cakeupton barrys safe word

Gym instructors – is shouting motivating?

On saturday mornings at 0915 I go to a Total Body Conditioning class where the trainer is reknowned for his, er, motivating shouts. Each week he asks if it’s anyone’s first class, and pull them to one side to explain his techniques, the moves, and the fact that he shouts. In my first class, I […]

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cakeupton kobox

My first: KOBOX

I first found out about Kobox on the Kings Road when lots of people I follow on instagram started to post pictures there, and having fallen further in love with boxing at 1Rebel, I knew it had to be next on my list of things to try! Kobox have the best beginners package of any […]

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cakeupton core collective velocity

My first: Velocity @ Core Collective

I’m always on the lookout for new workouts in London, so when my friend (and desk mate at work!) recommended Core Collective in Holland Park I was all ears (especially when he showed me a picture of James, our future trainer, on instagram..). We chose the Velocity class to go to together, and took another […]

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cakeupton gails cookie recipe

Gail’s Reverse Cookies – copycat recipe

Every sunday my boyfriend and I go for brunch together, and nine times out of ten it’ll be to Gail’s on Abbeville Road. Sometimes, when our Gail’s is full, we even drive to the Clapham Old Town or Northcote Road bakeries to get our fix – it’s that much of a tradition! When we’re there, […]

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cakeupton Barrys bootcamp

My first: Barry’s Bootcamp [with Be:Fit London]

As well as our running club, BOOMCycle and Rumble at 1Rebel, the Be:Fit team also sorted us girls out with a free session at Barry’s Bootcamp in Moorgate which I was so excited about because I’d wanted to try it for so long but didn’t want to hate it and feel like I’d wasted money! […]

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cake upton marshmallow

Making Marshmallows

A few weeks ago I seemingly lost my mind and decided that making marshmallows was a wise idea. My first attempt was an unmitigated DISASTER as I chose a particularly vague recipe to follow, which made no mention of temperatures, boiling points or the VITAL NEED FOR A SUGAR THERMOMETER which I now know is […]

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cakeupton 1rebel rumble

My first: 1Rebel [with Be:Fit London]

Another class I got to try with my girl friends from Be:FIT was Rumble at 1Rebel, a boxing and HIIT class at their studio at Broadgate Circle. I’ve always liked the idea of getting into boxing, and have done a few classes here and there over the years, including one where literally everybody except my […]

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cake upton gym routine

Classes vs Gym Floor

Last year, I was going to the gym five to seven days a week with my boyfriend, either swimming after work or working out together on the gym floor lifting weights. I gradually got more and more bored of the same exercises, seeing the same faces, getting up and getting home at the same time, […]

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cake upton rtfm

How cauliflower pizza taught me to RTFM

Having nailed cauliflower base pizza on my first attempt bcos I finally gave into the inevitable and followed a set of instructions to the letter, I learnt an important lesson about doing what I’m told. I mentioned in my recipe post that I spent what must have amounted to hours trying to find a recipe […]

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cake upton rosemary conley

Step: Not just for nanas

As part of my new gym routine, I do an hour’s Step class on wednesday evenings. I was trying to fit some kind of activity into every day, and the only class I could make it to after work that day was Step, so I thought I’d give it a go. When I first signed […]

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cake upton dairy free pizza

Cauliflower Pizza [Dairy Free]

I know I’m super late to the party, but I’ve finally discovered cauliflower pizza base and it’s actually nowhere near as gross as I thought it’d be. I don’t have a microwave (we’ve actually not had one since we moved out of 558 in 2014) and also I’m super lazy, so I spent ages trawling […]

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cake upton tiffany burpees

Tiffany vs Burpees

I wear the same three pieces of jewellery every single day – with only my earrings changing depending on my mood, outfit, or how easy it is for my boyfriend to play with them (seriously though, if you don’t get your significant other to mess about with your ears whilst you curl up and watch […]

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cakeupton boomcycle

My first: BOOMCycle [with Be:Fit London]

Every tuesday I run around south west London with a group of girls at a running club set up by The Telegraph as part of the Be:Fit London expo campaign. Along with the runs, they also put on fitness pop-ups in the run up to the three day festival, one of which took place at […]

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cake upton back in the game

Back in the game

After five months of moving house, birthdays, christmas and getting lazy, fatter and more unfit, it’s time to get back to the gym and back to Cake Upton! At the end of October my boyfriend and I started to dedicate more time to our real lives and less time to our gym lives, (quite rightly) […]

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fish and chips cake upton

Fish + Chips

Once upon a time, I treated an exboyfriend to homemade fish and chips. Whilst he worked from home I went out to the local fishmonger, sourced proper chunks of fish instead of supermarket offerings, made breadcrumbs, faffed about with flour and whisked egg and messy hands, made my own chips and mushy peas and generally […]

