Oh my gosh and goodness, what a few months I have had. All dreams of keeping up what was becoming a regular and semi-organised blog were dashed this month due to general busyness both at work and with cake making.
We’ve had birthday cakes, christening cakes, wedding cakes, macaroon towers (piles,) cupcakes and ordination cakes, cups of tea, 80s flashbacks, sharks, lions, dogs, and Angry birds. It has been mostly calm, mostly enjoyable and definitely an excellent learning curve.
There have been a few disasters, some absolute tragedies, near misses, getting lost in the dark, and periods of serious overheating. Never a dull moment. It’s been a big test for me, and my worrying and penchant for the over-dramatics but I have learned that I can manage quite well when I set my mind in the right place and just get on with it. I have literally had no time (well, I made a bit of time) to worry!
Now things have settled down I have had some time to look back and see that maybe the cake universe was simply testing my cake-stamina. I think I passed.
A self-proclaimed control freak, I have learned a valuable lesson these past months about not having to do everything, mostly through not actually being able to do everything and, once again, I have no idea what I would have done without my mum and her dedication to Tallulah’s. I literally wouldn’t have been able to take on half the stuff I did and, of course, she has done a fabulous job.
If anyone epitomises the ‘keep calm and carry on’ ideal it’s her. (Not that I’m comparing cake baking to being on the front line… Although there have been times my brother hasn’t dared enter the kitchen.) She was able to re-do a wedding cake in 6 hours after accidentally leaving the original one in the conservatory all day during that week of scorching days. It would have had a lesser woman (me!) on her knees!
I thought things would have slowed down as we got into September but a few last minute orders means I won’t be without something to do for the rest of this month. But I am back down to a 5 day week now so everything seems much more manageable. Hopefully I will be able to find some time to fit in some lovely autumn baking and creating between cakes (we have more brambles than Tesco thanks to a very wild bramble bush in the garden) and find some time to show you what I have been doing with my time!
I will end on some very exciting news: I had a food safety inspection last week, which I passed! It still seems a little surreal at the moment that I now have nothing holding me back and no excuse not to push full force into my little business adventure! Let's see what the next few months bring...
Until next time,
Vicky xx
