La Creme Patisserie Blog

La Creme Centre of Excellence

Breaking News :

Friday 5th December we finally signed to purchase our new manufacturing unit on the Baglan Moors - The La Creme Centre of Excellence.

 

We are hoping to be operational mid March 2009 and you can follow the progress on our blog pages over the coming months.

The plans are for a magnificent Wedding Cake studio and we intend to run cookery courses and hold cookery demostrations from the centre. It will also be a working kitchen from where we will supply the most exquisite desserts for the finest venues in the area and eventually supply a chain of our own patisserie's across South Wales.

Our patisserie shop in Neath will remain open to serve the general public and we will use the unit to supply desserts to restaurants, hotels, coffee shops, banqueting and conferencing venues.

Owen Martell and S4C visit La Creme

S4C rang us this week to see if they could use our patisserie as a venue to film an interview with the welsh author Owen Martell. They even paid a location fee!!. If only we could speak Welsh we could have given you a sneak preview of what was being said.

At least Sain managed to get a picture with Owen Martell and the presenter outside the shop.

Welsh Assembly and Castell Howell Food Fair

Wednesday 12th November we took part in a food fair hosted by the Welsh Assembly and Castell Howell in Cardiff. Products we had for sale included our award winning frangipane mince pies, our petit four welsh cakes, chocolate brownies, chocolate truffles and millionaire shortbread. We had lots of interest from the general public and people have taken our business cards away to order our products online for gifts this Christmas.

 

The first person we spoke to in the morning was the Presiding Officer of the Welsh Assembly, Lord Elis-Thomas. He was extremley interested in our products and our business and he wished us every success with our future expansion plans. All day people from the Welsh Assembly kept coming over saying how impressed the PO was with our cakes. Praise indeed.

If you would like to order our products this Christmas then our new website should be operational by the end of November so that you can place your order on-line. In the meantime please send us an email with your request or telephone the patisserie on 01639 638574.

Visit to the Mayors Parlour

The official invitation said that the Sian and family were invited to the Neath Port Talbot Mayors Parlour in recognition of winning National Awards.

We were accompanied by Terry Harvey the Neath town Centre Manager and two local councilors. The mayor said a lovely speech where he congratulated Sian on her success and he said that she was a credit to Neath. He then got Sian to sign the visitors book and the official photographer took some snaps.

Sian was quick to point out that the success of La Creme Patisserie was a team effort and wouldn't have been possible without the help of her close friend and number two Tonya Hill .

Sian and Tonya brought along samples of La Creme's award winning frangipane mince pies and petit four welsh cakes for the mayor and mayoress to try. Needless to say both were very impressed.

Tonya also give the mayor a small gift of a box of Penderyn Chocolate truffles which she had made earlier in the day. Our Penderyn Chocolate Truffles Gift Boxes include chocolates made with Brecon Vodka, Merlin Cream Liquer and Penderyn Welsh Whisky.

Perfect gifts for Christmas. The only problem is that you will need to order them because supply will be limited. Ring the shop and ask for Sian or Tonya on 01639 638574 to reserve a box.

Penderyn Bread and Butter Pudding

We have just been informed that one of our products has been successful in wining an Award at the Welsh True Taste Awards 2008. The winning product is a Praline Bread and Butter pudding with whisky soaked raisins. Sian trialled many different types of whisky but by far the best for this particular recipe was using Penderyn Welsh Whisky.

Penderyn is the only whisky producer in Wales and they are based not far from us in Hirwaun. Take a look at their website to read about the fabulous success story the company and how it has been marketing itself as the new Welsh gold.

We arranged a meeting a fortnight ago with the MD of Penderyn and he has given us permission to rebrand our winning product as La Creme Bread and Butter Pudding with Penderyn Welsh Whisky soaked raisins or Penderyn Bread and Butter Pudding for short. Sian has also taken away samples of some of the other products in their portfolio and she will be doing recipe testing to incorporate them into other dessert creations.

