oh right, cheer, thanks again, ill be in touch soon no doubt lol

ebay, you can get a good second hand kenwood chef on there!

I use the all in one method too. it is important to have eggs and fats at room temperature. i start off slow til it has mixed in and then medium fo a minute or 2 I stop to scrape down the sides(no flexi beater ) and then whack it on full for a bit til it is blended in.
I can never get on creaming flour and sugar then adding the eggs either.

dont get me wrong fudgefan, i wasnt blaming the tool,, pretty sure it cost my dad around £400 a few years back and its always been kept in good nick, creaming sugar and butter, eggs and then flour is how ive always done it but for some reason it was in my head that i had to use a whisk attachment anddo it slowly, the cakes have always turned out really good and noones been able to understand how they come out so good, ill try the all in one method and see if that makes a difference, if it doesnt i might go for the if it aint broke dont fix it option lol, cheers again all

and for cupcake boxes I buy from http://www.cupcakeboxesuk.com/ - I love the corrugated pink boxes, I've asked them to stock them in the 24 cupcake size.

I know it's not about cupcake but does anyone know a good supplier of flower stamens? One than stocks a varied range and not just a few types??
I'm asking here as I'm in the uk
Thanks

Have your cake and eat it have a decent range

Hello everybody! I have been reading this loooong thread for a while now and I think its great! Full of very helpful information

Does anybody have a problem buying giant cupcake boxes? Or know a great website to buy them?

Have a look at Almond Art site they have very reasonable cube boxes that would probably fit a giant cupcake

Hi All!

Just posted this on the general cupcake forum when I meant to post it on this thread for UK folk Duh!

Does anyone happen to know if cupcake boxes exist (preferably in the uk...don't want to have to pay massive shipping charges!) which have wide separators? I use the sturdy corrugated white boxes from cakecraftworld, which I think are brilliant, but sometimes I like to do flower piping on my cakes which goes slightly past the edge of the cake and so when I try to put them in a box they all bump each other and get smooshed Sad I haven't managed to find any with larger spaced separators! Has anyone else?

Thanks

Hi - does anyone in the UK post or courier cupcakes? I tried to courier some down to England, and when they left me they looked lovely, but when they arrived, they were all ruined. The box had clearly been upended totally, despite being clearly labelled to keep upright.

Was just curious.

Sooz. x

I have not tried them yet as I am waiting for my daughter to go back to uni then I am going to try them out but on e bay they sell cupcake pods and they say they are postable. One thing I have learnt talking to others is that you can only send sugarpaste decorated ones as buttercream will get ruined.

ah, mine were buttercream, and were royal icinged(?) into the cupcake box. They obviously were severely shaken and/or tipped completely upside down, coz the cakes were all in one corner of the box, with the cupcake seperator thing on top of them. There is no way they went through it.

Have been to the larger Asda store today and they have some lovely cupcake cases in.

Football themed - red/green/green with silver trophy/White with footballs(100)
Girly - purple foil/pink foil/purple with pink handbags/pink with purple shoes(80)
Pink with roses/pale blue/pink/White with blue spots(100)
Little princess - White with pink&purple butterflies/pink/purple/pink with hearts(100)
Black/silver foil(80)

I love asda cases! The packs with foil cases in are slightly more expensive but it's only pennies

They've also got new colour sugar sprinkles and they have colour paste in mine in black, red, blue, green, yellow and ivory

I liked the cupcake wrappers they are brilliant value

yes, I agree. I got the pricess ones and they held up well with no peeling away. really good value. Iam going to stock up on those.

Does anyone know anything about car insurance needed when taking a cake to venue etc? I called my car insurer and they said they don't think they can insure me for that?! I'm confused, I just want to be able to take wedding cakes to venue and claim back on petrol if I have to go shopping for ingredients etc. Does anyone had a good policy that covers them for that or know if it's possible to use a separate company to get a low cost insurance that would literally just cover a low amount of delivery miles a year?
Also, how do you find out how much of your utility bills, gas, electric and water you can claim back through your business?
Thanks again guys & girls

I think I will leave delivery etc until we renew the car insurance next year. I don't have an accountantant, I'm doing my finances etc
Myself. I know you don't claim back as such maybe I worded it wrongly. I want to know how to find out the % I can claim against the business as overheads.

Business use cost me £60 extra for the year and i am a new driver only passed my test 4 weeks ago, I needed business ins for my main occupation anyway so had to have it.

Can anyone recommend what demos to attend at the cake show? Am looking at Carol Haycox of FMM and the lady from JEM. Anyone any experience of these?

I saw a Carol Haycox one the other year and really enjoyed it. I also saw a Lindy Smith one that was quite good as well. I was looking at Jem one I think that would be useful was also considering the Cricut one but thought you can watch it TV so decided against it, anyway I don't wamt to be tempted to by a cricut.

I have been to two classes with Debbie Brown as well as watching her demonstrate last year and she is a fantastic teacher. I'm going to her Sat demonstration again and can't wait. Maisie Parrish was excellent last year but her demonstration is fully booked. I have also seen Carole Haycox at two other events and she is really good too. Tracey Mann was excellent at a class I attended if you fancy working in chocolate. Frances McNaughton was demonstrating her tiny shoes and fairies at a booth last year and she was very kind in explaining things over and over again as you couldn't always get close enough to the booth to see her clearly. Lastly Georgie Godbold was also on another stand last year (Edable Art) I think, demonstrating her wobblies which are great fun. I suppose it all depends on what day you want to go. I could recommend any of these. I have just done my first wedding cake with roses and orchids so I am also going to see Alan Dunn as he is supposed to be the flower guru!!

Thanks for the replies. I wish that some of the demonstrators said what they were going to do in advance as I have limited time at the show.

Hi All,

I'm pretty much an amateur in the decorating world but am totally addicted already! So happy to have found this thread as it's difficult to find non-US forums and recipes!
So I was thinking of taking a trip up to Birmingham for the cake show in November, but I'm not sure what's actually there...I really hate the taste of fondant so I tend to use buttercream or traditional icing sugar and water as much as possible though I would be interested in maybe sugar flowers etc. I'm also nowhere near the stage of making big wedding cakes, I tend to stick to cupcakes with piped flowers or swirls.
A lot of the pictures etc seem to be big fondant cakes...will there be much there for someone like me to see?
It's hard to tell from the website what it's going to be like, would be great to hear from anyone who's been before!

Sorcha x

Hi Sorcha - welcome to CC. I've only been decorating for less than two years and then only for family and friends but have been to the show for the last two years and can't wait to go again. I can really recommend it as a day out. The theatre demonstrations I have attended have been excellent but many of the exhibitors do demonstrations at their stands too. There are also many vendors of cake decorating supplies which is useful if you don't have a cake decorating shop near where you live.
The cake competitions are fabulous even if it is not your current style of cake decorationg - I was amazed at the talent out there and just what can be done with sugar. Make sure you bring a camera and plenty of cash because you have to be very strong-willed not to spend!!

Catsmum. I can't believe you have only been decorating for 2 yrs. Your cakes are great.

Thank you so much, Rosiepan.