A place to show off the things I have baked
I made the above cake as a ‘practice’ for a design I’ll be making next month. I’d not made a striped cake before so this was my first go and I was happy with how it went.
Not clear from the picture is that it was thicker at the bottom than the top on one side (I clearly hold the scraper at an angle without realising it) so that was a good learning!
On the plus side, the buttercream itself was smooth and not all grainy like the last few cakes i had made.
The last couple of cakes I have made really annoyed me as the buttercream kept “splitting” / going grainy and no matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to be smooth. I tried hacks like adding in a spoonful of melted butter which looked like it made it better, then it just went grainy again. You can see it on the Minecraft I did earlier this month too.
The next time I make a cake, I’m going to be super meticulous in every step to see if I can remedy this. Sadly, I didn’t have the time / energy to re-do buttercreams when I made my dad’s birthday cake this weekend.
Thankfully, my family all thought it was good, but I knew it should have been far better than this. I’m not perfect, but I know my own capabilities and it should have been better than it turned out.
The plus side – it was still edible 🙂
I had the opportunity to bake another cake as part of the “Free Cakes for Kids” group that I am a part of – this time for a child turning 14 on Christmas Day. All I knew was that she liked pinks, purples, flowers and butterflies.
This was my creation… hooray for cake toppers from Amazon!
It was my eldest Niece’s 8th Birthday last week, and my Sister-in-law suggested Minecraft as the theme.
The icing was a tad gritty – I’m not sure what went wrong there, but overall it went well.
The toppers were all made from fondant, and took FOREVER to do (it took me 90 minutes to do the TNT and pig!!)
She enjoyed it though, which is all that counts in the end!
t was my husband’s 40th Birthday last month and we went to Las Vegas to celebrate his actual birthday. For the last Pub Quiz before we headed out, I baked some brownies to make a brownie stack for him.
I made a batch of chocolate brownie mix and filled the pan, then topped each quarter with a different topping:
Once baked, I let the brownies cool in the pan, before chopping them into 16 pieces
The cubes were then stacked on a board, using a little frosting to hold the tower together. I finished it off with a fondant “Happy Birthday” on the front and the gold “Happy Birthday” cake topper.
Another couple of cakes that I’ve done recently with the group I bake for (Free Cakes for Kids).
The first was for a little boy having a “spooky” birthday party over Halloween weekend. I got asked for chocolate and told he likes skeletons:
Next up is not as picturesque, but the group also bake for a community cafe where our group makes cakes for the event every fortnight. I’ve done 3 of these in the past where I did a chocolate loaf cake, carrot cake, and red velvet cake. Last Saturday was my turn again, so I did a Victoria Sponge.
As usual, I’m no good at keeping my blog updated. Here’s a roundup of some cakes I’ve done recently.
The above cake was requested as “just a chocolate cake”. I took it as an excuse to try the fault line cake about 2 years after it was trendy!
Next up, a small red velvet wedding cake for some friends who wanted a small ceremony. They wanted the drip and semi-naked cake, and didn’t want a topper:
Finally, as seems to be a standard cake I do each October, another friend requested a “Brain Cake” to take to work…
I always love how brain cakes look so effective when they are such minimal effort – literally rolling out some fondant, then covering in jam!
The final cake post today was a cake I did for my friends’ daughter’s first birthday. A “Hey Bear” themed cake…
I had never heard of Hey Bear, but looking it seems to be Sensory videos for babies of cute looking fruits & veg dancing to music. Queue the idea of making some of these from fondant to adorn a basic cake.
Simple in idea, but the execution was a tad more difficult due to the intricacies of the detail on each. That said, I was happy with how they turned out!
The cake went down well too – I was sent a pic of the very little cake left:
I was asked to make some cupcakes for the 90th birthday of a workmate’s mother. 36 cupcakes requested:
The flavours I made were:
12 x vanilla
12 x Lemon
6 x Chocolate
6 x Banana
I made the toppers a few days before. They were made from fondant and sprayed with a little bit of pearl lustre spray to give them the glittery finish
I was happy with how they all turned out!
I recently joined up to a group that bakes cakes for families who may otherwise not be able to afford / gain one for their children.
I did my first cake for a child last week. I was told it was for a three year old who liked Peppa Pig and cats. I aimed high…
