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!

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.

Recent Baking…

I’ve been bad at keeping this blog updated (again!) so here’s a selection of bakes from recent months…

First off, an Elvis themed cake for a 70th Birthday

Elvis 70th Birthday Cake

Then there was “Drunk Barbie” for an 18th Birthday (their request)

Drunk Barbie Birthday cake

Some cupcakes made for various birthdays. The first were Red Velvet cheesecake cupcakes, the next were chocolate.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cupcakes
Chocolate Birthday Cupcakes

Finally, here’s a collection of pictures from Christmas that went to the “treat boxes” I make for friends and family…

Summer Updates

I can’t believe that I’ve not updated this blog since back in February. Oops! It seems that once again, time has flown and I’m now doing a dump of lots of cakes I’ve made this year.

No full stories, just pictures of the cakes and their descriptions

Teddy Bear Birthday cake (chocolate)
America Cake (red velvet)
Inside of the cake – flag based layers!
A mass of cupcakes for workmates when I changed reporting teams
A small wedding cake for a friend’s wedding
Alan Turing cake for Pride Month
Inside of the Pride cake – rainbow vanilla layers
Unicorn Birthday Cake
Inside of the Unicorn cake
A bright cake (lemon cake + lemon curd)
Made some mini macarons
Russian Nozzle – flower cupcakes (chocolate cake, vanilla icing)

January Birthdays

My Niece, Amber, Wanted a ballerina cake for her sixth birthday. I got it in my head that pink ruffles would be the way to do this… how much did I regret trying these when the icing kept dropping off the cake?

I suppose the plus side is that when I am not a professional and I am not getting paid, I don’t have to worry too much when things go wrong.

Another birthday treat was some chocolate cupcakes made for my sister in law’s birthday:

Nothing overly exciting for these – chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. I chucked some Cadbury Miniature Heroes on top and some blue sprinkles to bring some colour.