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 :))