Update

Just had to let you all know I have dropped a right clanger,I have missed the "H" out of birthday, oh what a nightmare this has been. The birthday party has started too for the person I made it for so I will have to get in touch with them tomorrow and give them a refund.

Busy Busy

Well what a busy week I have had, I am trying to get ahead with my Christmas Cake orders, I have made two cakes already and they are stored away, hopefully another one will be made today. But this last week I have been very busy as I had a 16th Birthday Cake order to complete and a 50th birthday cake order as well for the same family. The 16th Birthday cake was easy, the 50th one was not so easy, making the cakes are a doddle and I even managed to shape the large cake to look reasonably like a football shirt which is what has been requested. I managed to cover it in marzipan, but the sugar paste just would not work, I ended up buying thee lots and in the end it wasn't until my friend Ali had had a look that we decided it was in fact a faulty batch, but not one but all three lots I had. We went back to the sop and I explained, they did say that they had had a problem with the blue and the pink sugar paste ( I had the blue) and they said that I could take all three back and they would refund me even though I had tried to use it. It just would not roll out and even when I tried to knead it to get is to be pliable this did not work either. I bought some regal ice and we coloured that instead, I got it as close as I could to the colour of the team that was asked for (Man City) the colour is not quite their but the customer said she was pleased with it and knowing this person she definitely would have said something if she wasn't. Here are the pictures, I also got to try out my new printer with edible ink in so managed to do a copy of the team badge. I am off to do some tidying up as I have all my cake decorating stuff out at the moment so will catch up with you all soon.

A cake for a 50th Birthday

Firstly I must apologise for not being around for a while. In my research for ideas for decorating cakes I managed to attract a few viruses so have had to wait until my hubby got around to sorting it out for me. As you can see I am now back, but I have been busy whilst I have not been able to play on my computer. I have finally got the inks and papers for my new printer which I am hoping to set up soon, so I will be able to add another element to my cake decorating and be able to print photo's etc on them. I also have another four orders in my diary for a 50th, and 16th birthday, with another birthday cake and also a christening cake. These are on top of my Christmas Cake orders. (I have now managed to make to fruit cakes and these are wrapped up and stored away). I am just preparing the fruit for the next ones. I am making the fruit cakes well in advance so I don't disappoint people as I am now getting very busy and I also need to plan what I am going to sell at a Christmas Fair that I am having a stall at along with my two friends who will also have one for their card making etc. I recently complete an order for a birthday cake for a colleagues mum's 50th birthday, I had shown them my book that I carry around with the photos of the cakes I have made and they were quite taken with a butterfly one that I had made previously. I changed the design slightly and added some words, I was pleased with the result and so were they as they kindly left a thank you card on my desk when I got back into work the following week. Here are some photo's I would like to share.

Trying out a new recipe

I finally got to do a bit of baking yesterday, hubby has decided he wants to try vegetarian food (he gets all faddy with his food sometimes and he recently read an article in the newspaper regarding the slaughtering of animals for us to eat) so now he wants to change. Anyway you know me I am always up for a challenge and so found a website called Cook Vegetarian. They have loads of recipes so printed off a few that I thought sounded really tasty and showed them to him, he said they all sounded great, so away I went. I selected a couple of recipes one of them being an Orange, Ginger and sultana cake it is made with olive oil instead of margarine/butter,plain flour, dark brown sugar, eggs, ginger, fresh orange (all of it including the peel which is simmered whole until it is soft then blended into a pulp, so you don't actually get chunks of orange peel)it all gets mixed together and then baked for about 40 to 45 minutes or until when a skewer is inserted it comes out clean. I am really pleased with the result it is really tasty and I think I will add this to my Christmas cake collection, it certainly tasted and smelt like a Christmas cake. And yes Kevin said he liked it to so that's a good start. Now I am off to try some more recipes.

Cake Decorating Classes

It is now nearly three weeks since I completed my cake decorating classes. I had lots of fun and enjoyed the me time for a couple of hours over the five weeks away from the house. Here are some photos of the completed cake dummy that I used to practise on, whilst it is not very tidy our teacher has given me lots of tips and guidance on how to do things such as swags, bows, piping and frills. We also attempted making carnations but for some reason I think it may have been too hot the fondant kept disintegrating so I gave up. However, I will have another attempt at these in my own kitchen so I will not give it up as a bad job. Anyway enough of the waffle, housework is calling I have a mass tidy up to do after the recent DIY we have completed. See you all soon. Sue x PS: Apologies for the way the pictures have loaded, I think the file may have been a little big so they have appeared on their sides.

Not sure what this is

We found this growing just outside out back gate on the front drive, we have no idea what it is whether it is a weed, wild flower or just some stray garden plant that just happened to land there when seed were carried on the wind so thought I would share the photos I took with you.