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.

My first themed bake for a while for The Coffee House, I used some new Halloween themed Combo cutters along with LissieLou embossers and cutters and Katy Sue spooky letters to make the toppers. I made a batch of chocolate fudge cupcakes and one batch of Pumpkin spice cupcakes. The Mummy & Dracula toppers were dried on a domed sponge so that when I decorated these particular cupcakes I popped a few Special edition skittles underneath as a surprise. The Pumpkin spice cupcake

I wanted to try out a new ginger biscuit recipe so I used some of my Combo cutters with a Halloween theme to make a selection of biscuits and sugar paste toppers. I also used a simple lemon glace icing to decorate some of the biscuits. Really pleased with the recipe from Fiona Cairns which didn't spread while baking, had a good flavour and when cooled had a nice snap to it. The Pumpkin and ghost cutters were from Combo cutters (previously know as Patchwork cutters) and the

I had an order to make cupcakes and a large cutting cake for a Hen party weekend away. Having previously made the engagement cupcakes I...

Another large craft project completed. Last year I bought a kit to make a knitted Christmas blanket, it was given the theme of "I love...

I have had a busy few days leading up to the coffee morning yesterday preparing the cakes and cookies for the stall that I was running at...

I had another order for a mixed box (Vanilla and Coffee & walnut) of birthday cupcakes. I made pretty pink and white sugarpaste cupcake...

I've made a birthday cake for a friend to celebrate her special birthday. She's someone who is a talented knitter and I wanted the...

I decided to enter a few of the classes in the Autumn Show at my local Horticultural Society, including some of my houseplants (an orchid...

I've made another batch of cupcakes for my partner to take into the 'office' tomorrow to celebrate Emergency Services day 9th September,...

This Carrot cake recipe from Woman's Weekly turned out very well, it is made with vegetable oil, eggs, dark brown sugar, wholemeal flour,...

In a few weeks time I am helping at our annual Harvest Supper at St Peter's Church Hall and I have made a selection of knitted and...

It's been a quiet baking month, probably just as well in view of the hot weather, but I have taken the opportunity to try out some new...