LOVE is in the air......

Its the run-up to valentines day 2010 and I thought it was time to spread a little love! My girls love to get involved in the kitchen and I think its important that they learn to enjoy baking as I feel these days as our lives get busier we rely more and more on fast-food and shop bought cakes. I'm not saying theres anything wrong with these but I dont think you can beat home made cake and biscuits that aren't pumped full of preservatives. Its also a great way to spend quality time with my girls whilst producing something yummy for tea! Jammy heart biscuits are great with a cuppa or if placed in a cello bag and tied with ribbon a perfect homemade gift for that someone special. Valentines day can be seen as another commercial money making scam and although this may be true.... theres nothing wrong with celebrating your love for one another in an in-expensive way that sometimes can mean more than most bought gifts. Jammy heart biscuits are great to make with kids they'll love cutting the shapes out and you needn't worry if you dont have 2 heart shaped cutters as you can do round biscuits/fluted biscuits with a heart cut out for the middle (this can even be done by hand using a sharp knife adults only to prevent accidents!) The little heart middles needn't been thrown away I usually bake these with the biscuits and decorate with a little icing and get the girls to cover in sprinkles or they can be sandwiched in twos with jam in the middle. For an alternative valentines day biscuit viennese piped hearts are just as scrummy and can be made to sandwich with jam or even with some of your favourite melted chocolate instead or to accompany the jam. I will hopefully get round to posting some of these recipes on here later on for you all to try and get spreading the love this valentines day!!

Valentines cupcakes are also an extra special treat and the possibilities are endless! I made a batch of vanilla and raspberry ripple cakes topped with romantic red swirls of vanilla buttercream topping and sugarpaste baby pink hearts and mini heart sprinkles. These look just as good chocolate with chocolate topping and red or pink hearts to decorate and perfect for that chocoholic!!

Valentines victoria sponge is perfect if you prefer a big cake other than cupcakes.... very simply done using vanilla sponge baked in a heart tin (or a square and cut into a heart) and sandwiched with fresh whipped cream, ravishing raspberry/strawberry jam (I prefer to use seedless) and fresh strawberrys on top to decorate.

This can also be made chocolate and decorated with either strawberrys or for the chocolate devil in you.... lashings of chocolate buttercream covering the whole cake and to decorate crushed cadburys flakes, malteasers, m&ms if you want to add abit of colour or any of your favourite chocolate/sweet treats!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! - My fave carrot cake cupcakes

These are one of my favourite cupcakes and a great alternative to vanilla and chocolate cake. I would like to say a "healthier option" cake but the dreamy buttery cream cheese swirl topping is definately devilish! I would say if you were watching calories then these cupcakes are just as yummy without the topping and and can be served plain or the topping can be made using lighter cream cheese and low-fat marg and spread thinly over the cake.

These look cute arranged on a cupcake stand but are best eaten on the day they are made or can be stored in the fridge to be consumed within a few days of making as the topping needs to be kept cool. Alternatively the cake can be made in a loaf tin and the topping kept in a tupperware tub in the fridge and spread on a slice of the cake as required. Either way be warned these cakes are extremely addictive.....one just isn't enough!

Christmas 2009

I love christmas and for me its all about spending time with loved ones and sharing good traditional food. I think theres nothing quite like the festive smells of homemade mince pies straight from the oven with a dollop of fresh whipped cream or brandy butter. I don't think much compares to grandmas/mums famous homemade mince pies and although the supermarkets give it a good go making your own mince pies at christmas is a must. I prefer my mince pies with the pastry extra short (which makes the pastry melt in your mouth!) My mum has always made them this way and although they can be trickier to handle as the pastry is crumblier they're extra yummy. Another twist on the tradtional mince pie is to add a little grated orange zest and sprinkling of either mixed spice or cinnamon. This gives the pastry an added kick and a festive flavour. To get the little ones involved I usually give them the task of cutting out the lids for the mince pies and to make it fun we usually do stars/hearts or christmas trees. Christmas wouldn't be christmas without chocolate cake and these mini double chocolate puds went down a treat as an alternative to mince pies and christmas fruit cake. They're made from my own chocolate cake recipe with milk chocolate chips and melted white chocolate on top and my own sugar hollies making them 100% edible!

CHILDREN IN NEED 2009 - pudsey biscuits and cupcakes

Friday 20th November 2009 was children in need and was another event on the calendar that got me baking! I made a batch of pudsey biscuits up for my girls and for family members and everyone commented on them saying I should sell them in aid of children in need. At the time I hadn't thought of selling them but when people that had seen them started giving me orders for their family members and friends I thought it would be a great way to raise a bit of money for such a good cause! I sold the biscuits for 50p each and gift bagged them in cello bags tied with ribbon. All the ingredients and my time working on them was my personal donation to charity and whatever money made would go to Children In Need. I also made some pudsey cupcakes and sold a few of these for 50p each but they were alot more time consuming to make and majority of the orders I had were for the biscuits so I decided to stick with making them! The end total was £86.50 which I work out to 173 biscuits/cupcakes sold! It was a very busy couple of weeks leading up to children in need as I work part-time and have two little ones but well worth it!!

COUTURE wedding cake!

For a friend of a friend I was asked if I could do a 4 tier wedding cake for her wedding beginning of october. I made some samples of my cake up for her to try and she was more than happy to go ahead and get me to do her wedding cake for her. I was extremely nervous! I hadn't ever done something so big and of such importance before! The couple decided on 2 tiers lemon sponge with lemon buttercream and 2 tiers chocolate sponge with chocolate buttercream. The picture I was given to work from was actually from a book called couture cakes by mich turner. Mich is truly inspiring and founder of the little venice cake company.

I felt like I had ALOT to live up to and with me only just starting out with making and decorating cakes I didn't feel worthy to be re-creating a cake designed by someone so so talented! The cake even though is quite simple in design took hours to complete and I was so so so nervous about doing the cake justice.

Evie's 2nd birthday - winnie the pooh picnic 14th Sept 2009

For my daughters 2nd birthday we decided on having a winnie the pooh picnic party outside in the gazebo. I thought long and hard about what kind of cake would suit the party best and when I'd drawn up my ideas a very talented family member (also into cake decorating) agreed to help me with the character models. I wanted the cupcakes to match in with the cake so decided on using green liquid fondant icing to look like grass and simply dotted on little sugar daisys and blossom to give the finishing touch. I did half the cupcakes chocolate sponge and half vanilla to give the guests a choice on what flavour cake they preferred. I find cupcakes alot easier to give out at partys and not only do they seem to keep fresher longer as they have the icing sealing the cake but look gorgeous stacked up on an acrylic stand.

LCFC 50th birthday cake

For my father-in-laws 50th Birthday the family organised a suprise sunday lunch at the LCFC stadium followed by a big family garden party to follow. I decided to keep the cake pretty simple but use the LCFC logo made from edible icing discs. The cake was traditional vanilla sponge with lashings of raspberry jam and vanilla buttercream.