Lemon Cupcakes...

I made some delicious lemon cupcakes for a dinner party as a thank you to the host and the other guests. Although we had already stuffed our faces with a three course meal, we all found enough room to eat one and they were lovely.

I decorated the cakes with fresh slices of lemon which unfortunately began to dry out which was a shame. The lemon juice from the slices leaked over the cakes slightly as well but didn't spoil them!

 

If I was to make them again I would do it slightly different and maybe just decorate them with lemon zest or lemon sugary sweets to keep with the theme. I got the recipe from one of my favourite recipe books and they had just the right amount of flavour.

 

A classic cupcake recipe which is a favourite with everyone.

 

 

 

Home Sweet Home Cupcakes...

I bought a cute set of letter embossers which are small enough to print onto cupcakes so I had to try them straight away. I bought them of an online cupcake supply store for about £10 and I love them!!
They come in a little presentation box and have the letters written on the top so it is clearer to know what letter you are using. They are about 8 or 9mm so small enough to write words/ phrases on your cupcakes. They work by pressing your selected letters to spell out a word and you press them into the icing and they leave an indentation of the letters you have used, very cute! There are a few different types you can get depending on whether you want upper case or lower case lettering.

A friend of mine had just moved house so I used the embossers to decorate some Home Sweet Home cupcakes!

Putting a personal message on cupcakes is always nice and the recipient usually loves it. You cant beat saying something by saying it with a cupcake :-)

xoxo

Girls Christening Cake...

I made an open book Christening cake for a baby girl to celebrate her special day. I got some ideas of pictures I found off google and got to work.

I decided to go for a classic Christening cake, the open book style which is always lovely and symbolic for such an occasion.

In order to get the open book shape I used two disposable foil rectangular baking trays to cook two sponge cakes. I then sandwiched each sponge cake by cutting them in half and filling them with butter cream and jam. I then pushed the two cakes together and trimmed them so they were shaped more like a book.

I did this by using a carving knife to shape the top of the sponge cakes into an oval shape and cutting away at the centre to give it an arched appearance like the centre of a book. I then trimmed the outside edges to give them a straight even edge that matches on both sides of the cake.

I then crumb coated the cake to give it a nice smooth finish before icing it, spreading the coating evenly to follow the book shape.

After icing the cake, I used a smoother to give the icing a smooth even finish that moulds around the book shape. I went for a white a pink theme, nice and girly!

It was then time to add some some detail to the cake so I started with a flower corsage on one side of the cake, making three pink roses and adding some dainty rose leaves to add a little more colour.

I made a plait design for the book mark which gave the cake some character which was a lovely idea I got off the Internet.

On the other side of the cake I stencilled on a Holy cross and embossed it with a pattern to make it stand out.

I used a cocktail stick to gently make page lines at the bottom and the top of the cake to make the cake look more realistic and book like. This only needs to be done gently, if done too hard it can make the cake look scratched and could cause bits to peel away from the icing which might the look so do this very gently and don't dig the very end of the cocktail stick into the cake.. brush the cocktail stick along the cake rather than scratching the marks into it.



After doing this it was then time to add the personalised touches by adding a name and adding On Your Christening Day to the cake. Their are many personal messages you can put on a cake like this and some people like adding a date of birth or the date of the Christening but I was worried about overcrowding the cake so left these off.

The amount of detail you can add essential boils down the the size of the cake. Mine was about 12 x 10 so was an average size.

Open Book cakes can be used for many different occasions like Christenings, Holy Communions, Confirmations, Weddings, Anniversaries, Graduations.. the possibilities are endless!

I really enjoyed doing this style of cake and it will definitely be one I will do again for different occasions!

xoxox

Whoppie Pies...

I was given a whoppie pie recipe book for my birthday last year and have only just got around to trying out a recipe for them! I bought a whoopie pie tin which was reduced at the time (bargain!) so I had no excuse not to make them!

A whoppie pie is basically a cake sandwich with a sweet filling, there are so many different recipes to choose from, the options are endless!

I was making them to bring to a friend's dinner party and everyone attending are huge chocoholics so I opted for a chocolate recipe to start with, with a marshmellow filling.

Whoopie pies are so quick to make and cook, I was surprised how easy they were to make and they take barely no time in the oven to cook. They are light and a great alternative to cupcakes.

They are a perfect party treat and take no preparation at all. I would recommend them for any cake baker who is short of time but still wants a sweet treat.

Hello Kitty Cake...

I made a Hello Kitty cake for a friend of mines little girl for her birthday. I got a few ideas off the internet and decided to go for a really girly theme so went for everything pink!

I made a traditional vanilla sponge with a buttercream and jam filling.

To decorate I covered the cake in pastel pink sugar paste.

I then made the main centre piece for the cake, a Hello Kitty face made from white sugarpaste, strengthened with tylo to help the ears stay rigid. I made a small red bow and placed this under one ear as Hello Kitty typical has then added the eyes and whiskers. For the whiskers I strenghtened black sugarpaste with tylo and propped them up to keep them strong however they did droop a bit which was disappointing. I think I made them to thick and heavy. Next time I will make sure I make them thinner and lighter or use a different method to make the whiskers completly. Practise makes perfect :-)

I put the finishing touches on the cake by adding a name banner and small sugarpaste flowers with pearl dragees in the centre.

To keep with the girly theme I used a pretty pink bow to wrap around the cake.

Thankyou Cupcakes

I recently bought some different sized pastry cutters so I thought I would test them out whilst making some thank you cupcakes for a friend. I used them to cut the icing into a nice frilled edge and thought they made the cupcakes look cute and presentable. I then topped the cupcakes with miniture flowers. and embossed them with thank you letters. A lovely gift, and the perfect way to say thank you.