happy (and on a sugar high!)x

2010-11-04T14:07:00.000-07:00

Well we had a lovely afternoon tea on Tuesday for 15 lovely ladies in Ewhurst Green. The venue was a beautiful house in a wonderful setting of fields and trees for miles (apart from the huge house next door!). Tea included:

Savouries

Toasted flatbread with quails eggs and toasted cumin seeds

Cucumber mini sandwiches

Egg Mayonnaise mini sandwiches

Smoked Salmon and lemon mayonnaise crostini

Pea and parmesan crostini

Sweets

Strawberry, lemon & vanilla butter cream cupcakes

Melting moments

Lemon drizzle cake

Banana & chocolate tea bread

Scones with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry jam

...and a little something to take home.....)a cake pop of course!). x

As well as a selection of tea, a good few bottles of bubbly were a very good accompanyment to the food. The best news of all...........the hostess very very kindly gave us a Gramophone (and I nearly cried!) thank you so much Lynne!x

Want to take the pain out of Christmas Shopping?

For those of you finding it hard to contemplate the christmas shopping we have the perfect gift!!!!!

Why not give the gift of afternoon tea to a loved one. All you need to do is decide how much you want to spend (starts at just £44 for four people) and we will take care of the rest. We will give you a special gift card to wrap up and give them on the big day and they can then simply call and book their tea party whenever they want.!!!!! You never know... they might invite you!!!!

Afternoon Tea with Lynne and her Lovely Friends......

Happy Holidays

2010-11-01T15:09:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful holiday we have had in Cornwall. Our base was an amazing barn in Sithney not far from Penzance and it was a truly inspriational place. Christine, the owner baked the MOST amazing brownies and was kind enough to share the recipe with me so I had to try them for myself (and the girls). The kitchen was amazing and I have never baked in an Aga before so that was a treat and a challenge!!!! The girls enjoyed it anyway!!!!

Yummy brownie mix!

Also tomorrow we have a tea party for 20 so have been busy baking a whole host of cakes and savoury treats including Pea and parmesan crostini and of course cupcakes and lemon drizzle cake to name a few! The adult version of a "party bag" are these cute little cake pops as a special treat to take away.

Vanilla Cake Pops with white chocolate coating

Anyway off to bed, more baking tomorrow!x

Buttons Up!

2010-10-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

Squires Kitchen are doing a fabulous silocone mould to create little sugar paste buttons (as seen on The Great British Bake Off). I used it to create these cupcakes for an order to welcome a new baby boy.

Also it was a celebratory weekend in the Ryan household, we are going to be an Aunty and Uncle again......what better reason to break out the cups and saucers and indulge in a spot of tea and cake.......... Matt has told me not to make any more melting moments (he loves them but his waistline cant take any more!!!!). I say have your cake AND EAT IT!!!!!!

Rainy Sundays Were Made for Baking!!!!!

2010-10-03T15:14:00.000-07:00

What a lovely day! As the rain pounded the windows we mixed and tasted and laughed and baked, coming up with lots of lovely flavours for our Autumn and Christmas cupcake range. The new flavours include:

- Spiced cupcakes
- Carrot & orange cupcakes
- Snowflake cucpakes

The big news is that we also perfected some new Cake Pops!!! Litte cakes on a stick from our inspiration across the pond - Bakerella - perfect for little mouths and addictive for bigger ones!!!!!!!

Forming the yummy pop!

The finished article.....x

Watch out for the following flavours coming to a Christmas Fair near you very soon!!!!!

- Mince pie Cake Pops!
- Chocollate orange Cake Pops!
- Snowman Cake Pops!

Kids LOVE Cake Pops!

We also had a lovely tea party for two very important ladies...... the Childminders who look after our most precious possessions.........

afternoon tea was served at 3 and included the following yummies.......

- Scones with cream and jam

- Coffee kick, chocolate orange and chocolate indulgence cupcakes

- Millionaires shortbread

and of course lashings of tea.................

Special Girls Deserve Special Cakes

2010-09-30T17:21:00.000-07:00

It was my beautiful daughters 5th birthday this week! Great excuse to exercise my creative desires!!! With a name like Daisy the inspiration was easy. I used edible daisys to top the cakes with a generous amount of glitter (I mean fairy dust!).

The Birthday Girl x

Fun cakes to make!

The party was of course a traditional tea party with no bouncy castle in sight!!! Instead we had all the traditional games including musical everything and also an ambitious cupcake decorating session for 20 children!!!! I would employ them all!!!!

Happy birthday darling Daisy xxx

OK Maybe Hula Hoops aren't traditional!!!

Afternoon Tea - the Perfect Baby Shower!

