Easy evening cake

I wanted to bake today, I fancied something sweet, but simple and quick to make... and I also wanted to use some mascarpone I had in the fridge.


I made a simple sponge based on the ever versatile recipe I have used lately for the cupcakes. But instead of using paper cases, I put the mix into a 8" tin and baked for 25 minutes instead of 15 and I added a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract instead of orange zest. Great result!!!


For the frosting was mascarpone cheese mixed with cocoa powder, sugar and a drop or two of pure vanilla extract... mix mix mix and then spread over the cake with a spatula. Then I sprinkled some chocolate spaghetti (from Morrisons)....and that's IT!

So, the recipe:
Ingredients:
-350g plain flour
-1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
-140g caster sugar
-1/2 tsp salt
-2 eggs
-250ml milk (I used semi-skimmed and it worked well)
-1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
-85g butter, melted

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6/Fan oven 180°C
2. Line a round 8" deep tin .
3. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, then stir in the sugar and salt.
4. Beat the eggs and milk together in a jug or bowl, add the pure vanilla extract, then stir in the butter and gently mix into the dry ingredients to make a loose, slightly lumpy mixture. Do not overmix or the cake will be tough.
5. Fill in the tin
6. Bake for 25 minutes until well risen and golden on top.
Allow the cake to cool for 15 minutes in the tin, then carefully remove and place on a plate.
7.Put the mascarpone cheese in a small bowl, add a tablespoon of sugar (You can use less or more, up to you), a teaspoon and a half of cocoa powder, a couple of drops of vanilla extract (optional), then mix well, you can use the electric mixer if you want. Spread over the cake with a spatula and sprinkle chocolate spaghetti or any other on top.

Enjoy!!

Birthday cupcakes

I had another perfect excuse to bake, but not just to bake, also decorating, which is always fun. Jasmine turned 19 on the 1st of August, I told her I would do her cake....or cupcakes, she preferred the second option. I used the same versatile recipe I shared with you all in the 2 previous posts, I changed it again and it was fabulous. I made two types of cupcakes:
-Chocolate with pieces of caramel biscuits inside
-Orange-Vanilla

For the toppings I knew exactly what I wanted to do. But first I have to confess something.... I totally dislike buttercream....the name sounds rather yummy but the first time I made it as frosting, my face nearly got green. I love butter, don't get me wrong... but I don't fancy biting a block of butter...yuk! and buttercream is basically that, butter and sugar.
Anyway....lets leave my buttercream issues behind and let me tell you about the great frosting recipe I found.
In one of Sainsbury's magazines (to be exact, October 2009), there was an article that caught my attention: "Cupcake masterclass, 5 easy steps to sweet perfection", I was surprised when I saw that the recipe only needed very little butter, so I gave it a go and it turned out delicious, although I have to say, between you and I....that I can improve this recipe...and I will!.

I made 24 cupcakes, 12 chocolate and 12 orange-vanilla, so I decided to make 2 frosting flavours; strawberry and vanilla and!... marzipan toppers, which I personally love.
I also got myself a cupcake stand that helped to arrange them nicely.

For the chocolate cupcake recipe, please click HERE, omit the caramel and instead of using 50g of cocoa, only use 25g (that's enough) and 325g of flour. I filled the cases half way and then pushed in pieces of caramel biscuits, then filled all the cases with the remaining mix.

For the orange-vanilla cupcake recipe please click HERE, omit the cream cheese and strawberries and add a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

*For the strawberry and vanilla frosting*
Enough to cover 24 cupcakes.
Note: frosting and frosted cupcakes will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for a few days. Bring frosting back to room temperature before using.

Ingredients:
-200g full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature.
-100g soft unsalted butter.
-600g icing sugar, sieved.

1.Put the cream cheese, butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl.
2. With a big wooden spoon, slowly mix together, until you have blended all in, then use an electric mixer until you have a nice and creamy consistency.
3.Divide the mix in two smaller bowls.
Note: if the mix seems too runny, add a little bit of icing sugar.

For the strawberry flavour one, add 1 tablespoon of strawberry jam, sieved, and a drop of pink food colour. Mix well. You can then use a decorating bag with a big star tip to decorate your cupcakes.

For the vanilla flavour frosting, add the seeds of 1 vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Mix well. And as above, you can use a decorating bag.

