Category Archive: Aardvark Cakes
Subcategories: Baking Baking with Julia Biscuits Tuesdays with Dorie Cake Recipes Cake Tutorial Cakes Birthday Cake Cake Topper Carrot Cake Celebration Cake Children's Cakes Chocolate Cake Christening Cake Corporate Cake Cupcakes Holy Communion Cake Novelty Cake Wedding cake Gifts
Grand Prix F1 Cupcakes
Just a quick one! Some Grand Prix F1 cupcakes for a friend. Stuart is 34 today, therefore why all the little cars have 34 on them. The chequered flags were all drawn on by hand (with an edible pen!) and the road lines were painted on by hand. I really loved having a play with these – I’m due to make some Jubilee cupcakes later this week and need a little inspiration. Will you be doing any cupcakes this week?
Cake of the Week – Silver Wedding Cake
This cake could also be tagged as the cake that nearly led to divorce/a breakdown. Its fair to say, it hasn’t been an easy week – sometimes being a mother of 3, running my own business just catches up with me. Matched with people making a LOT of demands on me, not returning my calls/emails and people letting us down, it has made for a stressful week. Not the fault of the couple who ordered this cake though – they were completely lovely. Very organised with pictures of themselves, swatches of the correct tartan and detailed descriptions of how they saw the cake but with enough freedom to be creative. The cake itself wasn’t without its problems – I had to remake the middle chocolate tier as it was a massive explosion in the oven. The blue dress just didn’t sit right the first time I made it so that got redone too and I nearly forgot the pinky sandals and french manicure on the lady – Yep, every little detail was included. I did have some lovely moments with the cake though. The couple’s 9yo son said it was the best cake he had ever seen (He can come more »
Raa Raa The Noisy Lion Cake – Cake of the Week
A totally new cake for me this week (Yay!) and the reason that Cake of the Week is running slightly late – Oops, we were out partying and then out with friends last night (Yep, we have some!) Anyway, on with the cakes – I have to admit that I had to google Raa Raa the Noisy Lion as I had never heard of it. The eldest girls have moved on from CBeebies and Tara just isn’t interested in TV – weird, I know! Raa Raa seems like a friendly chap but the size of his head gave me cold sweats. Even with a creme egg body, I still struggled to keep him upright but managed to lean him next to the cake. The colours on the cake matched Ruby’s napkins, tablecloths etc at her party – I was really pleased with the combination. The ‘tree trunk’ was made using a cake pillar and some leaves on wires poked into the middle. The girls had the most amazing time at the party. Vi bonded with another little girl that she goes swimming with and Millie played Mum with Tara -bonus! And it was held in our close, so we didn’t more »
Jammy Muffins with Streusel
Its been a while since I got any real satisfaction from trying out a new recipe – I’ve done some baking but the recipes have either been too complicated or I haven’t been that happy with the results. Not one to give up though, I tried a new combination yesterday and it worked!! I introduce my Jammy Muffins with Streusel – Why has no-one told me how delicious streusel is earlier? (that grammar is pants, I know but I’m too tired to care) Ingredients: For the streusel: 4oz (90g) cold butter 2oz (60g) demerara sugar 1.5oz (45g) plain flour For the muffins: 10oz (315g) plain flour 2 tsp baking powder 1.5 tsp bicarb of soda pinch salt 4oz (125g) cold butter 4oz (125g) caster sugar 2 eggs 1 tbsp vanilla extract (or seeds from a pod) 8oz (250g) milk or cream (I used full fat) 12 tsp jam of your choice (I used raspberry) Recipe makes 12 good sized muffins Make the streusel first: Mix together the butter, flour and sugar – cut through with a knife until in small lumps and stick in the freezer until the muffins are ready to go in the oven. For the muffins: Mix more »
In The Night Garden Cake – Cake of the Week
Of all the characters, I make, Upsy Daisy has got to be one of my least favourites. There’s so much that can go wrong with her (her spikes can break if you just look at them funny) and there’s tons of detail that takes forever. Every time I make one I say, ‘Never again’ … until the next time. Iggle Piggle is a joy to make in comparison – as long as I remember to make his body a couple of days in advance to dry (which I did this time – no Creme Eggs or Walnut Whips necessary for this one)\ So, I guess, what I’m saying is don’t expect many In the Night Garden cakes to be featured here – I’m not saying never, I’m just saying Not Often It was a great week for the Cake of the Week linky last week: We had a delicious looking (and flour free – does that make it gluten free?) chocolate roulade from Cara & Emma came back for a second visit with an intriguing Coconut Milk Layer Cake. Over at the Five F’s, Kate is getting familiar with sugarpaste and finding just how much colouring is needed for vivid more »
