Baby Shower cake

I love baby showers and think they are a lovely opportunity to welcome and celebrate a new life coming into the world so I was delighted when i was asked to make a baby shower cake. I've always admired baby shower cakes that look like baby bums so i was happy when a friend sent me a picture of one asking if I could make it for her baby shower. She didn't find out the sex of her baby so she went for a neutral lemon coloured cake. I loved making this cake and was really happy with how it turned out. I looked at several ways of making the legs and feet including wrapping icing around Rice Krispie cakes moulded into the shape of legs or using Swiss rolls as leg shapes. I was unsure how that would turn out so I just went with the technique of using just icing and rolled and moulded it into the shape of legs, I felt it might look more realistic like that. And it worked. This cake has been one of the favourite cakes ive made so far and I would love to make again! 

County Kerry cake

A County Kerry Irish themed cake for a 50th birthday. I made the coat of arms myself by copying a picture off the Internet and added shamrocks to make it just a little bit more Irish! Up the kingdom!



Xoxo

Giant cupcake..

I made this cake recently for a work colleague (another one) and it was the first giant cupcake I have made in a while. I looked at a few on the internet and got some inspiration from some of the ones I looked at. The person I made this for is a huge lover of chocolate so this was a major chocolatey cake. Chocolate sponge with chocolate buttercream centre, chocolate buttercream frosting, chocolate fingers and malteasers.... chocolate chocolate chocolate! I loved making this cake, it looks so effective and delicate but didn't actually take that long to decorate. I found a lovely giant chocolate cupcake recipe and it tasted lovely, moist and chocolatey and although it took an hour and a half to bake, it turned out lovely and was worth the wait! I will definitely be making more of these in the future... I think they make a lovely gift.

First Holy Communion Cake and Cupcakes

Its Holy Communion Season so I have been busy baking some holy communion treats for some family friends.

I looked at a few ideas on the internet and for the cupcakes I went for a simple cross design on blue buttercream. I didn't buy a cross stencil but used a cross cake topper and cut around it for each cross, it was a bit time consumed but a cheaper option than ordering a cake crosser ( I left it too late to order one)

For the cake I used letter embossers and wrote a simple message on the top of the cake finished off with the date of the holy communion. Last year I bought a large cross embosser so I used that again this year for the large cross and it looked lovely.

I put the cake and cupcakes on a stand and it looked lovely. A simple yet classic cake for a special day.

Bristol Rovers cake

I made this cake for a work collegue recently for his little grandsons. They hate football and love rugby so to wind up their parents, he decided he wanted to have a bristol rovers cake for them! A simple cake personalised with their names and the Bristol Rovers saying 'Little gasheads' it was a sweet treat for two adorable little boys... hopefully it will convince them to support the team their grandad is so passionate about!

After Eight Cupcakes

Hi everyone,
     I wanted to try and make some cupcakes that I hadn't made before that I thought would be to everyones taste and a real chocolatey treat and I came across a recipe for After Eight cupcakes on a brilliant blog site called anniesnoms.com. She has an amazing collection of cake recipes in order from A-Z... its fair to say I was salivating at the recipes before I even got to C!! First one on the list is After Eight Cupcakes and I thought oooo they sound good (and my work collegues are chocoholics so I knew they would go down well!) so I thought yep Im going to make them ones...and I did! Usually I am not a great fan of chocolate sponge with a chocolate topping myself... but these were definately an exception! I thought I would share the lovely recipe with you all so you could make them for yourselves and see how good they are. The recipe is so easy to follow and the decoration is simple. From prep time to decoration, these cakes took me about an hour and a half to do, including cooling time so not that long!
 Delicious and quick... What more could you want!


After Eight Cupcakes recipe
Makes 12

Recipe from Recipes From a Normal Mum

Ingredients for the cupcakes:

> 100g plain flour
> 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
> 1tsp cream of tartar
> 20g cocoa powder
> 100g dark brown sugar
> 120g butter/marg
> 2 eggs
> 1tsp vanilla extract
> 25g natural yoghurt

Ingredients for the ganache:

> 1tsp peppermint extract
> 100g dark chocolate (original recipe called for white chocolate, I wanted to add to the decadence so used dark)
> 50ml double cream
> 12 After Eight Mints, broken up into rough pieces to garnish

Method:

> Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C and line a cupcake tray with 12 liners.
> Sift the flour, bicarb, cream of tartar and cocoa into a medium sized bowl and stir until mixed.

> Place the butter and sugar into a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer.
> Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

> Add in the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix until well incorporated.
> Add in the flour mix and natural yoghurt.

> Mix until well combined, about 1 minute on med-high speed.

> Divide between the cupcake liners, about 2/3 full.
> Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
> Transfer to a wire rack as soon as possible to cool.
> Once cooled completely, start on the ganache.
> Place the cream into a small saucepan and over a low heat, bring to a simmer.
> Whilst the cream is heating, break the chocolate into a heatproof bowl.
> When the cream has come to a simmer, take off the heat and pour over the chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate has melted and then add in the peppermint extract and mix until combined.

> Spoon the ganache onto the top of the cupcakes and smooth with the back of the spoon. About a teaspoon per cupcake.
> Place the broken After Eights on top of the ganache to finish the cupcakes off.
> Will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

And this is the finishing product...

Over to you cakebakers :-)
xoxo

Teacup cupcakes

I am loving cupcakes in teacups at the moment and think they are so adorable and creative! I think they are really nice for when you have friends over or for a little after dinner treat that look different to a normal cupcake. I have been looking at so many pictures online and have added a few of my favourites to this post so you can all have a look. I have some silicone teacup moulds like these ones (to the left)....
that I plan on using soon (watch this space) but in the mean time.... oogle at these little beauties...

Teacup cupcakes can be baked in silicone moulds like the ones below or they can be baked in the usual way and placed in a china teacup for a more vintage tea party look and I think both are fab!






























I think using vintage teacups give teacup cupcakes a different look to the silicone moulds because the cupcake is tucked into the cup after they have been baking in wrappers. These make lovely table decorations for a tea party/wedding/buffet.







 I also came across these creative cupcakes which I thought were cute and have a teacup theme, without the use of a teacup!