Sweet Cafe & Bakery

Like, I suspect, a lot of avid home bakers, I had a long term hankering to run my own bakery, come cookshop, come purveyor of interesting, cakey-bakey things.

While I was happy in my career, life has a funny way of intervening and in 2014 I had to leave my job for health reasons. Not knowing what to do next gave us an opportunity, and Sweet Cafe and Bakery was born in March 2015 when we bought a local coffee shop and rebranded it to fit our own vision.

For a while, we entertained North Cardiff with our barista skills and culinary escapades. We sold a lot of hot and cold drinks, snacks and lots, and lots of slices of cake. All home made.

Like all good things, it came to an end and in August 2018 we sold the shop on to new owners.

After a lengthy hiatus I am slowly returning to baking and blogging.

Susie

Comments

Dark Indulgent Chocolate and Walnut Brownies for the Weekly Bake Off

It's been a great couple of weeks in the Bake Off , as Amy has chosen some fantastic chocolate recipes from Mary Berry's 100 Cakes and Bakes . Although I made last week's American Chocolate Ripple Cheesecake, I didn't enter it. Not because it was a disaster (it was incredibly delicious though very rich - Josh has been able to eek it out all week as he only needs a little piece to get his daily chocolate fix!), but I simply ran out of time. So this week, I decided to get my skates on and make the bake early. Particularly as it's brownies. Yes. Brownies. Those dark, fudgey, chocolatey little bites of heaven. But for me, this week was an experiment. You see, I already have a fantastic brownie recipe . It's been made countless times and been played around with to give an endless variety of treats. (Have I ever mentioned Maya Gold in brownies? Yes? Well I'll have to post about them someday soon because they are amazing - like some sort of out of body exp...

Warming Beetroot and Ginger Cake

January is always a grey month. The glow of Christmas and New Year celebrations rapidly fades and gives way to the gloom of a season that at this point in the year seems endless. There are times when I get in from the school run and just want to curl up under a soft, snuggly blanket with Sam, feet entwined as we watch some of his favourite tv while gossiping about our days and what he got up to at school. There'll be a whirlwind of activity a bit later, when the others arrive home from their respective days. Early enough so that we'll catch the last fading of the sun before we hunker down for another night. A necessary part of this is our evening cuppa. Hot, sweet and steaming, and best accompanied by a little something to soak it up. This is a cake for that time. Reminiscent of carrot cake, the veg helps it feel virtuously right for the New Year. It's not overly sweet and there's a little warmth from the ginger and spice. A hit of citrus in the cream che...

Pistachio and Lemon Cake (with a helping of news on the side)

Gosh, where has the time gone? So how've you been? Good I hope. Great stuff. And Me? Not so much. But getting there. I've been away a while, I know. Lots of things happening. Some not, but hey, that's life. Since we last spoke, I've left my job of 19 years (health reasons), and that seems scary. Mike's job was victim to a reorganisation, so that gave him the opportunity to take redundancy. That seems scary, too. As they say, timing is everything. So in a burst of mid-life shenanigans, we've decided to start our own business. A coffee shop. With a bakery - cakery attached. O. M. G. That seems very freakin' scary! But exciting, too. Hopefully soon, we'll be taking on the lease of a small shop near us. Fitting it out, and then opening our doors to entice hungry shoppers with the delicious smell of good coffee and freshly baked cakes. It's going to be a lot of hard work. I can't wait. But I have to. The legalities, yo...

Fold in the Flour ...

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