Setting up your own business – How to get started
One of the most common emails I receive are those asking for advice on what to do if you are thinking of starting your own business. Due to the state of our economy, a lot of people have found themselves in the position of having to think differently about their careers. It is said that home baking becomes more popular, the worse the recession. I don’t blame people at all for having a go at making their hobby into a business (after all that is how I started) – I do worry, though, that people think it is a case of just ‘popping the odd cake into the oven’ (One of my daughter’s teachers actually said this about my job!) So here are some things to consider doing, before setting up as a sole-trader: Contact your council to register and so they can start the necessary hygiene checks. Open a business bank account – some offer free banking for life in exchange for doing everything by machine or online. Get a website – through a website creator? Mine is invaluable for letting customers see the quality and range of my work. Insurance – Do you need it to cover more »
How to make a Peppa Pig Cake Topper – Tutorial
I’ve made thousands of Peppa Pig cakes over the years (maybe a teeny exaggeration but not much!) so now it’s your turn. Here’s how to have a go at making your own Peppa Pig Cake Topper using our good old friend, the Walnut Whip (walnut gets removed and eaten!) Equipment Needed: 1 x Walnut Whip, Red fondant icing, Pale Pink Fondant Icing, 2 small balls of white icing, Just under a malteser size ball of black icing, small rolling pin (or end of a paintbrush), sugar glue, small knife, paintbrush. Step 1: Take Walnut Whip out of packet, Remove Walnut and eat – Take ball of red icing (for approx size needed see pic next to a walnut whip). Step 2: Roll out red icing and cut a straight edge down one side. Paint around and on top of the walnut whip with the sugar glue. Step 3: Wrap the red paste around the walnut whip and cut the bottom edge with knife to make neat. Step 4: Pinch the top edges of the red icing together and cut with scissors or a knife. Flatten to more »
Disney Castle Cake with Mickey and Minnie – Cake Of The Week
I wasn’t going to post about this cake. It was a really difficult cake to make – not just because it was massive and Disney characters are really hard to get right but because of what the cake meant. I got asked to make this cake for the 2nd birthday of a little girl who is terminally ill and will be celebrating her last birthday. Doesn’t get much worse than that, does it? I didn’t know if it was appropriate to write a blog post about the cake and Olivia but when I got to the venue today and met her Mum & Dad, all their wonderful friends and most importantly, Olivia herself, I realised that they wanted today to be as much of a celebration as possible. The room was decorated so wonderfully – loads of balloons, Disney decorations and had such a lovely feel to it. As people were arriving it was clear that the day meant a lot to everyone, there were some gorgeous outfits, hairdos and a feeling of holding everyone up. There were tears too – not just me, but Olivia’s mum when she saw the cake and I get the feeling that they won’t more »
Chocolate Roses Wedding Cake – Cake of the Week
Happy Easter Everyone. Hope you are having a wonderful day. We have unexpectedly come home early from our second caravan trip of the year – Violet became unwell yesterday and we didn’t want to chance her spending the night vomiting in the caravan – Of course, as soon as we got home, Violet was right as rain. We don’t mind really as we got a couple of days to spend at home relaxing. We have been to church this morning which was lovely (Tara wasn’t quite so impressed) and now we are home to carry on eating chocolate. Our house was slightly more full than usual of chocolate this week due to a massive 4 tier chocolate wedding cake for a couple that got married on Good Friday. They wanted the same style cake as this one but slightly different so chose it to have the corners covered by the moulded roses. Each rose was dusted with gold lustre and each tier was chocolate fudge cake. I’d completely forgotten how long it takes to do the roses (especially the white chocolate ones that melt as soon as you look at them) For those who would like to have a go more »
