Rediscovering my love of baking

Phew- what a busy week! I've just come out of one of my busiest caking weeks in months and whilst I loved every minute of it, I'm overdue a little rest now. And how do I rest? By baking of course!

Star Bakery cake pops used in advertising

I like to take pictures of my baked creations. Lots of 'em. I don't have a fancy camera so I figure the more I take, the more chance I have of getting a good shot.

Cupcakes and lace

As a working Mum, I get very little time on my own and working from home does nothing to aid my social life. Thankfully, since starting Star Bakery I have met some fab cakey-ladies online who are in similar positions to me across the country and we use online forums and resources to vent/share business etc etc (thank you Flickr forums!!) Being a member of an online community is like working in an office, except I can wear pyjamas to work. And I don't have to brush my hair.

Cake Eaters Anonymous

Last May, myself and 3 other lovely cake lovers I met via Twitter decided that drooling over cake pictures was no longer enough so we baked cakes, got together and ate them.

Ok, so that's a simplified version of events but 10mths later and we're now knee deep in one of Nottingham's most successful cake clubs. If you haven't heard of us then you can find out more here. And you too can drool over lovely cake images by checking out our Facebook page here.

Perfecting my cheesecake recipe

My Mum used to make the world's best cheesecake. Hands down. Don't even argue with me. But it's an expensive dessert to make so we wouldn't have it often and now it's become synonymous with me for special occasions, so I think of it as a real treat.

My return...marked by peanut butter bars?!

Well hello there readers! After a lengthy sabbatical I've decided that my brain is just too darn full of cakey love and if I don't dispose of it soon then there is a definite possibility that the sugar rush might just consume me.

Stars and swirls

So I've been saying for a while that big plans are afoot for Star Bakery and here it is - we're merging with a fellow cake company!

Heavenly Cupcakes is a Nottingham cake company run by the lovely Maidie Semiras and in order for us to continue on our quest to spread the cake love we've decided to merge and start a shiny new business specialising in premium baked goods.

We've decided to call it Swirls Bakery and you can see our Facbook fan page here.

Time, the one thing I can't bake.

Oh, my poor little blog! When I first started Star Bakery way back in 2009 I decided that I just had to write a blog. It was my way of coping with working on my own for the first time in my life and *talking* to colleagues who were no longer just a desk away...

I never wanted this blog to be a duplicate of all my ramblings on Twitter and Facebook and I was determined to give you all a peek behind the scenes of my little home bakery.

But things have changed. I LOVE writing blog posts and being able to put thought into the subject of my next post but I have become increasingly busy over the last year and now I'm struggling to fit it all in. I also have a whole new host of local competitors out there and in order to ensure my ideas stay fresh and original, I can no longer pre-release ideas here or give sneak peek of things in the pipeline.

So instead of feeling guilty that I'm neglecting another task, I've decided to call time on my blog. For now.

I'll keep it here as I can see from my stats that people are still finding and using my blog regularly but I won't update with posts in coming months.

I've hinted before that things are changing for Star Bakery and I really mean it. As soon as I can share details, I will!

And don't forget, you can still tweet me or message me via facebook. I'm not going anywhere! Or maybe I am...