Cooksister | Food, Travel, Photography

Food, photos & faraway places

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About me
    • Contact me
    • Work with me
    • Legal
      • Copyright notice & Disclaimer
      • Disclosure
      • Cookies and Privacy Policy
    • Press and media
    • Cooksister FAQs
  • RECIPES
    • Recipe Index – by course
    • Baking (savoury)
    • Braai/Barbecue
    • Breakfast & brunch
    • Christmas
    • Dessert
    • Drinks
    • Eggs
    • Fish
    • Gluten-free
    • Leftovers
    • Pasta & rice
    • Poultry
    • Pulses
    • Salads
    • Soup
    • South African
    • Starters & light meals
    • Vegan
    • Vegetables
    • Vegetarian
  • RESTAURANTS
    • British Isles restaurants
    • Dubai restaurants
    • France restaurants
    • London restaurants
    • Montenegro restaurants
    • New York restaurants
    • Pop-ups and supperclubs
    • Serbia restaurants
    • Singapore restaurants
    • South Africa restaurants
    • Sweden restaurants
    • Switzerland restaurants
    • USA restaurants
  • TRAVEL
    • All my travel posts
      • Austria
      • Belgium
      • Canada
      • Dubai
      • Cruise ships
      • France
      • Germany
      • Greece
      • Grenada
      • Hong Kong
      • Hotel reviews
      • Italy
      • Israel
      • Jersey
      • Mexico
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Singapore
      • Ski & snow
      • South Africa
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • UK
      • USA
      • Wales
  • PORTFOLIO
    • Freelance writing portfolio
    • Speaking and teaching
    • Photography portfolio
    • Buy my photos
You are here: Home / Cooksister in the media / Fame, fortune and muffcakes

Fame, fortune and muffcakes

by Jeanne Horak on January 20, 2010 28 Comments in Cooksister in the media

Muffcakes

When I was in high school, my parents wanted me to be a doctor. Other kids I knew wanted to be lawyers, physiotherapists and journalists.  I wanted to be either a film director or an advertising copywriter.

So clearly, three law degrees was the obvious next step for me 🙂

OK, so it’s a long and angsty story with which I won’t bore you but it came down to the fact that when you come from a family where nearly everybody (two parents and two half-sisters) goes into the medical field in some form (radiologist, radiographer x 2, and nurse), the pressure is ON.  I already knew (and my maths and science grades confirmed) that the sciences would not be the place for me and hinted at advertising school, but The Parents absolutely insisted that I study towards one of the traditional professions (law, medicine accountancy – you get the picture!).

I looked reluctantly at the commerce degree curricula and found one that contained marketing management (yaaaay – advertising!) and accountancy (which kept the Parentals happy).  But the clincher was that, out of eight different 1st year curricula, this was the one that only had ONE 8 a.m. lecture per week.  Oh yes, and there were a few law subjects included too.

On such frivolous decisions rests our fate.

Anyhoo.  The universe has a funny sense of symmetry, and late last year I was aproached by an advertising agency to submit a recipe in one of a number of categories for a new outdoor media campaign.  I submitted a muffin recipe and thought no more about it… until they responded and said that my muffin recipe was to be The One.  It seemed I was going to get my turn in the advertising industry after all, albeit in a different way to what I’d dreamed of.

It was a steep learning curve in the strange dance that makes up an advertising campaign.  I submitted my cranberry, orange and pecan muffins.  The agency liked it and sent it to the client.  The client said they were gorgeous, but did I have muffins with fewer things in them?  So I sent a simple sugar & cinnamon muffin recipe.  Better… but they still did not like the “cracked on top” look of muffins – did I have a cupcake recipe instead?  I sent my dark chocolate cupcake recipe.  The client liked the smooth tops but hmmm… dark brown food?  Did I have a PALER cupcake recipe?  Umm, not to hand.  So it was off to the kitchen to do a little recipe development, and thus my white chocolate and raspberry cupcakes were born.  And thank goodness, the client was equally happy with them. Hurrah!

The date was set for the photo shoot in a studio in Shoreditch and the lovely Emma from the agency asked whether I would be able to attend the shoot.  Luckily, I was still on a four-day working week, so I agreed but I could not for the life of me think what I was needed for.  They had already told me that there would be a home economist on site so surely she was far more qualified than me to bake the cupcakes? Still, it would be interesting, and so I found myself in a lovely airy studio in Shoreditch one day last October.

