Cake Note 35: "Perfection is attained by slow degrees: It requires the hand of time" Voltaire

...and boy, doesn't it take time!

I think one of the main things that cake makers strive for is......no, not the perfect design - it's the perfect -ly FLAT top of your baked cake! I have tried and tried so many times not to end up with a cake with a dome that then gets lopped off to make a flat top:)

Anyway.....I have succeeded:) This cake is Practically Perfect in Every Way! (Mary Poppins!)

It happened by mistake but I have quickly written down what I did so I can replicate the perfect flat top cake......and here it is, in all its unadorned glory -

Meet my Wonderful FLAT top chocolate cake:)......well, it really is the flattest one I have succeeded in making........I bet I don't have to trim anything off...:)

Swoon if you will!

Cake Note 34: Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers - and never succeeding. Gian Carlo Menotti

Well I have to say I disagree entirely with Mr Menotti. I have spent the day in the company of one of the UK's foremost sugarcraft artists, and I can only say, his artistry is amazing!

My sugar craft teacher set up a workshop with the amazing Alan Dunn.....everyone in the sugar craft world knows about this man's unique ability to create the most beautiful specimens taken from botanical studies. His attention to detail is so impressive and his flowers....well, I am left speechless! Alan Dunn has numerous books under his belt, he is known all over thr world, and you might expext him to be boring and stuffy...NOPE! He made us laugh, kept us entertained and helped us create our very own masterpieces. NOTHING was too much trouble for him and he was really down to earth and NORMAL!

Thank you Paula for setting up the day and thank you Alan for making it a fantastic experience!

This is what he taught us to make today:)...- it's a passionflower, with a fantasy butterfly. Thank you once again Alan, for sharing your amazing experience -

Cake Note 33: Happy Birthday, One today, lots of children coming to play, lots of fun and presents galore, who could wish for anything more' MM

And it's Happy Birthday to Sofia, who is one and she's having a party tomorrow. Usually, my cakes aren't seen by the recipient until fully complete and ready for collection, but tonight I had a little visitor. Never met Sofia before but Oh what a  little beauty she is! Her Aunty brought her to see me in case the cake was done but I was still finishing off. Anyway Sofia had a dab with the sugar paste and a dab with the lustre dust...she'll have no problems when it comes to putting on makeup!

She's a star and it was lovely to meet her...I hope she likes the finished article:) I do...I love making nursery type cakes! Especially the caterpillars...

This one is a 10 inch petal shaped cake, with a pink Madeira sponge, buttercream and jam. The top is a 6 inch plain Madeira. Instructions were ' Pink and Princessy' so I've made a Fairy Bear, with  glitter and sparkle!

Cake Note 32: " I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty" - Georgia O'Keefe on Calla Lilies

Installment number 2:)

I'm exhausted - I started the week great guns witht this single tier wedding cake for my friend's daughter. All I had to do last night was put on the sugarpaste and leave it to dry overnight before I put on my GLORIOUS Lilies. I set off at a pace at 9 o'clock and at 11 0'clock, the sugarpaste was sagging round the bottom like a mushroom and the edge at the top looked like elephant skin......It was a new (and expensive ) brand of sugarpaste....AGES I tried to smooth it and make the sides straight but in the end, at nearly MIDNIGHT  I ripped it off, chilled the cake overnight and got up at the crack of dawn, re-did the crumb coat, galloped off to the supermarket for some new (supermarket brand) fondant and by 10.30 this morning, I had a perfectly smooth cake:)

There's a moral in this tale somewhere but I am so tired I can't think of it....just yet. Here's the cake.....can't wait for the bride to see it tomorrow......her colour schem is ivory and fuschia pink, hence the fuschia ribbon and the pink tips on the lilies:)

Cake Note 31: "When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment" Georgia O'Keefe on the Calla Lily

....and the quote gives away the clue! Calla Lilies - Arum Lilies, call them what you will. This beautiful flower is a favourite of my daughter-in-law's - they were part of her bridal bouquet and they grow outside her front door.

They are really elegant flowers and often chosen for wedding cakes......yes, I'm making a special wedding cake for a very quickly planned wedding. It will be a single tier in bridal ivory and the decorations are going to be simple Calla lilies. The bride has a fuchsia pink accent to her dress, so I've tried to 'subtley' pick it up in the Callas. I've made three, from Sugar Florist paste, and they will lie across the top of the cake, with Bear grass and fine gold wire accents. Here are the lilies, I loved making them; they have the stamp of approval from my resident expert (DIL) and to be honest, I can't wait to complete the cake and the final design:)

NOT as easy as the experts would have you believe, but very achievable as you can see, with a cardboard template and a home made flower former!! -

Would be interested in your comments!

Here's the final cake - with an inscription! I hope it gets lots of takers for the raffles - otherwise I'll look a bit dumb:(

Cake Note 30: "Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world" - Virgil A. Kraft

I, for one, am ready for the Spring - it's dull, it's wet, it's dirty and it's cold.

This cake is a very special one. I have been asked if I would make a cake to raffle off for our local charity, Aurora. Aurora is based on site at our District General Hospital, and it is a lovely place where the well being of patients living with cancer, can come along and have some pamper time - a massage, pedicure...that kind of thing.

So they are having a fund raiser and I was asked to make a cake. YES, I would love to. The theme was anything you like, but the raffle will be held around early April, so Easter was suggested.

What I decided to do was use colours that are my particular favourite, and rather than stick to the Easter themes ( Religious themes, eggs, rabbits chocolate etc) I thought I would concentrate on Spring.

So this cake is my representation of the long awaited Spring - lilacs and lemon colours, bright cheerful flowers and an oval shaped cake with a ribbon! It's a 10x8 inch fruit cake - soaked in Brandy (very soaked), covered with sugar paste and decorated with flower paste narcissi, primroses and foliage, and a few fantasy flowers and twirly bits!

I hope it raises a few quid for our cancer charity:)

Still haven't thought of an inscription - but there will be one:)