Kasserina

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Creating a sugar garden - May 2015

A selection of sugar flowers I've made in the past month...

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Cheers 'en! - May 2015

For my beautiful friend and bride-to-be Sal, a cake to sum up how so many nights have ended... with her asleep in her dinner!

Sal has many talents (she really does), but one of the most famous ones is that fact that she can be comatose in any position, but won't spill a drop of wine. The first time I witnessed Sally falling asleep in her dinner with a glass of wine in her hand was in an Italian restaurant in Palmers Green, so for her Hen party I thought this would be a good thing to represent in cake.

The "How To..." part:

First I cut some foam core to size for the walls, covered it in fondant, pressed in some decoration with a patchwork cutter and brushed with a little gold lustre dust.

I added some wood cladding and hand painted some extra tones of brown onto it.

I stuck on some hand painted sugar pictures, a specials board and a potted plant.

I got some metal right angles from the hardware store and screwed them into a cake drum. NB. These would not come into contact with the cake as the back walls and a cake card would act as a barrier.

Using a glue gun and some screws, I fixed more foam core to the right angles...

covered the back in more fondant, textured it with a brick effect and brushed it with some blossom tint.

Then I attached the interior walls to the exterior and filled in the gaps between front and back with some mortar style fondant.

Onto this platform I put the actual cake, a 10", 2 layer chocolate fudge cake with vanilla buttercream (nom, nom, nom!), having painted in some black floor tiles. I placed the whole lot on a couple of covered drums.

Meanwhile, I had been making the toppers. I used foam core and armature to support them.

I put a little ½ cocoform, ½ flowerpaste dough onto the armature as a base,

then I modelled one limb at a time, added a dress and the hair.

The glasses... I'm sorry to say, they are not edible. I've tried to make them out of edibles, but haven't yet been happy with the outcome. Thankfully, I have the most amazing dolls' house shop in easy driving distance! Promise though, they are my only cheat!

The party was centred around the wonderful Hotel Pelirocco in Brighton, and the cake fitted very well into the decor there!

Of course, we were a few cocktails down by the time it got cut...

so there were seconds for breakfast!

Spot the difference...

Sal, I love you... Ladies, I salute you... I feel like hell warmed up now, but I've laughed so hard and can't wait for the wedding!!! xxxx

Thursday, May 07, 2015

Sharing the cake love...

Just registered with a charity who... well, I'll let them explain;

Baking A Smile is a VERY special cake store, we are a not for profit organisation that provides FREE beautiful custom made celebration cakes to children with life threatening and life limiting health conditions throughout the UK and Ireland.

We are committed to providing a smile and a little happiness to children dealing with illnesses by providing the child with a custom made cake free of charge. We not only provide this service to children with life threatening/limiting illnesses, but also to the siblings of these children, as we understand that it can be tough on them too.

We believe in the power of happiness and smiles and the positivity it can have. If we can bring a smile to a child & their family then hopefully, just for a moment, they can have something happier to focus on.

Baking A Smile was established In December 2012. We have a large team of amateur & professional bakers on hand, donating their time, experience & money to provide amazing cakes for ill children and to fundraisers - which are not only full of yumminess but jam packed with love.