HEALTH BENEFITS OF CHOCOLATE

Hello guys, welcome back to my blog, I do hope it’s been an exciting one for you.

Today I’m gonna be letting us in on some health benefits of chocolate cake, unlike popular opinion about the high carbs and calories contained in chocolate  there are still some health benefits embedded in them especially chocolate cake.
In this post I’m going to be sharing some benefits of chocolate which is the main ingredient in the making of chocolate cake to us.

•Chocolate has methamphetamine which is the same hormone our brain secretes when we fall in love , it is also called the love hormone and that is one of the reasons why chocolate is part of the gifts given on Valentine’s Day “so you can fall in love again” (wink wink)

•Chocolate helps in retentive memory, that’s why students are told to eat chocolate when they want to read. Antioxidants present in dark chocolate helps in enhancing the gamma waves of the brain frequency by upregulating it.

• According to research pregnant women should eat more of chocolate cake. Chocolate aids the secretion of endorphins which helps in countering stress and makes us feel good in addition to the stress reduction research shows that expectant mothers who eat more of chocolate cake eventually have babies who smile more and are hardly cranky

• Cocoa increases the level of good cholesterol which in turn reduces the level of bad cholesterol

•Chocolate contains minerals  like potassium, selenium and zinc that is very beneficial to our Health

• chocolate contains flavonoid which can protect our skin from damage from the UV rays of the sun

•. It is good for our heart and proper blood circulation

• Chocolate consumption helps in prevention of stroke

•Chocolate can also help lose weight

So you see? Chocolate consumption is not all that bad, but it shouldn’t been taken in excessive quantities remember ‘too much of everything is bad’. So get into that cake shop today and order yourself some Chocolate cake, ice cream, brownies or even a chocolate bar and indulge


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HOME MADE BUTTER COOKIES RECIPE

Hello loves, thank you for joining us today on April's Artistry Cake BLOG.
So today we are actually going to be learning how to make one of my all time favorites

BUTTER COOKIES :)

I remember when I was much younger, every time my dad was coming back from work he would always get my sisters and i this and after a while everyone got tired of it except from himself and I, I was so strung to this cookies that no matter how bad or hurt i feel, once there's cookies ALL IS FORGIVEN (wink wink)

After i started learning how to bake, one of the first things I baked was butter cookies and i got my recipe from " the brown eyed baker " and I have made a number of tweaks to the recipe just to make it  more suitable for me and for my wonderful clients and now, i'm bringing it to you all ( i'm nice like that ;)

This recipe is so easy and if you follow the procedure you're sure to get that tasty, amazing, crunchy danish cookies like taste in your mouth, the ingredients are easily sought and i'll be dropping the link to where i got some of them and be sure to check them out cos you know i only use the best of the best, also you don't need any fanciful tool or equipment in making these bad boys,
SO LET'S GET TO THE RECIPE PROPER, Video tutorial is on my YouTube channel
video tutorial on for home made butter cookies recipe

HOMEMADE BUTTER COOKIES 

Ingredients 

1 cup margarine (valido)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp butterscotch flavor (Mekang)
1/8 cup granulated sugar for sprinkling
2 cups All Purpose Flour

Tools / Equipment

Stand mixer/Hand mixer or whisk
Mixing bowls
Spatula
Baking Tray

Procedure

* Start by lining your baking tray using parchment paper or brown paper, you can get this from a baking supplies store
* Sieve your flour and set aside
* In your mixing bowl cream your butter and sugar till its light and fluffy (about 3-5 mins)
* Add in your egg and your flavor and mix till well incorporated
* Then add in your sieved flour and mix in on low speed
* Using a spatula mix in your cookie dough to ensure you mixed in all the flour
* Transfer cookie dough to a piping bad and pipe swirls onto your baking tray ( if you're not ready to bake you can wrap your dough in a cling film and store in a zip lock bag in your fridge for up to 1 week)
*Bake your cookies for 10-15 mins in your oven at 350 C, you know it's ready when the bottom of your cookies begins to go brown
* After its ready leave to cool completely then store in an airtight container

 
 CHECK OUT THE VIDEO TUTORIAL ON MY YOU TUBE CHANNEL

video tutorial on for home made butter cookies recipe

Alright Loves, so here you have it at the comfort of your home HOME MADE BUTTER COOKIES. Do leave us a comment and  Connect with me via social media
To get the margarine i used search on instagram for @valido_nigeria and for the flavor search for @mekang_official

FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE BAKING BUSINESS!

