“Love is in the Air”

Love is definitely “in the air” here at Alternative Cake Company and in the run-up to Valentine’s Day 2012 we’re offering Brides a 10% discount off your cake order, if you book a free consultation & personal tasting session with us before the 14th of February!

We make sure we have appointments available in the evenings & at weekends, as we know how hectic life can be, so please give us a call on 01438 225326 or contact us through our enquiries page and we will be happy to discuss your requirements.

Please also browse our menu and choose your four favourite options to sample at your consultation. As all samples are freshly baked, we do require a minimum of one week’s notice; if you’re finding it hard to choose which ones, give us a call or email us your list and we will be happy to guide you. Please be aware that you can have completely different flavours for each tier!

So please, contact us before 14th February 2012 to book your free consultation and personal tasting session and receive 10% discount off your order (excluding delivery). Call us now to discuss your appointment as we do limit the number of cakes we commission each week. This allows us to apply the same high level of workmanship to each cake that we make; we believe in quality and attention to detail, thus ensuring your wedding cake is perfect for your special day.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Lots of love,

Colette
(Creative Director)
xxx

Madingley Hall Wedding Show, Cambridge, Sunday 20th Nov.

Come and join us on Sunday 20th November, between 10:30am and 3:30pm, at the Madingley Hall Wedding Show in Cambridge.

We will have a range of exciting new cake designs on display, along with a tasty selection of cakes to sample, and, of course, we will be on hand to discuss any cake related matters you might have.

Book your free consultation with us on the day and we will give you a massive £100 discount off the total cost of your cake!

For more information about Madingley Hall, please click here.

We look forward to seeing you on the day!

The Alternative Cake Company Team

Eggless cake; we’ve finally Cracked it!

After much intense research and lots of trial and error, it is with the greatest of pleasure that we announce the launch of our eggless cakes!

Some vegetarians, vegans and followers of certain religions do not eat eggs, but that’s no reason to miss out on the delights that cake has to offer!

Eggs have a dual purpose in baking: 1) to help bind the other ingredients together, 2) to aid with the rising process.

Here at Alternative Cake Company we do like to bake a light, fluffy sponge and so trying to achieve this without using eggs has been quite a challenge.

Now, there are some eggless cake mixes available on the market, but those familiar with Alternative Cake Company, our philosophy and our products, will know that we don’t use ready-made cake mixes. There are also a number of “egg replacers” available on the market, but these are typically a mix of potato starch and tapioca flour, with some form of artificial emulsifier and other “food additives”.

So we searched and we researched. We experimented. We tried this; we tried that, but everything came out flat, stodgy and either tasting like cardboard or not really tasting of anything at all. We were close to admitting defeat and almost wrote it off as a myth.

In desperation we started listing random ingredients off the tops of our heads and somewhere in the delerium of it all, like mad scientists striving to devine the ultimate alchemical formulae, we came up with a crazy idea.

A recipe was quickly formulated and an initial, tentative batch was nervously made. Impatiently we sat around the oven, waiting for the cake to bake. After what seemed an age of waiting, the alarm sounded and the cake was taken out of the oven. It didn’t even have time to cool properly before it was being cut and sampled, and everyone groaned with delight as we bit into it’s tasty, light, fluffy goodness.

We’d done it! This was it; the perfect eggless cake! We had reached baking nirvana.

Our very first successful eggless cake was a chocolate cake and a very tasty chocolate cake at that, even once it had been in the fridge overnight (it was reminiscent of a chocolate brownie, with rich chocolatey overtones), but we still needed to perfect a vanilla sponge.

After a quick tweak of the recipe, another batch was eagerly put into the oven and time dragged inexorably by as the cake baked away. With the sound of the alarm came a great deal of activity in the kitchen as we all danced around the oven to witness the rising of our latest culinary creation; we were blown away by how much the cake had actually risen!

The eggless vanilla sponge was only allowed the bare minimum of time to cool down before it was cut and covered with a vanilla buttercream and some traditionally made strawberry jam. The cake was then cut into portions and served.

The unanimous initial expression from everyone present was “OMG!” Not only did it taste like a normal vanilla sponge, but it was actually as light and fluffy as our normal cakes. Our quest was finally over, and we have won!

So therefore, once again, it is with great pleasure that we announce the launch of our eggless vanilla and chocolate sponge cakes! :-D

Please contact us via our enquiries page or by calling 01438 225326 to arrange a consultation and discuss your eggless cake requirements.

The Luxury Wedding Show at The Grove Hotel, 27th February

Come and join us on Sunday 27th February at The Luxury Wedding Show, being held at The Grove Hotel, nr Watford.

The Show is open from 11am until 4:30pm, with bridal fashion shows between 12:00 and 2:00pm.

We will have a range of cakes on display for you to see, along with a tasty selection of cakes to try, and, of course, we will be on hand to discuss any cake related matters you might have.

