OutCakes

Glee Cake

2011-11-26T12:56:00.005Z

My daughter is absolutely mad about Glee and asked me to make her a Glee birthday cake. She actually helped to design her cake but left me to work out how to do it. To create the stage at the back I sliced the cake into three layers, then halved the top layer and put the halves on top of each other to make the back section of cake x4 layers tall, the front section just two layers. As in the series, we added gold stars as the character Rachel always puts a gold star after her name. The five main girls in the show are dressed like the WMHS cheerios, each holding a letter to spell my daughter's name. She even stressed which order to seat them and how they should have their hair done. Emily helped to brush colour over the floorboards of the stage and add the red curtain around the back. There was a lot of modelling on the characters but it was fun to see it all come together.

50th Birthday Cake

2011-10-02T15:23:00.006+01:00

This is a 9" hexagonal sponge, jam and butter cream cake I made for my friend, whose sister was about to celebrate her 50th birthday. I used a daisy rolling pin to pattern the icing around the cake board, covering the joins with flowers made from Mexican paste. I dusted over it with snowflake lustre powder to make the embossed daisy pattern stand out more. I also made the numbers for the 50 from white mexican paste, attached them to wires and covered them with white disco hologram powder. The numbers, ribbon loops, carnations, roses and gems are all in a flower pick. I piped a snail trail around the base of the cake before tying on the organza ribbon.

21st Birthday Cake

2011-07-29T17:51:00.006+01:00

This is a 10" sponge cake with jam and butter cream fillings. I was asked to model Sophie on the cake but her Mum also requested ribbon, flowers, a sparkly 21 sign and certain items around the cake. The birthday girl is also a mother and drives, so I included a set of car keys with a "best Mum" keyring attached. The chosen colour scheme was peaches and cream although I had to model some items in contrasting colours otherwise they wouldn't stand out. The board itself is iced in soft peach then rolled over with a silk pin to add texture. I had a photograph of Sophie to follow so I hope she can see some resemblance and finds it flattering. The champagne bottle candle was a finishing touch to the final cake, which they can light at the celebration party.

50th Birthday Cake

2011-07-09T18:45:00.002+01:00

I made this cake for my eldest brother's 50th . It was hard to think of what to put on it because he has quite a few hobbies so in the end I decided to make a hexagonal cake and show his life from birth through each decade until the present day. You cannot see one of the sides from these two images but one side shows him in a love heart with his wife Jackie. It ends with him singing as he is a member of his local male voice choir. At first I modelled all the heads, some of them only thin as they were to be attached to the sides with royal icing. The most time consuming was all the modelling. I used a circle of greaseproof paper positioned on the top as a guide when I was putting the lettering around the top. The stars and 50 are made from Mexican paste and allowed to harden on the wires before inserting them into the flower pick. I didn't want to model anything too delicate as we were driving to East Midlands with it and needed it to arrive intact. We had a firework candle at the party, but were asked to light it outside, (fire and safety regulationsand and all that!) I didn't get to eat a piece as we had a long drive back, but my brother and his family assured me it tasted delicious.

Liqourice allsorts cake

2011-04-03T15:30:00.003+01:00

I made this 8" sponge cake for my son's 13th birthday. As his favourite sweets are liqourice allsorts I decided to incorporate them into a design for his birthday cake. The sweets were easily stuck onto the ends of white wires inserted into a flower pick in the centre of the cake,together with the number 13 in yellow Mexican Paste. The other allsorts are stuck on with softened sugar paste. This is a really simple cake to make but extremely colourful, and could be adapted for other children/people using their favourite sweets.ie. Maltesers or wine gums. I added his name in black Mexican paste using the FMM Funky letters cutters. To finish it I attached a black Happy Birthday ribbon around the square board. All the family are enjoying the cake, but only Owen gets to eat the liqourice allsorts!

Simple Birthday cake

2011-03-23T19:14:00.002Z

This is an 8" square sponge cake I made recently for a friend of the family. It was his 82nd Birthday and I wanted to make a simple but elegant cake just to say Happy Birthday. I made the swags with my sugar craft gun then made the icing bows to place over the joins where the swags met. Using Royal Icing coloured blue I piped four small dots down from each bow. Royal icing was also used for piping the shell trail around the base of the cake and the icing on the board itself is crimped at the edges. I wanted it to be quite traditional but obviously didn't want to include flowers on a cake for a man. Although you cannot see it clearly in this photograph there is a sparkly blue ribbon around the cake board.

40th Birthday Cake

2011-02-27T09:44:00.004Z

This is a 9" square cake with jam and butter cream. I was asked to use a lilac and white colour scheme and to add a lilac ribbon around the cake itself. I used a photograph that was emailed to me to help with modelling the lady's family sitting on the front edge of the cake. I wanted to include the number 40 somewhere so I made the numbers from Mexican Paste covered with disco white hologram and left them to harden. When I was putting the children onto the cake I placed the numbers on their laps to look as if they were holding them up. I piped a shell trail around the base of the cake and added flowers using shades of lilac to finish the design.

First Birthday cake

2011-02-27T09:43:00.008Z

This is a number one cake for a girl's first birthday. I used a Wilton tin which has a nice shape and makes quite a large cake. This cake was chocolate with chocolate butter cream in the middle. I was asked to do a pink and white colour scheme and to include pink hearts and a pink rabbit. As you can see I crimped around the edge of the board and make an icing rope in pink to go between the cake and board. The idea for the rabbit came from a Maisie Parish book where it showed how to make brown rabbits to go on an Easter cake but I made mine in just pink and white and added a small pick containing hearts on wires dusted with Raspberry shimmer, disco white hologram and snowflake lustre, at the side of it to complement the hearts around the cake and board.

