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Thanks to everyone who has read my blog here.

Jen x

Debbie Brown baby pram cake

Here's a cake I made for my youngest niece Isabelle who was 2 years old. She really likes her dolls and babies. I got the idea from my Debbie Brown book 50 Easy Party Cakes. I partly followed the instructions in the book and made a couple of changes. I think it came out ok, There were a few creases around the edge of the pram but I think I will hopefully improve that with practice. 

Thanks for reading x

Scarlett O'Hara cupcakes

I spend a lot of wasted valuable time looking up cake recipes online and found an interesting one for mojito cocktail cupcakes. This got me thinking about other possibilities for cocktail inspired cupcakes and led me to search for cocktails containing one of my favourite drinks southern comfort. The one that spiked my interest was the Scarlett O'Hara which is lime, cranberry juice and southern comfort.

Source

There were many different possibilities for making these but I finally decided on a lime infused cupcake with cranberry filling and a southern comfort butter icing. This was a bit of an experiment and could have gone horribly wrong. Overall I think it worked really well. The cranberry sauce did sink to the bottom of the cupcake but I don't think it's a big problem, the flavour was still great. I wrote the method as I did it but you might want to leave the filling until after the cupcake is cooked. Once cool cut a small hole in the top, place a teaspoon of sauce into the cake and replace the top.

I am not a big fan of the large amount of butter icing that is traditionally put on cupcakes. I find it can get a little sickly. Therefore I tend to just add a thin layer. If you would rather be more generous with the icing then you might want to double the butter cream ingredients.

Cupcakes (Makes 6-8 cupcakes)
35g unsalted butter
105g plain flour

125g caster sugar
tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
105ml whole milk
1 large egg
6-8 tsp cranberry sauce

zest and juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp southern comfort

Butter icing
60g butter softened
120g icing sugar
1 tbsp southern comfort

-Preheat the oven to 170  °C and place cupcake cases on a tray. Use an electric mixer to combine the butter, flour, baking powder and sugar to form a breadcrumb like consistency. 

-In a separate bowl mix together the egg milk and the juice and zest from 1/2 of the lime.

-Pour the wet ingredients into the dry gradually mixing well between each addition. 

-Fill the cupcake cases to half way, add a teaspoon of cranberry sauce to each. Top with the remain mix so they are 3/4 full. 

-Bake for 20-25 minutes.

-Once cool brush over the southern comfort and a little lime juice from the left over lime. 

-For the butter icing use an electric mixer to blend the butter until it begins to get pale and fluffy. Gradually add the icing sugar mixing well. Finally add in the southern comfort and mix until smooth. 

-Spread the butter icing over the cakes and top with the remaining lime zest.

Thanks for reading x

Football cake

This is a Brentford FC "Bees" cake I made for my mums birthday. The cake is a 7'' almond madeira cake.

Thanks for reading x

Chocolate Guinness cake

I made this chocolate guinness cake as it was my mum and dads anniversary this week. I adapted a recipe by Nigella Lawson which can be found here.

I decided to leave the cream cheese frosting and just sprinkle some icing sugar over the top. I put mine into 2 foil trays (13'' x 8'') instead of a cake tin as I didn't have the right sized round tin and I thought little squares would be nice. I reduced the cooking time to 25 minutes and the outside was starting to get quite well done, so I would check them after 20 minutes if I made these again. I think adding some chocolate chips would be nice in this cake, I might try that next time.

Ingredients (makes 30 squares)
250 ml guinness
250g unsalted butter
75g cocoa powder
400g caster sugar
140 ml sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tbs vanilla extract
275g plain flour
2 ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
Icing sugar for topping.

Method
-Preheat the oven to 180 °C and cover the surface of 2 foil baking trays (13'' x 8'') with cooking spray or a little butter to avoid sticking.
- Place the Guinness in a saucepan with the butter and heat gently until the butter has completely melted. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar.
-Beat together the sour cream, eggs and vanilla extract before adding to the beer mixture. Mix in the flour and bicarbonate of soda before dividing equally between the two foil trays.
-Cook for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer placed into the middle of the tray bake comes out clean. Let it cool in the tray.
-Cut each cake into 15 pieces and sprinkle some icing sugar over them.

Thanks for reading x

Fondant bunny

Hello,

I thought I would outline how I made a little fondant bunny. I have only made fondant toppers a couple of times previous to this so I am still learning as I go along. 

From my limited experience I would say you need to start with a simple shape which you can then add detail to. Think about how the topper will need to sit on the cake. Having too much weight at the top of the character will make it difficult to balance.

You don't need special equipment to make this. If you do a lot of cake decorating fondant tools are handy. I use a cheap set of fondant tools I found on amazon but I think you could also do this very easily with a small knife.

