The Cake and Bake Show Haul 2015

Well I've had fun! Stuffing my face with cake and free samples. Did any of you readers get the chance to visit the Cake and Bake Show in London this year? My friend Lucy and I are making this an annual 'thing' (You can read last years post here). I was hoping that I would do a video on it... until my camera broke.

Thats right. On the one day of filming I REALLY  needed a good camera... erg. Tech. Such is life. I thought I would do a blog post on what I purchased.

Firstly, food because... food. I grabbed some Emily Apple and Banana Fruit crisps. But these are the best crisps I've ever had. They were just soft enough in texture not to be soggy but crisp enough to crunch on and not break your teeth. The flavours are true fruit flavours. Seriously, totally worth buying! 

I got a super weird gizmo. Its a peeler. BUT NOT JUST A PEELER! Its a julienne vegetable and fruit peeler with a cool attachment to make noodles from veg. Lucy was full on impressed with this, that she didn't hesitate in buying it. I was convinced to get one also and the peeler does assist me in daily cooking tasks.

I also got a new piping bag and nozzles... pretty standard. 

For my Halloween bakes this year, I got some pretty sprinkles and cupcake cases from one of my personal favourite places to shop, Scrumptious. I bought some green, purple and orange sprinkles as well as some jazzy violet sprinkles. They have a great selection of sprinkles, decorating materials and cases. I did get some adorable ghostly cupcake cases as well as some Christmasy ones (don't judge me I know its only October). 

To stuff my face with, I got marshmallows from both 'The Marshmallowist' and 'The Marshmallow Company'. From the Marshmallowist, I got strawberry and basil, blueberry and gin, lemon and coconut flavours. Now, I must be truthful, the flavours didn't really come through apart from the coconut. I haven't tried 'The Marhmallow Company' marshmallows yet but I will do and will add what I think here.

I did get some special icing sugars, like I do every year, from another one of my favourite companies: Sugar and Crumbs. I bought: 'Santa's Snowball' which tastes like white chocolate and marshmallows (yum!!), 'Christmas Punch' which tastes like mulled wine and lastly, 'Apple Crumble'... which is what you expect. They make great buttercreams, or as a substitute for caster sugar in cakes.  

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!

The Cake and Bake Haul 2014

I'm so excited to be writing this (finally) after the Cake and Bake show (2014). I did set a budget and totally broke it...erg. Can't even follow my own rules..

Some great Halloween Showstoppers

My friend and I got to the show at 10:30am to bet the crowds. I'm not going to lie, it got insanely busy by 1pm. I had no idea people loved baking so much... or maybe its people love eating cake? Either way its good.

This is my Cake and Bake haul. I know this is a kind of a beauty/fashion blogger thing, with the make-up and clothes haul. But I'm all about breaking the rules and why not a do a haul post? (Also just want to point out that I didn't get paid or sponsored for this post, its all my honest opinion. I just want to point out some really great companies.)

So lets start off with something not even related to baking at all.
Heck Foods is a new company to me and specialise in making "damn good sausages" (all gluten free btw). They have a range of sausages and we got to sample them all. Honestly, there very meaty and plump, I opted for something a little different which was Smokey Chorizo Style Sausages. At 97% meat, I was expecting something really good and I was not disappointed. The smokiness of the paprika really came out and the taste really resembled chorizo. The only critique I have is that it was a little oily, but again that's the style of a chorizo sausage.

The next things I got my crumbly hands on is some amazing biscuits from Furniss biscuits. They boast traditional Cornish baked biscuits and Great Taste Awards. When Lucy and I walked past the stall at Cake and Bake, I was really sceptical because they were just biscuits. But there were free samples calling us over and we decided to stop to have a nibble... good thing we did! I fell for the West Country Cheddar biscuits, it was a cheese heaven in biscuit. I can say you don't need any sort of cheese with these biscuits. The other biscuits I settled on was the honey and ginger biscuits for those moonching on the sofa in the warm while its cold outside. Both a balanced in flavours and great addition to add into the biscuit tin. I would have liked to have seen more biscuits in a pack (8 biscuits to a pack) but the flavours make up for it.  

Its almost Halloween so obviously, Halloween sprinkles! I've been using Scrumptious for a couple of years now. I love the range of cupcakes cases, sprinkles and glitters. I recommend that you check the site out for the full range. This year I've settled on some cute Halloween sprinkles which is ideal for topping up some Halloween treats.

Another treat that Lucy and I both got was orange chocolate brownies. Now that may sound a little standard but, quite simply, BEST ORANGE  CHOCOLATE BROWNIES. Hands down. I mean it takes a lot for me to say  this (type?) but honestly, it really does rival my own brownies. Chocolicous Cakes, don't ever change this recipe, its the best.  Its rich, dark and with that orange flavour hiting you at the end.

I got a couple of moulds from The Crafty Mould Company, who were so friendly to chat too. They can do custom moulds which is something unusual. I fell in love with the dios de la muerte skull and vintage button one as well. Both are super adorable and I'm finding excuses to use them. I can't wait!

I also got 12 of super freakin' cute mini cupcakes from one of my

favourite London cupcake companies, Crumbs and Doilies!

                         

There so lovely and with a variety of flavours all packed in one box. I've even got their cookbook. I would say that it was a shame that the card machine was busted and it was a little inconvenient to get cash out for the box, but the cupcakes made up for it. Ok, the flavours I got in my box:

• Vanilla
• Oreo
• Buttered popcorn
• Rolo Cupcake
• Chocolate
• Eton Mess
• Pumpkin Spice
• Breakfast
• Lemon mess

The other flavours I didn't get to taste because my boyfriend scoffed them!

Lastly, I got really excited about this from Sugar and Crumbs, again this is a company that I haven't heard of but I wish I had! I managed to try practically every flavour of the icing sugar (made into buttercream) I fully wanted them all! I did settle for Salted Caramel and Sugar and Spice flavours, which tastes like cinnamon toast. Its such a good concept and why has no one jumped on this?! Its such a time saver. I'm definitely going to use the mix for Halloween or maybe even Christmas, this year. Give the icing sugars a try, I really recommend the pink lemonade-oh wow!

Also a big shout out to On Macaroons and Loretta Lui who do the most kawaii macaroons ever. There is a new cookbook coming out really soon, which might be on my Christmas list.

And of course, I want to say Lucy, it was such a bloody blast! I had so much fun and I can't wait to hang out again soon!

Did you go to the Cake and Bake Show this year?