Learning lessons, lime and pistachio and playing the long game.

So it's been five weeks since I gave up my job to concentrate on Bad Girl Bakery full time. In those 5 weeks I've planned, plotted, panicked and baked a lot of cake.

It's early days and on the whole I'm delighted with the way things are going.  I've had orders, taught some cupcake classes and become a supplier to my favourite cafe in Inverness. (Thank you Velocity!) Not a bad start.

A few things came a surprise... And the fact they did was a surprise!  I've been baking for long, long time. I've run cupcake bakeries, baked for cafes and restaurants and taught cake classes for years but somehow this is different.

 It's nerve racking being a self employed! Hats off to all my friends who've been doing it for years.  I'm also not a natural sales person.  Feels like I'm selling myself as well as cake. I need to work on that. But spending my days baking the things I love, recipes I'm proud of and cakes I know taste good? Spending time developing new recipes?  It's the best job ever.

The cake I love baking most is the three layer lime and pistachio. I can't take any credit for the flavour combination. The inspiration came from the Clandestine Cake Club, but the recipe I use is mine.  It's the cake I bake when I want to show people what Bad Girl is all about. Mostly it's about flavour, it just tastes great! Light, moist, zesty and full of flavour. It's indulgent, unusual, fresh and pretty and I love it.   I have a thing about cakes that look pretty but just taste of sugar.  This cake is my argument against that and I'm really proud of it.

I'm not sure I'll ever tire of baking it.  Might have to retire it at the end of the summer in favour of more autumnal flavours but until then, I'll be happy to bake it as long as folk want to eat it.