Lurpak StudioPanorama

The first thing that struck me was OMG, look at how many people it takes to take one pretty picture:  agency people, client people, freelance people – and my fellow food-blogger Helen, who was there to have her chicken pot pie photographed.  The second thing that struck me is the amount of hanging about that has to be done.  Everyone’s role is so specific that while one part of the process is happening, many of the other people are hanging about, checking e-mail or just shooting the breeze.  And the third thing was a tremendous feeling of relief when I saw the extensive kit set up for the shots:  I suddenly felt a lot better about my own food photos, given my near-total lack of equipment!

Lurpak PhotoChoice

Lurpak Team

Lurpak cameras

Lurpak camera2

Once Helen’s chicken pie had been made and comprehensively photographed, it was my turn.  I’d had a chat to the team and found out that they needed the cupcakes to be different heights, so I chatted to the charming home economist to decide how best to achieve this.  At this stage I still thought that my main role was to talk the home economist through the cupcakes – and talking is definitley something I can do!

Lurpak JeanneTalking

After a lot of debate about the colour of the muffin tins we were using and whether or not to use paper muffin cups, we finally had a clear idea of where we were heading and the home economist turned to me and said “off you go”.  Umm… you mean, like, bake the cupcakes?  Well, yes.  With all these people watching, and that bloke with the camera positively stalking me??  Well… yes.  Okeydokey.  I’ve baked these a few times, I can do this.  Even while I’m on Cupcake Cam.

Lurpak JeanneMixing2

Lurpak JeanneMixing CloseUp2

 

Lurpak JeanneMixing CloseUp3

 

Oh yes, I baked.  I calculated that I baked close on 80 cupcakes that afternoon, single-handedly!  The difficulty came from the fact that we needed to have a tin full of cupcakes of different heights.  Some batches we tried doubling up on the baking powder, which gave a very odd surface texture and shape.  Other batches we tried over-filling the cups, but that just made the cupcakes spill over the cups and lose their shape. We took one overfilled batch out of the oven early to stop them rising any more – and the promptly collapsed.  Live and learn!  It’s hard to create uneven cupcakes when you have spent a lifetime trying to get them to rise evenly.  In the end, the solution was to bake a batch where the cups were filled to capacity, then another batch where the cups were underfilled, and then mix the batches up.

What I am very pleased to report is that, despite what you may have heard about food in advertisements being inedible, blowtorched and coated with glycerine to make it photogenic, every one of the cupcakes that I baked was edible – and was enthusiastically eaten by the assembled hordes!  It took a good 4 hours but in the end the perfect shot was achieved.  It was a fascinating peek into the advertising world and I really enjoyed meeting everyone who was at the studio – charming and professional one and all.

So, I hear you ask, what’s with the muffcakes?  Well, remember the start of the post where I explained how we arrived at this particular recipe to bake on the day?  It seems that the recipe that will be put out to accompany the pics at the start of the campaign is still the cinnamon sugar muffins that I originally submitted.  So you will have a picture of cupcakes, but the recipe for muffins – and when I saw my friend Mowie’s hilarious post this week about muffcakes, I knew that this was the perfect name for these 🙂

So what happens now?  As I said, it’s an outdoor media campaign, so my muffcakes are going to be on billboards!  As big as a bus! And it won’t be nearly as pervy as these last two sentences would lead you to believe! The campaign goes live on 1 February and on that date I will post the artwork as well as info on where you can see my famous muffcakes.

As for the product that my muffcakes will be promoting – have you guessed what it is yet?  If not, you’ll just have to come back here on 1 February to find out…

Lurpak JeanneCupcakes

 

All photographs in this post except the first one are the property of and used with the kind permission of the lovely folk at Wieden + Kennedy – with thanks in particular to Emma and James who were a pleasure to work with.

More deliciousness for you!

  • Grilled goat’s cheese and pear salad with cranberries & pine nutsGrilled goat’s cheese and pear salad with cranberries & pine nuts
  • Saturday Snapshots #7Saturday Snapshots #7
  • Individual strawberry crispsIndividual strawberry crisps
  • Flagstone Sempahore rosé for WBW#9 – Think pinkFlagstone Sempahore rosé for WBW#9 – Think pink

Never miss a Cooksister post

If you enjoyed this post, enter your e-mail address here to receive a FREE e-mail update when a new post appears on Cooksister

I love comments almost as much as I love cheese - so if you can't leave me any cheese, please leave me a comment instead!

« Moroccan-spiced roasted vegetables
Cheat’s risotto (for very lazy or very hungry people!) »

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Kalynskitchen says

    January 21, 2010 at 2:26 am

    That looks like a lot of fun. My brother is in advertising, so I’ve been to a few shoots, but wow, that was a lot of people you had. Puts blogging into a whole different light when you realize we’re doing EVERYTHING ourselves!

