Long live the cupcake!

There was a time, not so long ago, when I wouldn't have thanked you for a cupcake. 

As pretty as many of them are, a cake that often has more decoration than sponge doesn't really do it for me.  I can be left feeling a bit ripped off, not to mention that it can be a bit of a sickly sweet affair.  

I certainly wasn't of the mind that I wanted to be regularly baking and decorating large quantities of cupcakes.

Surely though," you may well suggest, "someone who starts a business along the lines of Teatime Vintage should have been expecting to be baking cupcakes on a regular basis shouldn't they?".

Well, call me naive if you will, but no, not I. 

My grand plan had been to stick to 'full size' cakes made from natural and locally sourced ingredients wherever possible.  I am happy to go 'mini' if we are talking about an individual Victoria Sponge or lemon drop.  And I can't fault a homebaked macaroon or french fancy.  But cupcakes?  No thanks.  Not for me.  No Sir-eee.

All well and good.  Except I am now a baker of, lover of and fan of, the cupcake.

So why the change of heart?  Well, we were asked to provide cupcakes at a Jubilee Market a few months ago and then again in hosting the tea party at a large vintage fair.  Now, I may have my baking principles but I'm not an idiot - we are a new business and we need the exposure.

So, I set about looking for a compromise.  I wanted to produce a more 'rustic' looking cupcake.  The flavours and ingredients needed be as seasonal and natural as possible just as with any of our other cakes. 

The look and recipes of the fabulous Hummingbird Bakery cupcakes became my (not-so-secret) weapons.  Lavender, vanilla, lemon, strawberry cheesecake are up there among my cupcake flavours of choice. 

Rather than a heavy dollop of piped icing I've mastered the pallet knife application of butter-creaming the deliciously gooey sponge offerings which are then topped off with such delicacies as a sprinkle of lavender blooms, grated lemon zest, fresh strawberry slices, whole raspberries or shavings of chocolate.

The Vintage Tea Party (hosted by Teatime Vintage)
 at Sheffield Vintage Fair, July 2012

I have to admit that these 'pretty and rustic cupcakes' - which sit happily along our other cakes - taste divine.  And the family love them so I'm baking them all the time now, for both work and pleasure. 

And so, however you like yours, join with me people when I stand tall and proud and say... "all hail the cupcake, long may you reign!".

Charity tea party - part two

Sharing the love from our first charity tea party back in June with these wonderful photos taken by the very talented Maria Marshall...

All set and ready for the fun to begin!

Individual place settings made with rosemary and lavender picked fresh that morning from our very own garden. 



The menu

Homebaked sea salt water biscuits with crab seasoned with chilli, lemon and corriander

Guests of all ages

Finger sandwiches with smoked salmon & cream cheese, egg & cress, tuna & cucumber

Macaroons, lemon drops and chocolate fudge brownies



Tea party in full swing in the Function Room at the Harlequin Pub

Some of the props we used to dress the venue - the picture, "Butterfly Collective (01)" is available to buy in our little shop in The Nichols Building Vintage, Arts & Crafts Centre in Shalesmoor, Sheffield

Our chocolate dipped strawberries were a huge hit!

Tea tastes nicer when sipped from a china tea cup - FACT!

Anyone for retro pick 'n' mix?



Chocolate mice, strawberry lips, foam mushrooms, jelly beans, sherbert lemons, cola cubes, bon bons...can we tempt you?

Ju with her favourite customer of the day

Ju and Andy with Sara from Patisserie Lola - we finally sit down for a well earned break, and some cake...obviously!

Charity tea party

Well, we've been and gone and done it...last weekend we held our first charity pop-up tea party!

It was quite an intimate event really.  We had 24 guests - 17 adults and 7 children to whom we served up this menu:-

It was great that all who came were complimentary about both the food and the styling of the event. It always feels good if you can surprise people and give them a little more than they were expecting.

We  worked hard to create a nice atmosphere turning a traditional pub function room into tea room heaven... these place settings, made with freshly cut lavender and rosemary for our garden, provided a wonderful aroma as well looking pretty.

Our pictures, lamps, candlesticks, vases, trinkets and books all added to the scene setting...

