The Cake Escape

I can get through a pack of biscuits like a bag of crisps, once opened they are gone in seconds. For this reason I resist the temptation to buy them. I can resist placing them in my shopping trolley, I just can't ignore them once they are in my cupboard.

There is however, a flaw in my plan. When the cupboards are bare of biscuits I make them instead.

This weekend I was looking through my collection of recipe books and stumbled upon "The Ultimate Cookie Book" by "Catherine Atkinson". I must have inherited this one as I don't recall ever baking anything from it. Today will be that day!

With a growing craving for biscuits I flicked through the recipes for a quick and easy treat, settling on choc-tipped cookies. I used to pick these from the bakery as a child, although then they were sandwiched together with a generous portion of cream. I left out the cream as I'm on a mission to eat healthy ;)

These should keep me going for now...

But if not, I always have more :D

Word of my baking has spread as one of Mr Chris' colleagues asked if I wouldn't mind making a couple of cakes if she paid me for my efforts. It sounded like a good deal to me so I got baking.

The first cake was for her husband, a keen diver.

I love how this turned out but I must give credit for other peoples ideas!

Originally I was going to create the diver as if he was swimming, with his face in the water and feet sticking out the top. Then I stumbled across a cake on flicker and it looked so good I decided to create a mini version of it.

I added my own little touch as I tie-dyed white and blue fondant to create the affect of waves. It worked quite well but sadly it doesn't show so much in the photo.

Check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaEES5yyhVc if you want to tie-dye fondant. It gives a great demonstration on the method (although I must admit I'm not overly keen on the end result in this one). It also features the Steetwise Mat which I've mentioned before and love!

I would have liked to have added some more sea creatures but don't forget, I had a second cake to be getting on with...

The second cake was for their friend and needed to include Jacko, his little pug dog.

Sorry Jacko, I might have added a little too much fondant to your belly.

Jacko the Pug

The cakes were on display at a joint birthday party and went down well. I didn't charge much for them, just enough to cover ingredients as I'm still building my confidence. I also had some transportation issues which led to a little bit of damage. It was nothing that couldn't be repaired but I think a cake should be flawless when you're charging for it. Nobody wants a one eared pug on their cake or a diver with a flat head. (Note to self - must invest in larger cake boxes).

I'm not sure if I'll sell many more cakes. Firstly it's tricky to bake during the week around work, but mostly it's much more stressful to produce a cake when someone is paying for it. Anyway, we'll see :)

Photo by Chrissphotos

This weekend Mr Chris whisked me away for my birthday surprise.

We took a trip to the not so sunny Weymouth and tied in a visit with Mr Chris' flicker buddy Chrissphotos.

Not wanting to visit empty handed we took some Coffee and Walnut cupcakes for Chris and his family but we didn't get a picture of them. We decided to leave that to the photo pro and he did not disappoint ->

A huge thanks to Chris and his family for their hospitality and guided tours, we had a great time! We took in some sights, visited the sea life centre, played pirate mini golf... arrr, walked on the beach in the rain, failed to make friends with the seagulls, won lots of tat on the 2p machines, befriended some fat kid envious of our winnings, oh and Mr Chris climbed a rock...

I was responsible for holding the very expensive cameras :/

I'm very much looking forward to my next birthday trip away ;)

We were very excited to hear news of Steve and Ruth's engagement and of course there must be cake to celebrate... "always the cake".

Taking after her Mum, little Conster was quick to review the cupcakes and call dibs on her favourite, while Steve chose to devour the love birds starting with their beaks.

Thankfully I'm not in charge of the wedding cake as I'd be devastated if it turned out anything less then perfect. However, I do get to add my own little touch as I will be creating the bride and groom cake toppers.

It's my birthday and someone else gets to bake the cake.
I loaned Mr Chris my recipe for chocolate cake and look what he whipped up while I was at work...

I was chuffed to bits :D

Why a bird's nest? Because I love our little feathered friends.

