Strawberrytastic!

At last English Strawberries are ready to be picked and eaten!  With this lovely batch of Strawberries I have made some Vanilla and Strawberry Cupcakes topped with Strawberry Buttercream.  I adapted a receipe that was actually for Blueberry Cupcakes from "Making Cupcakes with Lola" written by the girls who have the famous Lola Cupcakes Bakery in London.  This is a really light cupcake which incorporates Almonds and Yoghurt making it really moist.  I chopped up the strawberries really finely in the cupcake and for the buttercream I whizzed some Strawberries in the blender and added them bit by bit to the buttercream so it did'nt get too runny!  This is Summer in a Cupcake!

Jubilee Cupcakes...I Think I'm Ready....

My husband thinks I have gone a bit Jubilee mad...but when I see all the lovely merchandise I just can't help myself.  Jubilee Cupcakes deserve to be displayed to their full potential, a bit naff you may think but I think Fun Fun Fun!  Any excuse to bake for special events is ok with me....

These Jubilee Blackcurrant and Lemon Cupcakes are a delight and a bit of experiment of flavours...I used some of my homemade Lemon Curd to infuse the Vanilla Cupcakes and after they they had cooled I filled them with Blackcurrant Compote.  The Buttercream is also coloured using Blackcurrant Compote and tastes divine.  I love using fruit in cupcakes especially when it gives the Buttercream not only a great taste but a lovely natural colour.  NO PRESERVATIVES OR E NUMBERS.....COOL!

Lucy's Fairy Cake

It was Lucy's 5th Birthday and she decided she would like a Fairy Birthday Cake, so I found a fairy on Youtube that I liked the look of (not too Disney!) and set about making her.  As you can see she is a bit on the plump side (more like a Sugar Plum Fairy) and I did find that trying to make hands look like hands and not like feet quite difficult!

The fairy sat in all her splendour surrounded by flowers and butterflies and Lucy loved her, so much that she ate her!  Yes the fairy had a short but brilliant life making a little girl very happy and thats all that matters....

Lucy's Birthday Cupcakes

Lucy is Rory's first and best friend.   They were born on the same day a month apart but were actually due on the same day.  However Rory ever competetive, decided to come a month early!  Therefore Lucy is very special in our lives and I love making cakes for her.  She luuuuuuurves cake and so for her birthday I made not only a delightful fairy cake (see next post) but also these adorable mini cupcakes.  I was able to let loose with not only my favourite colours of pink and lilac but also with flowers, butterflies and glitter!  Fantastic!

Lemon Curd (I know...its not a cake!)

I thought I would include this in my blog because I was making Lemon Cupcakes and wanted some lemon curd to swirl through the Buttercream Frosting and to put in the middle of my Cupcakes.  0h my goodness...so easy and sooooo delicious, I had to stop myself eating it by the spoonful.  I found a receipe for it in the You Magazine which had included a section on baking with lemons. 

Take 3 small lemons and grate the zest from them into a pan.  Juice the lemons and strain into the pan.

Separate 4 eggs and whisk together 4 yolks and 3 egg whites until combined.

Strain the beaten eggs into the pan, add 225g sugar and 75g unsalted butter.

Place over gentle heat and stir continuously, until mixture has thickened, takes about 5 mins.  You can tell its ready when it coats the back of your spoon.   Make sure you do stir continuously, if you go away and leave it I think it could possibly turn into scrambled egg!

Pour into a 450g jar (sterilise first by washing in warm soapy water, rinse and dry in a hot oven).

I keep my in the fridge and it will last for about a week.  It makes great lemon tarts if you like making jam tarts!

Harry's Dinosaur Cake (Part 2)

I made Harry's Dinosaur cake by baking 2 x 10" round vanilla sponge cakes and cutting them into various dinosaur parts!  I used a template from www.instructables.com and put the pieces together with buttercream.  I also covered the whole cake with a thin buttercream coating to stop all the crumbs from appearing in the final coating of green buttercream.

I left it to dry overnight and then covered the whole of the dinosaur with green buttercream.  I made purple fondant triangles to run along his back like spikes and used jelly beans for claws.  I also made his eyes and nostrils from black and white fondant.  I used an icing nozzle that makes buttercream look like grass and surrounded the dinosaur with it.  I put the dinosaur figures around the board and put a little glitter on them to make them stand out. 

The children loved the cake and the last time I saw my very cute fondant dinosaurs they were being eaten by three very happy boys (sob!)

