Thursday 23 December 2010

My first cake request!

My neighbour asked me to bake a cake for her son's 17th birthday. All I had to go on was that he likes football....
So I was thinking, a football shaped cake, a football pitch with mini people or a football shirt?
Well I decided to go with the football shaped cake and I could bake it like my Christmas cakes in a bowl to get the right shape. I covered the cake board in green icing for the grass and put the ball onto that.
Here is the result:

Finished Christmas cakes!






And yes.... the santa is a fatty! It was the first time I attempted him and I guess I need to work on the proportions.

Let me know what you think.

Merry Christmas x x

Christmas Igloo Cakes! A step by step...


First you will need to bake a classic Christmas cake but in a bowl to get the igloo shape! I used Delia's recipe: http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/the-classic-christmas-cake.html but I chose to leave out the almonds.

Trim the bottom of the cake so it sits flat on the cake board.

Use boiled "no bits" apricot jam to cover the cake.

Knead your marzipan before trying to roll it out, use icing sugar so it doesn't stick to the surface.

Start with it in a circular shape to help with the rolling out.

Roll vertically and then turn the marzipan 90 degrees and roll again, repeat.

When the marzipan is about the right size and thickness place the rolling pin in the centre and fold the marzipan over it.

Lift the marzipan over the cake, un-rolling as you go.

Use one hand to cup the marzipan around the cake and the other hand to pull it out as you go along.

Trim away any excess marzipan.

With your knife at 45 degrees cut into the side and smooth.

You can use a smoother to give the marzipan a nice finish if you want.

You should brush your marzipan and cake board in vodka or gin before you put on the icing. Roll the icing out in the same way as the marzipan but slightly bigger as you need it to cover the board too.

Fold it over the rolling pin to move it as you did with the marzipan.

Cup and smooth the icing into place.

Trim around the board and then begin to add your circles for the the igloo bricks. I like to start with a cutter for the first ring.

You can use the back of a knife or a veining tool if you have one to mark in the rest of the lines.

And there you have it, an igloo. You may also want to add a tunnel or door to the front. See the next post for the finished decoration.

Wednesday 1 December 2010

Creations in class...

 Marzipan Animals:
Dog!

Duck/Chick ?!

Pink elephant!

All the animals together.

The first time I covered a whole cake in sugarpaste:


 Using flourist paste:

 Arum lilies.
Christmas themed:

Igloo cake.

Christmas cupcakes.

Some previous bake-y creations...

One of my first attempts at swirly cupcakes.

My first bakewell slices!

The classic chocolate cornflake cakes.

Here are two versions of star cupcakes with sugarpaste.


White amaretto cupcakes (very yummy!)

A ladybug birthday cake for my friend.

Piped swirly cupcakes with flowers.

The first post.....

Hello anyone and everyone,
I want to start this blog to document the cake adventures........ so for a while it'll be back tracking and posting what I've already been doing at home and in the cake decorating class I attend but then I hope to post regularly about the stuff I'm making.
Let me know if your baking too and what you think of my creations.
Abbie