At one time the only cakes that babies had to celebrate their arrival were Christening Cakes. Now I do not only Christening/Baptism Cakes, but Naming Day Cakes, Baby Reveal Cakes and Baby Shower Cakes.
The cake below was for a baby shower, and was a lemon sponge cake made into a building block, iced in white with blue edging and Baby T on the front, with modelled pink sugar converse trainers. The blue and pink combination was because the new mum-to-be didn't yet know the gender of her baby.
The cake below was for a baby shower, and was a lemon sponge cake made into a building block, iced in white with blue edging and Baby T on the front, with modelled pink sugar converse trainers. The blue and pink combination was because the new mum-to-be didn't yet know the gender of her baby.
17/06: Pink Handbag Birthday Cake
And here is the other handbag birthday cake I made last week. Organised by her daughter in law, Ann loves black and pink together. It includes a sheaf of 3 pink sugar calla lilies that she can keep.
13/06: Handbag Birthday Cake
It was a two handbag birthday cake week, last week. This was the first one, a white handbag with indented quilting, sprayed with lustre dust so it had the leather sheen found on these handbags. It was for an 18th birthday. Laura's mum could afford a handbag cake for her daughter, but not the bag itself, she said. I also made a black version, a couple of years ago. This one was so loved that the recipient refused to cut it!
This was another wedding cake I made last week. The bride and groom wanted this unusual combination of white icing but with plain chocolate ganache dripping down each tier of cake, with chocolate dipped strawberries to decorate. It was for a wedding at Leez Priory on Friday.
This pretty 5-tier cake was for a wedding at Gosfield Hall this week. The cake itself was very simple, but the cascade of fresh flowers was eye catching. I have had to devise a method of keeping the flowers in place without any wires being inserted into the cake, and have come up with a system of attaching a 'sausage' of Mexican paste all the way down the cake and then attaching the flowers to that. The cake is usually displayed at the foot of a grand stair case at Gosfield Hall and so I climbed up and took an 'arty' photo from above as well.
And here is another birthday cake with sweets on that I made a couple of weeks ago. This was in the colours of the recipients favourite football team. So now I have a 3kg bag of chocolate beans with very few red, blue or yellow!
A few weeks ago I was asked to make 4 year old Lilith a sweetie birthday cake, by her doting granny. What a lovely commission. I so enjoyed trawling the shelves for sweets that would be suitable to go on a young child's cake, soft ones that would be to a child's taste, so no liquorice or humbugs, but lots of marsh mallows, jelly babies and foamy bananas. I then spent a lovely hour or two arranging them in patterns on the cake. The smell was amazing. To note the age and name of the child I made a sugar lollipop which I stuck in the top of the cake.
I had a lovely card from granny:
"Again you surpassed our expectations, Lili adored it and was very excited about the lollipop which she skipped away with after the party. The amazing achievement was that your creation was so relaxed and informal - just the right effect... until next time..."
I had a lovely card from granny:
"Again you surpassed our expectations, Lili adored it and was very excited about the lollipop which she skipped away with after the party. The amazing achievement was that your creation was so relaxed and informal - just the right effect... until next time..."
This was the second butterfly cake from last week. This had the Martha Stewart style Monarch butterflies, but in 2 colours of purple, and ivory, to match the wedding colour scheme. The butterflies were placed at random on the cake and from the top they fluttered on silver wires. This was for a wedding at Greenwoods in Stock, on Saturday.
31/05: Butterfly Wedding Cake
It sometimes seems to me that wedding cakes are like buses: you don't make a particular style for ages and then two or three come along in quick succession. So last week and this week I am making cakes covered in butterflies.
This one was designed by the bride, based on a cake that originally had blossoms on it. The bottom tier is densely covered in sugar butterflies in a dark red, and as they rise up the cake both the colour becomes less intense and the number of butterflies. I think it is really effective.
This was for a wedding at Crondon Park, in Stock, Essex on Bank Holiday Monday.
This one was designed by the bride, based on a cake that originally had blossoms on it. The bottom tier is densely covered in sugar butterflies in a dark red, and as they rise up the cake both the colour becomes less intense and the number of butterflies. I think it is really effective.
This was for a wedding at Crondon Park, in Stock, Essex on Bank Holiday Monday.
Last week was a 3 wedding cake week, all of them quite complex and detailed. This was perhaps the simplest, but not the least time consuming and all the brushing out of the royal icing for this technique took several hours. This was for a wedding at Greenwoods in Stock on Sunday and the all white cake was a very considered contrast to the guests in their gorgeous bright coloured and glittering saris.
The topper was provided by the bride and groom and was ingenious. They are made separately but when stood together the bride's arm goes round the groom's neck and the groom's hands round her waist, making it impossible for the groom to fall over. A great relief to a cake maker.
I also made a large eggless cutting cake for this wedding, as well as a tray of cup cakes. I think they had every flavour that I make.
It was gorgeous weather on Sunday and I hope they had a wonderful day all round.
The topper was provided by the bride and groom and was ingenious. They are made separately but when stood together the bride's arm goes round the groom's neck and the groom's hands round her waist, making it impossible for the groom to fall over. A great relief to a cake maker.
I also made a large eggless cutting cake for this wedding, as well as a tray of cup cakes. I think they had every flavour that I make.
It was gorgeous weather on Sunday and I hope they had a wonderful day all round.
