My blog has moved..

Hi lovely people. Just a short and sweet post to let you know that I have moved my blog over to Wordpress which is also what our new website is running on. This means more regular blog posts about my cupcake adventures.

Click over to see pics of our brand new second store!! Very exciting stuff.

www.cupcakecentral.com.au

See you over there!

Murphy's Law, you win buddy

Just a short post today because I want to share my experience of 'life running a business' with you all. I can honestly say I haven't felt stress such as this before, not even when we opened our very first store in Hawthorn. I feel sick in the stomach from worry and want to cry but my head hurts too much to handle it.

Our new brand rollout. Our website will also be updated soon!

The uncertainty is what kills me most, then secondly it's disappointing our customers. I'm just in the state of mind now that this store feels like a dream, is it really happening? Maybe it's like Inception, a dream of a cupcake store within a cupcake store. Yes, wtf I'm delirious. Let me explain.

The uncertainty of not having a date set in stone can make a person go crazy because how can you plan anything if you haven't got a date to work with? We did have a date of Wednesday 6th July which had considerable amount of leeway, mind you. And then Murphy's Law came along and f'd it all up. I'm not going to go into details but lets just say that the floors better be worth it.

Then, it's the customers. Our most supportive, amazing customers. We have been getting calls almost everyday asking whether our new store in Melbourne Central has opened yet. These calls make me smile because I feel so lucky that word has already spread, but that twinge of guilt. Why isn't this store open yet?! I'm so scared that people turn up on Wednesday and be terribly disappointed. 

So I want to apologise in advance to anyone that is met by disappointment on Wednesday. If you mention that you came to visit on Wednesday and we weren't open, I will ensure you get something special.

Thank you for your support. We have been working really hard, along with our amazing builders to get this store up and running. I mean it always sounds so simple just to get a store open, but there are thousands of aspects that need attention and some things we wouldn't have been able to learn without experiencing it. Long story short, have a plan A and a plan B, then make sure you have a plan C. I'll have a happy post up soon, promise. x Sheryl

Innovators innovate, Imitators imitate

It is mostly true that “nothing is original” and that every idea is some reincarnation of a previous idea . Just look at all those variations for different abdominal machines on late night infomercials.

Most of the products out there are hardly anything brand new or never seen before ideas. The successful ones are more ‘new & improved’ versions of someone else’s idea. Apple for instance didn’t invent portable music players, Sony came out with the Walkman before them, they just made it damn cooler. They were innovative in the way they paved the way with their branding, their vision, their following.

Customised Boombox Tour Cupcakes!

When you see innovators, you instantly know who they are because they captivate you. Their idea may not be original but you can see, feel, smell that what they are doing is fresh, unusual and contagious. Innovators, in my opinion, are those that are truly passionate about what they do. They don’t do it for money, they don’t do it for fame, they don’t do it for the wrong reasons. They do it because it’s their calling in life, their purpose that needs to be fulfilled. That's why when you see those feel good viral clips on YouTube where they're expressing their passion in an innovative way, they instantly become YouTube sensations.

A month ago we had the awesome opportunity to create some custom cupcakes for the Boombox tour with these amazing talented YouTube stars performing on tour. Many may not know the names Kev Jumba, Niga Higa, Andrew Garcia, Jayesslee but if you're a YouTube addict like me, you will know these names and may even be a huge fan of theirs. Their talent whether it be singing or making you laugh, they are the ones that are following their passion and are innovating new contagious videos to make us feel inspired.

Janice & Sonia have the most amazing voices!

Kev is just hilarious (in person as well).. I was hooked on his hilarious vids whe he just started out and now he's a serious superstar! It actually felt quite surreal to meet him in person.

The innovators are the ones that have others wanting to be like them, imitating them, stalking them. Innovators don’t care. They believe in what they do and look forward to bringing another fresh idea into play, breathing a breath of fresh air into our lives.

Cupcake Central Workshop Store Happenings...

The date for our grand opening launch has been moving around due to our tight schedule for the build. We are hopefully going to get a concrete date to release tomorrow. Our amazing builders are working day and night to get this Workshop open and here are a few details going into our Melbourne Central store...

