Sarah's Cupcake

Its was my colleague Sarah's 30th birthday last monday so i made her this girly giant cupcake. The colour hasn't come out so well on these photos but the buttercream lcing was a nice pale lilac colour with some lilac pearlescent sprinkles over it. I also used pastel sprinkle and silver dragees.

More Cupcakes

Phew, I made three more batches of the golden syrup cupcakes last night, as they got a very good reception when i took some to work last week. I've decorated this lot slightly differently:

With some silver balls and pink, orange and white stars. I didn't learn from last time and ended up finishing off the buttercream then feeling a wee bit sickly afterwards. I took a batch into the salon when i got my nails done, where my cupcakes are always highly appreciated, and the consensus there seemed to be that these were my best yet out of the selection I've brought them in the past.

Golden Delicious

I do love golden syrup- it looks like its made out of sunshine and it appears to obey its own laws of physics. So what better than Golden Syrup cupcakes?

I came across this recipe on facebook- its on the Tate and Lyle website and you can find it here. I had one of those wonderful moments in baking- The moment i took the cupcakes out of the oven i knew i had timed it just right and they were spot on, so i was feeling quite smug.

They had risen nicely, were a lovely golden brown, and they all seemed to be a nice size. So i added the buttercream (which was absolutely delicious - i made myself feel quite ill by eating the leftovers) and a couple of sprinkles and they look absolutely fab i think, although the colour scheme of the yellow buttercream and white, blue, and green sprinkles doesn't really go with the cases. I haven't actually tried one yet as they are all waiting to be taken to work where they will no doubt undergo rigorous testing by my colleagues- I'll let you know the responses, and in the meantime, why not give them a go?

 

blingbling cake

I was asked by a family member who had seen the Flower bouquet cake that I had made to bake a cake for her daughter's 40th birthday. She thought she'd like something 'blingy' with her name on, so i thought, what is more blingy than sparkly jewellery?

I decided to do a 'Carrie' style name necklace with other bits of jewellery. And I've draped some emerald green sugarpaste on the cake as well,  as that is her favourite colour. I used some fab little sugar diamonds that I have been dying to buy from the cake shop- this gave me the perfect excuse.

Lets hope she likes it. I have reservations about it as it was a hot day today and the buttercream in the middle melted a bit so i couldn't get a nice smooth finish on the sugarpaste :( hopefully the shiny silver bits will do enough to distract from the lopsided nature of it.

Cupcakes!

I was going to get my nails done yesterday, and as my appointment was in the afternoon I whipped up a batch of cupcakes to take into the salon for the staff. I didn't have many ingredients left in the house so i made it up as i went along, but i think they turned out quite nice and spring like. anyway, there was only one left by the time my nails were finished so they must have gone down well

Bouquet Cake

Presenting the bouquet cake I've been working for a few days for my Grandma's 80th birthday. We're going up to Dene House Farm, in the wilds of Northumbria for a lovely meal and a game of pitch and putt, although i'm not so sure my grandma will be impressed by that bit.

Dene House Farm is owned by my friend Monica's family- they have holiday cottages, a gym, swimming pool, and now a lovely little restaurant that does the most amazing food- highly recommended to anyone from the area, and fully worth going a bit out of the way for. Another star attraction is Nellie, the gorgeous old sheepdog who wanders about the farm and has the most beautiful calm nature.

Here's hoping its going to be a nice day!

Retrospective Cake Blog 3

i thought i'd pop another cake picture up as there has been a lack of bentos in the past few days. This is a racetrack cake i made for a workmate's son's birthday. I remember it with excitement as the husband had just passed his driving test so we actually could drive to deliver it!

Have I missed a new trend?

so according to a magazine i glanced at today, cupcakes are soooooo last season. now everyone, just everyone is making... woopie pies. clearly this trend completely passed me by!

so what are woopie pies?!

according to that fountain of all knowledge, wikipedia, a woopie pie is

' a baked good made of two round mound-shaped pieces of chocolate cake, sometimes pumpkin cake, with a sweet, creamy frosting sandwiched between them. While considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition, they are increasingly sold throughout the United States. According to food historians, Amish women would bake these and put them in farmers' lunchboxes. When farmers would find these treats in their lunch, they would shout "Whoopie!" '

I think i'm going to have to get my act together and get baking, quick!

Retrospective Cake Blog 2

This lush make-up bag cake was made for my super good friend Amanda's birthday. The sugarpaste bag drooped a bit but making the make-up accessories was really fun.

EAT Newcastle Festival

Wow! how exciting is this? EAT looks like its going to be a fabulous food festival, including

a beer and chilli festival

a whisky festival

a wine festival

& a cupcake festival!

well really! the only unfortunate this is, I've missed the opportunity to be part of the cakebook flash mob picnic, in which you bake a famous landmark of Newcastle or Gateshead- the Get Carter car park was what I wanted.

Baking Sunday

I've also been busy this morning baking a batch of cupcakes-these are chocolate peanut butter cupcakes which I've never made before. They are plain chocolate cupcakes with a topping made of cream cheese, butter, and peanut butter. They should of course be topped with chocolate peanuts but of course I forgot to buy them at the shop:(

as for this afternoon, i'm excited because after a trip to the cinema we are going for tea at one of my favourite restaurants- Nudo Noodle House. So it's going to be lovely spicy edamame beans, sushi and soup noodles for me.

Retrospective Cake Blog

So I thought I had better put a picture of something on here t start off with. This was the cake I made for my friend Vince at work, and I was quite pleased with how it came out. I was also chuffed that it still tasted ok after having been sat in a desk drawer for a week and a half!