So before I get into where we came from I’d like to say a big thank you to all my customers and friends. Particularly to my loyal customers who come to all my markets and have been really supportive of me over the last year or two; you have all given me so many opportunities and challenges so THANK YOU!

Now a thank you to someone who I owe a lot to, my mum! And I like to think I inspired her to start making cakes too because one month before my first birthday she attended a sugarcraft course and then made her very first cake, my first birthday cake!

Mum’s First Cake -My 1st Birthday, November 1986 

And over the years she made practically every single one of our Birthday cakes up until the age of 18 when we all got too busy for things like making cakes! I used to love making cakes with her (and still do, although now I’m starting to teach her things!) and one of my favourite cakes that she made me was my 5th birthday cake and it probably is still my favourite cake… a buttercream castle cake. Ever since I was little, I’ve loved buttercream; I used to eat the buttercream and leave the cake! So this was a big hit as it was covered in buttercream and also yummy sweets.

My 5th Birthday Cake – November 1990

These photos are both taken from a scrapbook my mum has kept for the past 26 years and I used to sit and flick through the photos never even imagining I could do it. I always used to think ‘I wish I could do that.’ When I was 15 I was given the task of having to make a cake for my GCSE food technology and I knew straight away I wanted to make the buttercream castle cake. Now, it didn’t quite turn out how I wanted it to…but it tasted good!

My first cake, 2001

I almost gave up after that! I stuck to making things like fairy cakes and rock cakes and just baked occasionally as a hobby whilst planning my career as an actress! I then went to university and studied English Literature and in my final year, I attempted another castle cake (as you can see I like castle cakes!) for my friend Scott. Again, not my greatest cake but it is one of my favourites as it was a lot of fun to make and still tasted yummy! It also used a lot of the tricks my mum used which I loved as a kid – coconut grass, jelly water, lots of buttercream. But I think my favourite thing has to be the hippos – every good castle cake should have hippos

Scott’s Castle Cake, 2008

I then went on to do my Masters and once that was finished in December 2010 I desperately needed a break from studying. So I went off to America and there I made cupcakes! Lots of cupcakes! I kept finding more and more gadgets/toppings and exciting new things for cupcakes which I didn’t even knew existed. These were my first ‘cupcakes’. Yes, I’d made fairy cakes and small cupcakes but I didn’t even know you could get these larger sized cases.

My first cupcakes, Feb 2010

 As you can see, I didn’t bother with any of that piping rubbish or hand made decorations! 2 months later, I started up Heaven is a Cupcake. I created a facebook page and then the orders began to come in. I thought it would be a good way to earn some money whilst I looked for a teaching assistant job but I never got that far… This was the first order I received that was from someone I didn’t know, a box of baby themed cupcakes to go to Gorhambury Manor, St Albans (a good first order I think!)

First Bespoke Order from an unknown, August 2010

After being in business for 6 months I won the 2010 Local Gem Award in the St Albans Food and Drink Festival. And from there it has just snowballed! Now I work full time 6-7 days a week and I couldn’t be happier. You can see how far I’ve come from the very first cupcakes I made to my most recent cupcakes…

Wedding Cupcake Samples, April 2012

And I even got to do another castle cake, an improvement on my first one I think you’ll agree!

So thank you again to everyone who has helped make Heaven is a Cupcake what it is today and here’s to another exciting year!

Happy cupcaking

Lucy x

 This year why not give something a little different for Easter? Here at Heaven is a Cupcake we are constantly coming up with new designs and flavours so why not drop us a line to discuss your bespoke Easter requirements.

Alternatively, check out these fab designs we have on offer…

 Easter Gift Box of 4 Classic Cupcakes £10.00

Easter Spring Cupcakes – Chicks and Bunnies £18 for 6 or £34 for 12 (includes Easter cupcake wrappers. without wrappers – £15 for 6 or £29 for 12)

Divine Cupcakes – £2.00 each, 6 per flavour: Carrot, Double Chocolate Easter Nest, Marble Lindt Bunny and Chocolate Orange.

