The Day I Had My Cake And Ate It!
If you could choose all your favourite foods, flavours, food inspiration and blend them altogether in a scrumptious, indulgent melting pot, what would you choose?
Recently I had the pleasure of encountering one of those culinary experiences crammed into one week. My sumptuous week began with a trip to The Cake & Bake Show in Harrogate where I was exhibiting in one of the competitions. Followed by a swift visit to London to visit the iconic food festival, Taste of London which I have attended for the past 9 years and which exudes legendary culinary expertise from all four corners of the world.
However, the icing on the proverbial cake for me was rounded off three days later with another trip to the big smoke to participate in an afternoon workshop of cupcake decorating with non other than the master pâtissier himself, Éric Lanlard at his luxurious cake boutique in Battersea called ‘Cake Boy’. This is how the afternoon unfolded.
My friend and I were invited to the lounge area where we waited for the other ten cake enthusiasts to arrive. Taking in the atmosphere, it is clear to see that Cake Boy, is a cool, seductive and sophisticated place to meet up for coffee and an exquisite cake with friends or a spontaneous glass of bubbly when the mood takes you and for those passionate bakers, there are numerous classes to get involved in and learn from the boss.
The class began with a genuinely warm welcome from Éric which I am sure puts everyone’s mind at ease to focus on enjoying the afternoons activities. Cake Boy aprons adorned, step by step we followed Éric’s instructions to create glamorous, sparkly decorations for our 12 cupcakes.
Patience is required, he made it look easy of course, but by the end of this stage we all managed to produce a variety of sugar paste cake toppers. The next step reminded me of being back at university on my design course as there was a spectrum of paint, glitter and sparkles evident on the table. I couldn’t wait to get creative with this part, suffice to say my enthusiasm and I got some amusing looks on the tube back to our hotel, looking rather similar to an incredibly early Christmas decoration…hey, I love Christmas!
The next stage was icing the cakes and the brilliant thing was that the 12 cakes my friend was decorating were all dairy free and suitable for her dietary requirements. There was enough icing to sink the Titanic! Likewise I asked whether gluten-free cakes would also be an option which Éric confirmed was possible. This means a great deal to me as so often my son’s coeliac dietary requirements is always first in my mind when dining out or participating in similar events such as this. My friend could not have felt more welcome.
As the emporium prepared for the penultimate stage of the afternoon events, you could have heard a pin drop as 12 pairs of eyes as wide as saucers watched Éric decorate the cakes in 3 different styles. As you can imagine our anticipation and enthusiasm matched Éric’s meticulously sky high standard but we will all have to work on our attention to detail to get anywhere close with the precision!
What can I say, the afternoon was slick yet relaxed, enjoyable and fulfilling and topped off with a quick snap with this genuinely sweet, down to earth guy. I need another excuse to return.
And so we left armed with a dozen cakes flavoured four ways and a large helping of achievement and memories from the day. We booked the lesson through Red Letter Days and my chosen gift experience exceeded my expectations. Priced at £50, I believe it was exceptional valve when you consider that you were welcomed with a hot beverage of your choice, tuition by the master pâtissier himself, 12 cupcakes to take home as well as the Cake Boy apron.
I left curious and hungry for participating in the rest of Cake Boy’s Cookery School classes! Thank you Éric Lanlard and Red Letter Day for such a memorable day.
