Spring has sprung (hopefully!)

I dropped this lovely giant cupcake off this morning to an old school friend, whose sisters birthday it is today. I'm still struggling with the lettering but it's slowly getting better! Even packaged it up in a box to make it even more special :) Fingers crossed the lovely pastel colours and flowery-ness of the cake will encourage spring to hurry up!

How to : Checkerboard cake without any fancy pans!

(easiest with chocolate & vanilla sponge)

1. Bake as many layers as needed, I had 2 but can do many more.

2. Measure diameter of cake and draw onto baking paper. Divide up the circle into equal sections. I divided mine into 3, so when the cake is cut into a slice, you can see 3 squares of colour.

3. Cut circles out of baking paper, and lay on top of cake and cut out carefully with a sharp knife. (I greased mine so it stuck a little bit, helping to make the cutting more accurate) Once all the circles of cake are cut, start putting them back together but alternating the sponges.

4. Spread a layer of butter icing on (or jam, whatever. I cheated and used Betty Crocker) and repeat step 3 again with the second layer of cake.

5. Cover cake in icing (whatever you choose) making sure you can't see what's hiding beneath!

6. Decorate as usual. I made a stencil so there was a huge glittery 60 on top :)

Macaroon Mayhem

Recently I've tried making macaroons a number of times and every time I have ended up with one giant macaroon (mainly due to the fact I was piping the mix straight onto a baking tray), so I decided to invest in a silicone macaroon tray from Lakeland. O-M-G, it was the best £7.99 I've ever spent on baking goods (aside from my kitchenaid, which I didn't actually pay for so..). I learnt the hard way that you don't need to grease silicone trays, and my second attempt was a big success! I took the left overs (our new dog is quite partial to a macaroon it seems..) into work the next day and they went down a storm..best macaroons ever tasted apparently! 

I also went back up north for the weekend as I was baking the cakes for a friends mums 50th birthday party. Cue icing cakes in someone else's kitchen - NIGHTMARE. But I got there with the help of my apprentice (ha) Meg. One giant chocolate cupcake and 36 vanilla cupcakes later and we were ready to go! 

I'm baking again this weekend, this time for a work colleagues 60th birthday so I'll fill you all in on that one when it's done.

Peace out cake lovers. 

Playing catch up

Recent bakes, Christmas and a new doggy!

Our new rescue dog Hermy :) poor little man has acid burns on his face from when he was a stray he bit into a battery searching for food. He's landed on his paws in this household that's for sure :)

2013, lets go!

New year, new dog, fresh start! 

Doing my bit for charity

This week, John Lewis held a charity bake sale. So quite obviously, I did my bit. This was the first time I had tried dual coloured icing, and it worked an absolute treat! No need for expensive double piping bags; just put one icing in one side, the other in down the side with it, pipe until both colours come out and TA-DA! 

Autumnal Apple Pie

My favourite season is Autumn, and it's arrived! Yayy. So I kicked off the season by baking my first ever apple pie. I had a small issue with a soggy bottom (Mary Berry would not be impressed) but apart from that it tasted pretty yummy.

And here's a pic of my feet in the autumn leaves :)

A giant bunch of flowers

This week I made a giant chocolate cupcake for a friends sisters birthday. I was told the birthday girl enjoys gardening so I thought I'd make a cake that resembled a giant bunch of flowers :) And here is the result..

99 with a flake please!

Chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate butter icing that I baked for my lovely colleagues at John Lewis this week. Topped off with a Cadburys chocolate flake and some chocolate sauce! Yum! 

Golfing Mad

Last week I baked chocolate and vanilla cupcakes for a friends husbands 40th birthday. As you can see, he's a golf enthusiast..! The decorating took a while as it was the first time I've used rolling icing..feel like I did a good job for my first attempt :)

Tally ho!