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. 

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! 

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!

Long time, no blog!

Recently I have been pretty awful at blogging..the surprise heatwave, trips to Devon and Bath, the Queens Diamond Jubilee and generally having a jolly good time have got in the way! So here are some snaps of what I've baked over the past month..

A chocolate giant cupcake with 24 cupcakes for Jenny's 25th birthday..

Lemon meringue pie..

Jubilee themed cheesecake and red, white and blue cupcakes!

Dreaming of summer..

After buying the most practical coat of my life today (commuting to work at 6am every morning is not for the faint hearted - it gets flipping cold on that train platform) I got bored, so I baked. The recent monsoon season and my new prescription sunglasses (I can see whilst not being blinded by the sun - genius!) have got me dreaming of a summers afternoon drinking cider in the sunshine. These little beauties have strawberries baked into the vanilla sponge, so they are light, fluffy and super yummy. They also look pretty too :) so yes, I shall be making these again when the sun finally decides to make an appearance. You've got to love a good British strawberry or two :)

Wedding Anniversary Cakes

Yesterday I baked cupcakes for my neighbours wedding anniversary. I went for the classic favourites; chocolate or vanilla sponges with corresponding buttercream, all piped into roses. I am still mastering the art of piping roses, it's quite tricky but I'm definitely getting better :) 

I also had a go at mini cupcakes for the first time. They're absolutely tiny, and getting the baking time right was haaard. I got there eventually. I definitely need to practise these more..I'm sure my chief taste testers at The Mill won't mind :)

This week it's both my mums and dads birthdays, and I'm starting my new job, so I best get my bake on!

Afternoon tea?

Yesterday I did yet more baking, this time using the teacups I had been given for my birthday back in December. They are vanilla cupcakes with pink vanilla butter icing with edible glitter and an edible flower on top. I think they look rather pretty! Would be perfect accompanied with tea on a sunny spring afternoon..and that's what I shall be doing when I move back down south :)

Happy Sunday!