Latest Videos are Up!

Did you know that Cupcakes, Cake & Passion is on Youtube now? There are a few videos up there now. But to check out the latest happenings, subscribe! The latest video is something I don't do very often. In fact, its a practice for future videos as I will be focusing mainly on food stuff. But constructive criticism and positive feedback is appreciated, so let me know in the comments on the blog or on the Youtube comments. 

Happy Baking and Happy Friday!

So, I won an award!

Good Morning everyone! I know its not a Fat Friday post again this week but I have some amazing news. 

Firstly, lets get the bad news out of the way. The reason I haven't been posting very much lately, especially on Fat Fridays is that, I've been very very sick lately and haven't had the energy to bake at home. At college I have been working hard on my centrepiece, which is consuming much of my time at college, so baking time is hard to squeeze in. Also, I've been financially struggling, in terms of buying ingredients to use for JUST for Fat Fridays, rather then just baking for a special occasion. 

Moving onto good news, I've finally moved onto moving video. I've started up two Youtube channels, one of which is my personal Youtube channel for this blog and the other is for my cake business called The Pastry Girls. I'll try to upload whenever I can, much like the blog at the moment. I'm still getting used to the video editing software, so the videos aren't the best but I'm working on them to improve my skills. 

Lastly, I'm very happy to announce that myself and one of my business partners were both nominated for student achievement awards for the Institute of Hospitality (Southern Branch). I'm proud to say that I got second place in 'Hospitality services' and Chloe (business partner) won in her category of 'Food service'! (You can check out my award video submission and Chloes submission video) 

Congrats Chloe, you deserved it and all your hard work was well deserved! It was a great evening (even though I was coughing and sneezing all over the place.)

That's all the news so far and I'll keep you all posted!

Have a great weekend!

Its Going to be the Best Year Yet! (Yeah erm that depends)

I'm sure most of you have noticed the many posts of new year resolutions and general Happy New Years floating around on the internet and in the real world, via friends and family. When blog posts, magazines or videos are titled "best year yet" or "Make this year great" it really winds me up. Although some are very inspirational and well written, my problem with these type of articles is that they assume that there is something wrong with all of us. You are perfect. These articles give you tips and tricks to sticking with your resolutions and changing your life, but the truth is that you are the only one who can make these changes and no amount of life hacks can help with that. You can read until your eyes pop out about the amount of new year life changes but its up to you. I believe greatly in setting your own goals for a new year but realistic ones. Did you know that 88% of new year resolutions fail in the UK? Rather then give you the traditional tips, I'm offering improved resolutions to consider in the new year to help you succeed. ive chosen three common resolutions

1. Old resolution: I want to lose weight/drop a dress size

This always comes up, every year. Maybe not for you, but for someone you know perhaps. January can be a cold and unforgiving month. Your body needs food during the harsh cold months, so starving yourself with that new diet will be much harder and more likely to fail. The best time to diet is around March and April, in time for the spring. Rather then dieting, make smarter choices for a healthier you. You fancy a chocolate bar, swap it for dark chocolate cover fruit (strawberries work well). Its the weekend approaching, you want to order a take-away, why not cook your own instead? You know whats in your food. You get the idea? Let me assure you, dear reader, you are perfect the way you are. Diets are the work of devils and often, end in tears and frustration and you are worth more then that.

Improved resolution: I will try to slowly start my healthly diet but making smarter food choices.

2.Old resolution: I will stop smoking/drinking
Drinking and smoking is very addictive. Much like dieting, it will be a slow process. Quiting smoking especially is the hardest thing in the world. Set a date to start cutting down and simply start. If you smoke 10 cigerettes a day, cut out one in 3 days and follow on from there. Do this with drink as well. Normally you may have a 3 glasses at the weekend, cut out the one and follow from there. This can be applied to most negetive habits. You can do it! Friends and family are there to support you at anytime, you only need to ask.

Improved resolution: I will gradually cut out smoking at my own pace.

3. Old resolution: I will not splurge on junk
Saving money is very tough. It can be hard when you like a good spend, a nice meal out or like a little shopping spree. Starting a money jar with loose change can help towards savings. You can even start a 'drink/smoke/swear' jar, wherein you put a little bit of money in jar whenever you drink/smoke/swear.Making your own lunch or drinks to-go can also save you money in the long run. by making small changes you can save that money and put it towards something great!

 Improved resolution: I will make my own lunches to save myself a little bit of money each week.

