Can cakes change the world? We believe it can! I've had a challenging day, so I am determined to end the day on a positive, right here! Making the world a better place is a challenge for us all, from global leaders to making-small-changers. Cake is fab, we all know that, but bear with me while I tell you why our cakes are making the world just that little bit better. 60% of our cakes are vegan  Vegan diets are not everyone's cup of (non dairy milk) tea. Sure, animal rights may not be everyone's priority, but a plant-based diet has deeper implications than that: There's the wider environmental issues like soil erosion, climate change, and deforestation that a heavily meat based diet can exacerbate. Having a healthy planet should be top of our lists. We, and our grandchildren, will have no other home! Enjoying a more plant-based diet can have a significant impact on our footprint on the planet, from creating less greenhouse gases, to the amount of pressure we're putting on our natural water resources. Vegan cakes can help here, as, among other animal product ingredients, they don't contain dairy milk or butter. Intensive dairy production is known to be environmentally detrimental, so the more vegetable based alternatives we can find here, the better. Have you tried our vegan carrot cake? Our plant powered Victoria Sponge? Find out more here about our popular vegan cakes. With hundreds of recipes, you'd be in safe hands if you order a vegan cake, like 60% of our customers do. Our banana cakes are Fairtrade The Fairtrade movement ensures a fair price is paid to farmers in developing countries. From coffee to chocolate, cotton to tea, so many Fairtrade products are out there... Including our very own award winning banana cake! Right now, you can get 15% off banana cakes for Fairtrade Fortnight, so drop us a line quoting FAIR18 and we'll deliver right to your door.  Cake brings happiness  Happy faces: Two customers enjoying cake in the sunshine There's no denying, a good cake shared with a friend can make your day. We have hundreds of recipes, all wanting to be tasted by you, so why not share a smile with someone today, over a piece of home baked cake? After all, changing the world needn't be only about the big campaigns and movements. Bringing some happiness to someone's day is all part of being human and making the world a better place. Have you tried our Sweet Temptation range yet, inspired by your favourite sweets? How about our low fat / low sugar '280 Skinny' range? You know, we even run a 'guilt free' baking workshop showing you how to make some of these 'healthier' cakes! Have I missed anything? Are there other ways that cake makes the world a better place? Let me know in the comments below! Louise 280 Bakes
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We have some fabulous news for those of you who want to learn how to make your cake baking a little on the healthier side...   Our workshops are rated highly by our customers Guilt Free Baking is our second workshop to be developed to help you to bake at home a little easier, to have some fun meeting like minded people, and to learn some new skills. On Saturday 16th June, we'll be hosting the first of our 'skinny bakes' courses, where you can join us to bake low sugar and low fat cakes. Tickets are available now for just £40 for a three hour course, so don't miss out - our last workshop sold out in just a couple of weeks! Find out more about our workshops here and follow us on Facebook and Twitter to hear the latest news. We'll be announcing the recipes we'll be baking for this course shortly, so stay tuned! The Team @ 280 Bakes
Halloween is one of our favourite times of year - there's so much creativity in cake baking on a spooky theme! Take a look at what went down at 280 Bakes this year - all in good natured spooky fun!  Even the office pup got into the spirit of things! Check out our recent blog post where our bakers shared their favourite scary movies of all time - have you seen them all yet?  Cakes and cupcakes, pumpkins and fancy dress - the team pulled out all the stops for our customers and party guests! Special thanks to Roberto for being such an awesome party co-host. <3 Roll on next year for more spooky fun! Louise 280 Bakes
So, we've baked hundreds of cakes for you guys, but which are our all time favourite orders? Let's find out!Birthday cakes are regularly ordered by our customers, and these two are our favourite so far. Emma (who's since left our baking team *sad face*) made the Cookie Monster cake, which hit the nail on the head for Steve's 40th - he loved it! The Chicken Cake was baked by Debbie, who was tasked with a poultry theme for a leaving do in Lawrence Weston. Still makes us laugh, when we see this clever, cute cake!
We are known for our home baked cakes, so no 'top cakes' blog would be complete without some of our traditional loaves and rounds appearing. You can't beat a Victoria Sponge for when the family pops over for the afternoon (available on CakeOD, our same day delivery service), and but our award-winning Fairtrade banana cake comes a close second - always popular at our events too, perhaps because it's low fat. What a cake!
