And the winner is.....
So who won the 2015 National Cupcake Champions, well it wasn't me but it was a fantastic lady called Helen Bollen who run's Mrs B's Cakes in Wiltshire.  Her delicious sounding Spiced Apple and Blackberry cupcake stole the show and she was delighted to take the crown.

Mrs Bollen said: "I am absolutely trilled beyond words to win this. It is something I have been working towards for the last four years and it is going to mean so much to my business".

The 2015 Cupcake Champion and Category Winners

The Cupcakes after Judging

My Experience of the Day...
I had a fantastic time at the event. The finals took place on Monday, 14th September at British Bakels in Bicester. There were 60 finalists and it was so lovely to meet them, and the sponsors, while chatting about cake. Everyone was who I met was lovely, and a big shout out to Michelle Alles of Fab Fairies and Wicked Tarts, Yvonne Donald of Kake and Cupkakery, as well as Hester Sabery from The Cake Couture.

Chocolate Masterclass

As part of the day we were also treated to two chocolate masterclasses from sponsor Barry Callebaut. I use Barry Callebaut belgian chocolate all the time (it is delicious) and it was wonderful to be shown different techniques for creating fantastic chocolate desserts and how to temper using a microwave.

Lovely Chocolate Products

At the end of the day we all left with huge smiles on our faces no matter where we had come and a wonderful Barry Callebaut chocolate goodie bag.

Treats made during the masterclass

 My view on the competition....
It was the first time I had ever really entered my cakes into a 100% baking competition. I make cakes for a living and I love creating them for my clients. However, the world of baking competitions is completely different.  I have entered wedding cake competitions and business competitions, I am used to them and know what to expect, I have even won a few of the those. But cake baking competitions, wow, the are scary and I was unbelievable nervous.

If I did it again, I would put a lot more effort into the decoration. I focused on the taste of the cupcake and didn't think about adding a little pizzazz to the look of it (rookie mistake!). I also realised that while I love baking, my passion really lies in the business side of cake creation.  I find it so interesting listening to other peoples cake business journeys which leads me on to my new venture (wow, this is scary just announcing it). Launching on October 7th 2015, I will be starting a new business to help cake makers realise their dreams of starting their own bakery business, as well as helping cake bakers to fire up their existing business. The new business is called MakeMoneyWithCakes and you can read more about it here.  I am super, super excited about this. 

Me with some of the chocolate from my goodie bag

National Cupcake Competition

Congratulatory Email

Tropical Carrot Cake

Inside Tropical Carrot Cake

Bottlegreen Logo

Second Prize! Evening Summer Mocktail

Sneaky peak of the factory:

Amazing Goodie Bag

Myself and Katie from The Cutlery Commission in our fetching hair nets touring the factory

This weekend was the fabulous Cheltenham Food & Drink Festival and I decided the make the most of it!

The packed chill out area by the music stage

I do love a good food festival and with this one literally on my door step, I couldn't resist. The Cheltenham Food & Drink Festival runs every June, and before I started specialising in wedding cakes I used to trade here too.

My friends enjoying a chicken wrap.

Jean-Christophe Novelli

 Saturday was actually not that busy and slightly marred by the rain but Sunday was a dry, and therefore heaving! The highlight of Sunday had to be seeing Jean-Christophe Novelli in the Real Food & Drink Theatre, thought we couldn't actually hear what he was saying as the tent was packed and we were standing on the outside!

World Potato Peeling Contest

My purchases!

Woohoo, it is Friday and I have finally made it to day 15 of the blog challenge. It has taken me *cough* slightly longer than anticipated, ok, so it has taken me 3 months longer than anticipated!  But I have made it!

I have now got into the habit of writing blogs and you know what I really like it. It has been really nice to write about recipes I love, share wedding cakes I have made and detail a bit of how I am growing the business and what my life is like at the Vanilla Pod Bakery.

Though there is still one thing that is a little bit stressful, and this is the fact that is takes me hours (and I mean hours!) to write and edit most of the blog posts! I will write one, then I leave it, then come back to it and edit it, then I leave it, then add photos, re size photos, then edit it once more and then post it. Please let me know if there is a quicker way or if it is just like everything else and takes practice, practice, practice!

But I am determined to keep up the blog writing and bring you news of all the things I love about weddings, cakes, business, food as well as the occasional travel story - of which I am planning to do more of!  And I hope you enjoy reading about it all!

I am not sure if you know but for the past week is National ME/CFS Awareness week, a week focusing on pushing this hidden illness into the spotlight. So what is ME/CFS and why all the fuss. ME/CFS is a long-term, often debilitating, illness that can affect every type of person, no matter their age, sex or race.  How do I know this, well I have had the illness for the past 16 years.  Yet it is one of those illnesses that most folk know so little about.

