Just got back from a food and hospitality networking event hosted by Leapfrog PR at the newly refurblished Ellenborough Park Hotel, such a beautiful venue.  We were treated to delicious canapes, made by Executive Chef David Kelman, who has a great passion for using local Gloucestershire produce. This was the theme of evening and this type of food passion is spreading though Gloucestershire.

Both  Hotel Du Vin and The Montpellier Chapter are also great supporters of local food. Only last week Hotel Du Vin held the launch of the Gloucestershire Echo and Citizen's Taste of Gloucestershire Food and Farming Awards. Great new awards aimed at raising awareness of what is grown and produced on our doorstep.

Fabulous hotels supporting local food, that can only be a good thing.

This week is M.E. Awareness Week and we will be helping to raise much needed funds by donating a percentage of our total overall week’s sales, as well as selling M.E. wristbands from our kitchen unit and at our Cheltenham Farmers Market Stall. The funds raised will be sent to Action for M.E., the UK’s leading M.E. charity to help support suffers, carers and fund more research into the illness.

M.E. is cause close to my heart which is why she wanted to help. I have been suffering with the illness for the past 12 and half years. I first became ill in her early teens and was bedbound for over a year with utter exhaustion, constant muscle and joint pain as well as increased sensitivity to sound and touch.

Part of the reason I started the Vanilla Pod Bakery was so I could look after my health and work my own hours. The business is demanding but it allows me the flexibility to choose when I am healthy and able to work.  Raising funds this week is vital, however, it won’t stop there for us,  as I would like to encourage more people to learn about M.E. and help raise funds through a variety of different activities, please contact me if you would like to help.

M.E. affects men, women and children of all ages and of all social and ethnic backgrounds and it is currently estimated that around 250,000 in the UK have the illness.  The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence says it can be “as disabling as multiple sclerosis, lupus rheumatoid arthritis, congestive heart failure and other chronic conditions”.

Hope you can all help.

Best wishes, 

Pia xx 

 

Don't forget it is Mothers Day this Sunday. Why not remind your Mum how wonderful she is with a delicious handmade cake or collection of cakes from The Vanilla Pod Bakery.

This week was the start of The Vanilla Pod Bakery's 2011 wedding season, and commenced with a traditional single tier wedding cake.

Over the weekend we had two cupcake towers to set up, the first at lovely Bowden Hall in Upton-Saint-Leonards and the second at the magnificent Clearwell Castle in the Forest of Dean.





If you would like to commission the Vanilla Pod Bakery to create your dream wedding cake, please do not hesitate to get in contact with Pia on 07828 66 89 32 or enquiry@vanillapodbakery.com.

The other day Vanilla Pod was commissed to make a bespoke cake in the shape of a heart with two different flags joining each other in the middle - a union of two cultures/countries. As I love a challenge I relished the opportunity and couldn't wait to start baking and creating.

I baked a lemon heart shaped sponge and covered it with red sugarpaste and then got to work on the flags. At first I thought about painting the flags into the cake. However I love to fashion objects out of sugarpaste, so decided to go ahead with that method. I created a Zimbabwean flag and an Australian flag then placed them onto the heart. I have to say I was pleased with the results and the client was over the moon.

Yesterday we were selling our yummy cakes at our first ever Stroud Farmers Market of the year, what a lovely market. It was very busy for a cold January morning there were lots and lots of delicious types of food on offer. To help keep warm I was munching on a fab five spice pork curry from Niang's Thai Snacks and samples of our very own Vanilla Pod Bakery chocolate brownies!

I am really enjoying the farmers markets at the moment (even though its bitterly cold!) as it is a chance for us to experienment with different recipes. We had lots of cakes on offer including our yummy cupcakes as well as sticky ginger and orange slices, wedges of classic victoria sandwich and our very chocolatey brownies which had sold out by 12pm! And my favourite,  toffee apple crumble slices - ummm I am salivating just thinking about them now, delish.

We are constantly looking through recipe books and are always open to new ideas, so please do not hesitate to let us know if you want a particular type of cake or bakery treat to be baked by us.

We will now be at a farmers market every Friday (Cheltenham on the 2nd and last Friday of the month and Gloucester on the 1st and 3rd Friday of every month) and will be a Stroud market once a month on a Saturday. Check facebook or our website for more details.

Happy New Year Everyone!  (I can't believe it is 2011 already - the last decade has just flown by!)

I had a lovely Christmas break and I have to say I am glad to be back baking.  I really miss the Vanilla Pod kitchen and whipping up something delicious, when I have been away for a few days.

The one thing I am not to happy about, and I am sure most of you feel the same, is the VAT increase.  I can understand the Government needs to claw back money, but is this really the right way of going about it?
 


Here is to a positive 2011!

Pia xx

*T&C apply, subject to change.