I've upgraded my letterbox cake service!Originally I was sending you and a friend a slice of cake and leaving the whole tea making process to you - along with the Zoom call arrangements! However, now I am throwing in a tea bag for you each too. It's only a small change, but it makes so much sense! The packages are sent first class, anywhere in the UK. So if you're a fan of 280 Bakes but perhaps you've moved from Bristol, or miss the cake from when I covered a larger area, you can get involved too! Eat cake, drink tea... together! Louise 280 Bakes 
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Today is World Diabetes Day, so I am going to share a personal story with you. In January 2019 I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes (pregnancy diabetes). November 14th is a significant date in the diabetes calendar because it marks the birthday of the man who co-discovered insulin, Frederick Banting. Banting discovered insulin in 1922, alongside Charles Best. This blog is intended to reassure pregnant women who discover they have Gestational Diabetes, to help inform others, and to promote a low sugar lifestyle. I recognise that every diabetic's journey is different. Thanks for reading. Gestational Diabetes and Me I'm not going to lie - my Gestational Diabetes diagnosis last year was a total shock. I was a healthy 30-something year old with no underlying conditions, just a slightly elevated BMI when I became pregnant. I had a couple of tearful, angry, confusing days (all while all my family were abroad and I had a stomach bug to boot!), but got a grip on myself and got on with making the necessary appointments at the hospital and researching how to cope with the last two trimesters of my pregnancy. I joined a supportive Facebook group for GD mums - the name escapes me now but it was linked to this website - and made a decision: I was going to manage my gestational diabetes (GD) by altering my diet alone, as far as possible. Taking medication while I was pregnant was something I was not keen on doing. And something did have to be done. We all know too much sugar isn't good for anyone, but I thought we were doing ok. My husband and I exercised daily and had a balanced diet; we avoid fizzy drinks, I'm not that bothered by chocolate and sweets, we eat lots of veg, a mixture of meat and veggie dishes, hardly any puddings... but I needed to essentially cut out 90% of my starchy carbs, having to be super strict and focused, and change my eating times and habits completely. Food, more than ever, would be on my mind throughout the day, I could see! GD can be bad news for both mum and baby, so I had no other option. There was no way I was going to let my faulty placenta/hormones win!   How did life with GD feel? Those six months with no starchy carbs were tough. This was a huge challenge for me, as I still maintain bread is my favourite food, and cereal a close second. Pasta, chips, rice, potatoes - fine, I wouldn't miss them too much, but bread and cake??? ARGH! Even fruit intake was limited to blueberries and cherries (expensive), and pears (ick), no dried fruit at all and certainly no bananas. I live on bananas, normally!! I was diagnosed exceptionally early too, at 17 weeks pregnant, so the journey until the end of June seemed a dauntingly long one. Some days I'd fail and curse my blood tester, especially early on when I wasn't sure just how few carbohydrates I could tolerate (basically none!), but never did I fail because I didn't take care or thought 'oh handful of chips won't hurt'. I was so strict, my diabetes consultant appeared to think I was not being honest with my blood numbers recording! I even made my baby shower cake low sugar so I managed a little nibble of that. And being a baker? Oh boy, no cake for 6 months... That may explain my higher than ideal BMI though, cake was always around me. As a positive, just before I gave birth, I actually ended up weighing 8kg less than when I got pregnant due to my change in diet. Go figure - sugar, even in low doses, is naughty! After giving birth, GD thankfully generally disappears like magic. My first request in recovery was a giant baguette - no butter, no filling, just solid carbs intake. It was heaven. However, I do need to now keep an eye on my diet and exercise, being a little more mindful than before perhaps. I try hard to avoid carbs as snacks, and I always have a zero carb breakfast - eggs are my saviour. My treat is still ice cream, and I now make sure I drink more water as opposed to squash and absolutely no fruit juice. Desserts? Just when we have visitors for dinner. Should baby no.2 come along, there's a chance of another diagnosis of GD, but I now know what works for me - there hopefully won't be any failures on my blood test scores like when I was still learning how low my tolerance was for sugar. Diet controlled GD is possible, but I am sure hoping I will escape GD should I become pregnant again. Top Diet Tips for GD Mums! Roast dinners - no potatoes or parsnips. Cheese. Lots of cheese. Diet drinks are fine, and weirdly I didn't like Diet Coke before I was pregnant, so that gave me a bit of variety in liquid intake. Water can get so boring! Anything you can slather with peanut butter - including dark chocolate digestive biscuits! High fat icecream - oh yes! Meat: Cold cuts, double portions in a meal... GD unfortunately put a stop to my vegetarianism. Fry-ups - no baked beans, hash browns or toast, lots of sausage, egg, bacon, grilled tomato, mushrooms... How did having GD affect my business? Well, first of all, GD made me incredibly tired. There was one instance when I was on holiday and I slept night-day-night, only getting up for a music concert. I even fell asleep briefly at my desk - twice - at work, how embarrassing. I'd get home and go to bed. Life just didn't really have any excitement for a long time! This tiredness meant my capacity for baking was severely reduced. I hired a couple more bakers to my homebaking team and carried on as long as I could - until March, so not long, but I really was on my knees with exhaustion. Secondly, on a positive note, I discovered so many low and zero sugar cake recipes! I now offer a range of cakes called '280 Zero'. Not all of them were sensible options, the banana recipes in particular, but it was a relief and a serious treat to be able to nibble a little slice once a month or so. I still try to make the cake we eat at home low sugar - good habits die hard!  Almost 18 months on from waving a happy goodbye to GD, I definitely think getting through GD so successfully on diet alone is one of my greatest achievements - topped only by being a fab mum to the baby who appeared at the end of it all! I am so proud of how I managed it, especially given my dedication for cake and bread. Seriously.
