28th May 2011 - Doll cake in Snow White style with Peppa Pig friend

This cake was fun to make... first off I had to sculpt the dress into shape and add grooves and crevices into the sponge (which was filled with many layers of vanilla buttercream and Strawberry Jam).  I then made three circles of yellow Regalice, each a different size, the two largest of these I cut holes into.

I placed the largest one on first, bringing it to just under a third of the way down and shaped the creases and folds into it.  I did the same for the second but obviously placed it further up the cake.  The third I placed on top of the cake and smoothed and shaped and folded into the final dress shape.

Next I created the upper body to fit the proportions of the lower dress.  I then created the head and face, followed by the   shoulders of the dress and the arms of the doll holding a bunch of flowers.  Finally came the hair, and I did plenty of this to give the look of layered hair like in real life.  Not thin hair where you can see the scalp and neck of the doll.

I then made and placed the flowers and butterflies on the finished doll, along with a Peppa pig friend.  Why Peppa Pig you may ask..... and the answer is.... because the 2 year old the doll cake was for loves Peppa Pig too.

Doll cake in Snow White style

Long flowing black hair

Peppa Pig friend on Doll Cake

20th May 2011 - Blackpool F.C. Cake

Wow yet another person who wanted a chocolate cake.... only this time the design was quite simple.  The chocolate cake, triple layered vanilla buttercream with chocolate buttercream coating, was to be completely covered in orange Regalice.  The words Blackpool F.C. Forever where then to be cut and placed on the cake.

Not the greatest design I've been asked to make, but if that's what people want......   I was told the cake tasted great and the birthday Man the cake was for was delighted with it and that's what counts!!!!

Blackpool F.C. Cake

13th May 2011 - Hedgehog cake with worm friends

Another chocolate cake to make but this time in the shape of a Hedgehog in the style Grandma used to make.  This was request from a work mate...  Chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream filling and chocolate ganache covering topped with chocolate buttons for the spikes and smarties for the eyes and nose which had to be brown (I added a little detail to the eyes though). 

With the offcuts from the main Hedgehog I made a small albino hedgehog  to sit next to it.  The offcuts where shaped and covered in vanilla buttercream with white chocolate buttons for the spikes and mini smarties for the eyes and nose. 

To give the cake a bit of character I placed it on a decorated board with a couple of worms to keep the hedgehogs company.

Chocolate Hedgehog cake

mmmmmmm Chocolate =]

9th May 2011 - Handy Manny cake with Tools.

For this cake I needed to do a little research because I had no idea who Handy Manny was.  I googled him and even watched a couple of episodes on sky just to get to know what I had to put on a Handy Manny cake.

The first thing I noticed is that his tools are characters themselves and must definately go on the cake.  There are seven main tools and several others you just see now and again.  I only made the main tools along with Handy Manny himself.

I couldn't just have them plonked on top of a cake doing nothing, so i made it look like Handy Manny and his tools had just made a rabbit hutch for a naughty little rabbit named Peter.  I also had to put the name of the child on the cake for whom it was made for.  I decided to also make this look like it had just been made too.

Handy Manny cake Tools

Very difficult cake to make

Even remembered to put a pencil
behind his ear

3rd May 2011 - Fancy Chocolate Cake

Someone from work asked me if I could make them a Chocolate Cake... Not a standard chocolate cake but a nice fancy one.  I said I would give it a whirl. 

I used real dark chocolate in my sponge mix instead of cocoa powder.  Filled it with a triple layer of vanilla buttercream.  Covered it in a rich dark chocolate ganache, that I then coated in chocolate flavoured curls and dust.  Finally I piped chocolate ganache shells across the top edge and base of the cake and decorated with chocolate and vanilla butterflies and leaves. 

I thought that was fancy enough for anyone,  and person who asked for the cake loved it... =]

Rich Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Flavoued dust and curls

Triple layered vanilla buttercream

29th April 2011 - Cat and Frog cake

Tomorrow is the birthday of Ad's girlfriend, and he asked me to make a cake for her with frogs and black cats (one adult and one kitten).  Those where the only specifications given and rest was up to me.  I like it when the design is left to me because I can play around with things I haven't done before. 

The first new thing I tried was the carving of the cake into a small hill.  I needed to leave enough space for the frogs and pond. 

