Returning to Blog & New#TeamCake signing

It's been a long time since I have managed to sit and Blog about Heart & Soul Cakes and update you all on our little business. A lot of things have changed for us in that time, we have reached some personal milestones such as our 10th Wedding Anniversary and also had some extremely sad times with the loss of some very special family members.

I would like to start by saying thank you to each and everyone of you who have supported us, through the little messages and social media. We really do appreciate every message and it really has helped us along the way making every late night worthwhile.

We have continued to grow and work with local business and venues to offer our services to as wider number of customers as possible. Creating some lovely imaginative and most importantly scrummy cakes for Weddings, Baby Showers, Birthdays, Funerals, Christenings, BarMitzas.

Today we made the most exciting new signing to #TeamCake ~ We have decided to sponsor the lovely Katharine Evans of Saracens as she embarks on the new Women's Tyrells Premiership rugby season.

After meeting Kat we saw her love and passion for rugby and Women's sport in general. Knowing and understanding the role in which she plays as a professional player to the younger generation of women and future if these sports. Her smiley personality and friendly outlook fits perfectly with the family ethos we have here at Heart and Soul Cakes making her a perfect fit for #TeamCake

We are hoping during the upcoming 2019/2020 season to work with Kat supporting her through the physical season ahead and have a little more fun on the way. Whilst taking advantage of her amazing knowledge in food nutrition we hope we can develop some new products for you all. Promoting the healthy balance of food and fitness.

We look forward to more regular blogs in the future keeping you posted with interesting tips hints and developments in our cake world.

Sarah x 

What better way to start the week that with a lovely card specially made for us by one of our couples. I had great fun creating their Lego themed wedding cake in the summer and just loved receiving this card from them. "Dear Sarah, Thank you for our incredible Lego wedding cake! It was just what we wanted, and tasted amazing! Thank you for all of the time you put into making it for us. Thank you, Rob and Paula X"

The rest of the week has been a lovely busy week of cakes. Taking some more new orders of some super girlie cakes that I can wait to create. A Parisian themed 13^th birthday cake, a 1^st birthday cake featuring our lovely sugar paste teddies and an extra tall baby shower cake with matching cupcakes, cake pops and crispy pops all in pink!!

We have had some wonderful flavoured cakes go out this week to a local coffee shop such as our chocolate orange, cookies and cream and apple & Cinnamon. The only trouble I had was when making the apple buttercream I could not get that silly apple pen song out of my head! Why is it the silly songs we don’t want to remember stick in our head? I had to put some 90’s cheesy pop songs on so I could sing to them just to make it go away.

        

I had a lovely consultation on Saturday with Sophie and George. I made a game of thrones cake for George’s brother Charlie’s 21^st birthday and a drama themed cake for Sophie last year so it was a great pleasure to be asked to make their wedding cake. They are have a subtle and very romantic Harry Potter themed wedding cake that I am really looking forward to making. The decided on red velvet, salted caramel and Madagascan vanilla flavours.

I finished the week off doing a wedding fayre at That Amazing Place in Old Harlow. ‘Mr Cake’ and I had a great time talking to some really lovely couples. I love hearing all the fantastic themes and ideas everyone is having. I got to talk about skulls, Ninja Turtles, dragons, lace, fairies, flowers and more by the end of the day my mind was filled with ideas an inspiration. We had salted caramel and rhubarb and custard tasters with us which were so popular we had people coming back for seconds and even thirds. They were so popular we ran out 15 minutes before the show ended. We can’t wait to chat more cake with these lovely couples when they come in for their consultations and custom tasters, and also look forward to working with some of the lovely suppliers we met too.

It was safe to say after a very great but very busy week that Sunday evening my feet were up and I took some much needed time to relax ready for the next week’s challenges. 

What a fantastic week!!! I have had some fabulous orders coming in this week that I am really looking forward to making. Especially the Pretty Little Liars cake I have been commissioned to make as I am a huge fan of the show myself and it will give me an excuse to re watch the series (purely for research purpose only ;-) ) Also really looking forward to a wedding cake we just took order for to be made in February next year to include a top tier pillow cake finished with handmade sugar bride and groom crowns on top.

I had the huge pleasure of connecting family members from across the seas this week with an order from some American parents wanting to send some devilish treats to their daughter Katie who lives over here in the UK. I created some Halloween gluten free cupcakes for Katie and delivered them to her place of work as a surprise, with handwritten note with a message from her parents.

I have had 2 lovely wedding cake consultations at our studio this weekend with our couples trying some of our fabulous flavours such as Sicilian lemon, Rhubarb & Custard and Cherry Bakewell to name just a few. We managed to finalise details and flavour choices whilst having a nice chat and some cake what better way to spend a Saturday morning.

My week was finished off rather nicely with 2 lovely reviews. One on our Facebook page from one of our brides Kirsty. I made her wedding cake for 25^th August (2016) at Vaulty Manor – 
“For our wedding in August I wanted to be a real life princess for the day. And as all princesses need a castle that’s what I asked for and we were delivered the most beautiful princess castle just what I asked for. We opted for the rhubarb and custard for the princess castle and a vanilla sponge cutting cake in case we needed more and both flavours were hit especially the rhubarb and custard :-) Would recommend a million times over to anyone who asked”

In the post I also received this lovely letter and photo from Ian and Lynn. I made the wedding cake for 3rd September (2016) at Leez Priory -  

“Dear Sarah, Thank you so much for providing the cakes for our wedding, they were excellent. Thanks also for sourcing the stand and adding our bows. Our guest were very complimentary, the ‘Bakewell’ being a particular favourite! Thank you for your suggestions at the initial cake tasting and for listening to our requests. Your professional no fuss approach made it very easy. We are looking forward to another occasion when we need your services! With sincerest thanks and best wishes, Ian and Lynn”

Sorry it has been so long since my last blog.