Once we had covered costs, we have been able to donate £115 to the Children's Hospital Charity. We'd hoped to raise more but it's not a bad start really is it?  Hopefully next time we can host a bigger event and get people who are directly involved with the next charity to work with us to encourage greater numbers to attend.

If you have a charity close to your heart and you'd like to work with us to raise money from our next charity pop-up tea party then we'd love to hear from you - email teatimevintage.2012@gmail.com

And in the meantime, I'll leave you with these photos of our youngest son who not only took great delight in our tiny cake tins but also tasted a strawberry for the first time...I'm sure the fact  that it had been dipped in chocolate had nothing to do with the fact he ate three but has since refused to even look a non-chocolate strawberry in the eye... ;)

Eat cake!

Our cakes have been getting around a bit during the past week.

Last weekend we were very happy to deliver two cakes to 'Eat@ the nichols building' which is the cafe at the fabulous Nichols Buiding Vintage, Arts and Craft Centre in Shalesmoor, Sheffield.

And here's Darren who runs the cafe, pictured with our cakes - a classic Victoria Sponge dripping with cream and raspberry jam along with a rich Guinness Choclate Cake.

If you haven't been to 'Eat@ the nichols building' yet you really should pop yourselves down there.  It's full of character with mismatched furniture, wonderful works of art and vintage treaures - most of which are available to purchase.  Not only that but you also get to listen to real vinyl tunes in all their retro crackly fabulousness!

The downside of me delivering cakes to Eat is that I end up spending more money than I'm earning because I can't help myself from exploring all of the fab units that make up the Nichols Building Retro Centre. 

"Don't buy any more furtniture"  was the instruction from Andy as I got out of the car.  And I didn't.

I did, however, manage to bring home lots of lovely old cake tins and a jar of banana chutney which sounds strange but tastes AMAZING!

I need to thank again, the lovely Louise who owns and runs the Nichols Building, for kindly lending me a collection of gorgeous fancy silver teapots that have  to help 'dress' our charity tea party that was to take place the following day - but that's another story entirely...

Sample cake selection

Samples of our mini-victoria sponges - both classic style and our updated version with buttercream and fresh raspberries and blueberries - and a chunk of Chocolate Guinness Cake are now with a potential customer...we hope they enjoy them and place an order!

Thankfully we had lots left over which we are now tucking into with gusto - it's a chore, but someone has to eat them ;)

Good news!

Sometimes it's all about being in the right place at the right time isn't it? 

And it would seem that our right place at the right time was ten days ago at the Jubilee Vintage Fair at The Nichols Building Vintage, Arts and Craft Centre.

A lovely lady who writes the fabulous Pretty Used Things blog stopped by our stall and took some photos that later appeared on her blog. 


 Another lovely lady from The (amazing) Vintage Fair Company read that blog and saw the photos of our stall.  And then she contacted us atTeatime Vintage to ask if we would be interested in running the tea party at the the next Sheffield Vintage Fair in the Town Hall on the 14th July.

WOULD WE EVER!!!!

We are so happy and excited about this, and also incredibly thankful to Gina from Pretty Used Things for including us in her write up about the Jubilee Vintage Fair.

Thank goodness we (as a company) were wearing our best frock and had remembered to put our lippy on that day :)

Tea party!

We're having a party!  It's a tea party!  Not only that but it's a 'pop-up tea party'!

Mad Hatters Tea Party - a John Tenniel illustration taken
from the book Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

 And we're just a little bit excited as you may be able to tell :)

We'll be 'popping up' on Sunday 1st July in the function room of the Harlequin Pub in Shalesmoor Sheffield where you can join us for some delicious teatime treats... delicate finger sandwiches, sumptuous cakes and decadent handmade truffles all served up on the finest of our vintage china collection.

Not only that, but profits from ticket sales will be going to the fantastic charity that is The Children's Hospital Charity.

Tickets must be purchased in advance of the event.  You get to choose between two time slots:, from 12 noon until 2pm OR 3pm until 5pm.

"But how do we get them there tickets?"  and "how much are they?"  I hear you cry!

