Gardening Themed Cake

Here is a few snaps of a 70th birthday cake I made recently for a keen gardener.

The brief was spring flowers/colours and needed to include a few birds. I was pleased with the end result and enjoyed making all the little bits and pieces to decorate the cake.

Monster Mania...

I LOVED making this cake. It was for a little boys 5th birthday party and the theme was "Monster Mania". Not being familiar with this kids series, a quick google revealed a range of inspiration for my cake design....scary, but definitely cute monsters....

Monster Mania

With this in mind, I decided to base the design roughly on the purple monster (name unknown!) and this was the finished result...

The cake was chocolate and covered in vanilla buttercream spikes (made using a grass tip) and had fondant features.

V x 

"1" is the magic number....

I was recently asked by friends to bake a number 1 cake for a 1st birthday party. It needed to be blue in theme (but not sickly baby blue), also have accompanying bright colours and feed 40+ people.

After doing a bit of research I realised that simply baking a number 1 would not feed that many people. To get round this I thought a stacked cake might do the trick - a rectangle base with a 1 on top. Perfect! The cake was chocolate and filled with a chocolate ganache. Here are a few pictures of the finished article.

Number 1 birthday cake

An alternative brithday cake....

Although the classics such as vanilla and chocolate always go down so well as birthday cakes (especially if you're carving them to suit a particular design), I always think it's nice to experiment with new flavours.

With this in mind I set about looking for a new recipe for my sister's birthday. Knowing that she isn't a massive fan of buttercream or icing I made an almond and raspberry triple layer cake with a white chocolate sour cream frosting. It was all finished off with a flower paste rose and leaves (courtesy of the tutorial at The Pink Whisk) and a pink ribbon. Here are a few snaps of the finished article!

Almond and Raspberry Triple layer cake with white chocolate frosting

  

V x



Recent celebration cakes...

I wanted to share my latest celebration cakes. Quiet an array of different themes which has been challenging, but good fun!

First up, a Peppa Pig cake for a 2nd birthday. This was a chocolate cake filled with chocolate buttercream.

Next, a Manchester United themed cake for a 40th birthday. A lemon syrup sponge filled with homemade lemon curd and buttercream.

A computer themed cake for a 10 year anniversary complete with fondant key board and mouse. This was chocolate cake filled with a chocolate ganache.

Next, a tool box cake compete with edible fondant tools.

Finally, a christening cake from a little while back. This was vanilla syrup filled with vanilla buttercream and  raspberry jam.

Christening cake

Looking forward to the next few cakes which include a Newcastle Brown Ale cake, Handy Manny cake and a 1st birthday cake.

Vx

Hello Kitty and other characters...

I love making cakes for children. It's something about the bright colours and playful shapes that never fail to make me smile. Recently I have been asked to bake a wide array of designs, from Triceratops cakes, to themed cupcakes and lots of character cakes. Here are a selection of a few of my favourites...




Hello Kitty cake - dark chocolate brownie cake with chocolate ganache filling

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - vanilla and fresh strawberry cakes with vanilla buttercream

Birthday cupcakes

Triceratops cake carved from vanilla syrup sponge

Next up on my to do list are Peppa Pig, a football themed cake and Special Agent OSO. Wish me luck!

V x

Green fingers...

I was recently asked to create a "garden themed" cake. Here are the results....

Garden themed cake

I very much enjoyed modelling all the edible decorations, including the vegetables for the veg patch. These included carrots, potatoes, pumpkins, leeks and a wigwam of green beans. The picket fence took some time to do, but finished the cake off really well. The cake was a boozy fruitcake.

V x