Mini Wedding Cupcakes

As a quick last minute order I was asked to make something to go in some bags for a bride's hens. I suggested some mini cupcakes and she likes that idea. I made some rich chocolate cupcakes and topped them with sugar paste. I put an impression on the sugar paste to give it a bit of texture. 

Mini Cupcakes

Finally to finish off the cake I made some little white flowers and put pearls in their centre. 

As these were going in bags individually I wrapped each in a cellophane bag. This was probably the most challenging part of the job!! My bride was happy with the cakes and I'm very much looking forward to making her wedding cake in a few months. 

Cake in a cellophane bag. 

If you need a cake for any occasion please don't hesitate to get in touch. 

Giant Ice Cream Cupcake

For my older brother's birthday I made a giant cupcake which I decorated as an icecream cone. I made the bottom of the cake as a chocolate cake and the top half was vanilla sponge. 

The bottom of the cake was covered in vanilla butter icing and then covered in chocolate fingers. 

Side view showing the chocolate fingers

The top has swirls all over the cake to imitate the swirl from an ice cream machine. I then decorated it with chocolate sprinkles, chocolate sauce and flake. 

Top view showing the "icecream"

I think overall the effect was good but there's still practice required on both making giant cupcakes and decorating them. I hope my brother liked the cake and enjoyed eating it. 

If you need a cake for any occasion please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Naked Wedding Cake

For my first wedding cake of the year I was asked to create a "naked" cake. This is a cake that isn't covered in sugarpaste so you can see the sponge layers underneath. It's typically decorated with fresh fruit and flowers. This style of cake produces a perfect rustic cake and in this case it was just perfect for the beautiful barn location. 

After the usual cake tasting the couple decided to go with vanilla, chocolate, lemon and red velvet, from the bottom up. As the cake isn't covered it's essential to have the sponge as fresh as possible to prevent them being dry. Usually the sugar paste will seal the cake in and you have a week, in this case I baked the sponge the day before. In some ways this is nice as the cake is done over a short time, however, I describe it as high stress over 2 days rather than medium stress over a week!! 

The day before I went out and purchased all the red fruit I could find, this was strawberries, raspberries, cherries, red grapes and blueberries. My first task was to wash all the fruit and leave it to dry. I didn't have much!! 

All my fruit drying

Once my sponge was made and cooled I sliced and filled each layer with butter icing. I also cut a small dip out the top so that each layer sat flush on each other, otherwise you'd see a silver board between each layer which I didn't want. I also dowelled each layer making sure that it would support the cake above.

Vanilla cake, sliced and filled with butter icing and jam. 

Remaining 3 cakes ready to go. 

Once I got to the venue my task was to assemble it all. I was relieved that the cakes all slotted on to each other beautifully and flat. I then set about putting all the fruit around the cake. I used cocktail sticks to support the larger fruits and balanced the smaller ones around. I had also previously made some sugar roses to put on the cake. So I slotted these around as well. 

Finished Cake at the venue

View of the top of the cake

I was really pleased with this cake and it turned out the best I could imagine. I drove away from the venue feeling great pride. I also got a lovely thank you card from the couple and some really lovely comments. I couldn't have asked for any more. 

If you're looking for a cake for any occasion please don't hesitate to get in touch. 

Gary's Tiger Lily Cake

For my husband's birthday this year he gave me the brief of making him an impressive cake with flowers. His favourite of those I've made so far is the Tiger Lily. So of course I used these on his cake. I decided to make a 2 tiered square cake in white decorated with piped detailing. 

My first job was to make the lilies. I made several so I could cover the cake with them. 

Tiger Lilies

Gary asked for a chocolate cake and a lemon cake, so I made these, filled them and covered them in sugarpaste and left them to settle a little. 

Covered cake and placing lilies

For the piping detailing I found a design we liked on the internet and traced this on to the cake. I them piped over these. I wasn't 100% happy with the piping but it wasn't bad for a first attempt in this style. I'll continue to practice. 

Once the cake was all dried I placed ribbons around each tier and put the lilies on the cake. 

Finished Cake

I was really pleased with the effect of this cake and thought the lilies looked stunning. I got lots of lovely compliments and will certainly be adding it to my wedding portfolio. 

Close up of side lily

Close up of top liliess

Nerf Gun Cake

I was asked to make a birthday cake that would be suitable for a Nerf party. After doing some research I discovered this was a toy gun and I suggested having a cake in the appopriate colours, a model on top and edged with bullets.

They requested a 10" chocolate cake so I made my rich chocolate cake and filled it with chocolate butter icing. I used a different brand of sugar paste for this cake, the Beau sugarpaste, as I'm trying to explore a few different brands. I like this one because it's not as soft as Renshaws and therefore holds it shape better giving cleaner edges. It also gives a smoother finish as I find it doesn't mark so easily. It comes ready coloured so I iced the cake in a nice bright yellow.