Cow Cake

2011-02-27T09:43:00.007Z

It was nice to be asked to make this cake because it was good fun. I looked at some ideas on google images and we decided to go for this design. This is a 9" sponge with just butter cream because the birthday girl didn't like jam. I used a new nailbrush to create the texture on the green icing before adding a few icing blossom flowers. I modelled the cow's head from white and pink icing, using a ball tool to create the nostrils and to make indents for the eyes. I modelled the udders by hand from a ball of pink icing then rolled the edges thinner using a cel stick. Finally I used a circle cutter to complete the udders and stuck in onto the front edge of the cake using sugar glue. All the legs were quite simple to make, leaving the belly plain for the message. I needed short lengths of raw spaghetti to help attach the ears and supported them with sponge until they had hardened. All the black markings were just roughly shaped by hand then I chose a spotty back and white ribbon which was the finishing touch.

Pony Cake

2010-12-28T15:46:00.003Z

I made this cake for my daughter as she was having a pony party with some of her school friends. The pony is made from sugar paste and based on an idea in a Maisie Parish book . This is like an earlier cake I had made for someone else which you can also see on this blog.

80th Birthday Cake

2010-12-28T15:45:00.005Z

A friend asked me to make this cake for her parents, who share the same birthday. In their younger days Pat was a seamstress and Bob was a coalman, so I modeled a Singer sewing machine and a sack of coal as requested. The style of the cake is based on another 80th cake I had done for my own father with playing cards on it, like a present bursting open. As my friend asked, I tried to make it very visual with contrasting colours in cerise, black and silver. I hope the cake helps to make it a celebration to remember.

Diamond Wedding Cake

2010-09-15T19:29:00.003+01:00

This is an 8" sponge cake I made for my sister-in-law, who wanted it as a surprise present for her parents, to help celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary. I bought the sparkly '60' on a wire and the 'diamond' effect trim to match it. She wanted to include two walking sticks on the cake so I tried to position them to look like a realistic pose, but also forming the shape of a heart between the couple. They are made in mexican paste so they harden. They may be a little large but I needed them to be tough enough not to break when I was attaching them to the figures.The letters are dusted in snowflake lustre powder ,as are the hearts on wires arranged around the number in the posy pick. The lady's glasses are made from a white paper coated wire. The diamond trim, which is stuck onto the ribbon with Royal Icing, is very sparkly, as you can see by the reflections it is creating around the cake board when we used a flash on the camera. I hope they enjoy their special day and that this cake brings a smile ,along with the many other surprises in store. It is quite something to reach such a milestone!

60th Birthday Cake

2010-08-15T18:42:00.002+01:00

This is a cake that is a variation of another cake I had done. The lady wanted it for her husband but requested a Manchester United F.C. shirt instead of a Liverpool F.C.one and on a laptop instead of with a football. She also specified which drink cans to model. I made the laptop with flower paste mixed with modelling paste to give it more strength and dried it over a folded piece of card to get the right angle. It was fun making the cans and other objects around him. I hope I didn't make too many cans of drink as he may think it gives the wrong impression of him to his friends! The smaller stars around the sign are coated in disco white hologram powder which will give it some sparkle under lighting at the evening celebration. As the top is all on a cake card it can be removed and saved as a keepsake. The icing rope covers the edge between the top card and the cake itself. If you want to see the original cake design look up 21st cakes in the side bar.

Graduation Cake

2010-07-24T19:14:00.003+01:00

This is a 9" square sponge cake a lady asked me to make for her husband who, as a mature student, had just graduated from John Moore's University to become a social worker. The main colours were based on the navy cap and gown with grey sash that he wore at the graduation ceremony. He also wore a pale blue shirt so I restricted my colours to grey, navy and pale blue. I used a black edible food pen to write suitable titles onto the books I modelled to place under his feet and on the cake itself. I piped around the base of the cake and attached a navy blue ribbon with softened sugar paste. I piped the message onto a white scroll of icing using Royal Icing coloured navy, then attached it to the top with boiled water. Around the board I made a tiled pattern to contrast with the smooth finish on the cake. The sparkly stars are just a finishing touch to a celebration cake for a great achievement.

Posy of flowers Cake

2010-07-16T19:27:00.003+01:00

This is an 8" sponge cake I made for my friend whose nan was celebrating her 88th birthday. Her favourite colour is lilac so I chose lilac ribbons then decided to complement the lilac with soft peach roses dusted with ruby powder . I modeled some deeper lilac fantasy flowers with cotton stamens dusted with grape shimmer and interspersed them with the roses, ribbons and pearls. I used some of the lilac ribbon to wrap around the posy pick and create two tails . The flowers take a lot of time to make but I wanted it to be an elegant cake for a special celebration.

Pokemon Cake

2010-06-27T19:02:00.005+01:00

This is a stacked cake with a 9" sponge cake on the bottom tier and a 6" cake on top that I made for my youngest son's birthday. It was fun for Joseph to help design his cake and choose which Pokemon characters he wanted to include on it. I bet you may be able to guess which is which by their names :- Dugtrio, Lugia, Tangela, Spinark and Ditto. Joseph modelled Ditto by himself. Joseph is painted onto the sign in edible black in Unknown Pokemon writing. I modelled him sitting on the top wearing an 'Ash' cap and holding his Pokeball. Lugia's wings were made separately then attached last with Royal icing and supported with sponge until it had set. I used green and red on his top to match in with the lower tier. Joseph and his friends enjoyed pulling everything off and eating all the characters before starting on the cake itself!

