Zebra print for Zoe, part deux

Zoe's mum is similar to me, in that she fully understands that a birthday is the perfect opportunity to go a little crazy and spoil your daughter with cake.  Lucky Zoe had a fabulous cake for her family party, and was having matching cupcakes for her friends party.  

I came across some Wilton Sugar Sheets in zebra print and thought they'd be the perfect match for her theme.  I had purposely kept back some of the purple sugarpaste that I'd used on her cake so that everything would match.

Happy birthday again Zoe!

Zebra print for Zoe, part 1

I don't normally tell you the names of people whom I write about, in order to protect their privacy.  I suppose I could just 'change their names to protect the innocent' like they do on tv or in magazine articles, but I never remember to do that.  However in this instance, I really hope Zoe doesn't mind me using her name - the alliteration between it and the requested zebra print was just too wonderful to pass up on.  

I had the privilege of doing Zoe's birthday cake last year, and was thrilled to be called on again.

This year her mother sent me an image, and asked if I could make a similar cake.  However the colours were to be different, as purple is Zoe's current favourite colour.  No problem I thought, as I'd really enjoyed making this type of bow on a cake, and was looking forward to trying a different style.  I had two options for making the zebra print, and had tried to do the type where you lay out a huge area of white sugarpaste, then lay the black on top and roll over the two to sort of flatten them both.  It kind of did and didn't work, but...

I'm pleased to report that Zoe was blown away by her birthday cake, and they all loved it!  Happy birthday big girl!!

A cake can be the actual birthday gift...

This was a fun request - the cake was to resemble a bow-tied gift box!  It had to be in lilac and cream, where the icing was cream and the bow and any accents in lilac.  there were also to be matching cupcakes and it was for Laura's 21st.  Righto then, off to work.

I had recently seen a few bows done in a different style from that which I had learnt and sort of mastered, and was keen to try one out.  So I asked for a tutorial or some advice from another baker and she pointed me in this direction.  I found it really well written and easy to follow, et voila - I made lots and lots of loops!

Despite adding CMC powder to my sugarpaste so that it would be possible to roll it thinner and have it harden faster, I still made these a few days in advance and probably rolled them a little too thick.  I had been a bit nervous about how I would place and attach them, so did a couple of placement practices.  Until I found that you can't place any more than one layer without something to hold/bind them - oops.  Nevermind, the final run worked out well I think, and I used buttercream and a touch of sugarpaste to hold them in position.  I added the gift tag in last, as it needed to be soft so it could mould to the shape of the finished cake.  Suffice it to say that the customer was thrilled, and I heard back later that the birthday girl had absolutely loved it all.  Result!  Oh, and Happy 21st Birthday Laura   :)

It's not too obvious unfortunately, but some of the cupcakes have cute indentations on them that say 'party time' and 'happy birthday' with balloons.  Perhaps white wasn't the best colour for that?

Christmas cupcakes in winter-fun flavours

P and B fancied an end-of-school/Christmas treat, so asked for a dozen cupcakes in Red Velvet and Banoffee (spiced banana cupcakes with toffee buttercream icing).  I had bought some gorgeous icing toppers from Jade at The Cupcake Company, and was only too keen to use them and make decorations to coordinate.  You'll recognise them from the Teacher treats post, as they were done soon after.  

I had just recently visited my local TK Maxx store, here in Dundee, and bought myself some Jem bow cutters.  I've tried in vain to make bows free-hand, based upon watching a selection of YouTube videos, and despaired of ever doing them well.  Then I spotted the small bow cutter set at the store, and didn't think twice.  I was able to follow the instructions, and was really pleased with the result.

These decorations were really fun to make, and coordinated well with the vintage style toppers I planned to use on the Red Velvet cupcakes.  

The banoffee ones I did a little bit differently this time, as I had some toffee sauce leftover. 

They look pretty luscious, right??!  They got great reviews too  :)

It's a present? No, it's a cake

Back in the summer, I had gone to practice cake skills with a friend.  Now it came time for Christmas-related cake skills, and we chose to do a present cake.  I thought this could come in handy for any time of year, so was keen to practice with someone who knew what they were doing (at least, more so than me).  

We started with a square cake, which I've never baked, so that was fun to try to remember how to cover it with sugarpaste.  Then on to the bow.  I had tried a few times in the past, from watching videos on YouTube, and felt all my attempts to be not up to par.  This turned out to be exactly the same type of method, but when we laid the ribbon part flat, the two ribbons didn't cross over.  Rather they just met at the edges, so there was to be no bulk underneath the bow.  What a good idea.  The bow was made in just the same way as in all the videos I'd watched, but it was made much bigger, so I was better able to get the proportions correct.  And the two halves were just pushed up against one another and then simply stood up on the cake, on top of the draped ends of the ribbon.  

All a bunch of great ideas, I felt, and they helped me get a better handle on the technique - which was just what I had hoped for.  So, whilst it's far from perfect, I'm happy.