The Deck Coffee House & Cakery owner, Debra will be sharing with us her behind the scenes stories of what it's like to live the dream of owning her own business. There will be photos and tons of information on what Debra whips up in the kitchen, please watch this space. P.S She also offers Vintage Afternoon Tea's for all you Vintage Lovers out there!!!
Deck The Halls...
Monday 1st December, 2014
My time has come…I have been asked to join this fabulous blog and will be bringing you regular, useful (sometimes quirky) blog posts about cake, cake and maybe some more cake! How to make it, how to sell it, how eat it and the fun I have in my very own cake business. I mean who doesn’t love the stuff?
My name is Debra Brown and I own The Deck Coffee House and Cakery with my Mr Cupcake in Cardiff Bay! I don’t claim to know everything there is to know about cake decorating, I have never been on a course or had any formal training. I am self taught, but living proof that with determination and persistence a dream really can come true.
In saying that, owning your own business is not a walk in the park. It can be exhausting and all-consuming and I will be chatting about that in future posts! (We have seriously lost count of the amount of times we have been told ‘you have my dream job!’) We do have a chuckle at that one!
Nearly five years ago I began making cupcakes for family and friends. I had to Google a recipe. Something crazy happened and I suddenly had to choose between furthering my nursing career (my ‘other’ job) or taking this cake thing full throttle. The rest is history.
Nearly five years ago I began making cupcakes for family and friends. I had to Google a recipe. Something crazy happened and I suddenly had to choose between furthering my nursing career (my ‘other’ job) or taking this cake thing full throttle. The rest is history.
Enough about me for now! So let’s get talking Christmas! Yes it’s here again and it’s now that we start that gathering process of goodies to enjoy with family. Just out of interest do you do what I do, stock up with chocolates and convince yourself that you won’t eat them? Only to dig them out in desperation on a Saturday night whilst watching Casualty? Ah that’s good then, it isn’t just me that smuggles Chocolate Orange into the lounge?
We bake and decorate rather a lot of cake for Christmas at The Deck! Some customers prefer the traditional large cutter cake with seasonal décor or more recently the trend leans towards muffin sized cupcakes! We bake a variety of sponge styles or the ever popular traditional fruit cakes and decorate them to request! Mostly they resemble this little fellow, quite possibly the most popular request of the season!
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| Mr Claus himself |
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| Fondant eyebrows going down |
Christmas cakes are a strange phenomena. I know I used to do this, but everyone thinks they have to buy one or make one every year and then, when the Christmas food tables are set up it doesn’t get the attention it deserves! This is why cupcakes are great for the festive season. They are small portions of delight, just enough to fulfill that sweet tooth! There are so many alternative sweet delights at this time of year..like chocolate, did I mention I am a chocolate monster? Now that is a whole new blog post! Watch this space!
Back to the serious stuff…once you have cut into a large fruit cake there seems to be a need to eat it quickly before it dries out or goes off. The fruit cake cupcakes can be kept in an airtight container and you just help yourself to one at a time (or maybe two depending on how hungry you are!) Due to them being individually wrapped at the base they keep really fresh until needed. Ideal for those family gatherings and they can be designed to suit each Christmas visitor!
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| Christmas Cupcake Collection |
For the more traditional tasting cakes we are also making fabulous Christmas pudding cupcakes, with an amazing rich pudding flavour, Black Forest gateaux cupcakes and mini sized Christmas!
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| Christmas pudding cupcakes, deep chocolate cake topped with pudding flavour buttercream and garnished with festive fondant! |
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| Black Forrest Gateaux cupcakes, with a heavenly cherry conserve and fresh double cream |
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| Frosty the Snowman traditional Christmas cake, hand baked and decorated to order! |
Come along and see us at The Deck this holiday! You will find a warm welcome, a good old fashioned hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream and a special sweet treat or two!
Here endeth my first ever blog post, I hope you enjoyed reading and hope to see you sometime soon.
And remember cake is for life not just for birthdays!
Mrs Cupcake xx