Red Roses Cake

2010-06-25T22:10:00.002+01:00

I was asked to make this 8" round sponge cake for a lady who loves red roses and had been at a party where I had made the pink roses and carnations cake. This time I only made red roses, ribbon loops, pearls and rose leaves. I was asked to give it an organza ribbon and bow, so I offset the cake towards the back of the cake drum to leave room for the bow ans some smaller rose buds and jewels. Although it is quite time-consuming, I really enjoy making flowers from Petal Paste, and the leaves are brushed with confectioner's glaze to give them a sheen.

Roses and carnations

2010-05-27T20:41:00.006+01:00

This is a hexagonal sponge cake with jam and buttercream filling. I made the 5 roses and 3 carnations in advance, as well as some ribbon loops and pearls on wires. I used a posy pick to arrange them on the top of the cake but stuck the side ones into a small piece of modelling paste after having piped a shell trail around the cake. The pink organza ribbon is simply tied around the sides with a bow at the front. Once the flowers have been made it is very simple to create a finished cake. I wanted to create a simple but elegant cake which I hope I achieved.

Decorator's Cake

2010-05-13T22:41:00.005+01:00

I made this 9" sponge cake for a man who ran his own decorating business. I wanted to put his age on the middle of the cake but decided to model him trying to roll over it in red paint , as many of us prefer to try and blot it out when we reach the big 4 0 ! Making all the decorating equipment was fun and I was under instruction to include a small stereo as he always listens to the radio while he works. There was to be NO blue on this cake as he supports Liverpool FC so I opted for a red cake with brown floorboard effect on the cake board. I didn't want to pipe icing between the cake and board because it needed to look like floor straight onto wall of cake so I made sure the icing joined very neatly together.

21st birthday cake

2010-04-29T21:04:00.004+01:00

This is an 8" sponge cake I made for a man's 21st birthday. The only criteria I was given was that he drank lager and was a Liverpool football club supporter. I looked up what the 2010 kit top was and copied it on my figure, modelling him sitting in a chair relaxing with some cans of Stella Artois. I mainly used white and red and did his name in black to complement the black of the armchair. As the top is all on a card, they can remove it prior to cutting and keep it as a momento of their celebrations. I made an icing rope to cover where the card sits on the top of the cake. It was pretty fiddly painting names on the kit, cans and newspaper so I hope they can recognise them!

First Birthday

2010-04-18T19:16:00.010+01:00

This was a 9 inch sponge cake I was asked to make for a friend's grandson. I would have liked to have spent a little more time on it but my mum passed away a week ago and my heart wasn't in it. She wanted a blue and white cake on a teddy theme so I modelled a teddy bear for the middle. The teddy bears on each corner of the board are from Patchwork Cutters set Make a Cradle. I embossed the board with baby items and attached a teddy ribbon all around using softened sugarpaste and held it in place with a pin or two until it had set. I made the five building blocks to create the name and embossed the other four sides of each block with the same pictures I put on the board. The number 1 is dusted in white disco hologram powder and the cake itself dusted in snowflake lustre .

Girl reading

2010-03-14T18:20:00.002Z

I attended a workshop at the Guild which was led by Lorraine Mckay. I covered the drum board the night before and gave it a wooden floorboards look using a knife and brushing it with a wash of brown/orange foodcolour. The most difficult parts were the hands and the face. You can see from the photo that she even has teeth inside her mouth. She doesn't quite have the right expression on her face but I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and Lorraine made it look so easy. I have picked up plenty of tips which I'm sure will come in very useful.

Littlest Pet Shop Cake

2010-02-19T15:44:00.006Z

This is an 8" sponge cake I made for my friend's daughter. She is into Littlest Pet Shop and also liked the Bratz cake I had made previously, so I used the colours lilac and pink , although I deepened the shades because the squirrel is quite pale and I wanted a contrast to make it stand out more. The character is a squirrel although I added a pink bow to make it a little more girlie. The squirrel is a runout in Royal Icing , which I made a week earlier and left to set before attaching to the cake. I wanted to bring the colour scheme together more so made the two-tone flowers for the top and sides as well as the pink hearts around the board.

Tiara Cake

2010-02-12T16:18:00.003Z

This was an interesting challenge to make a tiara that was entirely edible to sit on a regal type cake. I made Mexican paste as it would dry hard and quickly too. I drew my pattern onto paper then stuck it onto a cylinder. I then covered the pattern in parchment paper and started to create the shapes using a sugar craft gun. Once it was dry I sprayed it with gold edible lustre spray. Last of all I added silver dragees and a jelly bean , sticking them with gold coloured royal icing. As you can see from the photo I quilted the cake , added a square of purple icing which I trimmed with gold and embossed. Finally I made four tassels from icing and dusted them gold before attaching them to the sides. The tiara is stuck on using royal icing.

Christmas tree Xmas Cake

2009-12-27T17:47:00.005Z

I made this Christmas cake for my parents. It is also my mum's birthday on Christmas day so another reason for a cake. This year I used Lindy Smith's recipe for the fruit cake .I made a smaller cake for my own family and having already tasted it, I guarantee that the cake is moist and delicious. I marzipanned and iced it and piped around the join between cake and board. I used a triple holly cutter to make all the leaves in three different shades of green then added small red and gold balls and a star fro the tree. I added a trunk, pot with ribbon and stars to finish it off. Also,I cut out smaller trees in two shades of green for around the sides. I embossed the board icing with a holly pattern rolling pin. It was fairly simple to make , and my two youngest children helped rolling all the balls. The idea for this cake came from a Christmas card my husband brought home from work.