We have had a busy time of late with deliveries to many birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, christening and even the wake of a funeral. We have also been doing some corporate cakes for local business such as Aldi and Chip and Pin.

But a cake that will always be a little bit special was one that we delivered very recently, after a silly bet my husband made we set off on a 2 hour journey to Twickenham Rugby Stadium to deliver a cake to the England woman's rugby team - World Cup winners 2014. An honour for us to help celebrate this awesome achievement for the team. A shame we did not get to meet any of the players but the coaches were all really nice and it was lovely to meet them.

We have also had the launch of the hire of our popcorn and candy floss machines. We are really enjoying taking these to events over the Christmas period. These can be hired staffed by us or to use yourself  

                                     

Another thing we have done especially for Christmas is 'Reindeer food' a little something for the kids to sprinkle out in the garden on Christmas Eve to show the way for the reindeer. All profits from this is going to be donated to Melanoma UK a cancer charity very close to our hearts.

                                       

We wish you all well and look forward to helping you with any occasion in the future with any cake.

Have a scrumptious evening. 

Sarah x

What is Important at a Wedding.

With all the bridal pages I belong to on Facebook I am seeing more and more regularly brides to be asking what did people find a waste of money and what did people wish they spent more money on. l though it seems like a good question it will get such different answers I think it could leave people more confused than when they first asked the question so I thought I would add a little blog with my advice. Not just as a supplier but from my own wedding memories too.

Everybody has their own opinion of what is important. To some people their wedding dress is just an outfit they will wear once and never think of again so would rather spend less money and I have even seen people posting their dress for sale the very day after their own wedding.  To others it will be the most Important thing to wear the princess designer gown they have dreamed of since they were little this is what I thought when looking for my dress and you I was thinking a simple plain dress and ended up with the biggest most expensive dress in the shop but I fell in love with it and nothing else would make me feel as wonderful as that dress did so I knew. 

You will also get people who think of getting supermarket cakes as it is just a cake to be eaten and not important at all so a waste of money. Other will see it as a focal point of the wedding and want a custom designed cake made by an award winning cake designer to be amazing and give a huge wow. The happy couple cutting the cake is a picture everyone thinks of and wants so you will want to be able to look back and think wow I loved my cake rather than thinking of look how that cake ruins the picture next to your beautiful outfit. 

Other thing I see alot of people saying is a waist is the disposable cameras on the table but I loved our disposable cameras as you get to see the funny things people were doing that you didn't get time to see on the day/night. It is hard really as everyone has a different opinion. 

I think as a couple you and you OH should sit down and decided what is the most thing to you and then search for that and spend what needs to be spent on getting what you want. Making sure to check previous work of your supplier and see if you are able to speak to previous customers is something I would highly recommend. I also always think it is best to meet face to face and chat over everything to make sure you can get a feel for them and know you have booked someone you can trust.

Everyone is so different. Once you have the things you really want then see what it left to by the other things you would like.

Have a wonderfully scrumptious evening! 

Sarah x

www.heartandsoulcakes.co.uk

My Joy! 

It's not often that during a cake delivery I am lost for words. Those that know me will possibly say I am never lost for words.

Well One of this weeks deliveries was such a day, I had the privilege of making a birthday cake for a really special little boy who until today had never been able to eat his own birthday cake. 

Our challenge was to make a wheat, soy, dairy & egg free cake!! We persevered and checked our ingredients my husband and I determined to get it right. We had too there was no other option. After quite a few failed attempts I finally had produced a lovely rich cake chocolate fudge cake that was free from all of the things that could make little Albert ill. 

We delivered this Disney Plane themed cake this week and I am sure the customer won't mind me saying that when she cried at the sight of the cake and my heart melted. Birthday cakes are part of a celebration that celebrates life!! Every birthday is a 'big birthday' and should be celebrated with those you care about and care for you.  This is a huge reason I love and do this job, and why my family put up with the late nights and early mornings and a sometime rather grumpy sleep deprived wife/mummy. It fills me with joy! I am one very happy cake lady this week.


Have a wonderful scrummy evening! I know I will.

Sarah x

Special Moments

Looking through some old pictures and I found this little gem, and it made me realise that cake has always been a part of my life. My 1^st birthday cake, it wasn’t pretty but my Mum made an attempt and let’s be honest at that age I probably ended up wearing more than I ended up eating.

My love of cake now is more than just the taste, it is pictured here it is the simplicity. My big brother kissing my head probably after singing me happy birthday with my older sister watching on, I’m guessing my mum is taking the picture but we were all there, Together. At that moment there was a unity in the family with no fighting, shouting or sibling rivalries.

Cake to me now is more than just to eat, it is the key to any special occasion, a wedding, a birthday, a christening all have that magic moment that, snapshot in time captured forever, and I am so happy now to be helping make people make these special moments and being a part of something so wonderful.

Sweet memories everyone!

Sarah x