Trevone, Cornwall - September 2014

Earlier in the year, my friend and I went on holiday to Cornwall for a week. After the stress of this year with buying The Nest, it was great to get away for a change of scenery. We stayed in a small village called Trevone which is near Padstow, in a house right on the edge of two fantastic beaches, and with a fantastic month for weather, we had a brilliant time. Below are some photos from the trip, and a few highlights.

1. The Beaches - A fantastic choice of rocky and pebbly, with plenty of rock pools to explore, rocks to clamber over and a natural swimming pool. Or smooth and sandy with fantastically clear water! On the last day it was 24 C, just like being in Spain

2. Padstow - A lovely place to just wander and do a spot of shopping. Yes it is full of tourists and it's hard to escape them even out of season, but a typically Cornish harbour town with a view out to Rock on the other side of the estuary. Some pretty pastel coloured houses can be spotted up side streets, and a lovely yellow pub covered with flowers sets a lovely scene. Rick Steins eateries are obviously a good pull, but sample the traditional Cornish pasty for a treat on the go, or take a box home with you to keep the memories and the taste

3. Tintagel - Rumoured to be the birthplace of King Arthur, this windswept outcrop was once a stronghold for the Cornish kings, and with incredible far reaching views, it's easy to see way. Take sensible footwear, park in the town and scamper up the steps (there are a lot of them, some almost vertical!) to explore the ruins

4. The South West Coastal Path - We were so lucky that we stepped out of our front door and we were on it. Take a picnic and go as far as you want. Discover secret beaches, sheltered coves and amazing views as you walk, and enjoy the friendly smiles and greetings from other walkers on the path

5. St Ives - Again, a bit of a tourist trap but well worth a visit. We were lucky enough to visit on the last day of an art showcase, and spent many enjoyable hours wandering around free art galleries and studios, exploring art its from the present day back to the etchings and oil paintings of old. We also stumbled across the shop of one of my favourite textile artists, Poppy Treffry. Her shop was crammed with beautiful hand stitched things, and I couldn't leave without a lovely illustrated Singer sewing machine. We also found a fantastic fish and chop, Harbour fish and chips. After an incredibly windy and drizzly morning, a huge bowl of battered cod and chips with sweet potato crisps, salt and vinegar  and garlic mayonnaise hit the spot completely

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream

As a first Christmas goodies test this year, I found a fantastic recipe for gingerbread cupcakes with a salted caramel buttercream icing. Recently I have found myself developing a taste for salted caramel, especially after sampling some amazing almond brittle crunch and salted caramel pecan brownies at The Cake and Bake Show from Lallapolosa. They were the kind of brownies that you never ever want to end and I was very disappointed when I finished the last crumb!

Even the Great British Bake Off this year went a little caramel crazy, and watching people heat sugar in an attempt to create amazing sculptures and exquisite flavours made me want to try it for myself.

This was my fist attempt at wet caramel (where you add water to the sugar) and I must admit it took a lot longer to caramelise than I thought! I don't know if it was because I was using a non-stick saucepan or because I stirred it, but only after 10 minutes of rapid boiling did it start to colour up. By that point I was slightly apprehensive and took the pan off the heat to add the cream as soon as it started to go golden. This resulted in a lovely tasty condensed milk tasting caramel, but did not have as deep a flavour as I had first hoped. Next time I will leave the sugar on the heat for longer in an attempt to get a stronger flavour.

When I added the salt to the caramel and buttercream, this did improve the flavour, and I even added an extra half teaspoon to really bring the flavour out. However, I thought that a full teaspoon in the cupcake batter was too much, so next time I will reduce it to half a teaspoon in the batter and a full teaspoon in the icing, which will hopefully be much more caramelly! Saying that, all of my tasters absolutely loved the cupcakes, and graciously offered their time and tastebuds to me should I want to trial another batch.

Double Raspberry Bakewell Tart

As my Mums belated birthday event, the family all got together last weekend for lovely Sunday lunch. Mum asked me to make the desert, and as I hadn't been able to make her a birthday cake due to the move to The Nest and their holiday, I decided to make a pudding using her favourite fruit, raspberries. Not very seasonal I know, but it was worth it!

I found the recipe online, and adapted it in my own way to make it special. I made my own Pate Sucree (sweet shortcrust pastry), infinitely superior to the versions you can buy in supermarkets. Six egg yolks gave it a beautiful golden colour, and when rolled out from the fridge it was a beautiful smooth silky dough to work with.