Pony and rosette cake

2009-12-20T18:19:00.005Z

This is an 8" sponge cake I made for a girl who was having a riding party. Her mum had ordered some pink and purple rosettes for the party so I wanted to include a rosette on the cake with the number on. I modelled the pony in sugar paste and also a wooden style fence around the sides. I made the horse shoes in grey sugar paste by cutting out circles then smaller circles within them, marking the nail holes with a piece of spaghetti, then dusting them with silver edible powder. The rosette was simply made from different sized circles, with the edges frilled using a cocktail stick then arranged one on top of the other. To finish it off I added some apples, grass and blossom flowers. You could alter the colours of the pony as you liked. If I did another pony I might make the tail,fringe and mane in black instead. I brushed over the eyes with confectioner's glaze to add a little shine.

Fairy Castle Cake

2009-11-28T16:45:00.002Z

This is an 8" sponge cake I made for my daughter's birthday. As you can see from the photo I crimped the top edge of the cake and made lots of flowers and blossoms to cover the join and also to make a border around the fairy castle. I created a cobblestone pattern on the board which is covered with a swirled mixture of pink and white icing. I dusted the cake with snowflake lustre powder and also sprinkled the top with a tiny amount of neon pink disco hologram dust. The fairy castle is a ceramic money box that we wanted her to have as a keepsake.

Bratz Birthday cake

2009-11-01T15:40:00.005Z

This is the cake I made for my niece's 5th birthday. She is all into Bratz this year so I looked up some pictures on a colouring website and we chose one for her cake. I did a run out of the picture and also one of her name in a Bratz style font. I wanted to include the little stars around the 'halo' so made more stars of different colours and sizes to spread around the cake. The join between cake and board is covered with some rope icing and a sparkly star stuck to each corner to finish it off neatly. The stars and number five on wires I made from Mexican paste and stuck them into a posy pick within a larger star. The cake itself is a 10" x 12" sponge with jam and butter cream layers. This is only the second time I have used run outs on a cake but I am always relieved when they stay in one piece ! I can't wait to see her face when she sees it.

Engagement Cake

2009-10-09T21:13:00.002+01:00

I made this 12" square cake for a friend's grandson, who was getting engaged. They didn't want anything too fussy or OTT but rather preferred a quite simple but elegant design. I made icing ribbons to create a parcel effect and supported the bow with sponge while it hardened. I dusted the edges of a sugar paste plaque with Royal gold powder and put the happy couple's names on it.

Polar bear cake

2009-10-05T19:59:00.002+01:00

Last Christmas I made two of these cakes as presents for friends. The cake was of course Christmas cake laced with brandy with marzipan and fondant icing. Someone asked me about how I did it so I am putting it on my blog for them to read. This cake design is from one of Karen Davies books 'A Cake for Christmas'. The board is iced and then textured by hitting it all over with a brand new nail brush. I then made the peaks of ice from Mexican paste which dries very hard. They are dusted at the tips with blue edible powder then all over with snowflake lustre powder before being left to harden on a sponge pad. The polar bears are just modeled from sugar paste and positioned on the board with Royal Icing. The join between the cake and board is roughly covered with Royal Icing then sprinkled with Magic Sparkles before it set. To create the colour change on the cake itself I sprayed the 'snow' with PME pearl edible lustre spray but tilted the cake board slightly so that some of the spay wafted upwards onto some of the blue 'sky'. The snowflakes are also from Mexican Paste stuck on with Royal Icing. The great part is that because you halve your cake diagonally you can make two cakes from the two halves.

80th magic theme cake

2009-09-26T14:07:00.003+01:00

Last year I made my dad a birthday cake on a magic theme, this year is his 80th birthday so once again I needed to create a cake with cards on it. I used an idea of an exploding parcel from the Planet Cake book but adapted it for my own purposes. Marion Frost's new Card set of Patchwork Cutters came in very handy too. Although you cannot see from the picture angle, each white ribbon has a club, heart, spade and diamond on it. I scanned a photograph of my dad 'Bob Ostin' as a young magician to add to this entry. He has written a couple of books, the first of which is dedicated to me and my brothers, so here I want to pay tribute to my dad and his contribution to magic over the years.

Jetsetter's 40th cake

2009-09-18T20:03:00.006+01:00

This cake was for a lady who loves going away on foreign holidays. It needed to be a pink and white cake with a model plane on it too. I decided to make a suitcase cake and modeled the plane on the Britannia colours. To bring those colours down around the cake I made some flip flops in red and blue then added pink and white flowers. I made Mexican paste for the straps as it is strong and also hardens quite quickly, supporting the straps with pieces of foam until they had hardened completely. The 'post' that goes between the toes is a short cylinder of Mexican paste with a piece of raw spaghetti inside inserted into the soles to provide the support needed to attach the straps to. I embossed a flower pattern onto the flip flops for extra detail and also modeled a bottle of suncream to fill space on the opposite side of the cake board. The luggage label is made from sugar paste then I piped on the message with blue Royal Icing.

Funny face cupcakes

2009-08-05T18:00:00.005+01:00

I wanted to spend some creative time with my daughter,who loves baking too. We were inspired by a page in the "Planet Cake" book by Paris Cutler. It was very simple to cover each cupcake with butter cream and a circle of flesh coloured paste. Boys got ears and girls got hair accessories. Emily was keen for each one to have a different look and expression, although she did get rather carried away with the freckles which she painted on with a brush and one of those bobble hats looks like it has a pokemon ball on the top.

