Blossoming...

I am busy busy busy with the Half Moon Bakery concept.

The Big Feastival by Mr Jamie Oliver and spurred me on drive this baby home to London in September so I really hope it will be recieved with hungry mouths to fill with cake.

I have sent endless emails to suppliers and chefs to help me with the plans and I am still doing my orders for the Norwich cafes and my private orders too. I am apporaching Waitrose with my Pick-Me-Up Bars so fingers crossed, that all folk will be able to enjoy them wherever they might live.

This week I have been experimenting with Gluten Free and vegan cakes. For Pulse Cafe, I wanted to keep my mark of a creative flavour but safe for vegan chaps and chicks. I created a new one for my "Bake me a Bunch of Flowers" range and made a lovely Hazelnut and Rose Cake.

Also I made some summery Camomile and Courgette fairycakes which have a lovely subtle flavour and, don't worry, you can't taste the courgette. It is completely hidden. Miranda Hart gave a quote on "King Of.." on Friday when she, and host Claudia Winkleman, were disuccing what should win the Kinf Of the Biscuit Title. Miss Hart said that a Garabaldi biscuit hould not even be considered and it contains fruit and "fruit in a biscuit is fruit out of context, I want a biscuit not a piece of fruit - what's next? Chicken Sponge?" No Miranda, I will not be experiment with chicken sponge, and certainly not in my Pulse orders, no need to drop those forks vegans- my cakes only hide vegetables. Whilst Miranda has a point, if you want a light and buttery cake then why eat one with a vegetable addition? well the courgette is not on view, not like a fruit cake which is openly brandishing natures crop, my Vegetable Patch cakes are not additions  for flavour or colour nor are they on show and advertising their veggie status. Can you really see a child eating a cake that takes the form of a green vegetable - I think not. These are playful cakes, the vegetables are the champs of hide and seek. The cakes are and should still be enjoyed as cakes, they are temptingly sweet so Miranda and other tasters would be completely oblivious to Mr Courgette quietly hiding under the stairs.

Exams, Eggs and Elbow Grease

I apologise for the lack of posts over the last couple of months; whilst doing all the baking I  revise for my have had to revise for my finals, yes the third year exams marking the end of my degree so I thought that possibly revision had to have priority over the blog.

I can happily say that they are over with now and I will be graduating on 20th July. So back to the Bakery plans... business is booming. you can still find my cakey goodness at Wholesome, Finnies Juice Bar and BIddy's Tea Room in Norwich but also I now do Biscotti for Carrello's, the coffee baristas in the city and there are lots of lovely gluten free and vegan cakes that I supply for Pulse Cafe.

Thanks to Martin Pond, I have a great website where I get private orders and commissions for cakes and I have been busy with cupcakes for an artist private exhibition, a christening and in two weeks I'll be doing cupcakes for a wedding.http://halfmoondesign.weebly.com/bakery.html please go and check it out for a look at my work and more of a selection of the cakes.

I hope to give more updates of the bakery process soon, but for now I leave you to go and drop off a mahooosive order of cakes to Wholesome and then its back on the Bakery train this morning doing an order for Pulse. Alll great experirence for September!