Mini Cupcake Egg Boxes – just £5 complete with Easter Sticker designs by Joanne Shaw Designs www.joanneshawdesigns.com

Happy Easter everyone!

Bespoke cupcakes from £2.00 each. We can do whatever you want on a cupcake, choose one of our Mother’s Day designs or contact us now for a bespoke quote.

Classic Mum Collection: 6 for £13.50 or 12 for £25

Sugar Flower Collection: £18 for 6 Classic Cupcakes or £34.50 for 12 Classic Cupcakes. (Choose from a mix of flowers or all of the same, in any combination of colours.) Roses, daffodils, hydrangeas, primroses, gerberas. The hydrangeas and gerberas can also be made into a beautiful cupcake bouquet.

Flower Pot Collection: £19.50 for 6 Classic Cupcakes, £37.50 for 12 Classic Cupcakes

Cupcake Bouquets

Small Basket (4 Large Cupcakes): £12.00

Mini Basket (12 tiny Cupcakes): £15.00

Cupcake Pot Bouquet (7 Large Cupcakes): £25.00

Medium Basket (7 Large Cupcakes, 6 Tiny Cupcakes): £35.00

Large Basket (12 Large Cupcakes, 8 Tiny Cupcakes: £48.00

Extra Large Basket (16 Large Cupcakes, 12 Tiny Cupcakes): £60.00

(Baskets may vary depending on stock)

Cupcake Gift Box (from £10.00 for 4 Classic Cupcakes)

Mother’s Day Cakes from £10.00

Giant Cupcakes from £35.00

Floral Cupcakes

“Dear Lucy

Thank you so much for your cakes. Jude really loved them and was so surprised.
So much better than a bunch of flowers !!! She took photos and sent them on to
me as well. They looked fantastic.

It really cheered her up.

Many thanks
Tricia”
Ordered from Australia!

26th Birthday Cupcakes

“I wanted to thank you for the cup cakes you made for me last month. My wife absolutely loved them, especially the two cats! A picture of one of them now adorns her phone!

Many thanks.
Paul”

Bollywood BFC

“The most amazing cupcakes in St Albans!
Lucy..Time and time again you deliver an excellent service which I cannot fault. From the moment I order to the order collected the service is of an exceptional high standard which one would expect and you Lucy go over and beyond.
Thank you again for the amazing birthday cupcake..the look on his face said it in a thousand words.
Harsha”

If you’d like to leave a review, please “click here”>.

You have until midnight on Saturday 11th Feb to complete the tasks. All tasks WILL be verified so no trying to be sneaky as they will not be counted.

No replacement prize or cash alternative.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Only entries received through rafflecopter will be counted

Firstly, and most importantly, Marks & Spencer stores (as well as the online store) boast large collections of roses and various other floral displays that simply scream “Valentine’s Day.” Particularly for men, the tradition of giving flowers on Valentine’s Day has become almost more of a necessity than a gesture, and all of your flower and rose needs can be met at this convenient store, whether you choose to go in and physically pick up the flowers, or whether you’d prefer to order online. They would make the perfect accompaniment to your Heaven is a Cupcake cakes.

There are any number of other things that you can find at such a large and thoroughly inclusive store, all of which could make great Valentine’s Day gifts to go with those listed above. For example, if you are a man looking for a present for your girlfriend or wife, you may want to look at the jewellery section, where there are plenty of class, romantically designed options that are sure to delight her. Whatever the case, and however you personally decide to go about the Valentine’s Day holiday this year, do not forget to consider this store, as it can enable you to create a sweet and thoughtful Valentine’s Day without all of the stress and shopping worries.

We have added our new Valentines Day cupcake designs which are available to order now. There will also be a range of Valentines Day cupcakes and gifts at our market in St Albans Town Hall on 11th February 2012 – our first market of the year! If you’re looking for something a bit different from the cupcakes below then just drop me an email to discuss and I’ll be happy to create something unique for you.

Love is….

Classic: £2.75 each, Divine: £3.00 each (minimum 6 per flavour)

Classic Gift Box of 4: £14.00, Divine Gift Box of 4: £15.00

Red Hot!

