Baby Shower Mini Cupcakes

I made these last weekend for a baby shower in Cambridge.

These are lemon cupcakes in mini pale blue and white dotty cases. The theme was pale blue with little hints of gold here and there, so I added in some blossoms dusted with gold lustre and some gold Magic Sparkles.

The cakes with pale blue frosting and blue flowers are vanilla in plain white cases. These demonstrate how butter affects the colour of the frosting, as the same colour us used for the flowers and frosting here!

Finally there was a box of mini chocolate cupcakes in gold foil cases decorated with mini chocolate cigars, mini marshmallows, candy coated chocolate drops and

gold Magic Sparkles.

 Mini cupcakes are very popular after Christmas. Not only do they feed more people, but are gentler on the waistline too!

The client very kindly sent me her feedback:

“I just wanted to send you a quick email to thank you for the  gorgeous mini cupcakes. They were the runaway hit of our baby shower/birthday party, and compliments went out to the baker and designer!

I will be sending your name and company information out to any  friends or family members who are looking for sweet treats for  their future parties, and I myself will definitely contact you again in the coming months when my baby boy is here and relatives start turning up by the gazillions!”

New Whoopie Pies

I made these before Christmas for a client and decided that while I was at it, I would change the recipes and make my Whoopie Pies a bit more decorative.

Lemon Whoopie Pies

I do like the traditional plain whoopie pies, but it would seem that the Brits like them to look a bit more ‘sprinkly’ like a cupcake!

So the Lemon Whoopie Pies are filled with a lemon frosting and topped with a drop of lemon icing and sprinkles (any colour you like).

Red Velvet Whoopie Pie

The Red Velvet Whoopie Pies have a vanilla frosting in the centre with a piped star of frosting on the top and sprinkled with mini chocolate cigars.

One of my tasks for the New Year is to update the Whoopie Pies available on my website, so I hope you will consider trying them! They make a nice change from cupcakes.

I was dying to sink my teeth into one of these, but the recipe made exactly the one dozen required…

Yarn Bowl

One of my interests outside the world of baking is knitting. I’m like a kid in a candy store when faced with a wall full of yarns. It’s a very addictive habit!

This will be a much used addition to my array of knitting paraphernalia – a lovely yarn bowl made for me for Christmas by my brother and his partner. It stops the yarn from getting all knotted up, in case you were wondering…

Hand made and polished to a very smooth finish. I’m not sure which wood it is made from. Must find out! It was much admired by my knitting friends at my Knit Lit group last night.

 I’m quite proud of myself for sorting out my stash over the New Year. I catalogued everything in a book with swatches, ripped out all projects which would never be finished and have set myself the task of finishing those projects I kept and finding patterns for all the other stuff. Quite a task, but I have already finished off one cardigan started two years ago, so progress has been made!

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! I will be getting back to posting lots of photos by the end of next week. I have a had a little break over Christmas, so the photos are stacking up!

Mini Christmas Cupcakes

Just a quick post to show you these Chocolate Orange Mini Cupcakes, which are my donation to the cake stall at Fenstanton’s ”Switching On The Christmas Lights” tonight. The Cubs help run the evening selling cakes and running all sorts of stalls and games to help raise funds for the group. Lots of mince pies, gingerbread men and hot drinks on offer!

Alpine Christmas Cupcakes

Christmas Cupcakes have started going out and this was the first box to leave my kitchen last week:

the sweet kitchen's Alpine Christmas Cupcakes 2011

I think they looked rather nice and wouldn’t have minded eating one myself!

This year I’ve gone for a traditional,. homely look, which is bound to appeal to children These cakes are a bit more fiddly to make than the usual cupcakes, but the effect is well worth the effort.

It;s hard to pick a favourite, but I do rather like the holly with the pinky-red sugar balls! Very simple and very traditional.

Tiffany Blue Wedding Cupcakes

I delivered these to a small wedding at Hotel Felix in Cambridge about 2 weeks ago.

The couple specifically wanted the colour of the frosting to match the Tiffany jewellery boxes.

Here’s the Tiffany blue box I was trying to emulate…

Everything was white at the wedding, apart from a few touches of the Tiffany blue here and there. The cakes themselves were very simply decorated with white blossoms with a silver centre and white blossom sprinkles.

The colour blue is a bit tricky (as you can see, it actually looks different in every photo!) and I wasn’t sure if I could get the exact colour, but the couple said “the cupcakes were absolutely amazing and everyone loved them! You really did manage to get the colour perfect.”

Well, that’s good enough for me!

Christmas Holiday Fir Tree Bundt Cake

This is going to be one of my special offerings for Christmas 2011 -  a Cranberry and Orange Holiday Fir Tree Bundt cake.

The china in the background was my grandmother’s – a coffee set in Crown Devon ‘Stockholm’. I keep trying to buy more on ebay, but everybody has the same idea!