Finished Cake

I made "bullets" out of blue and orange paste and stuck these all around the edge of the cake. I then modelled a gun for the top. I based this on a Nerf Rampage and carefully copied it off a photo. It's quite hard converting a 2D picture to 3D as I've never seen on in real life, however, I hope I got the detailing.

Nerf Gun

All that was left was to pipe the message on the cake and prepare it for delivery.

Overall I was quite pleased with the cake and I got some lovely comments about it. It was lovely getting a message from the birthday boy himself (and his parents) and to see a video of him receiving the cake.

Full Cake

Half and Half Wedding Cake

For my first order as an official business I was asked to make a 4 tiered wedding cake in a half and half style. This is that one side of the cake is white and the other is chocolate. The common explanation of this is that the white side is for the bride and the chocolate side is for the groom so they are often called bride and groom cakes. However, my couple described the white side as the dress and the pleating come down from the dress .

Maybe the pleat is from the dress

I was asked to make 4 different flavours of cakes, the bottom layer was a 12" rich chocolate cake filled with chocolate ganache and crumb coated in ganache. The next layer was a 10" lemon cake which was filled and coated in lemon butter icing. The 8" layer was a vanilla madiera cake covered and filled with vanilla butter icing. Finally the 6" top layer was carrot cake covered and filled in vanilla icing.

I had to get the timing of the baking correct so the cakes tasted at their best at the wedding on Saturday, so I had to bake most of the cakes on Wednesday with the exception of the vanilla which I made on Tuesday. This put quite a lot of timing pressure on me because for wedding cakes I like to double ice to get a much better finish on the cake. This means that the cake needs to cook, cool then be covered in the first layer of sugar paste. Ideally this is left overnight and then coated in another layer of sugar paste. Again ideally this is left to dry and then the cake is decorated with the piped detail. However, as you can probably guess, there wasn't enough nights to do this so I tried to spread things out as much as possible by doing things early in the morning and as late as possible to make the days longer.

Each of the cakes, for the top layer of sugar paste, was covered half in white sugar paste and half in chocolate paste, to create the half and half look. The chocolate paste is more difficult to work with so I only did 1 layer of this rather than both, it's also more expensive and the cake would have a structural problem if the bottom layer wasn't one piece.

I hand piped, using royal icing, detailing on the white side of the cake, this is the first time I've done this and I haven't yet done the diploma on this but by the end of October I expect to much better at this particular skill.

On the chocolate side I carefully covered it in chocolate ganache and left a little drip over the sides. The problem with the ganache is that it never dried solid so it got everywhere, it was very difficult working with the dark chocolate on the pure white icing.

I then dowelled up the cakes, again the first time I've done this but it was very straightforward and the cake seemed to hold very well and stuck the bottom 2 layers together and the top 2. Finally I edged the cake with some white beading and created a pleat down the joins.

Top and bottom prepared

On the top layer of the cake I attached the bride and groom topper and carefully made the pleat come right out from the dress on the bride.

I dipped some strawberries in ganache and left these to set and then the car was loaded up.

Car packed and ready to go

I had to get the cake 2 hours across country, which was rather nerve racking and made us think about future car choices!! But it made it in one piece, I then put the cake together and stuck the strawberries on.

Fully assembled cake

Overall I was fairly pleased with the cake, as always there are many things that I'd like to improve on but for a first attempt I thought it came out really well. There are things I've learnt and things I'd change but all I can hope is that it was perfect for the bride and groom.

Chocolate Side

White Side

3 Tiered Flower Cake

For my sister's 30th birthday I decided to make a 3 tiered cake with flowers on it. She asked me to make lemon, chocolate and ginger cake. So I did. 

8" Lemon Cake

400g Butter

400g Self Raising Flour

400g Caster Sugar

8 Eggs

2tbsp Lemon Juice

6" Chocolate Cake

160g Butter

160g Plain Chocolate

25ml Coffee

1tsp Vanilla Essence

160g Plain Flour

1tsp baking powder

1tsp bicarbonate

240g Light soft brown sugar

3 eggs

150ml Soured Cream

4" Ginger Cake

50g Butter

50g Caster Sugar

50g Self Raising Flour

1tsp Baking Powder

1tsp Ginger

1 Egg

1tsp Golden Syrup

Once all of the cakes were baked I left them to cool and then cut them, using cocktail sticks as guides, at an angle. If I did this again I would cut the cakes at a much more of an angle. I then covered each of the cakes in butter icing and then sugar paste. 

I didn't have dowels, next time I'd use them, so I placed the cakes on boards and then put them on top of each other. The cakes sunk slightly but managed to hold pretty well considering there was no support. 

I cut out flowers and placed them on the side of the cake. I also rolled out a 30 for the top of the cake. Finally I made a Gerbera flower for the side of the cake.  

