The many different faces of the humble cupcake

A selection of cupcakes, with various different finishes.

2D piping nozzle (closed star)

070 Ruffle nozzle

128 large petal nozzle

9FT French star nozzle

Fondant rose

Pallet knife swirl

Hand painted fondant disks

Various

Running shoe cake - April 2015

40th birthday cake for a lady with a passion for running.

Vanilla buttercream covered chocolate fudge cake with dark chocolate buttercream filling.  

The sides are piped rose swirls in orange and pink. The top I kept smooth because of the toppers. 

I used the upside-down method to keep it ultra-smooth and swirled the colours to compliment the sides of the cake.

The number 40 and flowers are wired.  

The running shoe is made from a Mexican paste core shape with flowerpaste details.

Happy surprise birthday party Abbi :)

White chocolate blossom cake - March 2015

Mother's day is coming!

White chocolate buttercream finished cake, 

because mother's are special and deserve to be treated...

...and they will give you a slice to go with your tea too!

Pink & gold buttercream finished cake - February 2015

Gold rose on a pink and gold smooth buttercream finished 8" three layer dummy cake.

Thanksgiving Red Velvet cake - November 2014

Two layer red velvet cake, with cream cheese frosting, for a splendid Thanksgiving party. 

I do love cream cheese frosting with lots of cream cheese.  A Red Velvet cake with good cream cheese frosting is like a cheesecake in reverse.  Yum!  

A very happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it... and a happy Saturday to everyone else!

Bride and groom toppers - July 2014

Cute wedding set-up this week.

I didn't get much notice for the figures so I had some issues with not having time to let the pieces harden before assembly.  This wasn't helped by the fact that it was very hot and humid at the time so the fondant was extra soft. Because of this I had to keep him lying down for a while as there was the risk of him slumping and becoming quite an unflattering model!  I used a cone of card for her skirts, covered in fondant so she wouldn't slump.  Had I had more time, I would have formed their legs / skirt at least 24 hours earlier.

Him: fondant covered poly ball head, then body formed on a dowel.

Her: fondant covered poly ball head, fondant covered cone skirt, 

central dowel supporting body.

These cakes were made for The Angel Food Bakery in Brighton's iconic South Lanes, where the Cake Angels bring Cake Love to the public on a daily basis!

Penguin Grooms Wedding cake toppers - July 2014

So... on an amazingly humid and hot day, while thunderstorms raged outside I made toppers out of black fondant...remind me not to that again until winter.

For those of you who don't know, black fondant is horrible to work with as it get really soft and sticky with so much colour in it.  I had to keep putting the fondant, and the toppers, in the fridge just so I could have them keep their shape as they refused to harden up at all (I am making them a few days in advance of the cake just so they have a chance to harden up before the wedding).  

The trouble with putting things in the fridge when you're fondanting though is that, unless you've got a humidity control environment, you've got a very small window to do things in before the fondant gets 'sweaty' with condensation.  It's frustrating and time consuming, but you just have to be patient.

Anyway, got there in the end!

I used polystyrene (styrofoam) balls in the middle to reduce the weight and covered them with fondant mixed with a little Tylo.  You can see below how the cooled fondant is "sweating" in the heat and humidity.

 

The penguins wait to see.

One penguin finds his inner Dalek.

(keeping his eyes in place while the glue dries) 

These toppers are for an upcoming same sex wedding. I think the penguin suit thing has become a bit of a running joke between the couple.

I've positioned the penguins flippers so they can hold hands when they go on the cake.

These were made for The Angel Food Bakery in Brighton's iconic South Lanes,

where the Cake Angels bring Cake Love to the public on a daily basis!

Flower making practice April 2014 - white flowers

Bunny comforter / blanket cake topper - July 2014

A cake for a small person's birthday.  

The customer brought in a favourite comforter for us to photograph and recreate out of sugar.

This cake was made for The Angel Food Bakery in Brighton's iconic South Lanes,

where the Cake Angels bring Cake Love to the public on a daily basis!

Knife work buttercream pleated effect - May 2014

More buttercream experiments at the Angel Food Bakery in Brighton's iconic South Lanes.

Strawberry buttercream cake - May 2014

Strawberry jam and vanilla filling on vanilla sponge with a vanilla buttercream sculpted finish. The yellow pips are royal icing and I used some confectioners glaze to make it shine a little.

This cake was made for The Angel Food Bakery in Brighton's iconic South Lanes,

where the Cake Angels bring Cake Love to the public on a daily basis!

Baby TV Cake - April 2014

Birthday cake for a 1 year old who loves Baby TV, particularly Tulli and Oliver the Monkey. Figure making is a new skill for me so it took me longer than expected, but they didn't work out too bad.

Have to admit, Oliver is a slightly scary looking monkey to me, but apparently not if you're one and that's the important thing to remember.  Tulli is quite a cute character, even if he does seem to be a slug!

I also made Number 1 (from Charlie and the numbers). 

I made the rainbow using foam core covered in fondant.

This cake was made for The Angel Food Bakery in Brighton's iconic South Lanes,

where the Cake Angels bring Cake Love to the public on a daily basis!