Adult Evening Sewing Classes in the New Year

Finally we have found time to add sewing classes for adults to our busy timetable! The classes will take place every Tuesday or Thursday evening 6.30-8.30pm at the Bake and Crafthouse. 

You can bring your own machine or use one of ours, bring your own projects or follow our projects to improve your sewing skills.  We also have a great range of books you can look at for inspiration!

We will be on hand with expert tips and advice for clothing or homeware projects and equipment and haberdashery you may not have on hand at home. We will also do a mini tutorial each week to improve your sewing skills whatever your ability.

The class costs £16 each week for a 2 hour session. Booking in advance is essential and numbers are limited so there is space for everyone to work comfortably.

The first week will be a taster session costing £10 so we can evaluate each person's needs and plan ahead.

Tuesday class begins January 15th
Thursday class begins January 17th

Please email to book your place: kate@bakeandcrafthouse.com

Christmas Fayres and Markets

Christmas is just around the corner and we have been putting together a lovely selection of gifts and baking like crazy for upcoming markets. Here's a list of where you can find us out and about over the next few weeks or pop into the shop for some Christmas shopping and a mince pie.

Saturday December 1st

Penshurst Farmers Market 

 

Saturday December 8th - Oxford

Fe-Line Christmas Frock n Roll 

Sunday Dec 9th

Sissinghurst Castle Christmas Market 

Sunday Dec 16th - London

Christmas Craftacular

New Issue of Playground Magazine

Tommorrow Caroline from Playground Magazine will be calling in with the latest issue of Playground Magazine and once again she invited me to share a recipe with her readers.

I can't wait to see the new issue but until they arrive it is available to view online so click to take a sneek peak!

And this is Caroline's blog with extra news and articles:
http://magazinemum.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/make-it-yours.html

Christmas Cake Baking Time!

It was strange to be icing my Christmas cake at the beginning of November but I wanted an example to show in the Christmas cake workshop on Monday so it had to be done. In fact I have been making lots of Christmas samples this week in preparation for a range of workshops for adults coming up in the next couple of months (you can just see the table runner underneath the cake)...

There are still spaces on most of the courses below so why not take some time out before Christmas to learn a new craft or make a handmade gift, we'll do all the washing up!! 

Christmas Cake Workshop and Homemade Mincemeat Demonstration

Daytime - Monday November 12^th 11am-12.30pm  

Evening - Wednesday November 14^th 6.30-8pm 

 (decorating class on December 19^th)11am-12.30pm

£20

  Christmas Wreathes

Daytime (fabric) - Monday December 10^th 11am-3pm

£30 including lunch

Evening (paper) – Tuesday December 11^th 6-8.30pm

£20

Christmas Biscuits From Around the World

Wednesday December 12th

11am-3pm

£30 including lunch

Quilted Christmas Table Runner

Daytime - Thursday December 6th & 13^th 11-3pm

Or

Evening - Thursday 8^th, 15^th & 22^nd November 6.30-8.30pm

£45 including refreshments

Pear Gingerbread Recipe

I created this recipe for Pear Gingerbread for the winter issue of Playground magazine which will be published in the next couple of weeks but thought I would share it here too as it's perfect for autumn & bonfire night.

Ingredients:
250ml apple juice (use for poaching then keep 100ml back for the cake)
2 pears
1 vanilla pod (optional)
100 grams golden syrup
100 grams unsalted butter
40 grams black treacle
100 grams dark muscovado sugar
2 medium free range eggs
250 grams self raising flour
2 heaped teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Pinch of salt

Method:
1) Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.
2) Grease and line the base of an 8 inch square baking tin and line with greaseproof paper.
3) First poach the pears for 5 minutes in the apple juice with the vanilla pod and drain, keeping the apple juice for later.

4) Melt together the syrups, butter and sugar in a pan and leave to cool slightly.
5) Sieve together the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
6) Pour in the butter & syrup mix and whisk together, then whisk in the eggs and 100ml of apple juice.
7) Transfer the mixture to the baking tin and arrange the poached pears on top.

8) Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean (check near to the pears as this bit takes the longest to bake.
9) Cool in the tin for 30 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
10) It is delicious warm (with cream!) but tastes even better the next day when the spicy flavours develop. Store in a cool place wrapped in greaseproof paper and foil.

October Half Term Timetable

The timetable of workshops for October Half Term is now online. There are lots of exciting classes planned, I am especially looking forward to the Hallowe'en workshops!

You can see the full timetable over on the website here.