Silver Wedding Anniversary cake and cupcakes

2009-08-01T17:47:00.008+01:00

I was asked to make this silver wedding anniversary cake for a family friend. She had browsed the web and emailed me a couple of designs they liked so we agreed on this design. The original design had roses and crocus flowers but as it is August I made carnations instead of the Spring crocus. The corner flower arrangements consist of looped ribbons, clear hearts on silver wires, roses, rose leaves and carnations. Each side of the cake has four icing drapes joined with silver hearts and four piped dots coming down from each heart. I made the plaque separately and piped the message on in lilac Royal Icing then later attached it to the cake with a little softened sugar paste.
To decorate the cupcakes I rolled out lilac icing then rolled a scroll pattern onto it. I cut circles from this for each cupcake then dusted it with snowflake lustre powder to show up the pattern more. I added two pink hearts and two silver hearts on top in a four- leaf clover pattern .

Wedding cake and cupcakes

2009-07-27T09:39:00.006+01:00

A lady asked me to make their wedding cake. They wanted a chocolate cake at the top and 40 cupcakes for the wedding guests. I was given a sample napkin so that I could match in the colours with the tableware. Turquoise, ivory and brown for the chocolate theme. I bought a mirror plate and smaller sized glass plates and bowls to make my own stand. Each bowl contains some blue gel balls and silk ivory roses and pearls on wires to complement the design. I made roses in ivory and dusted them with 'pearlised toffee 'powder,ivory gold edged ribbon loops,pearls on wires and blue fantasy flowers with pearl cotton stamens. To add extra blue I used blue beads and threaded them onto wires which I shaped to add to the top. More blue was used as I made the scroll patterns to create a border around the side.
The cupcakes were also chocolate with chocolate buttercream swirls. I modeled 40 sugar paste flowers in blue and ivory with 'ivory disco hologram' sparkles brushed on the centres. I placed a single flower on the top of each cupcake.
The finished cake worked well with all the colours on the table and I'm sure any chocoholic was in heaven because the smell of chocolate was delicious.
Congratulations to Steve and Clare on your marriage on Saturday 25th July 2009. All our best wishes for your future together.

21st birthday cake

2009-07-19T18:23:00.005+01:00

I was asked to make this cake and model the girl wearing a dress that she is fond of. They wanted stars and the number 21 on wires too. I used pink and lilac sugar paste as they had also ordered balloons in those particular colours for the night. I got a firework candle to go on the cake but left it for them to decide where to place it. On top of the cake I modeled some 'ghd' straighteners, make-up bag,mobile phone,ipod,brush,towel and bottle of wine. Kayleigh is sitting, nails painted, with her handbag by her side, ready for an evening out. As the dress is a halter neck style, I had to make her in three separate pieces, torso and legs, shoulders and arms, then finally the head.

Christening cake

2009-07-04T20:16:00.006+01:00

hThis is a 12" sponge cake for a little girl's christening. I embossed the board with Patchwork Cutters Nursery Lion set then dusted it with snowflake lustre powder. I made six frills to go on the sides and added bows at each join. The top edge of the frills and the join between the cake and board are piped with a shell pattern using softened sugar paste. I used a Jem mould to make the sleeping baby ,dusted her cheeks,painted her eyelashes and eyebrows then added sugar paste hair in strands . Her dress took a while,adding layers then giving the top of her dress a silk texture and brushing over it with white satin powder. To finish it off I made some thin ties and a bow for the back. Babies always look so sweet, especially when they're asleep!

Pig themed cake

2009-06-27T16:06:00.004+01:00

Joseph is mad about pigs and wanted a pig cake. I made two cakes, a round and a smaller square cake, then made them into the number nine. The cut out circle in the number is only half the depth of the cake and I used melted chocolate to create the mud bath and splashes. As you can see they are sunbathing and relaxing while their 'piglets' play and snack below. I modeled some doughnuts for 'mum and dad'. I made the pig pen from Mexican paste shaped and dried to look like corrugated metal.
The cake is entirely edible. We had leftover coloured icing so I baked some cupcakes and made some pig faces to top them, with some help from Joseph and his sister Emily. They were very simple and quick to make. The board is covered with yellow icing then I marked lines randomly all over it to look like straw then later brushed over it with darker yellow food colour. The apples and sunglasses are painted over with confectioner's glaze to make them shiny. I think mother pig should reapply her suncream because she is starting to burn. As Joseph is always saying "PIGS RULE!"

Ballerina cake

2009-06-17T11:31:00.005+01:00

This is the second ballerina cake I have been asked to make. I decided to use a petal shaped drum board this time and think it complements the shape of the dress much more than a plain circular board. I still need to practice modeling hands but I prefer the face on this one.When I was making her shawl I rolled the icing using a silk textured rolling pin then dusted it with white satin powder.
Her ballet shoes were painted on with Raspberry shimmer powder and the straps I made from thinly rolled out strings of icing.
Next week I am going to make an original pig-themed cake for my son's 9th birthday, so watch this space...

Rose cupcakes

2009-05-26T18:15:00.004+01:00

This was an idea as a little extra gift for a friend's birthday. She really likes roses so I thought they would make a nice surprise. They were very quick and easy to do using a cupcake mould. I then dusted the roses and leaves and added 'magic sparkles' around the edges.