Secondly (other than the small rocks on the Rabbit cake),  I tried marbling fondant with great success.  The Pond was marbled with two different blues, and the Throne of the Frog King was black and white mixed until all the white turned grey so it would look like stone.

Thirdly I wanted the Lilly pads to look wet.  I painted over all three three pads with edible glue which achieved this look with great effect =].

4.5 hrs from start to finish =] =] =].

The marbling effect turned out great.

Frog King with Robe and Crown on an
ancient stone Throne.

25th April 2011 - Electricians Retirement Cake.

I was asked at work by one of the electricians if I would be able to make a Decorated cake for one of his colleagues who is retiring as of tomorrow.  I had to do a little bit of research for this cake as I don't know what equipment is specialised to electricians. 

I stuck to the basic stuff like wire snips and needle-nose pliers and the likes, as well as some caps, fuses and a gadget I can't remember the name of now but it measures eclectic currents in wires... Electromitor maybe??  He also wanted a little man in his dark blue overalls and hairnet if possible with his toolbox lying nearby.   I think I did everything he asked for and a bit more.

6hrs to make - I'm getting quicker.

A bit of research needed.

1st time using edible metallic dusts.

23rd April 2011 - Easter cake and easter cupcakes

I made cupcakes and a disk decorated Victoria Sponge cake today.  The theme was Easter with obvious reasons.... Its Easter =].  I did small chicks, full bunnies, bunnies popping out of and into the ground and Easter baskets filled with different coloured eggs.

The Victoria Sponge Cake was only partially decorated in Fondant because my wife and kids don't really like the taste but still wanted a decorated cake.  I don't know what this type of partially decorated cake is called so I called it a Disk Decorated Cake for reasons you will see when you look at the pictures.

Fun and simple to make.

Only took about 2.5 hrs for All cakes.

Disk Decorated Cake.

18th April 2011 - Cow cake, rabbit cake and rocky road muffins

This weekend was a bit busier than I thought it was going to be.  I didn't think I had a cake to make for anyone this week so I told Emma from work that I would make her Double Cow Cake this week... She asked me to make it for her about two months ago but she said she was in no rush and to just do it when I got the time.  Well this weekend was that time!!! 

Then when walking the dog on Sunday, Lel asks me if I could make another cake in time for Tuesday because it was Lorna's Birthday.... A bit more time would of been nice and when I got home I was a little stressed with the time I had to do both cakes.  I had already told Emma I would be delivering her cake on monday night and now I had to have a second ready for the latest 5pm on Tuesday.

So I did what any pure blood Englishman does when stressed..... Sat down with a brew (and one of the Rocky Road Muffins my wife made).  After a relaxing brew I got too it.... baking cakes, mixing buttercream, rolling icing and making cake decorations and models.

As I mentioned earlier I did a Double Cow Cake for Emma.  For Lorna I did a Rabbit next to a little pond with ducks, (because its spring), holding a Butterfly.  I also surounded the cake in butterflies because if you haven't guessed already Lorna likes butterflies.

Throughout the cake process my wife cleaned up after me time and again to the point I though I would soon have to pay her a full time wage...... I Love my wife X X X !!!

Rocky Roads made by my wife Lel X X X.

Destress with one of these and a Cuppa Tea mmmmmm.

15hrs in Total for both cakes.

5hrs sleep, all day decorating cake and then nightshift...

Book title "The Big Story".

Vanilla Sponge and Vanilla Buttercream in both
cakes with Stawberry jam.

Both cakes finished by 8:30pm on Monday

Thx Lel for my tea, Cuppa's, snacks and cleaning
up after me for two days X X X.

6th April 2011 - Heart shaped cake with Roses and a Smurf.

Well I got an order from a work mate a few days ago for a pink, girly, heart shaped cake with I Love You on it.   Ohhh and with a blue and white Smurf on it somewhere.  Why a Smurf??? His girlfriend whom the cake was for likes girly things and Smurfs.  I couldn't just slap a smurf on the cake any old how (Heheheh slap a smurf, would its face go red or a different shade of blue/purple???)..............

............... Anyway the cake!!! I decided that the Smurf should be doing something on the cake and the best thing I could come up with so it looked like it was meant to be there, was make it look like it was planting some of the flowers onto the cake straight from plant pots... Well look below and see what you think.... I also took some pictures of what the cake would look like if the Smurf was not part of the cake.

