Merry Craftmas!

I've been up to a lot this Christmas and preparations started early this year. I attempted to make my first ever Christmas pudding (or puddingsley as I named it) in October. After steaming it for 10 hours, soaking it in brandy and ruining 2 perfectly good saucepans (NOTE: remember to check the saucepan water levels regularly) Puddingsley was ready to be hidden away for 2 months. All that was needed was to feed him brandy every so often (the dream right there).

Next on the list of Christmas creations was a cupcake class at my local cake decorating shop. I wasn't sure what to expect other than a professional telling me I can't pipe swirls and I was right and then some! The class was excellent and gave me some great tips and ideas. Here are the results:

Rudolph had some minor transportation injuries.

It was requested by my Dad (demanded I would say) that I make a Christmas cake. So using whatever leftover dried fruit I had from the Christmas pudding (which was a surprising amount) I made the cake about a month in advance, this time baking it for hours! I was given complete artistic licence when it came to decorating the cake and decided to go with simple yet incredibly gay. So armed with all my new tools from the Cake International Show at the NEC I set to work! I'll let you decide whether I achieved my look:

To get myself into even more of a Christmasy mood I immersed myself in everything Christmasy. This included the Lakeland Christmas magazine (seriously read it or download the app if you haven't already!). The magazine included a recipe for nougat, which I have never made before so I thought I would give it a go. The recipe was quite precise in temperatures and measurements so I was a bit dubious with how the results would to turn. But armed with two little helpers and a never before used sugar thermometer we set to work. After overcoming the initial desire to stick our fingers in the boiling hot sugar we mixed the egg whites and sugar as the recipe stated. however the recipe suggested using a stand mixer and not an electric hand mixer and now I understand why. After 10 minutes of mixing a substance that could be likened to cement we gave up and left it to harden (and oh boy did it harden). If I can gave you some tips for making nougat they would be; have a stand alone mixer, have lots of helpers and use a spatula that won't break when trying to spread out the mixture.  

And finally. one more Craftmas instalment (just in case you haven't had enough already) again inspired by Lakeland. I would recommend this to everyone, it's so simple and quick and incredibly effective. All it is is a mould in which you can pour chocolate or use gingerbread with in order to create a cottage. I decided to go with chocolate; milk, white and dark. Once I left it to dry I had the trickier task of assembling it which, when you working with a product that is literally melting in your hands, is harder than assembling an Ikea cupboard without the instructions, or that little allan key thing. I'm of course exaggerating, but anyway, here are the results, complete with snowy windows and cranberry fence:

Impractical yet delicious

Congratulations Liv

Having recently graduated from her Chanel make-up course I decided to make my sister a congratulatory cake! And here it is. My attempt at her very own 2.55. By using a pattern wheel (meant for sewing) I created the quilted effect on the fondant with I think is incredibly effective. However, I ran out of time on the strap which I think could be better. I'll have to make some changes next time!

Butterfly Cupcakes

Bon Voyage Harriet!

Attempted to make some pretty cupcakes for once and I think these turned out pretty good! The butterflies initially were more upright but they fell flat as I added the glitter and didn't give them enough time to dry. The pastel shades of colouring make these cupcakes look so cute and match the stand brilliantly! All I need now is to master to swirly piped icing!

                         

CakeCous

Happy Birthday Lucinda!

After requesting a crumble for her last birthday cake this year had to be something more special. Luce has always been a fan of "making" couscous, with a little help from Ainsley Harriott. Anyway, because of this I decided to make her a couscous and feta salad. The bowl is a carrot cake, which was tricky to make because the only recipe I had was American and therefore used 'cups', which just seems like the bizarrest way of measuring things. Despite all this I have been told it turned out okay and tasted  delicious. The couscous is lemon millions (who knew they existed) and the pepper, tomato, olive and feta are fondant icing.

Happy 30th anniversary Mooma and Poopa!

I finally attempted to make a normal pretty and neat cake and I think this little chocolate number is great success! I tried making an icing shell for the pearly beads (thirty years is a pearl anniversary in case you hadn't got that yet) but that didn't work at all so I just stuck a real one on instead. Definitely getting better at piping details, just practise, practise, practise.

I didn't chose the sloth life, the sloth life chose me...

Happy 21st birthday to me!

Yes, I am that sad, and I made my own birthday cake! So I treated myself to a sloth marble cake a la Loraine Pascal. By using two piping bags filled with the different coloured cake mix, you gradually build it up on top of each other. This took an ironic amount of effort for a cake inspired by sloths.

Nature Finds a Way

Jurassic Biscuits: 65 millions years in the baking...

After visiting the natural history museum, so naturally dinosaur cookie cutters were a necessity. After looking online for tips on icing cookies, I came across this idea for decoration (so I can't take all the credit). Using royal icing and a small nozzle for piping I started to play around with the fossil decorations. 

London 2012

So the Olympics are finally here! Hazaar! So whilst everyones eyes will be glued to the opening ceremony we will also be munching away on these. They are simple Victoria sponge buns with lemon icing. This was my first time using flower paste and again, it probably wont be the last (and not just because I bought a massive pack). There are only a few events represented here but seriously, how on earth would you make a pole vault cake?!

Wiff Waff

Tennis Ball

Badminton

Canoe (not a shoe)

Beetroot fudge cake

You've heard of carrot cakes, well this is a beetroot cake. But don't worry, you can't taste it! After many washes I finally got the red stains off my hands and managed to have a slice. Unfortunately despite being in the oven for over 2 hours, it was still a little undercooked. However, we renamed it a torte and served it with cream. Job done.

Antarcticakes

 Happy 21st Birthday Smellen Smevans
After an eventful day at a charity shop, which ended with Ellen purchasing a penguin costume, her love for penguins was born. Well, no it wasn't, she hates penguins (madness I know), but we all love penguins so I made her some penguin cupcakes. They didn't come out as I expected, but they still look adorable; in a somewhat creepy way. The body was made up by cake, then a mini doughnut, then a marshmallow. They were then dipped in blackened chocolate frosting (hence the drip marks), icing eyes and beaks were added and a white chocolate button for the belly. The iceberg was penguin bars and bourbons.                         All in all a chocolatey success!

Its Time To Face The Music, Its Time To Bake The Cakes

 

 Happy 21st Cheryl!

After falling in love with the muppets movie I felt it was necessary to pay homage to our favourite puppet characters in cake form. What would be better?
This was the funnest cake I've made to date and probably took the longest.

The only question that remains is, am I man or am I a cupcake? (seriously, watch the movie.)

Dr. Bunsen and Beaker

Statler and Waldorf

Fozzy Bear

Kermit and Miss Piggy

Animal

Gonzo

Sam The Eagle

Wise Owl

give a hoot, have a slice...

Happy 21st Dan!

They say that people get older with age but I doubt the same can be said with cakes, so I only made it the day before. 

This is the same flavoured cake as the bacon cake as it proved to be a hit! But instead of the ganache I just used butter cream. to make it darker I sifted flour over the top and used paper to cover the breast to keep that lighter. Decorated using mainly chocolate buttons and the branch (can't see in the picture) is a curly wurly. If only all branches were like that.

A true sandwich artist

if only subway did cakes

Happy Very Belated 24th Manda!
As we suspect Amanda is allergic to white bread I decided to make the homage to sandwiches. It's actually an Earl Grey flavoured cake, that I've been told is delicious.
Disappointed about the cracks in the sponge but the lettuce and tomato I love!

And I was right, that wasn't the last time I used that icing!