"So it is time to spread the word and shout to the hilltops about it" 

http://www.ayme.org.uk/

http://www.tymestrust.org/

http://www.meassociation.org.uk/

http://www.actionforme.org.uk/

Article in The Gloucestershire Echo, 16th May 2015

Two weeks ago I took a rare week off and went on holiday! That may seem very normal for most folks, but as I was sitting on the plan jetting off to Portugal with my boyfriend, I realised I hadn't taken a whole week off to go abroad for at least 3 years! Was this the right thing for me to be doing!? Would my business fall apart if I took time off!?

To Laptop or to not!

During the build up to the holiday I had a dilemma raging through my head - to take my laptop or not! I am not sure if any other business owners have this dilemma as well -  but let me know if you do.
It may seem bizarre but my laptop is such a huge part of my life and my business, that just the thought of being apart from it for a whole week started to give me palpitations!  That is not healthy! I clearly needed a break!

So I took the hard decision to put an out office on and leave it behind. I also thought if I am going cold turkey with the laptop, I should leave the bakery phone behind as well.  But how would I cope!

The view 

Stepping out onto our hotel balcony and taking in the view and the sunshine, I knew I had done the right thing by leaving the business technology at home. Just being in the beautiful Portuguese hills for a week was a fantastic experience. It allowed me to reconnect with myself, and spend some quality time away from Vanilla Pod HQ, and as a bonus the sunshine did wonders for my M.E.  That is not to say, I didn't think about the business....





... I always think about the business, I suppose it is like a loved one, you always think about them but you don't have to be with them 24/7.

But anyway, the hotel we stayed in was amazing and that is what got me thinking....

I am constantly developing ways in which to grow Vanilla Pod and I absolutely love helping people and I would ultimately love to marry the two.  The Vanilla Pod Bakery currently has two key areas to the business - Wedding Cakes and Hen Parties - and two areas which are under development Corporate Gifts and VPB Consultancy. The reason the hotel got me thinking, was as part of the consultancy area of business,  I would love to develop a 5 day retreat/mastermind for business owners. Whether it is for start-up businesses, or baking/decorating retreats, or to help businesses that are 3 - 4 years into their journey facing a cross road situations, I haven't yet figured that out.  But within the next three years I would love to have something like this actioned, and staying in the hotel in Portugal  made me realise it would be the absolute perfect place for my dream to be realised. So watch this space! It would also be great to hear from you if this is the type of event would be of interest?



Importance of taking time off

So this holiday as made me realise that as a small business owner it is so, so, important to take more than a couple of days off at a time, during the year.  You really do need to switch off and live in the moment every once in a while. It gives you clarity on yourself and towards your business.  I have come back feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world. I have even scheduled another week off in September! I am determined to look after my health and business this year, and I want 2015 to become my best year yet.

My 6 Top Tip's For Taking Time Off From You Business:

1. Switch your email out of office on - let people know you will not have access to your emails until x time.
2. Record a voicemail greeting letting people know you are unavailable of x amount of days.
3. Leave the laptop /phone at home.
4. Take a notepad and paper - just incase ideas spring into your mind and you need to jot them down for reference when you get back home.
5. Schedule a day or two when you get back from holiday to get back into the swing of things, unpack, do the washing, etc,  then go live to the public.
6. But ultimately remember to relax, enjoy the view and take a selfie!

Day 2 of my blog hasn't actually gone to plan, I was intending to post everyday but I think that is going to be quite hard so I will try and post every other day - it will still be a challenge!  I had started to write a post on Friday but then my lovely cake business took over and I forgot to finish it. The blog I did start to write was to give you a little insight into my life, my passion for cakes and business. However, I just read it back and it was in great danger of turning into a very detailed autobiography (I don't think your ready for that just yet!). So I scrapped that and have started again.

So why do I want to share my life:
I think sharing a little bit of my life at this time has come at an ideal moment. The reason being is that although I may look like a very normal person on the outside, I have something lurking underneath the surface, I have a few hidden illnesses. I have M.E (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) and mild  E.D.S (Ehlers-Danlos syndrome). Don't worry you can't catch anything off of me! The E.D.S I was born with and I became ill with M.E when I was 13 and have now had it for the past 16 years. Both E.D.S and M.E have very similar symptoms so sometimes I not sure where one starts and the other ends. However, I mostly know about M.E so when it comes up in conversation I just tend to say I have that. So why am I telling you about this now.

