A stitched message

As my first task as a fiancée I needed to choose the person who would be tasked with helping to plan the wedding, my Maid of Honour! My friend and I had always talked about being Maid of Honour for each other, however I wanted to make it a little more official, so I decided to give her one of my stitched pictures as something to remember it by.

I embroidered the message in the colours that I am thinking of having for my colour scheme in dusky pink, navy, and sage green. 

I also wanted to add in some decorative elements to the picture for this one, so I added in some leafy twigs with little pink blossoms in a circle to frame my words.

I think I need to work on the spacing of my words a little more, as some are larger than others and a little closer together than others, however I liked the little flicks at the start and also the way the letters joined together. I think this says more about my calligraphy than my sewing however, so I think I will need to practice the formation of my words to make my pictures better.

My finished piece was framed in a white frame and I wrapped it with some silver and white butchers string, brown paper and hand-stamped tag to complete the present. I was really pleased with the final piece and luckily my friend was too as she said yes! 

Let the planning commence!

A weekend of baking - Afternoon tea cake - Part 3

As we arrived at the week before the delivery, I started to assemble all of the components for the tea table and bring the design together. I stuck all of the different pieces onto their plates, including the slices of cake, cupcakes, macaroons and cups to the saucers.

I used the edible glue to stick everything together, and managed to assemble a little tower of macaroons which I thought looked very sweet.

For once after baking, filling and crumb coating my sponge, I managed to cover it evenly with very few creases which I was very happy with. 

Once smoothed and stuck to the cake board, I then attached a pretty cream lace ribbon to the cake using the edible glue.

I then got to have a play with my stitching wheel! I have had this in my tool pot for a few months now, but haven't managed to use it, but I thought that for the edge of the table cloth it would be perfect. 

I gently pressed it around the edge of my icing tablecloth and the effect was very pretty and exactly what I wanted. I think a little more practice may be needed to get an even line an exact distance from the edge, but I shall keep practicing!

When I draped the tablecloth over the cake, I realised that it may be a little thick, however as it wasn't going to be stuck down all of the way around, I didn't want the weight of it to pull it and tear it. I decided to go a little thicker that I would have thought, but if I do this design of cake again, I shall make sure this piece is thinner.

Once the icing had dried a little, I painted little blue flowers around the edge and then placed the letters onto the cake board to check the spacing. I was very glad that I had made extras of every letter as they were so fiddly and so prone to breaking. I eventually got them placed, but sticking them was even more tricky! I had to gently prod each one out of the way, paint the shape of the letter onto the board and then gently poke them back into the glue. It was time consuming and nerve-wracking but the finished effect was delicate and perfect for the style of the afternoon tea theme.

Once the table cloth was finished and the letters were attached, I then arranged all of the afternoon tea pieces on top. I had made extra sure that all of the pieces had flat bottoms, and the top of the cake was a flat as possible, however even so one plate of cake did slide off the back! However after a few seconds of holding it behaved itself and stuck itself firmly to the top.

The flowers were then added in little clusters around the base of the cake and around the letters which tied the whole scheme together. I was so pleased with the colours and the finished appearance and despite the added fiddliness of the moulding, painting and the letters, I was really proud of every part of the finished cake.

Part of the order was also 36 mini cupcakes in lemon, chocolate and vanilla flavours. I used some of the spare flowers to decorate the vanilla cupcakes, and used a star nozzle to pipe the lemon buttercream and chocolate ganache butter cream. 

I found that the key to mini cupcakes was not to overfill the tiny cases, as the mixture was liable to go out and over the sides rather than up into a dome. I also found them a little top-heavy once the buttercream was added so they tended to be a little wobbly. However they are the perfect two-bite morsels to add to any afternoon tea table spread.

A Weekend of baking - Afternoon tea cake - Part 2

This weekend I carried on with the Afternoon tea table cake and covered the cake board in celebration ivory sugarpaste, and then made all of the letters for the text on the cake. I have some letter cutters that I have used previously, but I thought that they were too big and clunky for a delicate and sophisticated cake such as this. As a result I bought some fmm letter cutters, or Tappits which I think is the technical term! If you want to buy some, you can find them on the fmm website here.

