Minnie Mouse Birthday Cake

So, picture the scene, its February and my sister-in-law Leanne asks if I can make her a birthday cake for her in March. I say yes and asks what she would like, she replies with "Surprise me!" and then I spend the next few weeks brainstorming ideas and looking on various sites for inspiration.

Leanne is a fellow Disney fan so the final idea came to me pretty quickly. Something red with polka dots. The problem is... ive NEVER covered a cake in fondant/icing and I really dont know where to start.

So I open up youtube, and watch what seems like a bazillion videos on how to cover a cake, from crumb coating to finishing, and although it looks pretty simple, I know it will be anything but easy!!

Cakes for Mothers Day

This mothers day I decided to bake a cake each for our mums using my 6" lose bottom tin. Its so cute and tiny that it was quite tempting to go all in and make as much batter as possible... which is what I did. Lets set the scene. I have 1 night to bake 2 cakes and decorate them to a level that I wont want to cry about later. Its a Friday night, which means its Walking Dead night. Which means... I have until 10pm or thereabouts. Ill need to eat tea and prep the kitchen ready for my madness. This will be tight. Theres always sky+ for a delayed start. Lets GO.

More Cupcakes by Karen

Part 2 of my special look at how you can adapt my Basic Vanilla Cupcake recipe is here, and Karen is back with more wonderful and inventive cupcakes. In the first post, Karen shared some amazing cupcake recipes that im now dying to try and re-create myself. However, lots of the ingredients are limited or not available in the UK, so in following posts ill be looking at ways we can get the same results here in the UK... now THAT'S fun! :-)

Cupcakes by Karen

In 2010 we visited Walt Disney World, and being big un-posh foodies (nothing on the scale of Mrs Petticoat's adventures - seriously, that girl eats some awesome food) we visited Epcot's Food and Wine Festival and hopped over to say hello at DisneyFoodBlog.com Foodie Fest at Ariel's in Disney's Yacht & Beach Club Resort.

It was a meet up of Disney food admirers, we met lots of lovely people, but two in particular made us feel like we should be there, in the sea of American accents. Im pretty sure we were the only English people there that year.

Karen and Mike (and their 8 month baby bump) chatted away and weve been in contact ever since. They live within touching distance of Walt Disney World, and we live here in Manchester - thank you facebook and twitter!! We saw them again in 2011 with their then 1 yr old addition Anna, and now, they have another beautiful munchkin baby Lily. Hopefully we will see them again on our 2013 trip but in the meantime... Karen has been making cupcakes... lots of cupcakes.

Easy Honeycomb

Honeycomb is everywhere lately and its a great idea for a Christmas gift so I decided to make some and let you know just how easy it is to make. Honeycomb can also be covered in chocolate to make it last a little longer than the day it did in my kitchen. Ive also included a gift idea at the bottom of the post, which ill be trying to do for all my posts.

Firstly lets get started with the simple list of ingredients and equipment that im guessing all of you will have stashed away in your kitchen cupboards!

Cake Pop Maker

This past weekend I went to Lakeland. Yeah, I know, you're all thinking... and what? Lemme let you in on a little shameful secret. It was my first time. I had no clue that my nearest shop was only 10 miles down the road instead of the 2 hour drive away I originally thought my nearest shop was.

Id found out about the lakeland on the Thursday, obsessed all Friday and then my wonderful husband said we should go on the Saturday. It was a wonderful weekend. Almost Famous burgers on the Friday night, and a mini shopping spree in lakeland on the Saturday, followed by trying my new gadget on the Sunday.

I made original cake pops for valentines day. I mixed cake with frosting and then moulded them into my Mickey silicon mould and then coated them in chocolate. They were like bricks, and tasted of sweet mess. My idea of cake pops had been shattered. I really dont know how anyone could enjoy them. Balls of sweet sick.

Soft Pretzels

Im a huge fan of large salted soft pretzels, the kind you get at a Disney park. Disney also have plain, jalapeno, cream cheese and cheese topped pretzels at their pretzel stands. But I always go for the salted. Maybe im a secret slug and salt is my weakness. I dont have salt on my food day to day, but I always tend to gravitate towards salted foods. Caramel, chocolate, popcorn, pretzels.

Ok, so you get the idea.... I like salt. I love soft pretzels. On with the recipe...

Pink Vanilla Birthday Cake

I was recently asked to make a birthday cake by a colleague for her future sister-in-law. They would be meeting for the first time, and with a language barrier they needed something to break the ice, and nothing is more universally satisfying than a cake!!!
The brief was simple. Something small and girly.

So I had a look through my recipes and decorating inspiration and knew it had to be something pink and delicate.

Birthday flower pot for my mum

It was my mums birthday yesterday and we were still in Kent, so I was unable to make her a cake. She had to endure a beautiful day at the seaside in Hastings with fish and chips for lunch and sunny weather - woe her.

BUT, we got back home today and I decided since  had the house to myself (like I do every Monday) id make my mum the cake she asked for.

Now, ive mentioned before - im not that great at big cakes, so please avoid looking too closely at the photos in this post (or you'll laugh)

Id watched a video on youtube about making a flowerpot cake and so I decided since my mum LOVES flowers Id make her some from coloured icing.

Giant cupcake recipe

Last week my friend's little girl Ruby celebrated her first birthday and I offered to make her a cake and some cupcakes to match.

I decided to make a giant cupcake filled and coated with vanilla buttercream and finished with strawberry jam buttercream and white chocolate fingers.

The 1M Swirl Technique

Wilton have kindly given away their secret for the perfect cupcake swirl. Its easy to do, and all you need is a piping bag and the famous Wilton 1M nozzle. Click the image to visit the site.