    Reply
  2. courtney says

    January 21, 2010 at 2:51 am

    I’m so proud of you! Cant wait to see the photo of them on billboards, etc.
    I felt that pressure too, to go into medicine. But I followed my heart.

    Reply
  3. Manggy says

    January 21, 2010 at 2:58 am

    I can’t wait that long!!! 🙂

    Reply
  4. [email protected] says

    January 21, 2010 at 3:18 am

    I completely agree with you on the heavy photographic equipment used for food photography I already feel a lot better thinking how little baggage my food blog come with 🙂 enjoyed this post!

    Reply
  5. giz says

    January 21, 2010 at 5:28 am

    That was hillarious. I have this visual of 80 muffins arguing with one another about who’s taller and who’s shorter. Sigh…does this now mean you’ll be wearing dark glasses and riding in a limo?

    Reply
  6. meeta says

    January 21, 2010 at 7:40 am

    Oh Jeanne I am so proud! What an experience, what fun!! You have to tell me all about it. I’d love to be a part of such a team and spend four hours baking cupcakes lol! Love it and can hardly wait to see the results. Good on you! Hugs!

    Reply
  7. Kit says

    January 21, 2010 at 8:18 am

    Advertising seems like a crazy world – spending hours perfecting your cupcakes for the shot and then putting them out with the muffin recipe!
    I once thought of food photography but I know I would never have had the patience for all that, so it’s a good thing I ended up writing about food instead. I used to get frustrated enough when assisting a shoe photographer in London, with all the subtle, minute adjustments to lighting and shoe position, let alone all the time spent baking things in food photography to the clients’ exact requirements… but it must have been fun to be doing it for just a day!

    Reply
  8. Mowie says

    January 21, 2010 at 9:19 am

    GOOOOOOOOOO Muffcakes! =)
    This was a fab read – love the studio – so exciting!

    Reply
  9. Charlotte says

    January 21, 2010 at 11:10 am

    Muffcakes! You have finally solved the problem of what to name the things I bake. The thing is, is it family-friendly? Can I tell my children they are eating muffcakes? “Grandma, do you want one of Mummy’s muffcakes?” I dunno if that would work.
    Meanwhile, how naughty of you not to tell us what your muffcakes are advertising! I can’t wait till 1 Feb.

    Reply
  10. Ash says

    January 21, 2010 at 11:54 am

    Wow! So proud of you for your cakes. Laughing about the name ‘muffcakes’ though! There is a word that is DEFINITELY going to be used in our house later, and it won’t have a PG rating either!
    On a different note – I made malva pudding night before last and M had never had it before. Now he’s keen to visit SA asap! I might expose him to a tipsy tart just to settle the deal.

    Reply
  11. bellini valli says

    January 21, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    Things really are a-hopping Jeanne. Congratulations!!!

    Reply
  12. pierre verwey says

    January 21, 2010 at 1:21 pm

    Jeanne, thanks for your your hillarious take on photographing a single, albeit famous, muffin. It was good fun reading it.
    And then of course the much-to-do, bit of baking a simple little muffin, and getting one that is the right colour, shape, height, texture… and getting it perfect… very funny!
    I also liked the observation early in your post on how trivial decisions can impact our lives immensely, like choosing subjects based on the need to have an occasional sleep in, can have such a massive impact on a career path! I love the way you comment on lifes trials and tribulations and how you blend it in with food and cooking….

    Reply
  13. Sarah, Maison Cupcake says

    January 21, 2010 at 4:39 pm

    Fascinating post! I enjoyed reading it so much, brilliant to hear about what it’s like behind the scenes at something like this. Scary cooking on demand like that though!

    Reply
  14. Kitchen Butterfly says

    January 21, 2010 at 8:30 pm

    Jeanne- my heroine this week. I think of you….and cat blogs (I know I’ve said it before)…and I just laugh…with pure joy, from the belly up! Congratulations, I’ll be back before and on Feb 1! LOL

    Reply
  15. TS of eatingclubvancouver says

    January 21, 2010 at 8:42 pm

    Congratulations!!!
    And yeah, 4 hours for a shot, eh? Plus a whole team of professionals. I guess that makes me feel better about my bad photos. =)

    Reply
  16. Megan @ FeastingonArt says

    January 21, 2010 at 9:05 pm

    Congratulations Jeanne!! How wonderful and exciting! Giant billboards of muffins!? I wish I still lived in London. Can’t wait to see the finished pics, be back soon.

