Hello Kitty Cakes and Francis Quinn

Well its been a while! Life with 2 children makes it hard to do anything! Not that I am complaining really as I love it!

Last year I won some tickets to go to the Cake and Bake show in Manchester. I went with a friend from my baking group and we had a lovely time wandering round looking at everything. There were some celebrity bakers and we stumbled across a 'Lounge' area where you booked an appointment with a host of Bake Off people that were there so we signed up to see Francis Quinn!! I was very excited and couldn't wait to speak to her ! But we had to think of a baking query to ask as this was the idea behind the meet and greet.  Neither of us could think of a question!! Then I randomly thought of this Hello Kitty baking Mould that I had bought ages ago and every time I used it the cakes would be all squished when they came out......

mmmm look delicious right?

Of course they look like Hello Kitty !

Frances is such a lovely person - we chatted on the sofa for ages and it was like chatting to an old friend! She lives in Market Harborough which is where I grew up so we discussed all the best cake shops in the area and both agreed that the muffins from Hambleton Bakery are the best that there are.  She said that she was working with the bakery on a few things Quintessential Jaffa cakes are one of the many things she is working on at the moment which I will check the next time I am there!!Also we both had a mutual love for this fantastic farm shop called Farndon Fields. There is a lovely tea room, lots of local produce grown on the farm, fantastic butchers , beautiful flowers and pretty gifts. I always pop in when I go back to see mum - they have the best new potatoes, strawberries and asparagus that I have ever tasted and am happy to pay a little more... however I digress...
There were no awkward silences talking to Frances! She showed us her notebook that she uses when she is working on her projects - she is so talented, I loved all her sketches. After a good 20 mins chat she asked us our baking dilema! And I explained about the cake moulds - she told me to grease them well and when the cakes were cooked to put the whole thing in the fridge or even the freezer to cool, something I hadn't thought of, I am not the most patient of bakers and tried to get the cakes out as soon as they came out of the oven! Big Rookie mistake! Our lovely chat came to a close and we had to have some photos.....

Surprised!

So a week later I had another go at making these cakes and did as she suggested and am pleased to say they worked!! I was so pleased...