7hrs to make (inc Smurf)

Handmade and painted Roses.

Blue Smurfs and Pink cake don't go!!!

19th March 2011 - Adipose 19th birthday -Stargate cake

It was my oldest sons birthday on the 15th and his cake took alot of thought and trials and errors with ideas before I finally put everything together for the result you see below.  He loves Stargate and Pokemon so I incorporated both into the final design.  The person on the cake is meant to represent my son Adamski, wearing the same jeans, shoes and superman T-shirt (logo didn't workout too well!!!), he actually wears now. 

The starfighter on top of the cake is a Death Glider from Stargate.  The Pokemon is Poliwhirl which is one of his favourites.  The red discs with Stargate symbols that  go all the way around the cake are the gate symbols to the lost city of the ancients, Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy.  The small figures on the base of the cake are the four team members of SG-1, Teal'c, Sam, Daniel and Jack.  I also placed a mini gate and DHD (Dial Home Device) on the base along with some ancient stones with runes on them.

15hrs Work over several days.

Orange Flavour sponge and Orange buttercream.

Several design ideas later!!!

4th March 2011 - Tidz 16th Birthday - bed cake

Today is my son's birthday and the cake I made is of him in his bed asleep.  The sleeping position of Tidz in bed is a perfect example of how he sleeps in real life.  I placed a childhood favourite soft toy on his pillow next to him and used the design from the quilt and pillows that he has on his bed today.... All of us men in the household like childish quilt cover designs and that includes me =].  The Westie (our Alfie) and the ginger cat (our Fudge) under the bed, were my wife's idea and I think they add alot to the design of the finished cake.

7.5 hrs work from start to finish.

Victoria sponge cake underneath.

Bed cut to shape when sponge was frozen.

Made over 2 days due to work.

Same Westie from Valentines cake.

12th February 2011 - A Valentines cake with Westie

Well its time for St Valentines day again and this year I was determined I was going to make my wife Lel, a cake especially for her.  A heart shaped triple layered orange flavoured sponge cake with an orange buttercream filling and crumb coat, containing real Orange juice and orange zest.

The cake was then covered in marzipan because my perfect wife loves marzipan and I am quite parshall to it myself.... so I wasn't going to complain if that is what she wants.  Once the marzipan was finished and smoothed out i put on the red fondant covering for all love hearts are red!!!

I made tiny roses out of sugarpaste, some of them even had little leaves on them. these are tricky to make to begin with, but after doing a dozen of them I was beginning to get the Knack of it.

Now for the hard part.... A sugarpaste Westie.  Why a Westie you ask?  because if you look down at the first entry to my blog you will see we have a Westie who is now 7 months old.  He is my wife's baby =].  This took a couple of hours of trial, error and alterations to get right but I think I did a good job in the end.... Oh I hope I did because if she doesn't think it looks like a Westie I will get my butt kicked.....

Well now my mini Alfie Westie sugarpaste thingy ma bob is ready, all that's left to do is place a few different sized white sugarpaste hearts over the plain red of the heart cake.  Then arrange and stick down the roses and Alfie..... Job Done and I think it looks good.

Thats one thick chunky cake!!!

Aww lots of sweet things going on =]

9th February 2011 - Lel's Road to Heaven

Lel was off work today and decided she fancied a little baking time for a change.  As I stole the roll of cake maker in the family from her I couldn't say no could I.  So my beautiful wife baked some gorgeous rocky road muffins while I was sleeping.  These are the best muffins I have tasted with a moist sticky sponge.... perfection is all I can say about them.

 

My wifes Rocky Roads are heavenly!!!

8th February 2011 - For friends and Family.

I was asked by some work colleagues to make a cake for then for tonight.  I decided to make a Victoria sponge cake with fresh fruit (strawberries.... because everyone loves those) and double cream filling.

I didn't have all the ingredients to hand so I had to go shopping this morning before I went to bed (I do night shift and had only been in since 6am.) 

Not only did I have to get ingredients for the work cake but also for the one I made for my kids, wife and me.  We had blueberries as well as strawberries though, for that extra tasty twist.  I couldn't use blueberries in the one for work because a lot of people don't like them... Bless 'em =] it's their loss 'cos they taste great.

