Cake Decorating: Rapunzel Birthday Cake

Yay, it's the weekend!  I was up early this morning, despite a late night.  We have J, my stepson, here this weekend and we went up to the village pub for dinner, then came home to watch endless episodes of 'Extreme Couponing'.  (I hardly watch any TV at all but when J's with us we seem to watch all kinds of rubbish.  I kind of like it!)

So I've been fiddling around with my DSLR and came across a few photos of the Rapunzel birthday cake that I made for my niece this year.  

Izzie's birthday is in January and she was four this year.  The photos were really hastily taken because the party was planned for a Saturday afternoon and on the Friday evening before, when I had to make the delivery, we had some of the worst snow that winter.  I had spent a couple of days making and decorating the cake and was really worried that I wouldn't be able to deliver it.  Before legging it out of the door that Friday afternoon I grabbed my camera and took a couple of quick shots. 

Rapunzel birthday cake

Izzie, like a lot of little girls her age, is now obsessed with Disney princesses.  Rapunzel is her very favourite (she has a little Rapunzel outfit that she likes to wear, with a very creepy long blonde wig) so it was inevitable that I'd be asked to make a Rapunzel cake.  As with all of my little cake projects, I start by googling images for inspiration and then I come up with my own rough design.

Cake design scribbled on greaseproof paper! 

After I've baked the actual cakes, the first things I make are the sugar paste flowers and any other small decorations that I know I will need lots (and lots) of. 

Handmade sugar paste roses and flowers from little stamp sets

I was taught how to make proper wired sugar roses at night school, using special cutters for the calyx, then cutting, frilling and wrapping each individual petal.  I've since discovered a super-fast, super-easy way of making them that is fine for projects where the flowers don't need to look too realistic.  

Rapunzel's tower made of cake 

For this cake, I made an 8" vanilla sponge sandwiched with buttercream and raspberry jam.  I made the tower-shaped cake in a baked bean tin (lined with greaseproof paper).  To make the roof, I made a big cone of sugar paste and then cut individual tiles which I then laid out with my best brick-laying skills.  I squished them around to make them looks as rickety as possible.  The tower had a plastic dowel through it to keep the structure secure.  Obviously, the Rapunzel and Flynn figurines are plastic - I didn't make them!

The cake is on 12" cake drum which I decorated with pale grey sugar paste to look like cobblestones.  With a few odd flowers dotted around, and some green vines squeezed through my special little gun (a garlic press works well too) I was finished.  I loved making this cake, especially knowing that little Izzie would love it.  The children at the party were enthralled by the cake and lots of sticky little hands reached out for the figurines.  My sis even told me that a couple of dads asked afterwards who made the cake - they said it was the best they'd ever tasted!  Yay - score!

Have a great weekend.  My parents are bringing said little niece over to see me this afternoon.  I'm looking forward to colouring-in with felt tips and having lots of cuddles.

Nicki 

x

Tinkerbell birthday cake

I've been making a Tinkerbell cake this week for my friend's daughter's birthday party:

I had known for about six weeks that I needed to make the cake.  I used a madeira cake that lasts a fortnight so, theoretically, I could have baked and iced the cake last weekend.  I could have spent the last month making sugarpaste decorations, they last such a long time.  So why did I start the cake at 9 o'clock on Wednesday night and then stay up until 1am on Friday morning decorating it?!  What's more, when I should have started baking the cake after work on Wednesday, I made some Cherry Menlove cheat's mince pies instead! 

I frustrate myself so much leaving everything to the last minute.  I am the same in every aspect of my life and whilst I know that I put myself under unnecessary stress, I can't seem to change it.  It comes up in every appraisal at work.  My boss, kindly, tells me that it's against my character-type to plan in advance, so I need to work really hard at it.  I agree.  The truth is that I can't get motivated to do things until the last minute and I work best under pressure.  

I am pleased with the cake even though I spent the whole of Friday exhausted and bleary-eyed.

It's a simple two-tier madeira cake with vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam filling.  I was asked to provide a three-tiered cake but decided to use a bigger board and decorate that rather than a third tier (it's an 8" cake with a 5" tier - that's a lot of cake!).

I made all of the decorations from sugarpaste or flowerpaste (the figures are plastic) and the water is blue-coloured buttercream.  There are two Tinks (?) on it - I was only going to use one (which makes sense to me) but Andrew assured me that a 6-year old little girl would rather see as many Tinks as possible than just one, however unrealistic.  

He was right - I dropped the cake off on Friday night and my friend's daughter had waited up to see the cake.  Her face when we took it out of the box was an absolute picture.  She was delighted.  It made the stress and the exhaustion worthwhile.  I crawled home, ate noodles and fell asleep in front of a DVD.  

So, Cherry Menlove.  I saw her mince pies in the Hobbycraft magazine but then discovered Cherry's blog accidentally a couple of week's ago whilst looking for blanket stitch tutorials.  Her blog is so cheesy and cheerful - I love it.  I thought I was the most shameless Pollyanna but she clearly beats me hands down.  I have a little bit of a girl crush.  

 The mince pies are made with shop-bought pastry and mincemeat.  The only thing I had to make was a little buttercream which is piped on top.  They were a bit burnt overdone but they still tasted lovely and I will definitely make them again.  They are worth making just for aesthetic purposes.

All weekend I have been sleepy and craving cosiness (how on earth I used to go out til the early hours of the morning three nights on the trot at the weekend I do not know).  My mum and sis picked me up on their way to Milton Keynes yesterday afternoon and we went to the little Christmas section that has been set up outside John Lewis.  It is lovely for children; they can see Santa and look at the cute moving Christmassy scenes.  There are loads of fairy lights and a very pretty, proper, carousel.

