Fab Fudge are probably my favourite Bristol business of mine, and not just because they gave me their Christmas fudge to review! Imaginative. Delicious. Dairy-free. Those are the three words I would use to describe what comes out of the kitchens of Fab Fudge. You can find out more about Fab Fudge on a blog I wrote back in 2017, but what you need to know is right here: Their (plastic-free!) fudge is UNBEATABLE. The company's founder, Jill, started her business in 2016, two months or so behind me, and we met at a local networking event. Since then, we've been working together every so often to help each other out, and keeping each other in sweet treats! Jill and her team have released their Christmas selection for 2020, and I was lucky enough to taste the first batches off the shelf.  Gingerbread FudgeAt the time of writing, Gingerbread fudge wasn't available on Fab Fudge's online store, but it's coming - and you'll be glad it did! I am a late convert to ginger flavoured things, but I'm really into it now. My firey gingerbread is YUMMY! So when Jill said she had a ginger delight up her sleeve, I jumped on it! Smooth, melt-in-the-mouth, and (like all Fab Fudge) 100% vegan. The ginger kick is subtle, but the creamy taste really won me over. Christmas cake fudgeChristmas cake may be my favourite cake, and the fudge version didn't disappoint. I love the triple layer fudge design - new for 2020. Rich, fully-festive, and it looks just like a mini slice with actual marzipan and icing! Christmas Cake fudge is my new favourite (sorry apricot fudge!). If you're looking for the perfect gift, I can only say, GO FAB FUDGE!! Even Theo Paphitis is a fan - you simple have to try something new with Fab Fudge's dairy-free fudge. Thanks Jill, and I hope it's not too early to wish you and yours a very merry and profitable Christmas. Louise 280 Bakes 
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-- A personal blog today, and I'm attaching a trigger warning right here. --
We've had a lot of great news lately in our family - three of us getting new jobs, El Husbandio's residence being confirmed, our house move progressing... But a tragic event knocked me a bit sideways last week: a very good friend of mine's partner passed away unexpectedly. Cake isn't the answer to everything, but baking for her, my customers, and my other friends and family managed to take my my mind off such horrible circumstances for a short while. There's something cathartic about mixing, baking and decorating a cake; I've always baked when I feel sad or low. It helps me stay productive, it's a great way to find a 'flow' state of mind (a recognised tactic in mental health - Very Well Mind explains it better than I can), and I can share the cake with friends and family. I remember saying to my housemate several years ago, when a boyfriend had broken up with me, that I was going to bake my way through the shock and pain. And since it's World Mental Health Day today, I thought it was time I posted about my therapeutic kitchen fun. Distraction tactics are very useful sometimes, and my lil' business certainly provides that, for which I am grateful. So if you need some cake, don't be shy, drop me a line, I need to keep busy! Does anyone else bake to keep the dark away? Louise 280 Bakes P.S. No part of me is using a tragic event to capitalise on here, that would never be my intention. I'm simply sharing how important baking is to me and how it's helped my mental wellbeing. I'm a supporter of mental health awareness - I guess you may be sick of me talking about it if you know me! A, you've left broken hearts behind you in wonderfully caring and loving people. You'll be missed. We'll be at a local event this week, serving hotdogs and home baked cake! |
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This week the news was that Lemon Drizzle is the nation's favourite cake. We're here today to test that!
It was announced that Protein World had carried out a survey revealing that 40% of British people said Lemon Drizzle was their favourite cake. Chocolate Brownie, Chocolate Fudge Cake and Carrot Cake were close contenders for the top spot apparently, but I had to investigate.
What do my circle of friends and family prefer, and do they conform to the national preference? I sent a quick poll to a few people on WhatsApp, chosen purely because I thought they'd reply!
Here's my (unscientific) findings...