Whatever your resolution is, I fully believe That you can do it. If you need support then comment on the Facebook page! Goodbye 2014 and Hello 2015! Happy New Year!

Penny's Top Ten Tips #5 Blogger Block

Can you believe its already week 5 into top ten tips? Wow!!
Its been a been great so far. We've had Graduation Week Tips, Planning the Perfect Picnic, Party Prep for Grad Balls, and How to write a Restaurant Review. This week I'm giving you my top ten tips on Blogger Block. Its like writers blog but for bloggers. You get the gist, not lets get to the list!

1. Read, read, read-
When I say this, I'm not limiting this to blogs. Magazines, newspapers, books and web articles can not only expand your views and keep you informed of the latest news, but it may provide you with some blogging ideas.

2. Join social networks-
My personal favourites are Pinterest and Bloglovin. I am so glad (and grateful) that I found these websites. Bloglovin is a great way to read all your favourite blogs in one place. Not only does it get your name out in blogosphere,  you get a reading list of all the latest posts of your favourite blogs, which provides you with some good reading and inspiration. You can also save your favourites for future reading. This applies to Pinterest, you can save recipes for further reading or just gorge on food porn for inspiration.

3. Do something outside of the comfort zone-
I'm a food blogger and its highly unusual that I do anything but blog about food. Sometimes there are exceptions, such as this top ten list, like this one! But why not do a beauty post? How about fitness? A crafty post about that awesome papermache mask that your kid did? Its your blog and you can post whatever you like.

4. I think I'd like to phone a friend Penny-
You never know a friend or family member that may have a good idea to blog about. They may even want to write a post for the blog, if they fancy a go.

5. Lists never fail-
Top ten lists (again like this) can be a blogging life saver. If you are stuck and haven't got a clue what to write about then go with a list. Favourite product list, best playlist for jogging etc. You get the gist.

6. Take a walk-
Sitting at a computer and hoping for something to pop in your head... well it can happen but often it doesn't. Switch off the computer and go for a walk. No-where special, maybe just down to the shops just to clear your head. You may find that walk will do you a world of good and it may turn out to be a eureka moment.

7. Quality not Quantity-
No matter how much writer blockage you have (is that a thing?), I think consistency is very important when running a blog. But I also think publishing something for the sake of  publishing can result in a poor quality post. Time management is the key here. Write a good decent post about something your passionate about as people can see through something that's fake or just been posted to meet a deadline.

8. Write it down-
If you have a single vague idea, don't let it escape you. Write it down somewhere your going to see it, and not on a post-it. They will go missing.

9. Pictures speak louder then words-
Looking at old photos of you and your family may spark an idea. When I came up with Two Toned Icing Cupcakes, it was really an excuse to celebrate my friend Naomi leaving the UK for an amazing job opportunity but it was by looking at old pictures of me and my friend that the idea came about. (Luckily, Naomi is back!! So yay!!!)

10. Teamwork-
Maybe its worth writing with someone else. That is rather then you or someone else write the post by yourself, you work as a team instead.

I hope you've enjoyed this weeks Penny's Top Ten Tips.
What do you do when dreaded blogger block hits?

New Weekly Feature(s)

Now that I've got some more time, I'm going to be posting a lot more. I'm hoping twice weekly but as my job is quite demanding and with me going on holiday soon AND starting another patisserie course, it may be once a week. But hey, I'm well organised so at least once a week should be do-able. 

This is the introduction post to two brand new weekly features: Penny's Top Ten! and Fat Fridays! (Aren't you that excited? What do you mean 'no'?! GO SIT IN THE CORNER!)

Lets start out with Fat Fridays. I'm giving full credit to one of my work colleagues, Lucy Madz, for coming up with the name. (She calls it Fat F**k Fridays but since I've got a varied age range of readers, I'm keeping it clean) Once a week I'll be posting a recipe of something indulgent, yummy, and just, for one day, if you follow a healthy diet, tossing it out of the window. Here is week 1, week 2, and week 3 Fat Friday so far. Which features Raspberry Roulade, Doughnuts and French Toast. 

The second feature I'd like to introduce to you which will be making a weekly appearance is Penny's Top Ten! To break up the masses of recipes on here, this weekly feature will be a list of 10 points on any subject. I'm thinking for the first week maybe something related to a graduation since I've fully graduated like ohhh 3 weeks ago? Still haven't done a round up of it yet. But that's the joys of working full time, you don't get tons of time to blog!

Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks

Businesses v.s Bloggers (Two News Articles that Made Me Face-Palm)

I came across this news article a couple of days ago and I could not help but laugh a little at how face-palmingly silly some people can get. I'm thinking of doing some restaurant reviews myself soon, so I really want to vent my own feelings on reviews.

Basically, the first article is about a UK based blogger who posted a bad review about a shoe shop in Ireland. The bad review itself was the second link after the shoe shops homepage on Google and of course, the owner of the shoe shop was outraged and claimed that if had affected his business. He could not produce any evidence that he was affected financially, however. The end result was that the shoe shop and blogger did resolve the issue, but a link to a forum where the shoe has been slated is still searchable on Google. I'm happy that the issue was resolved to a certain degree...

And then I found this other link, again on the BBC news website.
A French blogger was fined [!!] because her bad restaurant review was "too prominent on Google". The restaurant owners claimed that the review was financially hurting their business.

So many things to vent, about both articles! But mainly the second one.

Image from: brandeducationservices.com

Firstly about both articles, was the service at the shop and the restaurant that bad? I mean that bad, that you needed to write a scathing review about them? This could have all been avoided if the bloggers took a step back and went: "Is what I'm saying necessary?" In this day and age, one crappy review can indeed affect a business. Look at the reviews on TripAdviser or Yelp, some are helpful and honest. And there are some are just that so outrageously bad and harsh that you can't take them seriously. This is a classic example, I recently read a restaurant review that had 4 stars on Tripadvisor, but failed to met that 5th star because it had a view of the highstreet... The restaurant address is on the highstreet, that can't be helped...think before you write.

Most professional bloggers or reviewers, I'm sure know how to write a critical review without being rude or disrespectful.

In saying that however, if a restaurant or a shop etc, did have a bad food/service/whatever, then fair enough. Bloggers should be able to write whatever they want to without being punished for honest opinion. I'd like to think that all bloggers are open and honest enough to write a decent and balanced review, whether the blogger is nice or not. Damaging a business owners' ego is not a crime.

The fact that in the second article got taken to court and fined for an honest review is, ridiculous. Her review was popular on search engines. She should not be punished because its popular on the internet. What would happen if, every single bad review ever typed, got challenged and taken to court? It would be a waste of time and money. Rather then taking on bloggers and critiques', isn't it better to improve on what they were commenting on in the first place? Is it not better to look in on a business and think "Ok why did they say this about my business? Is there something I can improve on?"

I think what I'm trying to say that, rather then placing blame one party, blaming a bad review, a judge, the business owners, the bloggers, whoever! There are lessons to learn from both articles:

• Never underestimate the power of the online world, it can make or break you.
• Bloggers have got be as honest as they can be without completely trashing a place and ruining its reputation or compromising their writing.
• Business owners, if you get a bad review on Yelp (/insert other reviewing website here), respond in a respectful way. Really think about the comments and take some time to think how you would respond. You want to remain the professional business person you are.
• Again business owners, if your doing a good job and 99.9% of your customers are happy, one review will not 'financially ruin' you.
• Also, not everyone is going to like you. Blogger or business owner. The fact is there will always be a professional complainer out there, who is ready to tear you a new one. Respond politely and professionally.

But what do you think of the articles? Should bloggers and reviewers be more considerate towards hard-working business owners? Should search engines be blamed? Are these business owners taking these reviews to heart? or are they really being affected financially?
I'd love to hear you thoughts on this venting post, so leave a comment below.

Summer Raspberry Roulade

Hello and Happy Friday! Or should I say Happy Fat Friday! I love Fat Friday's its sort of like TGIF, but about gorging yourself on food purely because its Friday. Or is that just me? Maybe its just be who goes "Yeah! Its Friday! Stuff my face with food!". Anyway, its recipe time.  

Nothing says summer like a roulade, and what works better with sweet sticky meringue and smooth cream? Tart summery raspberries, of course. I had this recipe written up and ready to publish but had a serious lack of pictures. There wasn't even a picture of the end product... So it sat in the drafts for about, oh I don't know, 2 years?

I remember making this for the first time in my pastry class, this was when the blog first started my gosh! Its a good dessert to use up any leftover egg whites and cream. Lots of different fruit can also be used, try a tropical version with pineapple chunks or try mixing a little cocoa powder in the whipped cream for a taste of chocolate.  

