Bra Celebration Cake

Last weekend I completed my first cake commission! My Team Leader from my last job was turning 50, and her colleagues wanted to present her with a cake. They originally asked the restaurant to make it, but when they said they would not have enough time, they came to me. They presented me with a picture of the sort of cake they wanted, a decorated bra with flowers and some writing. I had to admit I was daunted originally, as I had never attempted anything quite so complex before.

Originally they said that they wanted just a plain sponge cake, but I think for a special birthday cake, you need a little more interest than that! So I found a gorgeous-sounding recipe in my Mich Turner cookery book, a luscious lemon cake. Like a lemon drizzle cake but in her opinion better, and who am I to argue!

I started off with a much larger cake tin then I had ever used before (10") with a similarly large amount of cake mix (9 eggs!) and I was definitely glad I had the KitchenAid, and even then I was wishing I had a bigger bowl. Being a lemon cake it involved a lot of zesting and squeezing, but this gave it a gorgeously strong lemon taste.

Top Tip: To get the most zest off your grater as possible, use a dry pastry brush to remove it.

Once the cake was baked, I poured the juice of six lemons and granulated sugar over the top and let it all sink in. I was nervous about it being too wet, but it all sank in and made a very moist cake, that stayed that way until this Thursday, 5 days after making it! Ordinarily I wouldn't have recommended that they leave it that long, but they wanted to give it to her on her birthday. To make the bra, I used a dome mould and baked a simple madeira cake, which is a fairly close crumb, and is easy to mould and cover. Whilst the large cake was cooling, I cut out the bra cake up and covered the sections with a double layer of icing to get them as smooth as possible.

On Sunday, I had to get on with the daunting task of cutting the large cake in half, filling it, covering it in butter cream for the crumb coat and then covering the whole thing in icing, the part I was most scared of! However, it all went fairly smoothly, (despite a few crumbly bits) and the cake turned out to be the smoothest one I have ever iced! Despite the fact I had icing sugar in my eyebrows by the end of it.

Then all that was left was to assemble it. I cut out a plaque of icing, left it to dry overnight and then wrote the message on with edible gold ink. I would have liked to use stamped out letters, but I think this adds more of a personal touch and saves a lot of room. I used some of the flowers and leaves left over from my own birthday cake and a cream grosgrain ribbon around the bottom gave the finishing touch.

As it was such a large cake, I set it on a 10" cake board for stability, and then placed the cake on a square board for decoration, and then packaged it in a big white box, it definitely gave it a professional touch! Then as this was my first commission, I printed out my 'Little Bunting Bakery' logo, and stuck it on the top. I was very nervous about wether everyone would like it, but from the comments that I received from my colleagues and from the Birthday girl herself, I was assured that if my current career didn't work out, I would soon have orders pouring in for my handmade cakes!

My Baking Recipe File

Whilst on the hunt for a nice yet practical way to display my baking recipes, I decided to customise my own A4 folder. It's a practical size to have in the kitchen, the recipes lie flat and can be taken out and it's easy to make any notes. I'm really pleased with the results, so I'm going to show you how I made my own pretty folder.

You will need:

One plain lever arch / ring binder file (I used a Kraft one from Paperchase - Matt surfaces adhere much better)
Wallpaper of your choosing (make sure it's fairly good quality or it may tear)
Ruler
Pencil
Rubber (we all make mistakes!)
PVA Glue
Ribbon
Paint + Primer
Wooden Letters

1. Start by drawing around your folder onto the wallpaper to get the correct size and shape. Then remove the file and add on the flaps that will fold around the edges of the file. It's good to make them a little longer than you think, as when the file opens and shuts, it will need a bit of give.

2. I was brave enough to choose a lever arch file that has cut outs, so if your does too, measure them carefully by replacing the folder and drawing into the gaps, and then cut out using a craft knife (If they don't match up exactly when you fold your paper around and over, do not despair, that just adds to its homemade aesthetic!)

3. Once you are happy with your measurements, cut out the wallpaper, it's time to get glueing! Mix a little water with your PVA and using a fairly large brush, cover the wallpaper, making sure you go all the way to the edges. Then apply neat PVA to the folder. Wait for the wallpaper to soak up the glue for a few minutes, then carefully stick the paper to the folder, being careful to smooth out any air bubbles. Once you're happy it's flat, fold the flaps over. I did mine one side at a time, letting each one dry a little first before moving on. Tip: If you're flaps aren't sticking, use clothes pegs to hold them down. Continue around the folder until everything is stuck down tight (remember to pay particular attention to the edges of the cutouts if you have any.

4. I wanted to cover the sides of the spine of my folder with ribbon (which turned out to be a good plan as my Cath Kidston paper started to pull slightly, don't worry if this happens to you, you're going to cover it with the ribbon!) Cut the correct length of ribbon and stick down using PVA glue, pegs on the ribbon ends is essential to get them to stay stuck.

5. Once everything is dry, you can move on to your decoration! I ordered some cut out wooden letters from a brilliant company (www.inf.co.uk) They will cut letters depending on your preference of font, size and type of wood. Simple type your phrase into their easy calculator, and they will cut the letters bespoke to your order (so make sure you spell everything right!) Again, prime and paint as usual and then go mad with your decoration! I chose similar colours to my paper, but feel free to go as wild as you want. When you're happy and they're dry, stick them on using PVA glue and a ruler to help keep them straight, et voila! A beautiful individual and personal file to keep whatever you want in.

I'm currently in the process of designing the interior pages and dividers for each baking chapter, so I'll keep you posted on how that goes!

A Quick Weekend Project

I met up with my friends for a drink on Friday night, and one of them asked me to do a hand painted wooden letter for her housemate. I gave these big painted letters as gifts a couple of christmases ago, and she loved hers so much she wanted me to create another one.

Luckily I had a large 'R' left so I cut off the bottom right leg and made a 'P'! I have been using marine-quality plywood as it's weather resistant and also soft you can sand it really easily. Generally this would be very expensive (so any thick wood will do) but if you Dad is in the trade it helps! The only issue with this is that the wood has been given a waterproof treatment so instead of being a wood colour, it is in fact, well, green! So no distressing needed there!

I primed the wood first, then used a flat matt wall paint in Tapestry Green (3 coats) for the base, then used an off cream and pink matt colours for the little flowers. For detail like this a teeny tiny paintbrush works best, but you can be creative and use whatever you fancy. I finish mine with a complimenting ribbon bow and of course my Little Bunting tag. 

Quick Tip: The end of a small sponge paint roller works really well for large spots!