Cake Making Conference Activity

This was a conference meeting of 100 medical professionals. The organisers asked me to do an inspirational speech in which I shared my story about how I became Cookie Girl and how I then progressed to being the market leader for corporate cupcake experiences. After this our decorating class took place. Networking events, team events and corporate events in general have various benefits to individuals and the corporate world in general. They are shown to improve team relationships, client relationships, momentum and the general mental health of employees etc.

10th Anniversary Of The Launch Of My Recipe Book 'Eat Me!'

I can't believe that it was 10 years ago today that my book was released! So much has happened since then. I've had two little girls and I've also sadly lost my amazing Mumma, who played such a big part in the creation of the book. It was a big success getting to number 17 in the book charts and receiving a huge amount of press. I felt that my life and career was on an upward swing. Nothing could have prepared me for how much having the girls was going to slow down my trajectory. Luckily, being self employed and having my own business meant I was able to mainly be a stay at home mum, which I am truly grateful for. What I hadn't realised was how hard it would be to continue building up my profile as a performer and writer. Now, 10 years later I finally feel as if I am back to where I was then. My podcast has recently ben released, which is a fictional story based on “The Cookie Chronicles”, similar to the column I wrote for 5 years for Grove Magazine. It has taken a while for it to sink in that (unlike when I was first wanting to act and write) I don't need anyone's permission. I don't need a director, producer or casting director to deem me worthy to be who I want to be. I can create my own material and connect with people through it. There are so many routes to an audience and the technology to do it ourselves. Watch this space! xxx

Cake Making Class - Unicorn Cake

We used a mould to make the horn, ears and eyelashes using sugarpaste. This meant it was easier to achieve a professional finish than if we’d rolled the horn by hand, which can inadvertently lead to a rather inappropriate end result! I was very impressed by how well the students did with all of them getting fantastic results in the cake class. The vanilla sponge cakes they baked in the cake baking lesson were just delicious. They did a great job using a palette knife to get a smooth finish with the delicious buttercream, and they created the swirling rainbow unicorn mane by piping buttercream swirls and roses - this gave them the opportunity to get lots of practice with their buttercream piping techniques. By the end of the 3.5hr cake making class they were amazed by what they had been able to create. They went home really excited to share their Unicorn Cakes with their families.

Husband & Wife Private Cake Class

Kelly’s husband Bill is a great baker. She thought it would be a perfect present to give him one of our gift certificate for a private lesson. And she decided to book a cake class for two so that they could attend together. Bill was really keen to get his cake decorating skills to a high level so we worked through beginners, intermediate and advanced cupcake decorating techniques. I taught them both how to make cream cheese frosting which has a good ‘flow’ for piping rose swirls and classic swirls. I also taught them how to make a firm buttercream frosting which is ideal for the advanced buttercream piping techniques. We use this to pipe ruffle swirls as well as individual petals one by one. I also explained that all the buttercream piping techniques could also be used on a full sized cake. At the end of the 3hr cake making class they were thrilled with the end results and went home with two dozen beautiful cupcake creations to share with their friends and family.

Cake Making Client Event

Accountancy Action asked us to set up a cupcake decorating workshop for their regular client networking event. It was such a fun evening. The cocktails flowed freely and the guests quickly relaxed into their cake making activity. Most of them worked in HR or Finance so don’t get much chance to be creative in their day to day roles. They were amazed by how quickly they picked up the various buttercream swirls and loved the variety of sprinkles and edible decorations that we had on offer. It was a great ice breaking activity and created a real bond between the participants. Many of whom had arrived as strangers and left as friends. All in all this cake making event was a great success.

Team Bonding at CAA

A great time was had by all at CAA at their team bonding workshop. We did a bit of a different cake making event on this occasion. They particularly wanted to get their hands on some fondant icing (or edible Play Doh, as I like to think of it) and create some Christmas themed cakes. They had a great time making, snow men, elves, Christmas trees and even Father Christmas. But the winning cupcake was actually a beautiful and original snow leopard. The girl who made it was thrilled to take home her very own, personalised copy of my best selling recipe book! They were a great group who really put 100% into what they were doing and it seemed to be a lovely place to work. The group seemed really close, more like family than co-workers. And their boss seemed astonishingly young (unless it’s just a sign of me getting older!). We really loved working with them and are looking forward to doing more events there in the future.

Christmas Biscuit Family Day

We were approached by an events company to create a fun gingerbread man decorating class for a pre Christmas event. It was for a law firms family day and it needed to be a simple workshop that event the little ones would be able to create. We made clothes and accessories out of rolled fondant. This allowed the kids to make really impressive father Christmas’, snowmen and elves without too much adult intervention. The kids were absolutely thrilled with their creations which we gift wrapped in red and green striped bags and cellophane for them to take home.

Dodo's Cake Making Hen Party

The ladies at Dodo’s cupcake decorating hen had the most fun. Her friends and family were an absolute blast laughing and joking and keeping me entertained. I should have known that they were going to be an ‘up for it’ crew when Dodo arrived wearing an extremely detailed naked lady all in one! Once we had got over the initial hilarity of that they knuckled down to learning all my expert cake piping tips. Before long they had mastered the art of cake decorating with buttercream swirls and even created some of there own experimental designs. One of the girls was so good I asked if she wanted to join the Cookie Girl team! At the end of the two hour cake making workshop they were absolutely thrilled with their cupcake creations. Dodo wasn’t sure where they were headed next (it was a magical mystery tour type of hen) but she was very excited to get home and share her little cupcake works of art with her husband to be.

Dinosaur Cake Class

When Morgan asked me if I could give her a baking lesson to help her make her little boys birthday cake I was thrilled to help. I thought that my dinosaur cake was the perfect model for him. I pre baked the cakes (one 4pt pudding basin and one 2 pint pudding basin) with a vanilla sponge recipe. (Here’s one I made earlier: http://www.cookiegirl.co.uk/blog/2016/9/20/dinosaur-cake?rq=dinosaur%20cake) . We spent the first part of the cake class assembling the sponged together (securing them with wooden skewers) to make a cute dinosaur shape. Morgan and I then set to work creating the eyes, tail, mouth and teeth out of rolled fondant. We made up a large batch of bright green buttercream and I gave Morgan a demonstration in using a palette knife to cover the cake with a thick layer of icing. We then added the eyes, teeth, mouth and tail to create a cute and friendly edible dinosaur. We managed to finish the whole thing within our 3hr half day private baking lesson. Morgan sent me a video of the cake which was a huge hit and she got lots of great feedback for her work.

Vineet's Cake Decorating Birthday Party

Vineet was celebrating a significant birthday and wanted to celebrate with her closest friends by having a creative time doing a cake making workshop with us. They were a lovely bunch of girls who couldn’t wait to get started piping buttercream swirls onto the delicious cakes I had made. There was time to have a glass of bubbly whilst they waited for the last couple of girls to arrive. They were soon getting stuck in trying out their piping skills on a variety of different buttercream swirl techniques. They were soon getting the hang of it and making professional looking cupcakes. They absolutely loved the vast array of decoration that we had, especially the rainbow unicorns and mermaid sprinkles. The girls found the cake class a great ice breaker and way to bond as not all the girls knew each other. They piped, they laughed and they got competitive. At the end of the workshop they agreed that they had absolutely loved learning a new skill and were excited to get practicing the next time they baked. In the mean time they couldn’t wait to take the cakes back to share with their families.