There is a definite autumn chill in the air, the leaves are already turning and I am just baking some gingerbread. It's a new recipe for the winter edition of Playground magazine but I'll share it here later too! In the meantime as it's nearly pumpkin season I was looking back at last year's post, Pumpkin - the no waste vegetable! and making plans for autumn soups...

New Magazine - The Simple Things

I was excited to arrive back from holiday and find issue one of The Simple Things waiting on my doormat. It is a brand new magazine from the publishers of Mollie Makes and although I spend a lot of time these days reading articles and blogs online you can't beat a proper paper magazine; sitting down in a comfortable chair, away from the computer with a cup of tea and a slice of cake with no distractions!

Autumn always makes me feel like spending more time at home. I love this season for getting back into the kitchen, trying out new recipe ideas gathered on my travels over the summer, sewing, knitting again and finally getting around to the DIY jobs that have been on my to do list since spring but somehow didn't seem as important in the summer months.

The Simple Things is the perfect companion to this autumn mood as it celebrates the small things that make a difference in the longer term. There are articles about the Slow Food movement, markets to explore, specialist producers and shops, gardening, seasonal recipes and crafts and decorating ideas to try.

What I like best is that the focus is not on shopping and spending money to make improvements but on rediscovering simple pleasures and making small changes to enjoy life a little bit more. I will definitely be trying the spice cake with rhubarb recipe, though perhaps with some pears, and it has reminded me to plant some bulbs now to cheer me up next spring!

http://www.thesimplethings.com/

Sissinghurst Smallholders Fayre

It was so hot at the weekend I really did not want to bake! However, it was one of my busiest baking weekends of the year so far with Sissinghurst farmers market on all weekend alongside their annual Smallholders Fayre.

The hot hot weather did not stop customers wanting cake and the weekend was great fun. I also tried out a few new recipes that I have been thinking of for Autumn, it's always exciting to be baking something new and seeing people's reaction and the Sticky Toffee Pudding Pie, pictured below, went down a storm as did the new Toffee Brownies (so well I didn't have a chance to photograph them!)

I thought I would just share a few animal pictures from the weekend with you, my husband, Metin, took these...

We are off to Norfolk for bank holiday weekend to visit my parents, fingers crossed for more of the scorching sunshine then, and a little break from baking!

Sissinghurst Famers Market All Weekend!

Sissinghurst Farmers Market is running all weekend alongside their annual Smallholders Fayre.
Friday, Saturday & Sunday 10.30am-3.30pm.

Bake and Crafthouse will be there everyday selling a lovely selection of cakes and deserts including toffee & gluten free brownies, giant meringues, lemon tart and sticky toffee pudding pie! We are situated inside in the old oast so don't worry about the weather!


 

108 Best of British Cupcakes

I have just completed my first large cupcake order. 108 cupcakes on a Best of British theme for a 21st birthday party. Strawberries & cream & chocolate with white chocolate frosting.

I hope the guests enjoy them!

 

The Shopfloor and a trip to the Lake District

A few weeks ago we went up to the Lake District to visit friends in the bustling market town of Ulverston. We had a fantastic time, walking and cycling and sampling lots of cakes, including a delicious lemon tart in the cafe at Brantwood and lovely traditional coffee cake in Cartmel (home of sticky toffee pudding!).

Ulverston is a festival town with events thoughout the year, during our stay it was the annual flag festival!

However, the best part of the trip was visiting the new shop opened by mother and daughter Denise and Samantha Allan of The Shopfloor Project. Sam and I met several years ago when we both had stalls at Spitalfields market in London, we kept each other company as the cold crept in through our feet and spent all our profits on hot chocolate from the local cafe and homemade marshmallows from A. Gold on Brushfield Street! 

The Shopfloor has been selling for several years online and built a reputation for unusual, interesting and limited edition items carefully curated by Sam and Denise. Their beautiful new shop opened just before Christmas and is filled with their fantastic finds from all over the world. It was great to see all their products in the flesh and hard to resist buying everything! But if you can't make it to the shop then most items are available on their website - http://www.theshopfloorproject.com/menu.html

 

PLUS! They are located in the heart of the conservation area on Market Street, next door to Gillams Tearoom, another great place for tea and cake!

Bake and Crafthouse Pop Up Cafe

I promised details of my pop-up cafe in June so here they are! Every Monday in June I will be having a pop-up cafe here at the Bake and Crafthouse and Hammamas who have their studio upstairs are selling their gorgeous Turkish towels.

You can take a look at their website to browse before you visit, they will be offering special discounts and on Monday June 11th I will be offering 10% off in the Bake and Crafthouse shop.