Xbox Guitar Hero cake

2009-05-22T16:18:00.008+01:00

I was asked to make a cake to celebrate a 21st birthday. It was a choice between the cake as the numbers 21 or an xbox rock band theme. We chose the latter because I thought it would be more fun to personalize.
The logo in the middle is from a band he likes and I had to work out the best way to do this. Eventually I made a stencil and coloured royal icing to use over it. I added the sparkly number 21 after it had set.
The guitar was made using a patchwork cutter of an electric guitar then adding the coloured buttons to the neck of the guitar,the trickiest part was trying to colour it. To decorate the sides I wanted to match in the orange and made circles on the corners like buttons on the xbox guitar. I cut musical notes from Mexican paste in between.
James is modelled sitting on a box playing on the xbox drum kit. It was difficult to know exactly what it looks like because I don't own one and the pictures on the box in the 'Game' store are not detailed enough, however a bloke in the shop at the time tried to fill in the blanks for me.

Beetle car wedding topper

2009-05-03T15:22:00.005+01:00

This was what I made at a Debbie Brown workshop yesterday. There were twenty of us all making a Beetle car with a bride and groom. It was hard to get it all done in the time we had so I had to finish it this morning at home.The design is in her new book "Dream Wedding Cakes". Mine looks like it's got a flat tyre because I should have left it longer to harden more before I attached it to the car. Adding the boot and cans to the bumper with thread was extremely fiddly and time-consuming,but definitely adds to the charm of the piece. I reckon my couple must have parked up,otherwise he certainly isn't keeping his eyes on the road! It is hard to see from the photo but I dusted the car with snowflake lustre powder and added some white magic sparkles to the headlights too.Debbie Brown makes modelling hands and faces seem so simple but I've got years of practice to get to that stage...

Easter Cake

2009-04-10T10:37:00.002+01:00

I made a lot of the pieces for this cake at cake decorating class. It is from a design by Maisie Parrish. I didn't want a fruit cake so I only made the cake itself three days before Easter.The basket is made with 9 short lengths of raw spaghetti pushed into a disc if icing then long strings of icing woven between them. I filled mine with mini eggs for the children to share. The daffodils on the top were also made in class and I used a flower pick to add them to my cake. It is my sister-in-law's birthday on Easter Day this year so I put her name on it as the family will be all together on Sunday. All the chicks,mother and foliage is made from modelling paste, half sugarpaste,half flower paste so that it holds its shape better. The small daffodils took a while to make but were very effective on the sides.

Sea Cadet cake

2009-04-03T17:41:00.002+01:00

This is the cake I made for my son's 11th birthday. He attends Sea cadets twice a week so I wanted to do a nautical theme. I piped a 'runout' of their emblem which says Blackcap, the name of their unit. The board is iced with chocolate flavoured icing and embossed to look like the deck. I made the figure in uniform saluting with neatly pressed trousers and used confectioner's glaze to give him very shiny boots, as Owen is forever polishing his boots.To finish it off,although not clear from the photo angle, I modelled from icing some rope,a quayside bollard,a seagull,and the obligatory mop and bucket to keep things shipshape. A sign on the 'stern' points up with an arrow and reads 'this way to the poop deck'.The cake itself is chocolate flavoured.

Mothers' Day Cake

2009-03-21T17:36:00.004Z

I made the bell at cake decorating class and then used the flowers I had made previously,together with some newer ones and bows to fill the bell shape. To make the 'lace' trim for it and also to place around the edge of the card, I piped the pieces onto a sheet of acetate. Once they were completely dry and hardened, I very carefully peeled them off and attached them with a little Royal icing, some as a lace trim for the bell and some to go around the card to finish off the edge. It will be possible to remove the cake card from the top in order to keep it before eating the cake itself. My daughter was playing with some spare icing and my cutters and she said Grandma would really like some hearts on her cake too,so that's what we did.

Playboy Bunny cake

2009-03-15T18:41:00.003Z

This was for a girl's 18th birthday party. They asked me to make a cake in the shape of the playboy bunny and something glitzy. I made a 12 inch square cake and cut out the head/tie and ears separately. The trickiest part was icing it in one piece ,especially around the ears and tie. Icing the board too was challenging as I wanted a good join so that there would be no need to pipe around the join which, I felt , wouldn't look as good. The lettering is from the funky set and the new lower case set.The stars are dusted with flash white, the bunny and lettering with disco hologram "way too pink", and the bow tie with disco hologram "midnight". I managed to purchase some jazzy pink ribbon as a trim for the board so it only really used three colours in all.

Rag Doll cake

2009-02-27T19:06:00.002Z

We were asked to take a muffin and a pudding bowl cake to our cake decorating class. This was what we managed to create in one evening. Her body is the pudding bowl cake and her head is made from the muffin. It was easier to make the hands larger and with less detail as she is only meant to be a doll. The edges of her dress are just crimped and some patchwork cutters used to emboss a bit of detail onto it. I painted stripes on her tights later with dusting colour raspberry shimmer. Next time I think I will spend more time on the hair and perhaps make plaits.

Pokemon cake

2009-02-14T12:54:00.002Z

This was for my son's birthday. He was mad about Pokemon and wanted this particular character on his cake. I traced the picture from one of his magazines then used it to make a template for the cake. I tried to mix the right colours and this was the result. All his friends knew straight away who it was so that was reassuring.

Basket of chocolates

2009-02-14T11:06:00.004Z

I was asked to make a birthday cake for a lady. As it was close to valentine's day I thought it would be rather sweet to make a basket of chocolates. The brown sugarpaste actually tastes of chocolate and the cake itself is chocolate flavoured. I used chocolate magic sparkles between the chocolates and on the numbers too but you can't really appreciate them in this photograph. When the cake is under a light they look lovely. I made a gift tag for her name and dried it over some foam to give it some shape. I made an icing cord and bow to attach it to the side of the basket. This way she can eat the chocolates and the cake too, double the treat!