Gerbera Flower

Slightly Wonky Cake

Balanced Layers

Overall, considering the time restraints and lack of certain items, I was quite pleased with how this cake turned out. If I was to make it again I'd change certain elements and give myself more time to focus on it. I hope that my sister liked the cake and enjoyed the left overs. 

Coffee and Walnut Cake

For his birthday this year my brother asked for a coffee and walnut cake. I had a busy week last week with cakes so this was the most simple of them all. The aim was just to make a nice simple cake that tasted good. 

To make the coffee cake I used a standard sponge cake recipe and added in some coffee and chopped almonds. I then baked it and left to cool. 

I filled the cake in coffee butter icing and also coated the whole cake. I decided, since I had plenty of grated chocolate left, to put chocolate around the rim on the cake. I then used walnuts to decorate the top of the cake. 

Finished Coffee and Walnut Cake

I have no idea what this cake tasted like, as I don't like coffee or walnuts, but he said it was very good. I was pleased with the finished effect of the cake and thought it had a good appearance. 

Bucky Ship

For my nephew's birthday cake I was asked to make Bucky from Jake and the Neverland. I had never heard of this ship but pictures were easily available from the internet so I copied the ship from these. 

Using my standard rich chocolate cake recipe I made 2 large rectangle cakes. With the first cake I cut out the shape of the ship. With the second I cut it into smaller sections, 2 were used to raise up the back of the ship and 1 for the shaping on the front of the cake. It was all stuck together with chocolate butter icing. 

The whole cake was covered in butter icing. I then covered the outside edge in darker brown sugar paste with the top covered in lighter brown icing. The cake was edged in yellow icing. I used smaller sausages to place rings around the whole of this yellow trim, they were placed at a carefully measured distances. 

To create the mast I covered a wooden skewer in brown icing and left to dry. I used spaghetti to support the across strips covered in icing. I tied these on with thread. I printed the blue and white strips on some paper and then stuck these onto the strips with tape. 

To create the slide I shaped some icing over a rolling pin, left it to harden and the stuck it on the cake. The railings were created by placing icing on cocktail sticks. I then stick a railing on top of these. The final details on the cake were created with sugar paste. 

To create the sea I coloured some butter icing with blue but didn't stir it in completely to create a slightly marbled effect. I then spread this over the board and shaped away from the cake to create the sense of waves. 

Finished cake

Side View

To complete the cake some character candles were added. 

Character candles

Pirate Candles

This cake was a real challenge to transport, if I was to make it again I wouldn't put the mast in until the cake was finished and would have finished off the bird's nest better. Overall I was quite pleased with how the cake turned out but as usual I think it could have been much better. I hope that the birthday boy, and his parents, liked the cake. 

Range Cooker

To start off the New Year I was asked to make a cake in the shape of my new range cooker. I haven't physically got it in the kitchen yet so this was done from photographs. 

I was asked to make a chocolate cake so I used my rich chocolate cake recipe and halved it. I made a square cake and then cut it in two and placed them on top of each other to make a rectangle. 

Two rectangles

I then covered this in orange butter icing and some navy blue sugar paste. I made the navy blue sugar paste by combining blue and black paste. Using a smoother I made sure the edges were sharp. 

Covered and ready for detailing. 

Then using sugar paste I cut out some rectangles for the front making the oven door detailing. I used black to create the glass front effect and silver to make the handles. These are just sausage shapes stuck on the front. 

I created a rim on the top of the cake with navy blue and then one down the centre of the cake. I also created a strip along the front which I put all the knobs on. I made these out of small balls which I then shaped with a knife to create little handles. 

Using black I create the timer screen and the gas hob centres. I also used a series of sausages to create the shaping on the top. 

Top

Front

Overall the result was better than I expected 1 day ago. I would have liked to create a much cleaner finish and also a taller cake so it is more in proportion. It's a bit short and fat. I'm very happy with the detailing on the top though. 

If I was to make this cake again I would do the oven doors differently so I got a cleaner finish, maybe make it as one piece so I could make it flat. 

If you are in need of a cake for any occasion please get in touch. I'm currently doing it for just the cost of ingredients (January 2014) while I build up my portfolio. We can discuss the design you'd like and work from that. 

Mini Chocolate Fondants

Today we went shopping for the last of our Christmas presents, including each others. We weren't really going to give presents... until we went in a fantastic shop in Brighton. It has discounted bits for the house, including the kitchen and the stuff is great prices. There was so much that I could have got in that shop but Gary kept me to a few items, one of these was a mini muffin tin. Earlier in the week I had seen the Hairy Bikers Christmas party and there was a recipe that I wanted to try using this tin, Mini Chocolate Fondants.

It's quite a straightforward recipe which involves mixing together the egg, flour and sugar. Melting the chocolate and butter and then combining the 2. I was surprised that it only used egg whites but I guess this makes for a lighter mixture.