Tip: When lining the tin with the pastry, get it loosely into the correct place, then break off a spare piece of dough and use it to push the dough into the indentations on the side of the tin. If the dough cracks, don't worry, plug any gaps with spare pastry and when baked, you'll never see the difference.

When you need to trim the excess, either use your hand and the edge of the tin as the cutter to push the pastry down and away, or use a rolling pin to make a clean cut.

Some baking beans may say that you can put them straight onto the pastry, but I always line the pastry first with greaseproof paper. Not only is it less washing up, but it makes getting the little blighters out a lot easier too! Pour them into a spare baking tin to cool down completely before putting away, otherwise they may melt your container.

Once the case was baked (no need to let it cool) I spread the bottom with raspberry jam, then topped it with an almond frangipane with lemon zest, which gave a fantastic flavour to the filling, then returned the tart to the oven to bake. I was a little worried that the pastry was browning too quickly around the edges due to the high sugar content, however I was lucky that the frangipane took on its beautiful golden colour just in time to remove from the oven. Then, I left the tart to cool.

To decorate and serve, I made up a basic icing with icing sugar and water, and then decorated with beautiful fresh raspberries and toasted flaked almonds, which gave a fantastic deep nutty taste to the tart. Between seven of us we polished off a large part of it, and all agreed that it was a tasty triumph.  

Christening Cake - Decoration and Assembly

This past week I have been assembling the Christening cake, and when working on a large cake I always make sure that I give myself as much time as possible to ensure that the finished item never looks rushed.

On Monday night I baked the lemon drizzle cake, and on Tuesday I covered the cake, added the white stripes and put the ribbon around the cake board and the cake itself. I was very impressed with how well the double sided sticky take worked on the cake board, and the ribbon looked fantastically flat and smooth all the way around, which gave the cake a really professional finish. My template for the stripes was also a success as all of the stripes were equal in size and then trimmed to fit once they had been applied using the sugar glue, which gave a very neat edge to the top of the cake.

Tip: Last time I tried to poke through the greaseproof paper with a cocktail stick to mark on where everything should go but this did leave some holes in the wrong places. This time I used an edible pen to mark on the placement underneath the paper, which could easily be covered up with the icing stripes.

Usually I would continue the icing of the cake board down over the sides, however as I usually use ribbon to neaten the edge, I decided not to do this. I used small pieces of double sided sticky tape to attach the ribbon in place, peeling them off as I went round and smoothing the ribbon down, and this worked very well.

On Thursday, all that I had left to do was to add the decoration that I had worked on the weekend before. By this point, everything including the bible had dried sufficiently which makes it a lot easier to work with. I stuck the buttons to the side of the cake using the sugar glue, placed the letters, checked the spelling (A very important part!) and then stuck these down, and then finally added the Bible to the top. I had a few buttons left over so I decided to stick a few to the top, giving a scattered design which I think tied the top and bottom of the cake together. 

Placing the Buttons: Originally on the design, the buttons were going to be on one level all the way around the cake sitting half on the ribbon. However once I added the stripes to the cake, I realised that they pushed the ribbon away from the surface of the cake, leaving a gap. I then decided to stick two buttons to each white stripe just above the ribbon, and then one white button in the centre of them on the blue section. By the time I had finished, this gave the cake a very pretty slightly higgledy-piggledy design, which I thought looked very cute for a little boys cake.

Tip: As you go around, go back and check that your buttons are at the correct height as gravity will work its magic on the side of a cake! if they have slipped, gently push them back to the desired position until the glue is sticky enough to hold them in place.

Placing the letters: Even though I know how to spell (...!), I always place my letters to check the positioning and layout before I go ahead and stick them permanently. Sugar glue is fantastic, but it does take a little while to dry and with coloured icing such as blue, it does tend to take on the colour, so try and be as neat as possible to make sure that the colour doesn't show up on other lighter colours. 

The finished cake in the box: I was really pleased with the final appearance of the cake, and it fitted perfectly in the size of box ordered as I hadn't added any extra width with the icing over the side of the board. I though the colours all worked really well together, tying in the scheme of the occasion and the design. The bible was the finishing touch, and I think the little details such as the pearls and the gold page edges worked really well to make sure that the celebration cake was that little bit more special.

Christening cake - Sugarcraft Decorations

This weekend I started on the decorations for the Christening cake as well as covering the cake board.  It wasn't until I amassed all of the equipment I would need for the day that I realised exactly how much I had collected over the last couple of years! However, I'm sure that anyone who is into cake making and decorating will tell you, the right equipment and tools for the job is essential.

