NEW!!! CUPCAKE WORKSHOPS!!

Following the success of our Chocolate Glitz and Glam Workshops and Christmas Cupcakes Workshops that we ran through October and November, we are now launching a list of new workshop dates for the new year.

 

Throughout these workshops we will be showing you a range of techniques and tricks of the trade to ensure you produce perfectly decorated cupcakes every time.

 

Below are a list of classes running from January 2013.

Vintage Workshop - £35.00 per person

Learn how to get the best out of your cutters and moulds using specialist tools to create lifelike flowers, lace and buttons. Take home a box of 6 beautifully handcrafted cupcakes.

 

 

***Tuesday 29^th January 2013 – 7pm-9pm***

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Valentines Workshop - £25 per person

Create a box of 6 chocolate and vanilla cupcakes decorated with roses, hearts and hand piped messages, perfect to take home for your loved ones.

 

***Tuesday 12^th February 2013 – 7pm-9pm***

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Chocolate Glitz and Glamour Evening

- £25 per person

Create a box of 4 beautifully decorated chocolate cupcakes, you will learn techniques including sugar bows, large roses and ribbon roses.

***Tuesday 5^th March 2013 – 7pm-9pm***

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Cupcake Bouquet Workshop - £30 per person

Learn various piping techniques to create different flower effects using buttercream nozzles, build your own bouquet of “cupcake flowers” perfect for a mother’s day gift.

 

***Thursday 7^th March 2013 – 7pm-9pm***

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 These workshops can also be great gifts to give at Christmas!

To book your space or to buy a gift voucher phone Yew Tree Cafe:

 01564 792979 or email for details: rachelscupcakes@live.co.uk

National Cupcake Championships

This year we entered The National Cupcake Championships 2012 with our:

"Gluten Free Sticky Toffee Pudding".

On 12th June we were informed that our cupcake was shortlisted to be a finalist and we were invited to The Institute of Contemporary Art, London, on July 2!

Our home at Yew Tree Cafe was also a finalist at the national competition with a Savoury Cupcake entry – Wensleydale, Pear and Celery.

Finalists were required to bring 10 identical cupcakes to The ICA in London where a team of celebrity judges including Edd Kimber winner of series 1 “The Great British Bake Off”, Royal wedding cake designer Fiona Cairns and Gerhard Jenne founder of famous London Bakery “Konditor and Cook” put the cakes through their paces.

Whilst our cakes were being judged all of the finalists were invited to watch a number of demonstrations given by lots of influential people within the cake making industry. Our favourite was a vegan cupcake demonstration given by Melissa Morgan of Ms. Cupcake based in London.

We have always had a large customer base with special dietary requirements and found that you don’t have to compromise on taste when baking without certain ingredients such as gluten. This was a perfect opportunity for us to demonstrate how good our gluten free twist on a classic pudding really was!

Once the demonstrations were finished we got the chance to have a look at all the entries on display and chat to some of the other bakers. It was lovely to see some of the other creations and interpretations of the other contestants.

When the judging had finished and we were called into the presentation hall we were absolutely over the moon to be awarded the:

 “Best Free From Cupcake 2012”

Since winning this award sales of our Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcake have gone through the roof selling to everyone, not just coeliacs!

We are so incredibly happy to be given recognition from such established bakers in the industry and we will hopefully continue to go from strength to strength!!

Rachel x

National Cupcake Week takes place between 17^th -23^rd September 2012.

www.nationalcupcakeweek.co.uk

NEW!!! Biscuits Range!

We have just launched a new range of cupcakes "The Biscuits Range". Homemade cupcakes inspired by your favourite biscuits! After the growing success of our "Jammy Dodger" and "Cookies and Cream" Cupcakes we thought we would transform some more of your teatime biscuits into cupcake treats!

The biscuits we chose were:

Chocolate Teacake

Fig Roll

Bourbon Biscuit

Custard Cream

Jaffa Cupcake

Choc Chip Cookie

FIG ROLL

A Vanilla Cupcake with a fig jam centre topped with a vanilla buttercream sprinkled with shortcake crumbs, finished with a fig roll!!

