I haven't seen the photos he took yet but here are a few I managed to take on my rubbishy camera...
Sunday 6 November 2011
Baking photoshoot
My friend is on a photography course and the theme for his project is National Baking Week and so I volunteered myself to bake some cupcakes and let him take photos of them.
I haven't seen the photos he took yet but here are a few I managed to take on my rubbishy camera...
I haven't seen the photos he took yet but here are a few I managed to take on my rubbishy camera...
Steel drum cakes
A simple vanilla sponge cake with a strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream filling, carved into steel drums, decorated using sugarpaste and royal icing piping.
Contemporary Flower Cookies
And so I had caught the cookie making bug and had to make some more! I decided on Chloe Coker's contemporary flower cookies. Rather than flooding with royal icing you cover these ones with sugarpaste... so some of you might think hmm they won't take as long to do as the teapot cookies did...Wrong! The piping is so detailed on them that they did still take a while to do. But again, with Chloe's designs you get a great looking cookie at the end.
And these placed in an Emma Bridgewater tin on some tissue paper make for a great birthday present!
And these placed in an Emma Bridgewater tin on some tissue paper make for a great birthday present!
Teapot Cookies
I bought the book Super Cute Cookies by Chloe Coker and couldn't wait to bake some of her delicious looking cookies.
I had a teapot cutter already so decided to try out the recipe for the vanilla cookies in a teapot shape. I had never flooded with royal icing before and was quite excited to try the technique. The instructions in the book were easy to follow and the lovely graphics helped with the decorating. The only thing it doesn't warn you about is how long it takes! Having not tried these techniques before it obviously took longer anyway but because the teapots had several colours it took even longer!
BUT the end result was lovely! The cute cherry design was easy enough to pipe once you had all the colours ready and looks really effective. And they tasted good too!
Wednesday 21 September 2011
Coconut Chocolate Crunchies
I wanted to do a spot of baking today and so I tried a recipe from a Biscuit and Macaroons book from Marks and Spencer.
I think they turned out pretty well, however I would make one small change next time and make the biscuits a little smaller.
I think they turned out pretty well, however I would make one small change next time and make the biscuits a little smaller.
Cake Pops (the first ever attempt!)
I have been wanting to try making cake pops for a while after seeing lots of books and blogs dedicated to them. I decided to keep it simple for my first attempt and opted for the classic round ball shape. I chose chocolate sponge and chocolate frosting to go with my red candy melts. I had a variety of sprinkles to hand ranging from hundreds and thousands to silver sugar sprinkles.
This is what some of them looked like:
This is what some of them looked like:
Admittedly they are not the best as I found it difficult to work with the candy melts, however I have since watched a few videos on YouTube regarding the dipping technique and hopefully next time will be more successful!!
Sunday 11 September 2011
WKD Blue Cake
A simple vanilla sponge cake with a strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream filling decorated using sugarpaste and royal icing piping.
Wednesday 24 August 2011
Crafted Cakes bakes for Charlie-Leigh's 9th Birthday Party
The brief:
Guests: 50 approx
Birthday girl likes: The colour red and playing football
My Idea:
48 cupcakes displayed on a tower
1 giant cupcake to put candles in and cut
Decoration Ideas:
Red and white giant cupcake with star decoration
Football themed cupcakes
Guests: 50 approx
Birthday girl likes: The colour red and playing football
My Idea:
48 cupcakes displayed on a tower
1 giant cupcake to put candles in and cut
Decoration Ideas:
Red and white giant cupcake with star decoration
Football themed cupcakes
A simple sponge cake with a jam filling covered with sugarpaste decorations. The white stars and the base of the giant cupcake have pearlescent dust on them to make the cake sparkle. The letters are made using alphabet cutters and the cake is topped with a wooden "9" decoration.
The cupcakes are a simple chocolate sponge (to look like the ground under the grass) and the grass is coloured and piped vanilla buttercream. The cupcakes are in football themed wrappers and are decorated with a foil wrapped chocolate football and flag on a cocktail stick. The cupcakes were then placed on a cardboard tower.
Crafted Cakes
Hand crafted cakes made using high quality ingredients; fair trade sugar, free range eggs and organic flour, in the Leicestershire area.
abbieparsons@hotmail.co.uk
- Cupcakes (small or large quantities)
- Special occasion cakes (birthdays, anniversaries, christenings, weddings, Christmas etc)
- Novelty Cakes (great for any age but especially children)
abbieparsons@hotmail.co.uk
BA (hons) Textile Crafts Degree Show
I graduated from university last year but a number of my friends were still studying so when it came to visiting their degree show I made my friend Claire a cake to say well done for working so hard.I wanted to make something that reflected her degree work and as she specialises in knit I created a simple sponge cake covered in mint green sugarpaste and topped with a ball of yarn and knitting needles. The needles were the labelled with the size of the needles she had been using and the ball of yarn was as near to the same colour as her final pieces.
