Christening Cakes

Today was my little Niece, Leah's, Christening. I've been really looking forward to it for ages now as I love an excuse to dress up
(well, more importantly the excuse to wear a hat without being mocked!)

It was a lovely day and Leah was a very good girl, happy and smiling throughout despite how overwhelming it all must have been for her.

As you will all know by now, where there is an opportunity to bake, I jump at the chance!
I really wanted to make something a bit more involved that my usual cupcakes, so I offered to take care of the main christening cake.
This was my first large project, and for an important occasion so I wanted to keep it simple to avoid tripping myself up by trying to be flash!

I made 2 simple, 9 inch, round Madeira cakes using Nigella's Mother in Law's recipe click here to try it for yourself.
The recipe really easy and quick to make and produced perfect results (which is always a relief!)
One cool, the cakes were sandwiched together using raspberry jam and butter cream, covered in white Regal Ice and the fun began!

I had already made icing butterflies and a set of 'building blocks' to spell her name and attached these to the cake with royal icing.
I then really impressed myself by managing to pipe out the date of the christening (my first attempt at piping writing!).
While the date was still wet I covered it with lilac edible glitter to make it stand out.
Once all the icing was dry I brushed the wings of the butterflies and the letters on the blocks with lustre powder and gave the whole lot a dose of iridescent glitter. Unfortunately this didn't photograph well, so take it from me the stuff that looks like dust is glitter!
I am really pleased and proud of my first attempt at a 'proper cake' and everyone was very complementary, which was nice because I always see the flaws in my own work!

I couldn't get away without making cupcakes as well, so by popular demand there were vanilla, chocolate and carrot cake cupcakes
The carrot cake cupcakes are ultra easy and give brilliant results. They are my absolute favourites and if you like carrot cake you really should try these. Click here for the recipe.
The Vanilla cupcake and Chocolate cupcake recipes were from Martha Stewart living and as per most of her recipes (as long as you follow the instructions to the letter!) were very successful. click here for the vanilla recipe and here for the chocolate.


That's all for now, as usual I am impatient to see what the rest of you lovely people in blog land have been up to!

Lots of Love xxx

Just the One!

Happy Sunday ladies! Hope you have all had a lovely weekend?

Sunday seems to be my baking day and today was no exception. We were invited to a family friend's house for the afternoon for a BBQ and drinks.

Always happy at an excuse to produce some baked goods I offered to make some cupcakes for desert. The reply was a joking 'just the one! you know we are all skinny and don't eat much!' (we always make way too much food!). Little did she know that I was just waiting for an opportunity to use my new 'giant cupcake' pan and the perfect excuse had just been offered on a plate!

I used the recipe on the box for double chocolate pound cake (you can get it here). It was really easy, although I thought I heard the mixer groan at the sheer volume of mix!
I was concerned that releasing the cakes would be hard but was really impressed when it just lifted off leaving two, perfect, halves of this monster. When cool I trimmed the cakes so that they sat properly and stuck them together with chocolate icing, glazed the top section and finished with white chocolate chip 'sprinkles'. I think it looks great and now want to make more so I can have fun being a bit more creative with the decoration.
She really appreciated the joke when I walked in with it and told her I had just made one like she had told me to!
By the way the cake recipe was yummy!

Have any of you made giant cupcakes? I'd love to see your results!

Love xx

Monday

Today, inspired by T Cake's post 'Cupcake finds', I popped over to TK Maxx and bagged myself some of the fabulous cook book tins she found. I love them! They are really cute, and who says practical can't be pretty? Thanks, T Cake, for sharing such a great find!

While I was there I also came across some great little CK soaps and hand creams. The soaps are 25g size and came in a pack of 9 with 3 fragrances (Rose and Carnation, Lilac and Lavender and Lemon and Geranium). The hand cream tubes come in threes in the same fragrances and I couldn't resist the cute tins of Lilac and Lavender cream.

I love having some nice bits like this stashed to give as gifts (or maybe a future giveaway!)

On a sadder note, this afternoon I joined Victoria and her family to bid
farewell to Nanny Molly.
A beautiful lady, who we will all miss a great deal. I consider myself extremely lucky to have known her and was honoured to have been trusted by the family to find a suitable tribute to this wonderful Mum, Nan and friend. Victoria and I decided on a pretty rose called 'Our Molly' which now graces the family garden.
She will never be forgotten.

Lots of love x

The Beginning

After agonising over names, backgrounds and just about everything (and after some serious encouragement from my friend, bridesmaid and seasoned blogger Victoria) I have decided to take the plunge and post my first blog.

Naming my blog was quite possibly the hardest task as I wanted something that seemed natural and inspired me and it just wasn't happening. I knew I wanted to refer to my future name and Victoria suggested the rest. As soon as I heard the name I knew that my first post would be about my friend Victoria, who never ceases to amaze me, and motivates my natural laziness with her organisation and positivity.

One thing I admire most is that she never forgets to show her gratitude, and it is one of her many 'thank you' notes that has inspired this post.

The words read:

Blend conversation, laughter and fun together.

Add trust and acceptance and mix well.

Stirring gently,

Soften with teardrops and sweeten with understanding.

Sprinkle generously with favourite memories.

Decorate with hugs and smiles and enjoy!

A recipe for life if ever I heard one, and one I believe we use often.

Thank you,