Straight from England!

Sneak peek of some especially sourced refurbished vintage lights going into our Workshop store.

Just beautiful vintage pendant lights.

How awesome does our new logo look on a stamped coffee cup? It's love.

Building building building! Evolving evolving evolving!

Cupcake Central Workshop is currently nothing but an empty, clean slate but watch this space!

Plans have been approved and the building process has begun! I must admit we were a little optimistic when we set our minds on opening our second store in Melbourne Central on the 1st June but we live & we learn. The second store which we are dubbing The Workshop is smaller than Hawthorn but the investment is much larger....making me just a tad nervous. I just keep telling myself "if we build it, they will come" haha but no seriously, deep down I know that this store will be something very different to anything that has been offered here in Australia. I'm planning to run real workshops for people to enrol in to learn how to bake and decorate cupcakes...but shhh, it's still in the works.

I've been told that the first couple of weeks of build looks like nothing is really happening and then the last week goes BANG, a new store appears. Really hoping this is true.

Alongside the building of the workshop we are slowly rolling out the rebranding of Cupcake Central which is very exciting. Many people ask the question why we are changing our logo and the answer is due to one main reason - we want to keep evolving our brand and as our business has outgrown what we initially designed (due to our limited budget at the start), we are now creating a brand that our business can grow into and grow with!

Have you been to Melbourne Central's new Dining Hall on Level 2 yet? It's been open for a couple of months now and it's gorgeous. Problem is figuring out what to eat!

Brand is important to us because ultimately a brand is what YOU as the customer feels about our product, services, atmosphere and everything in between. Not what some brand expert says it is. So our business has essentially been molded by our customers, every feedback we get to improve, every suggestion, every idea thrown our way - we do try our best to take what we can on board and keep evolving.

Just as an example of our rebranding, here is a sneak peek of our new packaging that just arrived a few days ago. All made out of recycled cardboard. Our new business cards are also made from recycled stock - even though it may have cost us extra to use that material, it's the little things that count and I believe there are other people that will appreciate that.

These boxes were designed specifically for us and are so freaking amazing... embossed and all. As we phase out our old boxes you might be lucky to get one of these pretty boxes before we open the workshop.

We may get a few puzzling looks over the next month as we roll out our new branding but don't be concerned... we're still the same old Cupcake Central...just better - (yes I know it's quite a contradicting sentence). I know I do say it alot but it never gets old...thanks so much for your support either through eating our cupcakes, spreading the word or reading my blog.

Hitting the jackpot!

Late last night I turned on the TV and stumbled across a doco called Lucky on SBS One. It was an interesting doco about how winning the lottery changes these winners' lives and how they deal with going from rags to riches. And let's be honest, we've all at one stage or another dreamed of what it would be like to win the lottery.

- The S'mores cupcake is part of our new Winter Collection of cupcakes -

Imagine living a life where money did not matter. Imagine having all the money you could ever spend and not having to think of working another day in your life. Would you live it differently?

An interesting comment one of the lotto winners made was that after winning the lotto, he didn't have his 'day job' as an excuse not to follow his passion anymore. In some ways, that clicked with me. That fateful day that I lost my job...was just like winning the lotto! Crazy thought.

- Pear Crumble is another addition. Filled with real made-from-scratch Pear Filling, vanilla frosting and rolled in the best serving of again, made-from-scratch crumble -

Sure losing my job is not the same as winning the lotto, I can't go out and buy my dream Aston, Ferarri and Lambo to fill my garage for the hell of it. Can't exactly buy a jet to go on a 'round the world trip either. But it released me from my excuse I had carried along with me... "I can't do it because I'm committed to something else".

- A lovely write up of us in the Melbourne Weekly last week that made our phone ring non-stop for days (no, it wasn't an ad!) -

So amuse yourself and think about what you would do if you won $20 million dollars? Besides from buying all the material things, what would you want to do every day?

That's why I feel like I've hit the jackpot because I would still want to be here building this business.

