Thursday 5 December 2013

Paisley wedding cake

This season has seen an increasing demand for low budget wedding cakes. Brides are moving away from big and expensive wedding cakes to cut costs.  Here is one I delivered recently which was well received by the bride and her family.  Just know that there is always a wedding cake which will suit your budget.  Merry Christmas everyone!




Friday 18 October 2013

Cinderella

This cake makes me smile each time I look at the picture.  I loved working on it though it took longer than I intended.  The picture was hand painted with edible colours.


Wednesday 18 September 2013

Football fans

So, its been quite some time now :)!

Well I did two football themed cakes over the weekend and thought I would share with you all.  These two teams are neither here nor there for me so far as football is concerned :) but I loved both cakes.  I am not crazy about football but would watch if I have to.  Which team do you support?



Monday 26 August 2013

Perfume cake

When you are requested to make a novelty cake, you are either apprehensive or excited or both.  In this instance I was excited and as I started working on it, then I became apprehensive, then excited again when it was all done :). This cake looks simple but took a lot of effort and also tasked me to dig further into my inner being :) for solutions.  It made all concerned very happy.


Thursday 15 August 2013

Errm, what do I call this cake? Ok, 70th Birthday Cake :)

Made this cake within a very limited time frame but am happy it came out well and everyone loved it. It was for a 70th birthday celebration for a lovely woman.



Monday 22 July 2013

Celebration cake

Last week I had the pleasure of making a cake for a wonderful lady in my office.  She had achieved the ultimate position and we the ladies wanted to honour her. I had been dying to do a copy of Sugarshack's handbag with champagne cake and also use the alligator skin impression mat by Elisa Straus so I decided this was the perfect opportunity :).  I was happy with the way it turned out and more importantly the recipient was overjoyed with the look and taste of the cake.

Tuesday 2 July 2013

Stack of Polo shirts cake

So a customer of mine brought me a picture of a cake she found on the internet which was a stack of polo shirts and asked me to do a smaller version of it.  I was more than happy to oblige so here is my version.  The original was made by Sweet Love Bakes.




Monday 17 June 2013

How to make fondant - my way

In my side of the world ready made fondant is very hard to come by and marshmallows are very pricey so not a good alternative for making fondant.  This recipe was passed to me by one of my cake instructors and after making a few changes in the method, I am sharing it with you now. This is my way of preparing fondant and over time I have mastered the method and it works very fine for me.  It requires your absolute attention during preparation and can be a bit tedious but worth the effort. When the weather is very humid I increase the gelatine by an extra teaspoon to get a firmer consistency.  I advice you read through carefully before commencing.  This recipe should yield enough to cover 10" and 8" cakes.

Ingredients 
List A
  • 1lb caster sugar
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 4 oz liquid glucose
  • 30ml or 2tbs glycerine
  • 1 1/2tsp cream of tartar
 List B
  •  2/3 cup water
  • 2 1/2 sachets gelatine
  • 4 oz white fat or cooking oil
  • 4 1/2lb icing sugar
  • 1 tsp flavouring 

Directions

Step A and Step B must be done concurrently.

Step A: Combine all items in List A in a saucepan and cook on medium heat.  Make sure there are no sugar particles on the sides of the saucepan or else it will caramelize and change the colour of the fondant.  To prevent that I use a damp towel to wipe the sides of the saucepan.  


Let it boil to soft ball stage then turn of the heat.





If it goes beyond this stage your fondant will not turn out white.



Step B: Pour the icing sugar on to a clean table and create a well in the middle. 


Measure the water and place in a bowl.  Sprinkle the gelatin on top and leave for about 5 mins to bloom (the gelatin will absorb all the water).  Add the white fat or cooking oil and mix thoroughly


Once the boiling sugar mix reaches soft ball stage turn off the heat and pour in the gelatin mix.  Stir quickly since this will foam.  


Place the hot sauce in a bowl of water and continue stirring to bring the temperature down.  If you stop stirring the consistency will change and your fondant will not be elastic.


Keep stirring till it is warm to touch.  To check this, place your finger in the mixture and count to 10.  If you are able to stand the heat then its ready :) (sorry, I never used a thermometer so can't give you an accurate measure). At this stage you can add any colour or flavour you desire.



Pour IMMEDIATELY into the icing sugar and mix in.


Kneed just enough to combine and bag them whiles still slightly warm. If you are too slow at this stage it will dry up making it very difficult to combine. If it turns out really dry just sprinkle a few drops of water on it and pack together as much as possible.  Put in the freezer overnight and it's ready to use.


Wednesday 22 May 2013

White and silver wedding cake


This cake is one that am very proud off.  It was fairly straight forward to make but required attention to detail.  It had to be set up on site because of the weight.  I had someone else go do it because I needed to be somewhere else.  I was just blown by the picture when I finally got to see it. The coloured bits on it is not part of the design, its confetti which was sprayed after the cake was cut by the couple.


Tuesday 30 April 2013

Robot cake

So I was requested by a client to make a robot cake! Interesting, because I had never made one before.  I therefore researched the net and came up with a few interesting photos and sent to the client for her to make a choice.  This is the one she choose and requested that I make it exactly as the photo even though I wanted to make a few changes. This is my version :).


Monday 22 April 2013

Fuschia with mint

I made three wedding cakes last weekend and they were all a hit! Here are the two I have pictures of.  I am still waiting for the bride to send me a photo of the 3rd since I don't have any.




Tuesday 16 April 2013

Jungle cake



This design is based on an original the client sent me. I just loved making it.


Saturday 16 March 2013

Hello Kitty


I just love adorable Hello Kitty!  I had fun making this :)

Sunday 20 January 2013

How this year began :)

I made my first PSP cake and I loved it.  Then there were some other cakes and then today I delivered my first wedding cake for the year :)




Friday 4 January 2013

Car cake

So, this is the last cake I made for the year 2012.  It was delivered on 31st December 2012 :)!