First order for 2026, 42 vanilla cupcakes, pink and silver colour theme for an 18th birthday party. I used the Jane's Patisserie recipe for the cupcakes and buttercream and I added a raspberry conserve centre to the cupcakes. I made 32 sugar paste toppers combining Happy Birthday, cupcakes, birthday cakes and flowers with white, and various shades of pink. I used silver glitter dust to paint the text and add highlights. The cakes were presented in pink, striped and floral

Over the last few weeks I have been crocheting a Christmas stocking designed by Lindsey Newns (Lottie & Albert - Curate Crochet Box). The stocking had a candy cane style top and was covered with peppermint swirls, bobbles, white 'icing' hills and valleys and finally a lovely red bow. It was perfect to be displayed with the Gingerbread house blanket that I had crocheted last Christmas (also designed by Lindsey), the pair make a lovely, practical, Christmas decoration.

This year I used a GF recipe for my Christmas cake for no other reason than I really liked the combination of fruit in the mix. I followed a recipe posted by The Gluten Free Alchemist back in October. Then I wrapped the cake in baking paper and foil giving it a very occasional feed with some Cointreau. I was undecided about how to decorate the cake when I saw a FB post by Karen Davies (Karen Davies moulds and sugarcraft) which used a knitted fabric mould and a Christmas bau

I donated a batch of mini cupcakes to the refreshment table at our local Carol Service at St Peter's Church on 21st December. I made a batch of orange sponge cupcakes which I filled with lemon curd and then topped with a lemon buttercream icing. I decorated the cupcakes with sugar Christmas toppers from Culpitt and Waitrose as well as some home made holly decorations, finished with a spritz of white glitter. I also made a batch of toffee sponge cupcakes which I filled with

I had an order to make 40 cupcakes for an 18th birthday just before Christmas. From the cupcake menu the customer selected Espresso Martini and Salted caramel flavours, the final choice was Ferrero Rocher cupcakes. As the cakes were for an 18th birthday party/gathering I used the Salted caramel sponge cupcakes as the base for some sugarpaste decorations to celebrate the special birthday. Starting with the Espresso Martini cupcakes I made a coffee sponge adding 3 chocolate

So just for a bit of fun I've counted up the amount of cupcakes etc that I have baked this year and here are the results:

I used a Delia Smith recipe to make a ginger cake to share with my garden volunteer buddies on Friday morning after we finished our work in Banstead village. The cake uses ground ginger and chopped stem ginger and the syrup plus black treacle to give a beautiful ginger taste. I topped the cake with the remaining cinnamon buttercream and vanilla buttercream from my earlier bakes in the week along with some more ginger syrup. I brushed mini gingerbread men biscuits with gold

I made a fruit (sultana and dried apricot) traybake cake to share with the regulars at the Thursday morning community cafe held at St Peter's Church Hall. I brushed the top of the cake with apricot jam, topped it with a sheet of fondant icing and then decorated the cake with Angels (made using a Lissielou stamp and cutter), Golden bells (PME cutter) and a golden NOEL (Patchwork cutter Christmas greetings set). I used gold stars to fill the fondant sheet , I topped the piped

Another charity bake of sorts - I made a spiced toffee traybake (Mary Berry recipe) topped with cinnamon flavoured buttercream and then decorated with a Christmas tree made using a Karen Davies mould. I also added some bauble sprinkles along with red bows. I added star sprinkles and some sugarpaste holly decorations to finish the traybake. I also made a batch of vanilla cupcakes which I filled with fruit mincemeat and used some of the cinnamon flavoured buttercream to top t

I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes for The Coffee House in Tadworth. I filled the cupcakes with raspberry conserve and topped them with red, white and green vanilla buttercream before adding sugarpaste cupcake toppers and sprinkles. The cupcake topper designs were Penguins (Combocutters), cut and painted and then added to a sugarpaste disc to sit on the buttercream, Merry Christmas (Lissielou embosser) painted with gold dust, Mitten (Lissielou embosser) design painted with

