National Cupcake Championship Day

Morning all!! So the day is finally here! Once again, I'm off to the National Cupcake Championships! Looking forward to it, and I'll let you all know how we get on! I'm currently on a train, squashed in the corner and typing with on hand!! Praying my sweet babies survive this trip and arrive intact!! Catch you all later!! Sweet Wishes & 2 Kisses!! xx CCTreats

Tangerine & Fuchsia Wedding Cake details

Last Saturday we had the pleasure of delivering a 4 tier wedding cake for a couple who held their wedding reception at the Hilton Dartford. The couple's wedding colour palette was tangerine, fuchsia and ivory, with tangerine being the dominant colour for the cake decor. The cake was made up of 2 tiers of Red Velvet Cake with a White Chocolate Cream Cheese filling (bottom & third tiers), Lemon Blueberry Cake with a fluffy Lemon Buttercream filling (2nd tier) and a Rich Fruit Cake (top tier). The cake was finished off with Ivory fondant icing, and decorated with a thick tangerine ribbon and thin fuchsia ribbon, a tangerine bow and diamante brooch and the top of the cake was adorned with tangerine & pink sugar flowers.

Here are few shots we took, whilst the venue was being setup. 



More cake treats following soon!

Sweet Wishes & 2 Kisses!!

xx CCTreats

National Cupcake Championships 2012 Finalist!!

Hello, hello, from a miserable and very wet London town!! I have been so busy of late and feel so bad for neglecting the blog! In spite of these rainy days...I share with you my sunshine...Happy news!!

CC Treats has for the second year made it to the finals for the National Cupcake Championships 2012 in the  Best Cupcake Made with Alcohol category. Yaaaay!!! Its very exciting and the competition is strong with some excellent bakeries competing for the coveted title! Last year we did it with our Midnight Safari Cupcake, could we do it again with our Bourbon Orange & Choc Chip Cupcake..the countdown begins...

Bakeryinfo.co.uk

Sweet Wishes & 2 Kisses!!

xx CC Treats

April Days

April is my month! I am an April baby! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY APRIL babies!!

I've been gone for a while, but I am back! I have been very under the weather to the point where I thought I was going blind (drama queen)! I've had some serious allergies (and it's not even sunny here in London!), but I am fully recovered and back to being busy, busy!

So, my birthday came & went too fast. I was sick and my precious girls made me a lovely cake surrounded by plenty of strawberries and dark chocolate...yum!!

My Precious Birthday Cake

Here are some pics of some recent cakes...

  Red Velvet Cake with White Chocolate and Cream Cheese Frosting

Classic Vanilla Bean First Birthday Cake & Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Red Velvet Cakes with White Chocolate and Cream Cheese Frosting 

Lemon Touch Cake with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

Hope you are all keeping warm & dry...the minute we were told there was drought in the SE of England, the April showers came in abundance... love the rain (we need it!), but I LOVE the sunshine even more...where are you SUNSHINE!

More cakes following soon!

Sweet Wishes & 2 Kisses!!
xxCC Treats

Oxford Bake-Off

Unfortunately I was unable to blog about this fun event before attending as it has been so hectic, but this past Saturday saw us head up the M25, to Oxford for a day filled with an abundance of sweet treats at the Oxford Bake Off!! This was a fun event centred around the Great British Bake Off concept, for budding amateur bakers in Oxfordshire. The event was put together by Kate Kellaway-Moore, a passionate baker herself, to raise funds for charities: Oxfam, Coppa Feel, Oxford Rape Crisis and Cecily’s fund. Alongside the Bake Off competition, the event also ran workshops, hosted a variety of stalls (where we displayed some of our treats), a silent auction, raffles with some FAB prizes and the Oxfordshire Bake Off Book, to which we contributed our Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake recipe. PLEASE buy one...the money is going to a good cause!!!

After it took an hour just to get out of London, some A40 traffic we finally made it to Oxford! Navigating the one-way systems in Oxford was "interesting", but thanks to a lovely passerby who swiped a bollard down for us we reached the town hall quicker than we would have with our Nav!! With some off loading, parking hunting, a short trek back to the town hall, we setup (slightly late...urrgh!!) but we got there in the end.