Classic: £2.25 each, Divine: £2.50 each

Classic Gift Box of 4: £12.00, Divine Gift Box of 4: £14.00

Love Hearts

Classic: £2.10 each, Divine: £2.30 each

Classic Gift Box of 4: £11.50, Divine Gift Box of 4: £12.50

Cupcake Bouquets

Cupcake bouquets start from £25.00

There are also a wide range of other products available to order for Valentines Day – cakes, cake pops, push cups, iced biscuits and giant cupcakes.

So with Christmas just around the corner I thought it would be a good idea to post some of my latest cupcake and cake creations. I’m sure more will follow!

Novelty Christmas Cupcakes

Winter Wonderland Cupcakes

Red Velvet Christmas Cupcakes

12 Days of Cupcake Christmas – at the St Albans Arts & Crafts Market

Me with All my lovely Christmas treats!

Happy Christmas Cupcaking!

]]> http://www.heavenisacupcake.net/christmas-time/feed/ 0 http://www.heavenisacupcake.net/london-cupcake-shops-review-1/ http://www.heavenisacupcake.net/london-cupcake-shops-review-1/#comments Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:22:04 +0000 lucy http://www.heavenisacupcake.net/?p=681 Again, a month has slipped by without any blog posts. I’ve been so busy this last year I barely find the time to sit down and relax let alone update my blog. One of my new year’s resolutions will be to write blog posts more regularly.

Anyway, last month it was my birthday and I’d been wanting to visit some cupcake shops in London for a while so this was the perfect opportunity. It’s only 20 minutes from St Albans to London so it’s not far!

My sister and I visited Lola’s Cupcakes in Selfridges and Cox, Cookies and Cake. There are so many cupcake shops on my ‘to visit’ list but my little feet can only take so much walking around so we just did the 2 this time!

First up, ‘Cox, Cookies and Cake’ in Soho. I’d heard lots about CCC so was eager to go and see what it was like. CCC was set up by Patrick Cox, fashion designer and Eric Lanlard, reknowned pastry chef so I had high hopes. Unfortunately these high hopes were short lived as when I sampled them at home I was less than impressed.

But before I go into details, first let’s see the shop and see what they had to offer. Now, the shop looks fab. It’s really stylish and very ‘Soho’ – you can tell it was started up by a fashion designer.

The cupcakes look reasonably good and again look ‘fashionable.’ However, they are extremely overpriced. These ones below are £4.00 each. Now, I can understand maybe paying that for the ‘boobs’ and as someone who knows how much work goes into cupcakes, I don’t usually complain about price. But the price HAS to reflect the quality. The decorations were all ready made and none of them had any ingredients that were that expensive to buy. So the main reason you pay £4.00 for these is the name and unfortunately, it doesn’t reflect the quality you would expect.

When I got the cakes home, unfortunately they had been squished on the tubes (won’t be going to London near Christmas time any time soon!!) but that shouldn’t affect the taste too much! There was hardly any cake in the cupcakes. The red velvet cupcakes were half pinkish half vanilla. And the cupcakes were dry. If there’s two things that bug me about cupcakes being done wrong it’s a) dry and b) no cake. Literally the cases weren’t even full of cake.

Luckily, Lola’s made up for these. I didn’t get any photos in Selfridges as it was absolutely heaving, but it’s a cute little counter with a few tables in the food court and it’s right next to Ella’s Bakehouse which has cupcakes, pastries and cookies for sale (they looked amazing. I regret not buying anything from them!) I went with a selection of minis but in hindsight I should’ve gone with my own choice as most of them were just vanilla with different coloured icing. They were nice but my favourite was the one I bought separately which was a banana cupcake. It had a divine cream cheese frosting and a really light, moist cake. I would definitely go back to Lola’s but I think next time I would go for the ones in the counter instead of the ready boxed ones as I think they would’ve been fresher. Here’s me with my box of Lola’s cupcakes looking rather tired at St Pancras Station.

Until next time…Happy Cupcaking!

]]> http://www.heavenisacupcake.net/london-cupcake-shops-review-1/feed/ 0