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3 cakes in 1 day

It was our niece’s 6th birthday celebration on Sunday, and add to that it was the Brother in Law’s 40th that weekend too, so we decided to surprise him at her 6th Birthday “party” at our house. That was 2 cakes.

I had also kindly agreed to make a cake for a friend’s mum’s birthday, so that meant 3 cakes to sort on Saturday. I’ve never felt more like a baker, and it took the full day to decorate them all.

I’d pre-baked the layers (5″ rounds of vanilly cake for the niece, and chocolate cake for the other two) and kept them in the freezer. They always turn out amazing & it makes it so much easier to decorate from frozen.

This was the fridge throughout the Saturday:

It was just as well we have a big fridge & that what little food was in there condensed to the bottom shelf & drawers at the bottom.

These are the finished cakes that I ended up making that day:

And a few more shots of the cakes on the day:

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Pride Cake

We had a Pride Day at Zen and I volunteered to bake cakes for it. I originally planned to do my striped rainbow cake again, but I couldn’t be bothered with the effort to dye and pipe all the buttercream.

I instead came up with a painted version with fondant toppers:

The main cake was vanilla sponge with strawberry jam, vanilla buttercream, and rainbow sprinkles.

I also made some vegan cupcakes to go with it – 6 each of Vanilla and Chocolate cupcakes.

Posing with my creation in all my rainbow-glory

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Practice Practice Practice

I made another rainbow striped cake, this time for someone who asked me to make one for their sister’s birthday.

The stripes were definitely better this time around:

I added the banner on the top as I felt it just added that something to the cake – originally it was just going to have the candles on, but I liked the banner better. Thankfully, they did too!

The cake itself was chocolate cake layers and chocolate buttercream on the inside, then white chocolate and vanilla buttercream on the outside.

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Beach Birthday Cake

I got asked to make a cake for a 60th and was asked to make a fondant -covered cake which I’ve not done in years (because I hate it). Challenge was accepted though.

I’m not overly imaginative for cake design, so asked if they had anything in mind for inspiration. This is what I was sent…

I think the result went quite well. I couldn’t be bothered to make a palm tree, but may not have had the room anyways.

I last made a beach themed cake 12 years ago… I think it’s safe to say I’ve improved little:

The inside of the cake (not pictured) was:

  • vanilla sponge
  • strawberry jam
  • Vanilla buttercream

Everything on top was made from fondant and just shaped / coloured accordingly.

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Easter treat boxes

I am going to London for Easter weekend but I am visiting family tomorrow so decided to make some treats to take with me.

I made quite a few things to fill the boxes. Some may say I got carried away again.

Cakesicles and cake truffles. These were all made with vanilla cake, buttercream, sprinkles and white chocolate.

Next up were NYC cookies (vanilla and chocolate) stuffed with chocolate chunks, peanut m&ms, and mini eggs.

There was also lemon cupcakes with lemon icing.

and finally we have chocolate mini egg brownies

I made 4 larger boxes, and two smaller boxes to take to people. I finished them with some Easter chocolate coins I picked up at Asda.

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1st Birthday Cake

A family friend sent me a picture & asked if I could do a pink fault line cake “loosely based on this but not exactly the same”.

This was the cake I made:

It was made with 4 layers of vanilla sponge, with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream. The toppers are:
– Strawberry Shortcake Hershey Kisses (1 painted gold)
– White chocolate Lindor (painted gold)
– Home made sugar lollies

I’d never made lollies before, but I had made some sugar “glass” for these stabbed cupcakes a few years back, so I felt comfortable in giving it a go.

I used an “oreo” mold to keep them round and flavoured them with cherry flavouring. Looking back, I should have put the sticks the other way in so they didn’t have the pointy bit inside the lolly.

The final image show sthe inspiration against the actual result.

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Striped “practice” cake

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.

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Free Cakes for Kids

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!

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Birthday Brownies

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:

  • Peanut Butter
  • Rainbow Sprinkles
  • Oreo Crumbs & Toffee Sauce
  • Biscoff Spread

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.

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“Charity” Bakes

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:

Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream, coated in chocolate ganache and vanilla buttercream

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.