Flower Cake

I saw a beautiful sugarpaste flower the other day when I was reading the Cake Journal blog (www.cakejournal.com) and I thought I would have a go.  I couldn't find a flower cutter big enough to create the petals so I decided to improvise and use what I had to hand which turned out to be leaf cutters!!  I think it turned out quite well and decided to use it on a birthday cake I was doing for one of the Other Half's colleagues' who wanted a cake for his mum's birthday.

The first cake base I did turned out a bit rubbish (Rachel Allen was put back on the shelf) and Lorraine Pascale replaced her!  Lorraine's recipe gives a lighter sponge yet its still hardy enough to hold up the icing.

So this week I have done 2 birthday cakes and at 8.30pm on Wednesday night I was dragging my OH away from watching sport on the tv to ferry me quickly to Hobbycraft and as it turned out, Sainsbury's as well (because Hobbycraft was shut even thought the retail park stays open till 9pm, grrrrr!!) to buy cake bases as I had misjudged the size of the ones I had and they didn't fit in the boxes I had specifically bought to put the birthday cakes in.  AND whilst I am on about supermarkets, why does nowhere sell Dr Oetker food colouring???  I needed the red for my Red Velvets I am making at the weekend and couldn't find any anywhere....had to buy triple the amount of Asda's food colouring which will no doubt not be the same....double grrrrr!!!

I have a weekend full of cupcake baking, red velvets, chocolate and vanilla ones.  My neighbour was concerned that there wouldn't be any cupcakes at a party we are going to at the weekend, but its all in hand, so don't worry Jess, you will be able to have a cupcake on Saturday night!!