Garden Party

So, my poor blog has got very behind! If I've learnt one thing this last few months, it's that being pregnant makes you lazy!

Way back in September, my sister bought me an amazing book called Hello Cupcake. I'm writing this on my iPad and have no idea how to post a link so if you want it, you'll have to get on Amazon yourself and look for it! The reason for her generosity was simply that she wanted a particular design making for her birthday. And here it is.... Ooops! I can add photos, but have no idea how to put them where I want them so will have to see where they end up!

Now the lovely thing about this book, is that a lot of the bits and pieces on the cakes are made from sweeties. Beats buying or mixing loads of different coloured fondants. The only tricky thing is that it's an American book and Americans must be more accepting of E Numbers than us! For example, the pea pods in the book are made from green Opal Fruits (Starburst sorry) but a good old British green opal fruit is virtually white! I ended up using revolting green Hubba Bubba instead!
Still, it's an amazing book with great tips. I should tell you that the cakes in the book are in a beautiful wooden box. Couldn't stretch to that so a roasting tin with foil on it had to do.

I'll leave you there with apologies for the lack of formatting. If this looks rubbish when I publish it then it's back to the Mac I go for next time. I'll try and catch up with outstanding posts before we get too far into the new year.

All good wishes for 2012, Laura xxx

Belated Blogging ...

All boxed up and ready to go

This week I've discovered a gorgeous new blog called Bustle and Sew. The writer of said blog is lovely. I e mailed her to ask a question about her little mouse pattern and she sent me the loveliest reply back straight away. I shall be attempting those mice over the weekend . Am getting to quite enjoy the sewing machine although it's not natural talent I have, that's for sure!

Anyway, whilst reading this blog, I realised to my shame how behind I had got with mine so here is a catch up...

Custard Tart

I made this Raspberry and Thyme Custard Tart from Delicious Magazine for desert after an Indian themed dinner party Jeff and I had for some friends. Yes, I know, it's not remotley Indian but it was gorgeous! If I say so myself it was pretty damn perfect. As is my usual trait when full of wine after a dinner party, I just dished it out without photographing it! Her is a rather sad picture of a left over piece!!!

It was a masterpiece - honestly!

Hedgehogs

Since I last blogged, it has also been my birthday and at the last minute I realised my nieces would be disappointed if I hadn't baked so I whipped up these hedgehogs...

Happy Birthday to Me, Can't believe I'm 33!

They had 'Angel Flame' candles on which the packet said burned the same colour as the candles. We were all rather sceptical but they were brilliant. Very impressive!

Pink and Girlie

And finally (I think!) I had lovely baking gifts for my birthday, some brilliant books that I can't wait to try, one about Cake Pops (teeny cakes on sticks!), one about Whoopie Pies and one about Cupcakes with amazing decoration ideas in. I also had some tiny star cutters from Jeff and they came in handy when I was completing an order for a very 'girlie' girls birthday.

Gorgeous new star cutters in action!

Everybody loves Dolly Mixtures!

I gift boxed these in Zebra print boxes and tied them with masses of pink ribbon and I was thrilled with the over all look.

Happy Birthday To You! (and you and you!)

Lots of birthdays at the end of May, beginning of June so a busy time for me and my oven! Firstly (and most importantly), Jeff's on 30th May. Skull and cross bones for him this year...

Shiver me timbers!

Next up were Jean and Phil who share a love of white chocolate so they each had white chocolate frosting on theirs. Jeans were a simple pale pink rose effect with silver glitter ...

They were pink honestly - they don't look it on here!

Phil's were on a gambling theme. They had a red background (purely and simply because I tinted all my frosting pink without thinking! ) and had clubs and spades on them. I was surprisingly pleased with these, they looked pretty effective - if a little garish!

The ace of spades

I did make lemon cupcakes for Lol who also had a birthday but I forgot to take a photo! They were lemon buttercream tinted yellow and piped in a spiral with a jelly lemon slice in the middle and a sprinkling of tiny gold stars. You'll have to use your imagination for those!

That's me done, I'll leave you with the skulls altogether - just because they're so cute!

Spot the poor skull with only one tooth!

