Mums Birthday

It was Mums birthday soon after the training course so it was an ideal time to practice my new-found flower making skills. It was another jam and buttercream filled sponge which I found easier to cover now I know how to do it properly. With roses made as I've been taught I added the stems made from royal icing and leaves of flower paste. It was the first time I'd tried working with royal icing, which I also used for the writing and the beading around the bottom, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.



Mums Birthday cake






I've been on a training course!

I thought it was time I learned how to do the job properly so I went on a training course, a Christmas present from Mum.
The course was at Sugar Celebrations in Gloucester, run by Carole Stafford. It was a really good course, I learned so much from it and the result was all I could have hoped for. Based on a six inch round fruit cake, in four lessons we learned how to marzipan and sugar paste the cake to get a flat, even covering, and how to make flowers and produce the impressive decoration topping the cake. The arrangement on the top took almost ten metres of ribbon and, as well as the large flower at the front, had thirty little flowers and thirty assorted buds on it. This took up a lot of the course but was so worthwhile.  I had to miss one of the sessions so missed out on making a frill that should have gone around the side of the cake, but even without that I was really pleased with the result.

Training course cake

A spectacular arrangement.

Rosemarys' Birthday

It was my sister Rosemarys' birthday in March and as she plays the piano and sings in a choir it had to be a musical theme for her cake.
It was what's become my default birthday cake - two layer sponge with buttercream and jam filling. My first attempt at a shaped cake which worked out as I hoped, although covering the awkward bits around the keyboard was tricky. I went for the pale yellow as a white piano wouldn't have shown up the keyboard as well. The notes were really fiddly to do but were worth it.

Rosemary's magic piano

Chinese New Year

At Christmas I made three Christmas cakes. I used one at Christmas and kept the others to use later, and this was the second one. I was looking for a theme to decorate it and found it was Chinese New Year, so voila! Especially when I found it was the year of the snake - surely I'd be able to manage to make one of those.
So a Delia Christmas cake covered in marzipan and paste was the start. The snake was marzipan covered in paste with a light spray of silver and the paste roundels are the Chinese symbol for good fortune.

Chinese Year of the Snake

Daves' 60th Birthday

This was a sponge cake with buttercream and jam filling for my brothers' 60th birthday back in January. As he's a Gloucester Rugby fan I went for the rugby ball shape in Cherry and white. Working with two colours and managing to get them even and level was a challenge and I was glad I avoided staining the white paste red. A bit too simple really but it went down well.


Daves' Gloucester Rugby Birthday cake



Christmas cake 2012

This was the second time I'd tried to decorate a Christmas cake. I had no idea what I was doing really, just knew what I was trying to achieve.
I made a fruit cake from a Delia Smith kit from Waitrose - really good cake and the instructions were a doddle to follow - and the results were exactly what you'd expect from Delia; perfect.
Marzipan and paste all from the supermarket and I just had a go. Surprisingly the marzipan and paste went on smoothly but as I made the red ribbon from sugar paste too it was too soft to hold it's shape very well so the bow looked a little tired, but the family all admired it and I was happy with what I'd achieved. Certainly encouraged enough to have another go, work on getting better and learn how to do it properly.

Christmas present cake

Yule logs 2012

 I made three Yule logs - one for a friend, one for work and one for Mum. They were a simple roulade with buttercream, decorated with piped chocolate buttercream. It was the first time I'd made a chocolate roulade, the recipe for which I got off t'internet, so I was happy the result was a success.  
Mum's was the one I liked best - sugarpaste snowflakes and holly, icing sugar snow and a bit of glitter looked good I think. Kim's was a much simpler afair with just the little robin and Happy Christmas decorations, and I kind of went to town with the plastic toys for the one for work.



Mum's Yule log



Kim's Yule log



Work's Yule log








How it all began

I've been baking cakes for many years - fairy cakes, sponges, fruit cakes, loaf cakes - nothing too complicated but almost always tasty. A couple of years ago I made a Delia Smith Christmas cake and fancied having a go at decorating it.
A few weeks before Christmas, however, I broke my little finger so my efforts were pretty limited but I enjoyed doing it, and the plain sugar paste covered cake with a marzipan and paste Christmas tree surrounded with presents seemed to go down well with the family.
I hadn't achieved what I wanted on that occasion so I decided that the next Christmas I'd have another go. And the rest is history, as they say.
Since I've starting mentioning to people I decorate cakes they always ask if they can see any pictures, so here you are, all my cakes from Christmas 2012.