Have you thought about cupcakes to promote your brand? Cupcakes are a great way to entice people into coming to see what your business is all about. People can’t refrain from the little sugary delights of a cupcake, and what’s more, nobody can resist free cake.  It’s a win win for your business.

It’s a quirky way that will often stick in people’s minds, a real talking point. People use social media sites a lot these days and will often  Tweet/Facebook/Instagram about it which is great for you because your brand is printed on the top of them, giving you a wider audience.

Below are some of the companies I’ve worked with. If you’re thinking about getting some corporate cupcakes done and you’re in or around Liverpool then contact me via the contact form.

Corporate Cupcakes Liverpool

Steve is renowned for throwing cake at people at his gigs, he estimates to have thrown over 1120 cakes, that a lot of cake!!

Now, those who know my style of cakes, will know I’m up for anything quirky, so making cakes to be thrown at people was right up my street. The brief was to make 6 x 16″ cakes with the words Dim Mak on. After reading an interview with Steve I found out the type of cakes he liked, so adhered to that. Me being me I decided to pipe around each cake with a different colour. Whilst I was waiting for the cakes to cool I thought it would be a nice idea to make him a little set of cupcakes so I quickly made him 4 cupcakes.

I’d like to say a big thank you to Adam & Elissa, I was made up to be asked to make these, I gained mega cool mum points from my 16 year old, so I’m totally happy!

I have lifted some of these photos from Steve’s Facebook page, I did ask if I  could use them but I heard nothing back. So I’m sorry for stealing your pictures.

Copyright of Steve Aoki

Copyright of Steve Aoki

Copyright of Steve Aoki

Steve Aoki Cupcake

Steve Aoki Dim Mak Cakes

Steve Aoki Cupcakes

If you’re not familiar with The Liverpool Music Awards, it’s the brain child of Merseyside Woman Of The Year 2013 nominee Elinor Phillips. Ellie created the awards to honour the heroes of the music industry of Merseyside: not only local musicians, but also those behind the scene, who facilitate and inspire others to create and perform. Last years awards were going to be hard to beat, and although the launch party was only one day ago, this years awards looks set to be bigger and better.

Last nights event saw local musicians take to stage, first up was Silent Sleep. Silent Sleep is the music project of Christopher McIntosh who by his own admission play sparkly sad and darkly romantic songs. Check out Silent Sleep on SoundCloud here.

Next up was singer/song writer Katie Nicholas, a Liverpool girl influenced by country queen Dolly Parton. You can listen to Katie’s music here.

The Hummingbirds took to the stage after Katie. The Hummingbirds are a 6 piece skiffle folk band from the shores of Merseyside. The Hummingbirds won the Liverpool Music Award 2012 “One to Watch”. You can check them out here.

As if that wasn’t enough the last performance of the night was Rise And Fall by Alex Evans. Rise And Fall was written by keen musician Michael Molloy. Michael tragically died last year in a coach accident on his way back from Isle of White’s Bestival which also killed 2 other people. Kerry Ogden and coach driver Colin Daulby. Rise And Fall is currently at number 26 in the UK Top 40, help get it even higher buy purchasing the single, it’s a great listen, you won’t be disappointed.

Nominations for the Liverpool Music Awards are now open. If you love Liverpool music then make sure you nominate your favourites. Check out Liverpool Music Awards for more information.

Pictures are used with permission from Fotopia

Alex Evans & Micheal Molloy – Rise And Fall

The Hummingbirds

Katie Nicholson

Silent Sleep

Liverpool Music Award Cupcakes

APRIL – 27th, 30th

MAY – 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th

AUGUST – 10th,11th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th

My advice would be to book in as soon as you can.

Never a day went by in my mums house when she wasn’t baking, decorating or cooking something amazing. Being surrounded by that must have paid off for my sisters and I, for we all now have businesses in making your sweet tooth stand to attention.

I’ll start with the eldest, Julie.