New In - Kauniste Finnish Textiles

I have just received a parcel of lovely Kauniste textiles to sell in the shop... Kauniste works with a variety of young Scandinavian designers and all their products are all hand printed and handmade in Finland using traditional screen printing techniques and environmentally friendly inks and linen mix fabrics.

I am stocking two bags and a lovely tea towel design so pop in soon to take a look! You can also find out more on the Kauniste website here:
http://www.kauniste.com/index.php?lng=en

New Summer Sundae Tea Towels

As I mentioned earlier in the week I have have been receiving lots of packages filled with new goodies for the shop. The latest from New House Tetiles contains (amongst other treats) this lovely ice-cream tea towel designed by Charlotte Farmer and printed in the UK.

It is so bright and colourful and coupled with the lovely weather this week it feels like summer is finally here!

Sissinghurst Farmers Market

We will have our stall at Sissinghurst Farmers Market again this Friday, but there is so much going on at Sissinghurst at the moment that it is not the only reason to visit!

On Friday the Sissinghurst ranger, Peter, will be doing a Hedgerow Ramble, more details can be found on their facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=492685620761089&id=332852743411045

Plus, last week The Guardian published a great walk to follow around the estate:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2012/may/13/sissinghurst-estate-kent-walk

The weather also looks lovely... I think that is plenty of reasons to come and visit!!

New In - Wrap Magazine

All week I have been receiving deliveries of the new summer stock for the shop and today I was especially excited to receive the copies of issue 4 of Wrap magazine.

The magazine is created by Polly & Chris who are based in Oxford and the concept is brilliant. The magazine features articles on a different theme each month and on the reverse of every page is an exclusive original artwork that can be used as wrapping paper, their youtube video here demonstrates perfectly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ChcwmPsLXM&feature=autoplay&list=ULjjXTrVht7C4&playnext=2

The theme for issue 4 is North America and aims to give a taste of what is going on creatively over there right now, I have just spent a good two hours reading and looking up all the inspiring links online (I really should be working). It is truly a beautiful magazine, i don't know if I will be able to pull my copy apart for the wrap!

So, come and pick up a copy and have a look at the other lovely new products at the Bake and Crafthouse. In June I will be having a special Pop-Up Cafe on Mondays, more details coming soon...

Wrap website: http://thewrappaper.com/
Wrap blog (with some great images of the magazine being printed!) http://wrapmagazine.tumblr.com/

First Hen Party at the Bake and Crafthouse

A few weeks ago I had my first hen party at the Bake and Crafthouse.

Marika, the bride, and her five lovely hens made gorgeous Liberty print knickers, delicious cupcakes and ate a yummy afternoon tea. Some of the ladies had never sewn or baked before but the results were fantastic!

There are lots of options for hen parties or workshops for office team-building! Or if you just fancy a get together with your girlfriends to try something new, just email to find out more.

Summer Issue of Playground Magazine

The new issue of Playground magazine is out now and features another original recipe from the Bake and Crafthouse, Marmalade Chocolate Torte. This twist on a classic chocolate torte adds a delicious orange flavour and slightly bitter edge, perfect with vanilla ice cream on a summer’s day!

I am just waiting for copies of the magazine to arrive at the shop so until then you can take a look online:

click here to see the latest issue

And here is a sneek preview of our recipe page...

Penhurst Market Tomorrow

Just finishing packaging up my biscuits for the market at Penshurst tomorrow. The weather forecast is terrible but I have baked lots of lovely deserts so hopefully it won't put people off!

Half Term Holiday Timetable

The timetable for half term holiday in June is now online here.  Lots of great activities planned and exciting Jubilee workshops.

A New Fabric Bag

I have just finished a trial of the new shopper for a children's workshop in half term so I thought I would share the results.

I got this pretty cotton fabric in Japan last year and I have been meaning to use it ever since so I'm glad to have finally got around to it!

Sissinghurst Farmers Market

From next Friday, April 27th, Bake and Crafthouse will be selling at Sissinghurst Farmers Market in the grounds of Sissinghurst Castle, owned by the National Trust.

I will be making a delicious selection of biscuits, tarts and meringues so come and see me there if you can!

Spring Clean and Stool Makeover

No classes today so I have spent the day cleaning after a busy Easter season and given all the Bake and Crafthouse stools a colourful spring re-vamp ready for the new term!

Penshurst Market - April

I have had a really busy few weeks over Easter so unfortunatley no time to blog but I just wanted to share a photo from the farmers market at Penshurst Place which took place on Easter Saturday. I make desserts for this market and I was quite proud of my little table this time!

My husband helped out in the kitchen on Good Friday so he deserves a mention too, it was great to have a helping hand with all the whisking!