Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Cupcake Crawl...in Tokyo!


Thank you for everyone's support and for spreading the word about my new online cupcake business. I have been so busy baking which is an absolutely wonderful thing, so wonderful I need to pinch myself sometimes.
So I just wanted to say "Thank You".
XOX



Yes folks, I'm jetting off to Tokyo next Wednesday for a week. I know my business has hardly reached it's one month since opening night and I'm off on a holiday already? What a slacker!! Haha, well the reason why I'm going on a holiday already is because I bought super-cheap flights back in January this year (when I still had a job in the corporate world) and for $480 return flights to Tokyo via Jetstar, who could say no?

I have been to Japan once before, this was the same trip where I headed to New York afterwards and triggered my cupcake obsession. I absolutely love Japan, I don't think I could ever get enough of this wonderful, unique, polite, bizarre and beautiful country! My favourite memories of that trip ranged from waking up in the morning and drinking a hot can of coffee from a vending machine to marveling the beautiful mountains and countryside whilst on the shinkansen bullet train to Osaka.

This time around, I'm setting myself up for a mission - to go on a Cupcake Crawl (like you know a Pub Crawl har har, except you'll be intoxicated with sugar) and visit as many cupcake bakeries, cafes with cupcakes and find cupcake paraphernalia in Tokyo. So here goes my list of places I am going to try to visit whilst there:

- Notting Hill Cakes, a British owned business that sells cookies, sweets and of course cupcakes! I cannot wait to visit this place. There are actually 3 locations. Two Notting Hill Cafes and one cafe called Slouc. I am going to attempt to visit all three as they're all in Tokyo. Also since they are British owned perhaps they will speak some English, which will be great because I won't need to guess what the flavours are.

- Dean & Deluca in Shibuya Tokyo, this is a store that sells fine food, wine and kitchenware - it's a franchise that has several locations all over the world. I do believe they sell cupcakes at the Shibuya location so I'll have to visit and take a look.

- N.Y Cupcakes in Koganei Tokyo, these cupcakes are more like little gifts - they look adorable in their packaging.

- Fairycake Fair in Chiyoda-ku Tokyo, I can't read Japanese but from the photos there's a cupcake with a FIG on the top, I have have have to try that one!

- The Pink Cafe in Universal Studio Osaka, this cafe looks so awesome - it's completely pink! Oh how I wish I could go visit this place but unfortunately my 7 nights stay is probably not long enough for us to travel all the way to Osaka. This will need to be on my to-visit list for future trips. Note that I don't even care about Universal Studios and just want to visit this place! I'm too old for theme parks but never too old for pink cafes that sell cupcakes!

So there it is, I'm so excited..eeeekk...I'll be taking lots of photos and eating lots of cupcakes and other lovely food over there so can't wait to blog about it all.

In other news, I haven't been blogging because I have been so busy! I've had so much support from friends spreading word about my business and where would I be without Google! So many random orders from Google and I love getting feedback about my cupcakes especially from strangers because I know they'll be honest with their feedback without being scared of hurting my feelings.

So here are a few pics of what I've been baking, enjoy and take care everyone!

P.S

Cupcake Central will be away from 28th October 2009 until 4th November 2009. Yes this means I will miss Halloween and I really wanted to do Halloween themed cupcakes =( I think I will make some anyhow and stock them to OMG Treats Cafe, so stay tuned!

Go Bananas For Orangutans! WSPA www.gobananas.org.au Chocolate Banana cupcakes for ANZ whom were supporting this great cause.


Customised Coco Chanel Couture Cupcakes in Purple & Pink


Domo Kun Cupcakes! Little angry monster that is a popular Japanese cartoon character. Made these for Marcelle's Birthday.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Cupcake Central Stall Menu this Sunday October 4th at Dingley Market

Although I've traded at the Dingley Markets for about 5-6 months now, this week will be different as we'll be trading as Cupcake Central!

Come along to the Dingley Craft & Produce Market this Sunday anytime between 9am and 2pm. The address is 31B Marcus Rd Dingley Village. Don't forget it's daylight savings this weekend which means we'll be losing an hour.

The lovely Khrissa has organised a Bloggers Cupcake Meet on the day and so if you're a fellow Blogger you'll be getting a couple of free babycakes!

On the menu will be a couple of new flavours that I haven't had at the stall before: Green Tea and Citrus Lemon (made with real organic hybrid lemon and orange from my own backyard)


See you there!