Anyway, back to the cake. I love these shaped tins from Nordic Ware, although they are quite pricy to buy. I toyed between this one and a gingerbread cottage, but decided on this in the end, as I thought it would be a crowd pleaser.

The cake above was my first attempt at using the tin, so I was delighted when it just dropped out of the tin, without a single crumb clinging to the sides. A sign of a good tin, I think.

I decided on Orange and Cranberry as it is a classic Christmas combination, fresh and fruity, not heavy like a traditional Christmas cake.

I did wonder if using fruit might cause it to burn and stick, but no, not at all.

I love these simple, snowy trees. What could more Christmassy? If you decide to order one, you could always add a little holly or a robin or two to decorate it, if you wish, but I quite like it plain and simple.

The cake can also be made in any of my other standard flavours you would like, such as vanilla, lemon or chocolate or perhaps something a bit different such as Chocolate Peppermint or Raspberry and Pistachio.

Look out for some more posts coming soon on my Christmas specials!

 

Halloween Jack-O-Lantern Cake

Well, only a day late publishing this one!

Just in case it’s not obvious, this is a chocolate layer cake covered with dark chocolate ganache.

This was destined for a teenage Halloween party. After much deliberation we decided on pumpkins of various sizes and a rather dozy looking spider! It was sprinkled with orange glitter as well.

The client said ” The Halloween cake you made for us went down a storm at the party!  Chris and I just managed to get a small slice each before it all went.  Everyone loved the decoration and the glitter looked great by candle light.  Claire is looking forward to another delicious cake for her 18th next year!  Thank you so much”.

 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Wedding Cupcakes

This cupcake tower  was made a couple of weeks ago for a wedding at The University Arms in Cambridge.

There was an Autumn theme to the wedding and this was reflected in the cupcakes which were all decorated with leaves.

There were maple and pecan cupcakes with maple frosting with a marbled maple leaf in shades of red through to orange.

Then there were red velvet cupcakes with vanilla frosting with three small rose leaves.

Here are carrot cupcakes with orange cream cheese frosting and a larger rose-leaf.

These are lemon with lemon curd centres, lemon frosting and an ivy leaf and there were also chocolate ganache cupcakes with a marbled oak leaf seen on the stand below.

The autumn leaf theme was something a bit different and very appropriate for the time of year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roasted Banana Cupcakes with honey cinnamon frosting

I made these to go down to Elsworth Shop in the morning – the cakes contain loads of roasted banana with vanilla and soured cream. The frosting is a heady, honey-scented mix spiced with cinnamon.

The autumn leaf sprinkles are just what is needed at the moment, as the leaves are all starting to turn.

However, my mind is already turning to Christmas. I need to try and get some cupcakes made this week to photograph and I have one or two new things up my sleeve too! Keep watching to find out what…

 

Purple Wedding Cupcake Tower at Brampton Golf Club

Although I say it every time I manage to post something, being so busy in September has prevented me from blogging very much, but I intend to try to put that right now that wedding season is, if not over, then at least a little calmer.

Here’s a wedding I did earlier in September in Brampton. A simple tower of purple, mauve and cream.

Purple definitely seems to have been the ‘in’ colour this year – I have done several over the summer months. It will be very intriguing to see what becomes popular next year.

This couple chose silver and purple foil cases with roses and hearts in purple and mauve. The top cake was simply iced and decorated with a purple satin ribbon. They supplied their own bride and groom for the top.

Here’s the purple rose…

and the mauve one with the hearts in the background.

The clients said ” We just wanted to thank you for the beautiful cakes that you made for our wedding.

They tasted gorgeous and went down a treat with our guests.”

Black, White and Lime Green Wedding Cupcake Tower

This reception took place at Trinity College, Cambridge this week. They wanted quite a modern, striking effect and I think the combination of black, white and lime green certainly achieved that.

The top cake was a lemon sponge covered with sugar paste and decorated with black damask shapes to complement the black and white damask cupcake wrappers.

The cupcakes were half lemon and half lime. They wanted them to be extra lemony and limey, so a fairly hefty quantity of lemons and limes were grated and squeezed that day! They were also filled with lemon and lime curd.

The cupcakes were decorated with black roses and lime green leaves and a three-layered flower in lime and white.

These are the rather smart cupcake wrappers I used.

The florist provided a posy of flowers to match the flowers at the venue and had included tiny snippets of black feathers to pick up the black throughout the cake stand.

Should anyone be wondering about the black stand, I had it specially made in black acrylic with a clear acrylic central maypole. It looked very smart and striking indeed. I think the client is going to keep this stand, but this is a service which can be provided, should you want a stand in a particular colour.

12 October 2011

The client’s comments:

“Thank you so much for the very lovely wedding cupcakes you made for our Trinity wedding dinner. Everyone loved the cake, because it was so elegant and delicious. Thank you for making such an effort to give us just the cake we wanted. You made our evening very special.”