Firstly I created the basic shapes I wanted for my bunny. Ears, head, body and feet. I gently rolled the head and body until it was smooth with no splits 

Once I had the head shape I wanted I started to add details. Once I happy with how the nose and mouth looked I used a little water on a brush to stick the pieces on and pressed down gently with a flat fondant tool (palette knife would also work). Once dry the pieces should be stuck securely.

The best tool I found to use is the one below. It's handy for pressing pieces together, shaping and making lines in fondant. 

I used a black edible ink pen for the eyes. 

I added some arms

I found it best to make these in advance as they will harden overnight and become more secure and easy to handle.

Thanks for reading x

Easter carrot cake

Carrot cake is a really nice treat. I added some sultanas to mine, you could try adding walnuts, pecans, raisins or just leave it plain. Traditionally carrot cake has a cream cheese icing but I covered mine with lemon icing made by mixing icing sugar and lemon juice.

Ingredients
Caster sugar 175g/6oz
Sunflower oil 200ml/7fl oz
3 large eggs
Self raising flour 175g/6oz
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
pinch of salt
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
350g grated carrot
50g sultanas (optional)

Method
-Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 8 inch round cake tin with baking paper.
-Mix together the sugar and oil. Add the eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition.
-Sift together the flour, cinnamon, spice and salt. Fold into the mix along with the carrot, sultanas, lemon zest and juice.
-Pour into the tin, level the top with a spoon and cook for 1 hour, or until the top is browned and a skewer placing in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes before turning out and letting cool completely on a rack or plate.

 For decoration I made a little fondant bunny and a chocolate bran flake nest filled with mini eggs.

Thanks for reading x

Madeira Cake

I made a madeira cake for my granddad this week which I thought I would share. It is a simple cake which is typically flavoured with lemon and is similar to what Americans call pound cake. Madeira cakes are good for decorating and carving into shapes due to their firm texture. The name according to wikipedia comes from Madeira wine as that was what it was traditionally served with. Today I went with a simple loaf rather than anything fancy.

Ingredients
175g butter (6 oz) (softened)
175g (6 oz) caster sugar
3 large eggs
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
225g (8 oz) self-raising flour (sifted)

Method
-Preheat the oven to 160 °C. Spray the loaf tin with some cooking spray (Or rub on a little butter/margarine) to stop sticking.
-Mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (I used an electric hand whisk)
-Add the eggs one a time with a tablespoon of the flour and mix well after each addition
- Fold in the rest of the flour and lemon zest followed by the lemon juice.
-Bake for 40-60 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer placed into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
-Allow to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Sometimes simple is best when it comes to cake.

Thanks for reading x

Sesame street cupcakes

Here are a few Sesame street cupcakes I made for my nieces 2nd birthday.

Thanks for reading x

Apple and sultana cake

This is from a Mary Berry recipe for Australian apple and raisin cake, but I replaced the raisins with sultanas. It fairly easy to make and contains no eggs, so good for those with allergies to them. I think it could also be easily adapted to be vegan if you replace the butter with a vegan friendly margarine spread.

Ingredients
1 large cooking apple
100g butter/margarine
100g light muscovado sugar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
175g self raising flour
1 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
75g sultanas
Icing sugar for the top

Method
- Preheat the oven to 160 °C. Line the bottom of a loose bottomed 7" cake tin with baking sheet. Peel and core the apple before chopping it into chunks. Place in a pan with a little water and gently heat until the apple becomes tender. Break up the apple with a spoon, leaving some lumps and leave to cool.
- In a separate bowl mix the butter and the sugar together. Mix the bicarbonate of soda into the cooled apple before stirring into the butter and sugar mixture.
- Weight out the flour cocoa powder, nutmeg and cinnamon. Fold these dry ingredients and the sultanas into the wet mix. Pour into the cake tin and level the top. Place in the oven for 50-60 minutes.
-Allow to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes before turning out and leaving to cool completely. Sprinkle the top with icing sugar.

This is a nice light cake. Next time I would add a little more cinnamon. The photo of the cake in the book looks much darker than mine so I wondered if their was an error and the cocoa powder should have been a tablespoon. I may try that if I make it again.

Thanks for reading x

30th birthday cake

It was my sisters 30th birthday last year and for this milestone I thought a cute toddler photo on a cake would be ideal. There are a few different online stores doing these edible photos. I went with eatyourphoto.co.uk. The transaction was smooth with no problems, it came with instructions and the photo looked great. 

I was having major sweats over getting the edible photo off of the backing paper. The instructions that came with it suggested placing the picture briefly in the freezer if you have trouble. This made it so much easier and I wish I would have done this straight away it would have saved my initial stressing. 

The cake was a 10 inch madeira cake which I detailed how to make here. 

To make the fondant 30 I brought a set called 'Funky Alphabet & Number Tappits Upper Case' from amazon. I found it quite difficult to get the icing out intact which is why I decided to do just the numbers this time around. I had intended to write happy birthday. I am going to need a bit more practice with this set.

The chocolate champagne bottles were from "a quarter of" online sweetshop. The sparkly 30 is from hobby craft.

