Chick-chick-chick-chick-chicken, lay a little egg for me

As soon as the market is over tomorrow, I need to pack up and zoom back up the hill to a teeny village just past our house to a nearby farm because I am picking up our rescue chickens.  

We are collecting 4 'girls' that have lived in a barn all their lives.  I'm not sure what sort of state they are going to be in, not as 'oven ready' as the ex-battery hens, but probably fairly scraggy.  We are looking forward to giving them a better quality of life that's for sure and maybe enjoying an egg or two along the way.  They will have a very cool swiss chalet to live in, fresh air, a great view, yummy chicken food, grass to eat and 2 acres to roam when we are home to check on them.  I have also heard they like to play football, so maybe some balls to kick about too.

Flying solo

The last two days have been a blur of baking, icing, sprinkling and washing up.  I'm back at Tiverton Market tomorrow, but this time flying solo as marvellous mum is back at home.

The cupcakes are iced, the boxes packed and I've even remembered a packed lunch to keep me going.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, and nervous all over again- will anyone come back for a repeat visit?

Practising piping

The day before the big market bake, Darling boy and I had a date with my Crwuys Morchard chum. This was the perfect opportunity to try out a new chocolate cupcake recipe, practise piping and to break out the D.I.S.C.O glitter as decoration. The effect was most pleasing, pink and gold sparkles and chocolate icing on a chocolate cupcake- what girl could want more? The cupcakes went down very well with the sweetheart girls too- two of my chief tasting panel members.

A last minute pudding

What with all the hours and hours of baking and decorating, somehow I had managed to forget to make a pudding for dinner on Saturday night. This calamity only came to light when we were sitting down waiting for our local venison (bought at the market)and red wine casserole to cook after Darling boy has been tucked up in bed. A dinner without pudding just wouldn’t do. A quick trawl through Nigella unleafed just the ticket- a posh pud ready in seconds (well, minutes, I’m not that fast) It’s basically a chocolate mousse, but without all that raw egg and hanging around for it to chill. You melt marshmallows, chocolate and butter, whip cream with vanilla essence, insert part A into part B, spoon into something vintage and gorgeous (like my grandmothers tea cups) and chill in the fridge. I added a touch of all spice and orange zest to mine to give it a little lift. After the rich venison, they were a perfect partner, I couldn’t have planned it better myself. In fact it was such a standby success that I now have 2 reasons to keep marshmallows in the house at all times as a store cupboard necessity (the first being rocky road of course)

This little piggy went to market

The big day had arrived. Of course marvellous mum and I got up a bit later than planned, so had to dash around in the morning, stuffing toast and sloshing back tea at break-neck speed. We loaded up the car and were off down the hill and were half way to market when we realised we had forgotten of the boxes- the one that contained the table cloth, sign, bunting, and so many other essentials. A frantic call to Handsome husband saved the day and he zoomed down after us with our forgotten box.

No market manager was to be seen to welcome us and show us where we were supposed to be (turns out he was on holiday), so we made it up, and bagged the free table next to the cafe. The table was laid, cakes were arranged on the platters and stands, the bunting was hung and the sign was up- we were ready for business.

As all the other traders finished setting up, I went round with a tray of baby vanilla cupcakes as a sampler, to say hello and introduce us as the newbies to the market. These were eagerly welcomed, well, everyone likes cake- especially free cake.

I couldn’t quite believe it when we made our first sale, it was such a buzz- people liked my cakes, enough to give me money for them. I know this was the point of the exercise, but it was still a shocker.

The day went on, and more and more people came by, stopped to admire the cakes and, shock, bought some! This carried on till around 12.30pm, when we had all but around 6 vanilla cupcakes left. Marvellous mum and I joked that we would now sit and watch 6 cupcakes till the end of the market, and she was nearly right. Somehow it is much harder to sell cupcakes when there aren’t many left, I guess when they are the last lonely ones left they do not look so appetising. Anyway, we persevered and by around 2pm we had SOLD OUT. What a thrill! I had imagined we would sell, maybe a couple, and would have to take most of them home again, but actually I should have baked more.

