Sorry I have to state here it was all Mr Kirstie’s Cakes fault that this cake for looked over lol it was for his mum he should have reminded me haha although the main reason was the 50th birthday cake that got brought forward a week so I just carried on from original date in my cake diary :-/

Ok so 3pm and I realise its my mother in laws birthday (she screams)
The plan for her cake was a knitting basket but that went out if the window.
I knew her favourite colour was duck egg blue so I set to work using my new pastel sugar flair pastes.
The icing was ready cake was cooled torte filled and iced I needed a quick decoration so the trusty flower plunger and silver balls it was :0)
The cake was delivered at 8:45pm still warm and I was so hoping it all didnt just flop but it stayed intact and she loves it. Sometimes simple is better :0) another successful delivery

This was a cake that I was scared to make.
I’ve never made a number cake by carving but thought I’d have a go.
The only thing was the date had been brought forward a week argh!
I research and found a brilliant plan for what cakes were needed for number cakes and started baking
The cakes were cooked and cooled it was time to cut into the 5 and 0
The zero was fine and looked like the diagram but the number 50 didn’t look right so I called on Mr Kirstie’s cakes for advise.
He realised straight away that the top panel needed cutting down, I did it straight away and it worked
I crumb coated it all and left to set.
Now came the scarey part “icing it”
I had messaged alot of Facebook pages asking for advise and all were really helpful with all advise on board I set about the scarey task.
I started with the zero and could t believe it when I had done it :0)
Next came the 5 a little more tricky but I managed that too I felt so relieved and proud.
I had planned a totally different front than the cake I made but didn’t have time to make the 100 roses need so sugar paste and a flower plunger it was.
The cake was finished and left my care I later received a message saying it was beautiful thank you and learned the lady cried when it was brought out.
Again I got a fuzzy feeling I’ve never known before, making and planning a cake enjoying doing it and this was the reward making someone happy :0)

My good friend had been in touch and asked if I could make a special cake for her grand parents 60th diamond wedding anniversary.
They wanted the original wedding cake creating with an edible photo inset to.
I started googling and came across the magenta picture above and sent it to them as an idea of how the picture would look.
The next thing I new this was what they wanted this exact cake which is actually a photo frame not a cake :-/
I rose to the challenge and started figuring and planning how I was going to do it.
I had a special bell topper made and engraved by a company on eBay called laserables I was over the moon when it came.
I searched for moulds I needed a large rose, swags,bows and piping.
I had allowed myself 3 days to make the cake.
Day 1 didn’t happen as I had an emergency cake to make.
Day 2 cake baked and started on moulded decorations but then my cakey adventure got up and left when I learned my friend had passed away :-(
Day 3 still not feeling the cakey love but I had a cake to honour!
With the help of my mum watching my little one I had until 5pm to finish the cake.
I set to work, I torte the 10,8,6 inch cakes filled and crumb coated along with icing them too.
A quick dash on the school run and I had 2 hours to go.
I printed the wedding photo off and a template that I needed to carved out of the cake.
There was this nice white iced 3 tier cake and I was about the hack chunks out of it :-/ if it went wrong or didnt work I would have no time to do anything!
I jumped straight in and was scared at all the cake I was taking out but I managed it and now needed to fix all the decorations on.
I had already sought help from various Facebook pages about the best method for this and the majority said royal icing.
I found a recipe on the Internet and set about making it for the first time.
I was quite surprised at how easy it was. I’m now looking forward to making flooded biscuits and maybe even royal icing a full cake :0)
Back to the cake the picture was set into the cake and secured yeah it worked now just to add the decorations
I found the best way to do this was applying the icing with a paint brush i found some cracks appeared but wee easily sealed with a smidge of icing :-)
The cake was on the board the ribbon put around and diamanté pins places around.
I stood back and realised I had finished with one minute to spare 4:59 I was happy I just hoped they liked it.
They arrived to pick the cake up and my friends mum cried tears of joy she was over the moon and so was I mission complete x
Above is the photo that I have just been sent if the cake been cut 60 years on :0)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kirsties-Cakes/398359576917809?fref=ts

Well after an eventful couple of days I can report I finally got my cake finished.
I had forgotten I had changed to a new mixture so it took 3 attempts to get the giant cupcake perfect but I have the timings off to a T now.
The cake is a plain sponge cupcake with buttercream and jam filling encased in a milk chocolate base with piped ganache on the top and unwrapped ferrero rochers finished off with a touch of edible spay gold on them.
I didn’t have time to so the lettering in chocolate paste so its and edible image cut and shapes just to add on.

