Fabulous Places Xmas Market

WOW what an event, this weekend I had a stall at the Christmas Market, organised by Fabulous Places. It was SO busy, I have no idea how many people visited. I sold all but 6 of my cupcakes and took a number of orders for Christmas, and a birthday gift box, as well as two new baby gift boxes. I met so many lovely new people, both stall holders and new customers alike. The new flavour; "twinkle twinkle" vanilla topped with a white chocolate & cream cheese with white chocolate star sprinkles was a huge hit, selling out fast, and my new all time favourite cupcake "cherry on top" based on a cherry bakewell, with ground almonds, no fat, filled with a dollop of cherry jam and some grated marzipan inside, was very popular indeed. I also picked up - care of a wonderful shop BOW in Cromford, just next to Scarthin Books - a totally gorgeous vintage tea set, in pale pink & gold, I can't wait to hold my first "grown up" tea party with it!!! Well better go really, I'm totally exhausted having been busy baking and selling since last Tuesday, and it's another early start tomorrow, with a busy baking schedule for Kniveton School Fair Xmas Sale - pop by if you can x

http://www.bow-boutique.co.uk/Contact/

Innovation Awards Gala Dinner & Ceremony

Lucky me, the Food & Drink iNet Awards for Innovation are taking place this evening at Athena in Leicester, the evening will commence with a drinks reception followed by a three course dinner before the winners are announced and presented with their awards by entertaining writer, presenter and foodie, Hardeep Singh Kohli. Hardeep is a Celebrity Masterchef finalist, author of Indian Takeaway, and a passionate food fan. Cupcake Corner is one of three shortlisted businesses up for an Innovation Award. My sister Steph & I are already looking forward to a fun evening, what a good excuse to get our glad rags on! Will post an update tomorrow morning with some photos, when I can tell you all what a good evening we've had x

New event: Xmas Shopping Night at Hulland Ward Millennium Hall Wed 18th Nov from 7.30. Gorgeous collection of goodies to buy including Cupcake Corner! I would love to see you there, I'll be selling cupcakes, taking orders for xmas and have gift vouchers available too. Be sure to stop by and say hi if you're in the area x

Halloween at Cupcake Corner HQ

trick or treat? well it was a tricky halloween this year, I'd planned a little get together with a couple of our friends and their kiddies. Trouble was, my OH woke up with a headache, and our daughter seemed exhausted - I put it down to her getting over a cold and burst ear drum and lack of sleep earlier in the week - poor thing :o(

ten minutes before the party was due to start, she feel fast asleep, and I didn't have the heart to wake her. We enjoyed some drinks and snacks and I woke her up for all the kids to play a few spooky party games inside and out, as soon as she'd filled her cup with treats after the outside treasure hunt, she started to cry and Rich took her to the lounge for a cuddle to settle her down. Well, that's where they both feel asleep for the duration of the evening!

We had more Trick or Treaters than usual, maybe that's something to do with the cupcake sign at the bottom of the drive??!! I greeted the door in my red devil mask - but do you know what? Not one of our tricksters actually had a trick planned, they just expected treats!

The rest of us had a nice time, eating Lamb Tagine gluten free naturally, and kids had a wonderful party tea, care of Luisa. Followed by a yummy lemon posset care of Lynne and gluten free cupcakes of course. Favourite cupcake was the spooky ghost who topped our little stand, which one would you choose? Leave me a comment and I'll know which designs to keep for next year

Hope you had a fun Halloween x

Vanilla & Raspberry Mini Cheesecakes

Well, here it goes, this recipe was so yummy and easy, I thought I'd share it with you all! Thank You to my darling hubbie for trying the first one. I also had the pleasure of meeting Dawn-Elizabeth Rudd who joined me for a coffee and a chat and tried this pretty little cupcake. Dawn offers lifestyle workshops, one a week in her old vicarage kitchen in Shirley, Derbyshire, so we had quite a lot in common. I'll include the link to her website and you can see which event you'd like to join her for. But, I digress, back to the recipe!

500g philadelphia cream cheese at room temp
100g fairtrade caster sugar
3 large free range eggs, whisked together
1 vanilla pod
175 double cream
200 fairtrade white chocolate, broken/chopped into small pieces (check it's gluten free)
1 punnet raspberries (or 2 depending on how fruity you're feeling)

1 preheat oven to 130 C
2 line muffin tray with cases, silver or pink would be lovely
3 beat together cheese & sugar
4 Gradually add eggs, whisk till combined
5 Scrape seeds from vanilla pod, add to cheese mix& combine well
6 pour cream into saucepan, bring to boil on medium heat
7 add chocolate to cream & mix well until all melted, stir well
8 add chocolate cream to cheese mix and stir until no lumps
9 chop half of your berries and place those into cases
10 pour cheescake mix over berries, fill to just under the rim
11 bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until set but a little soft in the middle, they remain pale in colour
12 cool to room temperature, place in fridge overnight
13 serve with 1 or 3 raspberries on the top of each & a sprinkle of icing sugar

NB you could use mixed berries, a punnet of each raspberries, blueberries & blackberries, or use frozen mixed summer fruit for inside the cup cases, and fresh raspberries for the tops

We've enjoyed 2 batches of these in our household of 2 adults, so I can assure you, they are delicious. I think they look very feminine, very elegant and work perfectly with afternoon tea, or as an easy to prepare in advance and quick to serve dinner party dessert

I'd love to know what you think of my first blog recipe share...please leave me a comment
Thanks ;o)

PS be sure to see when you'd like to join dawn-Elizabeth http://www.ruddmoncrieff.com/

It's nearly Christmas!

Hi everyone, well this week has been very festive here at Cupcake Corner. I was busy at the start of the week preparing Christmas Cupcakes for a local magazine photo shoot. Quite pleased with the results, and it meant I started early for the rounds of Christmas fairs. Here's a little preview of my Christmas designs, they will be on show at the following fairs, if you're local why not pop along and say Hi? They are all free admission and most hold a charity raffle with lovely prizes, I'd love to see you...

Oct Fri 23rd 7pm Ashbourne Golf Club
Nov Fri 6pm Marchington Village Hall kids welcome c/o Sudbury preschool
Nov Sat 7th 3pm Ashbourne Leisure Centre - Nearly New Sale c/o NCT
Nov Sat & Sun 21st & 22nd FABULOUS PLACES at BLACKBROOK HOUSE - one not to miss!
Nov Mon 23rd 6pm Kniveton School Xmas Fair

Hope you like the Christmas designs, orders now being taken and gift vouchers available too
Ho Ho Ho !
x

Derbyshire Food & Drink Awards

We had a lovely evening at the Derbyshire Food & Drink Awards last Thursday, where I was attending as a guest and delivering a tray of beautiful cupcake gitboxes as prizes - so cute! Here are a few snaps of me & my friend Luisa enjoying the bubbly and a couple of the winners. If you're into Gluten Free too, be sure to visit Le Mistral in Wirksworth Derbyshire, phone ahead to tell them you need GF and they'll prepare you a wonderful meal. They won best international restaurant in Derbyshire! Congratulations
http://www.lemistral.co.uk/