A Pretty Pastel 40th Birthday Cake

Hello again!

2 posts in a week, yes I must be in a cake baking lull!

Today I have for you a pretty little 40th birthday cake I made for Laura, who had two birthday cakes from me as she was also the recipient of the Frozen cake I made for Better. I honestly, do not know where they put all this cake...

Although I have been enjoying having the chance to create original cakes for the team at Better, it is quite nice when someone sends you an image and tells you exactly what they want. Laura wanted something like this from Designer Cakes by April but in only 2 tiers.

We left off the diamante top tier and went for the more patterned tiers to make the most of the cake we had. Bless my mother for creating a diamond template and hand cutting all those diamonds! I would have done it but they wouldn't have been anywhere near as good, or straight...

And dots or circles are always a winner in my polka dot covered book!

My favourite part of the cake has to be the bows. Bows on everything! They are made from flower paste in order for them to keep their lovely, loopy shape. I replaced the diamond from the top of the original cake with another bow to keep a bit more consistency throughout the cake.

I did have a diamante 40 to go on the top of the cake but, to be blunt, I didn't like it, so we went for a paste 40, which unfortunately had to wait until it was in place at the party before it went on. But it looked like this:

With the wonderful gift of hindsight, I can now see that the cake would have had an overall better look about it if the bottom tier had been a bit taller. It's more cake and more icing and more stress trying to get the cake covered but I think for future tiered cakes, bigger bottoms is the answer.

Cake flavour: vanilla sponge with jam and buttercream bottom tier and a chocolate top tier

What we listened to: My cat being a pain in the butt

Anything else: This cake and the cake I was making simultaneously for Laura's son restored my faith in myself after a tough few weeks (in which I had quit at least twice.)

See you next time!
Vicky

The Mystery of the Garden Pond Cake (That's not really a mystery)

You know when it's your birthday and you get a cake? You probably expect that you'll get a slice of said cake, right? Well, not so much with this one...

This is a lesson in always cutting your birthday cake.

Chloe bought this cake for her step-dad's birthday and gave it to him a few days before his birthday because he was going to be away. He, however, didn't want to cut it and left without doing so. 

The birthday gentleman was my Mum's cousin so we were able to watch on Facebook as various family members and friends wound him up about how they had really enjoyed their piece of his birthday cake and watching him go mad that they'd cut it. I'm not sure how big they thought this cake was but I think the entire North East had a slice.

As it turns out that this was only half a joke; Chloe had been working her way through the cake while he was away and it had all gone by the time he'd got back. I don't think she was sorry.

People! Cut your cakes! What is the point in having a cake other than to enjoy eating it! if you want a piece of art then I'll make you a fake cake out of play-dough and you can keep it forever. Tuck in! I like to think I put as much effort in to making the cake taste nice as I do making it look nice.

Anyhoo the design for this cake is not my own and is one of many fabulous designs from The House of the Rising Cake, who have very kindly gave me permission to share this cake. Big thank you to them - it was great fun to do!

Cake details: good ol' vanilla sponge with jam and buttercream filling

What I listened to: Day time decorating meant Radio 1 - keeping it mainstream

Anything else: Bit disappointed with the reeds; in hindsight I think I should have tried to hide the green florists tape a bit more but I am hoping it just adds a bit of colour contrast.

Vicky x

Star Wars Themed 5th Birthday Cake

Every time I think about this cake I get the Indiana Jones theme in my head. I think Harrison Ford makes Star Wars, and when I think Harrison, I think Indie.

Indie > Hans

I didn't grow up on Star Wars; it's only recently my boyfriend introduced me to it (original, not those new things.) I enjoyed it but it didn't make me want to run off to outer space to save the galaxy in the same way Indiana Jones makes me want to buy a Fedora, run from boulders, destroy Nazis and save all the treasures.

But this wasn't my cake.

Dreams of treasure hunting aside, I definitely did still have a good time making this one. It's fun and not over fussy. I love the 2 tiers with just the stars on and the star impressions on the board. This means nothing is taken from the characters which are really the focus of the cake.

The bottom tier was a yummy chocolate cake and the smaller was a good ol' vanilla sponge.

What do I love most about this cake? Well, obviously that the young chap who asked for it was called...wait for it....

LUKE!

So amazing!

I can't take credit for the design, which belongs to Jane of Jane's Cake Tragedy, although there is nothing tragic about her cakes!

May the Force be with you! (Had to be done.)
Vicky 

Cake Time - Pink Cake Box's Two Peas in a Pod Christening Cake

Sarah is a very good friend of one of my auntie's who moved to New Zealand many moons ago now and has just recently started a brand new chapter of her life over there by the arrival of twin boys: Sebastian & Noah. Too cute!

While on holiday with the babies she decided to have them christened and asked us to do the cake!

The picture she sent over was super adorable and I was excited to put it together.

The original design of this cake is by Pink Cake Box, who have kindly allowed me to share my version of the cake. But I must stress that this cute design is all their work and none of mine! And do check out their galleries -  their work is the kind of stuff I only dream of being able to do!

So here is our version. (My Mum & I had some super awesome team work going on with this cake!)

The top tier was lemon and the bottom chocolate.

Big thank you to Sarah for letting us be a part of her special day! Sending all the hugs.

Vicky xx

Cake Time: Every Little Helps - Tesco Van

One of my Mum's colleagues asked her if she could have a cake for her brother's 60th birthday. So with it being a special birthday we imagined that we would be doing something special for the cake.

But that's not quite how it went...

She asked for a Tesco van! The reason being he works at Tesco...and hates it! We though it was cruel and she thought it was hilarious. And it turns out it had been a family decision so the whole family also found it hilarious! So we got in on the hilarity and quite enjoyed it. 

But it got us thinking what would some one have to put on a cake that would really annoy us. For me, hands down, it would be a tin of baked bins. Oh man, how I hate beans!! :( 

I'd love to know what form your nightmarishly hilarious cake would take?

Vicky

Cake Time: Ben 10

Ben 10, Alien Force, Omniverse, Omnitrix, Ultimatrix, Nemetrix, Anodites, Osmosians... Stop me when you know what I'm talking about... Null Void, Techadon Robots, Ascalon... 

Children's cartoons have got complicated!

It's actually pretty terrifying when you have to do a cake that spans multiple universes and has multiple seasons - how do you know what bits to put on on which characters should be included?

So for this Ben 10 cake, that needed Ben as the focus and his alien alter egos surrounding him on the cake, my mantra was - 'oldies but goodies'. I Googled a list of original characters and went with those. 

Upchuck

Heatblast

Upgrade

Ghostfreak

Humungosaur

Wildmutt

If these are the protectors of good, I would hate to see what the baddies look like!

And here is the main man, ol' Ben himself in his human form:

Yup, that guy has it all under control.

Vicky