Cake request number 2! : )

I've been asked to do another birthday cake this time for a lad that's going to be 18. The request from his mum is for a car shape, preferably a sporty car, red and white because he likes Man U and...... I have no idea where to start!
I've googled "sports cars" and "car cakes" and I'm thinking......

.....something like this as a starting point maybe?!?
I also searched for car shaped cake tins seeing as I am still new to all this and could use the pre-made help but all I could find is:

I think it's just too box shaped to work with but maybe I could use it as a base to sculpt from?? Any suggestions/advice would be helpful right now, I'm off to cake dec class later to ask Linda (my teacher) for help : )

Sugarflair Pastes

I just wanted to show you the bargain I got from the ebay shop PartyAnimalOnline, 6 Sugarflair pastes for £11.50 which worked out that I got one free and one half price! When they should normally cost around £2.50 each, I was really pleased. These types of colours last for a long time as well as you only use a small amount so once you have built up a collection you won't have to replace them very often!

Week two in the cake dec class

Our second class of the year was all about CUPCAKES! The latest baking craze that seems to have gone global.
This lesson was a chance for us to have a go at a number of different things e.g. fillings and toppings. I baked 12 cupcakes for the lesson (which means 12 cakes in muffin cases and baked in a muffin tin) I then had a go at making Rocky Road Cupcakes, decorated, piped and filled cupcakes.

Rocky Road Cupcakes:
Bake vanilla or chocolate cupcakes.
Frost with chocolate buttercream or something like chocolate spread.
Decorate with mini marshmallows, mini fudge pieces, white choc buttons, maltesers or any other naughty chocolate delight you want!
Finish with a drizzle of melted chocolate.

Piped Cupcakes:
Using a petal tip on a piping bag and starting at the outside edge pipe a wavy circle, continue in circles to the centre.
Another idea: If you are not that keen on the large star tip cupcakes that use a lot of sickly icing then use a small star tip on the piping bag and pipe in a swirl from the centre outwards.

Cherry Pie Cupcakes:
Using any flavour cupcake you wish, frost with buttercream and then place red (for cherries) smarties on top. Next pipe on melted chocolate to give the lattice effect of the pie and finish with a drizzle around the edge of the cake as the pie crust.

Filled Cupcakes:
Obviously the choices are endless but I chose to fill lemon cupcakes with lemon curd and then top with lemon buttercream for a lemon explosion!

Fondant Icing Cupcakes:
Again there are many options for this but in the class I just decided to use my circle cutters and tools to make a pig face, I think he looks cute!

First lesson back at Cake Dec...

For the first lesson back Linda decided to do a demonstration session, which is great as she can show us some more complicated techniques without having to rush through them.
I was really excited about this demonstration as she used the giant cupcake tin which can be bought from a number of places but is shown through the link on Firebox.com.
I have only attempted the giant cupcake once:

This was for Christmas 09 (way before I started cake dec classes) and it was my attempt at a Christmas tree! I know it's not brilliant and one of the main problems I had was getting the cake out of the tin. In cake dec class Linda showed us a product called cake release which as it says helps you get the cake out of the tin! I am definitely investing in some of that for the next time I have a go at this cake.

So.... Linda decorated the giant cupcake and I wasn't expecting this but she used regal ice fondant icing to cover it. I thought the shape of the cake would be lost slightly but she showed us how to use your hands and tools to shape it back into the cake.

Here is the example she made in class:

It was great to see the covering of the cake but she also made a cute little figure to sit on top which was really helpful to see.
Here is another giant cupcake she made before class:

Hopefully you can see the use of the pearl dust on this one and I think that looks great, it really shows off the shape of the cake and adds just that extra something, everybody loves a bit of sparkle! (especially the cake dec lot in my class!!)



Cakes for the gallery!

I find that chocolate cakes can be really dry sometimes so I wanted to try a recipe from the Primrose Bakery cookbook for Chocolate Cupcakes and Chocolate Buttercream....

As you can see here they turned out pretty well. I piped my buttercream on rather than using a palette knife as it suggests in the book as I think they give that classic cupcake look!

I took my batch of cupcakes to work and came home with an empty box, lots of lovely comments and a smile on my face! Thanks to all at the gallery for being my taste testers!