    Reply
  17. Elie's Papel says

    January 21, 2010 at 11:31 pm

    It seems you had a lot of fun and a lot of work as well… amazing you were able to cook in the process… 😉

    Reply
  18. The Duo Dishes says

    January 22, 2010 at 5:52 am

    Wow!!!! That’s a huge accomplishment. And the photo shoot looks too fun. What a great experience.

    Reply
  19. Marisa says

    January 22, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    How cool is that! And just for the record – your photos could compete with those glossy magazine ones on any day!

    Reply
  20. tamara says

    January 22, 2010 at 2:02 pm

    Looks like a great experiance, I look forward to seeing your photo’s in the flesh so to speak!

    Reply
  21. tasteofbeirut says

    January 22, 2010 at 4:03 pm

    Pretty cool experience Jeanne!

    Reply
  22. Simla says

    January 23, 2010 at 10:26 am

    Jeaanne, as I’ve always said, you (and your recipes!) are destined to be famous!

    Reply
  23. Johanna says

    January 23, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    wow exciting stuff – and great to hear about behind the scenes – look forward to hearing more about these muffcakes and the fickle media!

    Reply
  24. Gourmet Chick says

    January 23, 2010 at 11:25 pm

    Congratulations – my guess is that the product is butter!

    Reply
  25. Bethany says

    January 24, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    Congratulations! How exciting and it looks like it was tons of fun albeit a bit stressing. ( I woulda totally freaked out with all those camera equipments in my face)
    Job well done and can’t wait to see the billboard- Beth screams: “I know who took that picture! I know her!”

    Reply
  26. Helen says

    January 24, 2010 at 3:25 pm

    Hey Jeanne, a bizarre day wasn’t it?! Can you tell me how you accessed those photos please? I couldn’t work it out at all when they sent me the link and I want to post about it. Cheers!

    Reply
  27. Juno says

    January 30, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    Oh this is so exciting for you. Great pix and lovely description of your day. Can’t believe so many people are involved in a shoot: couldn’t they just have given you the money and asked you to take the picture? Looking forward to see finished campaign (and of course that drink on my stoep in March). J-A.x

    Reply
  28. barbara says

    February 8, 2010 at 4:39 am

    Good on you Jeanne. What an exciting day to see inside the advertising world. I really enjoyed reading the experience.

    Reply
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Never miss a Cooksister post!

Get my latest recipes delivered by e-mail!

Search over 500 recipes

Recently on Cooksister

  • Perfect broccoli and Stilton soup [keto, low carb, GF]
  • Masalchi by Atul Kochhar – Indian street food in Wembley
  • Barbecued salmon with blood oranges and capers
  • Roasted Brussels sprouts with feta, pomegranate and pine nuts [GF, V]
  • Love Yourself healthy meal delivery [Review]
  • Antillean
  • Festive roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
  • Rustic blood orange and pistachio galettes

Archives by month

Archives by category

Popular posts

Peppermint Crisp fridge tart - a South African treat
Oxtail and red wine potjie
Nigella's Bakewell slices & the Big Bakewell Taste-off
Gem squash 101: how to find them, how to grow them, how to eat them!
Beef, broccoli and udon noodle stir fry from "The Japanese Larder" by Luiz Hara
Jan Ellis pudding - a classic South African dessert

Featured on

Also available on

The wonderful Museum of the Moon installation - a The wonderful Museum of the Moon installation - a 7 metre diameter scale model of the moon suspended in the Painted Hall at the  @oldroyalnavalcollege in Greenwich this week, by @lukejerramartist. A surreal and fabulous sight!
Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need Do you enjoy free art installations? Then you need to get down to @canarywharflondon between now and Saturday 28 Jan to catch the free Winter Lights 2023 event, back for the seventh year.

My favourites include @lukejerramartist ‘s Floating Earth; Tom Lambert’s Out of the Dark; Fluorescent Firs; Toroid by This is Loop; and the surreal and mesmerising Anima by MEATS - a tunnel filled with hundreds of thin optical fibre lights that change colour and move in the breeze 😍 

Have you been to Winter Lights? What was your favourite?
“When we look down at the Earth from space, we s “When we look down at the Earth from space, we see this amazing, indescribably beautiful planet. It looks like a living, breathing organism. But it also, at the same time, looks extremely fragile.” - International Space Station astronaut Ron Garamond

To experience the “overview effect” (a phenomenon experienced by astronauts viewing the earth from space), head down to Canary Wharf in the London docklands this week where you can see @lukejerramartist ‘s beautiful Floating Earth installation as part of the Winter Lights event. 

