Baking Disasters to Great Bakes

We all have them don’t we? As the saying goes “practice makes perfect” and it looks like I needed lots more practice after my second attempt at a batch of  the Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes which turned into my baking disaster this week.

I’m thinking they didn’t work due to the fact that I might have overfilled the paper cases or overmixed the the batter before putting the cakes in the oven. They have just risen and then spread and then deflated. What a mess – nothing like the first batch which I baked. I didn’t even take a photo of the messy cupcakes after they were baked. I did leave them for my children and husband to try and they all seemed to like them – so at least they tasted okay.

The first batch were really nice and they rose beautifully but I thought they were a bit lumpy in texture. They tasted lovely – not too sweet so I was looking forward to baking them again and then I got my first order from a customer.

However, I had to bake a third batch and be more careful this time. Another batch of cakes later and they worked well. I delivered the Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes yesterday to my customer and I was reliably informed that “the cakes were fab and were selling well” . I made them for a local soft play centre who were holding a Macmillan Coffee Morning. A very worthwhile cause indeed.

Today, has been a whirlwind of baking for orders and for my Treat Boxes which I had planned for today. As it turned out the orders allowed me to bake a few more treats which I could offer as spares today. I have had a great day with plenty of good feedback so far. One customer contacted me after collecting her order that she “was struggling to save some of the gingerbread squares for my husband – so delicious“. That comment made me smile 🙂

It was such a lovely day that I spent some time in the garden placing my bakes in different settings to try and take some unusual pictures of them. I think a few of the images are quite good myself and I have already had quite a bit interest on the social media sites where I post what I have done. In fact it was shortly after adding my photos of what I had spare which was the Chocolate Chip Cookies and some Cheese Scones  that I managed to sell the majority of what I had available. Within a few hours, the spares had been collected which was a really nice feeling. I added some samples of my Christmas Cakes to the treat boxes so that my customers could try them and it is a great way to get the word out about what I can bake.

As for the weekend, I am already planning what I can bake next week as the Friday treat. Also, I am adding some more products to the webshop and I must catch up on the Etsy shop as it is falling behind. As well as this I am hoping to finish my bookkeeping  and then grab some sleep before the next week begins. Aren’t the weeks flying by – it is October next week.