I followed the instructions on the back of the packet, mixed my sugar paste with some Tylose powder and then used the strip cutter to press out a single strip. I have discovered the joy of cornflower when creating things out of sugar and it really is a bit of a game changer! It was so much easier to handle and didn't get sticky at all which was so much easier.

After cutting out the strip I turned it vertically and then dusted the cutter with cornflour. I then cut out the letter horizontally on the cutter and tapped it to release the letter.

And then nothing! The letter was stuck in the mould and this happened to every letter I tried to cut out! I had to use a scriber needle to prise every one of the letters out of their mould which really was  a giant pain and took a lot longer than I had anticipated. Due to this some of the letters got a little deformed which I wasn't very happy with. I tidied them up as best I could and then left them to dry. When I attach them I will paint over them lightly with a little water to remove any spare cornflower and hopefully smooth out any imperfections. 

Having done a little research I can reveal the following tips for using Tappits:

• Roll out the sugar paste as thin as you can, 1 - 2mm is ideal
• Once you have cut out the strip, leave it to dry for around 10 minutes (it might be easier to cut out all of the strips that you might need so you can cut out all of your letters all at once)
• Dust the moulds with cornflour using a pastry brush
• Rub the cutter over the mat or worktop to make sure that the letter has been released from the other fondant
• Tap the cutter multiple times and leave the letters to dry before you use them on the cake to avoid distorting them

A Weekend of baking...Afternoon tea cake - Part 1

My latest commission has been to make an Afternoon tea table cake, and the last couple of weekends have been taken up with making all of the decorations for the top. Besides sugarcraft flowers I don't usually sculpt a lot of other decorations, so I made sure I made lots of sketches to help.

I eased myself in slowly by making some little pink and white daisies with pearl centres dusted with a little coloured lustre to make them look realistic. I always like making these as they look so effective when used to decorate a pretty cake. I also decided to use a silicone mould to make roses for a change, as I hadn't used it before, and after dusting them with lustre I was quite pleased with their appearance. They're not quite as effective as my hand-moulded version, but they look very sweet none the less.

I tried to make sure that everything was to scale as possible, but whilst making the tea pot I discovered why I am a cake maker and not a potter! Sculpting vases and teapots is hard! I was very impressed with my Victoria sponge cake though and I did like the fiddly little strawberries that were added to the top.

As well as the Victoria Sponge cake I also made some cupcakes and some macaroons to add to the plates. I was surprised how difficult the cupcakes were to make. Something that you can bake in your sleep suddenly becomes a whole lot more challenging when made out of fondant.

I left the tea set to dry overnight then the next day I painted it using food colouring and also some gold edible paint for the details and highlights.

Once I began painting the designs on to the tea set I felt a lot more in my comfort zone. I was making pretty patterns in pretty colours which is much more up my street! I used four basic colours in a floral pattern to decorate all of the set, leaving each one to dry slightly before I went on to the next.

Green vines and leaves with tiny blue flowers.

The finished floral designs on the plates.

Once I had finished the floral designs, I used gold to edge the plates to add an extra luxurious touch.

The tea cup and saucer. I also added gold details to the handle and the rim of the cup.

Gold details on the tea pot lid, handle and spout.

Gold details on the vase to give a little more definition and shape.

High days and holidays

Over the last few weeks I have been a little lax in posting on Little Bunting, but I have been taking advantage of some well needed R&R. We went on a lovely all-inclusive break to Fuerteventura and had a fantastic time. I had never been on an all-inclusive holiday before and wasn't really sure what to expect, but with Bombay Sapphire and cava on tap, churros and waffles with chocolate sauce for breakfast and a huge array of delicious food for lunch and dinner, what was not to love!

I read my way through several books and with a fantastic beach a few minutes walk away, it was a perfect week. 

I even got to have my favourite canarian dish, prawns in sizzling garlic oil served with a delicious chunk of fresh bread. And with a view like the ones above, it was a picture-perfect meal.

As the absolute icing on the cake, we also got engaged which was a fantastic surprise. We had such a fantastic holiday and looking back at the pictures whilst listening to the rain patter on the Velux windows, it brings back the lovely feeling of the sun on my back again.