Octonauts A Go!!!

I am doing an Octonaut birthday cake for the middle of September and thought I would make headway with the figures that are to go on the cake.  So far so good!  Its going to be an under the sea type cake (similar to Chloe's 8th birthday cake but without the mermaid) with these Octonaut characters on the cake.

Here's a sneak preview of work in progress.......

Little Girls Day Out

Favourite Niece in the World rang up the other week and told me that she had a cake order for me.  When asked what it was she told me that she would like a couple of bags of Snickerdoodles and some cake pops!!  Well, cake pops are a no go at the moment as I just find them very fiddly to do so I would rather not bother, so I persuaded her to have cupcakes instead.  She told me that her and her little friend Harika were going on a day out and they would like some treats!

As my payment for all these treats, she would come and stay at my house for the weekend.  Hmm, have I got the rough end of the deal here I wonder??!!!

She enjoyed the day out and they even shared with their mums!!

So here are Chloe & Harika's treats for their day out....

Surprise Anniversary

A friend of mine was bemoaning the fact over the weekend that it was her wedding anniversary with other week and she hadn't gotten a cake from me and I'd been doing all this baking recently (moan, moan, moan etc !!!!! LOL!!).  Her and her husband were holding a party on Sunday to celebrate their anniversary and as a surprise I had already made them a cake to celebrate the day with.  She said a big 'Ooops!!!' when she saw it.

Both of them liked it and I don't think there was too much of it left the following day was there Rachel???!!!!

I was going for a Cath Kidston inspired look, lots of pale colours, roses etc.  The photographs have come out rather harsh I have to say.  In reality the cake colours were a lot softer and paler, more pastel like in their shades.  I thought it was very pretty personally and on the strength of it I got myself another cake order from one of the other party guests!!  Thanks Suzie!!

Twin Celebrations!

What a hectic Bank Holiday Weekend this has been!!

Sunday saw the Christening of twins, Freddie & Vinnie who are the adorable nephews of a friend of mine.  Their parents wanted chocolate and lots of it so the cake was chocolate sponge with a chocolate buttercream filling covered with white fondant icing and a mixture of chocolate & vanilla cupcakes.  I also did smaller fairy cakes for the children that were at the party.  The cake toppers were of two trains with the twins' names put on the carriages.  I also embossed the main white icing on the cake with a paisley pattern and dusted with snowflake lustre dust which just gives a nice sheen to the cake.

All the decorations on the cupcakes / fairy cakes were of a star theme which were polished with lustre dust.  On some of the cupcakes I added their initials on top of the stars too.

chocolate & vanilla cupcakes

chocolate & vanilla fairy cakes for the children

New Icing Colours & Future Cakes

I got very excited the other day when my delivery of new coloured icing arrived! (very sad I know!!).  I ordered some lovely new colours from the Regalice range by Renshaw from www.cake-stuff.com.

The icings that they do are the cheapest around and they have a very varied stock but I tend to leave it until I have a fairly sizeable order for them as their delivery charges are not the cheapest!  I paid £9.95 for their Express Delivery which is for delivery within 48 hours, otherwise its £6.95 for a 7-14 day delivery.  Orders are free over £75 though.

This is what arrived........

• Pink 250g pack  £1.09
• Fuschia pink 250g pack  £1.65
• Duck egg blue 250g pack  £1.45
• Pastel green 500g pack  £2.85
• Jade green 250g pack £1.45
• White 500g pack £1.99

I also ordered a pack of 4 metallic edible paints in gold, silver, celebration (cream) & ruby red.  They were £6.95 and really are very metallic in their colour.

Because I have been doing a lot of letter work recently I decided to try some Jem Petal Base that I had read about.  Petal Base is a blend of vegetable oils and has a delicious vanilla aroma and flavour.  You apply a little on any work surface prior to rolling out sugarpaste, mopdelling paste etc and you'll find that the paste is cleanly and easily released from cutters and equipment.  I found it does make a huge difference when using plunger cutters.  It was only £1.50 for the tub and a little goes a long way.

I also got some small blossom cutters (£2.60) and a small Daphne cutter (£1.30)

I have tried the new colours out on an Anniversary cake for this weekend but as I've done it as a surprise for someone I won't post pictures until after the event, but I have to say I am very pleased with it.  Its a Cath Kidston inspired cake and it came out really well.

One point to mention though is that the Regalice is very soft to work with, great for covering but if you are going to be cutting anything, I would leave it to slightly harden before you work with it.

I think September is going to be as busy as August!  So far I've got the following to do:

• Cupcakes for a friends birthday
• A monster cake and little monster cupcakes a 6 year old's birthday party
• A Hummingbird birthday cake
• An Octonauts birthday cake
• Possibly another child's birthday cake & something for my Dad's birthday!!

The bank holiday weekend is going to be full of baking as well.  I have cocktail inspired cupcakes to make tonight (Pina Colada cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days Cookbook) for a cocktail evening with friends on Saturday night.  I'm hoping they taste as good as they sound...lots of rum, coconut & pineapple in them!  Then Saturday I have 48 cupcakes for a christening on the Sunday and then on Monday my niece has placed her own order of some Snickerdoodles & cupcakes as her and her friend are going out for the day on Tuesday and she would like some treats!!  Her payment for the treats is to be that she will come and stay at my house for the weekend!!  Not sure if I've got the rough end of the deal there?!........

When will I see the OH again????  Probably Wednesday next week, if he's lucky I might have some cake for him!!........

Blue For a Boy.....(Daniel's Christening)

Christening cake finished!

This is a chocolate sponge with chocolate buttercream filling covered in soft white fondant.  I have imprinted a paisley pattern on the icing to give a bit of texture and then dusted all over with snowflake lustre dust which just gives a nice sheen to the icing.  I decided to cover the whole board as well so that the building blocks with Daniel's name on stand out a bit more.

I have just bought some great new letter cutters which create a lot sharper edge on the letter (once I had figured out how to use them......don't you just love You Tube?!!)

The cake will be accompanied by cupcakes in a variety of different shades of blue cupcake cases (metallic, pastel etc) and will be a mix of chocolate and vanilla.

A busy Saturday for me; good job the football season has started as it means OH will be happily out of the house all day cheering (shouting) his team on!  There might be a spare cupcake for him for when he gets home if he's lucky!!

Everything was delivered to the venue and set up with the cupcakes on the stand.  Received lots of nice compliments about the cake which was lovely!

Busy August

What a busy month August is turning out to be!  I feel like I've not baked for ages and now need to get myself back up to speed and fast because its full on every weekend for the next few weeks!  This weekend I have a christening cake & cupcakes to prepare for.  Its going to be a chocolate covered sponge with a mixture of chocolate and vanilla cupcakes.

A few pictures of work in progress........

Word blocks to go at the front of the cake.  Lettering done with Jem Letters

Stars & hearts.  Some glittered, some lustre-dusted & some just left plain for contrast. 

A few will be placed around the cake

Baby Booties!  These will be going in the centre of the cake

The cupcakes will have booties placed on top of the icing

A few more ideas.......