I had a few people ask me if I do parties and weddings, ‘well of course’ I said (!!?!?!?!?) another asked me how much I would charge to supply a cafe (I said I had no idea and would need to think about it- and I still have no idea) Another asked me if I would take a stand at the local wedding fayre the following weekend.

At the end of the day, I found the stand in market manager and agreed a stall there next week and can’t wait. Though this time it will be harder as it will be just me, as marvellous mum can’t make it down- but I need to see if I can do it on my own anyway. It certainly won’t be as much fun without my partner in icing sugar, but as long as I’m baking I will be happy.

0 days to go

What a day...

Marvellous mum and I started at 8am, writing lists and planning our plans. Bunting was ironed and pinned, fortifying hot tea was drunk and toast with home-made marrow jam was eaten (marrow jam is, by the way, surprisingly tasty. After all, anything as a conveyor of sugar is alright by me)

To the sounds of Woman's Hour on Radio 4 (brilliant stuff, do listen, though I'm sure you do), we headed off into Tivvy and hit the market for eggs, the local cake shop for icing nozzles and disposable icing bags, and then the marvellous Heathcoates fabric shop for backing material and fabric dye. One day I will tell you all about the treasure trove that is Heathcoates. I would happily write poems about its loveliness, possibly even hinting at its superiority over John Lewis' haberdashery department. This is really saying something, bearing in mind my devotion, and separation anxiety from the deliciousness that is the department store, John Lewis)

Anyway, back to the cakes. We got back to cupcake HQ and, after lunch (well, it's best not to do these things on an empty stomach) We then baked, and baked and baked, and then iced and iced and iced, and then decorated and decorated and decorated, and in amongst all of this, we also sewed like demon seamstresses and laid out pretend tea parties with empty cake cases on cut glass platters and china cake stands to make sure we had enough room for the cupcakes.

The whole operation would have gone smoothly if it weren't for my beloved magimix, which is now on the shelf of shame, for breaking during the first batch. Can you believe it. A mercy dash to mother-in-laws to borrow her mixer meant that show could go on, the people of Tiverton would get their cupcakes.

My brilliant dad arrived 4 hours into the baking and entertained a delighted Darling boy till bath and bed time. We briefly stopped for milk and stories with the Darling boy (from whom we had to hide all the baked booty by stashing it in the store room) A bit more sewing and baking was squeezed in before we stopped again to enjoy a delicious creamy carbonara cooked my Handsome husband. Then it was back to the icing and decorating. I mixed up more and more batches of butter icing, whilst my marvellous parents got busy with the sign, interpreting my sketches of a patchwork beauty into reality.

By 11.30pm, we had run out of icing sugar and were completely delirious with tiredness and excitement. Vanilla, chocolate, lemon and cherry and almond cupcakes were packed up and stored ready for the morning, along with all the other bits and bobs. A mere 15 1/2 hours later, it was time for bed.

1 day to go!

Marvellous mum has come to the rescue and tomorrow is the day of preparations.

There are ingredients to buy, cupcakes to bake and decorate, bunting to sew, tablecloths to iron and cut glass platters to polish. I also need to work out how to rig the bunting, applique a sign, and maybe print some leaflets (and we haven't got a printer)... and I need to decide how much to charge per cupcake. In amongst this I am half-way through dying all my tea-towels a gorgeous peacock turquoise, why not!?

So exciting!

Friends in Tivvy (or Tiverton, to folk not from round these parts) have promised to come along to cheer 'Adventures in Cake' along the way, with 'mates rates' being hopefully suggested. Since these kind folk normally enjoy my cupcakes for free, I don't know if the hard business woman in me can say no (in fact, I don't think there is a hard business women in me, if there is, she is under a whole lotta chocolate butter icing!)