The Cake and Bake Show 2013

Last month I was very excited to go and visit the second Cake and Bake Show in Earls Court, London. I went on Saturday with a friend, and had the most fantastic day wandering around all of the exhibitions, stalls, classrooms and shops. There is no way I could record every amazing thing I saw in just one post, so expect a few over the coming weeks. I bought some beautiful mugs and a whole host of useful cake decorating goodies, but for now, I will share some of my favourite cakes from the show, enjoy!

Woodland Cakes and Cookies

Beautiful Handpainting

Burlesque

Vintage Gold

Modern Florals

White Lace

Lilac Floral

Art Deco

Vogue

Period Drama

Feathers and Pearls

Country Garden

A Weekend of Baking...Lemons, Lemons and more Lemons!

It seems like a long time since I have been in the kitchen as I have been on holiday, so I thought I'd share a few baking exploits centered around lovely lemons.

Since I made the Lemon cake for the 50th birthday, my mum has been keen on having her own slice, so for her birthday, I made another lemon cake and this time I decided to leave it plain with a simple filling of buttercream and lemon curd. Yet here is the surprise, I made the lemon curd entirely from scratch! I was a little nervous at first, having never made it before, but following a recipe from Delia Smith, I was delighted with the results! The curd was thick and creamy with tiny flecks of lemon rind, and best of all, a deliciously fresh and pungent lemony taste, just what you want from your very own homemade curd.

I baked the cake and it came out just as delicious as before, pricked all over with a skewer before pouring the lemon juice and sugar mixture over the top and allowing it to sink in. I would definitely recommend you leave it overnight to make sure that all of the liquid has been absorbed before you remove it from the tin.

I then filled the cake with a little vanilla buttercream and dollops of the fresh lemon curd, a perfect accompaniment to the rich and juicy lemon sponge.

Tip: When using a mixer, make sure you scrape the sides every few minutes to make sure you don't have any large buttery lumps. This will give your cake a stodgy and undercooked middle and quite a soggy bottom, and nobody wants that!

We also had a Macmillan Coffee Morning at work, and I decided to use my lemon curd agin, making Lemon Curd and Almond buttons (A shortbread style biscuit with a hidden centre of gooey lemon curd) and Lemon Curd and B
lueberry muffins (a rich and creamy muffin made with vanilla yoghurt and a dollop of lemon curd on top). I made both in the evening after work, and in my slightly tired state I forgot to take any photos, but suffice it to say, they were both absolutely delicious and raised some money for an excellent cause.

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!

Tea at The Dorechester

A couple of months ago, I was invited to London to celebrate my mum's friends 50th Birthday, with afternoon tea at The Dorchester Hotel. We spent the morning visiting the Charles Dickens museum at 48 Doughty Street in London, a quick mooch around Harrods and then on to the hotel!

    

We were greeted at the lobby to the hotel then taken into the long gallery shaped space where the afternoon tea was served. At the entrance they had two huge floral displays with hundreds of lillies and roses that gave off the most amazing scent, they were so big they nearly touched the ceiling, and were at least twice the size of me!

As a large party we had a long table, and I sat on the comfiest squishiest sofa I have ever had the pleasure of sitting on. The staff will bring you extra cushions and plump them for you if needed (!) then it's on to the tea. (That's me on the left!)

First decision to make is from the baffling array of how many hundreds of types of tea you can think of. I had a gorgeous mint infusion that cam in a massive tea pot, quite possibly the most tea I have ever drunk in one sitting! And then on came the food. Those of you thinking that afternoon tea is far too expensive and you'll never be full up, think again! You can have 10 sandwiches, many scones, lots of cake and more tea than you can ever drink, all in the gorgeous surroundings of a very plush hotel. Some of the photos below show some of the amazing cakes, amuse bouches and all of the lovely crockery that we were presented with during our tea. I love the pretty green and gold china, so elegant.

The above was a little chocolate pot filled with a tasty chocolate coffee cream and a gold dusted coffee bean, so delicious!

The only downside to our tea was that you only get a one hour and 30 minute slot, and then they will bring you the bill wether you are ready for it or not! I was very happy to sit there with my tea all afternoon, but apparently that was not an option. Also, make sure that you have the right cash on you, as if you want to pay by card, you have to get up and go to the front desk to play, a bit annoying if you're still enjoying your last slurp of tea.

However as an experience it was perfect, and a wonderful way to celebrate a 50th Birthday. I think everybody should do this at least once in their lives. Go and soak up the atmosphere of one of the Great British institutions that is afternoon tea at The Dorchester.

My Birthday Cake 2013

Whoops! I have realized it's not just over a month since my last post, to be fair it was my birthday at the end of June so it was a little hectic, but now I have some time to sit down and show you my Birthday cake!

I have made my own cake for the last couple of years, so I decided that this year was no exception.

Inspired by a cake design I had seen in a Peggy Porschen book, I decided to create a domed birthday cake. I bought a special mould from Lakeland, and the following images show how the bake turned out!

1. I used a standard quantity of my favourite vanilla chocolate marble cake in the mould, however in hindsight, perhaps a quantity and a half would have been better, the overall cake was a little on the small side. I balanced the tin on a crumpet ring and put that on a baking tray in the oven to stop it rolling around.

2. I then cut the cake in half and filled it full of chocolate butter cream (one of my favourites!) Always easier to do this in a blender as then the icing sugar doesn't go everywhere and you can get it really soft and fluffy. I then used the other half of the butter cream to cover the cake completely, forming a crumb coat for the icing to stick to.

3. I also decided this year that I would cover the cake board which very simply meant covering it in a layer of icing. I did do this all in one day and quickly realised it would have been best to do this the day before and leave it to harden and dry, as it was very easy to mark with fingers or tools. I also think adding a border of ribbon around the side of the cake board would add an extra professional touch.

4. To make my scalloped border, I cut out a long strip of icing the correct width and length, and then used the plain side of a cutter to make the scallops. I found it was quite difficult to get the scallops the same all the way along, so I would recommend using a clean ruler to make a slight imprint along the rectangle as far down as you want your scallops to go, and then use that as a guide. Mine were a bit higgeldy piggeldy, but who doesn't love a bit of that!

5. I then used my little icing flowers that I had made the previous weekend. I added one to the point of every scallop, sticking them to the cake with a strong mixture of icing sugar and water. Tip: Don't make it too runny or the flowers will just fall off, and nobody has that many fingers to hold them all in place until it all dries! I then put my sugar roses and leaves on the crown, and used a couple as decoration on the sides at the base.

6. The finished cake was delicious, it cut well, held its shape, and there was just enough of everything to make it taste amazing! I kept the cake on its stand under a light wrapping of foil and it kept its freshness for a good week and half, and even after that it was still pretty tasty! All in all a hit I would say.