Our next store in Melbourne Central is set to open in the last week of June 2011. Like our Facebook page for updates.

What gets you out of bed every morning?

What motivates you to get out of bed every morning? For me it keeps changing. At first it was because I loved to bake, then it was to see the smiles on faces when they ate something that I made, then it was the feedback I would get, then it was because I felt accountable to building this business to grow so we can keep our staff, then it became a mixture of so many things but especially inspiring others to do what they wanted to do in life.

- Chilli Chocolate - a flavour that's going onto our Winter Collection coming 1st June. -

The other week my old high school, Killester College, asked me to make an appearance and run a cupcake decorating workshop with a class of Year 10's as part of their Visual Communication & Design subject. They were designing cupcake packaging and so part of it was decorating cupcakes so they could take photos of them in their packaging.

It was such a great experience and such a privilege to be able to speak in front of a class and tell them about my story. I let them know it was possible to follow their passion and make a 'career' out of it. I spoke to them about how "The world needs to do what you love" because it's the people like the Steve Jobs, Richard Bransons, Oprah Winfreys of this world that influence us and makes a difference in this world.

 

I remember when I was in high school, there was such pressure from parents and family to grow up to become a doctor, a lawyer, a pharmacist as it was seen as a successful job and provided security. I knew from a young age that I didn't want to be any of those professions as I had more of a creative side and I also loathed science and maths (with a passion). I was so lucky to have parents that believed in me and supported me in what ever I wanted to do, even though I knew that they were secretly scared sometimes. I just wanted to share my experience and story with the girls because even though they might not know what they're passionate about now or what their dreams are yet... one day if it dawns on them, then they can hold onto that dream and follow it.
 

 

- The group of creative young ladies at Killester College -

- The end result, what a creative bunch! -

"The greatest change happens because of people that are deeply passionate, and have a great love for the work they do.
If you want to make a difference in the world, the single most important thing you can do is consciously and deliberately choose to do work that you are passionate about." - Johnathan Mead, Zen Habits

The countdown begins

What a few weeks it has been. I've been busy working on getting our processes in preparation for the Cupcake Central Workshop, also the Winter Collection of cupcakes, organising Young Female Entrepreneur networking nights, running cupcake decoration workshops at my old high school, having the first staff party which will be one that will probably be hard to top.. and lots of baking & training new staff!

 

 - Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes with a Royal Wedding theme to celebrate Will & Kate's wedding. We were so overwhelmed by the amount of orders that came in for these cupcakes and sold out in record time and we had to bake more!-

So the countdown begins as we are working on getting the design and planning of our next store approved. It's been a bit of a lengthy process but this store is a step up from our Hawthorn store. When we started on our Hawthorn store we had a very limited budget and we were very much beginners in what we did. Most of teh design was done by Tin with the guidance from our project manager. This time around we've got a bit more of a budget, learnt from our mistakes and have a much better idea of what we want and how to execute it. We've also been able to create a network of professionals that know how to get the job done a lot better than we do.

 

- An Autumn themed Wedding Cupcake Tower. The red laser cut wrappers added the perfect touch -

- A cherry blossom themed Wedding Babycake Tower with Red Velvets and Black Velvets -

Having heard other entrepreneurs speak at The Unconvention, it makes it clearer to me that as entrepreneurs, we're not meant to be specialists in every single area in our businesses. An interesting thought was when Dominic Carosa mentioned that he was quite offended when someone said he was a "Jack of all trades but master of none" but realising afterwards that it was actually a good trait to have as an entrepreneur. You know a little about a lot but a lot about a little - enough to be able to bring the skills of those that are smarter and more highly skilled than you in those areas and make your idea & business work!

 

- Professional photoshoot of our cupcakes for our new website and our 2011 Winter Collection -

- I tried my hand at taking some photos too. I like this one -

So as we prepare for the second store, I'm focusing on what I love doing and what I do best - which I believe is coming up with new ideas, flavours, interacting with customers face-to-face and through social media, focusing on processes and systems (my previous life as a Business Analyst does have it's pros!). As the countdown approaches June, you'll start to see Cupcake Central evolve into a brand, it's going to be a brand that spells out our core values. 