I hang food out for them almost every day and we get plenty of visitors.

It's a love I've inherited from my Nan from days when we used to sit together and break up the birds bread. I would get her shopping every week and there would always be two loafs on the list, one for my Nan and one for the birds. I know she would have loved some of these pics Mr Chris has captured...

And that's not all! As a birthday gift Mr Chris is treating me to a weekend away (more on that later) and bought me a nifty little bread maker.

It's the Daily Loaf Breadmaker by Morphy Richards and can make a little 1lb loaf in an hour. It's the perfect amount for us and tastes great, especially when it's still warm and smothered with butter.

This was my first loaf using the "fast bake" setting. The fast bake takes about an hour and gives a fluffy loaf with a soft crust. It also has a "basic" setting which is a little heavier and has a crustier edge but takes around three hours.

Mmmm, time to start enjoying fresh bread every day :)

And there's more...

Mr Chris' sister, Ruth, bought me a fab selection of cupcake sprinkles:

I love the little gingerbread men. I foresee some gingerbread cupcakes in the future :)

... The German Friendship Cake.

My sister gave me a bubbling pot of goo, told me his name was Herman and that I had to care for him for 10 days. I thought she'd lost the plot until she explained he was a sour dough cake, and like a chain letter he gets passed on to friends and family.

My little pot of bubbling goo was the starter mix and these were the instructions I had to follow:

"Hello, my name is Herman. I am a sour dough cake. I'm supposed to be on a worktop for 10 days without a lid. Do not put me in the fridge.
Day 1: You get Herman. Put him in to a large mixing bowl and cover loosely with a tea towel.
Day 2: Stir well
Day 3: Stir well
Day 4: Herman is hungry! Add 1 cup of plain flour, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of milk. Stir well.
Day 5: Stir well
Day 6: Stir well
Day 7: Stir well
Day 8: Stir well
Day 9: Hungry again. Add 1 cup plain flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk. Stir well. Divide in to 4 equal amounts and give 3 away to friends with a copy of these instructions. Herman 4 stays with you.
Day 10: Herman is very hungry. Stir well and add: 2 cups plain flour, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 2/3 cup cooking oil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 2 heaped tsp baking powder, 2 tsp vanilla essence, 2 chopped cooking apples (or other fruit).
Mix together and put in to a large greased roasting tin. Sprinkle the surface with 1/4 cup brown sugar and 3/4 cup melted butter. Bake for 45 minutes at 170-180°C(check after 35 mins)."

At first I wasn't sure about Herman, he smelt a bit funky and hogged precious space in my little kitchen, however I proceeded to care for him on my sisters word that he was tasty. On day 10 I was not disappointed. Herman was so delicious he didn't stay whole long enough for me to get a picture, but Mr Chris did get a snap of this slice before it disappeared with my cup of tea.

On day 9 I gave three Hermans away to Louise, Darren & Steph and John. Surprisingly they were all rather enthusiastic about him. From what I've heard Lou's didn't end well but I don't think anyone was surprised (sorry Lou). I believe the other two were enjoyed. Darren and Steph's certainly looked tasty:

If you don't want to wait for a Herman, you can start your own with the following:

5oz plain flour
8oz caster sugar
1 packet of active dry yeast
Half a pint of warm milk
2 fl oz of warm water

1. Dissolve the yeast in warm water for 10 minutes then stir
2. Add the flour and sugar and mix thoroughly
3. Slowly stir in the warm milk
4. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth
5. Leave in a cool dry place for 24 hours
6. Now start from day one of the 10 day instructions

Give him a go, he is a little stinky but friendly :)

For Carole's birthday (my Dad's wife), my dad asked if I could make a cake with "The Boys" on it.

The boys are their two dogs, two Shih tzu's, one named Qin and one named Jayger. They are a quirky pair. I'm pretty sure Jayger thinks he is a cat and Qin is a big eating machine, totally led by his stomach but a real softy. I miss them since I stopped living at home several years ago so I really enjoyed making this.

