The Candy Haul

Our little pumpkin went out for trick-or treating a few short weeks ago. Is it already November 25th?! Look at all the loot he collected. They counted his big brother's candy and there was about 350 pieces of candy! Almost one for every day next year; oh how the dentist must love Halloween. I think a large quantity has already been squirreled away for a children's charity or a big birthday party.

Below: some creatively carved pumpkins along the route. I do love freshly roasted pumpkin seeds with a little bit of salt. Not a fan of the pumpkin pie though, it always just sits at our table and people take a tiny piece of it then it gets left in the fridge for a while hoping to be eaten, Italians don't really do pumpkin unless it is in ravioli, and even then I think that is a recipe from the north.

It is Thanksgiving this weekend in the Excited States of America so am sure there will be a lot of pumpkin pie consumed. Enjoy the holidays to our friends south of the border. Renee, I want a pic of your bird! xo

 Happy Burfday!

Happy Burfday Big Sister Dolce! Although it is frowned upon to lick your spoon at cooking school, she got away with it as she was a guest for the evening. Big Sister Dolce's birthday gift was a night of cooking: chocolate roulade with a ginger and cream filling and sea bass with gremolata and cannelini beans with a white vinegar and caramelised onion sauce (my favourite part of the meal). We even de-scaled and filleted the fish, now we are ready for a fishing trip!

It was a great evening and she even got to wash the dishes too - that's what happens when you are a guest of honour! Thanks to Leith's Cooking school for being so wonderful.

Camden calling

Cute seats in Camden Market for you to eat your food purchased from one of the food stalls; sweet little Vespa butts. We had great dinner at Gilgamesh a while ago for Burger's birthday and Sat. night had some great Indian at Masala Zone for big Sister Dolce's last night in Londontown. All was great at Masala Zone, they have the friendliest staff in all of London - we had the nicest and smiley-ist waiters ever!!

It was a great evening followed by La Clique (get tickets!!!) and some dancing in Soho with Quinn Snr who was also in town. The only thing was there was a disgusting display of Booze Britain when the two jerks at the restaurant were sleeping and falling off their chairs at the table behind us, they were a such a horrible display of drunkenness - they couldn't speak or keep their eyes open. Why go to a restaurant? Go to a bar and sleep in the corner there dumb-asses!

I haven't been to Masala Zone in ages but will surely return shortly as their Thalis are scrumptious and those lovely smiley waiters were such a treat!

No bribes! Cupcake feedback

I wish everyone would be as nice as this and take their time to email me feedback! And I didn't even have to pay him! Thanks Anthony, will slip you that tenner via Paypal ;)

From: Anthony Hawgood
"Kate gave me one of your cakes to try yesterday with my mid-morning cup of tea and I can honestly say it was heaven! I thought of the ad where the whole world stops because the person is eating a piece of cake...that’s how I felt! The cake itself was substantial without being heavy (there’s nothing worse than “too doughy”!) and the icing was real melt-in-the mouth (made with real butter?)

The other great thing about these cupcakes is that they’re not too sweet!

Thank you for the best cupcake experience I’ve ever had.

Today's Le Dolci News

We spent a lovely morning (nice and early!) at the Covent Garden Flower Market buying supplies and on our way picked up a copy of the Wood & Vale newspaper and LeDolci's Lisa was the pg. 3 girl! Our story was on page 3 with a snap of me and some cakes and cupcakes. The journalist and photographer were super lovely!

x

Check out Springwise.com!

Le Dolci had a piece on the new biz on the world famous newsletter, which I read religiously. Along with George the Greek (in Toronto!), who spotted it on there before I did. It is a great weekly read and everyone should sign up! Thanks Springwise! Check out the piece here!

Kate & Armand's Cupcakes (that they didn't get to try!)

Kate was in a meeting and her team devoured them, she only found out later while on the train when one of her colleagues said, 'yummy cupcakes' and Armand from Brands2Life was sick so I sent his batch to Jake at Response Photographic to be photographed professionally. Even Kevin there was tempted to eat them before Jake photographs them tomorrow morning!

Kate's Cupcakes (that she didn't get to try!)

Launching today - Le Dolci.co.uk !

Le Dolci, London's newest cupcakery and its only weekly Cake Club!  After a few months of doing cupcake towers for friends' weddings, I decided to start my own business making cakes and cupcakes! 

Le Dolci offers London's only weekly cake drop service (large and small boxes filled with cakes, scones, brownies, biscotti and more) and I do cupcake treats! I do specially tailored cupcakes for corporate clients/journalists/musicians - e.g. A PR agency  recently sent a box of our cupcakes tot the Guardian and they gave us a 9/10!

I make homemade sugar decorations of guitars, stilettos, handbags, beer bottles, hearts, baby booties and more! So cakes/cupcakes can be tailored to any occasion.

There is a gallery with some images on the brand new site www.ledolci.co.uk and more to follow in the next few weeks. Enjoy and please pass the word on to other cake addicts or give our cakes a try!

SIGEP in January

Looking forward to this trade show in Rimini, Italy and seeing family that live there. My favourite baking cousin and lovely wife from Toronto are also joining in the fun. I think all those Saturday's hanging around in my uncle's bakery (Tempo Bakery) watching the cake decorating, eating gelato, testing pastries and being a pest to my Aunt had had a deeper effect than I thought. The did let me use the cash register if I was extra well behaved, oh what a treat that was!

SIGEP is the International Exhibition - Artisan Production of Gelato, Pastry,
Confectionery and Bakery - I hope I can taste test!

Exeter Street Bakery's Chocolate Bread

Did I already blog about how delicious the chocolate bread is from Exeter Street Bakery? It is a simple pleasure!  And their slogan is parfait - TRADITIONAL BAKING, PERFECTLY DONE. What more could you ask for? I have brought a few customers to the place and they are all regulars now.