Aspiration - Quality - Experience

Change is on it's way and I know that there will be people that will love it and there will be those that will hate it. If anyone ever has feedback to pass onto us, we are more than happy to listen and at the end of the day - you are our customers and we do what we can to make you happy when you step in our store or order from us. That's a promise!

You will also see some vlogs from me as I want to share my experience of living my dream and how much care we put into our business to make you guys happy! Take a squizz.

- Test baking for our new Winter Collection of cupcakes -

One last thing, I want to introduce you to my cute little puppy Joey. Most adorable thing ever. I've heard that pets help you destress and allow you to live a longer life.

If you're not growing, you're dying. There's no in between.

When an apple is still on it's tree, it keeps growing and growing but once it's been picked it's no longer growing and starts to die. There's no in between - where it will stay in that state forever. 

"If you're not growing, you're dying. There's no in between." - Tony Robbins

Our Company started off as a small business, myself being the sole trader operating from my registered home kitchen, getting orders through word of mouth and through my $500 website. It has been growing rapidly ever since and there hasn't been a period where it was stagnant because I was always looking for ways to learn and improve. As a business owner, an entrepreneur or even as an employee, there is a need to keep improving and learning. Without it, life would be a bore and you wouldn't be getting anywhere anytime soon. What I've learnt so far with our company is that we've had to keep adapting, learning and evolving "Cupcake Central". As we continue to grow, we've had to improve each time, correct mistakes and plan for what the future holds. 

Each week our team of pastry chefs (all have studied at William Angliss - one of the best pastry schools out there!) will take turns to come up with a new flavour for Surprise Flavour Friday. We all get excited about getting a new flavour out there every Friday and we have a little competition on who's flavour sells out first. It keeps the team learning new techniques from each other and keeps things interesting. Here's our Head Baker, Daniel, decorating Rosewater Pistachio cupcakes.

 

It's quite unbelievable how much support we've received over the past 6 months since Hawthorn opened and we receive so much lovely feedback from customers about our product and friendly service. We have really built this business on passion, making a difference and on a dream - we don't solely focus on the bottom line and hopefully everyone that has stepped foot in our store or ordered online can see how geniune we really are. So thank you for your support...

So there is some exciting news that I'm going to announce here today.  

A Cupcake Central Workshop will be opening on 1st Late June 2011 in Melbourne Central Level 2 Dining Hall! 

This is essentially will be our second store but it will be a whole new different concept and design... it is going to blow your mind. You will be able to watch as our Pastry Chefs bake and decorate fresh cupcakes in our workshop area. So prepare to see our brand and design evolve into something that shows what we're all about - quality, the dream, the aspiration. We're so so ...SO much more than just a cupcake bakery, if you've come to visit our store you'll understand why. We're so very excited and hope you will come on this journey with us, visit us when we open and say hi when you pop by.

- Hatch That Dream -

P.S We've also been able to raise $1480 for the Red Cross Japan & Pacific Disaster Appeal which is phenomenal, so thank you for the support guys - together we've made a difference!

What the world needs now...

On Friday afternoon I jumped onto Twitter and started seeing tweets about an earthquake hitting Japan. My heart sunk as I started seeing all the photos flow through the news & media. For the last few days I've been feeling so many mixed emotions - sadness, this sick feeling in my stomach, helplessness, thankfulness and wondering what I can do to help.  I'm sure you have all felt one or all of these emotions as well from seeing all those images of people that have had their lives just torn away from them, their whole world falling apart within minutes. It got me thinking that I'm just so thankful for my life. After a very difficult day of work on Sunday, I was extremely stressed out and frazzled.. but after I had a minute to sit down, I realised that all the those 'dilemmas' I encountered were simply insignificant to what the people in Japan are facing.