Hippo in a spa

2009-02-08T15:14:00.005Z

As a member of the British Sugarcraft Guild you can attend monthly demonstrations, and also you can pay to participate in workshop days run by various talented sugarcrafters. Yesterday I spent a most enjoyable day at a Maisie Parrish workshop. This cake was what each of us made, although every one looked slightly different. Maisie was a lovely lady with a great sense of humour. I have admired her style and in fact the cake on my blog heading was based on one of Maisie's designs from one of her books called Cakes with Character. My hippo is a bit darker grey than I wanted so I would make it lighter next time, although I would worry about insulting someone by giving them a fat hippo cake!?She is sweet though, I think I'll name her Harriet.

Stargazer lily

2009-02-08T15:12:00.005Z

This was a project at cake decorating class. It took quite a while to make all the petals from flower paste and then I left them for a few days to completely harden before I dusted them and taped them together. One of my friends is a florist, and she immediately recognized what flower it was, so that was good.

Santa Christmas cake

2008-12-28T15:27:00.003Z

This was a Christmas present for my parents. It was from a Karen Davies design. The original design used x3 pots of Magic Sparkles on the cake itself, between the ribbons and stars. I used pearl lustre spray instead as I didn't think they would want to eat all those sparkles. This was a fruit cake laced with brandy, then marzipaned and iced. It took more time making all the little parcels than the cake itself. It's nearly New Year and they still haven't cut into it. They say it looks too nice to eat!

Holly cake

2008-12-28T15:16:00.005Z

I wanted to make a sponge Christmas cake for an Aunt. As you can imagine , with four children, the run-up to Christmas is extremely hectic. This needed to be a simple cake that I could decorate quickly. I used a garrett frill cutter for the five frills then used the same cutter without its inner piece to make a plaque for the centre of the cake. I dusted the board, frills and plaque with snowflake lustre powder. I piped the message and added the holly leaves and berries. Finally I softened sugar paste and piped a snail trail around the tops of the frills and between the cake and board.

Sleeping Beauty

2008-11-30T20:30:00.003Z

My daughter was looking through my cake books and chose a sleeping beauty cake for her sixth birthday. I had to make the headboard, footboard and side bed pieces from Pastillage. I did them a week in advance to give them time to harden fully. The rest of the cake was fairly straightforward. The most awkward part was getting the rose stand to stay upright and stay there until it set. It was fun making the patterns on the ends of the carpet and modeling her hair was simple using my sugar craft gun.

shoes cake.

2008-11-15T18:21:00.005Z

I made this cake for someone who had already seen a shoe cake on this blog. They liked the lilac colours so I used the same colours for the shoes but instead of making coloured bags and shoes for around the sides, I imprinted them on the iced board itself. You obviously have to do this when the icing is still soft. I dusted it with snowflake lustre powder so that it would show up more.

Pretty fairy.

2008-11-15T18:07:00.002Z

Last week at cake decorating class we made these little fairies. The skirt is made from a length of wired ribbon with a frilled underskirt made from sugar paste. It was quite straightforward to make, the only drawback being that it tended to topple over because it was on a board and there was no support right the way through. I used softened sugar paste to pipe on her hair and then added more little stars. Next week I am making a birthday cake for a friend and will use part of her for the top of the cake. I felt her legs were too large so I'll model new legs and underskirt and show you her again once she is sitting on a cake. She's quite cute really, despite not being totally edible.

Baby in a cot

2008-11-08T17:55:00.005Z

It took two weeks at cake decorating class to make this cot with baby. The baby and teddy were made using a Karen Davies mould. The bars of the cot and headboard are made using Mexican paste. We took longer to complete these because we needed to make sure the pieces had hardened enough before we assembled them. It was still quite a rush to get it finished. If I make another one of these, I would spend longer adding more detail, perhaps an extra frill, and more care over the canopy with the bow made from icing instead of ribbon. Some people at the class used material instead of icing for the canopy and said it was easier but I prefer to keep everything edible wherever possible.

When Santa got stuck up the chimney.

2008-11-08T14:28:00.005Z

Have a go night at the Wirral branch of the British Sugarcraft Guild.
I didn't know quite what to expect but really enjoyed a fun evening.
This is a lovely idea for a Christmas gift with a small 2" square Christmas cake,marzipanned and iced as the chimney itself. It is amazing that although about 40 of us made the same thing, each one was a little different. I will definitely be making more of these.

Peppa pig cake

2008-11-01T18:08:00.005Z

I made this Peppa pig cake for my niece. She is mad about Peppa pig.
The characters Peppa and George are modeled on a 5inch thin card so that they can be kept,and easily removed when the cake is eaten. I originally was going to ice the cake in pink but changed my mind after I'd made the yellow balloon with her age on. The present was a necessity so that I had a support for the balloon on a wire.I think it worked out better and linked in with the centre piece. The pink ribbon goes with the characters themselves. Peppa pig's mouth is more of a bright pink colour, but I did not have that colour at the time. That will be another colour I need to invest in. I made all the daisies in advance and am pleased with the overall bright and colourful finished cake. The teddies and birds on the board are impressions made using some Patchwork cutters from the Make a Cradle set.

2008-11-01T18:07:00.001Z

Ballerina cake.

2008-10-25T19:14:00.004+01:00

This cake is based on a design in a Debbie Brown book. I made this cake for a colleague's daughter who was having a dancing theme birthday party. It took a lot of time making all the frills, adding extra white sugar paste after each layer to create the gradually changing colour effect. It was quite fiddly styling her hair and adding all the blossom flowers around her head. Although you cannot see it from the picture, the top of her white skirt is dusted with a lustre powder called moonbeams with ruby.