Recipe: Meringue (My own recipe)
4 egg whites
275g caster sugar
Lots of Whipped Cream (I whip about 500ml double or whipping cream.)
200g Raspberries

Equipment:
Bowl
Electric mixer with the whisk attachment/Handheld whisk
Baking sheet lined with baking paper
Large palette knife
Clean teat-towel
 

1. Preheat the oven to 220c/200f/Gas Mark 7. Line the baking sheet with baking paper and set aside. 
 2. Whisk eggs whites to a soft peak. This should be white, foamy but still holding a peak.
3. Put your mixer on a low/medium speed and add the sugar gradually one tablespoon at a time every 10-15 seconds. This gives the time for the sugar to dissolve.

4 Once all the sugar has been incorporated, whisk for a further 2-3 minutes at a lower speed. The meringue should be stiff.

5. Spread onto a baking sheet using a palette knife and bake for 8 minutes until a pale golden colour. The reduce the heat to 160c/140f/Gas Mark 3 and bake for a further 15 minutes. 

6.Remove from the oven, the meringue should be firm to touch, not wet or soggy. Place on clean teatowl and remove from the baking paper. Set aside to cool

7.Meanwhile, whip the cream until it stands in stiff peaks. 

8. Once the meringue is cool, spread the cream over the meringue. Sprinkle some raspberries liberally.

9. The next part is a little tricky. Roll the meringue with the tea-towel to support the roll. This will keep you're fingers clean and will prevent it breaking.

 

What type of fruit would you put in your roulade? Want to share your Fat Friday foodie moment? Use the hashtag #fatfridays on Instagram and twitter or whatever the cool kids are using nowadays.

Have a good weekend and Happy Baking!

 

Welcome to the New Site Design!

As you may have already seen, Cupcakes, Cake and Passion has had a little revamp!

(cue a celebratory sable biscuit and a cup of tea!) 

The layout is clean, clear and much more easier to read with some simple yet bright colours. There maybe some tweaks and changes over the coming weeks. If you lovely readers don't already know about the blog improvement survey, then what are you waiting for?
Basically, I want to know what you ladies and gents want to see from the blog. Whether its more cooking recipes or reviews, I really would like to know to improve your reading experience. 
So please take less than 5 minutes to take the survey to make this blog more smexier, tastier, yummier and fabulous-ier!

Simnel Cake aka Easter Fruit Cake

I know what some of readers are thinking:

• "Where have you been?"
• "What on earth have you been doing to not publish on this blog?!"
• "Where did I put my sandwich?"

Well in order:

• In classrooms, at work or eating.
• In the world of revision and university coursework. Its not a good holiday destination. 
• I most likely ate your sandwich because of all the revision and travelling I've been up to. 

I've been darting back and forth to London, to celebrate my friends birthday and my own birthday as well. I've also been doing revision for the ridiculously hard last year of university. So excuse my blogging absence for the next few weeks. There will be some pictures, tweets and the occasional facebook update but until the exams are completely over! Woo!! So onto this weeks recipe post:

(PS there is a serious lack of pictures-This is due to me not being at my home computer. My bad! UPDATE: pictures have been added) 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Its nearly Easter again, where chocolate officially is on the menu. As much as stuffing your face with chocolate is possibly the best thing in the world, its sometimes best to step away from the cocoa. 
Instead why not try and bake this fruity alternative to chocolate?

This traditional light fruit decorated with marzipan. This Easter cake originated in the UK, which is served at the end of Lent. At times the marzipan balls (make your own jokes) are toasted using a blowtorch. There are 12 marzipan balls to represent the 12 apostles and Jesus minus Judas. 

Recipe: Simnel Cake

·       75g sultanas

·       185g currents

·       75g glace cherries (chopped)

·       75g mix peel

·       75g steam ginger (finely chopped)

·       2 lemon zested and juiced

·       1 orange zested and juiced

·       165g strong flour, sieved

·       2 tsp ground cinnamon, sieved

·       2 tsp ground nutmeg, sieved

·       1 tsp ground ginger, sieved

·       30g ground almonds

·       130g light brown sugar

·       130g soft unsalted butter

·       2 eggs

·       1 egg yolk

·       pinch of salt

·       (A little bit of milk, if necessary)
·       Marzipan 
·      Food Colouring (optional to colour the marzipan)

Equipment

·       Chopping board

·       Large knife

·       Grater or zester 

·       Bowl

·       Small Bowl

·       Electric hand held whisk/spatula

·       7 inch cake tin lined with silicone paper

·       Sieve

·      Fork
·       Rolling pin
·       Flower cutters/bunny cutters/ other Easter decorating cutters

1.Combine all the flour, spices and ground almonds in a bowl.
2.Beat the eggs and the egg yolk in a small bowl with a fork.