See you soon, Laura xxx

Little Rose and Almond Cupcakes

I made these for a present for a lady I used to work with who is retiring. I was pleased with how they came out. They looked really nice in a Zebra print gift box with a big bow on! They are Little Rose and Almond Cupcakes from the May edition of BBC Goodfood.

Little Rose and Almond Cupcakes

They are a really simple but effective design. The recipe says one or two green leaves. I tried both but two looked better - maybe I'm just not that good at making leaves! I didn't taste one but Jeff took the 6 that I didn't need into work and he got good comments.

Awaiting Decoration!

All finished...

Jeff treated me to some crazy cupcake stackers that I kept looking at in Lakeland. Good for a different sort of display but not especially easy to photograph!!

Cupcake stackers!

That's all from me tonight, feeling sorry for myself - got a rotten cold!

Laura x

Chocablock Man...Oh, and Happy Easter!

There is a very chocolatey theme running through this post quite by accident. Before I get on to that though, a quick look at my Easter Cakes .... Opps, I seem to have lost track of time. Easter was ages ago.

Easter Cupcakes for Isabelle and Lois 

On to the chocolate coated goodies then. First Rocky Mountain Cupcakes for my friend (and boss) at work as a birthday gift. I find it never hurts to keep the boss in cakes, and anybody else who may be useful come to mention it. These are a chocolate sponge with chocolate buttercream, chocolate chips, melted dark chocolate and mini marshmallows. They're off the scale in terms of weight watchers points and not for the faint hearted.

The Rocky Mountains

Calorific!

And in second place... Chocolate Fudge Cake for a dinner with friends. this was a four layer cake and I iced 'Enjoy!' on the top rather beautifully (if I do say so myself) in chocolate but we ate it before I remembered to photograph it. Too much wine I suppose.

The remains!

As punishment for not reminding me to take a photo, I made aforementioned friends pose for a photo while they were eating it!

Julia and Chris

Mike and Lol

Finally, I have some chocolate biscuits to tell you about but they wont fit on this post so they'll have to wait til next time! 

See you soon, Laura x

Honeymoon

Jeff and I are just back from our Honeymoon in Qatar. It was amazing. It was nothing like like I expected and they even have a Lakeland....Ex Pats can bake to their hearts content!

Since coming home I have made 99 style cupcakes again for the end of term and also a delicious Raspberry Chocolate Torte.


The Torte was the cover recipe from May's Good Food magazine. It was very rich but good. I finally invested in an oven thermometer which is great but I now have another oven issue. The torte is made in two sandwich tins. The one on the right of the oven was ready in the suggested time. The one on the left needed another ten minutes! How can that be???!


Still, it turned out ok. It's a good one for entertaining - you can make it up to 24 hours in advance. I dusted it with icing sugar before I served it but we ate it before I took a picture. Oops!

And finally, here is a picture of a 99. I have made these before so wont go on about them!

Raspberry Sauce was an optional extra!

That's all for now, I'll be back with Easter cakes of some kind or another! xxx

Tip Top

Valentines Day saw me being treated to some lovely new cupcake toppings (amongst other things!) It was only when I couldn't find room in my baking cupboard for them that I realised a stock take was needed.

Valentines Day Treats

The stock take revealed that I have 22 different sprinkles, glitters, sparkly bits etc with which to top cupcakes. I also have 29 different bun case designs. I thought I'd better get to it and make some buns with a mixture of cases and a variety of toppings!

I opted for a recipe I have been meaning to try for a while. Its a cupcake with white chocolate frosting. It will be the cupcake of choice whenever my best friend Jennifer decides to get married. I probably wont opt for assorted toppings for a wedding though! First attempt - not too bad. I made them in little bun cases and they cooked quicker than I would have liked but the end result was tasty enough. Very sweet, but tasty. I think I'm going to have to buy an oven thermometer. It's SOOO hot in that oven!

All Together Now...

Jeff took these to work - first time I've baked for his colleagues I think (mine were all on half term!) They all got eaten anyway. Bun cases were skulls, spots and paisley I think. Random assortment! I had the idea to display cupcakes on a long plate.  Good idea but rubbish photography. Why I took the picture over the join in the table and without moving the mats I don't know!

Note to self - plan for photographs!

P.S I had to nip to lakeland on Sunday and managed to make it 30 types of bun cases while Jeff wasn't looking! Lovely green and white spotty ones jumped into my basket!