Tied Up With A Bow

Cynthia called again! This time her friend was turning 25. There would be a surprise party and my cake was gonna be a part of it!

So this time we worked with the idea of a beautiful gift wrapped up and tied with a bow.

Whilst I was forming the bow I was thinking about all the possibilities this design allows. Just by changing colour ways, it could be a Christmas cake (red and green with snowflakes), Halloween cake (black and orange with cats or pumpkins) or even Minnie Mouse cake (black cake with a red and white polka dot bow)! I could keep going...

On the inside: vanilla madeira with raspberry buttercream

On the outside: covering paste with modelling paste bow, twists and details. Floral wires in a posy pick with modelling paste heart "deely boppers" (not sure what to call them actually, but you know what I mean!)

Happy Birthday Anita!

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Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Here's a cake I created a little while ago for Shelby's birthday. Shelby's Dad asked for something uplifting and fun, and I came up with this beautiful rainbow cake idea. 

Each little rainbow coloured sphere around the edge was there to hold one of the seven candles.

I think the colours are great. 

On the inside: simple vanilla madeira with a raspberry buttercream

On the outside: fondant rainbows and modelling paste clouds

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p.s. it's the week of the rose cake! I'm off downstairs now to work on it.

See ya!

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It must be wedding season!

I love deliveries of fresh icing! Woo!

Although it is really really heavy. I mean it's "have a cup of tea and a sit down after all that unpacking" kind of heavy. 

Still great though! Now I've restocked it's just the making and creating to do!

Getting ready for weddings.

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Roses will Bloom

It's part 2 of those rose buds from a couple of weeks ago.

Ready for a cake to be completed in a couple of weeks. I'm getting excited now!

It's gonna sound ridiculous but I find it very therapeutic to mould them all. 

A calm descends on me when I wrap each petal. 

 Aren't the spirals beautiful? 

So within a few minutes of a rose making session, I'll be in the zone with Radio 4Extra playing or iPod on shuffle and won't resurface until I've run out of paste. 

They'll all be shimmered like the set of rose buds I have ready. 

Still got to make more though!

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If life hands you lemons...

If life hands you lemons... you'd better make lemon cake.
Oh yes, make an elegant lemon birthday cake for Karen. 

Murna visited the other day and after a catch up asked me to make her

 sister's birthday cake and to decorate it with a yellow rose. 

The colour palette feels fresh and perfect for spring (even if the weather isn't) 
yet remains understated and refined.

On the inside: light and fluffy lemon Genoese sponge with a zingy lemon buttercream filling. 

On the outside: spring-like yellow sugarpaste, piped royal icing details and modelling paste roses and leaves.

 Anyone else's mouth water when they think about lemons? 
Just me? Ah well. Happy Birthday Karen.

Of course, if after all that lemon cake baking you still have lemons left, then maybe make some lemonade.  You know, to quench your thirst after all that lemon cake baking. You deserve it. 

Arty shot!

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Can't make cake without breaking eggs!

Been cracking a few eggs this week.

I'm not frivolous enough to crack eggs straight into my mixing bowl. Respect if you do, though.

 These all went into a beautiful Lemon Genoese Sponge

 which eventually became a birthday cake. I'll tell you about that tomorrow morning.

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Where the Wild Roses Grow

I'm making roses at the moment and I'm loving it. There's something about interpreting the beauty of nature using Sugarcraft that I really enjoy. So I'm pretty pleased to be working on a cake for very dear friends who thought of me when they required something extra special. 

 

 In the evenings, as the sun sets you can find me busily hand crafting lots of tiny shiny rose buds for this cake. Each one is moulded from modelling paste and dusted with some sparkle. 

As you can see, a lot of thought goes into each individual flower.

When the buds are ready it'll be on to half roses, then full roses, all with a delicate pearl sheen. I'll keep posting as the cake develops. You'll see it go from start to finish.

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p.s. Anyone else notice how both football teams I blogged about at the weekend won their matches? If only there was a way for me to connect and nurture this link between cakes and football predictions, I could do amazing things! Muahahah!

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