Our Louise went to Switzerland this time last week and here are some of the great photos of Swiss cakes she sent us. Way to make us jealous...! Swiss cakes are always a delight to look at... and to taste of course! I am need of a serious diet after all the goodies El Husbandio and I enjoyed on our short break in Switzerland this month - we just couldn't resist some 'market research'! Take a look at some of the festive treats we found around Bern, Zurich, and surrounding alpine villages. Which would you choose? Top row: Mini Chocolate Almond Chocolate Bundts, Chocolate Walnut Tart (totally counts as cake!), and Lebekuchen. Bottom row: Plum Pie, Plum Parcels, and Apple Strudel.  If you like what you see here, take a look at the cakes from a whistle-stop tour of bakeries in Zurich last December. Take me back!! Big thanks to my fellow cake lover and ever-up-for-a-giggle tour guide, Lou G. xx Louise Owner, 280 Bakes
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City life can be frantic and stressful. This blog post shows you how Bristol living is made oh-so-much easier with 280 Bakes and some local business friends.Bristol Life Hack #1: Fuss Free Foodie  Not sure what to cook for dinner tonight? Wondering what spices to add to your soup? Want to know if shellfish are in season? The Fuss Free Foodie is here to help the good folk of Bristol get the answers to their foodie questions! Join the Fuss Free community with like minded foodies and enjoy the inspiration! If you don't fancy cooking and want to eat out you can also find restaurant reviews, from Bristol restaurants (including new areas like Whapping Wharf) highlights from new menu launches and food bloggers' favourite hangouts. What's new for the Fuss Free Foode team? They will running 'edible Christmas gifts' workshops in December, and going forward into the new year you can expect to see more organised to help you build your foodie repertoire and cooking skills. Their website launches in December so stay tuned to the Fuss Free Foodie on Facebook and Twitter to hear about it first! The Fuss Free Foodie: For time poor Bristolians who still enjoyed eating great food! Bristol Life Hack #2: We Caboodle  Caboodle is a new social enterprise set up by three BS3 mums – Isabel, Ellie F and Ellie B - who all struggled to find childcare to fit around their freelance work. After many meetings, involving kids, cafés and cake they saw an opportunity to develop a community business that would support other parents and carers in their situation, and Caboodle was born. Caboodle’s co-working with onsite crèche is the first of its kind in Bristol. There’s no commitment and you can book last minute – great for freelancers where work fluctuates and those working at home. The four and two hour pop-up sessions (lunch included) run every term-time Monday at Windmill Hill City Farm, Bedminster and have been met with a fantastic response.  “We Caboodle is a fantastic idea, executed well. It has meant that I can get a scheduled chunk of office time to finish of my projects, introduced me to a lovely group of people in similar circumstances to myself and allowed my two year old to try formal childcare. The crèche is superb as is the working environment (and the lunches too )” ~ Craig Andrews, Caboodler and Digital Editor at Shattered Glass. Book online or visit Caboodle's Facebook and Twitter to find out more! Caboodle have made it their "mission to provide a space for mums, dads and carers to work flexibly, supporting each other to have fulfilling careers and healthy family lives, whilst their children blossom in versatile, quality childcare.” Bristol Life Hack #3: Flatpack Monkey  Flatpack Monkey is a small business which offers a home, garden & workspace furniture assembly service throughout Bristol. The company assembles an extensive range of flatpack furniture from all leading high street & online retailers including Ikea, John Lewis, Next, Argos and many more. The team are friendly, fully insured and trained with the product knowledge and experience to professionally assemble your flatpack furniture to the highest quality of workmanship and to the manufactures specifications, offering an affordable and simple pricing structure with no call out fee; the price you see is the price you pay per item assembled. The company offers many services including a Pick & Deliver Service where we can now offer to pick your flatpack furniture items from your local Ikea Bristol and deliver your items straight for us to assemble. The benefit of this is that you don’t have to wait in for a delivery which can often be "silly hours" that don’t work around your plans for the day. We offer a discount for multiple items and have regular offers on our social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. If you don’t have the transport, time or patience, Flatpack Monkey offer an reliable, hassle-free flatpack furniture delivery and assembly service, with simple but competitive pricing. Bristol Life Hack #4: 280 Bakes  And finally, to us: 280 Bakes. We make Bristol life easier not only by baking home made cakes and delivering to your door, but by offering a same day service: CakeOD. The idea for CakeOD was inspired by some lovely, yet disorganised people we know. They'd forget it was their turn to bake on 'Cake Friday' in the office, birthdays of loved ones would slip their minds, and they'd not have noticed the note in their diary saying their bestie was popping over for a brew that afternoon. Cake was required, and fast! Popular misconceptions is that we included the 'OD' element to CakeOD as a nod to possible overdoses on baked goods, our vegan, gluten free and standard cakes are soooo tasty. In fact, the 'OD' refers to 'on demand' (think '4OD' for Channel 4's TV catch-up service). We deliver our customer favourites on demand - as long as you order by 12.30pm! Home made cakes, delivered same day across Bristol: As easy as that!  So there's our four life hacks for making living in Bristol that much easier. Have we missed anything or anyone who can do the same? Feel free to comment below to help out your fellow Bristolians! Here's to an easy life! The Team @ 280 Bakes
Christmas is coming, and you know there's always someone who's hard to buy for. If they're a baker, we have ten awesome gift ideas! All images have links connected to them where possible - happy shopping!
