A UK-based Food and Travel Blog – Recipes, Baking, Travel and Lifestyle
Hi! Welcome to Hello Cuppies, I’m Natalie and I run a bespoke cake company called Cuppies ‘n’ Cream and this blog is a little spin-off from that to help me indulge my love of writing, baking, and travelling.
I’ve been blogging since around 2015 but in December 2016 re-branded, moved to a self-hosted platform and started to take things a little more seriously.
I live in a lovely little town called Wokingham in Berkshire but am originally from good old North Yorkshire.
My blog is a well-balanced mix of baking, food and travel-related posts but you’ll also find the occasional post about a restaurant I have visited or a parenting-related subject. I write about Reading a lot as I live very very close and I love to support local independent shops, restaurants and cafes.
I often receive invites to media nights at restaurants and have shared my experiences at Pho, Franco Manca, Honest Burger, plus many more. You can find my restaurant reviews right here.
Many things make me happy so I’ll be blogging about all of these and sharing my passions. Either way, I hope you enjoy.
In 2016 I chose to expand my blog purely because I love writing and realised that I had much more to talk about than just my love of baking.
I grew up in the beautiful city of York until moving out at 17. Before this I hadn’t been very far at all, a school trip to France and a few cheesy hen parties in Turkey and Greece just about covered it. And although I dipped my toe in the water with a few European holidays it wasn’t until I met my boyfriend Steve in 2010 that I truly got bitten by the travel bug. In the 8 years we’ve been together we’ve managed to fit in a lot of travel so it only seemed natural to include this on my blog. I do accept sponsorship opportunities which include press trips and often review accommodation, plus more, in the UK and around the world.
Some of my sponsored posts include:
A Foodie Adventure in Rome with the Post Office where I ate as much pasta and gelato as possible
Exploring Tuscany and staying in the most amazing Villa where again, I ate another insane amount of pasta
Partnering up with Jet2 and experiencing how talented their pilots are at landing on one the scariest runways I’ve experienced
Enjoying an amazing afternoon tea with Laura Ashley
Creating a sugar-free cake for Canderel
My first and most important priority is that I’m a Mum to 14-year-old Coby and 13-year-old step-daughter Lucy. My son is my pride and joy but I also am well aware that parenting isn’t all fun and games so writing about my experiences with Coby has actually proved to be quite therapeutic!
It’s fair to say that despite how much we love our children, they 100% drive us bonkers, right? I had Coby when I was quite young and always thought I’d be a ‘cool’ Mum… I’m not. But I think I’ve figured it out…just. Here’s one of my most popular rambles about him driving me insane… and here’s a much nicer one when I’m back to liking him again 😉
I’ve been baking professionally since 2011 and I picked up the caking bug after baking some cupcakes for a friend’s daughter. I am completely self-taught and have developed my skills by experimenting and creating lots of new flavours and combinations along the way. I hate over the top recipes and techniques so will try to keep things simple, but still as effective as possible.
One of my all-time popular posts is this one about how I price my cakes and make a living from it.
Throughout my blog I explore recipes, decorating techniques, tutorials, and also includes my visits to ‘cupcakeries’ (Is that a word? I don’t know, but I like it). You’ll find ideas for cupcakes, cakes, brownies and cookies too. One more thing to add is that I hate artificial flavourings and extracts. All my recipes will use the ‘real thing’ in the ingredients. I love the taste of fresh ingredients and my favourites are lemons and raspberries. Oh, and I always try to source locally if possible too.
When I write up a recipe my aim is to guide you through the process in a way which will help you enjoy your baking experience. I really go to town on flavour, and hold back on faffing, ending up with bakes which are easy for anyone to achieve, and giving you an end result which you will truly love.
I want you to feel confident and relaxed when recreating a recipe from my blog – if you do feel that then there is every chance you will enjoy being in the kitchen and baking as much as I do.
If you’d like to contact me about anything else please do, I welcome emails and am open to working with brands, companies and I’m a huge supporter of independent local and smaller businesses. If you think we can work together drop me a mail and take a look at my PR page here.
If you would like to place a cake order with me please take a visit to my actual cake website at www.cuppiesncream.co.uk
Cuppies ‘n’ Cream has featured in various publications from Woman Magazine to The Express. Other titles include Clickstay, BBC Radio Berkshire, XN News, Love My Dress, Wedding Tattle, Want that Wedding, The Wokingham Times & The Reading Chronicle.