Jayger and Qin in fondant

"The Boys" - Jayger on the left and Qin on the right.

Creating a fondant dog is easy when you know how. I found a tutorial and then altered it slightly to suit my needs. They're not an exact likeness but I tried to capture their features as much as possible, especially Qin's big belly and Jayger's unimpressed expression.

Mr Chris has so many hobbies I could incorporate any of them in to his birthday cake, but I decided to make something he wouldn't be expecting, something a little bit random that would make him chuckle.

The current EDF Energy adverts feature a little dancing orange blob. According to Mr Chris he has my dance moves. Anyway we love him so I decided to make him in to a cake.

Due to a lack of time and general ignorance on my part this cake quickly became a disaster.

The problem when you live with someone and your home is open plan, it is very hard to make a cake without them seeing it. I told Mr Chris I wasn't doing his cake and then took a secret day off work. It was a real rush to complete it before he got home which led to my first problem.

Because I was rushing I didn't leave the cake long enough to cool before applying my crumb coat of butter cream. It was a hot day which also didn't help. This meant my crumb coat was runny and ended up being only a thin layer. It wasn't a major disaster but it meant you could see the layers between my sponges when the fondant was on.

I used a ball tin purchased from Lindy's Cakes to form the little guys body. Lindy's FAQs give some good tips and guidance for using this tin but I should have paid more attention to them.

I baked two ball cakes and stacked them one on top of the other. To do this Lindy's FAQs advise to flatten the top of the bottom tier and add support dowels to prevent it losing its shape. The support dowels are crucial!

As his body is squashed when he is dancing I decided it wouldn't matter too much if the bottom tier was squashed from the weight of the top one, so I didn't add any support :O
Yes, I'm a complete newb when it comes to stacking cakes.

The result was the bottom tier began to crumble and collapse, and the top tier started to slide backwards where the bottom one was giving way. I had to prop him up with a biscuit tin. He lasted long enough for Mr Chris to see what he should have looked like and get this photo. Eventually (about a week later) I was able to laugh about at his head falling off.

So long story short....
I'm glad I tried something new because that is how you learn and get better but lessons learnt here:

Give yourself plenty of time
Always allow your cakes to cool completely before icing
When stacking cakes add plenty of support to the lower tiers
When trying something new do not ignore advice from the professionals
Stay calm and don't take it out on your sister when she is only trying to help :)

It would appear I am not the only one with baking skills in my family.

My sister is a teacher and a member of her schools cake club. Every Tuesday one of the members will bake a cake and they each get a slice.

Last week my sister sent me this picture message:

This was a trial run of a pistachio cake she is going to make for cake club.

Lucky for me I got a slice, and the cake didn't just look good, it was delicious. She even made her own crystallised rose petals!

I enjoyed it so much, I decided to make my own pistachio cupcakes following a recipe from the "Cupcakes" book by Susannah Blake.

This was the first time I'd made Royal Icing but I really like its glossy finish so I will use it again.

Last week I attended my work Staff Awards evening.

To my surprise I was nominated for the "Team Player of the Year award", even more to my surprise I actually won it jointly with one of my colleagues.

Perhaps the baked treats I have brought in to work got me nominated? I'm not sure but it felt fitting to bring in more and so I did.

I baked my chocolate cake because it always goes down well, and an Orange and Almond loaf from the "The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days" book. Here they are along with my award, which you can just about make out in front of my certificate.

I have learnt to pre-slice cakes for work as I have seen people cut some pretty generous portions, you know who you are :)

All in all it was a good evening and it was nice to meet some of my colleagues that I only get to chat with on the phone.

Spring is my favourite time of year, I love to see baby lambs skipping around in the fields, gardens full of daffodils, and eat lots of chocolate at Easter.

