Spring cupcake tower

This is the first part of my spring cupcake tower. It is made up of vanilla cupcakes in plain cases, half regular muffin size and half  (really cute) mini muffins. I piped vanilla buttercream on top using a large star nozzle and topped with flowerpaste white daisies and green leaves. This made up the bottom tier of the cupcake tower.

This is the second design of cupcakes that made up the tower. They are still vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream but instead of piping the buttercream on, I spread it on to give a different effect. I then topped them with a variety of pink and yellow five star flowers and the same leaves as before. I went back after they were dry and piped on all the yellow centres, which I thought would be the easiest way of doing it, but it was quite difficult, and I had to pick off and replace a few that went wrong.

This was the top cutting cake. I iced the whole thing in white fondant and added daisies all the way around as a trim in place of ribbon. I looked around for a bride and groom for the topper, I wanted something different and a little bit more country/spring like. But I couldn't find one I liked, but when I was having a shop around Wilkinsons, I saw these pottery doves/birds that fit my cake really well and I thought the lace effect of them fit the lace effect of my stand.

This is the overall picture of all the cakes on the cakestand. It became the main feature and inspiration of this months wedding fayres.

I am going away tomorrow, to spend Easter with my husbands family. I will be away for a week so will speak to you when I get back.

Happy Easter everyone
Claire xx

Dotty about gerberas!!

These are some cupcakes I displayed at Lakeview Manor (21st March) and The Lavender House Hotel (28th March). I baked vanilla cupcakes in plain cases and filled half with red flood icing and half with white flood icing. While they were still wet, I piped red polka dots on the white and white polka dots on the red. I like the effect this gave, but looking at them now, you can't really see many of the dots, I have to think about that. I made the gerberas using red/white flower paste and a large PME daisy cutter. I shaped the petals, added a yellow centre and left them to dry. Later I attached them to the cakes with a little flood icing.
I love the way they look on my polka dot cake stand.

Speak to you tomorrow,
Claire x

Lakeview Manor wedding fayre

I am really sorry I haven't blogged for a while, I have been so busy, obviously a good thing but it means that this is the first time I have been able to sit at the computer since the wedding fayre at Lakeview Manor on Sunday.
I was really prepared for the fayre, I had spent quite a lot of time on Saturday going over and over what I had done, what I needed to take etc, until I felt I could do no more. We got up early Sunday morning, my sister and my mom come with me, to help and support me (very much appreciated) and so my sister said she would drive. We picked up my mom at 8am, the fayre was set to start at 10.30am and although it doesn't take me ages to set up, I was planning on being there at around 9am. We were making really good time, even talking about stopping somewhere for breakfast, when one the tyres on my sister's car got a puncture and we had to pull into the lay by. We all got out to look and it was completely flat, it needed changing. Well, we became complete girly girls, not the usual independent women we are normally. We managed to get the spare tyre out of the boot (which happened to be under all me cakes, forcing us to stack boxes of cakes on the side of the road) and called the breakdown company to come and change it. It took and hour for him to come and then about 2 minutes for him to change it. We managed to get there at 10.40am, which wasn't too bad, all things considered, and there wasn't any brides there yet, but I did feel like a bit of an idiot rushing to set up.
The rest of the day went really well. We met some lovely people, both potential customers and other exhibitors.

This is a full picture of our table, I wanted a general spring/summer feel and I think I achieved what I set out to do. Over the next few days I will be highlighting some of the cakes I did for the show.
I am exhibiting at The Lavender House Hotel on Sunday,  I still have lots of work to do for that, so I better get back to work.

Speak to you soon,
Claire x

'Thank You for being my Bridesmaid'

I have been working on more things for the wedding fayre this Sunday (ahh this Sunday, need to do more work!!)
Today I finished my 'Thank you for being my Bridesmaid/ Flower girl' butterfly cookies.

I packaged them in cellophane and tied them with ribbon. I have these lovely light pink enamel tall buckets and I put oasis in the bottom of the tins, packed with newspaper and covered up this with pink tissue paper. I then stuck the butterfly lollipops in the oasis.

I think these are nice to give to your younger bridesmaids (although I would appreciate one if I were a bridesmaid). I am planning on doing a flower one for the fayre too.

