Cake and Bake show Earls Court

This weekend sees the first Cake and Bake Show at London’s Earls Court.  Mr CC and I went today (on the Saturday).  Mr CC came along, in good spirits, in his three-pronged role of favoured companion, bag carrier and photographer.  Needless to say, all the photos in this post are his...I was too busy cooing at cupcake cases.

I’m not really a demos person – I have no patience in being shown what I already know how to do, and never think you get a good enough view to learn something that is new to you.  However, I must admit I got a little excited to see the tres magnifique Eric Lanlard in person and kept nudging Mr CC squeaking, “take a photo, take a photo” until he obliged.  Mr Lanlard drew quite an audience:

The reason I wanted to visit the show was to see the retailers’ stalls and buy stuff.  I don’t live near any shops where I can buy baking wares so most of my purchases come from the internet; the possibility of being able to touch things and peruse large displays was most alluring.  As you can see, I wasn't the only one who thought so:

I have grouped my purchases into three groups.  Here’s the first comprising of a whisk, some lovely muffin and cupcake cases, biscuit cutters, textured mini rolling pins, cupcake sprinkles and a bottle of red velvet emulsion, which gives the deep red velvet colour from only one spoonful of the emulsion and should – hopefully – eliminate the taste of food colouring from my next red velvet sponge:

My second grouping comprises of the show programme, and silicone and plastic moulds.  The build a house out of chocolate kit looks most interesting and can, of course, be reused.  I particularly fell in love with the afternoon tea mould on the right:

My final purchase was this rather snazzy cupcake carrier.  It holds 24 cupcakes at its largest but the layers separate should you only need to carry 12:

Here are my observations/tips for anyone going tomorrow (and as an aide memoire for myself next year):

1. Aim to get there 11am and spare yourself the grief of queuing for the 10am start.  We got there at 10.20am and it was chaos - the doors had only just opened (why is nothing punctual?) and there was the mother of all queues snaking around the whole of Earls Court.  The security then moved many of us to a holding area in the car park at the rear, although the security at the other end of the queue didn’t know about this and were giving conflicting advice.  After ten minutes of chaos and bad feeling, most people in the holding bay broke free and headed straight to the doors.  Whether this was the fault of Earls Court or the Cake and Bake show I don’t know – but it was ugly.

2. Take your own packed lunch, snacks and beverages.  There were nowhere near enough catering staff on hand.  Mr CC needed a break from my feverish shopping and joined the queue for coffees while I continued around the show.  When I rejoined him ALMOST ONE HOUR LATER he had only just been served.  Two sandwiches, a coffee and a diet pepsi cost nearly £15.  This is a photo of barely a quarter of the queue for refreshments (photo taken at about 11.30am):

3. If you are a lady, drink nothing before the event- dehydrate yourself like a Formula 1 driver preparing for a Grand Prix.  God forbid you need the loo when you are there.  If you think you might need the loo, start queuing a good 10 minutes before the need arises and you should be alright.  Alternatively, pack a false beard in your handbag and walk into the gents where no doubt you will be the only one in there! (I tried to get Mr CC to photograph the queue for the ladies loo but he feared he might be reported to officials for pervy practices and refused)

4. If you have a padded coat or jacket wear it.  It will help protect you against the sharp elbows that most people have no problem in deploying to try and push you out the way should you be standing anywhere near something they wish to look at.

5. Take all the above as advice from someone who is known for being grouchy and don’t let it spoil your enjoyment of what is actually a fab show.  I loved the stalls and the wares available – and I will book to visit again should the show return next year.