Inspired by my Mums favourite flower, I made these little Easter treats for my family.

My Mum would buy daffodils throughout the spring for herself and my Nan, a tradition she has passed down to my sister and I. I love them because they remind me of her and I'm sure she would have loved these cupcakes.

I also decided to make some Easter cake pops as I was pleased with how the Owl pops turned out.

My sisters friend Verity lent me the Cake Pops book by Bakerella, so I attempted to recreate the chics and Easter bunnies. I have to admit I did rush these so I wasn't overly pleased with the result.

My obvious mistake... I used left over chocolate icing to make the pops which then coloured the sponge. When coated with the white and yellow chocolate the dark sponge showed through, hence my bunnies are grey. I expect I could have given them a second coat but I was feeling lazy.

Also, I couldn't find anything to use for the bunnies ears. I ended up using flattened marshmallows but I don't think they quite did the job.

I've had some free time so I decided to flick through my recipe books and find something new to try.

I landed on Cola cupcakes from the book "The Hummingbird Bakery Cake Days: Recipes to make every day special".

The recipe was pretty obvious really, simply adding a dribble of cola syrup (the kind you would use in a Soda stream) in to the cake mixture.

I'm a big fan of the Hummingbird recipe books but I have to be honest, I wasn't too keen on these. They weren't horrid, just a bit odd really, almost like the flavour didn't belong in a cake. Perhaps I used the wrong type of flavouring? Or maybe it was just me as Mr Chris was still happy to eat them.

I thought I'd get off lightly for my Dad's birthday as he doesn't have a sweet tooth and isn't a great lover of icing (fondant or butter cream). However he does like my Coffee and Walnut cake and I have made this so many times it is easy peasy and stress free. What I didn't count on is my Dad, still looking for moments to push me in to reaching my full potential, setting me a challenge and being quite specific about what he wanted for his birthday cake.

Dad's challenge:
As a lift engineer my Dad requested a cake with stairs and a banister, and a stair lift. He also wanted a little model of himself repairing the lift. Personally the last thing I would want is a cake that reminds me of work but this was his challenge.

Challenge accepted!

From my experience (or should I say Mr Chris' experience) carving the spiral cake for Mr Chris' Dad, I know it is important to have the right type of sponge. The sponge for the spiral cake was a little tricky to carve as it was very light and fluffy, and chunks would crumble away during the carving.

This time I did a bit of research and found some good carving tips from Lindy's Cakes. Following the tips I made a madeira sponge using a square cake tin as I thought it would make it easier to cut out the stairs. FYI, Lindy's Cakes also provides a handy chart to calculate recipe quantities for different size and shaped cake tins.

I didn't freeze the cake as Lindy's tips suggest because it wouldn't fit in my freezer, but Mr Chris tells me it was indeed easier to carve (yes, I chickened out). The unusual shape made it harder to cover with fondant but I took it slow, working from top to bottom and smoothing small sections at a time. It did tear in a couple of weak spots around the stairs, but these were covered with the stair lift so I wasn't too bothered.

As for modelling my Dad, this was not a problem because I've done it before. I remember as a child making a similar model out of plasticine for Father's day, the only difference now is the belly has got a little bigger :D

Some quotes from my Dad:
"I've got more grey hair then that"
"What model stair lift is that then?"
"My tool box isn't red"

Overall I think he was pretty chuffed with it.

Ok, I know I'm a little late for Valentines day but Mr Chris has come to expect this from me. He knows I live in a different time zone to everyone else. As it happens it worked out better this way as Mr Chris was still working his way through my Lemon Meringue cupcakes on Valentines day.

To be honest we don't normally do anything for Valentines but I had this idea and I really wanted to give it a go.

Again putting my stencils and impression mats to good use - I don't think I can do cupcakes without them now.

But where is the hidden heart?

It's baked inside....

Lucky for me I wasn't the first to have this idea and found lots of helpful tips out there. If you want to give these a go I can highly recommend following instructions from Made with love by me. I don't think mine would have turned out so well on my first attempt without them.

