Just thinking which cupcakes to do for Wednesday's market. Sometimes the best thing is not to look at all the ideas of the internet because you quickly go mad trying to do all of them. So I have to decide about 6 designs I think which will draw people in by looking fabulous :) and will taste good too. So far the favourite flavours are vanilla, chocolate and lemon but I'm going to do Oreo ones this week as they are usually very popular. I'm also going to make Nigella's malted chocolate cake which she's decorates with maltesers. I'll take a photo and post it to see how it turns out. So so far this week the plan is to do:

Hello Ducky cupcakes

Strawberry pink glitter cupcakes

Baby ballerinas

Hello Kitty cupcakes 

And then I'll have to think of one sensible one as these are all a bit kitsch! 

I've been on the market again! (Does that sound wrong, like I'm newly single and looking for love -  I mean my market stall of course). This time it was baking hot so we went with slightly heavy hearts thinking that it was not exactly cake weather. It was a slow start and I sat (with boyfriend Matt) trying to look cheery as people walked straight past the stall without even looking boo hoo. But things gradually picked up as town got busier and we still managed to sell 60 cupcakes and 1 big cake hooray.. The worst problem was the wasps which meant that we had to cover the cakes with a huge net type arrangement meaning noone could see the cakes aargh. So we took it off and spent the day swatting them with a tea towel and coaxing them into a jar of honey. 

I just love the atmosphere of being on the market. Brigitte - my neighbour stall holder and I - kept the divider between us down so that we could see each other and consequently chat all day. And her resistance to my cakes proved futile as she bought one for herself, husband and daughter..

I've also been on a cupcake decorating course with Michelle from the Lavender Bakery. It was fabulous! We went for a day out first and I dragged partner and youngest daughter to Jane Asher's cake shop (we got sprinkles and beautiful gold ballet dancers for putting on top of the cakes) and then walked around South Ken. It is without doubt the poshest and richest place I have ever walked around. We looked in the estate windows - houses at £6 and a half mill eek - and went into a shop selling little things for children's rooms. A cushion with a punk design on, roughly the size of an A4 piece of paper, was £135!! We slunk out trying to look as if we had enough money but were not in the market for sex pistol memorabilia. Anyway, then I set off to Islington the Make Lounge and partner and daughter met a friend in a cafe. 

The course was great. There was wine, tea and coffee - as you can imagine with a room full of women of a certain age no-one chose tea or coffee, we all knocked back the Pinot G - and just a lovely friendly atmosphere. We started by making piping bags - I was hopeless and used the ones Michelle had rolled on her way in the cab! Then we practised piping and finally were let loose on 7 cupcakes each and used her delicious meringue buttercream icing to cover them and then piped on our own designs in thinned down royal icing. I wrote the children's names and then did some hearts. I'd cut the hole at the top of the piping too big so my writing came out wavy and wrong so I kept it quiet that I actually had my own (little) business selling cakes. 

With part of teeny profit I've bought a swimming costume to try and remove a little of the cupcake blubber that I'm now carrying. It's orange and brown which I thought would detract the eye from the body inside :)

After many months of planning, I finally did my first day on the market in Cambridge. This is very exciting partly because I love being outdoors and having the opportunity to bring my cakes to a bigger market (pun haha) and partly because Cambridge has almost NO independent shops - we are swamped by Next, Starbucks and Marks and Sparks, even our John Lewis is duller than most - so having a stall on the market is a chance to be part of the only little range of shops that sells a randrom collection of things made by the individuals. 

I got up at quarter to five eek!! with rain pouring down and decorated the 50 cupcakes I'd made the day before, packed them in boxes, drank 2 cups of tea, panicked, looked at my hair and decided to give it up as a bad job, made a flask of tea and then woke up my partner and 2 daughters (I have 2 sons too but they weren't there). Partner so he could take me and little cake babies to the market and daughters so they could be excited with me and wave in their pyjamas (my older daughter is 15 so she can look after the littler one). Then we set off and got to the market by 8.30am wow! Normally during the school holidays our optimum time for being ready is around midday so 8.30 is very impressive but I was running on adrenalin and may never be there that early again. 
We set up in the damp and rain - still though with the adrenalin and excitement I hardly noticed. I met the 2 stall holders next to me - hello Brigitte and Micheal! - and took my first order for a birthday cake by 8.45am from a woman walking past with her children. Then my friend Martin came past with his immaculately presented dog (who I fed a piece of lemon and polenta cake) and then that was it, I was on my own as Matt (my partner) had rushed back to get the plastic food container which had all our change in for the day and which we'd completely forgotten. 

And it was the best day! We had loads of visitors, Daisy (my 15 year old) came and worked with me on the stall and helped me during the rush to put cupcakes carefully in boxes and do the adding up - apparently 8 x £1.50 is beyond me - and she tied polka dot ribbons round the boxes,I always end up with the bow on the bottom. People are cheered up by cupcakes and we had ones with ducks, Hello Kitty, messages saying 'nice buns' and 'I love you' and so you always get a conversation going and a nice atmosphere around the stall (this was my first central market but I'd done a few other fairs).  We sold out by 3pm and I can't wait for next week. This time my youngest daugher Maddie will be helping me and has been promised the noodles and spring rolls that Daisy and I got from the stall behind us for lunch and that this time she can be my special helper.  So, if you are in the area please come by and see us! Over the next weeks I'll post recipes and pictures as I gradually get to grips with modern technology :))