Cupcakes

Early in January it was my birthday - I was thoroughly spoiled by my beloved. He took me out for a meal at Loch Fyne which is a seafood restaurant, and my present was a cupcake making masterclass which I did last Tuesday.

The meal at Loch Fyne was incredible, the food is absolutely gorgeous.  There actually is a Loch Fyne in Scotland which the original restaurant is next to, it is only 38 miles from where Ken grew up, and all round the restaurant are pictures from Scotland, so Ken feels right at home.

My main was a seafood platter which was delicious but very messy - definitely not a first date meal.

My dessert, so decadent it was outrageous, was a chocolate fondant with salted caramel sauce, pistachio icecream, and clotted cream - I swear it was at least one thousand calories!!!



It was a lovely evening with my beloved and despite being another year older I felt very loved.



My Beloved

Now for the cupcake making masterclass - it was at Cinnamon Square, which is a cafe/bakery in Rickmansworth (about 10 min drive away from us) which we like to go to.  The class started at 5pm and ended about 8.45 - there were 8 participants, all women around my age or older, except for one teenage boy who is doing the Duke of Edinburgh award (I felt a little sorry for him amongst all of us).

The instructor Paul was great, even though he was teaching us about cupcakes he gave us lots of tips for other baking we may be doing.  We also got to make roses out of sugar paste, and learnt about decorating our creations.  We had to do everything by hand, so by the end of the night I had a very sore arm, as I usually use my hand held mixer to cream the butter and sugar - you'll be relieved to know that I haven't taken a photo of my very sore looking thumb on which I developed a huge blister and then rubbed the skin off whilst beating.


My first rose







The mixture in process



Pre oven





Post oven - pre decoration



The end result - Masterchef here I come!!

It was such a lovely present to be given and at least Ken got to eat the end result of his gift.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves baking and lives anywhere near a place that does these sort of classes - really interesting and rewarding.  Also good to do something totally different.

So that's it for now - sorry this has taken so long, the results of a very inconvenient chest infection that went on for far too long, but back on track now.

Be good, keep smiling, and eat a cupcake.

Pamela & Ken

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