For long and loyal readers of this blog (oh hey mum!), you’ll know that I went 2 long years without a kitchen whilst we saved up to build one. For newbie readers, yes you read that correctly. We had nothing but a sink. No worktops or cooking equipment. NOUT.
(You can see the before & afters of our eventual kitchen HERE)
So when it comes to baking – something I love – I really value the kitchen all the more. Because for a long time, the only thing I could make in my kitchen, was a mess.
Now, a year on from being fully renovated, I am the proud owner of my own baking cupboard. That’s right, a whole cupboard dedicated to baking ingredients and weird and wonderful cookie cutters (mostly dinosaurs) but I want to do more. I was invited by Currys PC World, Kenwood and the Wilmslow Kitchen Cookery School to spend an afternoon on an Intro to Baking course.
*fist pump into the air* Let me think about that for a second, YES PLEASE.
So first, as this is an interiors-focused blog after all, let me just say that the venue is BEAUTIFUL. If you’ve ever been to Wilmslow, or Cheshire in general, you’ll know what I mean when I say it’s very Cheshire.
For those none-the-wiser, it was incredibly quaint. A little bit Twee. Rustic meets industrial. Natural woods mixed with bunting and dusky purples. Deep greys on the cupboard to modernise. Whilst it’s not something I went for in my own kitchen re-decoration (although I’m not regretting my light grey cupboards. I should have gone darker dang it!), I can’t deny how frickin’ CUTE the place looked.
I particularly loved seeing the Ikea Expedit/Kallax units (so easy to spot aren’t they?) used in a kitchen setting which I’d not seen before. And offset with fairy lights. I mean, can I just squeeze the cheeks of this place? Adorbs. Very GBBO.
The huge wooden slider doors which led out to the greenery of outside were lovely. I can’t help but wonder how great these would be as an alternative to a French door or a bi-folding door. I don’t know how practical that would be, but I’m talking aesthetics. It was all just so pretty.
So back to the reason we were there! About 30 bloggers were invited on the day. A great mix of lifestyle, family, style and food bloggers, so I’m excited to see everyone’s take on the day when it comes to other blog entries (keep your eye out for the #currysinthekitchen hashtag if you want to see the other gals!) I must say, I’ve never done a cooking class before and it was just SO much fun. I am itching to do another one, maybe a sushi course?
On the day itself, we made a swiss roll with meringues, as well as a dark chocolate tart. Although I’ve always considered myself to be a competent – albeit clumsy – baker, I’d not made any of these before as I don’t have the equipment just yet. It takes a long time to put a kitchen together from scratch! This time around we were using Kenwood’s kMix food mixer, which I just loved using. and the mix of colours across the room was just right up my street.
I was paired with the lovely Sarah from Sequin This and let’s just say we couldn’t stand there to be any wasted meringue…
Anyone for a kMix selfie?
It was DELISH. Now, onto the chocolate tart…
And that was our day!
I had an absolute blast. We were SO lucky to receive a Kenwood kMix hand blender in our goody bag, as well as a teeny tiny kMix keyring. I’m now saving for a kMix blender so my baking cupboard will be complete!
Thank you so much to Wilmslow Cookery School for hosting, JoeBloggers for arranging, and to Kenwood and Currys PcWorld for the use of their fantastic equipment. You can read more about the event and see the full recipes here.
With a bit of luck I’ll be able to recreate the treats in my own kitchen. Fingers crossed. What do you think? Can you believe I made those desserts? (I can’t) How cute is the kitchen?