Sugar craft roses and carnations

2008-10-17T20:02:00.006+01:00

These are the roses and carnations I made at cake decorating class. Using flower paste to make the flowers, I later dusted them with colour and arranged them together with florist tape. We were also shown how to make ribbon loops to add to our flower arrangements. I found it quite relaxing and will certainly have a go at making more flowers and experimenting with different flower cutters.

Mermaid cake

2008-10-12T15:44:00.005+01:00

A mermaid cake for a friend whose daughter is in the same class as mine. It was the first time I had used Flower paste mixed with Regalice to make models for a cake. Yet another adaptation of a Debbie Brown design. Although it is difficult to see from the picture, I marbled some blue and green paste to get an undersea kind of swirly pattern. I wanted to use shells of icing for the number five and added sparkly dust and silver dragees to make it a little more 'magical'.

Little Bo Peep

2008-10-12T15:30:00.007+01:00

This was for my daughter's 5th birthday. This was a Debbie Brown design which looked very easy. It was one of the earlier cakes I have made. The cake itself was baked in a Pyrex bowl. I had very little cake decorating equipment at the time and only 3 or 4 food colours. It was quite simple to model the sheep heads and their wool was piped on with royal icing.

Gardener's cake

2008-10-07T20:33:00.005+01:00

An accident-prone gardener cake. I made this cake for a friend's husband who is a keen gardener but rather accident- prone, hence the bandaged hand and hose tangled around his ankle. I really enjoyed all the modeling involved making the plant pots, watering can, various garden tools and topiary. My sugar craft gun was extremely useful for the hose, handles and bands around the tops of the pots. I used brown sugar for the soil. To make the silver metallic look I modeled in grey sugar paste then sprayed with pearl edible lustre , easier than using white and having to paint it all carefully with silver edible colour.

2008-10-05T18:04:00.006+01:00

Intermediate cake decorating course. First lesson.

A sleeping baby.I could have made this type or a sitting up baby tipping talc on itself. This is my effort. I think I made the bottom too big . Making things in scale and proportion can be difficult.I suppose it improves with experience. The skin of face and hands were made from natural marzipan coloured with paprika and pink. They seem to have gone rather shiny,I'm afraid but I couldn't get the picture any better. She is cuddling a little teddy bear. I enjoyed doing the little tufts of hair-quite cute.Our teacher is well-known in the cake decorating world...Karen Davies. She has written some books and produces some very useful moulds. I'm looking forward to next week's lesson.

Ladies' shoes

2008-10-05T13:42:00.005+01:00

Ladies shoes. I attended an evening course on shoes made from fondant. I have a friend who owns countless pairs of shoes so I knew it would come in handy. These cakes were both made quite easily and the shoes were made from a kit you can buy.For the 40th birthday cake I used the shoes to attach some sparkly numbers. I also used Patchwork cutter set for ladies accessories and numbers. To give the shoes an extra shine I sprayed them with Pearl Lustre Spray.

Number One cake

2008-10-05T13:03:00.006+01:00

A first birthday cake for a little boy.I used a Wilton cake tin which makes a fairly large cake. This was a chocolate cake. I had to pipe the happy birthday sign so I did both the sign and the name onto pieces of icing so that I could make sure they were OK before attaching them to the cake with softened sugar paste. The rope edging was made using my sugar craft gun.It is one of the most useful pieces of equipment I have bought and saves a lot of time.The Caterpillar is from a dvd that was the child's favourite.

Playing cards cake

2008-10-05T12:46:00.005+01:00

My dad is a magician.For his birthday I wanted a themed cake which reminded me of all the card tricks he practices on a green baize table.
I bought a packet of 10 chocolate playing cards, however one unfortunately got eaten so I had to cut the square cake to make a nine sided cake. The cards on the top were made from Mexican paste using a set from Kitbox. I made the spray of card signs stuck into a flower pick and disguised the base of it with some chocolate dice.He loved it but was reluctant to actually cut it and eat it until he'd shown his friends. The grandchildren had already eyed up all those chocolate extras !They were disappointed to say the least. I had seen Nadia Johnson from Kitbox do a demonstration which inspired me to have a go at this type of cake. It was very simple to make but I think quite effective . I hope you agree.

Old lady on laptop

2008-10-04T19:31:00.006+01:00

I was asked to make a birthday cake for an elderly lady who happened to be going on a course to learn to use a laptop.Very easy simple round cake and the top I did separately on a thin card which was added last and piped around.She kept the top as a keepsake. I had done an evening class on a lady sitting in an armchair and adapted it, modeling it on Edith herself and replacing knitting with a laptop.The flowers were from Mexican paste with small gold dragees in their centres.

Bathtime cake

2008-10-04T19:11:00.007+01:00

This cake was for my husband's birthday.It was based on a design in a Debbie Brown book.May I point out that I bare no resemblance to the woman in the bath!
The cake was baked in an oval Pyrex dish to get the bath shape.The towels, carpet an ducks were fairly straightforward but the taps were quite fiddly.To get the water I used royal icing coloured blue then later went over it with piping gel.

Suitcase cake

2008-10-04T14:47:00.007+01:00

I just love making cakes. A friend asked me if I could make a cake for someone who was emigrating to Australia. She wanted a chocolate cake and so I thought a suitcase cake would work.I found it hard to make the right shade of blue for the flag.This was one of the earlier cakes that I did before I discovered all the amazing tools and equipment available to cake decorating fanatics, so this probably took me lots longer to make than necessary. All those little stitch marks on the straps done individually with a cocktail stick before I found that most wonderful stitching wheel tool.
It was after this effort that I decided to enroll on some courses to improve and learn more about the fascinating world of sugarcraft.