Thanks for reading x

Birthday Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes last year for my youngest nieces first birthday and thought I would share. 

Firstly I made the vanilla cupcakes

Ingredients (12 cupcakes)
175g self raising flour
125g softened butter
175g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbs milk

Method
-Preheat the oven to 170 °C and place cupcake cases on a baking tray.
-Use an electric mixer to beat together the butter and the sugar until it is pale, light and fluffy.
- Gradually add the eggs a little at a time followed by the vanilla.
-Sift the flour into a bowl and gradually add to the mixture folding in gently with a metal spoon. Add a little of the milk after each addition of flour.
-Using a spoon or ice-cream scoop divide the mix between the 12 cupcake cases. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden on top and a skewer placed into the middle of the cupcake comes out clean. Let them cool completely on a wire rack or plate before decorating.

So here are the decorated cakes:

I should have made the white icing sugar mix a bit thicker as you can see the cake through the icing, but apart from that I really like how these came out. For Peppa pig and the flowers I used ready made Renshaw icings from hobby craft in pale blue, pink, red and white.

I went a bit crazy with the little flowers as I brought a new set from hobby craft called flower blossom plunger cutters to make them. Simply roll the icing out, press in the cutter to make the shape and press out the flower by pressing the plunger. You can make these flowers in advance as they are easier to handle once they dry a little and get harder. You can then add a ball of icing to the middle if you want, to make the centre of the flower.

The Peppa pigs were fairly simple to make but time consuming. I simply traced the shapes I wanted onto baking paper and then used them as templates to cut them out in the icing. I placed them on the cake using a small amount of water as "glue". Be careful not to use too much water. I used a pink decorating gel by wilton to outline Peppa and draw on her mouth, nose and cheek. I used a jet black food pen to do the eyes.

I also did some other simpler cupcakes. This was my first time swirling icing, I think I need some practise.

Thanks for reading x

Giant cupcake tutorial

I am not sure about calling this a tutorial as this my first attempt at a giant cupcake, but I thought I would share this anyway. I got a lot of inspiration and advice from the mycupcakeaddiction channel on youtube so please check them out here.

Firstly I made a chocolate cupcake mix for 24 cupcakes, I won't detail it here unless anyone wants to request it. Any cupcake recipe will work for this cake. I brought my giant silicone cupcake mould from hobbycraft. I think you can also buy similar moulds on ebay or many other sites. You can also buy giant cupcake tins where the bottom and top are connected together. I prefer the separate containers as I found the bottom mould required a good 10 minutes extra cooking time.

Preheat your oven to 175 °C. Spray your cupcake moulds with cooking spray or grease with butter. Take your mix and fill each mould about 2/3 of the way up. Pop in the oven for 40-50 minutes. I removed the top mould after 40 minutes and removed the bottom mould 10 minutes later. Check the cake is cooked all the way through by placing a skewer into the middle of the cake and making sure it comes out clean. I left them to cool for 30 minutes before carefully removing them from the moulds and placing them on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Next up I made a chocolate cupcake case for my cake, I got this idea from a mycupcakeaddiction video. I placed one melted 200g bar of bournville chocolate into my cleaned bottom mould and then used a spatula to coat the entire surface before placing the mould in the fridge. You can repeat the process again with more chocolate to make your chocolate case stronger and thicker but I found one layer was enough. I then carefully removed the case by slowly peeling the silicone mould downwards so you eventually turn it inside out. Once out you can sit it back in the mould while you assemble the cake and decorate, (it's easier to remove the second time).

Prepare some butter icing.

Butter icing ingredients

125g butter
400g icing sugar
3 tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the butter up with an electric mixer until it became pale and smooth then add the milk and vanilla before gradually adding the icing sugar while continuing to mix.

Once the cakes are completely cooled I used a bread knife to level the tops of the two sections so they are flat and the top of the giant cake can sit flat on the bottom section. I also removed approximately 1/2 cm all around the sides of the bottom cake. This allows the cake to fit into your chocolate cupcake case. I then cut the bottom cupcake into two in order to place a filling in the middle. I used a spatula to fill the chocolate cupcake case with butter icing and placed my first piece of cake into the case. I then used the spatula to add a thin layer of buttercream followed by some raspberries. I think cherries or strawberries would also work well with this cake. I then added the next piece of cake followed by the top piece of the cupcake. Then added a thin, even layer of butter cream all over the top of the cake.

The only thing left now is to decorate. I thought I would go with a simple swirly decoration using butter icing. I used a wilton 1M decorating tip.




After adding the buttercream I carefully removed the mould and viola one giant cupcake.

I thought it looked nice as it was but I tried adding some blue sprinkles and a wafer daisy which is pictured below.




For a first attempt at a giant cupcake I don't think it's too bad, the icing is a little messy but overall I am pleased. I hope my description made some sense! Do you like baking? What are your favourites?

Thanks for reading x