Jack Daniels

I'm trying to catch up to myself at the moment.  I haven't posted any of my cake creations for a while - since Christmas actually - so I'm just trying to get a grip here!  This is one for a friend who loves Jack Daniels and was turning 60.  I baked an oblong dark chocolate sponge cake (thank you Mum-in-Law for a great choc cake recipe) and then made another one in a loaf tin.  I put a thin layer of sugar-paste over the oblong base cake, then iced the bottle separately.  The neck is made up from pieces of "spare" cake from he loaf tin cut with a round cutter, then cut into semi-circles.  The sides of the presentation box are stuck on with Royal Icing and I mixed Tylo powder with the sugar paste to give some stability.  I let it dry out a bit before sticking to the sides.  The staw/raffia packing is made by extruding sugar paste through a clay gun.  That's fun but takes a while.  Piping is in Royal Icing (let's call it impressionism rather than an entirely accurate depiction of a JD bottle label) and I used a little brown dusting powder to give some dimension to the bottle.  That would have been a great time to have an airbrush I think, but this isn't part of my kit right now.  One day maybe (although I'd need much more room in my kitchen I think.)  Just for extra bite, there was a little drop of Jack Daniels bourbon in the chocolate butter cream filing.  Main thing is the cake was well received and enjoyed!

Jo xoxox

Mum's 60th

I put this cake together for a little family celebration for my Mum's Birthday.  It's a milk chocolate cake with milk chocolate paste on it.  The piping is done in Royal icing and the flowers are pink sugar paste.  The balls around the bottom of the cake are white chocolate flavoured sugar paste.  As it was a special occasion I shelled out and used Tracey's Cakes Belgian Chocolate paste, which is expensive, but proper chocolatey!  It's a bit tricky to work with.  I'm not sure I had this worked up quite enough - there's a little crack on the edge!  Hmmm, must try harder!  it tasted good though and Mum was really pleased.  The cake inside was really moist and the butter cream filling brought it all together.  Happy Birthday Mum!

Christmas Cakes

Here are my Christmas offerings.  I baked 4 fruit cakes at the same time in my Alan Silverwood folding 12" square tin and used the dividers to batch bake 4 x 6" squares.  I left them a few weeks before putting on my marzipan and then, after a few days allowing that to dry a bit, applied white sugar paste to 2 and navy blue to the other 2.  This is the result.  Hubby did the snowflake one which I think was simple but effective.  Square cakes are trickier to cover than round ones, but I didn't do too badly.  Santa and his sleigh were made using a patchwork cutter.  My Mum sat and patiently cut that out and so the pieces had dried out and were ready to assemble so I had the easy bit.  Christmas candle cakes were inspired by a bigger design in Cake magazine from a couple of years ago.  I added a few ideas of my own, but I think it turned out to be quite effective.  Hubby picked up some really nice boards and presentation boxes from A Piece of Cake so that cakes could be presented to Grandmother's and parents.

Angry Birds

Another year has passed and another party for Leo.  This time, the theme is Angry Birds as I suppose that must be all the rage.  I just about know what it is although I'm not down with the kids of today, so some Googling was required.

This is what I came up with in the end, although my piping went somewhat wonky.  Not my strongest point my piping!  Leo was happy with it and so was his Mum and the guests at his bowling party so I guess mission accomplished none-the-less.  It was a chocolate sponge cake which was apparently tasty, so it's all good.  Fancy being 5 already! Wow!

Under Pressure

Wedding cakes are always a bit of a worry because they have to be just so for that special day.  Agreeing to take on a commission to make the Managing Director's daughters wedding cake probably wasn't all that wise a move for a stress free wedding cake was it?  I think it turned out OK.  Hopefully the bride and groom will be happy.

Oooh Baby!

Zoe's baby shower cake.  Go faster pram!  ha ha!  Mum to be was chuffed with this.  Nice!

Ma & Pa's Ruby Wedding

Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad.  40 years!  Imagine that.  Pleased with this one.  Tried a few new things that I somehow managed to pull off, so that's good!  Recessed jelly gem hearts were a bit of a gamble, it's a bit scary gutting through the sugar paste, but it worked well in the end.  Not sure I'd be so confident to try that with a sponge cake though.  This one was fruit so had marzipan underneath.  I guess I'd have to put a thin layer on underneath on sponge then cover and cut through.