3.Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and

  fluffy. Beat the eggs slightly and add gradually to creamed mix.
4. Fold in the dry ingredients using a spatula and mix until just combined.
5. Fold in fruits, zests and orange and lemon juice. (Add milk if needed to dropping consistency.)
6.Bake at 300f/150c/Gas Mark 2 for 45 minutes in the lined cake tin. Insert a cake skewer into the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean then its done. 
  7. Once the cake is completely cool cut in half.

Step 8. Cut a circle of marzipan for the middle layer

Step 8.Middle layer

  8. Roll out marzipan and cut into a circle that's large enough to cover one layer of the cake.

Step 9. Make indents for decoration

  9. Roll out another circle of marzipan and make small indents

around the edges. This is for the top of the cake. 

  10. Decorate as desired: Bunnies, chicks and flowers are excellent! I made flowers using coloured marzipan. 
Have a fab Easter! 

Happy Pancake Day!

Happy Pancake day! Make these no fuss pancakes and top with sweet, savoury or indifferent toppings. Bacon and chocolate works... but concoction will you come up with?

Recipe: Pancakes (Makes 6 pancakes or more)

·       110g plain flour

·       Pinch of salt

·       2 eggs

·       250ml milk

·       50g butter, for frying

Equipment:

·       Bowl

·       Whisk

·       Frying pan

·       Large palette knife

·       Jugs

·       Sieve

1.    Sieve flour into a bowl and add salt.

2.    Make a well in the middle, add the egg and ½ of the milk.

3.    Whisk until the lumps have disappeared. Then add the rest of the milk and whisk until the mixture looks runny.

4.    Put into a jug and rest for an hour at room temperature.

5.    Heat the butter in a saucepan to coat. Make sure it’s not too oily. Pour a little of the batter into the saucepan, so has a thin layer of batter.

6.    When the pancake begins to blister, flip over using a palette knife. Cook on the other side, until a light brown colour.

7.    Serve hot with sugar, lemon, chocolate sauce, bacon, the cat etc. Be creative. 
Make sure if your flipping pancakes make sure you don't hit the ceiling >.< (I did twice erg.)

Whatever Happened to that Leftover Pumpkin? Pumpkin Spiced Syrup Recipe

Its the time of year, when I and many, many others, start reaching for the hot drinks. Lattes, hot chocolates, herbal teas, cappucinos. None are safe from me when the cold months set in. 

Last week I had some  leftover canned pumpkin from the pumpkin and pecan bars. I couldn't come up with any recipe that had 120g of canned pumpkin, but I came across a blog, (which now I'm following) completely by mistake, that solved the problem. Stephanie who runs CopyKat recipes had replicated a recipe of the well sought out: Starbucks Pumpkin Spiced Latte. I don't want to spoil her back story so just watch her video here. Its just so heart-warming, totally worth watching. 

Anyways,  full credit to her! She did it and she did it well! So here it is from cups to grams. What to do with leftover pumpkin: 

Recipe Name: Spiced Pumpkin Coffee Syrup (Translated from Cups to Gram by me, but the original recipe was invented by wonderful Stephanie at CopyKat.com) 

Recipe-:

·       600ml water

·       ¼ teaspoon mixed spice

·       1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon

·       ½ teaspoons ground ginger

·       225g caster sugar

·       3 tablespoons of canned pumpkin puree (I used the leftover I had from the Pumpkin and Pecan bars)

Equipment:

·       Medium sized saucepan

·       Wooden spoon

·       Fine Sieve

·       Air tight containers

Step 1. Spices and Water combined

1.    Combine the spices and water in the saucepan.

Step 2. Bring the water to the boil

2.    Bring the water to a boil and then turn down the water with spices to simmer for 20 minutes.

Step 3. Sieve the contents into a jug

3.    Strain the spices out by pouring the water through a fine sieve and into a clean jug.

Step 4. Pumpkin Time

4.    Put the syrup back into a pan and mix in the sugar and pumpkin.

5.    Simmer the spiced water for another 10 minutes.

Step 5. Store in airtight container 

6.    Store the syrup in an airtight container in the fridge for about 2 weeks. 

I find that about 3 tablespoons in your coffee is perfect. I used the latte packets because I don't drink alot of milk and I don't have a coffee machine. Thats the life of a student I suppose!
Happy Baking!

