The little things add up

After a chocolatey day in the kitchen, two hefty trays of Salted Caramel Millionaire's Shortbread and Rocky Road have been delivered to one of the local cafes who was kind enough to give me a shot and try my cakes.
What a feeling! For a local business to have a moment of faith in you and your baking. Keeping my chocolatey fingers and toes (my toes aren't chocolatey for the record) crossed that they love them, the customers fall over themselves for second helpings, they sell out by tomorrow and it becomes a regular thing.

A red velvet cake delivered to a lady who wanted it for her family this weekend but ended up tucking in by lunchtime.

A batch of cake pops given as a raffle prize and some bonus facebook advertising.

One of the local business mentors asking to book her in for some cake pops in November.

A return customer asking for a lemon drizzle next Friday.

Chipping away at it a bit at a time and keeping the dream going that the little things add up to big things.

Have a lovely sunny weekend Darlings. xxx

Full (cake-baking) steam ahead!

What a week it has been! After being given the go ahead from Environmental Health it has truly been full steam ahead in trying to get the business off the ground. 

Jumping from task to task - it was all too exciting and my head is just bubbling over with ideas that I just couldn't stick to one thing for more than an hour - I'm left with lots of things shaping up nicely and plenty of tasks that I am avoiding.

'Treats, Darling?' is now booked on to Farmers Markets across the county of Dumfries and Galloway - Yes, Dumfriesians there's a cake pop winging its way to you. 
Alas, it wasn't that simple and one thing I learned this week is that I am not on London time anymore. I am not, I repeat, I am NOT in a hurry. Apparently. 

Here, you can take your good sweet time and then some. So despite the efforts in technology and the embedded belief that when you send a trusty email you will receive an instantaneous response (I was brought up on MSN Messenger for Crissakes!) - that simply is not the case. Cue sitting on hands to prevent me sending a bunny boileresque impatient "Did you get my email?" email. 
It's just the way it is. I pop to Tesco and give myself an hour knowing full well I will end up speaking to the checkout girl about the weather for a good half an hour ("CAN YOU NOT SEE THE PEOPLE WAITING IN LINE, LADY?!) Dropping the car in for an MOT and talking about Croydon for twenty minutes (don't even ask me how that is a possibility) and buying stamps and discussing my flip flops for god know's how long (OK, that one I will let slide. They are really pretty).

But simply - people have time. They aren't running at a million miles an hour to catch the DLR, they aren't working 12 hour days, they aren't stressed to the max. It's a revelation. 
Yet, getting a business running, coming from a high speed job and city life is conflicting to say the least. Then again maybe this is how I have achieved so much in just a week - I haven't figured out how to slow down yet.

The website will shortly be launched - if I can just work out how the hell you transfer a domain name. Lots of angry and confused email's have been sent I assure you. New recipes have been trialed and stock, tools and very pretty pink business cards are on their way.

Now time to rest, put my feet up for the evening and play with my new puppy. Yes I even squeezed that in. May I introduce you all to Prince Clive the Chihuahua. It's true love. 

swapping shoes for...sinks?

One of the things I searched high and low for before embarking on my cake business shenanigans was information. Simple and clear information. What are the rules? Can anyone do it? Do I need to have certificates and licenses coming out of my ears? And could I find it? Could I buggery.

So I called Environmental Health - when in doubt just call the first scary sounding organisation you come across, who arranged to visit me. Out came the marigolds. I scrubbed the kitchen from top to bottom. After 5 hours and finding myself far too engrossed in the cleanliness of the bottom of the teabag jar, I deemed the place cleaner than clean and in danger of being renamed the bleach room.

Worrying myself silly I reminded myself that actually Environmental Health are there to help people like me to get it right. Not to stand in our way. 

After giving them entirely wrong directions on how to find me (Great start Jade!) we eventually sat down over a cup of coffee and set about talking all things allergy and sink related. 

The biggest concern is being able to sanitise dishes, pots, pans and all my lovely little tools. And to do this you need two sinks. Oh and throw in a third to keep your mitts clean too. Failing that a dish washer. (For the equipment, not your hands. Obviously).

Not to mention making sure you don't hurt anyone by slipping in some accidental peanuts or pesky gluten.

It sounds scary. But it isn't. Scribbling notes furiously and feeling a bit excited about finally being able to do some shopping (albeit not for shoes but for a dishwasher!)the lovely lady from EH promised to send me links to the things I need, guides to record keeping and said I was good to go! That's it. Treat's, Darling? my cake business baby is taking it's first steps.