Squires Kitchen Exhibition 2018

I was so delighted to be asked by the fabulous team at Squires Kitchen to exhibit at this year's exhibition in Farnham, Surrey.  The exhibition takes place every year during March and it's a great event.  I designed 4 new cakes for the show displaying in the Wedding Cake Showroom, as pictured below.

My cakes on display in the Wedding Cake Showroom.

I also teamed up with some of my industry friends to collaborate on creating a wedding cake fit for royalty within the 2 and a half days we were there.  Here's the finished masterpiece!

Royal Wedding Cake Collaboration

These are the super-talented people involved in this masterpiece of a cake:  Simply Alpa, Sylvia's Kitchen, Alan Dunn Sugarcraft, Petya Shmarova, Design Sucre, Scrum Diddly, Immaculate Confections, Wedding Cakes by Design, Tees Bakery, Hayley Elizabeth Cake Design, Willoughbys Cakes, Chelsea Buns Cakery, Emily Hankins Cakes, and of course, me!

Me with my cake buddies working on the Royal Wedding Cake collaboration!

It was a fabulous cake weekend and super to have the time to catch up properly with industry friends.  Looking forward to next year already!

We've rebranded!

Sometimes it's just time for a change.  I'd been thinking it was about time since around March last year, but I wanted to give myself time to really think it through.  I read a lot, talked it through with Mr A-P, decided on the company name (many thanks to my Facebook friends for voting on the poll, which, incidentally, came out 50/50 which didn't help! lol), decided on a colour palette, and once I'd found the right creative designer for me (Stylish Creative), it was suddenly all go, go, go!

After 6 years as Apple Tree Cakes & Crafts Ltd, we rebranded to Apple Tree Cake Design Limited.

I think, predominately, I felt that my company name and branding just didn't represent me/my work properly any more.  I had always intended to work on the "& crafts" side of the company with the hand-embroidered linen aprons I used to make, but when the cakes took off like they did, it just didn't allow the time for any sewing, so that bit was rather unnecessary.  Also, the old logo had become a little too... cartoonish, perhaps?  Maybe I'm being harsh, but I knew I wanted something elegant, timeless and classy and it needed to feature something to do with apple trees as I wasn't going to lose that part of my company name.

It was a pleasure to work with Nicola at Stylish Creative to come up with our new logo.  I absolutely love it, and it's been very well-received by friends, fellow industry professionals and clients.  A rebrand is a big task to undertake in business; there's so much to change!  The fabulous people at XL Displays have fast-tracked our new show banners and they've just arrived today in time for this Sunday's show at Prested Hall.  The guys at Benson's Printing Company are hard at work (or their printing press is!) churning out my new A6 cards ready for Sunday, too.  Exciting times!

I hope you like our new branding!  New company name, same delicious wedding cakes.  I'm very excited about the year ahead and I wish you all the best for 2018!

Rebecca x

Let's get naked!

Whoa there!  OK, friends, let's not get too excited... I am, of course, talking about cakes!  Naked?  Semi-naked?  Rustic buttercream?  We've found all those styles are very on trend again this year, but the naked wedding cake seems to be the most popular of that group still.  And why not?  They're pretty, summery, and this wedding cake which I made for Sarah and Dean's wedding last month is no exception.

When Sarah and I first spoke, she talked me through her wedding plans and I just knew that a pretty, naked wedding cake would be perfect for them.  Having booked The Coach House at Marks Hall Estate near Coggeshall, Sarah was after a relaxed, countryside wedding feel to their day.  Sweet, seasonal, fresh summer fruit would be easy to source, and knowing that currants and cherries would also be in season thrilled me as they look super cute hanging down the sides of the cake, which softens the distance between each deep tier.

For those worrying about this style of cake drying out... there's really no need to be overly concerned.  We brush an appropriately-flavoured sugar syrup on each layer of sponge when assembling them and this helps seal in the moisture (did you see how I avoided the word "moist" there!) within the cake.  For this cake, the top and bottom tiers had a vanilla sugar syrup, and the middle carrot tier, a cinnamon sugar syrup.

Sarah and Dean chose Madagascan vanilla and raspberry conserve at the top; carrot, pecan and roasted hazelnut with cinnamon buttercream for the middle tier; and dark chocolate truffle with white chocolate buttercream at the base.  The lovely, thick gnarled log slice which my woodsman supplied completed the look.  A little gypsophila and a dusting of icing sugar.... et voilà!  One naked, fruit-adorned wedding cake!

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The happy couple... Sarah & Dean cut their naked wedding cake...

All that remains is for me to thank Sarah and Dean for asking us to make their wedding cake and we wish them both a long, happy and healthy married life together... filled with cake on regular occasions, of course!

~ Rebecca x

Welcome to my blog

Hello and welcome to my blog on our Apple Tree Cakes & Crafts website.

Who am I and how did this all start?

My name is Rebecca Allen-Pugh (that's me above!).  I live in Tiptree, Essex with my wonderful husband, Mike, and our two crazy and beautiful Cocker Spaniels called Misty and Storm.  

I've always been creative and a keen baker and cook, so I'm truly happy to be running my cake company and fortunate to be working doing something I love.  Being involved in such a creative industry means that, usually, no two days are the same and my business always holds my interest.  When we're not busy baking wedding cakes or handcrafting sugar flowers, I can often be found in my office busy sketching away at new ideas and designs.

I've been baking and making sugar flowers for years and I finally formed Apple Tree Cakes & Crafts Ltd early in 2012; it's been a wonderful journey so far.  When we bought our lovely home, the large garden which backs onto a beautiful wood, was just lawn apart from a wonderfully old, gnarled apple tree right in the centre.  So, we called our home 'Apple Tree House' and hence Apple Tree Cakes was born.

What this blog will be about...

I'd like to share my musings and insights into my life within the fabulously exciting wedding industry with you and, of course, about my passion for all things cake related.  I will blog about interactions with my clients (with their permission) and their cakes, and my fellow wedding industry suppliers and introduce you to some fabulous people I'm lucky enough to work with and to call my friends.

Just a little bit about the rules for this blog...

What I publish in these blog posts represents my views and opinions.  I wholeheartedly encourage you to respond, add comments, make suggestions, and even disagree... with one caveat:

Please keep comments relevant to the conversations taking place, maintain respect for all those involved and contribute value and depth to the discussion.

I moderate comments and will quickly remove (or not publish) any that are offensive, disrespectful or irrelevant.  Please don't comment to advertise or promote yourself.  Oh, and please don't post any private information as this is a public forum.

Thank you for reading, visiting and being interested in my wonderful world of weddings and wedding cakes!

All the best,

Rebecca