Happy Christmas Cupcakes Everyone!

I plan (as always) to be organised and prepare for Christmas early this year.  So far it's all going well...

August... Started Christmas Shopping
September... Added a few Christmas songs to my MP3 Player
October... Baked the Christmas Cake

Too early?  NEVER!

With the shops starting to stock crackers, mince pies and decorations, I figure, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

So yesterday, after soaking my fruit for 24 hours in Brandy, I set to and made my Christmas cake using a recipe I was given by my mum's friend Peggy.

The Christmas songs and the sweet smell of fruit cake and spices filled the air yesterday as I mixed and baked with a jolly big smile on my face.  (As always I should have been doing housework, but a cake's just not going to bake itself right?!)

So as I filled my tin with the gorgeous mixture, I ran into a problem.... There was too much for the tin to take.  What's a girl to do?!  Well I'll tell you.  I whipped out my cupcake tin, lined it with cases and filled.

After baking, I pricked them all with a toothpick and fed them more Brandy till I thought they would stagger away in a drunken mess!

Just like any good Christmas cake, I topped them all with circles od marzipan and then covered in white, green and red fondant icing.

So while my main Christmas cake cooked away in the oven, filling the house with even more Christmas cheer, I decorated my new little Christmas fruit cupakes.

Merry Cupcakes Everyone!!

Afghan Project

The nights are getting colder and darker.  It's a time when I feel like I need to eat stew and snuggle in the warm living room with a mug of hot coffee and the dog by my side.

When my mum was pregnant with me she crocheted a bright afghan blanket made up of large granny squares using all sorts of lovely colours. Last year I inherited this and I Love it! I always take it camping with me and use it as a picnic blanket and a blanket to snuggle in when it gets cold by the BBQ.


I’ve been wanting to make my own granny square afghan ever since seeing mums but could never quite decide on a colour scheme. I’ve finally decided to gather some of my bright coloured DK stash yarn and set to crocheting a bunch of granny squares in the hope that when they’re all crocheted together it will look fabulous!!

Watch this space!

Biscuits baked to distract

In an attempt to distract myself from housework yesterday, I convinced myself that I needed to make biscuits!

Who doesn't need biscuits huh?

So I set to and baked some lovely little vanilla biscuits and decorated them with piped royal icing.

These ought to keep the fellas at work happy :)

Whoopieeeeeeeeeee

I recently made Whoopie!

Whoopie Pies that is!  I've read a lot about these mysterious little treats and heard they're all the rage in the states so I thought I'd try my hand at baking some.

Whoopie Pies are like a cross between a biscuit and a cake and are a totally delicious indulgance!

I baked Triple Chocolate Whoopies, because let's face it, who doesn't like triple cocolate anything!?
I also made some Beetroot Whoopies out of curiosity.

Both batches of Whoopie Pies were delicious yet very different.  The Triple Chocolate were crunchy on the edges and deliciously soft and chewy in the centre.  The Beetroot however, were more cake like and spongey!

Happy (Belated) National Cupcake Week

Well last week was National Cupcake Week and what better way to celebrate that with a Giant Cupcake!

I thought I would keep the men at work happy with cake to celebrate my favourite week.  Although this Red Velvet sponge cake is not probably what the boyswould choose, I think it nicely represents my secret inner girly girl!

Fondant Cake Number 6 - Fisherman Pete

My mum is one of my biggest cake fans and thank god for her!  She has been telling her friend from work all about my cakes and showing her pictures and as a result I got myself another cake order.  This time for her friends father in law who is mad about fishing.  As it was his 65th Birthday coming up and I was travelling across the country to see them anyway, it all worked out perfectly.  I could hand deliver the cake and see my parents at the same time!

The father in law in question, Pete, is aparently big into fishing, so after he was described to me, I set about making a fishing Pete!  I also used piping gel and food colouring to create the wetlook shiney water and I was happy with how it turned out in the end and I'll certainly use it again.

The cake was very well received and I was very pleased with the finished product!

Cake Challenge - August again

So far August is going well for my self set cake challenge! 

I found myself at a loose end this afternoon so I set to and had a go at incorporating royal icing pipe work with a fontant covered cake.  I think I need to work on the steady hand!  I hope with time the piping will become easier and I'll get the hang of applying the right amount of pressure to create the right look and neat lines, but I didn't think it was too bad for a first attempt.

Here is my black damask pattern 2 tier wedding style cake

Cake Challenge - August

Since completing my complex Alice in Wonderland fruit cake, I've not had a chance to get out my cake decorating box, so I decided today to set myself a challenge to practice my cake decorating and keep my creative juices flowing!

I recently purchased different sized polystyrene dummy cakes and once a month (twice if my spare time will allow) I will create a cake decorating masterpiece!  Well that's the plan!  That way I can try my hand at differnt styles such as wedding cakes and children's cakes and practice different techniques.

So with this in mind, here is my August celebration cake

Fondant Cake Number 5 - Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland is a magical and  surreal story which was told beautifully by Walt Disney back in 1951.  It also happens to be one of the favourite films of my friend Mel and as it's her Birthday on Tuesday I decided a couple of months ago that I would bake her a rich fruit cake and decorate it in an Alice in Wonderland style as a suprise.

She collected it this weekend and was thrilled!

This cake has been an amazing project and I've really learnt a lot along the way.  I'm actually quite sad that it's all finally over!