National Cupcake Week?! Who Knew….

During my daily do-anything-but-work internet browse, I stumbled across an event called National Cupcake Week. To my surprise and delight, it takes place yearly from the 15th to the 21st of September….. this very week!!!!!

Intrigued, I managed to delay any kind of work for another hour or two whilst I  admired the exquisite artistry of cupcake design and salivated over delicious and rather bizarre recipes alike. I then wasted another few hours thinking of what I could do for this momentous event, after all, a week dedicated to the cupcake can not be left uncelebrated.

Regretfully, it was mid-week before I found out about National Cupacake week and I missed out on four whole days where gorging upon dozens of cupcakes would have been completely acceptable. This mistake will not be made again next year! I may forget birthdays and tax returns, but I will never again miss out on National Cupcake Week. 

With such little time to plan and execute my celebration, I finally had to settle upon just three cakey activities:

• Eat as many cupcakes as possible regardless of tremendous stomach pain, nausea and that overwhelming fear of choking to death on cake whilst dozing quietly into a sugar induced coma.

• Harass my already busy mother into making her delicious cupcakes and butter icing before commandeering the kitchen to commence my carefully designed cupcake decoration. 

• Draw a cupcake inspired image when the violent sugar shakes finally abate, cognitive control returns and with it, hopefully, the ability to hold a pencil. 

Here's how it went…….

Images copyright HKJ

Ahh, I forgot, we also made two birthday cakes as well! I think we are baked-out right now!

Here is a link to the official webpage should anyone be interested.

http://www.nationalcupcakeweek.co.uk

HAPPY NATIONAL CUPCAKE WEEK EVERYONE!

Cake Time

My mum has been making and decorating cakes since I was a tiny baby. Whilst I'd always admire her work, my main interest has always been eating the cake cut offs, savouring spare blobs of sugar paste and licking off the little icing faces she would pipe onto our fingers as kids.
Last year, always looking for new ways to express my creativity, I decided I would join in and try my hand at cake decorating.

Learning the various skills and techniques was one major challenge, the second and by far the most difficult, was learning to work with each other.

Mum: "I think we should do this"
Me:     "I don't think we should do that"
Mum:  "Why not?"
Me:     "Because it's stupid"
Mum:  "I think it'll look lovely"
Me:      "It'll look rubbish"
Mum:  "FINE, what do I know anyway, I've only been doing this 30 years"
Me: (eyerolling and muttering under breath)

After many an argument, a near strangulation, tears, hours sat in icy silence swapping cold glares, slammed doors, icing models crushed in temper and one memorable day when my sister felt it safest to remove the sharp implements from the kitchen…I think it's going really well.
The cakes are looking quite nice (they taste delicious thanks to mums baking), I get to regularly gorge on icing and cake and, best of all we are both still alive a year later.

Here are a few of our favourite cakes:

If all continues well in the Jones's kitchen, there'll be more to see soon.