Julie is a mean cook, she could even made horse meat taste good, Tesco’s missed a trick there. She’s a food snob, which makes every meal she makes divine. She’ll slave for hours creating the most mouthwatering dishes. She’s also a keen baker and recently set up Butter Cups. Julie is kicking breast cancers head in right now and is undergoing chemo and radio, she’s showing it who’s the boss, so please be patient if you want to order.

Next in line is Jackie.

You’ll often find Jackie in her kitchen baking for the hell of it. She spends all her spare time practising her sugar craft skills, and she loves to make wedding cakes. As you can see from the pictures below she’s got mad skills. Every flower is meticulously placed and great care is taken to make sure she gives you the best cake she can.

Then comes Sarah.

Sarah has just set up her business, Sweet Treets, a bespoke business where she makes the most lavish sweet trees and other sugary goodies. The latest string to her bow is her chocolate pizzas, she only launched them last week and already orders have gone through the roof. All of her goodies make great gifts and treats for people, she spends hours on them, making sure they are of the highest standard. Through Sweet Treets you can also order my sister Jackies cakes. Make sure you check it out.

Then there’s me, Braidy.

Well, you all know what I do. I like to make stuff out of sugar paste, always striving to be better, always thinking outside the box, and always being grateful for being able to make a living from a business that gives me so much happiness.

My sisters business are all based in Hereford, my home town, so if you’re in need to a sugary fix Herefordians you need to check these girls out.

I often think that if I ever went to live back in Hereford the 4 of us could open up a place, I’d call it Little Mo’s after my mother. The place would be filled with cakes and candy, there would be murals on the wall that my brothers had painted and there’d be a sweet smell of success in the air. Most of all, there’d be a picture of the most beautiful woman I know, my mum.

I hope we make you proud mum.

Made by Julie

Navy Wedding Cake by Jackie

Variety of sweet trees by Sarah

made by Jackie

To raise funds and awareness the super folks at NWCR (North West Cancer Research) are fronting a bake off, which is to be held at Leaf on Bold Street on 22nd March.

There are 8 categories: Victoria sponge, cupcakes, French macaron, scones, biscuits & cookies, cheesecake, occasion cake, and loaf cake. Entries are £5 and all monies go to NWCR. Judges are Cherry Healey and Masterchef: The Professional’s winner Claire Lara. Pop along, bake cake, help NWCR and eat cake, sounds like a winner of a day to me.

I was telephoned by a lovely lady named Alison asking if I’d like to take part in a bake off article to be featured in the Liverpool Echo. Having fought cervical cancer, and kicked its ass I was delighted to be involved in something that highlights gynaecological cancers. I was featured alongside Stephen Maddock from The Little Macaroon Shop, Nina Halliwell from The Albion BakeHouse and Ceri Newton from Gorge’us. You can veiw the article here. Why not have a bash at all the recipes yourselves.

For more information about the bake off, click here.

A few of the children that attend have attended for the last few sessions, and I can really see the progress they make even though I teach them how to make something different each time. This time we made frogs.

I just thought I’d show you a few photos of this session.

If you’re interested in bringing your child along to the next session during half term then make sure your keep your eye out for dates.

My son was unsure what kind of cake he wanted, he did suggest some ludicrous ideas at first, ideas that I thought Carlos Bakery and Charm City Cakes might struggle with, but then came the creative’s dream words “you can do what you like” HELL YES, that’s what I’m talking about!

A cake I’d been wanting to try for ages after the success of my Super Mario cupcakes, was a Super Mario cake, so it was a no brainer that this was going to happen. Luckily for me, my 8 year old is Mario fan. Phew!

I decided to keep it simple and not over complicate the cake too much, but in all fairness, I wish the cake had been about 4 tiers, I had so much that I wanted to add to it, but I felt that giving the 8 children at the party half a cake each wouldn’t of been good for the waist lines, so I just made the one.

Me being me, the inside of the cake wasn’t going to be normal coloured. Oh no! I decided to stripe the sponge red and green for Mario & Luigi. It had to be done.

The parents and children loved it, which absolutely made my day, so did the lovely comments I’ve received about it on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, so thank you.

