A bunch of flowers

Look at this lovely bunch of flowers! Aren't I a lucky girl?



Yes, I feel so lucky to have been taught how to make my own flowers, that no one need buy me any more, ever again!

I was taught how to make roses and carnations as part of another sugar craft course I did at Tamworth College. Although fiddly, the carnations were a lovely flower to make. I love how delicate they look against the more robust rose.

It's actually a cake...

...a bouquet cake to be more precise!

I ended up giving my Mum the flowers on top of her own birthday cake one year. She still has them stashed in a shoe box somewhere, and ever the embarrassing parent she'll get them out to show her visitors:

"Look at what my daughter made" 

"Oooh!"



Sugarcraft

Way back in 2007 I took a 9 week recreational sugarcraft course at Tamworth College. I wanted to do something with my spare time that I enjoyed, and as I come from a family that loves to bake I thought that this would be the perfect way to spend two hours every Tuesday evening, that wouldn't interfere with my job and shift patterns.

Yes, please ignore the very crude photo, but I was extremely chuffed with my efforts from my first proper cake decorating course. It may not look like much, but that was my flowerpaste poinsettia! Don't you just love the glare of the flash against the red of the petals?

At the time, I felt frustarted that I couldn't quite get the hang of using this 'stuff' that was not too dissimilar to chewing gum. My hands were always too hot and made working with flowerpaste really difficult. I almost gave up within the first couple of weeks as it seemed almost impossible to create anything.

Patience and persistence was all I needed. I felt I could create (almost) anything once my poinsettia was complete! Bring it on...

...I mean, just look at my bow cake. You want one don't you? Admit it.

And this is my embossed, piped and whatever-else-I-could-get-on-it cake. Simply Beautiful (with a capital B)

Hey kids, you gotta start somewhere.

Wayne Thiebaud



I recently discovered the work of artist Wayne Theibaud.




Display Cakes (1969)

 



Around the Cake (1962)



This is my favourite - I fell in love with it as soon as I set eyes on it.





Cakes (1963)

 

 I couldn't believe it when I found that a couple had recreated these cakes for their wedding!

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 How lovely to see them in real life! I'd love to get my greedy mitts on a slice or two of these cakes, and even give them a go myself.

What do you think of these edible paintings? Would you break from the traditional, classic wedding cake or are you more of a modern kinda cake gal? (...or guy, there's no sexism here)

Chocolate Cake

It seems that searching for the perfect chocolate cake recipe is much harder than you think. I'm telling you... it's really tough.




Chocolate Cake = The Holy Grail?

   
I've baked two chocolate cakes this week for one birthday celebration, but somehow the cakes didn't quite hit the mark.

I happened to discover Seven Spoons earlier this week whilst perusing another blog. Take a look, it's beautiful. Anyway, I scoured the recipe section and found a handful of recipes for chocolate cake. After reading each post I realised that I'm not the only gal in search of chocolate baked perfection.

The first cake I thought about baking was Beatty's Chocolate Cake from Ina Garten. Now, I have baked this cake before but it was quite a while ago. Unfortunately, during baking it exploded all over my poor little oven - I've never quite recovered. I can remember tasting part of the cake and being very disappointed as it tasted like, what can only be described as 'faux cake' (sorry Betty), I didn't want to go there again so I decided to bake the next cake on the list.

This cake seemed really promising. The recipe can be found here, and with over 1400 positive reviews I admit that I was getting a teeny bit excited, as you can imagine. The ingredients for this cake makes a 10" round, but I only needed enough for an 8"- not knowing how to scale down cake sizes I just got straight into the baking... 12 cupcakes, an 8" cake and a single layer of 6" cake later, I was done. I just had to wait just a little longer to try 'everyones "go-to" chocolate cake' - I couldn't bear it! I threw together a coffee whipped cream which would be lovely inside the cake and finally, once the cakes had cooled, I sandwiched them together and cut my first slice...