Harrys Dinosaur Cake (Part 1)

 It was Harry's fifth birthday and he really, really wanted a Dinosaur Cake!  I thought I would try and make some fondant dinosaurs to put around the cake and I found some great inspiration on the internet.  I had seen these as Toppers on the top of some Birthday Cupcakes and thought they would be perfect!  Great fun to make and so simple!

Jessie's Peppa Pig Birthday Cake

Jessie is a gorgeous little girl who is the daughter of my good friend Ali Gaudion.  She is a brilliant Wedding Photographer who is always giving me tips on how to take photo's.  I try my best but I'm better at making cakes!

Jessie wanted a Peppa Pig Cake and so I looked on Youtube and found a great video on how to make a Peppa Pig and hey presto...I think she looks pretty good.  It is a Vanilla Sponge Cake, covered in Strawberry Buttercream and decorated with handmade Flowers and Butterflies.  It was a joy to make and very popular with all the children.

Happy 18th Birthday

These two cakes were made for two of my favourite people.  Angus is my adorable godson and Lois was just 9 months old when I became her nanny.  I can't believe they are 18....I feel soooooo old!

Angus's cakes are Banana Cake (his favourite) and Chocolate and Vanilla Marble Cake.  Both   covered in Chocolate Buttercream and decorated with Marshmallows and Sweeties, like a Rocky Road.

Lois had a Vanilla Sponge Cake which I split and put in Strawberry Conserve and Vanilla Buttercream and then covered with Vanilla Buttercream, decorated with Handmade Flowers and Jelly Tots (her favourite).  Her other cake was moist Chocolate Cake, covered in Chocolate Buttercream and covered in Handmade Flowers and Butterflies.

Number Birthday Cakes

This was another cake that I adored making.  It was for a couple who were both 50 in the same week.  So flowers for the lady and lots of chocolate sweets for her husband!  One was a chocolate sponge with chocolate chips and the other was a vanilla and chocolate marble cake.  Both covered with chocolate buttercream....divine!

Happy 1st Birthday The Textile Space

My friend Deborah has an amazing business www.thetextilespace.co.uk where she runs courses for all you budding dress designers!  You can go on one of her dress making courses and make your own retro dress for the Festival of Speed!  Deborah decided to have a party to celebrate her first year in business and asked me to make some cupcakes and biscuits.  Obviously, the biscuits had to be sewing related and as you can see I made a full sewing kit with Scissors, Thread, Balls of Wool, Buttons and Sewing Cases.

Sweetie Biscuits...much better for your teeth!

When I made my Giant Bourbon biscuit, my friend Gwen who had ordered the biscuit, also gave out some of my Strawberry Shortcake business cards and hey presto Daisy phoned me up.  It was her boyfriends birthday and he loved sweets and biscuits....put them together and what do you get? ...Sweetie Biscuits!  I made a selection of biscuits which included Liquorice Allsorts, Bon Bons, White Sugar Mice and Sherbert Dib Dabs.  I also put in a couple of Happy Birthday Biscuits and Love Hearts to include Daisy and Aidan's initials.  They were a great success and yummy too...I have been reliably informed that Daisy has this picture on her computer as her wallpaper.  I love it..... a constant reminder of a happy day!

The Smoking Caterpillar....From Alice In Wonderland

I was asked if I could make a Chocolate Brownie Cake for Charley's 16th Birthday.  She is a big fan of Alice in Wonderland and we decided on the Smoking Caterpillar.  I looked on Youtube and found a clip of him on top of his mushroom, smoking his hookah, where Alice comes upon him.  It was great fun making him out of fondant and trying to capture his expressive face.  I also made flowers for the cake and butterflies out of fondant.  It looks great with the candles lit and really brings the cake to life...one of my favourite cakes so far (tasted great too!).

Giant Bourbon Biscuit

I had a phone call from my friend Gwen who asked if I had ever made a gigantic biscuit before!  She had a colleague at work who was leaving and they wanted to give him something different to say goodbye.  He loved biscuits and loved chocolate so I came up with the idea of a giant bourbon biscuit.  I have made regular sized homemade bourbons before but this was a real challenge.  It came out really well and he loved it!

Union Jack Extravaganza Cakes!

I was called by Phil's PA, midweek for a charity cake surprise for the weekend. They wanted something very special, and relevant to all his achievements. I was very excited by their ideas and we created a plan for the big day.  We decided upon a shield in Union Jack colours.  Phil was an ex-soldier who started a charity to help disadvantaged children. My husband made a board in the shape of the shield and I filled it with glorious, gorgeous cupcakes.  The price of this piece was £120 approximately, and it included about 75 mini cupcakes. The photos will show all.