I hope you like it as much as I enjoyed making it.

It’s been a tough week here at SIWF (Say It With Flours) HQ and I am in much need of a few days break. I have thoroughly enjoyed my first Christmas as a cake decorator, granted the  long nights and early mornings have taken it’s toll, I swear I have awoke with a Halloween mask some mornings, only to discover it’s my face. Not good. But, alas, it all came good in the end, which is the best part of the job.

I just wanted to say a big thank you to all of my customers, and all of those who have supported me over the last year, you really don’t know how much it means to me. I hope Christmas is good to you this year, enjoy your time with friends and family.

Right, best dash, I am sure I just heard sleigh bells on my roof……… He’s here!

Merry Christmas, and all the best for 2013.

Braidy. xx

I had never intended to bake full time for a living, it came about quite suddenly and unexpected, but it’s something that I’m glad I got the opportunity to pursue. As with any business it took a couple of months to build up, and now it’s in full flow, it’s totally taken me by surprise. I count myself lucky every day to be doing a job that I love.

I’ve learnt a lot in this first year, the best thing I’ve learnt that is I can do things if I put my mind to it. Being self taught means I’m learning everyday, which is the way I think it should be in business. Trends and themes change constantly which is one thing I love about having such a creative job, I love bringing people’s ideas to life.

The hours can be long and stressful but that is repaid by the look and comments on people’s faces when they see and try them, totally makes it worthwhile.

My first year has brought such wonderful experiences. I was tasked with making Star Wars cupcakes for the Liverpool Tattoo Convention Gala Ball. If you follow me on Twitter you’ll know that I have a huge love for tattoos, so to be asked to do these cupcakes was amazing, tattoos and baking = win. Thanks to Ant & Hazel Nichols for asking me to make them.

I appeared in the Liverpool Echo as a result of baking some thank you cupcakes for my oncologist Jonathan Herod on my 6 year clear anniversary. He is a man that I owe my life to and I have so much respect for him and the team at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital.

I was also asked to do the cupcakes by Elinor Phillips for the Liverpool Music Awards. It was such an honour but I was so nervous to be undertaking such a task. I normally don’t get to see people eating my cakes, so I spent the night nervously looking round at peoples faces, the verdict, thankfully, was good. I was lucky enough to be invited to to the VIP area of the awards, go me eh! I was busy talking with my husband when in walks Mel C from The Spice Girls, Melanie bloody C of all people, a real life Spice Girl. I tried for ages to act cool but the stalker in me got the better of me and I asked her for a photo. Melanie obliged and posed for a photo, thanks Mel. I thought the night couldn’t get any better, until I checked Twitter to see that she had tweeted a picture of my cupcake. I had thanked her for doing so and she tweeted me back to say “Your cupcakes were AMAZING” I didn’t think I’d be star struck with anyone famous in my life, but when faced with a Spice Girl that all went downhill. Thanks Mel, you made my night. If ever you fancy cakes just holla.Not only did Mel C tweet about them but Andy from Lawson did too. I didn’t stop smiling at all the day after. Massive thanks must go to Ellie for her support of my business this last year.

Another high point for me was being selected by Dragons Den star Theo Paphitis for his #SBS. If you’re not aware #SBS means Small Business Sunday. Each week Theo reviews and chooses his favourite six who are then re-tweeted to his 300,000+ followers, which provides a massive boost to the chosen businesses. I managed to drop off a box of cupcakes for Theo at his opening of the new Boux Avenue store in Liverpool One to say thank you. I couldn’t stay to meet him as I had deliveries and baking to do, which was a shame, but again thanks to the medium of Twitter Theo tweeted me. Thanks Theo for picking me as one of your #SBS winners, I have met some super businesses through it.

There really are too many other people to mention, I suppose the ones who need the biggest thanks of all are those who have championed me and my business over the last year. I have no doubt that I wouldn’t of been able to do the above things had it of not been for your support.

I’m a very lucky lady. Here’s to another year.

Braidy. xx