Well my M.E. fluctuates, I don't know what it is like to an adult and not have it; but I have gone through periods where I felt more 'normal'. However, now is not one of the those periods. For the past 6 months my health has taken a tumble, before I used to be about 90-95% healthy, I am now about 70-80% healthy. For example,  last week I had two lovely cake orders and one hen party cupcake decorating experience which was fantastic. However, as it was quite full on it meant I was in bed by 5pm on Saturday feeling exhausted and achy. On the Sunday, I felt similar but pushed myself to have lunch with friends so consequently I was in bed by 6pm and will now have to spend the next few days in bed doing minimal activity in order to recover.   I don't begrudge this, to me this is a fact of life and something I have to be aware of if I push myself. But if I don't push myself I won't know. (That is the frustrating part).

Anyway, I am now dosed up on painkillers writing this in bed with my lovely electric blanket turned on high! (Best invention!) 

The early years:
While I try not to let M.E. rule my life it does play a large part. Going back to when I was at school and first got ill I missed most of year 9 and then went back sporadically in year 10 and part time in year 11. I was so thrilled when I gained six C to B graded GCSE's, it proved to me that if I put my mind to it I would not let the illness beat me and it also demonstrated that I could have a full filling life with a few adjustments. 

Those adjustments are making sure I listen to my body (easier said than done!) but on the whole means a one hour nap everyday to maintain a standard of living where I can function without aches, pains and brain fog (yes that is a real term, look it up here). Within this there are days where I do fluctuate either way, such as this week but on the whole this is how I manage to stay on top of it.

Achievements:
After school when I first realised I could achieve my goals. I went onto receive a Triple Distinction BTEC in Performing Arts at College. Spent a few months working as a marketing and events intern in Singapore during my gap/rest year (the constant hot weather and sunshine made me feel almost normal, that was brilliant)  and gained a 2:1 BA(Hons) degree in Marketing Communications at University. 

Launching my own business:
During my degree I undertook a placement year and this is when I realised that working full time in PR, living by yourself away from your family does not mix with M.E! I ended up having a 2 month relapse and having to move back in with my parents in Kent, luckily they have their own business so I was able to work part time to complete my course. However,  and this is where I think fate intervened, my university launched a business plan competition and I was inspired to enter with an idea of launching a tea rooms focusing on selling dainty cupcakes and sparkling pink champagne. My parents kindly let me work on this plan while working for them (well it was business after all!) and to my amazement after submitting my sizeable plan and pitching Dragon's Den style to panel of judges, I won! That was the beginning of the Vanilla Pod Bakery.

The Vanilla Pod Bakery now: 
I have now been running the Vanilla Pod Bakery for little over five and half years.Within that time there have been ups and downs with both the business and with my health. But I keep persevering, I am quite determined like that! One of my biggest challenges came from when I decided I could no longer cope with having external premises.  I had built the business from nothing to running a small bakery in the middle of Cheltenham, I had staff, ran market stalls and had lots of lovely clients. However, my health started taking a tumble and I realised something needed to change so I took the decision to downsize, focus on a niche cake sector and move the business home.  I now concentrate on the gorgeous wedding industry. I love weddings, I love that they are joyous and beautiful occasions. I love creating stunning wedding cakes for my clients. I take one or two cake orders a week so I can give my clients my best service and fit it in with my health requirements. I also run Cupcake Decorating Hen Party Experiences and have big plans for this part of the business. The funny thing is now that I am completely focused my business is growing faster than when I had the premises. 

The future of The Vanilla Pod Bakery: 
As I said above I have big plans for the hen party side of the business which will involve taking on staff to help host the experiences. I adore baking and decorating wedding cakes and will continue with this but eventually limit it to two cakes per month.  I am going to push the online side of the business, though I am not entirely clear on what that will be yet! All I know is I want to help people who have long term/hidden illnesses and are basically in a similar situation to me launch businesses. I also want to share the cake knowledge I have learnt over the years in some way. But more of that to come in due course!

Running a business with an illness:
Even though I have ups and downs with my health,  on the whole I have been able to manage and grow a successful business. For anyone out there who has a hidden illness and has the passion and desire to start their own business, I would say go for it 100 percent. If you would like to talk to me about this please drop me an email or comment below.  Running your own business is so satisfying, you experience trills like nothing else and the fantastic accomplishment that you can achieve something out of nothing. In the words of Nike "Just Do It". 

So there you have it, a little bit about my life. Please feel free to leave a comment below.

Until next time!

Pia x


P.s. I also have dyslexia! While I absolutely love writing please don't hold it against me if you notice interesting grammar or the odd spelling mistake! Though I would be very grateful for a polite email pointing out the error :)

P.s.s New study just been released about M.E. http://www.cortjohnson.org/blog/2015/02/27/clock-ticking-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-hit-run-disorder/