With a foundation in fine art and after studying Patisserie at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School, Sammi worked as a pastry chef in restaurants such as Michelin Star Le Gavroche and as Head Chef for renowned cake designer Peggy Porschen. When Sammi decided it was time for a new challenge she began baking in her little flat in South West London, Blushing Cook was born.
The discovery of edible flowers opened Sammi’s eyes to the beauty and simplicity of using something that was already growing around us. Why decorate a cake with a daisy made out of sugar, when you can have the real thing, and eat it too. The only problem is that flowers tend to wilt, and need preserving. Recalling fond memories of picking flowers from her Nan’s garden, and pressing them between old books, Sammi sandwiched some edible flowers between the pages of her large patisserie bible, and later used them to decorate a cake with a recreation of her favourite Liberty pattern; a wildflower meadow. This became Blushing Cook's first hit, their signature Pressed Flower Cake and Sammi's edible floral masterpieces have been setting trends in the food world ever since.
Since then, Blushing Cook has blossomed into a range of individually designed edible masterpieces; from buttery biscuits hand-iced using vegetable, fruit and floral based colourings, to gooey and luxurious brownies made with the finest fair trade chocolate...and more. Creating intricate designs using fresh, organic and edible British flowers grown on a farm in sunny Devon, Blushing Cook strives to create cakes that are not just florally beautiful and blooming delicious but that carefully consider the environment.
Our flowers
We work closely with an organic edible flower grower in sunny Devon - www.maddocksfarmorganics.com. Flowers are grown with the season and handpicked before being delivered to our London kitchen, where we delicately press each individual flower before putting them on our bakes. We take great care (and fun) in unleashing our inner Monet when it comes to decorating, thinking of each brownie like an individual canvas.
Organic edible flowers aren’t just a pretty face. Jan and her team at Maddock’s farm have won various awards with the Soil Association for their produce. It's about so much more than just growing flowers. They work hard to maintain an environment that gives back too! Having visited their farm on many occasions I can confirm it is my “happy place.” Imagine a beautiful playground for bees and butterflies, with all the pollen and pesticide free flowers they could ever wish for. For each flower picked another is planted, maintaining a happy home for everyone. Hedgehogs nest in the bushes between the polytunnels and their resident toad comes out to say hello on instagram every once in a while. Whilst we can’t bring the flower farm to you, we can bring you a small slice of floral joy to your letterbox instead.
Just like each flower, each brownie is individual. Sammi, Jess, Naomi and Vita bake everything from scratch, and decorate by hand at our little bakery in South West London. And with years of professional industry experience between the team, you can be sure that our bakes taste as good as they look!
We don’t skimp on the quality of our ingredients and. We source British free range eggs from our lovely egg man who always delivers with a smile and an interesting fact or story for us. Our flour is milled in Essex by a family run business who support the U.K farming industry. We use the finest quality Belgian chocolate which supports the Cocoa Horizons Charity and source 100% sustainable cocoa. If we use colourings on our biscuits or icing, we use 100% natural fruit and vegetable colourings.