Chocolate cake x6 Cherry cake
Cinnamon cakes x2 Rosewater and Pistachio cake
Spiced Apple cake Carrot cake x5
Fruit cake x2 Lemon Drizzle x5
Red velvet x2 French Fancies
Battenberg Coffee cake
Interesting! Of the 28 people who responded (I discounted those who reeled off a list of cakes the loved!), Chocolate cake was the front runner with 21% of the vote. Lemon Drizzle was a meer 17% of the vote, joint second with Carrot cake. That's a little reflective of the national vote in terms of types of cakes, if not the popularity of each, but poor old Brownies didn't appear once in my poll.
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Maybe I roll in more cake-educated circles, or with people who are a bit more adventurous with their food choices (Rosewater and Pistachio!!). Maybe 280 Bakes has helped people close to us realise there's more to life than Lemon Drizzle. I certainly hope so!
Oh, and my personal favourite? Mango Yoghurt cake. Or Carrot cake. No, Christmas cake! Argh, see, I'm as bad as you!!
What's YOUR favourite cake? Let me know in the comments below.
Have a great weekend,
Louise
280 Bakes
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We celebrated our second birthday today, and this is how it went down!
First, we announced an expansion in our business!
From today, we have bakers based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, who are delivering our cakes in the town. Find out more here, including how to join our team of bakers.
Then, we actually WENT to Stroud!
Given the main part of our birthday celebrations was the above announcement, we decided to surprise a business in Stroud with a cake. This is where Spacehoppers Co-working came in - we delivered a 280 Bakes branded cake (see the logo and BRIGHT PINK nature of said cake in the picture below!) to three entrepreneurs who were at the time working in the shared office space. A complete surprise to all and a welcome tea break from their hard work!
We chose Spacehoppers because we've had previous experience in co-working environments and we love the vibe from entrepreneurs who work in such places. A big 'HELLO AND THANKS' goes to Ben at BeKagool who tweeted us a photo of the cake being enjoyed in the office after we left.
From today, we have bakers based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, who are delivering our cakes in the town. Find out more here, including how to join our team of bakers.
Then, we actually WENT to Stroud!
Given the main part of our birthday celebrations was the above announcement, we decided to surprise a business in Stroud with a cake. This is where Spacehoppers Co-working came in - we delivered a 280 Bakes branded cake (see the logo and BRIGHT PINK nature of said cake in the picture below!) to three entrepreneurs who were at the time working in the shared office space. A complete surprise to all and a welcome tea break from their hard work!
We chose Spacehoppers because we've had previous experience in co-working environments and we love the vibe from entrepreneurs who work in such places. A big 'HELLO AND THANKS' goes to Ben at BeKagool who tweeted us a photo of the cake being enjoyed in the office after we left.
Finally, we popped along to St Andrew's Park, Bristol...
We had to celebrate on 'home turf' too, of course! Word got to us that the Bristol Vegan Parents Group was meeting with the kids for a half term get-together, so we took them some complimentary cupcakes to sort out a snack for that lovely lot. The meeting point was "by the coffee hut in the centre", so cake and coffee worked out perfectly!
A fabulous day - we feel well and truly celebrated!
Thanks to all our willing cake eaters and our hard-working team. Here's to another successful year at 280 Bakes!
Louise
Owner of 280 Bakes
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we were SUPER excited to be asked along to speak at the Bristol Foodies Festival this month!
The Foodies Festival is an annual event in Bristol (and around the UK), bringing chefs and foodies together over a fantastic weekend of talks, music, demonstrations, classes and food stalls.
Our Louise went along to speak at the cake and dessert stage in Bristol on the Friday afternoon (21st May 2018). She demonstrated how to make a vegan chocolate Guinness cake and shared samples to a willing and hungry crowd.
"It was so much fun, a totally different thing for us to be doing," said Louise. "And I felt kind of 'Madonna' walking around with a head mic set on!"
Well done Louise, maybe this is a start of something HUGE! More demos please....
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Missed out on trying a sample from the Foodies Festival? We've posted the recipe for the vegan chocolate Guinness cake on our blog so you can try it yourself. And if you don't fancy baking, just contact us to order one!
Big thanks to Charlotte White at Restoration Cake and the Foodies Festival team for inviting us along. See you again, we hope!
The Team @ 280 Bakes
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Our biggest corporate cake yet was baked this week for the Environment Agency's flood conference.
The third annual Flood & Coast conference, organised by the Environment Agency, was held this week - and we were there! Our Louise was asked to make a cake in the shape of a remote controlled river monitoring boat, an "ARC-boat". It's a surf board-like craft worth over £16,000, used to measure speed and depth of rivers, and other data to aid flood management efforts.
The Agency had sold it's 100th boat, which gave them a fabulous reason to celebrate.
The cake was cut by the Chef Executive of the Environment Agency Sir James Bevan, the Director of Flood and Coastal Risk Management John Curtin, and Louise.
Feedback on the cake, a chocolate sponge decorated in an eye-catching lime green to mimic a real ARC-boat, came... flooding in, post event on our Twitter.
The Agency had sold it's 100th boat, which gave them a fabulous reason to celebrate.
The cake was cut by the Chef Executive of the Environment Agency Sir James Bevan, the Director of Flood and Coastal Risk Management John Curtin, and Louise.
Feedback on the cake, a chocolate sponge decorated in an eye-catching lime green to mimic a real ARC-boat, came... flooding in, post event on our Twitter.
Thank you to the Environment Agency and in particular, Nick Everard, for the opportunity to bake for the occasion. We're more flood aware than we were before, that's for sure, and a small part of the flood family.
The Team @ 280 Bakes
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The team will be out and about this season with our cakes - come and find us at the following local events!
Subject to change, but we'll be there if we most possibly can.
We do take pre-orders, if you'd like anything in particular - save yourself delivery and enjoy the community event at the same time!
The Team @ 280 Bakes
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Our Louise has just come back from Costa Rica, bearing photos of cakes from the Latine American country. No tasters, but the photos look awesome!
So, Costa Rica s not known for its cake - or really, even its food. You might think of beaches, wildlife, music, before you think of the food from that area, but there really is so much lovely goodness to try, and cake is no exception. Take a look at some of my photos below ... Let me know if you've ever baked these yourself!
A true baker snaps photos of cake while she's on holiday...
A true baker snaps photos of cake while she's on holiday...
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   | The white cake to the left was made in a cake shop for another birthday party we went to on our short break. It's 'very Costa Rican' (in my opinion) because of the creamy style icing they use. Fondant doesn't do so well in the heat! This kind of cake is kept in a fridge, unlike our traditional birthday cakes in the UK. It's decorated with local Passion Fruit, and the sponge is a sweet, vanilla cake. Doesn't it look delicious? Pictured below the Passion Fruit cake is what Costa Ricans call 'Pudding', a type of bread pudding. It's found in cafes all over the country, and is perfect for cake lovers who like something moist and spiced. Bake your own using our recipe! Finally, the cake to the left is, believe it or not, a Victoria Sponge I attempted to make with local ingredients: Guava Jam and Caramel Sugar. It came out quite different, (especially with the absence of a sandwich style tin and very little icing sugar!) but tasted fab! |
Look out for more cakes from abroad, whenever one of our bakers goes on holiday. You can follow our 'cake holidays' on #280ontour on Twitter.
Thanks for reading,
Louise & Team.
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Today we've invited Bohemian Hippy to to our blog. They're a team of Scottish vegans who help their customers live a 100% animal product free life, while helping out an animal charity too. And with 60% of our customers being vegan, we thought you might be interested.
Welcome to the blog, team!
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Why Bohemian Hippy Merchandise Will Save Animal Lives This Veganuary
As part of its commitment to the wonderful cause that is Veganuary, Bohemian Hippy, an online vegan merchandise stockist, has put to together a sample of its amazing and ethically sourced merchandise to help you do your bit in 2018.
At Bohemian Hippy, we understand how important it is to wear your message about veganism and animal rights, so we created a shop where you can find not-for-profit ethical clothing with full vegan ink.
Being vegan is a way of life and, as the good people over at Veganuary say, there are many reasons why people should go vegan in 2018. A way of living with compassion and care and a way of living that lets us eat all the delicious food that we like without having to harm or mistreat hundreds of thousands of innocent animals to do it.
