Strawberry Tea

The name of this blog is 'Cupcakes and Threads' and I haven't told you much about the Cupcake part yet have I?! So here goes. Last Summer I really started something at work when I suggested that we hold a Strawberry Tea in June in aid of Breast Cancer Care (www.breastcancercare.org.uk/strawberry). I am on the Breast Cancer Care Fashion Show Committee - more on that in another post. Well my head of department thought this was a great idea and so I set about making arrangements 'with the powers that be' such as catering staff and building management teams.

My office building is on 11 floors (9 above ground) and so there are more than 500 people in the building. On my 8th floor probably 80+ people. Each floor has its own mini 'kitchen' area with coffee, water and vending machines. I invited as many people as possible, put posters up etc. Well by 2.45pm I had a queue of people waiting for the official opening of the sale at 3pm. By 3.20pm the locusts had been passed and the cupboard was bare! We raised £300 with the first sale. I have done another 2 or 3 since then baking and raising more each time and having to move the last one down to the ground floor restaurant!

Favourite cakes are Coffee, Chocolate (of course), Ginger and my now famous Red Velvet which always causes quite a stir. Luckily I have some friends who are also keen to bake and contribute and the catering team are fantastic, always donating quite a few delicious creations and letting me enter their domain to ice and decorate cakes. It is a little intimidating to be given your own work station in a professional kitchen which just happens to be next to the 'French pastry chef' :-) Still he was complimentary about my cakes which means they were doing some sneaky tasting!

Thanks for reading and your comments. Hope you can bear with me as I get to grips with the blogging and how to lay out photos etc.

Please think about hosting your own Strawberry Tea this Summer, it's a good excuse to chat over tea and cake with friends and raise money for a very worthwhile cause.

Susan