If you're interested to do the marzipan toppers, let me know and I'll try to put a tutorial, its a lot of fun making them...and eating them as well!.

Don't they look great?...

I didn't have any, they all went to Jasmine's birthday party and I heard later that everybody loved them.... job done! :-)

Chocolate and Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

I felt a bit baking-adventurous today and made a variation of the strawberry cheesecake cupcakes from the last post. I usually follow recipes and never try my own thing, but this time I wanted to do something different...chocolate and dulce de leche, two flavours that were made for each other, such a treat!.
So, when mixing the ingredients, I replaced 80g of flour for cocoa powder....and I have to say, I would probably use less cocoa next time, 50g would be just fine.

Filled the cases halfway, then I added a teaspoon of dulce de leche...


Topped them with the rest of the mix:


Ready to go to the oven...


And...voilá!


They exploded a little bit, but it worked...yay!.
These cupcakes taste fenomenal, really chocolatey....I will definitely bake them again!.

Recipe:

It makes 12 muffins.
Ingredients:
-300g plain flour
-50g cocoa powder
-1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
-140g caster sugar
-Finely grated rind of 2 medium oranges
-1/2 tsp salt
-2 eggs
-250ml milk (I used semi-skimmed and it worked well)
-85g butter, melted

For the filling:
-180g dulce de leche (Carnation sells a tin of Caramel = Dulce de Leche)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6/Fan oven 180°C
2. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper cases.
3. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder into a large bowl, then stir in the sugar and salt.
4. Beat the eggs and milk together in a jug or bowl, then stir in the butter and gently mix into the dry ingredients to make a loose, slightly lumpy mixture. Do not overmix or the muffins will be tough.
5. Half'-fill the paper cases with the muffin mixture, then push a teaspoon of dulce de leche into each, then spoon over the remaining muffin mixture to cover and fill the muffin cases.
7. Bake for 15 minutes until well risen and golden on top. Remove from the tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. (I let them cool in the tin).

ENJOY!

Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins/Cupcakes

A good friend of mine and her little daughter came to visit us today, the perfect reason to bake something nice!, I didn't want to make anything I have done before so I went to my books and found what seemed like a delicious treat for kids and adults...Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins....what about THAT!...yup...cupcakes with a very yummy filling...

Want to give it a go?....take note then:

It makes 12 muffins.
Ingredients:
-350g plain flour
-1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
-140g caster sugar
-Finely grated rind of 2 medium oranges
-1/2 tsp salt
-2 eggs
-250ml milk (I used semi-skimmed and it worked well)
-85g butter, melted

For the filling:
-175g half-fat soft cheese
-3tbsp caster sugar
-6 small strawberries, halved...and maybe some more to put on top to serve when they're ready.

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6/Fan oven 180°C
2. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper cases.
3. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, then stir in the sugar, orange rind and salt.
4. Beat the eggs and milk together in a jug or bowl, then stir in the butter and gently mix into the dry ingredients to make a loose, slightly lumpy mixture. Do not overmix or the muffins will be tough.
5. Mix together the soft cheese and sugar for the filling.
6. Half'-fill the paper cases with the muffin mixture, then push half a strawberry into each. Top with a teaspoon of sweet cheese, then spoon over the remaining muffin mixture to cover and fill the muffin cases.
7. Bake for 15 minutes until well risen and golden on top. Remove from the tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. (I let them cool in the tin).

*Recipe taken from the book "GoodFood 101 cakes & bakes"*

Chocolate and mango layer cake

When I started trying new recipes and after a few disasters, my lovely neighbour and friend came to see me, she said "I have something for you" with a big grin on her face that made me smile... she gave me a small but very consistent book called "Chocolate & Baking"...hmmm! it sounded fabulous....just what I needed!, 508 pages of great recipes, couldn't be a better present!. I have tried a few and they're really good....almost as good as "BBC Good Food".
I mrked all the recipes I wanted to try, all too many I suppose, but someday I' will try them all, yay!.
One of those recipes I marked with a bit of paper, was this one....and OMG is good!. This is probably the fifth time I make it, but the first time I take a picture of it.

The sponge is very firm, so after trying it so many times, I decided to pour a bit of the mango juice mixed with sugar, on the sponge layers before I put the filling.
The original recipe doesn't add any sugar to the cream and mango mixture, but I have done (1/2 cup of sugar) otherwise is not sweet at all.