I have to say I did enjoy making this cake and its truly a chocolate lovers cake

Now I can truly say “Let the cakey adventure begin”

“We don’t endorse any specific course providers I’m afraid. However, if you wish to take any food hygiene course it is always advisable to choose one that uses either the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) or Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) Syllabi and is registered with either of these professional bodies”

So with that on board I started googling
I decided to go with CIEH they have a website and very reasonable prices.

So that’s my day today oh and reading the free information book from the council :-)

And it got to 10pm and I finally completed level 1 the picture is of my certificate the real one comes through the post I’m already straight onto level 2 now I can highly recommend it to everyone :-)
You may be saying I don’t need it! Well the way I see it I have learned things I didn’t know today and putting that into good practice in my kitchen will really make a difference.
I’m trying to do everything by the book I don’t want any come back on me I can arrange everything but taking paid order until the council have inspected its a waiting game with them but keeps me on my toes :-)

It’s now 9:30am cakes cooling its a long loaf tin 30 cm , letters cut, i love this set and the fererro roche box is fab to store them in,I’ve drawn a bottle template ready to attempt to carve the cake, image printed x2 just incase, buttercream made ready for crumb coating and filling, finger template made and leaving as long as possible to go hard ” my dad is famous for asking for a 2 finger measure of whiskey in a glass just incase you were wondering” the clock is ticking :-/ and nothing’s going fast!

Yeah the mould worked just need to trim later :-) and yes they are actually my dads fingers made using silicone plastic

11:30am and I can gladly say my first ever carved cake is in the fridge crumb coated and chilling I carnt believe it so far so good everything going right or have I spoke too soon.
In the picture you will see another favourite tools of mine the wilton leveller cuts perfect and level every time.

3:30 time up and a very happy dad.
Please see more photos in my cakes :-)

I had to share this with you all as in over the moon.
Cake masters ezine published my guest column, I feel so happy right now.
I know the ezine has lots if fab cake decorators in but for them to put a just starting out little old me in is fab.
I’m hoping it becomes a monthly slot to help other little fish with my cakey adventure and things I find out and come across on the way.

Well it’s all starting now so far I’ve got 18 cakes to make throughout the year my head is buzzing with ideas and I’m loving it.
I’m working in the 3 day rule
Day1: bake cake
Day2: ice cake
Day3: finishing touches to cake

Hopefully this will work, but so far I have everything planned out in my cake diary.
Some ideas I need to research are a knitting cake, Tiffany cake, John deer tractor, horse, whiskey bottle, windmill, so you can see why my heads buzzing :-/

I know I’m not a pro and other people know that too but so far they are liking my creations and people are talking which is good if people and asking for more.

I’m still to use my cricut machine but it won’t be long as my elegant cartridge turned up and I needed that for my daughters cake which will be my first of 2013.

I really wish I’d started years ago but maybe this is my time, and I hope one day in the not do distant future I can make a living from it.

First I need to bake bake and create some more then I have photos for a portfolio and displays I’m aiming to have that completed by the end of the year I’m hoping sooner but you never know!!!!

Well today the last day of the 2012 was the day I got in the kitchen to play with sugar.
The weighing was fine the mixing was fine but then came the boiling and omg it was bubbling red hot scalding I s#i# myself to put it bluntly!
I used my thermometer to test until it rose to 160c
I had my moulds already and a bucket of cold water to empty it out into.
My first problem was with the small ball.
The sugar was not hot enough and didn’t poor out so I ended up with a solid ball, my mould worked excellent.
Then came the beer bottle
I had it all elastic banded up ready to pour.
The first problem I came across was as soon as I poured it in it bubbled over I know to do a but at a time next time.
I also need to invest in some heat resistant glove or I’m sure I WILL get burnt next time.
I poured it straight out into a bucket of water so it didn’t stick to anything.
Up it dripping I teased the strands slowly out until it was no longer dripping.
Now it was time to wait, well I didn’t want to lol I took the mould off too soon and it hadn’t set solid, that’s a note for next time as the bottle sunk on the side you can see in the picture and one the other pic I got a crack I didn’t realise it would be so fragile.
For a first attempt I’m happy going to try again later and fix my problems see how that goes.

These are a few of my new toys.
The scales were an in expected Xmas present, I hadn’t even got around to looking for a new pair myself.
I am over the moon with them, they even measure liquid which is brilliant for measuring my water accurate for sugarveil.
My daughter bought me the 2 little tea pot cutters I thought they would look lovely at school coffee mornings in 2013
And last is my A3 10L storage box I’ve got 2 of these from staples which are going to live ontop of my fridge in the kitchen for my sugarveil sheets to go in while I’m making them to set, it means they will stay dust free and prevent anything going near them.
I was going to get a stackable 3 tiered cooling rack but couldn’t find one big enough so 10 minutes on google and staples came to the rescue.

