Baby Shower Cake

I LOVED making the fondant baby booties for this cake. In fact, I wish more people would ask me to make baby cakes so I could do more of these. I may have to make some in preparation for my own new arrival due in October. I used this excellent tutorial http://bronniebakes.com/2013/09/30/how-to-make-fondant-baby-shoes/ to make the shoes.

So cute!

Fozzie Bear Cake

My brother celebrated his 37th birthday yesterday. Last year I made him a Dalek cake, this year I was asked to make a cake of his childhood hero, Fozzie Bear of The Muppets.

I baked and levelled four 8 inch chocolate cake rounds. I trimmed the lower third of the top level off to make Fozzie's mouth and used the cut-offs for his ears.After crumb-coating in chocolate buttercream, I covered the whole thing in orange fondant.

He was so pleased he couldn't bring himself to cut into it at the restaurant last night, but I've been told it'll be shared out this afternoon when the kids come to visit.

Star Wars Cake

This cake I made for my cousin. I was in a bit of a rush so had to do something simple. I made a fondant light sabre and a death star to decorate it and put the Star Wars logo on the side. I did this by printing the shapes out and then cutting around them with a scalpel.

50th Birthday Cake

This cake I made for my sister's friend's birthday. The topper was fun to make, a fondant bow with the number 50 on it, detailed with gold dragees. I think I'm finally getting the hang of using Tappits.

I hated them when I first got them as I just couldn't get the hang of them, but I think I have finally worked it out. I add a small amount of tylose powder (a little at a time until the fondant "pops" when pulled apart), then roll the fondant out as thinly as possible on a well dusted surface and let it sit for a few minutes to firm up. I cut the fondant into small, thin strips, just wider than the letters.

I then turn the tappit over so it is face down on the table and give it a good dusting with cornflour. I put the fondant strip on top and roll over it with my small rolling pin. I then use the bottom end of the rolling pin to smooth the edge of  the letters. I remove the excess and then smack the tappit off the rolling pin so the letter pops out.

Doc McStuffins Cake

I had such an enormous brain-fart while making this cake. I was struggling to get the band on around the bottom of the cake as it was stretching and tearing and generally becoming a total mess. Then someone said to me, did you roll it up before putting it on?

Seriously?

How on earth did I miss doing something so patently obvious as that????

The lesson here is if you are applying fondant ribbons or strips, ROLL THEM UP.

I am an idiot.

Rainbow Cake

The baby (I suppose I should call her toddler) celebrated her 2nd birthday recently. She's my little rainbow baby so we went with that theme for her cake. I would have dyed the cake layers in rainbow colours but she breaks out in rash if she comes into contact with heavily coloured stuff so it had to remain plain sponge.

I think I need to work a bit harder on how neat I am in my finish. I can be a bit slap dash and messy. I can't believe too that it has taken me all this time to work out that if I want to apply a strip of fondant around the base (as above) I need to dust it, roll it up and then unroll it around it. I just learnt that today, a few cakes too late to save them from a messy finish. 

Minecraft Cake

I was asked to make a minecraft cake and I'll admit I had no idea where to start. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what Minecraft is, beyond a vague awareness that it is a computer game. I found this wonderful tutorial on youtube from My Cupcake Addiction.

It's a fairly straightforward cake to make, but I did find it to be quite time consuming, and very messy when it came to applying the oreo crumbs to the side of the cake. I was worried that the biscuit crumbs would go stale overnight (I made the cake on Friday and it was eaten at a party on Saturday) but there were no complaints.

The cake itself was four layers of 8" square chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream inbetween. You need to apply the oreos while the buttercream is still soft so don't put it in the fridge to firm up or the crumbs won't stick. I used three sleeves of oreos with the cream scrapped off for the crumbs. The top was buttercream dyed green. Definitely watch the youtube tutorial and it was very, very helpful. 

Princess Jasmine Cake

I made this cake for my cousin's daughter. The flowers were made with gerbera cutters and painted with edible gold paint, I then stuck on edible jelly jewels. The Jasmine figure was purchased from The Craft Company. 

I haven't gone!

I just realised today that I haven't updated this blog in almost six months! I've still been baking, but not too often to be honest. I had some emergency surgery in December that put me out of action for a few weeks and then not too long after that I found out that I am pregnant. Morning sickness and baking did not mix. I had also found I just wasn't enjoying it like I used to but the cake break has helped. I have one to make this weekend for my cousin's daughter and for the first time in ages I'm actually really looking forward to it. In the meantime though here are my few very minor efforts of the last six months

Hopefully I'll be much better at posting from now on!