I covered the cake as usual and then created the additional decorations for the top. The needles have flower wires running through to keep them upright, they were then covered with grey sugarpaste and topped with yellow. On the yellow part I used food colouring gel to paint the needle size.
The ball of yarn was created using a ball of scrunched up foil and then extruding sugarpaste mixed with Trex through a device much like a Playdough barber shop toy to form the spaghetti like strands.
I also used the spaghetti strands to spell "Sample 11" on the cake which is the name of the 2011 Textile Crafts Catalogue.
I covered the cake as usual and then created the additional decorations for the top. The needles have flower wires running through to keep them upright, they were then covered with grey sugarpaste and topped with yellow. On the yellow part I used food colouring gel to paint the needle size.
The ball of yarn was created using a ball of scrunched up foil and then extruding sugarpaste mixed with Trex through a device much like a Playdough barber shop toy to form the spaghetti like strands.
I also used the spaghetti strands to spell "Sample 11" on the cake which is the name of the 2011 Textile Crafts Catalogue.
Tuesday 7 June 2011
Parma Violet Cupcakes
I wanted to experiment with using parma violets in buttercream and then piping the buttercream onto cupcakes. I used 4 packets of giant parma violets, crushed up and then substituted part of the amount of icing sugar needed to make the buttercream. I also used Wilton violet colouring to give it a lovely colour. I was pleased with the way the cakes turned out but for me the taste of parma violets could have been stronger so possibly next time I will get some violet essence and add that in.
The cupcakes were fairly well recieved by my work colleagues but it turns out not everyone shares my love for parma violets!!
The cupcakes were fairly well recieved by my work colleagues but it turns out not everyone shares my love for parma violets!!
I'm thinking about trying refresher sweets next time....
50th Birthday Cake
My latest commission was for a birthday cake for a lady who is a nurse and her family requested that the cake would be her in her uniform. They also asked for the cake to be a madeira cake. Firstly I was worried because I knew the cake would be complicated being in the shape of a person and then because I hadn't baked a madeira cake before.
I started by doing a test cake, taste tested by my work colleagues, it seemed to go down well with them so I was pleased by that.
For the actual cake I baked three rectangular cakes. The first two were layered to form the body/dress which was carved into shape. The other rectangle formed the head, legs and shoes.
I had trouble with the sugar paste on this cake as it was a really warm day, the flat was warm from cooking the cakes and so the paste was sticky and cracking easily, NIGHTMARE!! :-)
With a few patches here and there the cake turned out ok, I know it could have been better but I just had to work with what I had.
I started by doing a test cake, taste tested by my work colleagues, it seemed to go down well with them so I was pleased by that.
For the actual cake I baked three rectangular cakes. The first two were layered to form the body/dress which was carved into shape. The other rectangle formed the head, legs and shoes.
I had trouble with the sugar paste on this cake as it was a really warm day, the flat was warm from cooking the cakes and so the paste was sticky and cracking easily, NIGHTMARE!! :-)
With a few patches here and there the cake turned out ok, I know it could have been better but I just had to work with what I had.
Wednesday 25 May 2011
Miscellaneous!
Here are a few small things I've made recently but haven't had chance to put on...
Honeycomb: My first attempt at honeycomb was a slight disaster, it tasted great but wasn't bubbly enough and was really thin (I also nearly ruined my new pan in the process but we won't talk about that!)
Honeycomb: My first attempt at honeycomb was a slight disaster, it tasted great but wasn't bubbly enough and was really thin (I also nearly ruined my new pan in the process but we won't talk about that!)
Boiling the sugar was a bit scary!!
The end result :-( what went wrong?
The recipes for the honeycomb and some marshmallows (that turned out far to sticky) came from this book (the summer berry vodka recipe I also attempted turned out well though)
Some little cupcakes I made with some left over mixture from another cake:
I just added some simple decoration with some sugar paste I had in the cupboard...
Sugar roses
In class for the last few weeks we have been working on a sugar rose display. I have been incredibly excited by this task as I think being able to make roses is going to be a useful skill to have as a lot of people request this type of flower on cakes.
The leaves were easy enough to make as usual. The roses themselves were not so easy, shall we say class was very quiet that week (lots of concentrating going on!!)
To make large roses from individual petals you first need to start with a polystyrene cone on a wire. These can be made with flower paste in advance but the new use of the cone makes the roses lighter in weight. You then wrap the first petal aroung the cone tightly to cover the top of it, when you look into the centre of the rose you shouldn't be able to see the cone. Then add another two petals at this stage to start of the centre. Building the petals in layers add 3 petals, another layer of 3, and then two layers of 5. The rose can then be manipulated to look more realistic. It sounds simple writing it down this way but trust me it's not! Once the roses and leaves are dried you can dust them to your liking and join them in an arrangement of your choice.
The leaves were easy enough to make as usual. The roses themselves were not so easy, shall we say class was very quiet that week (lots of concentrating going on!!)