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bacon sandwich cake upton

Ugly but delicious bacon sandwich

I’m sure there are people out there who can make a bacon sandwich look gorgeous, but I’m not one of those people. It’s no beauty queen, but this is a great midweek supper when you can’t be bothered to cook something proper, but you want something that’ll fill your belly and put a smile on […]

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bolognese cake upton

Phonebook bolognese

I love my boyfriend more than anything else in the world. But there’s no way in hell I could tell you his phone number. Besides the 07.. it starts with, I know nothing about what comes next. I think there’s a 5 in there somewhere, but who knows..? But if you asked me to knock […]

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smashed pea toast cake upton

An avo toast alternative

Try as I may, I just can’t get on board with avocado. I understand the health benefits, and the hipster appeal of it, but the texture makes me want to cry so it’s just not happening. But what’s a girl to eat for brunch if it can’t be avo toast? I think I’ve come up […]

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sweet potato fries cake upton

Sweet potato fries

I honestly couldn’t tell you the last time I ate a white potato. We never cook them at home, and any mash, chips or baked potatoes we have are always sweet potatoes. My favourite thing about these fries is that they can be reheated without going soggy, and might even taste better second time around. […]

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banana chocolate loaf cake upton

Banana & Chocolate Chip Loaf

After the success of my lemon and poppy seed loaf at work the other week, a banana bread was swiftly baked and carried across town into the office – and had all vanished before 11am. I even got an email from a friend two floors below mine exclaiming how good it was. Pretty happy with […]

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vitamin lunch cake upton

Colour & vitamin packed lunch

I’ve felt on the cusp of a cold for a few days now, so decided to tackle it from the inside out with vitamins and delicious food. This work lunch came together out of what was in the fridge but ended up being delicious – here’s what went into it: Beetroot and sweet potato – […]

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Lemon & Poppy Seed Loaf

After my macaron failure the other day, I saved my baking reputation from tatters by baking a lemon and poppy seed cake to take into work. I’ve been making lemon drizzle cakes for as long as I can remember, with the classic method of adding zest to the batter and then poking holes in the […]

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disaster macaron recipe

Macaron disaster – and a few kitchen lessons

For the last week or so, I’ve been talking about finally tackling macarons. I had initially planned to make them last Saturday, when I had plenty of time to spend on getting them right, but as usual the day ran away from me, and the weekend ended macaron-free. After work this evening, I decided on […]

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cakeupton cookie recipe

Giant chocolate cookies

Having baked pretty much every other day for the last two weeks, I decided to return to the old faithful of cookies. I found a few recipes for chocolate chip cookies, or American style cookies, and decided to combine them into two different flavours, with varied results. The base mixture was the same for both […]

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morning workout

Morning workouts

This week, I’ve been hitting the gym before work, in an attempt to shoe-horn as much exercise as possible into my days. I get up in time to be there for when the doors open, and then get in a 45-60 minute workout before heading home, showering and putting on new gym clothes to walk […]

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SIXTY POUND PIE?!

When my boyfriend and I first got together, I tried to impress him with my culinary skills and offered to cook him my signature chicken and leek pie. Being the ultimate gent, he offered to pay for the ingredients, which he maintains to this day cost him £60. They obviously didn’t, but there’s no changing […]

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Healthy carrot cupcakes

The best and worst thing about baking these carrot cakes was that I already had everything I needed in the cupboard and didn’t have to go out and buy a single ingredient. You’d think that would be great, but when you see what actually went into them, you’ll realise what sort of person I’ve become.. […]

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Being in love vs. being lazy

When trying to win brownie points, guys often say that they prefer a girl who wears no makeup, is comfortable in herself, doesn’t feel the need to dress up, and is all natural. The first time my boyfriend and I properly spoke to each other, I was off work sick, sitting on the sofa surrounded […]

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cakeupton beetroot

Chocolate & Beetroot Cake

Firstly – shout out to my Mum for not murdering me for taking her freshly grown beetroot and bastardising it into a cake. Soz bbz. Albion in Shoreditch makes the most amazing chocolate and beetroot cake, and I’ve been meaning to make it myself for ages, but never have the time and the ingredients at […]

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homemade jammie dodgers

Homemade Jammie Dodgers

I’m back at home for a few days, which generally means I bake enough cakes, biscuits and bread to feed the entire village. That’s actually not an exaggeration, as the local choir, teachers, hairdresser and farmers each get a delivery when my family can’t physically bring ourselves to eat anymore. Today I made jammie dodgers, […]

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