The Crazy Month Of December

My goodness, what a month I have had. I should start at the beginning…

On Monday 1st December, I woke up under the same roof that Charles II would have woken up under many times, many years before me. My wonderful Mr. C found a little piece of heaven called New Park Manor in the New Forest where we could enjoy a little much needed R&R. The Manor was a favourite hunting retreat of our patron King and his mistresses – Barbara Villiers even stayed there. It is now a hotel and spa.



The building is steeped in references to the Restoration. The guest rooms are even named after great women of the era and each door is hung with a portrait to match. We were in a suite named after the Queen, Catherine of Braganza. Our floor to ceiling windows overlooked the front of the property and into the forest. I disregarded the driving rain, opened up the heavy sash window to look outside and started to cry. I acknowledge that I was a bit tired and emotional (it has been a long, heavy year and this was our first break together in a long time) but there was history in this place, in the walls, in the ground, in the trees; there was a connection.





As I lay on the beautician’s table, I drifted in and out of various levels of sleep and awake whilst having a facial and tried to imagine how long the journey from London would have been for the Royal party. I tried to imagine the Royal table set up in the dining room that we ate in the night before. I imagined the King taking his walks about the grounds and leading the hunt out into the forest. Most of all I cursed myself for being a heavy sleeper and missing the opportunity to be haunted by some remnant of that time gone by. Before I knew it, I was being told to take my time getting up and dressed.

That afternoon, Mr. C and I bubbled away in the hot tub outside on a crisp December afternoon, watching the horses and deer frolicking in evergreen surroundings, and we wondered when our world would next be so blissfully quiet.

The moment we returned, the work resumed. I was painting sugar cameos, gilding sugar cherubs, stamping out sugar snowflakes and making load after load of ButterCream in preparation for Animal Aid’s Christmas Fayre.





I took Thursday 3rd out of my office to make 4 Dairy-Free Celebration Cakes to give out free samples. On Friday 4th, I was back at my desk looking after not only my own 2 bosses (a COO and SVP) but also the CEO of our company. This made me number 1 PA in the office for a day… and it was a busy one!

Once I was back home on Friday night, I was back in the kitchen whipping up 120 Vanilla Cupcakes.

Saturday morning, I made an early start on the Pretty Pleas, Cinnamon Swirl, Chocolate, Nell and Minette Cupcakes to complete the menu. By 12:30am on Sunday 6th December, 500 Cupcakes and 4 Celebration Cakes were stacked up ready to go to the Fayre. A bottle of Cava later, I was sound asleep.



The Fayre was amazing. Restoration’s stall was constantly busy and we met so many fabulous people. The free samples were a hit (who says no to free cake?) and the Cupcakes were flying off the shelves of our 7-tier cake stand. The feedback we got was amazing! Though a few potential customers may have been disappointed with our disregard for any aspect of healthy living at our table, the majority were enthusiastically enjoying a sugar-high on us! I have never seen so many happy faces!

So it has taken me this long to recover from the excitement and the long-hours but now I finally have the opportunity to say a massive thank you to everyone who came along on Sunday. Thank you for your custom, your comments and your lovely emails! Please do all keep in touch and I will be sure to keep you abreast of all things Restoration Cake.

And finally, I extend my heartfelt thanks to the amazing Restoration team, without whom, none of this would have been possible.

Kate – Thank you for your impeccable sense of style, thank you for staying up late with me on Saturday night icing Cupcakes, and thank you for staying on your feet all day on Sunday. You are the most stylish girl I know and you are fabulous. www.thefabricofmylife.wordpress.com



Josh – Where did you come from? I think you must have fallen in from the heavens! Who knew that you were such an amazing salesman? Thank you for your time, unfailing energy, and sheer class.



Chris – I couldn’t do any of this without you. Fullstop. Thank you for being my Mr.



Cx

The King and I

It is hard not to be starstruck when walking the halls of The National Portrait Gallery. Aside from the pleasure I get from looking at pictures of famous people, I cannot help but feel overcome by the thought that the canvas was once in the same room as the subject, at the same point in time. My heart delights in seeing the artist’s hand through the brushstrokes of a familiar portrait. It is as if this intimacy with the physical painting breeds a whole new appreciation of the work itself.