These little treats were made as a belated birthday gift for my friend Stephanie - very belated as her birthday was actually on the 25th December :/

I wanted to try something completely different for Steph as she is incredibly creative (very talented with a needle and thread!) and always encouraging my baking. So scoping out the latest trends on the baking scene I discover cake pops are all the rage, and they look like fun too.

I decided to make Owl cake pops as they're pretty cute and Owls are cool. I didn't follow it exactly, but I used a tutorial from Dessert Decorating that gives a great demonstration on how to construct the cake pops.

I got 16 cake pops from a regular batch of cupcake mixture that would usually make 12 cupcakes. Only 8 passed quality control as I was too eager at the start and attached their features before the chocolate had set. I could only laugh when I opened the fridge to find a bunch of mutant Owls whose eyes and beaks had slid down to meet their feet. My tummy wasn't too concerned with their mutant appearance though and they tasted like gooey chocolate brownies.

I wasn't entirely confident with my gift of cake pops so I made a batch of backup cupcakes. I used my stencils again as they were such a success last time, but I also gave my newly purchased impression mats a go.

I think Steph was pleased with her gift, all I have to do next time is deliver them on her actual birthday :)

Mr Steves birthday, what to do? Some sort of igloo cake with fondant penguins? Nope, forget that, just bring on the chocolate!

This is probably the easiest cake I've made but definitely my favourite - maybe because I got to eat all the left over sweets that wouldn't fit on top :)

I'd love to know how many calories are in a slice of this bad boy, actually, probably best I don't...

This really is for chocolate lovers, Mr Steves being the only person I'd place above me on the chocoholic scale, this should go down well...

Chocolate sponge, filled and covered with chocolate butter-cream icing, topped with white mice, chocolate flakes, and slices of chocolate orange, and surrounded by chocolate fingers - two and a half packs of chocolate fingers.

But wait... Mr Steves shares his birthday with his mummy Babs. I couldn't possibly give Steves a cake without whipping up a little something special for Babs too....

Probably my finest cupcakes to date, I owe my thanks to Lindy's Cakes for the inspiration, the stencils and gold dust. I swear I could shop forever at Lindy's... so many cake gadgets :)

For a while now I've been telling Mr Chris I can make a very nice crème brûlée, so this weekend I decided to prove it.

Every time I make these I forget just how easy they are. I use a recipe from the BBC GoodFood website, I've tried some others but this is definitely the one that works and gives the perfect consistency. If you don't have a chefs blowtorch you can place the ramekins under the grill to caramelise the sugary tops. The blowtorch is much more fun though!

If you are a crème brûlée fan, you must give these a go, Mr Chris was not disappointed.

And what follows brûlée? Meringue!

I hate food waste so I used the left over egg whites to make some Lemon Meringue cupcakes. Mr Chris was full of brûlée so he struggled to make his way through these but I had no trouble giving them away.

I took some to work but as I didn't have enough for all of my colleagues it was first come first served. They were gone in less then a minute :)

Lemon flavoured sponge, filled with lemon curd and topped with tasty meringue.

So the other day I spotted a business card on the notice board at work for a lady making and selling cakes from home. I had a little peep at her website and found something new to try... cupcake bouquets (at this point I would love to add a link to her website but sadly I didn't save the url and the business card has since been removed).

I found a couple of ways to create these. One is to place a styrofoam ball in to a vase or plant pot, then attach the cupcakes with cocktail sticks, spearing one end in to the cake and the other in to the ball. I couldn't get my hands on a styrofoam ball so I used the cup method instead...

I stapled together 7 tall disposable plastic cups in to a flower shape, clued them on to a cake board and wrapped with crepe paper. Each cake gets its own little home in the top of one of the cups. And the end result:

It's not great but it's not bad for a first attempt either.
I'm not sure about the leaves but they helped to cover the gaps between the plastic cups.