As far as cupcakes go, we've done some amazing baking and decorating. Two that really stick in our minds, though, are our marshmallow cupcake and the ones we did themed on Aero chocolate bars. The marshmallow ones were for a customer's 40th birthday. The cakes were a surprise from his colleague and you should have seen his eyes light up - marshmallows are his favourite! The Aero cupcakes were a inspirational bake from Louise last weekend at the Viking Invasion event we went to. They came out particularly well, we think. Both these cakes were Louise's. She used to dread doing cupcakes, but now has got really into the swing of them - even bought some new nozzles the other week for more design capabilities! Stay tuned to see more photos of her scrumptious cupcakes on our newsletter.
We've a good name for being vegan cake specialists, and, as 65% of our customers are in fact vegan, we aim to please! These two cakes are our best selling vegan cake, all home made of course, from scratch. You won't catch us using a cake mix any time! Here's our no.1 best seller, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake (as featured on the Bristol Food Tour), and our vegan Carrot Cake. Just yum! These are both available for a non-vegan diet too, but why not give them a try? Not only are they 'cruelty free', having no animal products in them, they are consequently better for the environment too!
And finally, let's bring in some gluten free cake to complete our top ten. We often get gluten free requests, from coeliacs and friends of gluten intolerant people, and we can bake vegan gluten free too - skills! These two are Chocolate Hazelnut Cake (as seen on Made In Bristol TV) and, a family favourite, Lemon Cake. And, as a bonus, we offer a low sugar lemon cake, too, if you're trying to cut down.
That's our top ten favourite cakes! What do you think? Would you add anything to the list? Don't forget, all our cakes are available for standard, vegan and gluten free diets. Just drop us a line to order yours! The Team @ 280 Bakes Yes, folks, it's here - National Peanut Butter Cookie Day 2017! We've been baking (of course!) for the occasion and Louise said she'd share her 'simplest ever' recipe. It only has four ingredients!  Ingredients 1 cup peanut butter 1 cup granulated sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla essence Method Simple as anything: Mix all the above ingredients together in a large bowl. It helps if you measure the sugar first and then use the same cup for the PB, so it doesn't all stick in the inside of the cup with the spread. Roll the batter into smallish balls (around one inch across) and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Leave a minimum of an inch between each ball and push down gently with a fork to create a grid pattern on the top. Pretty! And for good measure, I poked some chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies before baking. Bake the cookies at 180 degrees until they turn golden brown (15 - 20 mins, depending on the size of your cookies). Cool a little so the cookies are a little more solid, but enjoy warm. Yum! Louise 280 Bakes Louise is going camping next weekend, and she will baking for the occasion. Any excuse… A tenuous link to cake, you may think, but we’ve got a blog out of it! The boss’s trip made us seriously consider… How can cake make camping even more enjoyable, and which type of cake to take? We have all the solutions you need! Sticking to the diet Maintaining a well-behaved nutritional intake can be difficult while camping; fish and chips on the way home to the campsite, a hearty fry-up in the morning, and convenient bottled sugary drinks over water when it’s a trek across a field to collect… However, our Skinny Chocolate Cake or our Low Fat Banana Cake would solve this problem. You can justify a slice or two of these bakes.
Food storage and animals Louise is taking the dog along with her, and won’t have anywhere really safe to keep food away from curious little mouths, other than in the already full cool box. Given the lack of proper food storage, and the fact chocolate is poisonous to dogs, we suggest a zesty lemon cake. It doesn't need to be refrigerated, it'll stay together well, and there's no 'evil' chocolate elements.  Store precious cargo in the car’s glove box for extra security! Location based cakes Why not make your choice of cake relevant to where you're going camping? If you're heading to the south-west, take in some local culture with a cider apple cake - it won't get you pissed, but it'll bring out your west country spirit. Going to Wales? Take some Welsh cakes - they keep really well, as a bonus. Roughing it in Ireland calls for a nice big Chocolate Guinness cake ... How about some 'proper English' cake for when you're in Kent, England's Garden? We recommend a Victoria Sponge for here. Camping in Scotland and a round or two of shortbread are a perfect pair.
