Little Birds Bakery

Traditional cakes with a modern approach - all hail The Little Birds Bakery

Sam and Nicky - The Little Birds bakery

I love, love, love, cakes, I love eating them, looking at them, and just being surrounded by them. Yet I don't make them!
If you asked me to make something lovely and savoury I would do it, a gorgeous main meal with all the trimmings, an experimental tasty feast, then I am your woman!
But I'm not a cake maker, I let the experts do this!!

Victoria, Black forest, Bakewell

This week I was invited to a friend Nicky's place who has launched a cake company with her friend Sam. Invite simply put, Cake testing with a cup of tea.

Bakewell cakes

Cupcakes with a difference

Nicky and Sam set up the company after meeting at drama group Cobham players they realised here that they shared a love of baking cakes, but felt that the cupcake market was totally saturated. They both love old fashioned cakes but wanted to add their own modern twist while keeping old recipes alive!


My cake testing session started with a Victoria sponge cake, presented in a mini form of total deliciousness! The texture was a winner and bought about afternoon tea thoughts in my head. Sometimes I find scones a bit heavy and this to me would be a good replacement as it was about the same size but less heavy on the tum.

Next up I tasted the Black Forest gateaux, which always reminds me of being a kid, and my mum who is also a great cook but not into cake making, used to buy the shop bought Sara Lee version!! I relived it this morning but with new happier memories created something that replaces the horrid plastic shop bought version, it was a real treat and gave me a new found love for something I did not like as a child.

Victoria sponge - a firm fav!

I moved onto a marbled buntt cake and for me often looking at them conjures up feelings of dryness, but in reality the Little Bird cake company could not of been anymore opposite to this. The cake was moist and utterly delicious, this being one of my favourites of the selection. It surprised me so much, that I had to take a slice home for him indoors!
By this point I was feeling like my calorie limit for the year had gone, but on and up and next in line was the Carrot and pistachio cake "Oh my" I love carrot cake and the twist with pistachio was a winner  its not good to mess with something that already works but this was a good decision and in this case a total winner.
The Bakewell cake was fantastic the combo of pastry and sponge really worked.
My final, and favourite of the session had to be toffee cupcake, something which tasted delicious from the outside and had a surprise hit on the inside very much reminds me of the salted caramel flavour which is on trend at the moment but a bit sweeter.

The winning cake - Toffee cupcake

Overall I loved all the cakes and there are many more I want to try, but I was trying not to be overly greedy but just plain greedy!
What I love the most is that they have managed to get traditional cakes,  delivered on the best flavours in small gorgeous packages.
I loved every cake I tried today and  I would bring them to my friends for birthdays, afternoon teas, a Tuesday.... I associate cupcakes more for kids, but for adults I would choose these instead as its something more sophisticated.
I think you would find them delicious, but also give you happy memories about all the great cakes you ate as a child.

Simply fabulous - The Little Bird bakery has a thumbs up from me!!!

If you would like to get in touch - then email Nicky on sam.nicky@littlebirdsbakery.co.uk

Good takeaways

When you just cannot be bothered to cook....

I love living in Cobham, but sometimes on weekend when I have had enough of cooking all week, I just want to order food in. When I first moved here I found the choice limited especially on getting someone to deliver.
Now I have found two great places to order delicious food and both deliver.
My tried and tested recommendations to you - Amaiya in Esher which does great take out, a mix of the orient, with Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian food. It really is good, and my mum comes from Malaysia so I tend to get a bit critical quickly if its not up to my mums cooking! Its not as good as my mum but it is good!
My second recommendation, comes up again because when I tried this place out at the very beginning I wasn't sure about it. But now I'm super impressed with them! Massala in Cobham is now one of the best Indian restaurants here, it really does taste good with a good choice for all levels of hotness, the ingredients are quality, and they deliver which is AMAZEBALLS.
As well as making a really good Indian meal, they run courses to teach you! So if you know someone who adores Indian food this could be a really cool gift for them.

For more information or to order a delivery here are the details of both.

Massala Cobham - http://www.massalacobham.com/

Amaiya - 51A High St  Esher KT10 9RQ

01372 466617

Carluccios breakfast in Cobham

My youngest child has recently started to go into nursery for settling in days. I am so used to having a child with me at all times that having her leave me for a couple of hours I wondered what to do. Do I go home and clean up? Get the admin done? Oh hell no - I go out and sit down, order food for me, and no one else. I get my good friend Jules to join me. We decide on Carluccio's as the coffee is good, and quite frankly this is a treat and Italian is always good. Although Carluccios is a chain, it never fails to deliver, and on this occasion it kept up the good work. Having had every illness under the sun recently, I was not holding back. I ordered the £9,95 breakfast special, this included the calorific host of juice, coffee, eggs, pancetta, toast and mushrooms. It was delicious. It was made extra special because I was ordering just for me and I could eat before the everyone else, it wasn't rushed, and so I enjoyed every last bite!
Even with children its a great place. But I felt I could also frequent without.
We had an amazing morning and had big smiley faces when we picked up our kids. The service was good and I would definitely go back for another kid free experience!!

Carluccios on Cobham high st gets a big thumbs up



Neal's Yard

As most of you know winter makes me itch! I suffer dry skin especially at night - WHERE IS THE SUN I have officially had enough of dull skies and a holiday to a sunny climate is not an option at the moment boooo.
I know I am not alone as most of my friends keep scratching (not sexy I know). So my lovely friend Sian who works as a rep for Neal's yard talked me into trying bedtime body butter. Verdict I love it and I get a good sleep without scratching my legs. I also get to smell incredible.

For more details on how to get Sian to order it and get special offers go to facebook/cobhammums

Watch my vlog and see what you think.

Neal's Yard Bedtime Body Butter Review