Flower Topper

I was asked to make a flower topper for someone to use on a cake they were making themselves. She wanted it really colourful and asked for mainly roses with a few filler flowers. 

Cream Rose

To fit this brief I made roses in blue, pink, purple and cream. I also made some white jasmine and some rose leaves. I felt that any more flower varieties would overwhelm the bunch and make it look too fussy. 

I arranged these in a line bunch in order to decorate the middle of the cake and create a nice centre piece. 

Finished Flowers

Along with these flowers I also made a few extra so they could use some on the edge of the cake and balance out the cake. 

Smaller bunch for the edge

What do you think? 

Finished Bunch

Top View

Don't forget that I can make just the topper if you'd like to make the cake yourself or have a cake that you want to add something else to. I make the flowers to your specification and size. 

Pink Rose

Flower topped cake

For one of my display wedding cakes I decided to have a go at something I'd been wanting to do for ages, a cake topped with large flowers. 

Finished Cake

For this cake I made a large peony, some English roses, Heritage roses, Freesias and filler flowers. These were all wired flowers and taped together through a posy in the centre. I decided to stick with mainly purples and pinks for the cake so it created a neutral look with hints of colour. 

Flowers on Top

At the bottom of the cake I put a little Heritage flower to balance out the bunch at the top.

Flowers on Top

I was pleased with how this cake looked and it's one of my favourites to date. I would still like to experiment with the flower arrangement at the top of the cake but I think this works very well.

Flowers on Top

For this cake I also decided to try using a different backdrop. I found some wallpaper and placed this behind the cake. I think the balance works really well and suits the cake very well. What do you think? 

If you like this or any other cakes in my collection and require a cake, for any occasion, please get in touch.  

Bride and Groom Cake

This is another of my display cakes for the wedding fairs which is pink with a modelled bride and groom. I wanted to create cakes with different styles to showcase different ideas and to tempt the couples. 

To create this cake I covered 2 dummies with sugar paste, a 8" and 10", and then stuck them together with royal icing. I used 2 iced drums for these cakes, the first with a solid pink colour and then I marbled the larger board. The boards were trimmed with cream ribbon but I wanted something different for the cake. I used a little pearl mould to create a beaded trim around the cake, these were then stuck on with edible glue. 

I piped the bottom layer of the cake with a random swirl design. This is the first time I've done this so it isn't perfect but I have a diploma booked in to improve this very skill. 

Piping on the bottom tier and beading around the joins

The next challenge was to create the bride and groom. I learnt how to make a seated ballerina on the Sugar Paste dipoma, however, this was taking it to another level. I started off with sticking on the back of the dress as I was wanted it appear like she had a long train. On top of this I formed legs and then I placed the top layer of the dress on top of this. Finally I stuck on her body and head. I then made the groom in a similar way. It was easier because I only needed legs at the bottom not layers of dress. The black needed some cmc added to it so that it held its shape but white is good modelling paste already. Make sure you use modelling paste to create these at it'll hold it's shape once moulded and will dry solid. I left the figures to dry overnight and make sure they were really solid. 

Models driving overnight

The next day I added hair to the figures using a craft gum and stuck this on. I tried to shape the hair so it looked realistic and I even gave the bride a hair cut!! 

Finished cake

I'm quite pleased with how this cake turned out and especially pleased with the expression on the faces.

The happy couple

I think this cake is really sweet and hopefully it'll spark someone's imagination.

Close up of the groom

Close up of the bride.

Pink and Flowery Birthday Cake

This cake was a bit of a last minute decision. We had 2 family birthdays within 2 days of each other and I was originally going to make the cakes the same week, however, a last minute trip to London meant I could do this one a bit earlier. It isn't the most inspiring design but it gave me the chance to practice a few bits and pieces. 

I decided to make a chocolate cake so I used a standard recipe:

200g Self Raising Flour

200g Butter

200g Sugar

4 Eggs

I also added a little baking powder because I didn't use real butter and I now know this makes quite a difference. Once the cake was cooked and cooled I made some butter icing:

250g Butter

500g Icing Sugar

and flavoured it slightly with orange essence. The whole cake was then filled and covered in the icing and placed in the fridge whilst I prepared the rest. 

