On the 23rd September I start a 6 week Basic Cake Decorating course for beginners at Myerscough College. I am doing the course with my mum and we are both really looking forward to it! I will post updates of how the course is going.

Barry's Kite Cake.

Happy Birthday Barry!
It's my step dad's birthday today so as usual I have made a cake! As he likes to fly kites, I thought that he would like this kite cake, fingers crossed he will! I made the kite cake by making a large square chocolate sponge and then using a template, that I had made out of paper, I cut out the shape of the kite.
I then crumb coated the cake and left it to chill for about half an hour. Whilst the cake was chilling, I made the kite string by using two different coloured icing and twisting them together. I then made the spots which I have used to decorate the kite. I then iced the cake using the double chocolate icing, which is a butter cream icing made with cocoa powder and melted dark chocolate, once this was done I decorated the cake with the icing spots and attached the string. This is the first time I have made a cake using a template, it is a simple cake but for my first I didn't want to tackle anything too complicated!

Cupcake Decorating Party.

What a masterpiece!

As my two nieces and nephew, Clodagh, Diddi & Lochlan, have been visiting from Scotland and due to the fact that the weather in Blackpool is awful, we decided to have a cupcake decorating party. We also invited my other niece, Avila, to come.

They decided that they wanted to make chocolate cupcakes, they each took turns to mix all the ingredients together and of course once this was done they licked the spoons and bowl, which in my eyes is the best part of making cupcakes!

Whilst the cupcakes were in the oven, they decorated cupcake toppers, that I had made from rolled out icing and cut out shapes using cookie cutters. They used icing pens, which are like felt tips but edible, to draw on their designs and finished them off with a few smarties.

Once the cupcakes were cooked and left to cool, I gave each of them a bowl of icing to mix, we used pink, blue, yellow and green food colouring. They then began to decorate the cupcakes, using icing, the cake toppers, that they had made and sprinkles.

I took a photo of each of them with their favorite cupcake and then they ate them and within seconds the cupcakes had gone!

We had a really good afternoon, they had loads of fun! It was a great way to keep them occupied for the afternoon but I think that the best part of the day for them was, without a doubt, eating the cupcakes!!

Happy Birthday Mum!

It's my mum's birthday today, so I decided to have a go at making her a birthday cake. It's a chocolate sponge with chocolate fudge butter cream, I made all the little blossom flowers using a plunger cutter and piped in the center of each flower and then added a few leaves. I used a pastry cone to pipe the writing with royal icing. This is the first time I have used a pipping bag and I know it's not perfect but I'm pleased with how it looks and my mum really enjoyed the cake, as you can tell from the picture!

In September, I am starting a cake decorating course with my mum and I'm looking forward to learning how to do everything properly.

Low Fat Rasberry & Cottage Cheese.

When I found this recipe I wasn't sure about the combination but after tasting them they are delicious and extremely easy to make!

If you are trying to watch your waistline these cupcakes are the ideal treat. Next time I am going to try them with blueberries instead of the raspberries.

Cupcakes for the Jamie Oliver party.

Here are the cupcakes that I made for the Jamie Oliver party, they went down great!
I made cookies 'n' cream, which has crushed cream filled chocolate cookies mixed into the sponge, topped off with vanilla butter cream with crushed cookies mixed in and a few sprinkled on top. These are a personal favorite of mine!!
I also made, strawberries and white chocolate, which is a strawberry flavored sponge with white chocolate chips, topped off with vanilla butter cream and a few chopped strawberries mixed in. Delicious!

How cute!

Whilst browsing through some old photos, I came across this of my two nieces, Clodagh and Diddi.

It was taken a few years ago, when I was babysitting and we had an afternoon of baking and this is what we came up with!

From the looks on their faces they look pretty pleased with their masterpiece! How cute!