We’re very proud to be vegan here at Bohemian Hippy, and we’ll take any opportunity we get to shout about the benefits of being vegan for both humans and animals at any given opportunity, so we thank 280 Bakes for this amazing opportunity to shout about what we do!
We believe that the only downside to being vegan is that there simply isn’t enough vegan merchandise to let us shout about it properly. At Bohemian Hippy however, we’re on a mission to change that.
That’s why you will be met with a huge range of vegan merchandise when you visit the Bohemian Hippy webstore. We sell bespoke products, each featuring exclusive designs, slogans and patterns, so you can proudly display your vegan tendencies and look cool doing it.
Our t-shirts, sportswear, bags, and home products are sold not for profit. Instead of taking any money ourselves from the sale of our vegan merchandise UK, we’re putting it toward the foundation of Lotus Animal Sanctuary.
Lotus Animal Sanctuary has been a dream of ours at Bohemian Hippy for some time now, and will let us improve the lives of many animals and teach adults and children alike that animal agriculture is not how they were meant to live.
As well as providing a home for various animals, such as calves that are discarded by the cruel dairy industry, the Lotus Animal Sanctuary will give every visitor the chance to get up close and personal with these wonderful animals. That way, we can show the world how much love these animals can give, and that they are deserving of as much better quality of life.
If you agree with us and want to help make Lotus Animal Sanctuary a reality and really get on board with our friends over at Veganuary, why not represent your beliefs with some of Bohemian Hippy’s vegan merchandise?
Here’s just a few of our most popular products which we hope will allow your to burst with vegan pride in 2018.
Tote Shoulder Bag – Peace Justice Vegan – One size 42x38cm
Our vegan tote bags are ideal for carrying the shopping, spare clothes or absolutely anything that you could need with you. Even better, our simple yet effective design jumps out from the bag’s front, leaving nobody in doubt that you are living your best meat and cruelty free life. Go you!
£10.00
Our vegan tote bags are ideal for carrying the shopping, spare clothes or absolutely anything that you could need with you. Even better, our simple yet effective design jumps out from the bag’s front, leaving nobody in doubt that you are living your best meat and cruelty free life. Go you!
£10.00
Vegan Athlete Performance Shirt
One of the most frequent and irritating arguments against veganism is that humans are somehow supposed to eat meat to gain protein and stay strong. Of course, that’s just not the case, and you can show the world just how strong and healthy you are as you work out in our Vegan Athlete performance shirt.
£19.99
Please note, this is just a wee sample of what we offer here at Bohemian Hippy. Feel free to explore our whole range online!
Good luck for Veganuary people, we're right behind you! Be vegan, be proud.
With love, Bohemian Hippy x
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Thank you Bohemian Hippy. Best of luck with your animal sanctuary - we'll stop by if we're ever in Scotland!
You can follow Bohemian Hippy on Twitter, or Facebook.
Want to celebrate your new vegan wardrobe? A cake just *makes* a celebration, and we deliver vegan cakes all over Bristol and Portishead!
One of the most frequent and irritating arguments against veganism is that humans are somehow supposed to eat meat to gain protein and stay strong. Of course, that’s just not the case, and you can show the world just how strong and healthy you are as you work out in our Vegan Athlete performance shirt.
£19.99
Please note, this is just a wee sample of what we offer here at Bohemian Hippy. Feel free to explore our whole range online!
Good luck for Veganuary people, we're right behind you! Be vegan, be proud.
With love, Bohemian Hippy x
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Thank you Bohemian Hippy. Best of luck with your animal sanctuary - we'll stop by if we're ever in Scotland!
You can follow Bohemian Hippy on Twitter, or Facebook.
Want to celebrate your new vegan wardrobe? A cake just *makes* a celebration, and we deliver vegan cakes all over Bristol and Portishead!
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Until next time,
Louise & Team
280 Bakes
Louise & Team
280 Bakes
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Author
Welcome to the 280 Bakes blog! Most posts are by myself, Louise, but if you fancy guest blogging, give me a shout!
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