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Category Archive: Celebration Cake
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Cake of the Week: Swiss Roll – A revelation!
How have I gone 39 years without making a swiss roll? Even more to the point, how didn’t I know that they were so easy and so satisfying to make? Last Sunday we were having a family getogether as we do every year around the time of our Dad’s anniversary and Mum’s birthday. As usual, I had been mad busy during the run up to the day. I had every intention of producing a masterpiece but thought it would end up being a Mr Kipling/Costco special. On Sunday morning though, 4 of us did the Swimathon raising money for Marie Curie. Amazing how a swim can leave you feeling energised and utterly needing cake! I came home and thought Swiss Roll like you do. A quick nosy round at old cookbooks and I came up with a recipe of my own. I was wanting to go for HUGE while we were expecting 13 of us. Print Swiss Roll – A revelation! Rating: 51 Prep Time: 14 minutesCook Time: 11 minutesTotal Time: 25 minutes Yield: At least 8-10 generous pieces Ingredients3 large eggs 125g caster sugar Splash of vanilla extract 125g plain flour Plenty of strawberry jam Punnet of strawberries Tub more »
Cake of the Week – Birthday Cakes
The cakes for this week may not be the biggest or the most elaborate but they are definitely no less special. I’m giving you two cakes for the price of one this week. The first cake is a 21st cake for Daniel. Daniel is the son of a good friend of mine, Donna. I met Donna when our daughters started school together and I’m so glad I did. Just one of those people and families that you are glad to have in your life (and she’s good at drinking wine too!) Daniel has complex special needs and is unable to actually eat any of his cake but that really made me want to make it even neater than normal. They were having 50 million people round to their house yesterday to celebrate with Daniel – Hope it all went well! The second cake for this week is sadly a very quick cake (and another Hello Kitty). Our lovely Violet is 6 today but still wanted a cake to take with us on our holidays. She has requested a Hello Kitty for this week and a Moshi Monsters for her party the day after we get back – Help! The cake more »
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 »
Cake of the Week – Mickey Mouse Cake
I’ll admit it – until this week I could NOT STAND Mickey or Minnie cakes. They are so difficult to get right especially the mouth and there are so many Disney disaster cakes out there that I just didn’t want to join. This was a 2nd birthday cake and I pretty much had free reign once again with the design. I was tempted to do a small model on top of the Number 2 shaped tin but decided that would be chickening out and I wanted to go for something bolder (plus I can’t remember if I actually own a number 2 shaped tin!) I cooked an 8 inch sponge and 2 4 inch sponges (luckily I had just picked up a child’s 4 inch cake tin from Home Bargains a couple of weeks earlier never expecting to actually use it for proper baking – it only cost 59p!) I cut the smaller cakes into the shape of the ears and then covered all of them in white icing. I have a theory that it must be so much more appealing to bite into a cake primarily covered in white and then coloured icing rather than a huge dollop of more »
Cake of the week – 80th Birthday cake
A rather grown up cake and a bit of a departure from my normal style – This cake is for a neighbour of my mum’s ( I really hope he doesn’t suddenly start reading my blog as I have broken my own rule of never posting a pic until the recipient has seen the cake!) The man in question is a big reader hence all the books – His daughter asked for his name not to be on the cake as he is so many things to so many people – Husband, Dad, Grandad – maybe even a great-grandad! I used Patchwork cutters for the book effect which I have to admit did take forever – A lot of people I know struggle with Patchwork Cutters but I have made a pact to get to grips with all the ones I own. Do you have any favourite P. Cutters that you use? I have included the linky again for anyone who wishes to share their cake of the week. Have a good week!
Tagged 80th Birthday Cake, Birthday Cake, book cake
Gruffalo Cake
What a cake to start back with after a 3 month absence! This was the cake I made for my lovely nephew, Miles Patrick ‘Milo”s Christening this weekend. I have to admit The Gruffalo book isn’t one of the favourites of my girls. We prefer Room on the Broom and Monkey Puzzle more. I even had to borrow the book to copy the characters. I made the Gruffalo out of a creme egg. I will do a tutorial here soon. On the morning of the christening, 10 minutes before we set out for the 50 ish mile journey to Leeds my 8 year old daughter decided to tell me that the cake would not be complete without a fox as this is a major character. So a fox’s bum sticking out of the back it was! ( It was lovely to see my 3 year old niece choose the fox as the first thing to eat later that day) The cake included a snake in a log pile, an owl (eyes peeing out of a black hole in a tree made of pillars) and of course the fox’s bum! The next 2 weeks will be spent making Baby T’s christening more »
Tagged christening Cake, gruffalo cake
I am Back! Buzz Lightyear Celebration Cake
I haven’t dropped off the face of earth but am back with a new vengeance! This is one cake of many that I have done in my absence from the blogging world. It was ordered by a lovely girl who has had many cakes from me before. This was for a good friend who is serving out in Iraq. he is only seventeen and his older (19) brother is also out in Iraq. The cake was to celebrate him winning his first ever boxing fight. The Buzz Lightyear model was because he has always wanted a Buzz Lightyear of his own – I found the head really hard to do but persevered! She was delighted when she came to pick up the cake and even brought Kyle’s Mum! Helen x www.aardvarkcakes.co.uk
Tagged Buzz Lightyear Cake, celebration Cake