So in the next few weeks I ask you to join me, if you haven't already started, to have some compassion and send our love to those affected by the earthquakes & tsunami's. Let's not dwell on unimportant issues that we normally do. Don't get upset if someone put onions in your burger when you didn't ask for it, don't hold a grudge against someone that has made a mistake, don't feel angry because someone in front of you drives too slowly. Take this opportunity to be more compassionate and kind to those around us, smile more often and spread the love. Life's too short to be upset and angry over the smaller things. Embrace life and show the world what humanity is about.

- Green Tea filled with Red Bean paste topped with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting ($4) -

Cupcake Central will be donating 100% proceeds of our limited edition "Pray for Japan" cupcakes to the Red Cross Japan & Pacific Disaster Appeal from 15th March - 22nd March 2011. We will have them instore the whole week or order online at www.cupcakecentral.com.au or call us on 03 9077 4542.

Cupake Central is also participating in Plan's From Cup to Crop Dining to Donate campaign instore this month to help fight hunger. So if you have $3 spare, add it to your bill as 100% of this will go directly to help feed a child for 10 days in Africa.

Why you can't give up!

Ahh a blog post at 8AM in the morning, yet I've already been awake for 4 hours. Yes that is how early I start my days. Back in the corporate world days I would always rock up to work at 9.01 am, never earlier because I used to press the snooze button 5 times. Nowdays I press the snooze button 2 times, I must train myself to be like Julia Gillard and wake up as soon as the alarm goes off.

Limited edition Cherry Cola cupcakes! We used real Coca Cola in the base to create a fluffy airy cocoa and cola base. We cut the cupcake up and layered the cola cake with vanilla with Cherry buttercream. I managed to get hold of an American product of the super concentrated cherry essence so it would taste just like a Cherry Cola. I'm crazy about the smell & taste of it. Although some people hate Cherry Cola we did have heaps of customers that came by the store early just to grab this cupcake, they disappeared quite quickly.

Having a business is like nurturing a baby (not that I'm a mother but it's just an analogy), you have to look after it almost 24/7, you need to learn things along the way to ensure you care for it properly, you have to invest the most time and energy you've ever spent on anything in your life - just so it will grow. Without the proper nourishment and love, it will die! "If it's not growing, then it's dying. There's no in between" - Tony Robbins

I've been a bit frazzled lately, the business has been growing dramatically and adjusting from the quiet holiday period to being 3 times as busy is a challenge. This has meant long hours, lots of physical work and stress. Yesterday I had some downtime and after a good sleep in (which is rare for me), my brain was fresh again and I started reflecting on the last 6 months. Yes our store has only been open for less than 6 months! I can't tell you how overwhelmed I felt. WE have grown so much and every day feels like we're growing so much more. 

For the entrepreneurs that are just starting their businesses, especially on their own, I know you might be feeling a little isolated, uncertain and perhaps even a bit lost. I certainly did for the first 6 months when I started my cupcake business online and baking from home. I would feel so terribly lonely, wondering if what I was doing was going anywhere. But that period where I spent most days by myself, when everyone else was at work, was one that was insightful times I've gone through and made me more resilient. I learnt things about myself that I had been distracting myself from when working. I was honest to myself and I felt extremely independent.

So my thoughts are, enjoy being on your own and I'm going to sound a little wanky now but go and 'find yourself'. And some other tips that may help..

- Stay true to your passion, build a business on true meaning and value to you. Everyone will try to give their 2 cents worth as they want to see you succeed but at the end of the day the only person that knows what will work for you, is yourself. So don't feel obliged to listen to everybody's advice, opinion and suggestion. 

- Share what you're doing with others. Passion and energy is contagious! If you're doing something awesome then share the news through social media networks. Don't bombard your friends with marketing crap though. If you hate it when you see stuff like "Order blah blah from us today! And tell your friends" 20 times a week, then don't do it yourself. It desensitises people and sooner or later they will become disinterested in what you're doing because it's not engaging enough.

- Know your bloody product! If you don't know what goes into your product then you shouldn't be selling it. Know it inside out so that you are confident about it. Nothing more offputting then someone trying to sell you a product when they don't know what they're selling.

