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!

Minecraft Birthday Cake

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!

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.

“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.

Some Recent Baking

As usual, I’m no good at keeping my blog updated. Here’s a roundup of some cakes I’ve done recently.

Chocoale Fault Line Cake

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:

Red Velvet Wedding Cake

Finally, as seems to be a standard cake I do each October, another friend requested a “Brain Cake” to take to work…

Brain Cake

I always love how brain cakes look so effective when they are such minimal effort – literally rolling out some fondant, then covering in jam!

First Birthday: Hey Bear Cake

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:

90th Birthday

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!

Charity Baking

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…

Peppa Pig Cake

Flowery Birthday Cake

went to visit my friend in York and took her a mini birthday cake.

It’s a vanilla cake, with vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam.

It’s a vanilla cake, with vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam.

The colours on the outside are simply coloured buttercream that I painted on with a small paintbrush.

the flowers are fake ones bought for decoration.

Viva Als Vegas

We lost our good friend to cancer a few years back. It was when the pandemic was still rife and we couldn’t have many at his funeral/ wake.

Today would have been his 44th birthday, and we were able to have a big celebration charity fundraising event last night. It was Las Vegas themed as that was his favourite place where he visited at least once a year… Sometimes even more.

I didn’t organise the event, but I did get asked of I would make the birthday cake so that’s exactly what I did …

vanilla birthday cake with buttercream.
cupcakes to go with the cake – fondant playing cards and chocolate poker chip toppers.

The event was amazing – raising nearly £5,500 for Macmillan. We drank cocktails, gambled, bid on things at the auction, and celebrated a truly amazing man.