On Tuesday, 12th October Pia travelled down to london and attended a cake decorating seminar at Searcy's 30 Pavilion Road by award-winning couture cake-maker to the stars and owner of Little Venice Cake Company, Mich Turner.

Mich shared her cake-decoarting tips over a divine 3 course lunch, which was in partnership with Sainsbury's Magazine.

Searcys' Georgian Town House in the heart of Knightsbridge was the fabulous venue and a very enjoyable day was had by all.

Pia said "It was simply a lovely afternoon and can't wait to get back into the Vanilla Pod kitchen!"

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!

This week we have been busy baking meringues! Yes that's right, after watching the BBC's "The Great British Bake Off", we were inspired to bake scones and meringues. Which turned out to be very yummy indeed. 

We would take our newly found meringue skills and bake a lemon meringue cupcake (which was also the request of a client). Pia took a picture and you can see the results to the right. The cake had a lovely light lemon sponge with a deliciously fuffy meringue top. A new favourite at the Vanilla Pod Bakery.

Why not ask for it when you next order from Vanilla Pod and give us your opinion!

Vanilla Pod held our very first cupcake decorating workshop at Red Pepper Coffee Lounge on Tuesday evening, and we had a very splendid time. Clouds of icing sugar, rainbows of food colouring, yummy cupcakes and a whole host of fun was had by all.

Pia was very impressed by the creativity from all the ladies who attended the workshop. At the end of evening we called upon Ziggi, who works at Red Pepper, to judge the 'best designed cupcake' competition, which was won by the lovely Ceri. She took home a charming little cermanic cupcake decoration from cheltenham's Kath Cooper .

How can a cup of tea and cupcake help improve quality of life? When your cup of tea and cupcake is helping to raise money for Cotswold Care Hospice.

Throughout the months of June, July and August the Vanilla Pod Bakery is proud to be helping to support the Cotswold Care Hospice's Tea @ 3 fundraising campaign by offering a discount to organisations and individuals who purchase Vanilla Pod cupcakes for their Tea @ 3 parties. Not only will we be offering a discount but we will also be donating a percentage of profits made, to the Cotswold Care Hospice too.

Vanilla Pod's cupcakes are perfect little cake for a tea party and can be created in variety of flavours just for you. Favorites include Double Chocolate, Raspberry Crush and Classic Vanilla. Call 0871 288 0934 today place your order for tea party or drop us an email with your requirements.



Midnight Walk
Don't fancy a tea party then why not help raise money for the Cotswold Care Hospice by siging up for the Cotswold Midnight Walk!

Join the biggest girls' night out in Gloucestershire! Sign up to the Cotswold Midnight Walk, have a great night with mates & and support a good cause. Lol we need boys too - to look after us as volunteers. Tell your mates and pass it on! www.fancyagirlsnightout.com