Bag Of Popcorn Birthday Cake

I usually run a mile when someone asks for a novelty cake, as it is not my forte, but once a year I give in to try to conjure up something to suit the theme of my youngest son’s birthday party.

This year was a movie themed party, so I got it into my head it would be easy to make a red and white striped rectangular bag of popcorn. It wasn’t. Easy, that is.

As you can see, the icing sagged a little. I made a sponge recipe which is very nice to eat, but a bit lightweight to hold up all that icing and frosting! So it ended up looking a little less than rectangular… And it was hot and humid, which made the icing a devil to work with.

Still, the birthday boy was chuffed with it. Only on reflection did I realise the popcorn was probably a major fire hazard and that we would all get showered in flying popcorn when the candles were blown out!

I have never forgotten what my cookery teacher wrote on my report when I was 12 – ‘Don’t worry, Helen, all cooks have disasters.’ At least the annual ordeal is over and hopefully no more disasters this year!

 

Late Summer Christening Cupcakes

These cakes were made for a large christening at the weekend.

They chose strawberry cupcakes:

blueberry and lemon…

and lots of mini vanilla cupcakes with strawberry pink frosting and Dolly Mixtures.

Cookie Mixes In Jars

Today I have taken some of these Carrot Cupcakes down to Elsworth Shop, so if you are local, they are there to be snapped up! Enjoy – we had some last night and they were rather nice. It’s not often that I am tempted to eat a cupcake these days, but this was very persuasive…

 

Carrot Cupcakes with orange frosting and chopped pecans

You will also find some of my Cookie Mixes In a Jar at the shop. I delivered Dark Chocolate and Sour Cherry, Cranberry and White Chocolate and Strawberry, Almond and Dark Chocolate mixes. Each jar makes 18 large cookies and you get a nice reusable jar into the bargain! They make a lovely gift for someone, as they keep for several months and they can make them up whenever they want to. They are also very easy to make, so you don’t have to be a budding Nigella to make successful cookies!

Cookie Mixes In A Jar

Elsworth Village Shop Is Opening!

The village of Elsworth has done tremendously well and organised the opening of a new purpose-built village shop. Their aim is to have a village shop run by the community for the community. http://www.elsworth-shop.co.uk

They very kindly asked me if I would supply them with cupcakes and cookies, so I duly delivered the first batch this morning.

I must say the shop was very handy for me this morning, as I realised I had got nothing for a picnic or for tea!

I daresay my sons would have liked to take these choc chip cookies on the picnic. Sometimes the plainest looking things taste the best and these are particularly yummy, I think.

18th Birthday Celebration Cupcakes

I am finally back at work – it’s taking me a while to build up to full speed! It’s not so easy, what with having kids around in the summer holidays, but as of yesterday I need to change up a gear, as I have two weddings this weekend, amongst other orders.

These chocolate and strawberry cupcakes were made yesterday for someone’s 18th birthday celebration at Alton Towers, so they had to travel quite a way. Hope they made it in one piece!

The chocolate cakes were decorated with various chocolate sprinkles – chocolate spaghetti, white chocolate stars, chocolate balls and chocolate chunks (all for a chocolate fiend!).

The photos aren’t as clear as they could be. My husband left the camera on some funny setting, which I didn’t notice, as I am very much a point, press and hope for the best type of photographer!

I left the hulls on the strawberries on these cakes, as the local strawberries are so juicy, I thought the juice might run all over the cakes on their way to Alton Towers.

I think these strawberry cupcakes looked especially good yesterday. The local strawberries are still going strong, which is good news, as I have 140+ of these little beauties to make for a christening next Sunday…

However, they will be disappearing from the specials page on the website shortly, as it’s time for some autumn flavours – I’m thinking ginger, cinnamon, pumpkin etc for September and October… the ginger cupcakes are sitting on my dining table as I write, waiting to be photographed. No-one is allowed to touch them, until decent photos are bagged – you can imagine two boys hovering around them, wondering just when is their Dad going to photograph them!

Summer Holidays

I am having a two-week rest from baking starting tomorrow, so there won’t be any posts for a couple of weeks. However, with loads of weddings booked for September, there will plenty of photos to be posted then!

Fruit Tartlets

At the same wedding as below, they had some of these tartlets to hand out to guests with afternoon tea.

These shown above were filled with a homemade lemon curd, made to a different recipe – it had loads of egg yolks, juice and rind, so was very rich and tangy.

These were filled with a Lime Curd, made to a similar recipe. They are only very slightly different in colour – just the natural colour of the juice and rind here. Both lemon and lime tartlets were topped with blueberries.

In addition there were dark chocolate ganache and strawberry tartlets.

Initially I had wanted to top them with raspberries, but my local grower says the season has ended unusually early this year. I suppose it must be due to weather conditions. I couldn’t find any decent ones in the supermarkets, so decided to use the local strawberries, which are still going strong!

I think the strawberries looked nice and would have tasted very good with the ganache - I didn’t get to try one.  I’m supposed to be dieting, so it’s probably a good job!