Tip: Get all of the equipment out that you will need before you start, then you won't have to stop and look for something right when you're at a crucial stage

The first task of the day was to cover the cake board, and as I am edging it with ribbon, I decided to trim the icing right to the edge. Once the icing has hardened, you can then attach small pieces of double-sided sticky tape to the board so you can attach the ribbon. I have tried using icing and edible tylose glue to do this, but it has always shown through, so I have come to the conclusion that tape is indeed the best way of doing this.

Tip: If your icing has a few imperfections in it, do not despair. Don't forget that your cake will sit on top of this so choose the best bit for display and cover the bit that you're not so proud of with the cake!

Next came the letters for the cake. When doing this I always make two of each letter, just in case one breaks or doesn't come out as well as the other. I also kneaded some tylose powder into my sugar paste so that it would dry quicker and harder to make it easier to work with when I assemble the cake.

The third task was the part I was most looking forward to, the icing Bible! The first step was the white icing for the pages and the cross. I cut out the templates, rolled out the icing and then cut around them. I stacked the pages to make sure that they were the required height for the book, then stuck them together using the edible glue.

Mini Kilner jars are the perfect size to make your tylo glue in

Next was the cover in the green icing. I cut around my template and then positioned the pages to check the fit. Once I was happy I painted the cover with the glue and positioned it around the pages. The cross was now nearly dry, so I painted the back with glue and stuck it to the front. Next was adding the pearls around the edge (which is always my favourite bit!) so I painted glue around parts of the cross and gently rolled the pearls into place, pressing them gently into the icing to make sure that they stuck. 

I had also done a bit of research on bibles, particularly small ones, and noticed that many of them had gold edges to the pages, so I decided to mix up some gold shimmer into a paste and paint it onto the sides of the pages, which has really lifted the whole design.

The last step was to make the buttons to go around the ribbon at the base of the cake. I bought a Button silicone mould earlier in the year and I have been looking for an excuse to use it for ages! I followed the instructions carefully, as they said dust with icing sugar, press the sugar paste in, trim the excess and then flex the mould a couple of times and they should fall out. However when I came to remove the buttons from the mould, it did not go well. In fact I ended up with little mangled pieces of icing that nobody would want to take a picture of! So, I reverted to plan B. Using two different circle plunger cutters and a cocktail stick, I made over 100 little shirt buttons, which I think are perfect for a little boys cake. It took a little while but I'm really pleased with the outcome.

However, after a little research on t'internet regarding the icing mould, I have persevered. I added more tylose powder to the icing and then paid extra attention to pushing the icing into all of the mould. Once I had done that, (ignoring the instructions here!) I used a knife to trim off the excess icing, adding a little more to the buttons if they looked a little empty. I then put the whole mould into a plastic bag and put it in the freezer for 45 minutes. After that, I have been able to peel the icing out of the mould and put them on the foam to dry. This seems to be the best way to do it, so if you need a lot of buttons for something you are making, I would suggest you leave yourself a lot of time, and have something else to do at the same time! Once they have dried completely, put them in an airtight box and then keep until you need them.

If you want to have a go at making your own pretty vintage buttons, you can buy the icing mould from Lakeland. If you find a better and quicker way of doing it, please let me know!

Christening Cake - Sketches and Planning

My most recent commission has been a Christening Cake for a little boy in August. As with all my commissions, I've never done a Christening cake before and took a lot of inspiration from the Customer to ensure the design was exactly what they wanted, which included a simple modern design but with a nod towards the Christening style.

I reassessed the design a couple of times, however we settled on a lovely blue, green and white theme including buttons, stripes and an icing Bible, something I'm really looking forward to creating!

Sketches and designs

The chosen design 

As the first step with any cake, I ordered all of the necessary equipment, (I used the Cake Craft Shop to order my supplies from, they have a fantastic range and some very helpful tutorials and calculations) and then drew out all of the necessary templates that I would need. I had to drag up a lot of my GCSE maths knowledge (which did make my brains hurt I will admit!) to work out the equal distribution of stripes around the cake, which was something I learnt previously from my first tiered cake. Measurements and scale is very important when planning decoration, so make sure that you schedule in plenty of time for this important step, planning makes cake making all so much easier!

Stripe plan

Greaseproof paper templates with all of the equipment required!

I drew out all of my plans and templates onto greaseproof paper, making sure that I had all of the measurements of the cake to hand so I could make sure that everything was to scale. Then when you are ready to start creating, simply cut out your templates and use them to cut around with a knife on your icing.

Tip: Try to keep your templates as flat as possible by keeping them under a book overnight before you need them. Curly greaseproof paper off a roll is a very practical idea but not when it keeps curling up as you're trying to cut a straight line!