Stay well, Louise 280 Bakes You heard it here first... All this week I'm giving away a free jar of Beanies coffee with every coffee cake order! I really love Beanies coffee (and I'm not getting paid or any free product from them for saying this! My two favourite instant coffees they make are amaretto and caramel (I totally get distracted on their website!), and they're sugar free as a bonus. So if you're looking to order a cake this week, why not make it my coffee or coffee and walnut one, and nab yourself a free jar of Beanies coffee (RRP £2.50)! Offer expires Sunday 15th November, limited jars available. Gluten free and vegan cakes included in the deal, of course! Louise 280 Bakes Missing having cake and coffee with your mates? |
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And it's not just us who think our cakes are great - it's always wonderful seeing a new review come in on Facebook. Everyone likes to hear they're doing a great job, and it's especially nice when we have a team effort behind it.
We've become known for cakes that are a little different, catering for customers with special dietary requirements like gluten free, vegan, sugar free and dairy free. I'm especially proud of this service, helping those people out who think they can't enjoy a good cake.
Something else I'm especially proud of is our same day cake delivery service, CakeOD. I got it registered as a trademark, and it's been a popular aspect to our baking business. We've saved many a forgotten event and person with a special delivery!
A few more of my favourite cakes... Which is your favourite? This is Catie's pony themed cake for a little girl in Stroud, some of my cupcakes, and a Rudolph Christmas cake I made in the early days.
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Do you remember, back in 2017 when we won a Bristol Fairtrade Award? It was for our Fairtrade banana cake - what an achievement! We've done a lot of work with external organisations and charities, from Mind to Macmillan, to the local charity Free Cake For Kids. Hope we've made a difference to someone outside of our delivery area, somewhere...
Our cakes have brought smiles to so many people's faces - it's going to be something I'll miss, delivering a surprise cake to someone. Often it's been for birthdays, but also there's some lovely people out there who know a friend of theirs needs a little cheering up and they order their favourite cake.
Here's some more favourite cakes we've produced over the years... This is a unicorn cake from our Heidi, Catie's toffee cake, and a cake ex-baker Lorna made to celebrate someone's milestone Park Run. Cakes aren't just for birthdays!
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We had a lot of fun running 280 Bakes. Check out the two photos below from Lawrence Weston carnival in 2016, and one shot from our first vegan baking workshop.
Our workshops were a fun part of running the business. We did two vegan baking workshops in Bristol helping people to learn new recipes without dairy or eggs. They received a rating of 9/10 by participants, and it really helped spread the word about our vegan cake range.
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So that's it! It just needs to be said thank you to all our bakers, present and past, for all your fab work, and thank you to all our customers. I couldn't have had this adventure without you!
All the best,
Louise
280 Bakes
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We'll be at a local event this week, serving hotdogs and home baked cake!
We're working with Highways England and Sustrans to feed the community at this special event. Come and learn what's happening in the BS11 area of Bristol in terms of new cycle paths and sustainable transport options - and come hungry!
Our Catie and Louise will be there, and bringing some of the delicious home baked cakes we're known for. Do say hi and tell us you saw the post on our blog!
More event details on this Facebook event page.
See you there!
The Team @ 280 Bakes
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On January 1st 2018 we began a memory jar to help us remember all the fab things we did and aCcomplished during the year.
Happy new year!
The Christmas decorations came down today at 280 bakes HQ, so it was the perfect time to open our Memory Jar from 2018. Let's see what's recorded inside...
The Christmas decorations came down today at 280 bakes HQ, so it was the perfect time to open our Memory Jar from 2018. Let's see what's recorded inside...
What's your favourite memory from 2018? Let us know in the comments below...
Our 2019 Memory Jar has already begun - let's see what the new year brings!
Louise
Owner, 280 Bakes
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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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