Working girl

The 'wall of ribbon' at Sweet Success. A true sight to behold.

Happy Friday readers! How are we all today? I can't believe July is just around the corner, when did THAT happen?? You know what this means don't you? My baby boy will be 2 this month, I literally have no idea where the time has gone...

So these past few months have been full of change and seen the start of lots of new adventures for me. I've started my new bakery venture - Swirls Bakery - which is going from strength to strength and we're busy booking into wedding fairs as we speak so that's very exciting!

Strawberries, pastry and whipped cream. YES.

Yummy dessert! So quick and easy to make.

Whilst walking through Nottingham the other day I spotted some fabulous looking strawberries on a stall in Nottingham city centre. Now, I have a real soft spot for a yummy strawberry and as my plants aren't quite bearing fruit yet I couldn't help but indulge and buy a big punnet to snack on. Luckily my boys are also strawberry lovers so we shared them all whilst continuing our jaunt around town.

Robot cupcakes - yummy fun!

A few months ago I entered a competition over at 'Love, life and living with boys' and ended up winning some rather cool little robot themed 'Yumbot' cupcake moulds.

What 'we' love about Britain - Happy Egg competition entry

Our 'Bake the Nation' competition entry via our new bakery - Swirls Bakery

Happy Jubilee weekend everyone! Now, this might seem odd coming from a very patriotic US expat but I LOVE the monarchy. This comment might inspire grumbles of displeasure from some of you but I am really enjoying the party like atmosphere that seems to be descending upon us all and my daily walk to school is now lined with union flags hanging from houses up and down the street - I'll be gutted when all this bunting goes away!

Worklife balance - does it even exist for Mums??

I absolutely refuse to believe that it's been over 2 weeks since I last posted. Hold on, what's that you're saying? What do you mean there's a date in the corner of each blog post?? Oh, oh I see..

Well, they say time flies and this past fortnight has gone in a BLUR. The cake business side of me is now focussing on my new joint cakey venture - Swirls Bakery - and the Mummy side of me has been concentrating on helping my eldest son through his Year 2 SAT's. I've also recently started my dream job in a local cake supplies store (more about that another time) and I feel like I'm finally starting to make a start with getting my worklife balance back in check! Woohoo!

Highlights - getting a new amazingly gorgeous Dinky Doodle airbush which I hope to review soon, finally getting a much needed hair cut, becoming fully booked for all cake orders in June and hitting a target of over 500 likes on the new Facebook page for Swirls. Hooray!

Lowlights - realising that summer is just around the corner and you know what that means...BARE LEGS. Ahhhhhhh!

I hope to be back asap with a lovely little blog post featuring the cake buffet table me and my Cake Eaters Anoynmous ladies made for one of our member's recent wedding. Needless to say it was cake-tastic...

My eggs are always happy

Edible food markers - a great way to graffiti food

Earlier this year new EU legislation came into effect which prohibits battery cage eggs and egg products - I for one am overjoyed about this new law as I've always been an advocate for free range eggs but as a baker you sometimes get caught short and on the odd occasion when my supermarket ran out of free range I had to buy standard eggs which would always succeed in making me feel awful.

Swirls Bakery website launch

Pale Blue and red polka dot cake via Swirls Bakery

Waaaaay back in August last year I had some exciting news for you all. Myself and the lovely Maidie from Heavenly Cupcakes had decided to pool our cake love and form a new bakery specialising in beautiful bright tiered cakes for extra special occasions.

And finally, after months of business planning and cake designing we have an amazing new website to show you! Swirls Bakery has officially launched this week and we're very excited to showcase our new cake designs alongside some projects we've been working on over the last 6mths.

My favourite cookbooks

A little selection of the cookbooks on my shelves

For anyone that knows me, it goes without saying that I'm a HUGE Nigella Lawson fan. I bought my first Nigella book (Hot to be a Domestic Goddess) back when I was pregnant with my 1st son 7yrs ago in my effort to 'domesticate' my cooking efforts and make amazing meals for my family.

Needless to say I fell in love with the book but it didn't have the desired effect on my cooking skills...