Oh and here's a clip of Cupcake Central on Coxy's Big Break which aired in Melbourne on Channel 7, 27/2/2011. Go easy on me, I was quite nervous and I do cringe a little when I hear myself. Also fyi, the last line was a script and I said "croquembouche' as it leads onto the next segment where Mel creates a croquembouche tower!

Cupcake Decorating Party!

"Frosting Time!" is one of the most awesome tasks here at the bakery for our team of bakers (yes it's grown to 5 and almost 6 now!). So imagine Maddy's excitement when her Mother organised a Cupcake Decorating Party for her 13th Birthday here at Cupcake Central! We were just as excited. I've only ever done this once, for my dear little cousin over at her house. Yes there was a lot of screaming, yelling, running around, fondant and icing sugar e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e. but all the girls (and boys) had the time of their life and all squealed that it was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

So I have been contemplating for a while to set up instore Cupcake Decorating Party packages but never really got around to it but as Maddy's mum was enthusiastic to arrange a party for her here, I thought this was a great chance finally implement the idea. It's also been quieter on the weekends over the holiday break so we thought it would be a good chance to roll this idea out so we don't end up ripping our hair out.

So the girls got 90 minutes in the Cupcake Central sleek open kitchen being taught & shown how to roll out fondant and create their own fondant cupcake toppers, practising their piping techniques and being able to show their creative flair of decorating cupcakes. They also got to take home their 6 cupcakes in one of our special gift boxes...and also another little surprise being one of the first people to get their hands on a Cupcake Central's Batter Up Cupcake Mix so they can bake them at home!

They sure had fun and the noise was bellowing out of our kitchen into the alley way, attracting the attention of passersby. Some even asked Tin what was happening down in the kitchen, seeing 10 kids busily decorating cupcakes - to which he replied "We've just hired new bakers and are training them up".

With some of the creative cupcakes that came out of the party, who knows there might just be an aspiring cupcake baker waiting to come out!

If you would like to hold your own Cupcake Decorating Party at Cupcake Central feel free to contact us at www.cupcakecentral.com.au

And this here is gorgeous Cooper showing off his fondant Teddy Bear, who knows he could become the next Adriano Zumbo!

Happy Baking!

Working in a cupcake bakery and losing weight? Yes, it can happen.

Happy new year everyone! Or more recently Happy New Lunar Year! I know it's been a while and one of my new year's resolutions was to blog a lot more and share more experiences with you all - there's still time...it's only February, already! Ok I promise to keep you all more updated on the happenings of Cupcake Central this year. For now, I want to put business talk aside and talk about something that is just as important, which is health and wellbeing.

- Come smell how delicious this cupcake is Tin...smoosh. World War III occurs when I need to elicit the help of my boyfriend in the kitchen. He is amazing at all the business stuff, but baking? Not so much -

So let's get down to business.. what's this about losing weight? Weight is such a touchy topic and I'm sure that 80% of ladies, if not more, have had a time in their life when they've thought about going on a diet and losing a couple of kilos. I think throughout my whole life I have pretty much been a chubby kid. I never felt as though I hated myself or my body though, I would've liked being skinnier but I never hated myself, I've always quite liked the proportion of my body. Anyhow, ever since I started working in my cupcake store I thought 'Yes, this is my chance to get skinnier' since I thought I'd be running around, being stressed out and all those kilos would fall off.

- Passionfruit cupcake. Tin was once asked by a customer how many calories was in a cupcake, he responded with "as many calories you want it to have, *wink*" lol -

I was wrong. Somehow waking up at 4am and relying on a soy latte as a means of breakfast has severely effed up my metabolism followed by 1 or 2 large high-carb meals during the day, such as the deliciously evil white crusty bread deli rolls filled with prosciutto, brie and basil pesto, several cupcakes (for tasting purposes), junk food (due to lack of preparation) and goodness knows what has made me put on 5-6 kilos! FML.