Even with the amazingly warm weather outside, the bake off had quite a good turnout with a buzz of cake talk. We were situated right in front of the Tea-shop, so we heard it all! The teas were served in some lovely vintage china, with tea provided by Jeeves and Jericho. I am not a tea drinker, but my sister is and she enjoyed her tea! There was a mix of stalls, ranging from baked goodies, beautifully handcrafted porcelain cakes stands, knitted cosies, greeting cards, gifts and accessories. We received positive feedback and thank you to everyone who stopped by our stall to chat or purchase treats! We really appreciated the warm welcome! After a long day it was time to pack up and head back to London via the Chocolate Festival, Oxford was abuzz with events on Saturday! With some cakes left over, we decided to sell them after church on Sunday and through generous donations, we raised £30, all going to the Bake Off Charities!! You can read more on the event here: Oxford Mail.

Well done to all those who entered the Bake Off competition and to those who won. It must have been really tough for the judges, as the standard was high! Keep checking the Oxford Bake Off site, as there will be another one next year!

The Venue...Oxford Town Hall

The Bake Off goodies

Judging time...

 CC Treats Table Setup

Our bunting had teacups and teapots tying in with the Afternoon-Tea theme

Red Velvet Cupcakes and Divine Chocolate Cake 

  Mini Marshmallow Pops Bouquets

 Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes & Granadilla Glory Cupcakes

Belgian Swizzle Cupcakes

A peek at Sunny Oxford Town

 Me...Still standing, towards the end of a long day...

  

Spring is here, Happy Baking!!!

Sweet Wishes & 2 Kisses!!

xxCC Treats



Funky Fresh Party Details

Hey, hope all has been going well. I have not been able to update the blog in a while, I have been so busy!! But I do have a lot to share!

We had the Funky Fresh Party last weekend. It rained, but our colour palette definitely maintained some bright spirits indoors!! My daughter's into the "retro, funky fresh" trend, with the large black rimmed glassed, caps, converse trainers, back-packs the list goes on...and she's also into a girl group OMG (yes, even I am like "Who?"). Anyway the party guests & birthday girl were dressed in their geeky/retro, but funky & fresh outfits, including tutus, caps, baseball jackets etc. Her chosen colour palette was hot purple, pink & green, incorporating the key words: funky, retro, dope & swag (yes...another "What?"). I still needed to throw in some girly bits to the party theme, just for me! Anyway, here are some pics from the day. She finished of her birthday cake with the flower shaped labels! Take a look...

 Personalised Water Bottles

 OMG Water, Pink Chamallows & Teeth Gums

 Personalised Funky Fresh Chocolates

   Pink & Purple Sugared Marshmallow Pops

  Chocolate Viennese Fingers & Butter Snap Swirls

Pink Marshmallow Pops & Pink Smarties

 Oreo Cookie Cupcakes, Chocolate Strawberries & Rocky Road Bites

 Quick Polish Up by the very talented Miss Merx Mani's before the party starts...

Sweet Wishes & 2 Kisses!!
xxCC Treats

Brighter Days

The weather has finally picked up, and it's starting to get dark a little later!! Spring is on its way! I can't take the cold weather anymore...I need some SUNSHINE!!! I'm looking forward to longer, warmer and brighter days, the birds chirping, flowers blossoming and COLOUR!! Soft peach, pinks, yellows, purples, Bridal Showers, Tea parties and Mother's Day!! In my mind its springtime, and l'm looking forward to sharing my Spring-time Treats collection...ps there is a new camera in the house...OMG, its snapping some AMAZING shots!!

Speaking of OMG, I am styling an OMG-Funky Fresh birthday party for my daughter's 14th!! She loves the phrase OMG ("oh my gosh"), and is very much into the Funky Fresh, late 80's/early 90's retro look...what a challenge! So the chosen colours are electric purple/hot pink & lime green, grafitti with key phrase OMG...Work In progress and 3 weeks to go! Will share some details soon!