Ingredients:
-50g cocoa powder
-150ml cup boiling water
-6 large eggs
-350g cup caster (superfine) sugar
-300g self-raising flour
-2 x 400g cans of mango
-1 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
-425ml cups double (heavy) cream
-75g dark flock chocolate or grated chocolate

1. Grease a deep 23cm/9 inch round cake tin (pan) and line the base with baking parchment.

2. Place the cocoa powder in a small bowl and gradually add the boiling water; blend to form a smooth paste.

3. Place the eggs and caster sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until the mixture is very light and foamy and the whisk leaves a trail that lasts a few seconds when lifted.
Fold in cocoa mixture.
Sieve (strain) the flour and fold into the mixture.

4. Pour the mixture into the tin (pan) and level the top.
Bake in a preheated oven, 170C/ 325F/ Gas Mark 3, for about 1 hour or until springy to the touch.

5. Leave to cool in the tin (pan) for a few minutes then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack.
Peel off the lining paper and cut the cake into 3 layers.

6. Drain the mangoes and place a quarter of them in a food processor and puree until smooth.
Mix the cornflour with about 3 tbsp of the mango juice to form a smooth paste. Add to the mango puree. Transfer to a small pan and heat gently, stirring until the puree thickens. Leave to cool.

7. Chop the remaining mango.
Whip the cream and reserve about one quarter. Fold the mango into the remaining cream and use to sandwich the layers of cake together.
Place on a serving plate.
Spread some of the remaining cream around the side of the cake. Press the flock or grated chocolate lightly into the cream. Pipe cream rosettes around the top. Spread the mango puree over the centre.

The best Lemon Meringue Pie

I've lost count of how many times I have made this lovely pie, is simply one of my favourites!!. The ones you buy at the grocery store can't compare to the home made ones, don't you think? especially when you've tried this one in particular! HA!....after you've tried this recipe, your life won't be the same.

Seriously, please take note, the recipe is HERE. This is my second post about the lemon meringue pie and I promise it will be the last one hehehehe. I have to say, the more you make this recipe, the better the results!.

Salmon and Broccoli Lattice Tart....yum!

I love to try new recipes and I'm always looking for them, I have copied recipes from many sites and they're never as good as the ones I get from "BBC Good Food" magazine (or their website!). ALL the recipes in the magazine are fantastic (trust me), the ones you find on the website have very useful reviews that help you to select.
Today I went to the local store with my son to get some chocolate, I got a little net bag full of chocolate bunnies, I was ready to go, but when I turned around I saw the magazine section and my eyes got stuck on my favourite magazine....have you guessed which one? .... the cake on the cover looks sooooooooo delicious I couldn't leave the shop without it!


I took a good look and OMG....this magazine is full of mouth-watering recipes!. I always go for the sweet things but I found the following recipe a "must" for dinner tonight....

What do you think???.....and this was the result!:

Not as perfect as the one on the mag, but soooooooooooo incredibly tasty....


The watercress mixed with the creme fraiche makes a difference....YUMMY!
I'll have to post the recipe, I can't just show the pictures, especially if you don't live in the UK and can't get the magazine....so here we go:

Ingredients:

-100g (4oz) broccoli, cut into florets
-85g (3oz) watercress, chopped
-4 tbsp half-fat creme fraiche
-435 g pack ready-rolled puff pastry sheets
-1 egg, beaten
-170g pack poached salmon fillets, flaked
-steamed green beens, to serve

1. Cook the broccoli in lots ofboiling water until tender. Drain and rinse in cold water until cool. Drain well and set aside. In a mini chopper or food processor, blitz the watercress and creme fraiche with some seasoning.

2. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas6.
Unroll the pastry sheets. Place one on a baking sheet, cut out a 2cm-wide border from the second sheet, like a picture frame, and stick this onto the first sheet with some of the beaten egg. Prick the base all over with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes until golden.

3. Cut the remaining pastry into 2cm wide strips. Spread on the creme fraiche, scatter with the flaked salmon, broccoli and seasoning, and top with the strips of pastry to make a lattice.

4. Brush with beaten egg and cook for 20-25 minutes until pastry is golden and cooked through and the filling is hot.
Serve with green beans (we had it with green salad).

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!