To make large roses from individual petals you first need to start with a polystyrene cone on a wire. These can be made with flower paste in advance but the new use of the cone makes the roses lighter in weight. You then wrap the first petal aroung the cone tightly to cover the top of it, when you look into the centre of the rose you shouldn't be able to see the cone. Then add another two petals at this stage to start of the centre. Building the petals in layers add 3 petals, another layer of 3, and then two layers of 5. The rose can then be manipulated to look more realistic. It sounds simple writing it down this way but trust me it's not! Once the roses and leaves are dried you can dust them to your liking and join them in an arrangement of your choice.
Well Done Bradley!!
This year my brother auditioned to take part in the London Children's Ballet production of Rumpelstiltskin (http://www.londonchildrensballet.com/) and got a part!! We were all incredibly proud and excited. Having seen the show (which was amazing in my eyes) I decided to bake my brother a "well done" cake. However I was at my mum's house with none of my baking equipment with me, so it's a simple yet I think fairly effective cake to say a great big WELL DONE BRADS!!!
Strawberry Whoopie Pies
With a little helper named Charlie-Leigh (my little sister) we created these yummy strawberry whoopie pies from a great recipe in the Whoopie Pie book I've mentioned before.
We had a little problem with lumpy sugar but other than that the whoopies turned out great. Nicely risen with small chunks of strawberry in the cake and lovely strawberry pink buttercream filling.
We had a little problem with lumpy sugar but other than that the whoopies turned out great. Nicely risen with small chunks of strawberry in the cake and lovely strawberry pink buttercream filling.
(sorry the picture is a bit rubbish, I took it on my phone and didn't realise it was blurry!)
Easter bonnet cake the 2nd!
Oh dear... so I am a little late in posting up these photos, Easter seems a long time ago now!
Having created the first bonnet cake in class I was asked by a friend to make them one for their nephews... I kept the design of the cake pretty much the same and added some extra ribbon decoration and lettering which you can see in the images below...
Having created the first bonnet cake in class I was asked by a friend to make them one for their nephews... I kept the design of the cake pretty much the same and added some extra ribbon decoration and lettering which you can see in the images below...
I was much happier with the finished result of this cake than the previous one as it had more detail. I also made these chick and pig eggs (another fab idea from my cake dec teacher Linda) They are mars eggs or you can use creme eggs stuck to a chocolate coin and decorated with sugar paste. They seem super sickly to me but I have been assured the kids love them!
(apologies for this photo, the pig was difficult to photograph and get in all the detail!)
Happy Easter!!
Monday 18 April 2011
Easter Time!!
As it is Easter weekend this weekend I thought I would have a look at some lovely Easter themed creations from a few bakers out there...
I like this one from Lomfise on Flickr because it is probably fairly easy to make but looks brilliant! It's shape is also more interesting, a lot better than a typical round shaped cake. I think the worm in the grass is also a cute little addition!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47890669@N06/5605891998/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephaniescakes/3360840074/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12057691@N03/4584236070/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/47890669@N06/5605891998/
Don't fancy baking a big cake...? Bake some Cake Pops like the ones here from LittleCake Factory on Flickr.
This cake from SweetOnSweets on Flickr is really cute and enchanting. There is a lot of detail on this cake which might make it time consuming.
Here are some more Cake Pops with an Easter theme from Bekah4321 on Flickr.
I love the tiny details on this cake; the eggs, tiny chicks and the basket. This cake was made by Cute Cuppie Cakes on Flickr.
I love the combination of colours used on this cake as well as the cute little bunnies! This was made by lillianjak on Flickr.
Although this cake isn't technically perfect I love the idea for the shape and decoration, the colours look great as well. I found this creation on Flickr by Jill The Cakemaker.
And here are a few more I found but couldn't get the pictures for:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12057691@N03/4584236070/
Wednesday 13 April 2011
Whoopie Pies
The "next big thing" in the baking world seems to be Whoopie Pies and Cake Pops and I just recieved a lovely book on different whoopie pies so I thought I would make some to take over to a friends house.
I got the recipe from this book:
The Whoopie Pie Book by Clare Ptak
I used the recipe for chocolate whoopie pies with the marshmallow filling. I was aiming for some mini whoopies and was surprised by how much the mixture expanded and I ended up with normal sized whoopies! They were however incredibly easy to make and super tasty!! The marshmallow goo for the middle was so yummy, great for kids and adults!
I got the recipe from this book:
The Whoopie Pie Book by Clare Ptak
I used the recipe for chocolate whoopie pies with the marshmallow filling. I was aiming for some mini whoopies and was surprised by how much the mixture expanded and I ended up with normal sized whoopies! They were however incredibly easy to make and super tasty!! The marshmallow goo for the middle was so yummy, great for kids and adults!
Teddy bride and groom
In cake decorating class this week we used our modelling skills to create these cute teddies. I think the groom is a bit on the chunky side but other than that I think they look ok.
They would be great as a wedding cake topper but also the bears could be changed into different characters... babies for a Christening cake for example.
They would be great as a wedding cake topper but also the bears could be changed into different characters... babies for a Christening cake for example.
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