What A Year !!! (For The Right Reasons )

It would be a miss of me to take this week not do reflect back over the last 12 months in the life of The Cauldron

Apart from the weekly Blog Post and New Recipe that appears for you on a Saturday , other Items do tend to get spat out 😂😂😂😂

So I will give you a whistle stop tour month by month of some thing some of you may or may not have seen……

Its been the longest and the shortest year ever, for all of us I know.

I can moan on that we are all still sat in the middle of a pandemic , the extra stress and worry working in the NHS on the front line and the slowly depleting health issues with my lupus, that are creeping on me with a loss of dexterity but I wont go there !! ( glides swiftly past and done in a nut shell 😂😂😂 only requires smallest of violins 😜😜)

Loosing friends and followers online to the media toxicity.

Finding a way to deal with that myself has been a journey in itself , and once again must thank my baking group…….for keeping us all grounded and level headed with a place of safety and a vent , united in baking but there in soul and spirit ……

Misfits I applaud you for sticking with it with sweet treats and humour !!

But there is more to be grateful for if I just look for the positives and try to pass up on the negatives

So here goes a Year in Cakes ……..and Sweet Treats 😂😂😂😂

Gluten free and Vegan with the exception of just one purely dairy free item 😂😂

JANUARY 2020

Well as some may know i was called to action to make my very first Gender Reveal Cake ……yep I’m going to be a Granny so here it is !!!

FEBRUARY

A recipe adapted as many are from Tessa Huffs Icing on The Cake Book

I’m truly amazed how slick this looks, the recipe itself isn’t on the blog but it will make an appearance this year, I’ve made it at least half a dozen times in various guises its a total winner !!

MARCH

This was a first !!! Talk about using Google I hadn’t a clue , Zoe Fancy Cakes did😂😂 and I’m great following instructions

And yep its a chocolate Millionaires Cake

APRIL

Not only do I love the pop of colour in the picture and the dream of summer skies at the moment 😎😎

But to be able to ‘just do pastry ‘ gluten free and vegan has been the delight of 2020. To not feel that dread is now something a good stable shortcrust recipe has given me 😍😍😍

MAY

Yes cakes did happen, but May was May and the biggest bake of the year , not done by me. Violet Annie appeared my granddaughter

JUNE

Can Aquafaba Swiss Meringue Buttercream be piped delicately…..

oh yes and on one of the hottest days of the year !!! All hail to the freezer,

Advise if you are venturing this road, make friends with your freezer and your fridge 🙈🙊🙈 i learnt the hard way 😂😂😂

JULY

My pastry love again, my other halves favourite and the key to good baked frangipane is something I need to share with you this year

You really need this in your baking toolbox !!

AUGUST

Well the year cant be summed up without the mention of the hundreds of small baked Items that have gone out the door to The Wellbeing lounge and their Afternoon Cream Teas

We’ve covered , Standard, Harry Potter Themed , Autumn Theme and Christmas Theme . Both as sat in and mostly as take away to enjoy at home due to Covid restrictions and lockdowns !!

I just sit here typing thinking where this will go this year !! But Im sure SJ will enlighten me when she comes up with a novel idea

Ive developed recipes each time for these and all have reached the blog so that if I become ill SJ can at least have someone continue to bake them up for her

SEPTEMBER

Well I have to admit I didnt have a clue !! Who or what Hamilton was, but that doesnt stop me

Late to the party but my first Fault line cake ……I got there eventually 😂😂

OCTOBER

Back of the net Im 95% there to share how to and what to use !!!

These need to be fool proof , like any of my recipes but time allowing you will get these i time for summer !!! I will not be rushed 😂😂😂

NOVEMBER

I get asked I like to oblige , a cake like a bird, now that’s a first

God loves a trier 😂😂😂😂

DECEMBER ……. now it gets silly 🙈🙈🙈

Well what a year !!!

Amazing what can be achieved in a pandemic , but December got busy 😂😂😂

And there is further news

My first recipe was published to be sent out in LONDON POP BOXES December subscription boxes internationally……what an honour !!

But it gets ‘worse ‘ 🙈🙈🙈🙈

I am pleased to announce that I have just had my first 4 recipes published in PlantBased Magazines January Issue 🙊🙊🙊

You heard this hear first and to be in a magazine with BOSH and Bianca Zapatka is mind blowing !!!

There’s a Gluten Free Special inside

So there you go I hope I have bored you enough , but I have sat back and just gone …..really did I do all that 🙈🙈🙈🙈

No wonder I’m tired 😂😂

So 2021 is now here, what will it bring ??

One thing is it will bring low sugar / refined sugar free baking !!!

You see the recipes I meed or want , that’s how it goes

We have a little mouth to feed with a Cows Milk Allergy , we tried we failed!

Plant based dairy products for Violet ……… good job Granny can 😂😂😂

But don’t worry the Adults in the household need their sugar fix you wont go without 😜😜

But here she is the most important Bake of the Year

The Cupcake that has rocked our world and made it a pleasure to be at home in a pandemic……. infact it had some major benefits,

There was time , there was no one to see and nowhere to be for a while 😍

Hope you enjoyed this little snapshot of the year

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