 Top tips for camping with cakes: 1. Pack a good knife for cutting decent slices. 2. Use a cake tin – you may think it’s overkill, but it’s great storage; dry, animal proof, easy to pack. 3. Plan ahead – vegan cakes often last longer than standard cakes, so take one of our vegan home bakes for later in the week, if you’re going for a longer trip. As appropriate: When you’re sitting on a picnic bench, basking in the sunshine, enjoying a slice of home baked cake, you’ll be grateful for your cake-based forethought. When the rain is hammering on your canvas overhead, you’ll be grateful for the little pick-me-up of a delicious slice of cake. Perfect with a cuppa! Order a homemade cake for your camping trip now! A little bird told us Louise will be taking a lemon cake with her this trip. Safe travels! The Team @ 280 Bakes Have you sorted your dessert for Easter lunch? Perhaps you're visiting family and friends and want to bring a cake? We can help! Easter is a mere three weeks away - time is hopping on! Easter immediately says 'chocolate' to us, so our special this Easter is, of course, a chocolate indulgence. Hello, chocolate cupcakes! A delicious chocolate sponge cake with a chocolate buttercream swirl decoration - and don't forget the luxury chocolate slab placed delicately on top. Just yum. Order by Friday 31st March to get 10% off!  Cupcakes are available to order until Good Friday. Orders will close at 7pm on Friday 14th April. Vegan and gluten free options are available, and all orders will be delivered in time for Easter Sunday (16th April). Need a break from chocolate? If you think you'll have had enough chocolate around at Easter, we offer a wide range of cakes and cupcakes to tempt you. We have everything from spring flower cupcakes to Victoria Sponges, low fat 'skinny' cakes and boozy bakes. Take a look at our gallery online and see what you fancy.
Happy Easter all! The Team @ 280 Bakes  Show your mum she's appreciated and loved this Mothers Day with a cake made by our team! Is mum a chocoholic? Does she rave about carrot cake? Is she a fan of Victoria Sponge? Does she find lemon drizzle hard to resist? Anything you need, we can make it, including cakes which are low fat, low sugar, gluten free and vegan. If we've not baked the kind of cake you want before, you get 10% off!  We'll bake and deliver by Saturday evening for you to give to your mum - we won't mind if you take the credit for the delicious bake, honest! Orders close 7pm on Friday 24th March so get in quick. Cakes from £12 delivered, only in Bristol and Portishead. The Team @ 280 Bakes Already, it's March, and with it comes Fairtrade Fortnight, an annual campaign to raise awareness of the good work the Fairtrade Foundation does. We love it - all the more reason to get baking our famous* low fat and Fairtrade Banana Loaf! In fact, all of our banana cakes (including banana coconut, gluten free banana cake, vegan banana cake) use Fairtrade bananas. Feel the goodness! Our bakers also use Fairtrade cocoa, sugar, chocolate on request, but our banana loaves are where you're guaranteed to have a taste of fairly traded fruit. *in Bristol, anyway!  So, what is Fairtrade? "Trade between companies in developed countries and producers in developing countries in which fair prices are paid to the producers". Oxford Dictionaries. What kind of products are included? Fairtrade products can be everything from chocolate to tea, coffee to sugar, cocoa, wine, dried fruit and bananas (hence our banana cakes). As you can see, it's often crops grown in tropical nations, but you can also get Fairtrade gold and Easter eggs. Have a look at the supermarket shelves next time you pop in - you may be surprised what you can buy to help promote fair price trading for the developing world. There are over 4,500 products! Why do we need Fairtrade? Small farmers and workers who grow our hot drinks, breakfasts, lunches and teas often don't get the money they deserve for their crops. They can suffer because of this and it can lock them into a cycle of poverty. When world commodity prices fall, as they have done over the last 30 years, It's these growers who feel the pinch first. Their income can drop to levels that don't even cover production costs, making it hard to provide for their families and maintain their farms. As consumers we have the power to change things, and the power to make a difference to growers and workers in the southern hemisphere. For more information, visit the Fairtrade Foundation website. The Team @ 280 Bakes |
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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