Back to basics

2011 was a year of experimenting and side tracks, I tried to do a lot of things and didn't achieve very much. Therefore I have decided that 2012 will be the year I go back to basics, focus on my long term goal and start taking baby steps towards it.

I want to open my own sweet shop in the long term so am going to start small and find the right people to work with in 2012.
I have a stall at a mother and baby sale the first weekend in February so I am going to use that as a starting point. I want to sell valentine themed sweets and chocolates, some I want to make myself and others I will buy in.

I want to revamp my website, my business cards and my logo so I have a lot of work to do! I will start by finding a proper graphic designer to come up with a logo for me, so if anyone knows one, please let me know!

Better crack on, I've got Nathan's first birthday cake to ice and some gluton free gingerbread to make for the birthday party this afternoon

Christmas cake

I thought I'd have a go at making my own marzipan this year for my Christmas cake. I used the James Martin recipie and am no overly happy with the outcome.
It tastes good but seems to be cracking and sliding off the cake. Will have to see how it looks in the morning but may have to have a quick trip to the supermarket and buy some shop made marzipan.

Hope to have it all finished tomorrow so will post a photo when I'm done.

Christmas trees and a possible set back

This weekend we had the in laws down and I spent Saturday afternoon on the sofa getting very excited about biscuits with my mother in law. We were looking at the Biscuiteers website and sat there say we can do that!
They had a couple of you tube videos that we watched and I decided that I would give it a go on sunday morning as I had been given a bottle of green cookie icing, that I had not used before and after serveral practices I was happy with the outcome.

I decided that I would make these biscuits for the Christmas fayre I am doing on Friday afternoon along with some fudge but woke up this morning with a horrible stomach bug (as this is a blog about food, I won't go into details) this puts my plans for Friday into jeopardy I wil see how I feel tomorrow night and make a decision if I am going to go ahead with it.

Good Food show

I have had a busy couple of days, on Friday I was busy making a load of different mini puddings for an order. I made New York Cheesecakes, Key Lime Mousse cakes, brownies and a few cake pops and if I may say so they looked good! Stu was very happy as there was a few left overs and cheesecake is one of his favourite things.

Then on Saturday I met up with my mum and headed to the NEC for the BBC Good Food Show. Mum and I have gone to this several times over the past few years and have always had a good time.
The first stall we stopped at when we got in was a cupcake stall (unsurprisingly) and I noticed a woman that I knew from somewhere and was about to say hello when I realised that it was Mary Ann from the Great British Bake Off and I am not embarrassed to say I got a bit excited! we then saw the GBBO stand and it reminded me that I still need to finish completing my application for the next series and get it sent off.

Mum and I had a lovely day walking round, eating all the free samples and spending far too much money. I saw a few fudge stalls and made mental notes of the different flavours that I want to try out.

But the best part of the day was when my mum gave me a bag that she had been given by a friend when they heard about what I was doing. It had 4 AMAZING sweets and chocolate making books - all printed back in the 1980's and full of so many different recipes for some amazing looking sweets that I am going to have to have a go at making.

Am going to have to start cooking ready for my next Christmas fayre and my Christmas presents soon or it will be Christmas before I know it.  

American candy!

While walking through Bristol today doing a spot of Christmas shopping I spotted a new shop that I hope stays around for a long time.

It was a sweet shop that sold old fashioned sweets AND American candy! Having paid a lot of money for the 2 things in the picture below. I will try not to eat them both tonight but I can't promise anything!

Seeing all the American candy makes me want to go back to the states and when Stu suggested we just book a holiday to Florida for next summer I was very tempted to say yes!!

Stir up Sunday

Well after a difficult week with illness and a bit of teething thrown in (Nathan, not me) I have finally found some time to make my Christmas cake. It's got about 10 minutes left to go and the whole house smells Christmasy!

Have not had any time to make any more sweets but have booked a days holiday from work this Tuesday so am hoping I'll get a chance to make something as well as update my website (www.littlesprinkles.co.uk) then meet a friend for coffee and do a bit more christmas shopping, think there should be enough hours in the day!

Am wanting to make some little sweety christmas presents for some of the family so need to start thinking about doing that as well.

I had an enquiry for a big cupcake order last week, am waiting to hear if they are happy with my quote and if they are then that will give me a bit of money to use next year to get Little Sprinkles out and about at different fairs and events so hopefully I can start making a proper go of this business rather than just playing at it as I am doing at the moment.

Oh there goes the oven timer got to go sort my cake out.....

Fridge full of goodies!

My fridge is currently full of sweet goodness all ready for the Christmas fayre tomorrow. Have worked hard all day, my second attempt at coconut ice looks a lot better than my first attempt.

I've got four types of fudge, vanilla, chocolate, peanut butter and Baylies. I've got my festive red and green coconut ice, bags of Christmas biscuits and for the children a bag of flumps (not home made) lets hope that tomorrow is a sucess!