Tickets can be purchased by either emailing teatimevintage.2012@gmail.com with details about the number of tickets you require and which time slot you wish to attend, or by phoning Ju on 07920 422 337.

Tickets cost £10 per adult, £5 per child under 12 and under 2's come free!

Co-hosting the party with us will be our friends Patisserie Lola.  As well as baking up some gorgeous treats for you to indulge in during the tea party, they will be bringing along a selection of artisan desserts that can be taken away and the most unbelievably good hot chocolate that everyone should sample at least once in their lifetime.

Here at Teatime Vintage we are already preparing a retro sweet bar to bring along and will also have some handcrafted items available for purchase.  20% of takings on the day will also go to The Childrens Hospital Charity.

And if real ale or a sip or two of gin or rum is more your thing then you couldn't be in a better place than the Harlequin who have a mighty fine selection of all three - I can't recommend the Geranium Gin enough!  Drinks from the bar can be brought up to the tea party.  All we ask is that you remember that a tea party is a civilised affair and as such the drunk and disorderly will be thrown out ;)

Hurry hurry hurry! Tickets are limited to 25 per time slot so don't delay, get your tickets today!  :) See what I did there?  "Don't delay, get your..."  *ahem....bows head in shame and wanders off...*

Enough of the madness already.  Seriously people,  this is a really worthy charity that you will be supporting and we promise that we'll make it all real pretty and tasty and glam.

Please come along, we'd love to see you there!

 Mad Hatter: "Would you like a little more tea?"
Alice: "Well, I haven't had any yet, so I can't very well take more."
March Hare: "Ah, you mean you can't very well take less."
Mad Hatter: "Yes. You can always take more than nothing."

Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll.

Jubilee Vintage Fair - part two

The day of the Fair began with another early start to bake the final batch of cupcakes of the lavender variety.

It was then time to pack up our (small car) with the first load to be transported.  We are realising that we may soon need to invest in a van!

Arriving at The Nichols Building I began to feel a little nervous.  What if our stall didn't look very good?  What if no-one bought anything?  We soon began to feel better when the lovely ladies from 'Betty Willow', the stall next to ours, arrived.  It was their first time too so it felt as if we were all in it together.

We set up and before we knew it the place started to fill up with potential customers.

 Initially sales were slow - a bit too early for cake and sweets maybe? - but about twenty minutes in, we had our first sale and things picked up from there.  Our most popular item was definitely our mini- Victoria sponge cakes which soon sold out.

There was a fantastic atmosphere in the centre, a real buzz about the place, helped along by the fab music and Lindy Hop dancers.

It was a great experience for us and we were really happy to have been a part of the day.  The best bit by far though was the people we met...our neighbours from Betty Willow, the gorgeous Dolly from Dolly's Delights, a permanent unit in The Nichols Building, the lovely lady from the brilliant Moonko - another Nichols Building unit holder - a fantastic company who promote emerging artists.

Thank you to all our customers who bought cake and sweets.  You gave us some very positive feedback which really made our day! 

Thanks also to Darren in the cool and quirky Eat Cafe who very kindly helped us with baby food preparations (special thanks from our 10 month old Will who was very hungry!).  And also to Louise who runs The Nichols Building Vintage, Arts, and Crafts Centre for letting us be a part of a brilliant day!

Our next adventure is to be our first pop-up tea party on 1st July with profits from ticket sales going to Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity.  More details about that tomorrow...

________________________________________

Dolly's Delights and Moonko can be found on facebook, @komoonko, @NicholsBuilding and Darren Beadsley @Eatatthenicholse can be found on twitter.

Vintage Jubilee Fair - part one

Well, we've been and gone and done it!  Our first 'official' outing as Teatime Vintage :)

Yesterday we had a stall at the fabulous Vintage Jubilee Fair at The Nichols Building Vintage, Arts & Crafts in Shalesmoor, Sheffield. 

For anyone yet to discover The Nichols Building, well, let me tell you, you are in for a treat!  Made up of little shops within one big showroom, you walk in and find yourself surrounded by the most gorgeous mix of vintage and handcrafted items available to buy from a central sales desk.  And not only that, but there is the coolest quirky cafe you could hope to have a cuppa in!

