Pastel Cupcakes!

Mr G and I were invited to dinner over the weekend and not wanting to arrive empty handed, I decided to make some pastel -coloured cupcakes. I made chocolate cupcakes and then experimented with the frosting using some gel colours I had recently bought in the U.S. Now I had never used gel colours before, and wow am I coverted. The intensity of the colours with just a few drops of colouring is amazing. Plus you can make lovely colours by mixing two or more of the colours together. I then decorated the cupcakes individually using matching sprinkles.

Coffee Cake

Mr G hates coffee but likes coffee cake, so I decided to make one for him as a surprise! I ploughed through my baking books looking for inspiration and a recipe by Rachel Allen caught my eye. The recipe looked simple enough, and although it was tasty (according to Mr G), I was disappointed with the consistency. It was not as moist as I had hoped. The coffee infused buttercream was good though, and I completed the look by topping it with gold - flecked chocolate covered coffee beans (Thanks Philippa!)

Birthday Cupcake Cookies

I wanted to make my cousin's son some birthday cupcakes, but was worried about transporting them. I therefore decided to make some cupcake shaped cookies instead. After the success of my afternoon tea biscuits, I decided to stick with shortbread cookies which I then decorated with fondant icing as before. I had bought a birthday cupcake shaped cookie cutter on a recent visit to New York. I then decorated them with little fondant stars, as I didn't want them to look too girly!

Anyone for tea?

I was invited to attend this month's Teawitter Tea Party in the Northern Quarter. It is an event for people who are passionate about baking. I decided to make some decorative biscuits as inspired by the book 'Bake me I'm yours....cookie' by Lindy Smith. She is one amazing lady. Her bsicuits (cookies) are so pretty to look at. I decided on using my Mother in law's shortbread recipe which we all adore. I then tinted some ready to roll fondant using gel colourings to cover the biscuits and to decorate them. I stuck the fondant and decorations on using some boiled jam as I did not have any sugarpaste to hand. My first batch of biscuits spread a lot whilst baking in the oven, so for the next batch, I put the biscuits to chill in the fridge for a couple of moments as I had read that this ensured the biscuits would keep their shape whilst cooking. That tip was spot on. The next batch held their shape perfectly.

Cupcakes for the Kids!

Last Friday I had a girly afternoon with my friends Andrea, Anika and Sarah. We all met at Sarah's for a cup of tea and a catch up. Sarah has two gorgeous kids and I decided to make cupcakes for them. Inspired my the success of my bunny cupcakes, I decided on a bug theme. Not so much creepy crawlies, but the cuter, friendlier kind. I made some insects using tinted fondant. I thought they were cute. I made the "soil" in the same way as the bunny cupcakes but added some chocolate pebbles that I recently bought in the U.S. Despite my protests, Beks took some pictures of me in action. I thought they turned out quite well. I also made some lilac frosted cupcakes adorned with pink sprinkles. Just because.

Pink!

I like pink. A lot. In fact I love pink. And Yellow. I love yellow too. Here are some cupcakes that I made with my two favourite colours in mind. I am not great with the frosting, and that is usually where Beks comes in to help, but I do have a knack with decorating and sprinkles. I love sprinkles too, but more on that later.
These were chocolate cupcakes with pink vanilla frosting.

Easter Cupcakes!

I find I am getting more creative in my old age. These are some Easter Cupcakes I made for my cousin over Easter as she had been studying hard over the Easter break. I got the idea from a brilliant booked called Hello Cupcake by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. The cupcakes were supposed to look like Easter Bunnies digging in the dirt. I frosted the cupcakes with Buttercream and then dipped them in crushed oreos to look like soil. I then tinted ready to roll fondant icing to make the eggs and bunny feet.

Breast Cancer Awareness Cake Pops

I have a slight obession about Cake Pops. For those of you not familiar with these bitesize treats of yummy goodness check out www.bakerella.com. This is a blog that I was introduced to by my best friend Beks and it is amazing!

Get Cake Popping Now!