My Cupcake Day! Crumbs & Doilies

Those familiar with me may know that I have many passionate, yet often fleeting, interests. The latest - making cupcakes. While in NJ on my girls' weekend, I had the "what am I doing with my life" conversation with Steph for the 18, 234, 675, 971st time and somehow decide that working in a bakery decorating cupcakes was for me. I blame wine and inner fat kid enthusiasm mostly, but I also made and decorated my own wedding cake and have been baking for the kids in my building. So, when I got back to London, I put out some feelers to different bakeries close by to see what opportunities there were for a potential untrained cupcake/cake decorators. Crumbs & Doilies was the only one of the five bakeries I reached out to that got back to me, was hiring, liked my cupcake pictures, and offered me a chance to come in for a trial shift! So the following Wednesday, October 6, I made my baking debut.

The day did not start off so well. I walked the ten minutes to Kensington High Street from our flat to catch the direct bus to Wandsworth. As soon as I hop on the bus, it starts to pour. According to the bus map PDF, this bus ride should only take 20 minutes. I allowed an hour to account for rush hour and so that I could get coffee before I started. Well, I was supposed to be there at 9 AM. At 8:55, I am only at the West Kensington tube station which isn't even halfway to where I need to be. I contacted the bakery and they told me they still wanted me to come, to just get there as soon as I could. It took over 20 minutes to get through one stinkin' light. The bus was taking so long, that it changed it's destination from Wandsworth, where I needed to go, to Fulham Broadway station where I had to catch another bus and go the last 15 minutes. I burst into the bakery at 9:30. I hate being late to anything, especially a job interview! 

I think I was expecting little old ladies working at this bakery, but nothing prepared me for bakery owner Jemma - this tiny girl probably in her late 20's with tattoos all over her arms! She takes me in, I get my denim apron and crocs and immediately jump into the baking. The bakery is a huge warehouse style room with industrial sized mixers and stainless steel tables and the ovens are blazing! I help Jemma mix a batch of cakes, their Earl Grey flavor, put them in the cake papers and stick them in the oven. I try her technique and I got all frazzled because there was an exact right amount that needed to be there for each cake and I was struggling. Then I get to try the mojito icing they are making for their flavor of the month. I learn about the organic ingredients and the best butter used for baking. I do tons of dishes, box the fresh cupcakes for decoration later, and re-line the cupcake tins with papers for the next rounds. 


Around 11, I am given a few boxes of cupcakes from the day before to practice my decorating. One of the other girls who works there, Sally, sets me up with my spatula and icing and teaches me the proper technique, and then she shows me what in the two 12 foot, double doored, white wardrobes along the wall which contained nothing but sprinkles! I'm talking shelves and shelves of any kind of sprinkles you could imagine, three tubs high on each shelf. *heaven*


So I start decorating. The icing technique I was shown does not feel very natural so I switch to my own technique. I decorate a dozen or so - mostly Ravens combos of purple and black and then I go back to the closet to try some more. Apparently i decorate too close to the edge of the cake and that's bad because when you store them, they "kiss" each other and transfer icing and such. Jemma says she really likes my sprinkle combinations. While I'm decorating, the other girls are cleaning up from the morning's baking. We break for lunch at noon. 


The area in Wandsworth where the baking studio is located is super cute. There is a main street with little supermarket shops and restaurants. I go to the recommended restaurant for lunch and was torn between the quiche and lentil salad, but ended up with the lentil salad. 


After lunch, the girls start decorating. Man did they decorate hardcore. They spent 3 solid hours on the cupcakes. I was not allowed to decorate any that would go to actual clients, so I did more dishes, put them away, and then glued glued glued! Because this is a small business, it was interesting to see how they made it work. The boxes, tissue paper, flier cards, doilies and stickers where all purchased separately. The boxes where plain standard issue. I learned where to glue the flier, where to put the stickers, how to fold the tissue paper and which sized doily to use. The end product was very professional and aesthetically pleasing! I was very impressed! 


The bakery was really well organized and had a very efficient system down! I was thoroughly impressed! A little high from the glue fumes, but impressed none the less. I was also EXHAUSTED by 4:30 when we started wrapping things up. My back was killing me from being on my feet all day. I felt like I was being such a baby, but I was honestly in horrible pain! I got to take home the two dozen mini cupcakes I decorated and the dozen big cupcakes too and my payment for the day. They were absolutely delicious. The icing was special - I'm not an icing person, but it was exceptional. 


I ate 2 big ones and at least 6 minis before I was able to pry myself away and make Andrew promise to take the rest into work the following day so I wouldn't be left alone with the remaining temptations that I would undoubtedly devour. Apparently the T. Rowe peeps LOVED them! 

I got an e-mail this past Monday that the other trial shifts had concluded and that they could not offer me a position at this time. I wasn't too surprised. Anyone with the least bit of baking experience would have a leg up on me. So I will not be a professional cupcake decorator at this point in time!