The recipe made 72 mini fondants in my case but according to the website it describes 60, so bonus 12 I got there!! When I got them out the tin I thought they were such cute little sponges. I wanted them to have a soft gooey inside but I think leaving them to cool meant that this firmed up. It was softer just not as gooey as perhaps I would like. Maybe if I cooked them for a bit less time this happen, we'll see next time I try them.

Not got a gooey centre but a little softer

They came out the tin beautifully, which made my life very easy, and I had 2 racks of cooling fondants to tempt Gary with!!

Lots of cooling fondants

The topping is a marscapone, cream and sugar mixture which is divided in half and one half vanilla, one chocolate. I used two piping bags and combined these through a star nozzle to create the half and half look. The first tip I used was too small and struggled to get the mixture through, the second tip I used worked much better. It was much larger and the mixture came through easily.

Finished mini fondants

These little bites are delicious, they are a great little bite and a good size for a party. The topping balances the intensity of the bottom and lightens it nicely providing a little chocolate hit in the chocolatey top. I'm looking forward to making another batch of these soon and experimenting with the timing of the cooking. I hope they are enjoyed by others as much as we enjoyed them.

Galaxy Bar

I was asked to make a chocolate cake in the shape of a galaxy chocolate bar. I used my standard chocolate cake recipe:

325g Butter

325g Plain Chocolate

50ml Coffee

2tsp Vanilla Essence

325g Plain Flour

1tsp baking powder

1tsp bicarbonate

475g Light soft brown sugar

5eggs

284ml Soured Cream

Melt the chocolate and butter together. Add this to the other ingredients and stir it all until the mixture is smooth and mixed together. Pour into a lined cake tin and cooked until the skewer comes out clean. Once the cake was cooled I covered it in chocolate butter icing and chilled in the fridge. 

Smooth butter icing

I had ordered some good quality icing for this cake but unfortunately it hadn't arrived so I had to use the cheaper stuff. I coloured it brown, using a lot of brown paste, and covered the cake in 1 layer. 

Covered cake

I coloured the brown slightly darker, placed a thin layer of white and then the darker brown on top. 

Ready for detailing

Using various shades of brown I cut out the shaping for the bar wrapping. I used the lettering from the wrapper to create the words and finally made a square of chocolate for the top. Using a knife I marked out a few squares of chocolate on the edge of the bar. 

Finished Galaxy Cake

I was pleased with the over all effect of the bar. It would have been better with stronger icing but it still came out very well. I hope the birthday girl liked it. 

If you have any need for a cake please get in touch, for a few more months I'll be making cakes for just the cost of the ingredients (November 2013). 

Chocolate and Raspberry Angel Food Cake

I decided to use up my 9 egg yolks, from yesterdays custard tarts, by making another angel food cake, however, I wanted to use up some homegrown raspberries so I decided to create my own variant. The original post can be found here and the recipe is based on this. 

Ingredients:

10 egg whites

1tsp cream of tartar

300g Caster Sugar

100g Plain Flour

25g Cocoa

Handful of raspberries

Whisk the egg whites until they are starting to thicken. Add the cream of tartar and whisk further until the whites are soft peaks. Add the caster sugar one spoonful at a time ensuring it's properly whisked in. This will cause the mixture to have a glossy finish, whisk until these form firm peaks. 

Meanwhile place the flour and cocoa in a bowl. 

Preparing egg whites and flour is ready to go. 

Carefully fold half of the flour mixture into the egg whites, ensuring that you maintain the structure of the whites. Fold in the remaining half and make sure it's full incorporated. 

All folded together

Fold in the raspberries but don't stir for too long as you want them distributed not crushed.  

A handful of raspberries

Carefully put the mixture into a ungreased 8" baking tin and level off the top. 

Levelled and ready for a baking

Place in the oven, 180oC for 45 minutes. A skewer when inserted should come out clean, showing the cake is cooked all the way through.

Cooked all the way through

 Turn the tin upside down and leave to cool on a rack. 

Cooling upside down

Once cool, at least 1 hour, carefully insert a knife around the edge of the cake and prise it out of the tin, removing the base. 

Out the tin in one piece

Cut a slice and enjoy. 

Sliced and ready to be eaten

The verdict: I thought this cake was lovely and light, it hadn't risen as well as my previous attempt though. I thought the raspberries gave a lovely freshness and there were few enough that you just got a small sample rather than over powering the cake. I think the cake would have benefited from having a cream coating, like the previous cake, as it was perhaps a little dry on its own. Gary and I enjoyed this cake so much that it didn't go into work and we managed to eat almost the whole thing ourselves, added bonus was that 1 slice was only 2 weightwatchers points, yay!! I would give it 8/10. Gary says he preferred the original version :(.