Fun Icebreakers for Meetings

This was a conference meeting of 100 medical professionals. The organisers asked me to do an inspirational speech in which I shared my story about how I became Cookie Girl.

I talked about how, having started by selling cookies, door to door, to people at work, I had progressed to being the market leader for corporate cupcake experiences. After this our cake decorating class took place.

I have been a professional cake decorator for over 20 years. This has enabled me to create cake decorating classes that are not only filled with fun, but are also a great opportunity to foster culture and community in the workplace.They are shown to improve team & client relationships, create lasting bonds and improve the mental health of employees.

We have lots of other work social event ideas, including decorating biscuits and bento cakes . We are also, always excited to bring your own unique ideas to life with our bespoke options.

Recipe Book 'Eat Me!' Anniversary

I can't believe that it was 10 years ago today that my book was released!

So much has happened since then. I've had two little girls and I've also sadly lost my amazing Mumma, who played such a big part in the creation of the book. It was a big success getting to number 17 in the book charts and receiving a huge amount of press.

I felt that my life and career was on an upward swing. Nothing could have prepared me for how much having the girls was going to slow down my trajectory. Luckily, being self employed and having my own business meant I was able to mainly be a stay at home mum, which I am truly grateful for.

What I hadn't realised was how hard it would be to continue building up my profile as a performer and writer. Now, 10 years later I finally feel as if I am back to where I was then. My podcast has recently ben released, which is a fictional story based on “The Cookie Chronicles”, similar to the column I wrote for 5 years for Grove Magazine. I

t has taken a while for it to sink in that (unlike when I was first wanting to act and write) I don't need anyone's permission. I don't need a director, producer or casting director to deem me worthy to be who I want to be. I can create my own material and connect with people through it.

There are so many routes to an audience and the technology to do it ourselves. Watch this space! xxx

Husband & Wife Private Cake Class

Husband & Wife Private Cake decorating Classes london

Kelly’s husband Bill is a great baker. She thought it would be a perfect present to give him one of our gift certificate for a private lesson. And she decided to book a cake class for two so that they could attend together.

Bill was really keen to get his cake decorating skills to a high level so we worked through beginners, intermediate and advanced cupcake decorating techniques. I taught them both how to make cream cheese frosting which has a good ‘flow’ for piping rose swirls and classic swirls.

I also taught them how to make a firm buttercream frosting which is ideal for the advanced buttercream piping techniques. We use this to pipe ruffle swirls as well as individual petals one by one. I also explained that all the buttercream piping techniques could also be used on a full sized cake.

At the end of the 3hr cake making class they were thrilled with the end results and went home with two dozen beautiful cupcake creations to share with their friends and family.

Dinosaur Cake Class

When Morgan asked me if I could give her a baking lesson to help her make her little boys birthday cake I was thrilled to help. I thought that my dinosaur cake was the perfect model for him. I pre baked the cakes (one 4pt pudding basin and one 2 pint pudding basin) with a vanilla sponge recipe. (Here’s one I made earlier: http://www.cookiegirl.co.uk/blog/2016/9/20/dinosaur-cake?rq=dinosaur%20cake) . We spent the first part of the cake class assembling the sponged together (securing them with wooden skewers) to make a cute dinosaur shape. Morgan and I then set to work creating the eyes, tail, mouth and teeth out of rolled fondant. We made up a large batch of bright green buttercream and I gave Morgan a demonstration in using a palette knife to cover the cake with a thick layer of icing. We then added the eyes, teeth, mouth and tail to create a cute and friendly edible dinosaur. We managed to finish the whole thing within our 3hr half day private baking lesson. Morgan sent me a video of the cake which was a huge hit and she got lots of great feedback for her work.

Cake Decorating Class in London

Here is our first cake making class at our new venue in White City. When we decided to move back to our own flat for various reasons we knew that we would not have space to have anything other than small private lessons there. Initially, we put all our group cake decorating classes on hold. I really wasn’t sure what we would do with regards to a location. Then I remembered that when we had left the area 8 yrs ago the company that were building the Imperial College building at the end of our road, offered to build us a community centre. I went to have a look at it and I couldn’t believe how perfect it was for our fun filled cake making hen parties, team building events and cake classes. Now that we have done a few events there they seem very keen for us to book in as many cake workshops as possible. Also, because it seats up to 80 and even has a projector screen (perfect for powerpoint) it is ideal for conferences, networking and client events. I look forward to sharing lots more images of the various cake classes and workshops that we have planned there.

Fondant Cake Decorating Classes

I had a lovely morning on Saturday teaching Aimee and Beejal how to make sugar paste roses by hand in our full day cake making class. They also used cutters and moulds to create a variety of different sugar paste flowers and leaves to create a stunning range of floral cupcakes. We also spent time working on their buttercream piping techniques and using rolled fondant to cover the cupcakes. Although both of them are keen bakers neither of them had any experience with piping icing or working with fondant icing or sugar paste. They were surprised to discover how straightforward it was to construct these beautiful adornments. It is really about knowing the correct equipment to use and having the process broken down into simple step by step instructions. The girls absolutely loved their cake making class and are looking forward to coming back to do more soon.