CUSTARD CREAM

 A vanilla cupcake with a white chocolate custard centre topped with a vanilla buttercream combined with crushed custard cream biscuits!

 

CHOC CHIP COOKIE 

A vanilla cupcake with a hidden giant chocolate chip, topped with a vanilla buttercream combined with crushed choc chip cookies with a mini maryland on top!

 

JAFFA CUPCAKE

A vanilla cupcake with an orange curd centre topped with a chocolate orange buttercream and a mini jaffa cake on top!

BOURBON BISCUIT

A chocolate cupcake with a chocolate cream centre topped with a chocolate and crushed bourbon buttercream with a bourbon on top!

 

CHOCOLATE TEACAKE

A chocolate cupcake with a hidden raspberry jam centre topped with a chocolate teacake (layer of biscuit, marshmallow and chocolate) with a swirl of chocolate buttercream, topped with red and silver glitter!

 

 

Come along to Yew Tree Cafe today to try our daily selection of "Biscuits Range" or pre-order a box of the full range today for just £9.99!! 

 

To pre-order your selection call Yew Tree Cafe on 01564 792979.

 

Rachel x 

Jubilee Weekend!

Well despite the miserable weather we had a very successful Jubilee Weekend with cupcakes flying off the shelves! Our Jubilee Specials - a selection of vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream topped with red, blue and white sprinkles topped with handmade flags, crowns, roses and lots of glitter - were a sell out!



 Along with a selection of cupcakes we also offered a "Jubilee Cream Tea" with patriotic napkins, fresh strawberries and lashings of clotted cream!

My personal favourite of all of the Jubilee inspired treats was our Fresh Berries Union Jack Cake. With a generous layer of fresh double cream sandwiched with strawberries and topped with blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and more strawberries this cake was a winner!

We hope you all enjoyed your jubilee weekend as much as we did and celebrated in English Style "with raincoats and brolly's!!". We look forward to the next royal celebration! 

Rachel x

Yew Tree Cafe Wins Two Awards!!

So we have had a very busy past couple of weeks again. Yew Tree Cafe (our home!) was nominated by the British Sandwich Association as "Coffee Bar Sandwich Retailer of the Year".......and we WON!!! The awards ceremony took place on the 18th May 2012 at The Lancaster Hotel London where we were presented the award.

The cafe was shortlisted after meeting tough criteria set by The British Sandwich Association (BSA). Undercover judges visited the cafe and looked at presentation, atmosphere, facilities, cleanliness, innovation and customer service. High scoring on all parts meant that we beat off the stiff competition from the likes of Estro Cafe at Debenhams (Newbury), M&S Tasting Cafe (London) and Greggs Moment (Newcastle)!

Along with being nominated for such a large national award Sue Price-Whittle (owner of Yew Tree Cafe) was announced the winner of her category for Sandwich Designer of the Year too!

Sue won her category, Goddess Tuna, with a “Tuna Chiang Mai Wrap” which wowed the judges with its Thai flavours of coconut, cashew nut and chilli complementing the sponsors tuna ingredient perfectly.

Sue said “We could not have won these awards without the support of my excellent team of staff, loyal customer base and the warm, friendly surroundings of the craft centre and its individual businesses.”

Following the success of Yew Tree Cafe at "The Sammies" we are now looking to expand our staff and looking for an Assistant Chef and additional Waitress to lighten the load!!!

With the weather so nice at the moment what better way to enjoy the sun than come along to the Cafe of the Year for a sandwich and a cupcake!

Hope to see you all soon!

Rachel x

Our First Blog Post!

This is our first blog! Today we are launching our new website and so we thought we would keep you updated with all of the goings on at Rachel's Cupcakes with our new Blog! So far has been a very successful year for us and we are hopefully going to continue our successes! We will be entering the National Cupcake Championships again this year after becoming a finalist last year. We are already developing some strange but wonderful combinations for our entries in the "Savoury Cupcake" category and also for the "Best Miniature Cupcake" so keep your fingers crossed for us and we will let you know how we get on!!

Attached is a picture of our finalist entry from last year "Chilli Chai Latte"

Rachel x