I decided to decorate the cake with a base colour of pink, so using gel colours, I kneaded this into some ready made icing until the colour was even. I then rolled this out between 2 sheets of clingfilm and lay it on top smoothing with my hands to get an even finish. 

Pink cake

I wanted to pipe some wording onto the top of the cake. I've never really done complex piping before and was unsure what icing to use but I decided to give it a shot with just icing sugar and water coloured slightly purple. I wanted the icing to not be too runny that it would spread everywhere but also be thin enough to pipe evenly. 

Using a letter mould I carefully indented the icing with the letters so I had a stencil to pipe onto.

Lettered indentations

I then piped the icing on top. A few letters came out a bit spread out so I scraped them off and tried again. I was reasonably happy with my efforts but I will definitely have to research and practice this further. 

Piped lettering

I then wanted to decorate the cake with flowers creating an almost lace feel. I have loads of cutters so I rolled out some white icing and set about cutting flowers of all shapes and types. I started at one point and spread out using the little flowers to fill the gaps. It was all done by eye and what I thought looked good. I didn't want to overload the cake but I also wanted them to look like they belonged. I decided to decorate down the side of the cake as well so it looked like the cake was drapped rather than just stuck on the top.

Finished cake

Flowers cover the side as well as the top

Overall I was quite pleased with the cake. The flowers came out very nicely but the lettering could have been better. 

I am looking forward to attending a cake decorating course in September where I will be learning more techniques and improving my skills. I will keep you update with my progress and I'm sure they'll be many pictures of my practicing. 

Don't forget I'm available to make cakes to order. At the moment I'm just charging the cost of the ingredients. This cake would have cost £10. Please get in touch and we can see if I can make something to your taste and preferences. 

Peppa Pig Pink Cake!!

Today I thought I would try out a new idea and practice some animal making in case I need it in the future. I decided to trial a pink cake with raspberry buttercream and make a little Peppa Pig for the top. 

I made 1 batch of normal sponge mix and then divided it in two. One I left as it was, the other I coloured with a small amount of pink, enough to give it a pink hint but I didn't want a really dark colour. 

The cake batters are coloured and ready to go...

These were then placed in cake tins and baked until lovely and spongey...

Nicely cooked cakes out of the oven

Once out the oven the cake didn't look so pink but you could see the slight colour in it and I hoped that the inside would be stronger. 

I then made the buttercream, as I said I wanted raspberry so I made normal buttercream and then mashed up some raspberries. I originally wants a marble effect through rather than making it so pink but as you'll can see that didn't quite work out but I rather like the finished product. 

Peppa side view

Peppa front view

I then made a Peppa Pig, according to my pictures she has a pink head with a rather large snout and then a red triangle body. It took a while to convince my premade icing that it wanted to be red but in the end it came out a lovely strong colour and a nice contrast to the pink. I made a ball for the head and then shaped it to create the snout. The body I then also formed a ball and shaped this into a more triangle shape. 

I made arms and ears, the arms are attached by cocktail sticks to give them structure and the head is also held on by a stick. I painted on the eyes and marks using another cocktail stick so it's not great but it gives the effect it needs I think. 

Finally I put the cake together. I used the buttercream to sandwich it together and then placed this all over the cake. This won't be what I do when I make the next one but today was just about practice. I then placed Peppa in the middle and decorated the top with the remaining raspberries. 

Top View of the cake

Side view

Front View

I was quite pleased with the finished product but I wanted to check the colouring inside so I cut out a slice to check. I think the result is great, a lovely pink sponge inside and out. 

Colours shown on a slice

A view inside the cake

Overall I need to still work on making Peppa better, I'm not sure she's very recognisable yet and I want to make George and create a whole scene rather than just the characters. I'm pleased with the cake itself, I think the buttercream tastes great but I'm might still try and make a marble effect, it is also a little runny with the extra juice from the raspberries. Not really a worry if this is just for the inside though. I would also like to find some better fondant icing as this isn't perfect, it's a little soft. 

Let me know what you think, there is room for improvement and knowing nothing about Peppa, any comments about her would help.