The Versatile Blogger Award

One of the most exciting things that has happened to me in the last week is that I was nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Kat over at The Baking Explorer. This is the first award like this I have ever received and certainly the first seal of approval on my little blog and I am just ecstatic to have been picked for the honour! Kat and I connected over a mutual love of attempting Great British Bake Off challenges (a love I am sure we share with many of you out there!) and I can't thank her enough for passing this on to me. 

The VBA is like a chain reaction, each nominee can display the award, and in turn pass it on by nominating their own selection of great blogs. You can find out more information about the VBA on their site.

So, the first rule is to pass on the nomination to 15 other blogs that you read regularly, subscribe to, or have found recently. I am aware that a few of the blogs here may have been nominated before, however there doesn't appear to be anything in the rules that says they can't be nominated again, and I really enjoy what they do. I also wanted to take this just a step further and add a sentence as to why I have chosen each blog. And so, in no particular order...

My 15 Nominees 

1. Chloe Moon - Ergo

I found Chloe through searching for cupcake decoration ideas, however her blog is so much more! Chloe writes so openly and transparently about her life on her blog that I feel like I know her, even all the way across the Atlantic - I genuinely look forward to her next instalments!

2. Lavender and Lovage
This blog is one that if you find your way onto, hours can pass before you emerge on the other side, blinking, and fully gorged on mouth-watering recipes and stunning photography. For me this is the Graceland of food blogs - plus Karen hosts some incredible giveaways too! 

3. Lucy P - Super Golden Bakes

I fell head over heels in an instant when I saw Lucy's awesome 'Crown of Love' cake on Twitter, and I promise the rest of the goodies found on her blog are equally swoonsome! 

4. Fab Food 4 All
Camilla has everything on her site, I find it a really good place to go for inspiration when I fancy something new for dinner. Camilla also co-hosts Credit Crunch Munch, a blogging challenge for finding cost effective, tasty meals - and I love seeing the vast range of ideas that get shared in the challenge each month... real food for thought!

5. Blue Kitchen Bakes
Jen has just celebrated her one year blog birthday, and I hope this blog will be as comprehensive when it turns one later this year. I have recently stumbled across Jen's Classic French challenge, and am looking forward to being tested to try something new over the next few months.

6. Mad About Baking
Kelly's blog is brand new for 2013, and I am looking forward to following her blog/baking journey from the beginning. Plus she has already taught me that I never need to buy ready made wraps again - for this I will be eternally grateful! 

7. Dolly Bakes

What Rachel doesn't know about Bundt cakes seriously isn't worth knowing, and I have her to thank for the recipe for my Grandpa's birthday cake that sent me straight to the #1 Granddaughter spot! 

8. Cake of the Week
Cake of the Week is a new find for me, and there are two main reasons why Janine has made this list for me. Firstly is her recipe for Low Fat Cheesecake Brownies with Ganache Topping... yes... Low Fat... incredible. And secondly for her Baking with Spirit challenge, which I cannot wait to enter next month, as it combines my two favourite things, cake and liquor!

9. Bird on a Cake
Fabulous cake designs. Fabulous recipes. Fabulous photography. Robin is so incredibly creative with her designs, and she has great tutorials on here as well.

10. Sweet 2 Eat Baking
Lisa at Sweet 2 Eat Baking has got the whole US/UK conversion thing nailed, and for this I am in awe of her. Then I found her recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Fudge, and I was a gonna!

11. Cupcakery
Whenever I get to the end of one of Hazel's posts, I feel like I have just gotten to the bottom of a hot cup of tea, there are a scattering of crumbs left on my plate, and I reluctantly have to tear myself away from a dear friend and step back out into the cold and go about my business. That is the sign to me of a great blog...

12. My Cupcake Habit
'Cupcake Girl' is another new blogger for 2013. What I love about her blog is the absolute excitement and enthusiasm for baking that she writes with... it's the pure joy and pride that we all feel when we've turned a selection of basic ingredients into an amazing bake.

13. Bake Happy
From the cake decorator side of me, Bake Happy is packed full of amazing step-by-step tutorials and how to guides. Blogging from the Philippines, Aikko aspires to be a cake artist. I'd say she's already there! I learned how to make fondant people from this blog, and it's my first port of call whenever I have a new project I need some guidance on.

14. Nate British Bake Off
Nathan's blog charts his one man campaign to make it onto the next series of the Great British Bake Off. As a professional photographer, his pictures will make you drool a little bit, and I love his honesty about his baking successes and fails (I personally try to pretend mine never happened!)

15. She Who Bakes
Britt is a sugar craft tutor, and her blog posts cover this and also great recipes and bakes - her easy teaching style comes through in her writing, which makes her tutorials and hints and tips a great handy place to go. 

The second rule is to share seven things about yourself, so here goes...

7 Things About Me

1. I studied Dance at University. This is still the thing that surprises people the most about me! Possibly because cake has taken it's sweet toll on me and I no longer have the physique!

2. I got my first job at 14, and have worked ever since. It has taken me a further 14 years however to get to this point now, when I've finally realised what I want to do for a living... hopefully it won't take another 14 to accomplish it!

3. I started this blog in September 2012 as an outlet to write about my cake designs, and chart my progress as I tried to learn new cake decorating skills. Then I discovered the 'blogging community' and fell in love with you all! Whilst I still add the odd post with an update on my cake-ing progress, I am enjoying exploring the world of reviews, blog hops, competitions, and blog challenges.

4. I have several food related dreams... I will be happy if at least one comes true one day. I would love to become a professional cake decorator. I'd like to open my own bistro. And like all food bloggers out there I am sure, I would love to see my name in print in my own cookery book.

5. I am an avid follower of the Formula One, and have been since as long as I can remember. Sunday's to me are made for baking, Sunday roasts, and the F1 races - we even signed up to Sky for the sole reason of being able to see the races when they moved from BBC 1...

6. I was born and bred in Derbyshire, and spent a lot of my childhood on walks and adventures in the Peak District. It's still the place that I feel most at home and comfortable, and there are places that I can still go and sit and look out on a view and be 8 years old again in an instant.

Source: http://blog.nikonownermagazine.com/files/2011/08/north-mid_millstones.jpg

7. My partner is from Newton Abbot in Devon, we met when I was at University in Bath, and he was wonderful enough to up and move back to the shire with me when I graduated. I do enjoy our trips to Devon to visit the 'in-laws' - being a land-locked girl, the proximity to the seaside gets me giddy every time!

Source: http://www.torquay.com/userfiles/images/torquay-seafront.jpg

And that's me... I hope that you find enjoyment and inspiration in the blogs that I have nominated, and I hope that my nominees are as excited as I am to be part of the VBA chain!