Holy Communion cakes...

My latest task was to make a Holy Communion cake and cupcakes. I had so many ideas and wanted to try them all!

I knew the cake had to be simple and elegant so I went for a traditional vanilla sponge with a buttercream and jam filling. I covered the cake with white sugarpaste and used letter embossers to imprint a personal message and date. I used edible food paint to shade in the letters and I went for a silver shade and it came out perfect. It was subtle and elegant and brightened up the look of the cake.

The main feature of my cake was a Holy Cross. I bought a cross stencil on Ebay and it was brilliant. It included a floral pattern embosser to create a pattern on the cross and also came with small embossers to create fancy edges on each corner of the cross. It came out brilliant. To highlight the patterns on the cross, I again coated the cross with the silver food paint and it looked lovely. I was very happy with how it came out and it really brightened up the cake and gave it a feature.

The small book beside the cross is one of my sugarpaste bibles! I made the bibles to use as cupcake toppers and I personalised them by putting a name on one side and a holy cross on the other,imitating an open book. These were easy to make and are just a matter of shaping and moulding into the shape of a book and decorating as you wish. I used a light brown sugarpaste as the base (cover of the book) and white sugarpaste for the top section (pages of the book). I used a cocktail stick to score page lines along the sides, front and back of the book but these were subtle so cannot be seen in the photo.

The cakes were for a young girl and every young girls loves a bit of pink so I dressed up the cake with a pink border around the front and back of the bow and finished my presenting the cake with a pink and silver bow. To match the cake, I decorated the cupcakes with a strawberry flavoured buttercream and then topped the buttercream with the Bible toppers. I also added a few pink edible flowers to the cross to give it a girly edge.

 

Icing Nozzles

I have recently been experimenting a bit more with different icing nozzles to create different looks on my cakes. I have bought two new nozzles, one was a straight round large nozzle and one was an open star large nozzle. Both create different icing patterns.
The large round straight edge nozzle creates a smooth circular icing pattern and the open star nozzle creates a rose like pattern when piped from the centre of the cake out towards the edges.
I used each nozzle to create different looks for different events.
I used the round nozzle to decorate cupcakes being used as part of a buffet spread and I used two colours of buttercream to create a blended look. I achieved this look by placing the two shades of buttercream into a piping bag at the same time; putting one colour of icing down the left side of the bag and the other down the right side of the bag and pushing them equally down towards the nozzles so equal amounts of the two shades of buttercream come out of the nozzle.

To finish the cupcakes I topped them with fondant letters to suit the event I made them for.

The open star nozzle creates an elegant rose flower design if piped from the centre of the cake out towards the edges. This gives a pretty design to the cakes and is delicate and suitable for most parties and events. I will definately be using this nozzle a lot!

Icecream Cone Cupcakes...

I saw the idea for these cakes on the internet and knew I had to try them out! They are cupcakes baked in an icecream cone rather than a cupcake case. They are made the same as a normal cupcake so are simple to make! I decided for my first attempt at making these cakes I would just make a simple vanilla sponge mix as I was unsure about how they would turn out but they turned out fab!

I filled the cones with batter to just over half way up as I didnt want them to spill over the top and spoil the look, it was just the right amount. I secured the cones in a cupcake tin with tin foil to stop them toppling. I covered the whole tin with tinfoil then pierced holes where each cupcake should sit and i pushed the cones into the holes so they were secure. I gently banged the tray off the surface to make sure the mixture had reached the bottom of the cone.

After baking for 20minutes I pierced holes in the bottom of the cone with a fork to let the heat out and to prevent the cones going soggy whilst they were cooling down. Once cooled, it was time to decorate. The mixture spread perfectly down the length of the cone and the cone remained crunchy and fresh.

I used a two tone icing topping with blue and yellow buttercream and piped it like a traditional 99' cone and topped with coloured sprinkles.

Perfect cakes for a childrens party and are a great spin off from the traditional cupcake!




My cousin described these cakes as "The funnest cupcake I have ever eaten"

Hen Do Cupcakes

I am backtracking a little bit with this blog so rewinding to February!
My cousin got married in March so for his fiance's hen do I made some cupcakes for the girls. I forgot to take a photo of them however one of the girls on the hen do managed to take a picture on her phone. The cupcakes were a plain vanilla sponge with purple buttercream topped with hen do themed rice paper. They went done well with the champagne in the limo and a great night was had by all!