Happy Easter! - Banana cake with choc chips

It's been quite a long time since my last post....I have made some cakes in between but didn't take pics due to bad light!.
It was my son's 3rd birthday in February, I made a lovely cake but I was sick and I didn't have the energy to decorate....so it was a very simple decoration, will post it later one :-)
Easter is my favourite holiday of the year, mainly because its the beginning of Spring time, my favourite season!. Quite simbolic as well, marking the beginning of different aspects of life, a rebirth if you want.
This time I improvised a cake and it turned out delicious!. I made a banana cake and added some chocolate chips....yum!!
I covered the cake with Betty Crocker's ready vanilla icing that I dyed pale yellow, I used dried coconut (dyed pale green) and finished the decoration with mini eggs and a rabbit silhouette made with card.
The cake went down a storm! so I'll definitely make another one and will change the decoration.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
-2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
-1 teaspoon baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-3/4 cup of butter (softened)
-1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
-2 ripe bananas (mashed)
-3/4 cup sour cream (or full fat natural yoghurt)

Method:
1. Preheat oven 180 C
2. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
3.In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
4. Add eggs, vanilla and banana (to mixture on step 2) mix well. Add flour mixture alternately with sour cream (or yoghurt); blend thoroughly but do not overmix.
5. Add chocolate chips or chopped walnuts (both delicious!) and mix with a big spoon.
Pour into a prepared tin (you can line just the base)
Bake for about 35-45 minutes, or until wooden skewer inserted comes out clean (top of the cake will be golden in color).
Cool for 30 minutes in the tin; remove and cool completely before decorating.

If you don't have time to dcorate, sprinkle icing sugar on top.

Enjoy as much as we did!!!

Snickers and peanut-butter muffins!

I have heard about Nigella Lawson many times, but for some reason I never felt inclined to buy her books.

I went to a local boot sale not long ago and looking into a box full of books I found "How to be a domestic goddess" by Nigella Lawson, hard cover, I didn't think too much and got it straight away, of course!.... for £1 can you believe it?, I'm such a lucky girl!. The book is absolutely GREAT!, loads of yummy recipes that I have started to try. I love her writing, she has the ability to pass her inspiration and passion for food through her words and I have to admit, it's catching!.


On page 218 you'll find "Snickers and peanut-butter muffins"....yummy!!!
Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
-250g plain flour
-6 tbsp (85g) golden caster sugar
-1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
-Pinch of salt
-6 tbsp (160g) crunchy peanut butter
-60 unsalted butter, melted
-1 large egg, beaten
-175 ml milk
-3 x 65 g Snickersbars, chopped
-12 muffin tin with paper cases

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6 (I have a fan oven and 170C was fine)

Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the peanut butter and mix until you have a bowl of coarse crumbs. Add the melted butter and egg to the milk, and then stir this gently into the bowl. Mix in the Snickers pieces and dollop into the muffin cases. Cook for 20-25 minutes (18 minutes was enough in my oven!, so check them every now and then) when the tops should be risen, golden and firm to the (light) touch. Sit the tin on a wire rack to cool. If you can.

Makes 12

Citrus poppy seed cake

Every season is "cake season" to me so I'm always looking for new tempting recipes to try.
Not long ago I bought this little book: "Good Food 101 cakes & bakes" from Amazon, after reading all the excllent and convincing reviews. I have tried a few recipes and I have to say they are great!. This has been the only cake I managed to photograph so far because the other ones vanished before I could take my camera out of the bag! hahahahha...


Now, back to this cake in particular.....is very easy to do (you don't even need an electric mixer!) and 100% delicious. This has been the first of many more I'll make, no doubt!.
Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
-175gr butter, softened
-175gr caster sugar
-3 eggs, beaten
-250gr self-raising flour
-50gr poppy seeds
-Grated rind of 2 oranges
-Grated rind of 2 lemons
-4 rounded tbsp natural yogurt

For the topping:
-250gr tub mascarpone
-Grated rind and juice of 1 small orange
-3 tbsp orange or lemon curd
-Grated rind of 1 lemon

Before I continue let me tell you that I only sprinkled some icing sugar on mine, I didn't use the topping from this recipe simply because I didn't have the mascarpone nor the lemon curd, BUT....I'll surely try it next time!.