I forgot to take a photo of the work cake before I wrapped it up.  Just look at the one below but imagine three whole strawberries on the top and no blueberries showing in the filling.



Strawberry Blues Cake

5th February 2011 - First time piping.

Well it is time I had a go with a piping bag..... Just simple star shapes but still it is my first try.  The cake I made is chocolate sponge made with a Victoria sponge mix but re-placing 1oz of flour for 1oz of cocoa powder.  The filling was a chocolate buttercream as were the stars I piped on the top.  Unfortunately I didn't make quite enough so I couldn't decorate the whole surface of the cake with rings of stars.

Once I finished the piping, I popped the cake in the fridge to cool the buttercream a little, as it had been warmed by my hands in the bag a little too much.

While that was cooling I tried my hand at actually decorating some butterflies properly for the cake.  I know I did some last week but I didn't spend much time on them.





Stars and Butterflies

29th January 2011 - Kisses and butterflies.

Something simple today because I don't have alot of time on my hands.  I looked in old faithful Be-Ro for easy and quick bakes and found Coffee Kisses and Cupcakes.

The Coffee kisses only took about 20 minutes from start to finish and tasted great.  So great in fact I was told, or should I say demanded to make some more in the future.  I will too and of different flavours like strawberry and cream, Mocha, chocolate and vanilla or such like.

 



Soft Coffee biscuit and Coffee buttercream.... mmmmmmm



 After the Coffee Kisses were done I placed my Victoria sponge mix into paper cupcake cases and popped them in the oven.  After a cuppa and a coffee kiss I took them out and let them cool.  Once cooled ,I spooned some red vanilla buttercream on top along with some decorative coloured sugar crystals.  I thought they still looked a little boring so I spent five minutes cutting out some butterflies from fondant and adding a little colour.  Not great looking but good enough to eat =].

Sparkles and Butterflies.





22nd January 2011 - Checkmate!!!

Today I wanted to bake, coat and decorate a cake.  I had a chessboard theme in mind... not a full chessboard but just one corner in which the Queen and Rook had the King in checkmate.  The base cake was a Victoria Sponge Cake filled and covered in a tasty Lemon Buttercream. I used the flat or bottom of the cake for the top instead of the domed side like normal to give the cake a easier more level platform to work on. 

Once the Lemon Buttercream filling was finished I covered both the top and sides with it too.  This allows for a crumb coating so little bumps don't appear when I cover the cake in Icing.  The Icing went on better than on the Cow Cake which didn't have a crumb coat and shows if you look down my Blog.  This cake had almost no imperfections in the Icing covering which I am pleased about... a more professional look about it.

I then built up the part-chessboard of nine squares using both Sugarpaste and Marzipan.  Each square is two inches by two inches and once I placed and stuck those down I put in the black dividers and border.  After a nice cuppa and something to eat I made to Queen.   She was quite tricky and took several versions before I finally used the one you can see on the cake. 

Next came the Rook or Castle as is sometimes called.  I had to make it blue as this was the main colour of the Queen and the board tiles.  I think looking back I should of spent more time on this but hay-ho job done.  Finally came the King but before that another cuppa and a bit of a think about how to do this.  I decided to go with a tombstone with the King's Crown hanging off the edge.... simple but I liked it.



Checkmate!!!



Death to the King

15th January 2011 - Ginger, Spice and the Cake tastes nice

Me and my wife Lel jointly made some Crusty topped Gingerbread today.  Black treacle really smells awful on its own doesn't it. Anyway the amounts of ingredients vary very differently from recipe to recipe so its more of, choose one and see if the out come is to your liking.  Some of the recipes use half the amounts of some ingredients but more of others which I don't really get but that's life.

The usual cake tests do not apply with Gingerbread neither.  After about 45mins of the 1hr 30mins baking time required, the cake was firm to the touch and crumb/wetness free.  Lel let me do the tests quickly to show me this knowing the outcome.  We pushed it back in the oven to let it bake for the rest of the time needed. 

The end result was a great tasting Gingerbread with a nice crunchy top mmmmmmm yum and perfect.  Lel then got me to make a Lemon Buttercream for the middle of the cake.  Wow I love the taste of Buttercream and it is so easy to make.  The cake is all gone even as I write this.... We so love cake =].

Rough looking but tastes great