Good News All Around!

Hello fellow baking lovers. Well sadly there's no recipe today. There will be a recipe coming up in the next few days, so keep an eye for it. I have returned to London for a few days to see some friends, eat some food and be a general pain to the population.

I have nothing but all good news! Recently I've been interviewed the the website Gourmandize UK, which can be read here. How amazingly cool is that?! I've never be interviewed for anything before  so I'm thrilled (apart from that police thing...(I haven't be interviewed by the police, it was a stupid attempt to be funny. Did it work?)). I'm absolutely buzzing about this. Also if you've read the interview, I apologise to my boyfriend about the comment about Misha Collins being a yummy dish (its true however).
Sweetie you are also a yummy dish. Don't get jealous. :D

Also some more amazing news, I've just received my patisserie certificate! I'm now officially qualified!

Look at this!

I think I deserve a crown for that! 

Also today (4th September 2013, 9:20am. I thought I would tell you the time because I'm up super early. Thats an achievement in itself.) I'm also Gourmandize UK's blogger of the day! Here's the proof:

See? Here's the proof!!!

So lets recap:

1. I'm blogger of the day on Gourmandize UK.
2. I got an interview with Gourmandize UK.
3. I have a level 2 patisserie certificate.
4. I also drew a picture that isn't half bad.

Have a happy Wednesday baking fans!

Also, here's a doodle that I doodled for you to enjoy. It features me me with my baking crown and my friend Sofia putting me straight. 

Thanks Sofia for letting me doodle you!

The Last Pastry Class

I've always been a little slow with technology. Most people nowadays have facebook and twitter very young (I know an 8 year old on facebook. It's just weird ok? Why? Don't even get me started on this), I was 18 when I first got facebook. The last of my friends to get it. 

I got twitter about 6 months ago. I was the last of my friends to become a twit. I mean erm, twitter-er. Is there even a word for it?

Anyways, yet again I am the last of my friends to do this. I now have Instagram! Now I'm not going to lie, I haven't got a clue what I'm doing but hey, I'm never against learning something new. If you wanna follow me check out the camera icon on the right here.

Another really cool announcement is that I've officially finished my pastry course. Thats right little old me has a ABC Level 2 in Pastry and Confectionery. Which means wooo! Please don't all clap at once :D
Essentially, it was 36 weeks of  the theory behind pastries and bread, learning about different pastry products and then there was the practical classes, which was my favourite part. I'm so happy that I've passed which is great, it's just a case of when I officially get qualified. So come on examiners get those red pens moving. 

But I'm also kind of sad because I'm leaving behind such a good part of my little life. You see, the people just friendly and just as enthusiastic as I am. They were wonderful people to work with and it's such a shame that I wont be able to see them for a long while or even at all. (If any of you read this one day, please email me or drop me a line) In fact, most of the class are going back to do the level 3 pastry course. I, sadly, can't due to my studies at university. I am gutted, I mean really really gutted because I wanted to expand my learning and generally have some fun with pastry. 

I'm not really an emotional person. I'm dramatic.

Oh wait that wasn't very dramatic enough, how about this:

I am dramatic!!

I find it difficult to get across how I feel to people. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I was conditioned to believe that it was stupid to express how you feel, crying at the fact that you just dropped the last damn cupcake, or waving your arms in excitement because you know that you're going out shopping for baking bits. What I'm saying is that I don't get all mooshy like that.    

But I will say this to my pastry tutor (if she finds this, hopefully one day she will):

Faye, thank-you for your endless patience and your belief that anyone can bake and produce something amazing. You have really influenced me and helped me become more confident in my pastry abilities. Thanks to you I may have a new job in the works, thanks to you I have an excellent interview for my dissertation and lastly, thanks to you no amount of complicated pastry scares me! (Ok maybe choux pastry but I'm working on it)

If you've only just started following the blog, where have you been? But just in case here's all the link list of all the things I've made in my pastry class:

• Dutch Apple, Fruit Tartlets
• Puff Pastry
• Fun Things with Puff Pastry
• Choux Pastry
• Cheese and Tomato Quiche
• Genoise Sponge Apricot Gateaux
• Yule Log Cake
• Homemade Bread
• Devonshire Splits, Bath Buns and Fruit Buns
• Fougasse and Bread Sticks
• Creme Caramel, Tiramisu and Lemon Posset
• Fruit Bavarois, Easy Apple Crumble, Lemon sponge pudding and Vanilla Pannacotta
• Apple Tart Tatin