Selling stuff!

So I was not prepared for how nervous I would feel when people actually wanted to pay money to eat cakes that I have made! I bake daily for family and friends, the kids and neighbours have had cakes forced upon them to test for weeks. But when people actually want to pay their own hard earned cash to sample baked goods it's completely different. A few orders came in this week, I baked them, delivered them and had great feedback. There is a Christmas fair in the pipeline so this week I have been dreaming up ideas for Christmas cupcakes and working out pricing for half a dozen cakes. Tried and tested so far are the spiced vanilla cupcakes below. They have a lovely cinnamon topping and I baked little gingerbread stars and hearts for a festive and warming cake topper.

Another idea was piping buttercream into Christmas tree shapes and decorating them. I started with a lovely chocolatey batter which is enriched with dark treacle. This gives a great flavour to the sponge and I have to confess to being slightly addicted! The tree on top is vanilla buttercream coloured green. Painting a line of green colouring down the side of the bag gives a more tree like colour to the decoration. Tiny chocolate beans and a sparkly sugar ball look like mini decorations. I love the tree cupcakes!

The plan is to sell a mixed half dozen box of cupcakes throughout December and at the Christmas fair so a few more deigns needed! There are few in mind....watch this space for more festive creations!