Not been happy over Xmas that I havnt been able to get in the kitchen due to myself and everyone else been ill :-(
That hasn’t stopped me planning though the photos above are what I’ve collected to make my daughters 19th birthday cake for the 20th of January.
I have the idea in my head and on paper so I just need to perfect it in practice.
I’m really looking forward to making this :-)

Before I set off into town this morning I moulded some silicone plastic around a marble in the hope that it would give me a clean 1 inch bauble type sphere when it had set.
As you can see from the picture above it worked I just need to get my little ones in bed then I’m going to test it out along with my beer bottle mould.
While wandering round the shops today I popped into save the children and what should I find but a huge pot mixing bowl £2.99 what a bargain and x2 cake decorating books for 50p each :-)
I continued into Peter jones shop that had the same bowl for £35 so I was very happy, even happier when I saw they had a new cakey dept I managed to get things I needed and the prices were cheap too.
I needed the jam/ sugar thermometer for later and metal spatula, I was going to buy a cake leveller off eBay but they had that too and the mini icing bottles and cake middle taker outer lol seemed like a good idea.
On my shopping list I had added the ingredients for making my liquid sugar basically brown sugar, golden syrup and cream of tartar, the first 2 were no problem but the cream of tartar was impossible “what else do people use it for at this time of year?” I ended up getting my son to go round another 5 shops till he found me some haha I was very grateful he told me its my Xmas present
Now I’m just counting down the hours till my kids go to bed so I can practice in the kitchen, I will keep you posted how my first attempt goes :-/

Quick edit lol just been rummaging around the house for a marble, I wanted to try and make a mould out of my silicone plastic then I will be able to test baubles for next years tree haha
Just got to wait an hour for it to set then I can slice it open and see if its worked:-)

So if you’ve been following my blog you will know that over the past couple of months I’ve been getting a lot of new gadgets to play with :-) from cutters to cricut machines and sugarveil to isomalt
Well I got 3 new ones today!
The first is a New York skyline cutter my idea is to use it on my daughters 19th birthday cake the end of January so my brain is working overtime on ideas now.
The 2 nd is a 3 inch sphere mould that I want to try out with isomalt as mini snow globes ontop of a cake or cupcake, maybe even chocolate.
The 3 rd is a silicone real size beer bottle mould this is a deffo for isomalt I have a friends birthday cake in mind for this already and I can use the edible printer for the labels :-)
I have vowed to test all these before I need to use them, I want everything to be as perfect as I can get it and that takes practice.

Well I got my little one to sleep and jumped up to start decorating the house and moulding the last one.
The mould was still demo do I popped it in the oven for 10 minutes.
Earlier I tried melting the chocolate and filling a piping bag, it worked fine filling the small areas such as people but seemed a waste of time for the large panels. I was back to the trusted plastic jug pouring, shaking and tapping till it was level in the mould.
It’s was setting in the fridge do I decided to make a start on the other doors Xmas trees candy canes and gingerbread men all went to plan with melted white chocolate and lots of sprinkles :-)
Next was the assembly I was dreading this first time I did one I used frosting and the roof just kept slipping off so the plan was to use melted chocolate.
I couldn’t believe how fast it set near enough straight away :-) I filled the gaps and carried on with 2 and 3.
I now had them all assembled in cake boards in a row.
First the roof I covered the join in melted chocolate then covered with white sugar glitter, next were rows of white chocolate buttons with hundreds and thousands on secured again with a blob of chocolate, it was looking nice.
I had to re melt some white chocolate to edge the window frames this went a bit wobbly, note to set do them when it’s laid flat next time :-/
Along the front edge if the roof I added mini smarties in alternate colours it looked pretty I also found a cocktail stick was fab for adding melted chocolate to small areas and then add the smarties.
All that was left to do was add the doors, Xmas trees, candy canes and gingerbread men this again went to plan
With a hand from my son he held the giant cello bags open while I played each house inside and tied them shut.
Job done not professional but neither and i, i did have fun though and hope they like them :-)
10:30pm finally done and dusted!

It’s was time to make the keyboard. Now think on my partner doesn’t like any chocolate only Terry’s chocolate orange so that’s piped around the screen and keyboard. Twix’s that’s the space bar and some keys. Yorkie melted in letter moulds for letter keys and rolos for other keys.
I have to admit I went Xmas shopping and only found the letter mould in tkmax yesterday what a bargain.
I have to say he was very impressed I think he was getting ready to frown as he thought it was a cake but no he had a huge smile on his face :-)
Mission accomplished I’m happy hes happy.