Sunday 16 March 2014

What a Swell Party

Well it was quite some party!
I'm not sure if the crowds came for the cake or the art but the crowds definitely came yesterday afternoon for the Spectrum private view tea party. There was a wonderful atmosphere... the cakes were fantastic... so fantastic I might have actually eaten four (I wasn't the only one)... four little ones mind you...
 
 
The artwork was amazing... very talented ladies.

Art Van Go made us very welcome... thank you Kev and Viv!

 
And the reception we received, the comments overheard and the feed back were all wonderful. We (that's a royal We... I didn't sell anything)  even sold some work which was very exciting.

 
At this rate I might even persuade the members of Spectrum they want to do it again!

 
Some people even made themselves a special frock for the occasion!

 
I was given some lovely flowers and a gift voucher... why, I don't know, because all I do is boss them all around, but both were very much appreciated.

 
And today I've managed to relax and enjoy the sunshine and actually get some work done in the garden. All in all a darn good weekend!

 
And I haven't forgotten... the recipe for custard creams...

 
I'm not going to type it all out but I'll give you a link to The Boy Who Bakes which is the recipe I use. Just a couple of things I would add, first of all I like to cut out hearts rather than circles but that's just me, and secondly  that the filling is very stiff and you end up breaking as many biscuits as you actually fill, which is not really a problem because you get to eat the broken ones! I tried to pipe it like Ed suggests but the nozzle flew off my piping bag breaking yet another biscuit. So I tend to put a blob of icing on one biscuit and gently flatten it with my finger and then carefully wiggle the top biscuit into place but do not put any pressure on them AT ALL or you end up with a load of crumbs. Of course you could just make a softer butter cream icing by using half the amount of sugar but then you would have to eat the bscuits the same day that you fill them so they don't go soft. But on reflection that's not really a problem!
 
And the person who asked for the spongey sponge recipe... it is just a Victoria sponge baked in a mini sandwich tin.

20 comments:

  1. Yum! Glad the food went down as well as the art. And your hands-on approach to the trickier points of patisserie sounds reassuringly like my own!

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  2. So glad it all went well for you Gina!
    What a spread too...thanks for sharing the recipe! :)
    V xxx

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  3. Fabulous looking exhibition. At there was enough wall interest to distract from the cakes! For a little while anyway.

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  4. Looks like a fabulous event, artwork and cakes look amazing.

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  5. I'm glad it went well, it all looks amazing, both the textiles and the cakes!

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  6. Looks and sounds like a lovely occasion - the cakes themselves were works of art. Glad it was all so well appreciated and you all enjoyed yourselves. Lots of hard work but very worthwhile.

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  7. Gosh, Gina, that is one amazing spread of cakes! And the artwork certainly looks fabulous too! Honestly, this looks like my perfect kind of day out! Isn't it fantastic when all the work invoved pays off so well.

    I'm really glad you had a good weekend and a big thank you for your kindhearted comment on my latest post which touched me a lot :-)

    Stephanie

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  8. Oh YUM!!! Those cakes all look wonderful. I love making those little custard creams -- they're so good and cute. Congratulations on a successful show!

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  9. So glad you had a wonderful weekend! My, those cakes look delicious! yum.

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  10. just visiting for the cakes would be good enough but art work too! I always wish I was closer Gina.glad it all went well. I expect the weather helped.

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  11. It was a lovely afternoon with lovely people. And cakes.
    I want to try making those custard creams. Do you do cookery lessons?

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  12. I'm not in the least surprised that you deserved flowers! Looks a wonderful day.

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  13. So glad that everything went down well. I do wish I lived closer to Art Van Go - on second thoughts though, perhaps not!

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  14. It all looks very grand, that is a tea table to envy.

    The art work looks marvelloous too. Well done.

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  15. It looks like you all had the best time, and the best cakes too!

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  16. I am late catching up with this, but it all looks wonderful and I am sure you really deserved the flowers. Cheers

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  17. Thanks Gina, The event looked great. Wish I could have been there. xx

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  18. Late as ever Reading this blog,so glad all your hardwork paid off. Well done to all your ladies.

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