Sharing treats soon, including Pancake Treats from Pancake Day...Pancake options varied from strawberry cookie crumble: a generous dollop of vanilla bean cream, topped with fresh sliced strawberries, oreo cookie crumble, mini marshmallows and chocolate drizzle; to simple Lemon sugar pancakes!

Wishing you all lovely weekend!

Sweet Wishes and 2 Kisses!!
xxCC Treats

Betty Boop Cake

Here's a peek at a Betty Boop Birthday Treat. As the cake was for a man, I found an image that had Betty Boop balancing her foot on a football and still looking cute!! The cake flavour was our moist Red Velvet Cake filled with White Chocolate cream cheese frosting, covered with white sugarpaste, and a free-hand cut and hand painted image of Betty Boop!

More treats to come!

Sweet Wishes & 2 Kisses!!
xx CC Treats

The Greatest Love of All...

(image from eonline.com)

 

I am normally not one to publicly pay tributes to musicians etc, but yesterday I was stunned after hearing about the death of Whitney Houston. I was not a die hard fan of Whitney, but growing up her infectious songs and lyrics brought me "in front of the mirror" inspiration and great memories, that I relived yesterday! Some of her songs that I hadn't heard in AGES, triggered and sparked memories of my AMAZING childhood, and as I grew up "learning to love" myself, I now understand how it is truly the greatest love of all! I am thankful for who I am today, and thank you Whitney for giving us timeless music to remind us of this!

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day, a day to tell not just your partner, but ALL your loved ones, how much they mean to you. Life is too short and tomorrow may never come, so say I LOVE YOU today & always!! No doubt Whitney love songs will be on your play list tomorrow!

R.I.P Whitney Houston, we thank God for the beauty and power of your amazing voice!!

Loving Wishes & 2 Kisses!!
xxFaro

Vans Inspired Birthday Treats

Another surprise treat for a FAB 12 year-old. The mum threw a suprise Fashion Show inspired party, and her daughter loves Vans trainers as most young teens do! The shoebox was a coconut cake filled with chocolate & coconut ganache, covered in black sugarpaste and adorned with the Vans shoebox logo, and the trainer was a chocolate fudge cake filled with chocolate & coconut ganache. The birthday girl loves purple too, so we designed a purple checkered Vans inspired trainer cake, and hand painted the check pattern. This is our first trainer cake, and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. My kids are impressed and the cake got a thumbs up/ seal of approval! Here are a few shots (the cake was still drying though!)

 

More to come this week Red Velvet Betty Boo cake, Valentines Treat Buffet, Mickey Mouse and more (hopefully taken with the new camera...yay!!). I'll also share some yummy pancake fillings for Pancake Day/ Shrove Tuesday - Tuesday 21st Februay, roll on Lent/Ash Wednesday, roll on Easter, which means Springtime and a renewed You!!

Oh, by the way, my goal for this month...work on my website...work in progress, new look coming soon!!!

Sweet Wishes & 2 Kisses!

xxCC Treats



Birthday Treats - Christian Louboutin Cake

It's so cold out there...I am Thankful for the roof over my head, the warmth in my home and the fact that I can make myself food to warm me up! Sometimes we don't really realise how blessed we are until it's all gone! So let's stop complaining about how cold it is and actually thank God for the simple fact that at the end of the day we have somewhere to go and keep warm! Spring...where are you?!!

It has been a week of birthday treats...my camera is on its last legs, so the focus is not so great!
We made a Christian Louboutin Shoebox cake, for a Loubou fanatic. The surprise cake was a Vanilla Bean sponge filled with Vanilla Bean buttercream. The colours for the edible logo print came out slightly darker, so I incorporated it on the top like a sticker (although I know the box is not done that way!!), and added a customised label (centred around one of the many pairs she owns) to the side of the box.

I say, if you can't afford to own a pair, then at least you can eat one!

Sweet Wishes & 2 Kisses!!
xx CC Treats