Well, I want to be honest here, it tasted just like Ina's cake. In my humble opinion 'just add water' cakes does not a good cake make. I want that baked from scratch, homely satisfying taste from my cakes and unfortunately it didn't deliver. I feel I must apologise to those 1400 people that have raved about the cake, but sorry peeps I'm not a fan. The cake was beautifully dark and moist, but texture wise it was too crumbly. I'm looking for cake with substance, that can hold up to a smothering of icing and a blanket of sugarpaste without wilting under its own weight. I'm afraid, this cake didn't make the cut for the birthday celebration. I can report, however, that the coffee whipped cream worked a treat and perhaps saved the cake from being banished from my kitchen.

And so, to the second cake. I moved away from Seven Spoons and onto more familiar culinary territory - Nigella Lawson. Her old fashioned chocolate cake sounded divine, and the use of sour cream in the mix could only be heavenly. This recipe only called for an 8" round cake rather than a 10", thankfully - there is only so much cake a girl can eat. Could this be the cake?

It baked up beautifully in the tins and the smell was wonderful. A little paler in colour than the first cake and seemed to be firmer in texture, I decided that I would use this for the birthday cake. Upon tasting I was once again a bit disappointed. The chocolate flavour wasn't as pronounced as I'd hoped, it somehow lacked in depth which I thought the sour cream would have brought. It went down well with the birthday girl, but this here girl baker is still on the lookout for that elusive chocolate cake recipe...

Do you have a favourite recipe for chocolate cake that you couldn't live without? Or, like me, are you still trying to track down the best chocolate cake ever?

Hello Kitty

Another work colleague asked me to bake a cake, this time it was a Hello Kitty cake for their daughter's 9th birthday.



 She looks so sweet sat on top of the cake. I felt guilty stabbing a toothpick through her body so her head would stay on...

Happy 9th Birthday Alicia!

Bike Ride Treat

After spending all day cooped up inside at work, I was so excited to have had a bike ride planned in with Kellie this for evening. The weather has been wonderful all day which teased me no end and it also made work extremely quiet - nobody in their right mind would want to sit in a dark room and watch films when the sun has come out play!

Kellie met me from work and we headed up the canal to Polesworth. There were loads of people out on their boats and even more people enjoying the beer gardens along the way. We passed by Pooley Farm and after a quick history lesson I discovered this beautiful house was once owned Edwin Starr - thank you Mrs Croft, your lessons are the best!




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How pretty is that? I know, and right on my doorstep!
We got off the canal and cycled through Polesworth and headed for Twycross, through some amazing countryside. Now, Tamworth isn't the most picturesque of places but hop on a bike and cycle five minutes out of the town centre and you will find the prettiest villages.

On our cycling travels we saw flamingoes. Yes, you heard it right, flamingoes! Twycross Zoo was on our route and the bird enclosure can be seen from the road. Next time I'll bring my camera for some action shots.

So after about 19 miles of struggling cycling I finally got back home, devoured my dinner and in honour of this post by Dottie from Let's Go Ride A Bike, I had a cupcake. These things just have to be done.

Happy cycling!

I Heart Cake

Workmate and cycling buddy Kellie asked if I'd mind baking a cake for her mum's 50th birthday. Would I mind? I'd love to, silly! You see, I love to bake cakes. And there's nothing better than baking cakes for your friends.

With free reign and absolutely no idea how to decorate the cake, I needed inspiration, fast!

Flickr has long been a place where I can while away the hours looking at pictures of beautiful cakes so it seemed only natural that it would be my first port of call. I knew that I wanted to keep the cake simple, clean and pretty and hello naomi does this oh-so-well. Her cakes are exquisite and super cute, how could I not get inspiration from them?

I found a cake with the sweetest piping that I thought would look perfect and not too difficult to recreate on Kellie's cake. Whaddya think?

and because they are super quick to make I whipped up a couple of sugar roses...

...and a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

I hope she likes it!