2010-09-16T10:35:00.000-07:00

The sun shone on a little corner of surrey yesterday afternoon and the occasion was a great friend's baby shower. With the imminent arrival of twins, we all got together, drank tea and ate lots of yummy treats (including the baby blue and pink cupcakes you can see in the picture). It was a picture of motherly perfection.........whilst the children played happily in the garden, the mums relaxed for a rare opportunity to sit back and gently sip cup after cup of steaming hot tea. To soak up the tea we had:

Gorgonzola and pear crostini with homemade green tomato chutney

Salmon and lemon mayonaise crostini

Cucumber mini sandwiches

Egg mini sandwiches

Chocolate and banana loaf

Scones with cream and homemade blackberry jam

and of course the cupcakes

I hope they all enjoyed it........I certainly did!!!!
Good luck Helen, you are an amazing mother of 1 and will be a fantastic mother of 3!!!!!xxxxx

Sunny Afternoon Tea

2010-09-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

Only a few things left!!!!

You are never too young to experience afternoon tea! Daisy and Tilly took a bit of a shine to our new friend!

We had a wonderful opportunity to introduce a lovely new friend from Kuala Lumpur to the concept of English Afternoon Tea. On the menu was crostini with pear and Gorgonzola, cucumber, salmon and egg sandwiches (no crusts of course) as well as scones (with cream & jam), banana and chocolate tea bread and of course cupcakes!!! Phew no wonder we were all sleepy afterwards. It was lovely to meet you Shane and I hope you enjoyed your taste of my favourite of all English traditions!x

Exciting

2010-08-25T08:16:00.000-07:00

Well the website is finally underway and I cant wait to see the results. Sometimes it feels like I have the best kept secret in Surrey!!!!! I cant wait to get it out there!! However there are still cakes to be baked and tea parties to organise so that should keep me out of mischief for a bit!!!!!

Vintage Tea Party

2010-08-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

Today we ran a surprise 40th Vintage Tea Party (Happy Birthday to Sam!). It was pouring outside but the steaming hot tea, cupcakes, banana and chocolate bread and of course, melting moments seemed to warm the hearts of the guests. Judging by the empty teapots and plates we think everyone enjoyed themselves!!!!!! We certainly did!x

Melting Moments!

2010-08-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

Now I thought the cupcakes tasted good but this new recipe for melting moments with strawberry butter cream inside is soooooo good! It may have been raining today but the sun was shining in my tummy!x

Ingredients

For the melting moments:
190g butter
60g icing sugar
3/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
38g Cornflour
210g Plain Flour

For the filling:
150g icing sugar
40g butter
few drops of strawberry essence

Beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla essence together until fluffy. Add the cornflour and flour and beat until well incorporated. Roll into small balls (baby tomato size) and gently flatten each one with the flat of a finger. Once flattened then press each one with the end of a fork to get the fancy lines!! Bake for 20 mins on 150 degrees. Allow to cool then beat up the filling mixure (i like to beat it for at least 5 minutes to get it really fluffy). Spread the filling on one half and press another to form the biscuit. Sprinkle with a little glitter optional (essential for me). Enjoy with a cup of tea!x Makes about 20 biscuits.

His and Hers

2010-08-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

A beautiful idea for a baby shower, this was for twins (one of each! perfect!!!!). Forget flowers, Id vote for cupcakes everytime!!!! If you've got any friends with impending births,why not order them some delicious cupcakes....... after all you need to keep your strength up when you are a new mum!!!!!!!!

Another day another cupcake!!!

2010-08-02T14:28:00.000-07:00

Had another lovely morning baking with my girls! Tried out some cool new colours (I particularly like the ice blue mini cupcakes!!!!). Baked a selection of mini and massive (!) cupcakes for a birthday party order tomorrow!!! I think the mini ones are intended for children but when they see the marshmallow i'm not sure that will be the case!!!!! The mini cucpakes are brilliant ....... one bite and they are gone, trouble is one just isnt enough!!!! Oh well you'd better order a box of 24!!!!! xxxxx

Birthday Cupcakes

2010-07-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

Phew all done!

Another batch of cupcakes this time with a pink, cream and silver theme. I have tweaked the vanilla recipe a little and now I think it is perfect! I hope the party guests think so too! I have taken some pictures of them (albeit not as professional as Emily's photos yesterday!). Just a box of 24 to do tomorrow (almost a day off!).

A Wonderful Day!

2010-07-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

Today was filled with of course, the making of more lovely cupcakes and also a very exciting meeting with a local business regarding a possible regular supply of yummyness, watch this space!!!!! Our friend Emily also very kindly came over to take some pictures of our most recent creations (and of course the creators!) these are some of her photographs, thanks Emily.

Tomorrow is about birthday cupcakes with a pink and silver theme, we cant wait to get our hands on the mixer again!!! Who says work cant be fun with a big F!!!x

The Albury Produce Show

2010-07-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

A fantastic day was had by all, and especially us, at The Albury Produce Show. We baked 170 cakes the day before and sold every single yummy one in 2 hours flat! Thank you so much for everyone who purchased a cake, we hope you enjoyed them and if you want more you know where we are!!!!!