Wednesday, March 24, 2010

21st Birthday cake

Its not too often that I get the chance to make a proper celebration cake, and I certainly do not profess to being a professional decorator, but when my Daughter turned 21 recently and decided to throw a party, I just had to rise to the challenge and produce something a bit special. I would have loved to make her one of those fabulous topsy turvy cakes that you see on Ace of Cakes, but that was stretching things a bit so I had to decide on a simpler design.  It had to be pink (everything has to be pink where she is concerned) and she wanted it stacked like two presents. We made a chocolate biscuit cake for the base, Nigella's buttermilk birthday cake (How to be a domestic goddess) for the top.  The cakes were covered in a thin layer of white marzipan before I covered them with fondant icing. I was pleased as punch with the bow I made for the top of the cake with some Sugar Florist Paste as it was the first time I had used it. I made the bow a few days beforehand and filled the centres with paper towel before leaving to dry out. Then I simply stuck on cut-out flower shapes and piped a few swirls on the cakes. I wrapped the stems of a few ready made sugar flowers around a pencil to add a quirky corkscrew effect. The finishing touch was a light coating of pearl lustre spray all over the cake to add a nice glistening shine. Not such a professional cake close up, but I dont think it was a bad amateur attempt!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Butterfly

We have just got these amazing Nordic Ware cake tins into the shop (and available on the website). These heavy duty, professional weight aluminium tins are exquisitely detailed and the girly side of me couldn't wait to try out the Butterfly cake pan. I would definitely recommend using Wilton Cake Release to grease the tin and ensure the cake will easily slip out of the tin. I have to admit that I cheated and used an odlums quick cake mix as I was too impatient to get the ingredients together. It worked like a dream. No problem turning out the cake (leave it in the tin for 10mins -no more, no less- when you take it out of the oven)
I could barely wait before I let loose on the pink and white icing. Ok, I won't win any prizes for my decorating skill, but what little girl (or big girl!!) wouldn't be delighted with this?
Other favourite shapes for me are the backyard bugs muffin pan, which can be used for cakes or jellies, the Beehive pan and the beautiful Rose bundt pan, which would be lovely filled with fresh fruits and simply dusted with icing sugar.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Eat Me!

Loving anything to do with cupcakes I was dying to buy this new book by Xanthe Milton aptly called "Eat Me" - The stupendous, self-raising world of cupcakes & bakes according to Cookie Girl. Its so pretty and pink and full of cupcake and cookie recipes.  I was particularly attracted to the French Toast cupcakes as I like anything with cinnamon.
As you can see they turned out perfect and luckily I had lots of tasters in work to eat them up! I would recommend using a large closed star nozzle from Kaiser for the buttercream icing, as the size of the nozzle means you can cover the cakes in two quick swirls.