Clandestine Cake Club Bolton meet at Thyme

We were really pleased to host the first ever meeting of the Bolton Clandestine Cake Club.
What a turnout - so many of you and so many delicious cakes (yep i tried them).
Here's a few pictures.
If you would like to join contact Rachel via her website www.dollybakes.co.uk or via er twitter page @dollybakes.

New arrivals

We are very pleased to be a stockist for a range of products by Scottish textile designer Gillian Kyle

All the aprons, tea towels & bags are made by a small, family-run firm who take the utmost pride in creating every item. The care and attention to detail in producing even the simplest of products is second to none – and the results speak for themselves. They use organic cotton for our products, and begin the process by cutting each piece to the right size, then the products are screen printed with our designs and then they are sewn, finished and checked. They provide skilled jobs in a rural area where they are in short supply and take the time to train each seamstress & printer to the level necessary, which can take around 3 months of tireless practice.
The beautiful fine bone china mugs in the range are from a great wee company located in the historic heart of the UK ceramics industry; Stoke-on-Trent. They employ a highly skilled workforce and are one of the few remaining businesses in the area (and in the country) capable of doing this kind of work to such a high standard. The use of fine bone china gives all the mugs their crisp whiteness and slight translucency.

We love the quirky and iconic designs and we hope that you will too.

New at Thyme

This week we are expecting some new deliveries including a new range of aprons, mugs and bags.
Also our first Easter products will be arriving. pictures soon.

We are pleased to announce that we will be introducing Wifi for our customers at Thyme very soon.

For more regular updates on our daily specials in the cafe why not follow us on Twitter or Facebook?

Make your own pancakes

It's Shrove Tuesday on 21st February. Early this year don't you think ?
Of course you can buy a pancake mix but pancakes are so easy to make from scratch why not have a go ?

Pancakes are so versatile, they are perfect sprinkled with sugar and lemon juice, but they also make a great savoury dish.
Make your pancakes as normal and use them like canneloni in an italian style bake.

Here's a basic recipe for you to give them a try...

200g plain flour
3 eggs
500ml milk
knob of butter or oil
topping of your choice (lemons, sugar, nutella, honey, the choices are endless)

Sift the flour into a bowl and beat in the eggs.
Now add the milk slowly until the mixture is quite runny (like single cream).
Pour the mixture into a jug.
It's best to let the mixture stand if you have time, half an hour is fine, or longer.
Heat your frying pan, it needs to be quite hot, add the butter or oil, swirl it around the pan and pour of any excess (don't throw this away).
Pour some of your mix into the pan - enough to coat the bottom with a thin layer of batter, swirl the pan around until evenly coated.
Once the underside is cooked (should start to become golden) Flip the pancake (or toss if you're brave enough). It should only take a minute or so to cook the 2nd side.
Top and eat immediately or keep warm if cooking a batch.

Any frying pan will do or if you eat them a lot why not invest in a special pancake pan (also available at Thyme).

Flippin' lovely

Thyme for a birthday.

My youngest son will be 5 tomorrow. Some of you will probably remember when i was pregnant with him behind the counter at Thyme!
So i thought i would share his birthday cake with you all. I have been tweeting about making this cake during the week and was a bit anxious in case it didn't look as good as i had hoped.
Well i certainly wasn't disappointed and thankfully neither was he.
Now what do i make for my eldest son's birthday later in the year ?

If you LOVE baking....

...you'll probably love this pretty bowl.
I think this would make a fab present for a loved one St. Valentine's day. Or any day for that matter.
In stock at Thyme now.