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 150C/Gas2/fan oven 130C.
Butter and line the base of a deep 20cm/8in round cake tin.
Using a wooden spoon, beat together the butter, sugar,eggs, flour, poppy seeds, citrus rinds and yogurt until smooth.

2. Spread the mixture in the tin and bake for 45-50 minutes until just firm. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Then turn out and cool on a wire rack. Peel off the paper.

3. Meanwhile, mix the mascarpone with enough orange juice to make a spreadable icing. Lightly swirl in the curd to give a marbled effect. Roughly spread over the top and sides of the cake, and scatter the grated citrus rind over the top to decorate.

Serves 10

Flower Power Cake!

Jasmine's 18th birthday was coming and as I promised to her, I made the cake.
I was getting a bit nervous as I knew I needed more time to practice with fondant and at the same time I wanted to make a very special and beautiful cake for her.
I used to take tips from the internet, YouTube and so on, but for some reason it didn't seem enough help!. So I went to Amazon's and looked for cake decorating books....there are loads, difficult to choose!. I started reading the reviews of the ones I liked and that's how I ended up buying "Cakes to inspire and desire" by Lindy Smith....fabulous book! it has just the right and very clear information you need, good recipes and priceless tips. Although I still need to learn A LOT, her book helped me with the basics and gave me more confidence to try new things. I recommend it 100%!

I thought at first I was going to make a simple cake, and by this I mean, a "one tier" cake... but seeing the pictures in the book was very tempting so I gave it a go, following all the instructions in the book...2 tiers then!, it worked perfectly well.
I used a 7 inch round cake for the base and a 3,5 inch cake for the one on top, rather small but very cute!...here's the result!


As I didn't want to write on the cake to not spoil the flowers, I made this tag with fondant and used an edible ink pen to write on it, I think it looks great, what do you think?


In the book there's a list of useful tools....I was quite impressed with the "Sugar Shaper", which I had to get, I couldn't resist it!... and let me tell you, Squires Kitchen has the best price online! :-)

Zoe's cake

I made this cake for a very special girl, Zoe, who turned 7 in July.
I have to say, it was quite difficult to cover the cake with fondant, it's not easy at all, it takes a lot of practice I think, so I'll keep on trying!.

Lemon gateau

I tried a recipe that I found in a magazine. The picture showing the cake looked terribly appealing to me, I couldn't resist!.

What's a Gateau?
A gâteau (pronounced ga-toe) is a French cake, often specifically a sponge cake that may be made from almond flour instead of wheat flour. In general terms, any cake in France may be considered a gâteau, but some French cakes are more gâteaux than cakes you might see in other parts of the world. Yet if you order any kind of cake in France, you will be ordering a gâteau.

Gateau is the singular word for cake and Gateaux is the plural word, although the pronunciation is the same.

Let's go to the recipe, shall we? :-)

Ingredients:
-Butter for greasing
-2 1/2 tbsp of semolina, plus extra for dusting
-6 large eggs, separated
-150 gr (5 oz) caster sugar-2 large lemons
-40 gr (1 1/2 oz) ground almonds
-3 tbsp plain flour
-3 gelatine leaves (or 1 1/2 sachet of Vege-gel (from Dr Oetker) wich is the vegetarian alternative)
-150ml double cream

Method
1. Grease an 8cm deep, 20.5cm loose-bottomed round tin. Line base with baking parchment; dust sides with semolina.

2. Heat oven to 180C (160C fan) mark 4.

3. Beat 3 egg yolks + 50grs (2 oz) sugar + zest of 1 lemon for 5 minutes. Fold in semolina +almonds + flour.

4. Beat 3 egg whites until stiff. Add 25gr (1 oz) sugar and beat for a few seconds. Fold 1 tbsp into cake mix, then fold in the rest. Spoon into tin and level. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Leave to cool in tin.

5. Remove sides of tin and slide cake on to a board, leaving parchment in place.
Slice cake in half horizontally. Regrease and reline sides of tin with baking parchment.
Put cake half with paper attached into the tin, paper side-down.

6. Put gelatine in a bowl and cover with cold water. Leave for 5 minutes.
*If you're using Vege-gel, empty a sachet and a half into a small bowl and add 200ml of cold water, stir with a spoon until is completely dissolved, leave it for a few minutes.

