Cookie Girl's Pop Up Tea Party

Since stumbling across Cookie Girl's book 'Eat Me!' on Amazon and immediately purchasing it I can't help but love everything about the way she bakes! With Cookie Girl (aka Xanthe Milton) you get the feeling it is not about each cupcake turning out perfect every time, it is more about the fun of baking and everyone having their own take on an idea. She has amazing recipes which I find work every time. What I like most about her is her humble beginning to baking, going to offices around London selling her freshly baked cookies, then setting up a stall at Portobello Market. All the hard work paid off when she started selling her cupcakes in Selfridges and writing a column for The Grove magazine.

Last week in aid of National Cupcake Week Cookie Girl hosted a Pop Up Tea Party at 'The Shop' in London running over 4 days. A ticket was £15 each, which included 4 cupcakes that you were able to decorate, with tips from Cookie Girl, and take home after, a glass of bubbly and a cup of tea. Seeing Cookie Girl decorate cupcakes and being able to get hints and have a natter with her made the £15 ticket look even better value!

I have a bad habit of putting my cupcakes in the fridge, which I know makes them a little dry however Cookie Girl stressed the importance of not putting them in the fridge and after tasting her cupcakes mine are never going in the fridge again! Another helpful tip was not opening the oven door within the first 10 minutes of baking as it stops them rising correctly. She was also having a lot of trouble with her cupcake cases as they kept peeling apart from the cupcake and not holding their shape, these were a new type she'd been using which are Sainsbury's own brand which she doesn't tend to use. So I'd beware of these cases if you do not want any hassle!

We were shown how to fill the piping bags properly and how to ice cupcakes in a swirl, with the rose technique and with her 'iced gem' effect. If you want to learn how to do this yourself click here, I found the video really useful.

Cookie Girl does a variety of classes: cupcake decorating, half-day baking lessons, corporate events, hen parties and private baking lessons (which I am dying to go on!). She mentioned that she is soon starting a class which teaches you how to pipe a rose cupcake, the difficult one which involves piping each petal individually. I'd really suggest going on one of her courses, she is a really good teacher and anyone would learn a lot, let alone have amazing fun doing it!

Click here to view Cookie Girl's website.