Another order - I was asked to make a Christmas cake which was going to be gifted. I used the last minute Christmas cake recipe from Delia Smith's cake cookbook. This recipe combines fruit mincemeat with mixed fruit and nuts. I soaked the fruit mixture in cold tea before making the cake. After baking I left the cake wrapped in baking paper and foil for a couple of weeks. I then brushed the cake with apricot jam and covered with a layer of marzipan. I put the cake on a c

Another order for a traybake cake. This particular cake was to celebrate the Diamond Club (a social club for the over 60's) which has been held at my local Church Hall for a number of years. The couple who have organised the club since it started have decided to call it a day so I was asked to make a Thank you cake for them. I made my favourite vanilla traybake cake, with a raspberry conserve glaze, fondant icing sheet decorated with sugarpaste text, buttercream rosettes an

I was helping at the Christmas Fair at my local Church today. I spent yesterday doing some baking to add to the cake refreshment stall which I was running. My contribution was a batch of sugar cookies decorated with sugarpaste santa and snowmen toppers (I used Combocutters to make the designs). I painted the sugarpaste toppers with glitter dust and coloured sugar paste. I made a batch of Christmas sprinkle cookies, a recipe I found on the Jane's patisserie website. The c

I had an order for a 'special birthday' (60th) cake. The brief I was given was a colour theme of pink and white and to use daisies and hearts. I made a vanilla sponge cake which I brushed with raspberry conserve and then topped with a sheet of fondant icing. I made vanilla buttercream which I used to give a 'naked' effect to the sides of the cake. I then coloured half of the buttercream pink and using different piping tips I decorated the top of the cake. I added a sugar

How did that happen we are nearly at the end of November and that means the Christmas lights are being turned on. Tadworth had their Charity event on Wednesday afternoon with competitions for the children and all of the local businesses getting involved. My customer, The Coffee House in Tadworth, themed their Christmas display around Disney and Mickey and Minnie mouse. My cupcakes for the event captured the theme with Red velvet cupcakes decorated with Minnie Mouse and Cho

I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes which I filled with Raspberry conserve and topped with vanilla buttercream before sprinkling them with rainbow sprinkles and adding a glace cherry on the top which I then spritzed with gold dust. The cupcakes were my donation to the Tea room on Saturday afternoon, where I spent the time minding the dishwasher!

The final classes that I entered at the show were for a pot grown orchid and a vase showcasing a shrub with berries or flowers. I was really happy to receive a 1st place for my orchid and a certificate of merit and the vase of foliage, berries and flowers from the Heavenly Bamboo or Nandina growing in the garden received a 3rd place. So another good result.

In addition to the craft items that I exhibited I also entered 2 of the baking classes: a decorated carrot cake and 5 decorated gingerbread biscuits. For the carrot cake I used a Jane's Patisserie recipe which I decorated with cream cheese flavour buttercream, sugar paste carrots, gilded walnuts, chopped walnuts and orange zest, I was awarded 1st place and a blue ribbon for an outstanding exhibit. I used a Fiona Cairns recipe for the gingerbread biscuits which I decorated w

I have been working for a while on some craft projects to exhibit at the Horticultural Society Late Autumn Show, lots of knitting, crocheting and printing has been taking up my time. Having dropped the exhibits off on Saturday morning it was lovely to see a buzzy hall with so many people laying out their exhibits as well. When I went back in the afternoon I was over the moon to see that I had won 3 x 1st place - 1. for a crocheted item - Gingerbread blanket, A collection

I was invited to a special afternoon tea for one of the BVIB Litterpickers who was having to hang up her litterpicker and purple bags. I offered to make a gf cake, I made a Sticky Toffee cake using a recipe from The Gluten Free Alchemist's website. The cake uses coconut sugar and chopped toffee sweets to give the toffee richness to the flavour. We had a great afternoon chatting, drinking tea and enjoying the selection of cakes on offer.