Bread and Butter Pudding is a perfect winter dessert and we will be marketing our creation to hotels, restaurants and banqueting venues over the coming months. You can also purchase the product through our patisserie or over the telephone 01639 638574.

As well as cakes, Sian has also put into production a range of La Creme chocolate truffles for christmas which will include Penderyn whisky.

Penderyn Bread and Butter Pudding

Watch out for more news of Penderyn range and if you are a resturant or hotel and you would like further details on products then please send us an email [email protected]

Sian makes butternut squash soup

This week Sian was asked to write a full page article for the South Wales Evening Post entitled Eating on  a budget. To accompany the article, the editor sent along a videographer to film Sian preparing one of the recipes. For those who missed it, here's Sian talking through how to make butternut squash soup.

I know the title says "How to make pumpkin soup" but it really is butternut squash soup (honest).

If you have any questions with regard to video then send Sian an email and she will be only to happy to answer your questions.

La Creme Patisserie wins two Great Taste Awards

Great news !

We have just been notified that two of our products - our Frangipane Mince Pies and our Welsh Cake petit fours have been awarded Gold at the Great Taste Awards 2008.

The Great Taste Awards, which are organised by the Guild of Fine Food are referred to as the Oscars of the food industry. They are the authoritative and independent standard for Britian's fine food sector and the fine food logo is recognised as a mark of excellence that consumers can trust and rely on.

In order to win Gold, our products under went a rigorous judging process whereby our products were blind tasted by at least three different teams of experts over a two week period.

To read the press article in full about the awards and our products follow this link:

Download la_creme_wins_two_golds_at_the_2008_great_taste_awards.pdf   

Part of the prize for winning a gold is that our products will be exhibited at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair at Olympia from September 7th - 9th.

The products themselves are available for purchase in our patisserie and can also be bought over the internet though our website.

Both products are available in our presentation gift packs and they make perfect gifts for real food lovers. Both are priced at £5.00 & postage and packaging. We sell a large quantity of these gift packs to local businesses who find that they are a perfect present to reward staff or as a small gift for visiting customers, especially those companies entertaining customers from abroad.

Speak to Sian on 01639 638574 if you are interested in receiving some samples.

Look out for Sian on the new NPT Council Banners

NPT Council have commissioned new banners and posters to promote the work the council does in supporting local businesses.

Guess who's picture is on the banners promoting Neath's small traders.

Thats rights - Its Sian.

Picture one shows Sian decorating a Black Forrest Gateau whilst surrounding by her famous Cup Cakes.

Picture two shows Sian with a blow torch finishing off a creme brulee.

Follow this link Download npt_banners.pdf to see the finished banners in PDF format.

The Economic Development department at NPT council have been really supportive to our business, by helping us get grant assistance for our new van and supporting us in securing our new industrial premises on the Baglan Moors (more details later).

Sian always wanted a two seater

Sian always wanted a two seater. Something nippy around town. Something individual.

Well we have managed to kill two birds with one stone.

Welcome to the new La Creme Patisserie Refrigerated Vehicle.

Not a Merc but a Fiat Doblo.

We had the van sign written by Signs Express in Llansamlet who have come up with a fantastic design. They have even managed to find a nice looking model to feature with one of our Wedding Cakes on the back on the van.

Watch out for the van being driven around the area and if you see us, then give us a toot.

Evening Post debut for Sian

Sian has been asked to become a recipe writer for the South Wales Evening Post, joining their top team of chefs to share her favorite recipes with readers.

Her first recipe published today Saturday 5th July is for Roasted Red Peppers.

This is one of my all time favourites and is very popular as a starter for our Saturday Night Takeaways.

Follow this link to see the article in the Evening Post.

Alternativley follow the link to download the recipe from our files Download roast_red_peppers.doc .

I have to say that I am really proud of my wife and everything she is doing. She is working so hard and its fantastic to see her starting to reap the rewards of all her efforts.

Maybe not this Christmas but watch out Christmas 2009 for Sian's first recipe book. Like everything she sets her mind to, I am sure she will fulfill the dream to write a food book in the not to distance future.