We took my niece on and she loved it.  We sat in a little Cinderella coach and she put her bunny, Joseph, on her knee for the ride.

We went for eggnog lattes at Starbucks (the red cups are back, hurrah!) and wandered around one or two shops.  It was crazy busy (Christmas madness) but we had nothing specific to buy.  I did pick up a few fun decorations from Paperchase and swooned over the gorgeous babushka stationery.  It's a good job I don't go to the shops very often, I could have spent a fortune!

Today we're just having a quiet day at home but popping out to the garden centre in a moment for a little mooch.  By 3pm we'll be curled up on the sofa with an old film on the box - can't wait.  Might even make myself a snowball!

Hope everyone's having a good weekend - isn't the weather Christmassy!  Cold and foggy... switch on your fairy lights and get cosy.

Nicki 

x

A Lovely Cake Blog

Have you ever been to Amelie's House?  It's a makey-bakey-cakey blog and right up my street.  This lady is seriously talented - her cake decorating (especially the hand painting) has to be seen to be believed.  She also does some lovely recipe posts and presents the recipes in a really cute way.  

If you haven't checked this blog out before I promise that you won't be disappointed.  And if you pop over there by 6th June you'll be able to take part in the giveaway that Natasha is having to celebrate her blog's 'new look' and the 600 follower milestone!   

Nicki 

x

Cake decorating efforts to date...

Man alive, I'm craving cake today.  Badly craving it.  I'm working at our Milton Keynes office tomorrow which, happily, is right around the corner from Starbucks.  I have already decided that I'm heading there first thing to fetch a cappuccino and a chocolate muffin.  Who cares if it will wipe out most of my WeightWatcher points for the day - I'll have butternut squash and bananas for dinner.  (Zero point saviours; get me through many a binge.)

So, with cake on the brain, I thought I'd do a post on my cake decorating efforts so far.  These are the only ones I have ever made, I'm a complete beginner.  We all have to start somewhere! 

Obviously the flowers on top are a little sparse and if I'd had more time I would have made more to fill in the gaps but I don't think it's bad for a beginner.  I made this with a little adult education class at the local school.

My first novelty cake.  I was really proud of this at the time even though the Waybuloo characters are porkier than they should be:

Izzie loved it and watching her chubby little hands make a beeline for De Li (that's the pink one, I know it isn't obvious!) made the stress and frustrations of making it (oh yes, there were tears) all worthwhile.

Grandma's birthday cake - a hippo in a bath tub (a Maisie Parrish cake).  Grandma wasn't impressed, she thought I was calling her a hippo.  Seriously, she went in a bit of a strop.  She's 79.

(these are especially awful photos, sorry, 

I was probably shaking after Grandma's reaction!)

This Easter cake is another Maisie Parrish design.  I made it last year:

Fun, fun, fun weaving baskets out of sugarpaste! 

I made these little carrots and bunny paws and popped them on the top of iced cupcakes.

This toadstool was for a friend's daughter's birthday party.  I think it is from a Debbie Brown book.

And this one is taken from a few Maisie Parrish designs.  It was for my niece's second birthday.

So there we are, my very modest collection of cakes.  

Nicki 

x

Cakes, steaks and crochet

So, it was my niece's 2nd birthday on Friday and because I enjoy baking I have bagsied the annual job of providing the birthday cake.  This year I was going to make a farmyard scene from a book by my favourite cake decorator, Ms Parrish, but I left everything to the last minute and had to opt for something a little more straight-forward.  So I freestyled and plumped for teddy bears wearing party hats:

The cake is a Madeira with just a buttercream and strawberry jam filling.  I always find Madeira cake a bit dry but there's no denying that it is easy-peasy to work with and lasts a while if stored properly.  I covered the whole thing in pink sugarpaste with a border of marshmallows (I know! but my niece loves them).

To jazz it up I made a couple of little teddy bears and wove a basket of sugarpaste which I filled with dolly mixture sweets and smarties.  

I baked the cake and iced the board on Friday night and spent yesterday afternoon decorating, hardly coming up for air.  I am pleased with how it turned out but so wish I didn't leave everything to the last minute.  (I am always lastminute.com with everything in my life and cause myself so much unnecessary stress!  I get on my own nerves so I'm sure the OH must despair of me.)  There are a few minor things which could have been neater if I'd given myself more time. Still, my niece was enchanted by the little bears and that's the main thing.  She was so cute trying to blow out the candles.

I've only made a few celebration cakes before and I always find it difficult when the knife goes in and evidence of MY WHOLE SATURDAY! is chopped into slices and handed round on plates ... was practically biting my knuckles when Pa picked up the basket (eeeek! that took me an hour!) and bit into the handle.  Ha! 

In other news; a spontaneous dinner out with the OH on Thursday night for wine and steak was a lovely treat, Wii Party last night with my step-son was hilarious and I feel like I'm getting somewhere with the crochet.  I have only managed to produce a tiny piece of work so far (looks like a scarf for a mouse) but it is recognisably crochet and that's a massive thing for me.  Huge thanks to the ladies who have put crochet tutorials on their blogs; it's you that I'm learning from.   You rule.

So, time to pack up the laptop and prepare for another busy week:  a couple of woodburners fitted tomorrow (yay!) and a long weekend in the Peak District for lots of walking and wine.  I am also starting yoga again tomorrow night after a long period off and can't wait.  

Namaste.

x