Hello Loves,

 Thank you for checking out my blog today, the beauty of this blog is that you get inspired every time you come here;)

Today we are gonna be talking about the five things you need to know about the baking industry, these points are what shapes every baker out there and it is imperative that you have this knowledge before going into the industry. 

1. IT IS A PASSION-DRIVEN INDUSTRY 

One of the beautiful things about service entrepreneurs is the drive they have which is their passion towards the service they render, almost everyone can bake but not everyone is a baker hence,when you see the baking business being run by a passion driven individual THE DIFFERENCE IS CRYSTAL CLEAR. Now i'm not saying because you are passion driven the business is just going to run smoothly or you're just gonna rake in profits immediately but what i'm saying is because of the passion the challenges are faced with a different attitude and giving up is not an option and so you always get a different result.

2.IT IS A 70/30 BUSINESS

The level of administrative works that goes into the baking business is far beyond the imaginable, majority of the time you are either sourcing for better tools and ingredients, attending training (both online and onsite) thinking up cool or showstopping designs or reviewing product prices than actually MAKING A CAKE and this is because it is a business whether home front or storefront, business takes in a lot of administration and in as much as you're a baker you're also an accountant, a health inspector, a cleaner, a trainee etc

3. THERE IS ENOUGH CLIENTS TO GO ROUND

 I am a baker located in the heart of Lagos and surrounded by top bakers, infact in my local government i know about 5 top bakers but lets do some math

the average population of Nigeria is 200,963,599 people which is equivalent to 2.61% of the total world population 

the average population of Lagos state is 17,500,000

the average population in Oshodi - Isolo local government is 629,061

Now imagine only about 50% of this population are interested in purchasing cakes and by my statistics there are five known top bakers and i do my advertisement and prospecting well don't you think there more than enough clients to go around?

I've heard a lot of persons make statements like if i start this business who will buy from me well, i tell them, if you do your plus and minus well you'll sell out even before you start selling!

So dear reader go get that business started!

4.IT IS NOT EASY BUT IT IS WORTH IT

The baking industry is a crazy ride i must tell you, the business has a lot of demands and pressures, there will be issues and problems that only a fellow baker can relate to. The industry is far beyond mixing batter and rolling out fondants, but the smiling face of a satisfied client will take away all that stress immediately. 

Just imagine you had an order for a three tier Gatsby themed cake to be delivered in 72 hrs then you begin to face challenges like; your color isn't popping well enough, the weather isn't being favorable with the fondant, you've got a cold etc and on the delivery day it begins to rain heavily, eventually you were able to get the cake to the venue and just as you begin to set up people start coming at you with compliments, like "wow this cake is so fine, pls can i take a picture, omg did you bake this? you're so good, pls give me your contact, my wedding is coming soon"etc. And  even after the event is over the client still comes to bombard you with accolades. come on! even if you're on a sick bed you'll be healed immediately. LOL

5. BE INTENTIONAL!

This is a word that has been going round in the industry for sometime now and there couldn't be a better charge than this
 BE INTENTIONAL!
 BE INTENTIONAL!!
 BE INTENTIONAL!!!
Know what you're in the business for, don't relax, be alert, be the boss, remember you are your first brand ambassador, represent your brand well and you'll surely be happy you did. 

Okay, so here you have it guys, all these tips have worked for not just bakers but entrepreneurs as a whole and it shows that it is the right thing to do, remember the goal is to make clients happy and make profits too. 

XOXO April's Artistry

connect with me via
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Facebook @Cyfadas Hope
Twitter @aprils_artistry

WELCOME POST

Hello my Loves, welcome to my blog where i will be sharing amazing recipes as well as tips and tricks to make you a better baker and or caterer than you are right now.

This is not like any other blog out there as this is going to be very informative and educative to home or shop front bakers as well as entrepreneurs

The inspiration behind this blog is as a result of the restriction to recipes a lot of NIGERIAN bakers get when they try to learn online, i started learning how to bake from youtube and i faced several challenges such as location of products, some terms used in baking, accessibility to ingredients and a host of others hence this blog is geared towards making baking easy for those Nigerian upcoming bakers who faced similar challenges like i did and more. I will be posting products i used and the locations i got them.

Video tutorials will be on my youtube channel so be sure to click the link LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5Etz2w3cLjDGfBx4Mo16gg?disable_polymer=true
Reach out to me on other social media platform 
instagram @aprils_artistry
facebook @Hope Cyfadas


YOU WILL LOVE THIS BLOG, TRUST ME!!!
XOXO @April's Artistry