This giant 10m diameter installation is created using high resolution NASA images to create a floating scale model of the Earth, lit from within so that it glows from its current home on the Middle Dock, surrounded by the headquarters of international banking and finance corporations.

The artist hopes that viewed in this context, the installation will make visitors and the bankers working in surrounding buildings question how their money in savings and pensions is invested, and whether investments can be greener.

Aside from being a thought provoking piece, it is also mesmerising and surreally beautiful, so make sure you visit the free Winter Lights event before ends on Saturday 28 Jan.
Happy lunar new year! [Invited] To celebrate the Happy lunar new year! 

[Invited] To celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Rabbit, why not head over to @mamachensdumplings currently doing a residence at the @thegantrylondon in #stratford where you can feast on prawn & chive dumplings; pork, Chinese cabbage and shiitake mushroom dumplings; pork & prawn wontons with Mama Chen’s chilli oil; vegetable dumplings; smacked cucumber salad; and spicy noodles coated in garlic and Szechuan pepper oil.

And afterwards, make sure you head up to the @unionsocialoc bar for a cocktail - I loved the Moreish Fashion with bourbon, PX sherry, chestnuts and mandarin orange bitters!
Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Chr Got leftover Stilton (or any blue cheese) from Christmas? Turn it into this super simple and super indulgent broccoli and Stilton soup! So easy to make and soooo delicious to eat - and it is low carb and GF. What more could you want?! Click the link in my bio for the full recipe. What’s your favourite soup?
CELEBRATE. So the fireworks are over, the champag CELEBRATE.

So the fireworks are over, the champagne is finished and the leftovers are all eaten. We are one week into 2023 and I have had some time to think about what my intent is for the year. 

In 2022 my brother had a life saving kidney transplant. Since the operation, he has had a Peanuts cartoon as his WhatsApp profile pic, where Charlie Brown and Snoopy are sitting on a pier talking. Charlie says “Some day, we all die Snoopy.” And Snoopy replies: “Yes - but every other day, we will live.”

Waking up in the morning is a gift, every day, and it is so easy to forget this. The last few years have been difficult for so many people and the coming year promises its own challenges. But every day that we don’t die is a day to live, to celebrate life in some small way.

So my intention in 2023 is to celebrate. Celebrate our achievements however small. Celebrate our friends and family. Celebrate small things. Celebrate life.

Did you make any resolutions or goals for 2023? I would love to hear them in the comments! Wishing you all the very best for 2023 🥂
Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes fro Happy new year, everyone! Here are some scenes from last night with friends in Deptford. My deconstructed avocado ritz; @twinkleparkstephen ‘s bobitie; Giles’ Ottolenghi tomato salad; and Jean’s clementine trifle - and the London night sky ablaze with fireworks!  How did you spend your evening? 🥂🎇🎆
Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope Merry Christmas to all those celebrating - I hope your day was merry and bright, filled with family, friends and love 🎄🥂. Mine was spent alone at home - my choice and the result of a combination of Covid (not mine!) and rail strikes 🤦‍♀️ but very relaxing and indulgent!
Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter y Looking for a stylish and easy Christmas starter you can make ahead? Look no further than my individual smoked salmon terrine! Hot smoked salmon, cream cheese and chives wrapped in cold smoked salmon in a ramekin. Still one of the most popular Christmas recipes in my blog, it looks cheffy but is soooo simple to make - and will save you time and effort on the day! Get the recipe by clicking on the link in my bio.

How is your Christmas meal prep going? Are you entertaining at home or going to friends or family? 🎄🥂🎄🥂🎄
Load More... Follow me on Instagram

Follow Jeanne Horak-Druiff's board Recipes by Cooksister on Pinterest.

Cooksister

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

Latest Recipes

Bowls of broccoli and Stilton soup
Salmon with blood oranges dill and capers
Brussels sprouts with feta and pomegranate
Roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
Blood orange & pistachio galettes
Cauliflower topped steak with melted cheese
Plate of potted smoked salmon with slaw and a glass of champagne
bowls of pistachio pomegranate bircher muesli

SITEMAP

Home

Contact

About me

Recipe Index

Restaurant Index

Copyright & Disclaimer

Cookies & privacy policy




blog counter

© 2004 - 2023 · Jeanne Horak unless otherwise stated - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may not reproduce any text, excerpts or images without my prior permission. Site by RTW Labs

Copyright © 2023 · Cooksister on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Cooksister cookie consent
We use cookies to ensure you receive the best experience on our site. If you continue to use this site, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions. Accept
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT