Cake Note 24: "In all of the wedding cake, Hope is the sweetest plum" -- Douglas Jarrold

Oh what a week! Six months ago, I agreed to do a wedding cake for my Great Nephew and his Fiance - originally the wedding was September, so all good stuff. Then they changed it to December 11th - four days before I leave for Australia to spend Christmas with my son and his family. No worries, I thought. Plan ahead, have a schedule, it'll work.

So the brief was a 3 tiered round cake - ivory paste, 10;8;6 inch tiers, with lilac sugar paste roses and silver ribbons. Plus, a 10 inch square cutting cake. I was very organised - each night from work, I had my schedule, I got a bit behind, but had Thursday and Friday off so wasn't too worried, though I WAS too stressed. Anyway, Thursday I was going great - all 4 cakes, filled, coated with white chocolate ganache and covered with sugar paste - and dowelled! All I had to do Friday was stack them and add the roses - SIMPLES (not).

I stacked the 8 on the 10  and left to settle whilst I put the roses on the 6 inch...and then I noticed a hairline crack in the FRONT off the 10 inch cake.....and another.......OOOHHHHH!!! So, don't panic, Jeannie, just a bit of damage limitation needed.

I carefully filled the cracks with royal icing and smoothed over. Left to settle while I went shopping - got home.......they looked like two awful, enormous stretch marks on the front...couldn't be on the back could they?

I spent the rest of Friday till 10 pm trying to disguise these cracks - the bride was specific about how simple she wanted her cake - no butterflies or anything else.......in the end, I settled for their initials and a few hearts!

WHAT a save! I was disappointed because I like perfection - but when she saw the cake, she was thrilled!...and so was I.....role on 16 December at 09.30 - Australia, here I come!





The cake at the venue - :)

 

The 'cover up' - luckily my bride was pleased with the cake! and the save, which I told her about

Cake Note 23: "You are only young once, but you can be immature for a lifetime" John P. Grier

...and that's a hint for a Happy Birthday wish to my friend Becki! My most loyal follower, customer and regular commentator on my cakes: Thank you and happy birthday from me to you!

So, today's cake blog is...Becki's Birthday cake! Some time ago (last year!) I made a two tier birthday cake for my daughter's friend and the remit was for ' Black and Bling'. Becki liked this and booked me for a smaller version for her birthday today. I've taken a bit of artist's license and it isn't exactly the same  -

Here we go:

This is a 'Death by Chocolate' eight inch cake, filled with vanilla buttercream, and raspberry conserve. The cake is 'crumb coated' with white chocolate ganache, which I find makes a better foundation for the fondant(sounds like a corset , eh?). The board is imprinted with little hearts which compliment the little hearts next to the 'MUM' salutation.

it is then top covered with white sugarpaste, sprayed with edible pearl spray. The ribbon is black organza with diamantes in it, as is the bow.

The topper....well, here's the bling bit folks!

The original design had all black feathers, but I liked the mix of black and white - the feathers have diamantes fixed in them and surround the lovely Swarovski diamante letter B!

I don't know how she does it, but Becki's photos of the cake look so much more 'BLINGY!'

Hope you like my creation! Night x

Cake Note 22 "It's a helluva start,being able to reconise what makes you happy. Lucille Ball"

...and it's easy to recognise what makes me happy - apart from my lovely granddaughter, my daughter and my son and his lovely wife - it's making and decorating cakes! To be honest, I found this cake absolutely exhausting - why? No idea. The owner described the design she wanted, and the colour scheme, and apart from using five decorations from her first christening, the rest was carte blanche.

I loved making it, from the sugar paste blocks (seen earlier) to the roses and butterflies. It took some work getting the grey teddy to fit in with the colour scheme but the teddy had to be on the top. Anyway, I learned a lot with this cake.....like how NOT to make sugarpaste look LILAC when you really needed it pink! I had to strip back the bottom 10 inch cake a re-cover it with a new batch of pink paste.

Well, I took it to the owner today, drove at 20 miles an hour to avoid potholes and bumps - was so worried that the butterflies would fall off. But no - arrived in time and intact! See what you think!

Cake Note 21: "Babies are such a nice way to start people - Don Herold"

Aren't they just, ans my family seems to be moving onwards creating new generations. I am now a Great Great Aunty to our latest little chap and am going to meet him tomorrow - he's a week old, and born on 5 November - one day after my birthday which is the 4th!

Today's blog is about christening cakes - not for my great, great nephew (!)  - that's later in 2011 and I am so pleased I  have been asked to make his cake. No, this cake is for  little girl who is being christened next Sunday - I'm in preparation for a two tier cake - ten inch vanilla Madeira cake topped with an eight inch chocolate cake - pink and white with building blocks spelling the baby's name. There will be a 'fluttering' of butterflies on it too! The actual cake won't be ready for posting until next weekend but here are the bricks I have made for it - I'm really pleased with them because they were harder than they look! Thank you to Marion Frost and her amazing Patchwork Cutters, which made the blocks easier to do than if I had had to mark the lines etc myself. The PW cutter set also comes with little pictures to stick on the sides of the blocks. I'll post the finished cake next weekend.




The blocks spell the baby's name - and have little toys/motifs stuck on them

 

Just trying the blocks for size and display using cake dummies

 The second photo is just me trying to work out the best lay out for the names - using 2 cake dummies of the right size as the christening cake will by. I think I'll be pleased with this one

Cake Note 20 - "I would hate for someone to look at my shoes and say....Oh my God! They look comfortable" Christian Louboutin

mmm? Now know why Louboutin shoes are so high!! Right, this quote is a bit irrelevant to today's post as the cake I have just finished is.....a Handbag! This is for my daughter's gift  to her friend for her birthday and I have really enjoyed making it. Credit goes to the fantastic Planet Cake book, which has a really gorgeous handbag cake in it, and this was my inspiration, so thank you Planet Cake!

The cake is a chocolate mud cake, tastes fabulous, even though I say so myself, it's filled with vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam, and the crumb coat is also buttercream. I usually use white chocolate ganache but I wanted the sugar paste layer to have a bit of softness to it.

I made the handle by rolling modelling paste into beads and threading onto a bent cake wire 18g! and what should have been the Chanel back to back 'C' logo, is 'NC' for the birthday girl.

Hope you like it ?

I'm off to the NEC tomorrow to the sugarcraft exhibition.......hope I don't spend too much:)

Ciao :)

Cake Note 19: "It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs" Margaret Thatcher

I never thought the day would dawn that I quote Mrs Thatcher - my mother would turn in her grave! She always blamed her for ' Stealing the milk from the bairns' mouths' .....not that my Mam was one to hold a grudge:)

But, I've found a site with her quotes on it and you know, she said some very profound things! Sorry Mam:) Anyway, my daughter is home and well, my credit card it saying ouch and I feel a lot happier to have her home! The only cake I have to show is the wedding cake demo I  did for my great nephew's fiance, and I never post cakes until after the owner has received them, so, you'll have to wait till December for that. So what you have here is a very small spray of dianthus made in flower class, and thinking of me Mam and milk, and me Mam and tea - here's a teacup of flowers - just for you Mam - always loved and very much missed!

Jeannie xxx

Cake Note 18: "When words escape you, flowers speak" Bruce W Currie




Sophie and Smokie, two of my lovely ladies :)

  ......and flowers speaking are just what I need! WHAT a week - my precious daughter, on holiday in Australia called me Monday, absolutely  hysterical. She had crashed her hire car, it was a write off and she was in a right state. Once I worked out from her screechings that she was bashed and bruised but not seriously injured, I worked out whether anyone else had been injured as a result of the accident...luckily no-one was injured. The accident, unfortunately was her fault so I have worried sick all week about the outcome.

Luckily, she had taken out full car insurance and full travel insurance so the car is covered, the police aren't interested and we have to do now is sort out the medical claim - and you're then left wondering, what twist or turn of fate ...or whatever.....made it so that all you had to worry about was getting her home on an upgrade and sorting out the medical bills, rather than all sorts of other terrible outcomes I don't even want to articulate......I feel so grateful and thankful.

Role on tomorrow when I can meet her at the airport.

Take care

Cake Note 17: 'Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.

good evening - or is it good morning? I've been chatting to the Australian contingent so time gets away from me. No cakes to post until the begining of November, then so many to make, I'll have no time to post!

Since I'm now back at college, I'm going to post my Botanical studies - dry runs as it were for the actual assessment piece, which will be the Cattleya Orchid - I love orchids, but everyone I buy, dies in days! Soo, the pictures are my 'Chimney pot' of Nasturtiums and my attempt at the beautiful Moth Orchid. The petals are a bit too frilly, but will be better next time :) Optimistice hey?

So til next time, goodnight

Cake Note 16: 'There are worse things in life than death - have you ever spent the evening with an insurance salesman?' Woody Allen

Just a short post from me today and not really about cakes, but about what a sad day it is for me and my family. The photo is of my lovely dear departed brother Jim, who died very suddenly a year ago today - I've done the usual stuff, you know, flowers, Free Press, but I just wanted to make it more significant -- and for me, well Jimmy my lovely lad, I'm blogging you!

You might think that the quote is a bit irreverent, given the circumstances, but he would have seen the funny side of it! He always used to reply, when folk said how nice a funeral was, that the only nice funeral was the one where you were putting your coat on and going home!

He made everyone laugh and apart from his lovely smiling face, I miss that most about him. Sad to say, for a little bloke, he's left a massive hole in our hearts - and he did love my cake so in a way, it's still a cake blog!

I miss you so much my bonny lad xxx

Thanks for listening

Cake Note 15: 'Always be nice to your children because they are the ones who will choose your rest home - Phyllis Diller'

Number One Fan!

October was going to be a quiet month as far a cake orders were going, so I thought, mmm? what shall I do?..house work, gardening, reading, drive off to the cake warehouse in Newcastle and get all my stuff for November and December orders......maybe not - number 2 child phoned on friday last week...'Muuuummmm - could you do me a really really really (you know where this is going , don't you).....big favour...and make me a fruit cake?' - Me -'what, just a fruit cake?'. (fool)...' Oh no, a birthday cake for Steve, he likes skiing, mountain biking...anything to do with hairdressing...Oh, and he likes Leeds United'.
Me -'when for?'.....WEDNESDAY!!

Off course, I did what she asked (bearing in mind Phyllis Diller's advice), and here you can see the start of it - this little Leeds fan is 'Steve' - wears specs and has ginger hair, so I hope he recognises himself on Wednesday morning when I (!!!) have to deliver his cake to the shop!

So, no housework done, no gardening and the only reading was on the t'internet looking for colour schemes for the cake! here it is, I hope he likes it - my daughter is thrilled with it - mainly because she helped with the little model!


And so to bed...so much for the ealry night I promised myself! back to the 'factory' tomorrow, good night, God Bless :)

Cake Note 14: Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better. Emile Coue

....and my head is getting bigger to match! Well bloggers, here I am...late on parade again. Still struggling with this laptop, oh for my scruffy old room with the desktop pc in it...I could type like...well. like a typist!

Latest offering, I made this cake for  21st birthday...now the worrying thing is, I used to look after this 'little boy' when he was three.......maybe the quote should say....I'm getting older and older!

I have an abiding memory of taking him to see Disney on Ice - Beauty and the Beast...he spent the whole of the show saying 'Yes but Jean...when is the wardrobe coming on' - :)

He's into drums and drum kits, this cake was to represent his own black and silver set. It's a chocolate cake filled with buttervcream and Duerrs fabulous seedless raspberry coonserve, coated with white chocolate ganache and sugarpaste. My thanks go to the marvellous Marion Frost of Patchwork Cutters fame, who thougtfully designed a drumkit template and consequently dug me out of a hole:) My thanks.

October will be a quiet month on the cake making front...I have started year two of the C&G Sugarcraft course so will have my hands full....as well as a trip to Australia for Christmas to see my beautiful granddaughter Zara - and her Mum and Dad, of course:) Hope you like the cake - goodnight readers (even if it's only my loyal follower, Rebecca!

Cake Note 13: "Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so many tomorrows" Michael Landon.

Do you remember him? 'Little House on the Prairie' and Little Joe in that American programme with Hoss Cartwright! I loved Little Joe when I was a child.......reminds me of my Mother so much and I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the programme...oh, well, it'll come to me:)

OK, so here 's a cake I have made for my very dear friend, for her Mother who will be 92 on 20th September -  the very same days as my own dear departed Mam. Not sure where the other photo is, but I daresay I'll find it before I log off....AND here it is! The request was for a copy of an earlier cake, with a pink Stargazer lily - I did a bit of crimping on this cake, it makes a really nice edge.  Anyway, this little sweetie is going home with it's owner tomorrow, and I'll be baking an 8 inch chocolate cake for a 21st birthday for next week.......the boy likes drums, so I'm planning on a drum kit and maybe the names of a few famous drum rolls around the sides.....come on....name that drum roll....the one the gorilla does for the cadbury's chocolate advert:

Long week for me even though it's been a short one..if that makes sense. I've started a new flower making class and this time my teacher is going to demonstrate Moth Orchids and butterflies. I have been desperate to learn how to make moth orchids....so watch this space:)

Over and out

Cake Note 12: "“I put all my genius into my life; I put only my talent into my works.” Oscar Wilde

It's been ages since I last wrote on my blog - sorry if anyone has missed it:)

One of the reasons is because I have moved into the modern age...and got a laptop! No idea how to work it, lost all my favourite websites and passwords, and generally lost the plot! Still struggling with the keyboard but I am much improved, thank you.

The other reason is that I haven't made any new cakses until recentley - as I may have said before, they're like buses! You'll gather I've got one to show off about. The quote from Oscar Wilde is not about me boasting about my skill....perish the thought! Rather, it explains for me the nature of the choices I was given on this cake. I was asked to make a cake for a 16th birthday for a girl...Oooh I thought, lots of girly pinks and stuff...but no, doesn't like pinks or pastels or anything remotely girly..but she loves rabbits.......so rabbits are what she got! I tried to make it a bit sparkly with the top hat and the fountain coming out of it, but the colour scheme was lemon sugarpaste and brown ribbon......I hate this colour combination personally so was worried the 'owner' wouldn't be happy with th end result. Hence the reference to putting talent into my work! As my friend said - 'It's not your cake Jeannie...make it and move on'....Luckily for me, the owner was pleased with the cake...and as a result, so am I:)

I hope the birthday girl is as happy with the sugarpaste rabbits as her Mum was!

I'll try not to leave it too long next time...2 more cakes on the go. And, I have also signed up to do year 2 of the C&G course I completed last year...let's see if I can rack up another 3 distinctions and 1 merit:) Yep...showing off now...goodnight everyone (or at least Becki..my devoted follower...hope your back gets better soon:)

Cake Note 11: "Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia."

On which note, I have had an extra treat this week and have been chatting to my beautiful granddaughter on the web cam - amazing pieces of kit, I wouldn't know what to do without it! Anyway, it's definantly tomorrow in Australia - 08.50 to be precise!


I've been busy with this week's cake order - the 80 year old lady who loves a bit of  Bling! The instructions were ' pretty, and Bling'......I used the Tiffany colours as a base theme, and made flower paste roses and leaves, interspersed with diamantes. And the Swarovski '80'  - I quite like this cake, it's elegant and sparkly without being over the top. Hope you agree.


I've changed the way I do sponge cakes - normally, once baked, you would cover them with a thin coat of butter cream (after layering and filling the cake) - this is called a 'crumb coat' and does exactly what it says on the tin..prevents crumbs from the cake getting mixed up into the sugar paste you coat the cake with.


Well, I get myself into a right old tacking with this buttercream malarkey, and really struggle to get a nice, smooth looking sugar paste top coat. In comes Planet Cake - a fabulous book by a company in Australia, and they use chocolate ganache to crumb coat their cakes...no lumps bumps or bulges (is that me or the cake :O!) Makes the cake a bit more expensive but the finish is so much more professional...a big THANK YOU to Planet Cake for sharing this amazing tip. They use dark chocolate, but  I use white as it's a nicer finish for lighter coloured sugar pastes.


So, time marches on, it'll be Christmas before you know it..now will I be here or will I be in Australia?? That's in the lap of the Gods...and an invite from my son and his wife:)


Hope you like the cake, any comments good or bad welcome....It's true isn't it...you really are talking to yourself on here! Well at least no-one can answer me back


Take care and goodnight x

Completed cake Tiffany Blue sugarpaste and white ribbon with pearl lustre roses and leaves

Cake Note 10: "Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending ~ Maria Robinson"

I like this quote - it reminds me of all the times I have opened my big mouth and put my foot in it -and all the lovely people I have lost and never told them in time what a difference they made to my life....so do it now! Don't let a day go by without you make it clear to someone!

I've got a work in progress on the go, a cake needed for Friday, so I have the leaves made, wired and taped and sprayed with pearl lustre dust - the theme is Tiffany colours, blue and white, for the 80 year old lady who likes bling...and tell me, who doesn't like Tiffany? The diamantes which are going into the centre of the roses are not, unfortunately Tiffany diamonds!

I made the coconut and lime cake (recipe courtesy of Mich Turner 'Couture Wedding Cakes') - Couldn't get the creamed coconut so improvised with dessicated coconut! It looked a bit of a train wreck but the tasters (hanging about like spooks) gave it the thumbs up - 'can I have another slice please'...well that's a tick in my book! I would have liked to post a picture of the cake but, this is all that was left!

And the other photo of course is my wonderful Titanium...my mixer :) LOVE it.

One more day off then back to the factory - G'night

Cake Note 9 "Cats can work out mathematically the exact place to sit that will cause most inconvenience. ~Pam Brown"

and being the 'housekeeper of three cats, nobody knows this fact better than me - a nice warm pile of ironing, your lovely new bed throw or your favourite spot to watch telly - they get there before you and turn into heavy lumps when you try to shift them!

I'm very excited today....my beautiful Kenwood Major Titanium mixer has arrived:) I have a fabulous friend who always takes my parcels in for me and her kind husband carries them over to my house...so glad he carried this one, it weighs a ton. It took me all of 5 minutes to get it outta its box and on the work top. I can't wait to have a go with it - my first practice run is going to be a new flavour sponge cake - Lime and Coconut, sounds amazing and if it turns out OK (the white chocolate one was a bit dodgy) I'll let you know. Just another flavour to add to my ever increasing repertoire:) I already have the panel of tasters waiting in the wings for a thumbs up or a thumbs down!

I need to have practice at mini cakes - I might have an order pending, so need to have practice run. I should have a new cake to post by the end of next week, but until now, the one posted is what got me interested in learning how to decorate cakes in the first place. It's my middle sister's 60th birthday cake from last year, the gerbera is made from flower paste and to be honest, I was well pleased with it! And what's more important, so was she:)

Night all

Cake Note 8: "A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book. ~Irish Proverb"

...and have I laughed today! As my dear old Auntie used to say "it's just one of those things". Nothing specific has made me laugh but I seem to have been chuckling at one thing or another all day - and Becki - you finished me off with the tale of your husband's speeding tickets!

I haven't much to laugh at, as I got a ticket too and have to go on a course to learn how not to speed:( at least I'll not get any points:)

I've jumped in at the deep end today and bought myself a new mixer - a great big Kenwood Titanium! It means I can mix great big fruit cakes without having to do it in two halves - can't wait for it to arrive:)

I've had a nice day making fruit cakes, and of course I always end up with a bit too much mixture so have a cute little 'taster' to try when it cools. I am a Coeliac (can't have gluten) and the fruit cakes are gluten free:) lucky me. My Madeira sponges are made with 'proper' flour though so I can't taste them, have to rely on others!

So, until my new orders are iced, I am posting a cake I made for my daughter's boss for her birthday - the design instructions were 'Black and Bling'! - it was my first ever tiered cake too - a fruit cake bottom layer and a chocolate top layer - 8 and 6 inch respectively.

Ok, off to bed to dream about my Titanium giant:) ..my mixer I mean!

Cake Note 7: "Change is not reform, any more than noise is music. "

Or to put it another way, the only people who really like change are wet babies:) Shame there aren't any smileys on here! Does anyone know where they are?

Friday is such a lovely day, I thinks it's my favourite day of the week - except perhaps Sunday, when I know I don't have to get up on Monday!!

I have the most beautiful wall paper on my feature wall now, all the depressing hard work and change that decorating the house brings, seems to be all worth it now - I can go off and choose new cushions and new curtains. Maybe my opening line should be "a fool and his money..."!

I'm gearing up for my next 2 cakes, one for an 80 year old lady who likes BLING! and one for a 90 something lady who is a bit more traditional, so Bling is what my 80 year old will get and trad for the other.

I'm thinking for cake number 1, ivory fondant with this lovely lattice cut lilac ribbon, silvered lilac roses with diamantes in the centre, all overdusted to glimmer - maybe silver leaves trailing out? I have already bought a lovely Swarovski diamante number 80 which will be positioned in the floral spray.

Cake number 2 is already sorted, my customer (special friend) has asked for one like the dark pink Stargazer lily on one of my other posts - this one will be a fruit cake - already baked and waiting for its marzipan!

I've got a bit of a challenge between these two cakes, I'm making a 10 inch square chocolate cake for a 16 year old who loves rabbits! Got an idea of a top hat on the cake, with hearts and stars on wires bursting out of the hat, and copies of her 2 favourite rabbits standing at the side of the hat waving...sort of, hands in the air kind of thing! ...well, time will tell! In between that lot I have a bedroom and a kitchen to be painted - but luckily not by me, by my newly found FANTASTIC decorator - worth their weight in gold when you find one.

The picture is a floral spray I made as part of my City & Guilds sugarcraft course - really loved making it - have a lovely weekend bloggers! I'm off to look for diamantes and ribbons tomorrow!

Cake Note 6: "I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers. ~Claude Monet"

Not surprising that I prefer flower making to any other decorating on cakes - these are two examples I made at a sugar flower workshop, the one an Asia lily, the other the lovely Clematis with honeysuckle. Not that I am suggesting I'm in Monet's league:) I wish!

Both made from Sugar florist paste, wired and dusted with edible food dusts...although technically edible, these flowers would in fact break your teeth!

It's only Wednesday and I am ready for the weekend. I had a wonderful, but very busy weekend last weekend with my two sisters, we're all getting on a bit, but when we're together it seems like we are kids again!

I'm cakeless this weekend but have three coming up in the next four weeks so should get the chance to show off my handiwork again:) I do hope you enjoy looking as much as I enjoyed making them.

Goodnight folks, sleep tight, hope the bugs don't bite:)

Cake Note 5: "One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching."

Not much enthusiasm for blogging this evening, must be because it's work tomorrow. Love the quote above - nothing it truer I don't think. This is definitely not a rehearsal!

Today's cake is my rendition of one of my favourite designers - Peggy Porschen. Her version is a single tier wedding cake, all white dusted with white lustre dust. I have adapted it for a cake for a 'Mum' birthday - I've looked at this cake for ages and really wanted to make it - it's one of my favourites. Yes I probably say that about all my cakes but this one I think is so versatile! For the technically minded, it's an 8 inch fruit cake, marzipanned and sugarpasted, then decorated with royal icing swirls to which are attached petals and leaves made of modelling paste . The pearls in the centres and around the base of the cake were all handrolled - YES handrolled! That's because I have a bed maker but the pearls were a right mess, so I set to and did it the old fashioned way! everything on this cake is edible - except for the board:) Thanks Becki for the opportunity to indulge myself :)

Cake Note 4 "Plant a seed of friendship; reap a bouquet of happiness. -- Lois L. Kaufman"

Saturday - after a busy week I am happy to say I completed my cake orders and hopefully to the satisfaction of the lovely lady who ordered them! Today's cake is an 8" Madeira sponge and for the first time I used white chocolate ganache to provide the base for the fondant. As can be seen, it's for an ardent Sheffield Wednesday fan and as much as I enjoyed designing it, that OWL certainly gave me a run for my money! Give me a complicate, wired and taped, intricate sugar paste flower any day:) Truly, I did enjoy making this cake - outside my comfort zone and what's a challenge for?? It's for us to rise to! In my opinion, I think I did - wish there were little smiley's on here:)

I met a charming little girl today, who was VERY interested in my cakes, especially this one for her dad - she wanted to try a bite out of it before he got to see it! ....and when I showed her my lovely representation of the amazing Maisie Parrish's 'Ballerina Mice' cake...was she impressed? Not really, she advised me the little mouse had her leg up too high in the ballet pose.....and by the way, which of the mice could she eat!

So, the blue and white one is the Sheff Wed. cake (!) and the other is my personal masterpiece....or should that be 'mastermeece':)

Cake Note 3 "In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips. ~Author Unknown"

Never a truer word spoken! This is blog three, amazingly I am still interested in filling this in...it's a bit like a diary that no-one else can read - or can they:)

Busy weekend for me, one sister needs a trip to the hospital and my big sister is coming to visit - so, once again, the three witches (as my son fondly refers to us) will ride again! Well, less of the riding and more of the gossiping and drinking tea. Not much cake decorating will be done this weekend as a result.

I notice I have a follower.....now how did you find me my little crafting friend! Well done, I followed your example:)

Right, the weekend begins here for me, sort of, apart from all the running around tomorrow. Need to make some space in my kitchen! Two very special cakes to complete:)

Have a lovely weekend and thanks for listening.

Here's one of the first cakes I did - a christening cake whcih was the top teir of a wedding cake, whcih I re-iced. One of my favorites but the sugar lace aroud the base of the cake was a NIGHTMARE!!

Cake Note 2: "Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship"

Late on parade today and a few days later than I intended! Life just speeds on by. Here I am, filling in time until my second madeira cake of the day finishes baking...how inconsiderate is that? My fault I guess, trying to bake, sort out after decorators and carpet fitters have been and gone...time management was never my forte!

Anyway, one cake finished and the other will be ready soon, and will post as soon as the 'owner' has had first sight of them. Here's one I 'made' earlier - it's a 50th birthday cake for a lady who likes lillies.

Hope you like it

PS..oops - can't get the picture on, will try later :)

Cake Note 1: "Life is hard - it either grinds you down or polishes you up, depending on what you are made of"

This is my first blog ever! I am an aspiring cake maker, having just completed a City & Guilds course in Sugar Craft and Design - and got 3 distinctions and a merit for my work! Not that I'm showing off, of course:) and I have created some very lovely celebration cakes as a result.

I thought I might use my blog to demonstrate my skills as a cake maker and decorator, and generally chat about the things that make me tick - or not as the case may be! I mostly enjoy baking rich fruit cakes, but have knocked a few madeira sponges up too...surprisingly they are much harder to ice.

Anyway, this is my first ever blog - short and sweet - hopefully I can think of more to say next time:)

take care all