I am not an art critic. I like what I like and I love people. Though I may never have known them, there is a connection and a familiarity born of the books that I read and the portraits that I see.

The NPG has kindly put a bench in front of their only portrait of King Charles II as an adult. The painting shows Charles in later life and (bless him) he did not age well. Still, I love to be in the room with this portrait and its significant others – Charles is flanked on the gallery wall by arguably the most important women in his life; Barbara Villiers, Nell Gwyn, Catherine of Braganza, and Minette, Duchess d’Orléans. If only the wall were bigger!

Turning to my left, I can giggle at the iconic portrait of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, as he crowns a monkey with the Laureate’s laurels. Turning myself further around in my seat, I can smile and scowl at various members of the Restoration Parliaments as if they were little more than characters in a story.

Turning back to the King, I consider the character before me. Charles would only have been around 50 years old when this portrait was painted, yet he looks so much older. He died at the age of 54, the most likely cause being a kind of stroke. By this time he had lived more than enough for one lifetime: exiled, fugitive, ridiculed, restored, revered. London had been plagued, burned to the ground, and rebuilt under his rule.

By this time, the playboy King was impotent and in constant pain from a sore foot which refused to heal properly, yet he would never cease his walks or cast off his mistresses. By this time, Charles had dissolved his fractious Parliament and ruled absolutely until the end of his life. He passed this time conducting scientific experiments and winding his many clocks, which he also loved to deconstruct to understand their workings.

The story goes that Charles took several days to die and that he apologised for the inconvenience caused saying, “I am sorry, gentlemen, for being such a time a-dying”. Then when the time came, he departed to the sound of a room filled with ticking clocks.

The real beauty of the NPG is that it allows the wanderer to wander backwards just as easily as forwards. So, lest I become overburdened with melancholy in thoughts of death, I am free to go back to the beginning…



I would urge anyone with an interest in people-watching to visit the NPG… but try not to get caught taking pictures! This is frowned upon.



I resolve never to apologise on camera again as this does not photograph well!

C

New Limited Edition – Minette Choc Chip

Roll up! Roll up! Restoration Cake presents a new limited edition flavour to celebrate Christmas 2009.

Minette Choc Chip is a soft Chocolate Cupcake with a Peppermint Crème centre, topped with Mint-Choc-Chip ButterCream.

Named in honour of Charles II’s favourite little sister, Henriette-Anne – known as Minette by those who loved her – this Cupcake is the latest addition to our Cameo range of tasty nods to great ladies of the Restoration.

Minette Choc Chip is 100% Dairy-Free and will be on the menu at Animal Aid’s Christmas Fayre. Be sure to get in early for these ones!

C









With special thanks to Mr. C for his unending love, patience and support

A Declaration of Indulgence

I am doing my utmost to get myself named in the acrimonious divorce of Veganism and Health Food.

Here at Restoration Cake, we specialise in non-dairy Celebration Cakes and Cupcakes. I can imagine that many of you will be losing the will to live right about now so please indulge me and read on…

As a Vegetarian with a terrible intolerance to onions, I know a thing or two about special dietary requirements. I was brought up to eat what I was given, sometimes even with the threat of no dessert on non-compliance. Luckily for me, this was never really a problem! I would have eaten glass for the promise of dessert. I probably still would.

Seeing what is generally on offer in the British ‘Free From’ sector depresses me. I want to give everyone the chance to have that Sex and the City ‘Miranda outside Magnolia Bakery’ moment. A Cupcake is not a Cupcake unless you get buttercream icing on your nose.

After a visit to a Vegan bakery in New York my eyes were opened to the amazing delights than can be created without the need for animal products. The chocolate and peanut butter brownie I bought there lasted me three days… three days! It was so rich and moist and just… oh my god.

I have a wonderful set of Vegan friends. Each and every one of them is artistic, vivacious, talented and exciting. When I make cakes for my friends, I want them to look fabulous and taste delicious. I would never ask a compromise on this. Many Vegan cakes are made with all natural ingredients and they taste great but they are missing the point. Cake is about indulgence and celebration and frivolity – it should never be passed off as ‘a healthy alternative’. If I want to be healthy, I will have a piece of fruit. Cake is my treat, my comfort, my naughty moment.

