Handbag cake with an ipod

This weekend I went on another of the wonderful Julia Francis' cake courses. We made a cake in the shape of a handbag. Next time, I'll be making an Anya Hindmarch or Louis Vuitton...

Monkeying around

My darling husband wanted all his favourite things in his birthday cake, so I made up a chocolate and banana cake recipe especially for him.

Polka dot and stripes

I wanted to share this monster of cake with you, made for a friend's birthday party!

Small scrumptious cakes

Here are my latest cakes, all miniature, none of them much bigger than 7cm.

Birthday cake double bill

This may well get me into trouble with my mother-in-law...I had told her the missing slice from her cake was a special design feature. Little did she realise the missing slice was used for the benefit of another birthday cake! (Sorry Snigdha if you are reading this!)

Cupcakes!

Another amazing Julia Francis cake class at Hammersmith and Fulham College...this time decorating cupcakes.

We learnt buttercream swirls and how to create sparkly stencil patterns.

Hen do cake with pink L plates and a white stiletto

My first request for a hen do cake - a luscious chocolate cake with raspberry jam and butter cream, topped with a white stiletto!

Tennis-tastic cakes

Here are some of my latest cakes - this time with a tennis theme.

This is my first attempt at making run outs ie piping royal icing into shapes, in this case some old-fashioned looking tennis rackets.

How to do brush embroidery

To decorate a cake using brush embroidery, you will need:

·      Miniature cakes covered in sugarpaste

·      Small quantity of royal icing

·      Small bowl

·      Clean, damp cloth

·      Small palette knife

·      Piping bag

·      No 4 nozzle

·      Small brush

·      Water

1.    Give the royal icing a good mix and make sure it’s really smooth, especially if you made it a few days before

2.    Fill your piping bag with the royal icing, keeping any spare in an airtight container or if it's in a bowl, covering with a clean, damp cloth to prevent it from crusting over

3.    Pipe your chosen design onto the cake - using a thickish line 

4.    While the icing is still damp, using a small damp brush, draw the icing into the centre of the shape to create a 3D “embroidery” effect

Tips:

·      Make sure your brush isn’t too wet and make sure to pipe a thick enough line, as the centre of the shape / flower should be covered with icing

What a peach

I'm having a very orange-infused week, inspired by all the bright tangerine shades going down the catwalk. This cake, with my first attempt at a technique called "brush embroidery", is a very subtle peach, but bright and colourful is never far away chez les Warty...