I also learnt how to use another of my many icing tips following a nifty tutorial on YouTube, which demonstrates how to create the begonia type looking flower.

It's a sad time for my sister and a difficult time for her to celebrate her birthday, nevertheless we did the best we could.

As children we had our fair share of squabbles (she always started it of course) but these days I feel very fortunate to have such a great sister. I'm very proud of her and she deserves a special cake.

This idea came to me at Christmas during the traditional viewing of Charlie and the Chocolate factory with my sister quoting every word and singing along. It wouldn't be Christmas without it! She is probably the biggest Charlie and the Chocolate factory fan in the world so this cake seemed most appropriate:

Based on the scene where Willy Wonka sings "Pure Imagination" this cake includes the chocolate river, lolly pop trees, mushrooms, gummy bears and a little addition from Mr Chris - the flower teacup and saucer.
Willy Wonka was a little beyond my modelling skills so I featured a cheeky Oompa Loompa instead. His facial expression was very appropriate when he's hands fell off the following day...

A touch of super glue and he now sits happily in his new home on my sister's bookshelf.

And it would appear my sister is not the only fan, currently this picture has clocked up an amazing 61,924 views on Mr Chris' flicker account.

Happy 4th Birthday to Mr Chris' niece, Connie.

A cake that represents two of Connie's likes, ballet and the colour yellow. Underneath that yellow fondant is a scrummy chocolate cake and definitely no jam!

When asked who was sitting on top of the cake Connie replied "me", so I think it's safe to say my models are improving.

Stepping away from the usual madeira sponge, I decided a chocolate feast would be a nice birthday treat for Mr Chris' sister, Ruth.

As a chocolate lover I thought this would be delicious... a light chocolate sponge with a chocolate buttercream filling, and covered in a thin layer of chocolate fondant.

It was yummy - even if I do say so myself :)

I also want to highlight the success of my letter cutters. These are called "funky" letters and are known for being a bit tricky as they are large and loose their shape easily. For me the letter would stay inside the cutter and when I tried to tap it out only part of the letter would release. Eventually it would stretch or break as I tried to remove the rest.

On this occasion I put my success down to a newly purchased non-stick mat. Ironically, when I pulled the letter cutter away, the letter would remain on the mat and not in the cutter. This works for me.

I also discovered it's better to leave the letter to harden for a minute before transferring it to the cake so it doesn't loose it's shape. Don't leave it to dry completely though, as it'll become brittle and very delicate.

This cake was to celebrate the long awaited arrival of my beautiful niece Lottie, born on 6th December 2011, and to celebrate her life although it was much shorter then any of us wanted and prayed for.

To my brave little niece Lottie, you are always in my thoughts.

You held on long enough to give me a cuddle and I kept my promise to make you the best cake I possibly could, with all your little friends around you.

Everyday I wish things could have been different but I find comfort knowing you are safe with Nanny Thorn and your great "Little Nan", and we'll all be together again one day.

Love you always,
Your Aunty Chel xxx

Flollie the Elephant Vert the Penguin Mrs Bear

The moment when I held my niece for the very first time. Although I was full of sadness it was briefly pushed aside as this was, and will always be, the most precious moment of my life. I hope she felt nothing but love and comfort in my arms.

The Cake Escape

Biscuits are my Kryptonite

Cake in exchange for monies

Mini break

Engagement Celebrations!

Mr Chris dons the apron

Herman...

The Boys

Cake Disaster (a long story)

It runs in the family

Team Player of the Year

Easter Treats

Cola Cupcakes

The challenge, should you choose to accept it...

Valentine's Hidden Hearts

Owl Cake Pops

Chocolate Overload

Brûlée and Meringues

Roses and Begonias

Burp Charlie burp, it's the only way!

Connie Ballerina

Chocolate Birthday Cake

Lottie Mercy Thorn-Pointer

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