Before I move on to 'the big day', I'll start by sharing a little about our preparations...

Saturday - the day before the 'big day' yesterday - was, to say the least, busy busy busy!  The day began at 6am when, with my head full of ideas I felt the need to get up and get cracking! 

I started by finishing the crafting project that I had been working on which is now know as 'The Butterfly Collective".  Inspired by traditional Natural History Museum framed butterfly collections I had decided to use an old framed canvas sourced locally and in need of a new lease of life.  I'd already painted the canvas out and was ready to apply the  (paper) butterflies that I was using.

I've always had a bit of a 'thing' for butterflies, bugs and birds - maybe it's a wing-thing?! I really love this piece (photos to follow in part two!) and will find it hard to let it go should anyone choose to buy it.  But rather than feel sad I plan to create a whole collection of pieces around this theme.  Until it is time to say goodbye to these butterfly friends the pictures will become part of our styling 'kit' at our pop-up tea parties.  Hiring them out is another possibility.

Anyway, back to my busy Saturday.  The day moved on with a marathon baking session!  Now, although I have a love of baking and feel confident in my baking abilities, the Jubilee Fair was to be my first attempt at selling my baked goods to the public.  I was feeling a little apprehensive about this. Would they be good enough?  Would people buy them.  If they did buy them would they like them?  Or would their faces crumple in disgust at my attempts?

I wanted to create an interesting selection of tasty treats from which people could choose.  I'd agreed, when signing up for the stall, to produce cupcakes but I wanted to ensure that there would be an interesting choice of flavours.  So I went with lemon, lavender, and banana and chocolate which sat alongside the more traditional vanilla and the good old favourite chocolate.

Mini-Victoria Sandwich cakes topped with raspberries and blueberries were added to mix along with lavender shortbread biscuits and lavender floral cremes - possibly the sweetest handmade sweets that have ever existed in the history of the entire world!

As my marathon baking session came to a close I picked up the childcare baton from Andy who had been looking after baby Will all day.  Andy was now free to prepare our retro sweet selection in the vintage style jars we have been collecting - no rest for the wicked ;)

At the end of a very long day we all collapsed in to bed with our heads full of what was to come the following day....

Hello!

And welcome to Teatime Vintage :)

We are a new company who are about to launch.  This makes us excited - very. And apprehensive - a little.

'We', are Ju and Andy.  We became more than a little bit obsessed with vintage china when we started collecting it for our wedding last year (April 2011).  This is us on our wedding day...

 And this is some of the vintage china we collected..



You can read more about our wedding by clicking here.

After the wedding we couldn't bear to part with the beautiful china we had collected.  And we'd had so much fun collecting it that we didn't want to stop doing that either.  So, instead, we began to put together plans for 'Teatime Vintage'.   We would hire out our china collection to others getting married and having parties.

And so, here we are.  We don't want to stop there though.  We have lots more to offer.

In addition to being able to hire vintage china and linen from us at Teatime Vintage, you can also pick and choose from the other services we offer - from event planning and styling through to bespoke decorations, cakes and catering.  We're passionate about helping others to personalise their events - weddings, birthdays, anninversary celebrations christenings, hen parties, tea parties -making them all the more special.

We will also be holding stalls on vintage markets.  Our first stall will take place on Sunday 3rd June at The Nichols Building Vintage, Art & Crafts Centre (First Floor, Shalesmoor, Sheffield, S3 8UY) at the Diamond Jubliee Vintage Craft Fair.



Here we will be bringing to you a retro sweet selection, a few pieces of vintage china available to buy, handcrafted pieces and homemade cakes and chocolates.

And finally, an idea we're very excited about.  We will soon, along with our friends from Patisserie Lola,  be hosting our first pop-up tea party.  We hope that these will become regular events.  The profits from ticket sales will go to a different charity each time.  Which means that you get to indulge in a relaxing afternoon tea made up of delicious tea-time treats served upon our finet vintage china, whilst at the same time benefitting local charities.  For more details see our new website.

These are exciting times for us.  We're looking forward to getting things up and running and can't wait to get out there and get stuck in!