Hawaiian 8th Birthday Party

I’d had the idea ages ago to do a Hawaiian themed party for Cosy Mae’s 8th birthday party. The combination of palm trees, pineapples and Hula girls just seemed like an inspiring combination for a cake table. Also, being June I thought we were pretty much guaranteed sunshine- ha! In the lead up to the forecast every report I read predicted rain all day which was hardly surprising as it had pretty much rained every day leading up to the party. By some miracle the sun came out and we were blessed with blue sky and temperate weather. It was a big relief as we had 20 kids coming and had recently moved out of a house and into a flat with a huge communal garden. It would have been really depressing (and very claustrophobic) if we’d been rained off and had to be inside. We had some brilliant games; limbo, hula dancing statues, Hawaiian treasure hunt and of course parcel parcel, as my kids call it (when will they grow out of it?!). As usual, like a nutter, I spent weeks planning the cake table and then a couple of weeks prepping and making the contents for the cake table. On it we had; Hula Girl Birthday Cake (Oreo flavour), Tropical flower cupcakes, iced biscuits (Palm tree, Pineapple, Mermaid and Ice cream), Hawaiian Hula Bark, Tiki Cake Pops, Sea and Starfish Meringues. I used an orange cotton fabric to make a sunset colour back drop and table cloth (I finally got a piece of foam board to use as a backdrop base.) I was pretty pleased with the over all effect although I do always wish there was a professional photographer on hand to capture my hard work before it is all devoured and demolished by ravenous kids.

Team Social Ideas London

It was a real treat to have the opportunity to go back to The Milestone Hotel to host this fab cake making baby shower. Amy, who organised the cake making workshop, had seen the cake decorating event we did for Celeste Bickle at the Lanesborough Hotel and wanted to do something similar. We were happy to suggest The Milestone and the girls were absolutely thrilled with everything about it; the setting, the service and the superb afternoon tea. And our cake making workshop of course. Cupcake decorating is the perfect activity for a baby shower (as well as hen parties) and the girls, many of whom had travelled all the way from the USA for the baby shower, absolutely loved it. They found it a great ice breaker and really got inspired by all our fabulous sprinkles, Especially the unicorns and mermaids. This was a double baby shower and most of the guests were friends they had made at London Business School. They really loved getting to so such a creative activity that is so different to what they do in their work lives. We had a lot of requests for our contact details so we are lookig forward to seeing some of them again at team building, networking and client events where they can further improve their cake making skills.

Work Social Event Ideas

It was an absolute blast working with WeWork as a part of their brilliantly curated Christmas activities and experiences for their staff. The lovely Annick had done a terrific job creating a varied and inspiring range of pursuits for both WeWork employees and members as client events. We set up ‘Pop Up’ cupcake decorating area and we were absolutely inundated by people wanting to have the opportunity to try their hand at cake making. I was really impressed by the standard of cake decorating and their were a lot of really imaginative cupcakes being created. It always surprises me when people talk about cake decorating being a women’s thing. On this occasion there were definitely a lot more men than women taking part. And there was a lot of competition between them. I always find this when we are doing team building and conference activities, the guys always take it much more seriously than the women do. It’s such a great idea to create all these varied experiences for their member’s to get involved with and fosters a real sense of community and belonging as well as a great opportunity for some networking. I have worked for WeWork before hosting a cupcake decorating workshop as a team bonding activity for one of their monthly mixer evenings. It was really fun and they were a lovely group. I was really impressed by the London Bridge venue and loved the concept of what they do and how they do it. This time working at Devonshire Square I learnt so much more about the company ethos and discovered just why their employees love working there. They are a really young company and have such a fresh approach to running a business. They are really into sustainability and have a no plastics policy. They also support refugees as their priority charity. As you know this is close to my heart with my fundraising for help Refugees through my initiative #Bake4Refugees. A lot of businesses are wary of showing support for this cause as it has become so politicised so I really admire and respect them for this. We had such great feedback from everyone and they were so appreciative of what we offered we are really looking forward to going back to do more cake events with them soon.

Red Velvet Cupcake Class

For her birthday Dan wanted to bring his wife Ellie for a private cake baking class with me. She was already an able baker but wanted to learn to lift her cake making skills to a more professional level. It was such a thoughtful present and she was thrilled that he had splashed out on a private lesson rather than a group cake making lesson. We had a really fun 3hrs together. She had never made red velvet cupcakes before so was really excited to try the recipe out. They came out absolutely perfectly which was a great boost to her confidence. As Dan was not sure about that flavour and much preferred good old classic vanilla cupcakes we made those as well! Dan got involved with the swirl piping too. They were very happy to be taking home two dozen cupcakes and a signed copy of my recipe book. What a great couple!