7. Heat the juice of 1 lemon until simmering.
Squeeze excess water of gelatine, then whisk into the lemon juice. Leave to cool.
*Using the Vege-gel: pour the Vege-gel mixture into the lemon juice using a sieve, stir gently whilst on lowest heat for a couple of minutes, then leave to cool.

8. Whisk remaining yolks + sugar + zest of 1 lemon until moussey. Fold in the gelatine mixture.

9. Beat remaining egg whites until stiff.

10. Whisk cream until it just holds its shape.

11. Fold cream into yolk mix, then fold in egg whites.

12. Pour into tin. Cover. Chill for 2 hours in freezer.

13. Put second cake layer over the mousse, cut-side down. Cover and chill overnight.

14. Turn out cake and peel off paper. Dust with icing sugar and using a knife or a metal skewer score lines on top.

Good luck and enjoy! x

Easter cake

I have been very busy recently, trying to get everything ready to put the house for sale... it seems like an endless task!. Tiring times but I'm sure it will be all satisfactory at the end.
I thought I wasn't going to bake anything for Easter as I have very little energy these days.... and here I am!...

I love Easter, more than anything because it's the celebration of Spring.

This cake: vanilla sponge, caramel and raspberry jam filling, covered with buttercream, marzipan letters and bunnies, mini eggs and silver balls....YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!

My son's 2nd birthday and a starry cake :o)

I was thinking about the cake I wanted to make for my son's birthday for quite a while.
It was very difficult to cover my first cake with fondant, but I can say I learnt a lot while doing it on my own and I hoped to improve the next time...and I definitely did!. I managed to get the right consistency for the buttercream that goes under the fondant. I used ready rolled fondant this time. It wasn't perfect coming out of the roll, it was cracked...but I fixed it.
I also made some cupcakes to go with it.
My son loved it!.

My first cake decorated with fondant!

I wanted to surprise my husband who was turning 50, with a special cake. I watched loads of videos on YouTube about cake decorating and specially about how to cover a cake with fondant. It seemed quite easy...or at least that's the impression I had!!!. I was very excited and looking forward to start my first cake.
I wanted to get the ready rolled fondant that you can find in almost any grocery store....but when I went for it, it was all gone!!!, so I got 2 packs of 500grs ready to roll fondant and thought it was worth to try and do it all myself.
The cake was ready, the layer of buttercream seemed to be just perfect....how exciting!!!!....then, I rolled the fondant, added the icing sugar so it wouldn't stick to the table....so far so good!!, I placed the fondant carefully on top of the cake and when I was trying to smooth the sides....oops! it cracked and then I had uncovered areas....oooh dear, complete disasterrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!! I have to say, my heart sank!!, the cake looked horrible, impossible to take anywhere. I left it in the kitchen, I needed time to think, how can I fix it?...at first I thought that I could cover it again with another layer of white fondant....but it was going to be too much....then I thought....stripes to cover the sides....and I finally decided to use circles, using fondant as well....
This is the result:

I still need to learn a lot, but to be the very first cake I don't think it's too bad, what do you think?

This is what we had left...

I need to make another cake, for my son's birthday # 2, I already have some ideas, I just hope I'll manage to cover the cake properly!!!.
See you soon! :o)

Christmas biscuits

I know should have posted this a bit before Christmas!!
Anyway....here are the biscuits I made :o)

Halloween biscuits....Boo!

Halloween is one of those celebrations that mean very little to me, it doesn't really inspire me nor excites me.
I saw in my "Cookie craft" book an idea of a halloween house using boiled candies for the windows that really looked cool, so I got some candies and I tried to do something different myself. At the beginning I was just going to make some circles with candy in the center and some royal icing, but as I was cutting circles I saw a little face taking shape... and I loved it.

Then with an oval cutter I cut more cookies using the orange dough, cut some letters using the green dough and put them together as you see in the following picture, I added candy inside the letters to make them look a bit bloody:


When I had them all ready, I put them in clear bags with orange and black ribbon, they looked great!.

Watermelon biscuits

One of my friends, who feeds my passion for English pottery, came to visit me with some nice tea cups and saucers the other day, I thought she was selling them to me, but she asked me if she could exchange them for some cookies as she had a gathering coming on....sure!.
I made these watermelon cookies, put them in clear bags and attached a nice label to promote my "sweet art".

They were very tasty and as my friend said afterwards....a complete success! :o)