What will you be buying the baker in your family this Christmas? What would YOU like, as a baker? The Team @ 280 Bakes
It's Black Friday! *groan*  Source: http://i.ytimg.com 1. Bake a cake It had to be our top recommendation, of course! Baking is fun, you can bond with your kids over it, and the Gods are in your favour if you follow one of our amazing recipes: Seasonal pumpkin bakes are some of our favourites Tres Leches - if you fancy something creamy Try Bread Pudding for a squishy, fun time! Swiss Roll - for something a little more challenging 2. Go on a leaf hunt The leaves are all pretty much off the trees, so head up to your nearest park and send the kids on a leaf hunt. Look for a) the most symmetrical leaf, b) the best colour leaf, c) the biggest leaf. You could even download a leaf identification app (this one's from the Natural History Museum) to help them learn something on your Autumn stroll. It'll keep them occupied for a while, at least! 3. Visit someone you've not seen for a while Bring a smile to a relative or old friend who lives nearby. Walking there could even link in tip no.2, if you see enough trees. And don't show up empty handed - they'd love a piece of your cake from tip no. 1! Wishing you all a calm Black Friday, The Team @ 280 Bakes
We're hosting a vegan cake baking workshop in Bristol in the new year, and we'd love for you to join us! Join a collection of other keen bakers (some vegan, some not), and be triumphant with the cakes you take home! We'll be sharing three of our favourite recipes with you, helping you to get the best bake to be proud of. More information is available on our Facebook page, but where you really want to go is here: This would make an awesome gift for the vegan in your life this Christmas, or a fabulous treat to cheer yourself up with on a dingy January afternoon. Hope to see you there! The Team @ 280 Bakes 
Wondering where you can find us this festive season? Here's your small but perfectly formed guide to which Christmas fayres we'll be baking our delicious cakes for this year! We'll be bringing out all the favourites (like Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake, Victoria Sponge, various cupcakes, Carrot Cake...), including some gluten free cakes. We'll bake some delicious new recipes for you, and festive goodies too. We start this weekend, so bring along your Tupperware and stock up! More information: Headley Park - Headley Park Church, St Peter's Rise, BS13 7LZ Wiltshire Vegan Fair - The Neeld, Chippenham, SN15 3ER Gloucester Vegan Fair ** UPDATE ** Apologies, this one is now not an event we will be attending. Viva Vegan - Student Union, Richmond Building, 105 Queen's Road, Bristol, BS8 1LN See you there! The Team @ 280 Bakes
Today's blog is a personal blog from our owner, Louise Vargas. She's sharing with us a bake enjoys making, inspired by Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya's bake from 2015. Fancy a go yourself?  Baking, baking, baking. I'm going mad for it. Not only have I bought myself a posh new cake stand and a croissant cutting rolling pin, I now own a bundt tin. And what do I blame? The Great British Bake Off. The fantastic TV show gripped the country yet again this year, with a well deserved winner in Sophie. Frankly, I love the Bake Off. And so do 9 million other people  Two years ago, the (now) nation's sweetheart contestant Nadiya baked something I needed to try: the icing pattern bake (I'm calling it). The technique Nadiya used to pattern her sponge couldn't be simpler. Draw a pattern in icing on a sheet of baking paper (the more decorative the better), and freeze it in a tray bake or roasting tin. It doesn't take long. Don't prod it when it comes out the freezer - it'll warm up and smudge. Now comes the bake. Pour your cake mixture into the tray (I just used a simple tray bake recipe) and bake as normal. When the cake it taken out of the oven, carefully turn the cake out onto a cooling rack and peel off the grease proof paper. Voila, your pattern is etched onto the sponge. I was amazed how clearly is came out, no smudging and the icing didn't grow or shrink in the temperature change.   