Since my store opened I had neglected my own health and wellbeing as I was busily working on the business making sure everything was doing well. I had neglected sleep, stopped going to the gym, eating unhealthily and ended up getting stressed out. So after the Christmas & New Year break I started getting this uncomfortable feeling every time I sat down. I realised that it was due to the rolls of flab *gag* I had for a stomach, I felt...utterly disgusted. I had to do something about it. I felt like s.h.i.t. there's no other way of describing it. So a week before I was going to be filmed for a TV segment on Channel 7's Coxy's Big Break, I ran out and bought The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss from Borders.

- On camera for Coxy's Big Break, I get to show you guys how to make Red Velvet cupcakes! -

As you know, I LOVE self-help books and I loved the 4-hour Work Week. I had stopped reading for a while and it's been difficult for me to start reading again and break my bad habit of watching YouTube clips at night. But once I started the book I couldn't stop. The excitement of putting everything the book said to work was amazing, the next morning I started the Slow Carb diet straight away, not on a Monday but on a Thursday!

Anyway, in short, I've lost about 4kgs in 30 days BUT it's much more than that, I definitely know that I've put on muscle and I've lost centimetres off my stomach, thighs & arms. I took before and after photos and the results are so visible...but the most amazing part is that I didn't starve myself nor did I have to exercise 2 hours a day. I think I've probably done 5-6 hours of exercise all up in the 30 days. Oh and I've also been able to pig out on Saturdays but I think my body is doing something weird and is no longer really craving for sugar and junk - just this Saturday past I was sure I wanted pancakes or something carby for breakfast but I ended up at High Tech Burrito and got a high protein steak, egg & bean burrito instead but then I ate frozen yoghurt afterwards.

So how the hell did I stay away from cupcakes whilst on this Slow Carb diet? Besides from knowing I was going to be on TV...

- Channel 7 Presenter, Mel Hetherington. Sitting with her cupcake tower at our store. Did I mention she also has an amazing to-die-for toned & petite figure? She did get to eat quite a few our cupcakes and loved them, she's also been to Magnolia bakery a couples months before visiting out store and definitely knew what she was talking about when it came to cupcakes -

I made sure I prepared what I had to eat for the week (eggs, tuna, fish, lentils, beans, beans and more beans) and I had to taste test cupcakes using the good old wine tasting method (a la swirl in mouth and spit). Even with a bite of a cupcake multiplied by 12 means I'm consuming a lot of wasted calories, I mean it's different when you eat a cupcake for enjoyment. Taste testing is wasted as it's part of a job...? I'm too focused on the texture, the sweetness and flavour to savour the moment, I guess. But don't you worry on my cheat-days I got my fix of cupcakes alright, I think it made me enjoy it all the more actually. Also when you're on a high protein diet, you start to feel as though you're eating so your body is getting fueled properly. Your energy levels will change and you won't feel bloated, I never even knew what it really truly meant to feel not bloated because I was always bloated!! I do sometimes crave for sugar and I've had a few lapses and ate banana chips or grapes but seriously I'm surprised how long I've been able to follow this diet and with such ease. I do want to lose another 5 kilos...of fat though and gain some kilos in lean muscle and have more definition.

I know I'm not fat or overweight but I'm aiming to be fit because I believe the healthier my body is going to be, the better I will be at running my business and achieving my goals a lot quicker. Without energy and vitality, it'll be harder to get to where you want to go whether it be mentally or physically.

- Presenter, Mel Hetherington and I after all the filming. She was so bubbly, friendly and gorgeous! She can really bake as well. This was only a week into my Slow Carb diet thus the flowy dress and still rounded face -

And yes, I KNOW that this is quite contradicting for someone that bakes and sells cupcakes for a living to be going on about health, weight loss and diets. But I still do believe that moderation is key. Food is there to be enjoyed and I think what I've learnt most from the Slow Carb diet is by being able to say to yourself that you want to fuel your body with the right foods, there will be days where you will need to fuel it with cupcakes! Cupcakes may not be too great for the hips but it's good for the soul.

I'll be back with some more posts on Cupcake Central and it's happenings next week and perhaps an update on my #4HB Slow Carb diet. Till then...

Happy Valentine's Day!
Order away at www.cupcakecentral.com.au