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!

Happy Easter!!

I hope you all had a restful and peaceful Easter weekend and what better a time to indulge in some delicious cupcakes than at Easter time!!

I made some Easter themed cupcakes decorated with yellow lemon buttercream icing covered with a sprinkling of shredded Flake chocolate bar, topped with either a mini creme egg or several mini eggs. Very festive and very yummy!!

They went down a treat with family and friends and were simple to make. I stuck to plain vanilla sponge as the lemon flavoured icing itself is quite sweet so I didnt want to overdo or spoil the flavour of the icing. I piped the buttercream onto the cakes beginning on the outside of the cake and worked my way into the centre then placed the easter treats in the middle.

I bought the green polka dot cupcake cases in Tesco, but was a bit disappointed with them as the colour faded after cooking in the oven so they were no longer a citrus green, but more of a dull shade of green but they did the trick!

I used lemon extract to give the icing a lemon flavour and only used two drops and it was just enough to give the icing a citrus twang without being overpowering. Use with caution as it only needs the slightest bit. The safest way is to add a little at a time to make sure you dont use too much flavouring. If you use too little, more can be added but if you use too much, its harder to fix!!

XOXO

Barbie Cake number 2...

I was asked by a friend if I would make a Barbie cake for their daughter and of course I said yes!
I made this barbie cake bigger than the first one I made as I was unsure how many people the cake needed to cater for.

Using a different technique, as well as using the pampered chef bowl to get the shape of the barbie's skirt, I added more height to the skirt by adding two sandwich cakes underneath and trimmed them to size. I used alternative fillings for each layer, either vanilla buttercream or jam.

I experimented a little more with the design of the dress but stuck to a bright pink theme, perfect for any birthday princess. I made three layers to the skirt this time with a bubblegum pink icing as the underneath layer, peach for the second layer and a glittery pink for the top layer of the skirt and the barbies bodice.

To make the icing glittery, I bought magic sprinkle edible dust and sprinkled this over the icing as I rolled it out so it was then imprinted into the icing. It added that extra girly edge and looked good! The glitter came in a pot similar to the one below and is easy to order from any cake craft store or online like on ebay!


The finishing touches to the barbie cake were adding decorative edible glitter flowers and a ribbon to give the effect of a bow around the waistline and down the back of the dress. Below is the end result.

Cake Decorating Magazine..

I spotted an advert on the TV a few weeks ago advertising a new cake decorating magazine that is being published so of course being a cake lover I went and bought it.
There is an issue each week, each with a free cake decorating gift. Its fab!

It includes ideas and tips for cake decorating as well as simple and easy recipes which are quick to whip up. The regular price is £2.99 and I would imagine it is stocked by most local newsagents.

There is a website associated with this magazine for which I have attached the link
http://www.mycakedecorating.co.uk/

I would defo recommend looking through the gallery, some of the pictures will definately get your taste buds watering! They look amazing (like the ones below!)

I am going to try a few recipes and ideas from the magazines so be on the look out for my updates to see what I have tried out!

Happy Easter Everyone, enjoy the long weekend!!

x