The Vanilla Pod Bakery: 2010

Let It Snow!

11:11

The weather outside may be frightful but the festive treats at the Vanilla Pod Bakery are just delightful…!

So today was the first day of advent, Christmas is literally round the corner people! Remember we are baking up until Christmas Eve so get your orders in, the diary is filling up fast.

The bakery has been full of amazing festive aromas over the last few weeks, Mince Pie & Butter Brandy flavour cupcakes, Chocolate orange and also Christmas Cranberry as well as our new and ridiculously popular tray bakes. Our favourites include Orange & Marzipan and Cherry & Coconut – get them while they’re hot! Not to mention the hundreds of mince pies that flew out of Vanilla Pod last week, well 1,251 to be precise.

As well as baking into the small hours and manning the flagship Cheltenham farmer’s market stall, we’ve been out and about all over Gloucestershire over the last month or so at some great events. A couple of weeks ago, Pia spent the day at the Enterprising Women Make a Difference Conference at Kingsholm where she meet over 150 other hard working and ambitious women and stood up and addressed the whole conference with the story of Vanilla Pod Bakery and her journey so far. Whilst understandably nerve racking and a little bit scary it was a thoroughly enjoyable day and the network opportunities were great… Today Gloucestershire, tomorrow the world, girl power!

Other events included a great shopping event at the beautiful Washbourne Court Hotel in Lower Slaughter and last weekend was the Victorian Market at Gloucester Quays and despite the arctic conditions we had great fun dressing up and getting into the festive by-gone era spirit. The market looked beautiful and all the enactments and actors dressed up really added to the atmosphere. We hope everyone at the Quays enjoyed every last one of the delicious 1,251 mince pies…

So despite the diary being choc-a block with orders we’ve also managed to squeeze in some more festive events before Christmas. This weekend (3^rd - 5^th December) we will be at the Cheltenham Connect’s Regency Christmas Craft Fair (www.cheltenhamconnect.co.uk), following on from their first successful event last year. It’s a great event where everyone gets dressed up and really into the spirit of things and with over 40 exhibitors selling lots of gifts and locally sourced products it’s a great opportunity to buy some unique and hand made Christmas gifts and of course our delicious Vanilla Pod festive treats. Come and find us in the tented village at The Exmouth Arms, Bath Road, Cheltenham GL53 7LX.

For all you ladies who lunch, why not come and join us at the beautiful Daffodil Restaurant in Cheltenham on Tuesday 8^th December for their exclusive 'Ladies Only' lunch which takes place on the first Tuesday of every month. It’s the perfect opportunity for you to catch up with friends, dine in style and for this month only, indulge in some Vanilla Pod cakes! Visit www.thedaffodil.com for more information.

Don’t forget we will be at The Cheltenham Farmers market on Friday 10^th & 17^th December and also at Stow-on-the-Wold Farmers market on Thursday 9^th December. Do pop down and see us, we love a chin wag and the chance to take our minds off the fact we probably won’t be able to feel our toes, brrrrrrr!

Last but by no means least, a massive thank you to all the fabulous Vanilla Pod team who have been baking their socks off and braving the elements, you’ve been brilliant.

24 sleeps to go…

Events

Delicious lunch, fantastic cakes and a bottle of wine!

23:58

Autumn at the Vanilla Pod Bakery

06:58

As autumn blows in we've been super busy at the Vanilla Pod Bakery with loads of exciting events and seasonal festivities to think about. We won't mention the 'C' word just yet (but it is only 85 days, 11 hours and 34 minutes away!) but we have been lapping up the fruits of the harvest and experimenting with our new autumn flavours and looking ahead to Halloween and some terrifying treats!

We've also been doing our bit for the student community of Gloucestershire and had a great day at the Fresher's Fayre last week promoting our campaign "I'm a student and I NEED cake!" Well we wouldn't want the future of our country starving to death would we?! If you're a student and you NEED cake, get in touch with us at the Vanilla Pod and we can offer you 10% off your order if you show us your valid NUS student card (offer subject to change and terms & conditions apply).

Last Sunday was spent at the beautiful Pitville Pump Rooms for the Kids One Stop Shop launch which was loads of fun. Showers of sprinkles and swirls of buttercream as we encouraged the kids to get creative in decorating their own Vanilla Pod cupcake. On the same creative note our cupcake workshops continue to be a great success and with more planned over the next few weeks why not come to an evening filled with icing sugar clouds and rainbow's of buttercream? Please do book early to avoid disappointment. Our next workshop will be just days before Halloween on Tuesday 26th October so expect plenty of ghoulish decorations and may be we could share some ghostly stories over a coffee - all taking place at Red Pepper Café, Cheltenham.

As summer draws to a close peak wedding season is over and we now look to wedding fayre season. This Sunday we will be back at Pitville Pump Rooms where will be exhibiting some our prettiest cupcakes and will be on hand all day to talk to happy couples and discuss ideas, inspirations and prices. More importantly we'll have plenty of delicious samples to try.

In the meantime we are busy trialing and ever-improving new and seasonal flavours including Sticky, Toffee, Spiced Pear, Carrot & Nutmeg, Ginger Bread and Pumpkin & White Chocolate. There's always a reason for a cupcake so why not get in touch or pop in and see us in our small but perfectly formed kitchen, we love to chat CAKE!