I cut the sponge into 3cm (ish) squares and made a sandwich with them using a plain sponge (same recipe) and a honey mascarpone cream filling. Delish! They really were tasty ... I felt quite sick once the bake had finished, I ate so many off-cuts and smears of icing! See below - my 'mini Nadiya cakes' are displayed on my new cake stand with a friend's brownies. Who's hungry?! With hindsight, the pretty little pattern I made wasn't very visible once I'd cut the sponge sandwich into small(er) bites. I should have gone for larger slices - the leaves and swirls would work better as a tablet bake. Thanks to Nadiya for her inspiration - check out more of our Bake Off inspired blogs here - the perfect lunch time read! Louise, 280 Bakes
If you're reading this from the USA, you may know it's Vanilla Cupcake Day today! Here in the UK, specifically Bristol, we don't seem to make such a 'thing' of cake days like Vanilla Cupcake Day, and the team can't quite fathom why... Look at these amazing vanilla cupcakes we've made - why not celebrate them?! These are rose cupcakes and almond buns...
Lego inspired cupcakes for a little dude's birthday...  Straight up vanilla, seasonal blackberry cupcakes with vanilla frosting, and one of our 'Sweet Temptations' range for those with an extra sweet tooth!
Which would you choose to tea tonight? It's not too late to order for tea... Yours, vanilla-ly so, The Team @ 280 Bakes
Christmas has begun here at 280 Bakes: Halloween is over, the clocks have gone back, and it's November! Let's see what's in store this season at your local home bakery... As usual, Christmas cake will be available to order. Vegan and gluten free varieties are available, and our Early Bird Discount runs throughout November. Save by being organised, that's what we say! We'll deliver any date up until 23rd December - our bakers have Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day off - so let us take the strain off you preparing your family do.  Some folks prefer their Christmas bakes with no fondant, a smaller bite - our Christmas cupcakes are perfect for this ask! Ideal for Christmas office parties, a gift for your host, or for the kids' lunchboxes on the last day of term... Order now to get in on the Early Bird Discount!  Yule log is also available, and mince pies will be at all our Christmas events. Later this month we'll be announcing our Christmas market schedule - stay tuned! The Team @ 280 Bakes
Halloween's come and gone - is your pumpkin still hanging around? Here are our three favourite ways to use up your pumpkin to avoid food waste. 1. Pumpkin Spice Cake
2. Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins  Friend of 280 Bakes, Louise G, sent us this recipe for Paleo Double Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins - sooo tasty! Remember, paleo (no flour or refined sugar) cakes don't rise as much, so full your muffin cases well. 1 cup creamy almond butter 1/2 cup pumpkin puree 1/4 cup cocoa powder 2 eggs 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla essence 1/2 cup coconut sugar 1/4 cup maple syrup (we used golden syrup - they're interchangeable here) 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (plus extra for topping) Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and line a 12 cupcake tin with paper cases. Mix all the ingredients bar the chocolate chips) in a bowl - should be a fairly thick batter. Fold in the chocolate chips and divide the mixture into the 12 cups. Sprinkle with extra chocolate chips, if desired - we like this touch! Bake for about 20 mins until the cakes are firm to the touch. Allow them to cool before serving. 3. Chocolate Pumpkin Brownies  No collection of sweet pumpkin recipes is complete without a recipe for brownies. Pumpkin is perfect for using in this kind of bake, and the brownies don't stick around long after they've baked - they're perfect snacks. This recipe uses less butter (replacing it with cream cheese) and recommends sprinkling them with walnuts, but we like them with almonds too. Don't let that pumpkin go to waste - get baking! The Team @ 280 Bakes
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AuthorWelcome to the 280 Bakes blog! Most posts are by myself, Louise, but if you fancy guest blogging, give me a shout! Archives
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