Speak to you soon,
Claire x

Starting work on wedding fayre cakes

I started the work for the first wedding fayre yesterday. It takes me about 2-3 weeks planning, sketching and sourcing etc. And then about another 2-3 weeks preparation. This time, however, I am afraid I left it a little later, and only started, as I said, yesterday. But I do work well when I have a deadline looming and I have done about a third of the flowers needed for my cupcakes, so that is not too bad.

The picture is an experimental cake topper. I made it by making a heart 'frame' out of white flower paste and then layering leaves, daisies and 5 petal flowers on top. I am waiting for it to dry to see whether it is strong enough to hold up. It is just over 15cm high, so it may break (boo hoo, lots of crying) and then I will try a smaller, maybe thicker version. So, just need to keep my fingers crossed.

Speak to you tomorrow,
Claire x

I haven't had any time to blog or do any cake things of any sort for the past few days, so I apologise. My youngest daughter, Lily, has been really ill and hasn't eaten anything for the past 5 days, she is only 4 years old so we were quite worried, but luckily she is on the mend and I am back at work.

Today I thought I would tell you about the second wedding fayre of this month I am attending. It is at The Lavender House Hotel, Knowle Hill, Ashburton, Devon. It is on Sunday 28th March from 11.30am ~ 5pm. Above is a picture of a wedding being held at The Lavender House Hotel, which I think looks beautiful. I love the idea of a summer wedding outside.

Speak to you tomorrow,

Claire x

Recipe for Apple Custard Crumble Tart

Today I made Apple Custard Crumble Tart for me and my family to have after dinner and I thought it might be nice to share the recipe with you.

INGREDIENTS

Pastry~

155g plain flour

1 tablespoon caster sugar

80g butter, melted and cooled

1 egg yolk

Apple Custard Topping~

3 green apples

20g butter

4tbsp caster sugar

2 eggs

185ml double cream

1tsp vanilla essence

Crumble Topping~

60g plain flour

2tbsp dark brown sugar

40g finely chopped nuts (I used almonds, but you could use walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans etc)

60 butter, melted

1.Lightly grease a 20cm x 20cm baking tin and line with baking paper, overhanging two opposite sides.

2. To make the pastry, sift the flour and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the melted butter, egg yolk and 2-3 tbsp water and mix until the dough comes together. Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper to fit the base of the tin. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190c.

3. Line the pastry base with baking paper and fill with baking beans or uncooked rice. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans, reduce the oven temperature to 180c and bake the pastry for 5 minutes, or until golden. Leave to cool.

4. To make the apple custard topping, peel, core and chop the apples and place in a saucepan with the butter and half the sugar. Cover and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes, or until soft and pulpy. Uncover and simmer for another 5 minutes, to reduce the liquid. Use a wooden spoon to break down the apples until they have a smooth texture. Leave to cool.

5. Whisk together the eggs, cream, remaining sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Spread the cooled apple mixture over the pastry base, then carefully pour over the cream mixture. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the custard has half set.

6. To make the crumble topping, mix together the flour, brown sugar and nuts in a bowl. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over the custard and bake for 15 minutes. Leave to cool slightly in the tin before cutting. Enjoy!

We ate ours warm with double cream or ice cream, it was lovely. Just what you need on a cold evening.

Happy Birthday Courtney

It's my niece's 14th birthday today and so I baked some cupcakes that I thought she would like. They are vanilla cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting. She isn't a girly girl so I made flowers from black sugarpaste and embellished them with silver dragees, I then added more silver dragees to the finished cakes.

Happy Birthday Courtney!!

Pinch, Punch, it's the first of the month!!

Happy St. Davids Day

I have made some lemon cupcakes with lemon icing and sugar daffodils to mark St Davids Day, a day to celebrate the patron saint of Wales. 

I used one of my new favourite things, Squires real fruit fondant mix. It comes in 5 flavours~ blackcurrant, strawberry, raspberry, orange and lemon. I have tried them all, they are great used, as in the picture, over fondant fancies, but you can also mix them with water to make icing for cupcakes and mixed to make fruit flavoured buttercream or frosting. I like the orange one made into frosting for carrot cake, the raspberry one as a topping for vanilla cupcakes, but my favourite is the lemon one, which I have used quite often. Note, I coloured the icing for my cupcakes today because I wanted a stronger background for my daffodils.

Speak to you tomorrow,

Claire x