Perhaps those non-Vegans or (dare I say it) dedicated carnivores of you may be bemused as to the taste, texture or appearance of a non-dairy cake. I would ask you to look at the pictures below and imagine a soft, light sponge and a sweet, creamy vanilla topping. If we bake with Chocolate, it is a rich, dark Chocolate. If you have ever tried Red Velvet cake, I recommend you try my Red Velvet cake. What you may not appreciate is the overwhelming flavour of egg – remove this and all you get is the flavour of the cake itself.

Still not convinced? Come along to Animal Aid’s Christmas Fayre at Kensington Town Hall on Sunday 6th December and try for yourself. After all, the proof is in the pudding… and I have turned many before you.

C

A Heavenly Host

There are few things more lovely to behold than row upon row of cheeky sugar Cherubs, awaiting their golden gilding.

This week, I began preparations for the Restoration Cake stand at Animal Aid’s Christmas Fayre (the flyer is attached to the end of this post).

I must confess to beaming profusely when my table is littered with handmade sugar mini-bows. Fret ye not, because these babies will keep until you come see me at Kensington Town Hall on Sunday 6th December to purchase a little piece of something truly beautiful and utterly delicious!

C

A Little Of What You Fancy…

My philosophy has always been to find pleasure in the little things: those small everyday miracles that raise a smile and make life worth living. My favourites include running my hand along railed fences, cuddling, and Diet Coke.

Over the last year, we have all spent time considering the price that we are prepared to put on our happiness. As budgets and belts have tightened, louder and louder becomes the whispered notion…

‘perhaps I don’t need all this stuff to make me happy’

I have no intention of going into a lengthy diatribe on a subject that I am sure we are all very tired of by now but I will ask you to ponder on an anecdote from the life of our patron, King Charles II.

As a young boy, Charles was offered every luxury. He had an independent household at St James’ Palace with a large entourage, as befitted the heir to a Stuart Crown. Not unlike other children, Charles had a favourite toy and he took this with him everywhere he went. Whenever the toy was taken away, Charles would cry; he even took it to bed with him. The toy was a small plank of wood.

So it is with this profound love for all the small things that I was busy in my kitchen last night. Cupcakes with a wintery festive theme. Ice blue for the Vanilla, snow-peaked mountains for the Chocolate Cheesecake and sparkling snowflakes all round!

Pictures for you…

C

Wedding Belle

I am just so thrilled to have received these pictures that I simply have to share them.

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and these speak volumes to me about what Restoration Cake is about. This is why I do what I do.

All the hard work is worth it when a beautiful Bride smiles like this!

C

What's In A Name?

And so it is that I have given in to the encouragements of my very talented friend and jumped upon the blogging bandwagon. Here is the first of many plugs: www.thefabricofmylife.wordpress.com

I intend for this blog to be something of a 'safe space' for my mind to wander whilst keeping you, Dear Reader (the first of many old clichés), up to date with all things Restoration.

Restoration Cake was born of my love of cake and King Charles II. You may have had to re-read that last sentence. I read a lot about Charles II and he is something of a personal hero. No doubt I will elaborate upon this at a later date.

Charles' patronage of beauty and pleasure and science and architecture and the arts never cease to inspire me. Yet he was a swan, regarded by history as the consummate playboy King, whilst all the time the feet were frantic beneath the surface of the water. Maybe somewhere in my future musings I will be able to adequately illustrate this point - though for now, you must forgive me because I am trying desperately hard to keep this short and punchy, though my natural style is perhaps more flowery!

You may wonder where this fusion of cake and 17th Century history met... I can tell you that it was in that moment where I finally thought of a name for my cakes to be traded under. I needed a name that meant something to me; something different from the fashionable Hummingbirds and Magnolias. Restoration worked on so many levels.

You probably get the 'personal' element of the choice by now. The name comes loaded with connotations of aesthetics and a general ethos: beauty and pleasure. Forever beauty and pleasure. This is what I strive daily to impart through Restoration Cake.

I leave you with an apt exchange of words and some pictures of my cakes. With both I hope to have whet your appetite.

Cx

Words pinned to the King's bedroom door by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester:

Here lies our Sovereign Lord, the King whose word no man relies on.
He never said a foolish thing
Nor ever did a wise one.

And the King's reply:

My words are my own
But my acts are my ministers'.