For more information about The Luxury Wedding Show, please click here.

For more information about The Grove Hotel, please click here.

We look forward to seeing you on the day!

The Alternative Cake Company Team

*UPDATE*

Wow, what a show! Many thanks to everyone who stopped by for a chat on Sunday, we had a really good time.

What a venue; The Grove is stunning!

The Luxury Wedding Show grows from strength to strength; our thanks to eveyone involved in making it such a success.

The Luxury Wedding Show, Sunday 6th February

Come and join us on Sunday 6th February at The Luxury Wedding Show, being held at The Radisson Edwardian Hotel, Heathrow.

The Show is open from 11am until 4:30pm, with bridal fashion shows between 12:00 and 2:00pm.

We will have a range of cakes on display for you to see, along with a tasty selection of cakes to try, and, of course, we will be on hand to discuss any cake related matters you might have.

For more information about The Luxury Wedding Show, please follow this link, where you can also pre-register for the show.

For more information about The Radisson Edwardian Hotel, please click here.

We look forward to seeing you on the day!

The Alternative Cake Company Team

*UPDATE*

Wow, what an amazing show. Many thanks to everyone who stopped by for a chat and a piece of cake; we had a lot of fun!

The Luxury Wedding Show 16th January 2011

It is with great pleasure and immense excitement that we announce our participation in The Luxury Wedding Show, being held at The Landmark Hotel, London, on Sunday January 16th 2011.

The Show is open from 11am until 4:30pm, with bridal fashion shows between 12:00 and 2:00pm.

We will have a range of cakes on display for you to see, along with a tasty selection of cakes to try, and, of course, we will be on hand to discuss any cake related matters you might have.

For more information about The Luxury Wedding Show, please follow this link, where you can also pre-register for the show.

For more information about The Landmark Hotel, please click here.

We look forward to seeing you on the day!

The Alternative Cake Company Team

Follow us on Facebook

We are pleased to annouce that you can now follow us on Facebook as we have our very own Fan page.

Click here to view our page and don’t forget to add us as a friend! We’ll be keeping the page updated with new cake pictures, announcements of Wedding Fairs and any other interesting news.

See you on Facebook.

Regards,

Alternative Cake Co Team

WEDDING FAIR – 24th October 2010

Come and see us on Sunday 24th October at Downs Hall Country House Hotel, Bishops Stortford, from 11am til 4pm; click here for more information.

We will be exhibiting some new cake designs for 2010 and we will have samples to taste, too! We will also be on hand to discuss any cake-related matters you may have and help you design your dream Wedding cake.

Book an appointment on the day for a free, no-obligation design consultation.

We look forward to seeing you there.

The Alternative Cake Company Team

The In Wedding Show, Sun 5th Sept

Come along to Alexandra Palace, London, on Sunday 5th September, from 11am – 5pm for this year’s In Wedding Show.

We will be there with a variety of new designs for you to see and some samples for you to try.

Stop by the stand and have a chat with us about your dream wedding cake; we have been known to make dreams come true! ;-)

Click here for more information about the In Wedding Show

We look forward to seeing you there!

UPDATE: Wow, what a show! A big Thank You to everyone who stopped by our stand; your response to our cakes was overwhelming.

Our White Chocolate and Champagne truffle sponge cake went down a treat and we even managed to convert a few people who didn’t really like cake! ;-)

Although by the end the show we were both exhausted, we had a wonderful day meeting all of you and we look forward to speaking with you again soon.

In the meantime, we should have the pictures of our new designs going up on the website over the next few days, so pop back from time to time and check in the gallery.

Our warmest regards,

The Alternative Cake Company Team

New Flavour: Man Cake!

We’ve been very busy in the R&D department of Alternative Cake Company recently, slaving away over a hot bowl of chocolate, experimenting with some new flavours for our growing range of chocolate truffle fillings.

After a lot of melting, mixing and tasting, we think we have finally done it.

For all you Men, who want a more ‘manly’ cake, we are now proud to present our Fruity Ale Chocolate truffle – “Man Cake!”

Using a range of different Ales our top Truffelier worked tirelessly, and selflessly, sampling each one to find the perfect Ale. A chosen few were then meticulously blended with smooth milk chocolate and fresh cream, to create the ultimate Ale Chocolate truffle.

Our findings prove very interesting: Pale Ales, for the most part, don’t work; the malty flavour really doesn’t mix with the chocolate. The only exception to this is Honeyed Ale; the honey overtones complement the chocolate, creating a light, subtle flavour.

Deep ruby Ales, on the other hand, add much more punch, giving the truffle more depth and flavour.

We took a sample cake along to our last wedding fair at the Spirella Building in Letchworth and it went down a treat. One visitor to our stand commented: “WOW! You’ve combined my two favourite things: Chocolate and Beer!”

All that hard work was worth it afterall.