Cake Note 51: "In the jungle, the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight..." song:)

Not quite a feroxious lion but a cute one all the same! The customer asked me to make a cake for her son's first birthday, and sent me the serviette which she was basing the party theme on. This is what I came up with - did a bit of decoupage in sugarpaste, and replicated the serviette! It was fiddly bit I liked the end product...and so did the Mum, luckily!

The servietter

Cake Note 50:!....Oh My Goodness! My 50th post:)

Happy New Year to everyone who nips into my blog:) I haven't posted since before Christmas because I have had the greatest pleasure of all.....my two beautiful granddaughters (and their parents!) have been with me for Christmas and New Year...4 weeks they stayed and it's the first time my girls have been to England. It was a magical time for me and my family! I did do some baking, but not to my usual professional (I Hope!!) standard as GD1 helped with the decorating....not tooo bad though.

Anyway, my first cake for 2012 is a 30th for my niece's husband, Chris. Happy Birthday Chris:) He likes X-Box, so that's what I did, and 8 inch square lemon cake, lemon curd and butter cream filling, and a Rice Krispie Treat X-Box  controller. Surprisingly, the RKT was heavier than I expected when sugar pasted so as a precaution, I dowelled the bottom cake...I could fall in love with the trimmings from the RKT:)

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

To my two lovely followers and to everyone who has hit on my blog - thank you and I hope you have the best Christmas, and New Year brings you health and happiness (and wealth if it makes you happy!)

Cake Note 49: "“The best years of a woman's life - the ten years between 39 and 40” - anon

Getting later on parade unfortunately - I can only blame it on getting ready for my wonderful son, his wife and my beautiful granddaughters coming from Australia for Christmas. This is my final cake of 2011 -  except for a couple of personal cakes for Christmas. It is for my good friend and frequent buyer, Becki, who was 40 at the beginning of December - and now you understand why I'm saying I am late on parade! Sorry Becks......here's your cake, designed by your lovely daughter (with a little bit of tweeking from me) - I know you had a great birthday and I am pleased to have been asked to make your cake :)

The technical details - this is a 10 inch round Death by Chocolate cake, iced in white with blue accents - fantasy flowers made with flowerpaste, wired and fixed into the side with a posy pick - bead fountain, and rolled sugarpaste pearls around the base - oh and a card to represent Becki's skill and love of crafting!

Cake Note 48: "To a father growing old, nothing is dearer than a daughter" Euripides

And how often do those of us who have lost their Dads, wish we could turn back the clock. I loved my Dad but it wasn't till I was much older, that I realised just how much.

This cake is for a special Dad - someone who has a daughter who loves him enough to organise a special cake for his 80th birthday. Instructions were, fruit cake, big and he loves gardening - but vegetables not flowers!

To be honest, I do struggle with cakes for men, but wanted to make a decent job of this one so, it's a 10 inch square rich fruit cake - dowsed frequently in Brandy:) ....and iced with a gardening theme - well I hope my representation of the daughter's instructions make her Dad smile on his 80th birthday. Sir, I don't know you but I wish you MANY happy returns:)

The shed is made of chocolate paste which was a bit of a mistake, as it wouldn't firm up enough when left to dry, despite adding CMC powder - so I hit on the idea of making a rice crispie model of the shed and this enabled me to stick the pieces on without them bending! All the veggies are made of sugar paste:)

Cake Note 47: "How amazing you're already One - what a precious person you have become!"

You'll notice I've had a run of family cakes to make.....1 niece, 1 great niece and now 1 great nephew! This little lad is one year old, so I've had the pleasure of making a bright and cheerful cake for him....I wasn't able to do it exactly to spec, but overall. I like the end result! And so does Seth and his Mum which is more important:)

Cake Note 46: "There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage. ~Martin Luther"

A very special friend of mine got married today and I was lucky enough to be asked if I would make her wedding cake - absolutely! I always planned on making it, but never with such short notice:) Anyway, it all went well, the Bride looked beautiful, and my cake......well, what do you think?