Jubilee Cupcakes

I'm kick starting the Jubilee celebrations!

It's my husbands birthday today so made these for him to take into the office for staff to enjoy instead of the usual shop bought cream cakes.

Just looking at them makes you feel like cracking open the Pimm's!

Hope you all enjoy the long bank holiday  :)

First flourishes

Summer is finally here!

Ahh its been a long wait to see some colour in the garden, and my miniature roses are blooming now, and they are gorgeous, these were such a good buy last year, they flowered right through to October.

The Clematis 'Niobe' is intertwining in the climbing rose, the blooms are spectacular, but very short lived. The whole plant only has three flowers and was planted 3 years ago! I've never been lucky with any variety of Clematis.

I have four varieties of Orchids, of which 3 are in flower at the moment, these are my house plant of choice, they are just beautiful, and the flowers last for weeks, sometimes months, and I find them dead easy to look after.

Hope your garden is making you smile. :)

Flower choker- A beautiful bargain!

I saw this necklace on a friend of a friend and had the wants! It is beautiful and retails at £64 from a company  called Oliver Bonas, not affordable for me whatsoever!

I've been on the lookout for a silver flower pendant of similar size that I could attach to one of my leather thongs, I bought a reel of it last year along with clasps and findings, so that I could make my own necklaces, as often find pendants and earrings that I like at bootfayres or charity shops, and take them off the original chain, and make them into a necklace. I'm not a fan of long necklaces, I really like chokers.

 Today whilst browsing at a  bargain basement jewellery store in town I found this silver flower with 2 of the same smaller flowers either side on  a cheap silver chain for £3.50, and thought THAT's the one!  It's really pretty,and has little diamantes in the center that sparkle.I forgot to take pics of it in its original state as was to excited to make my necklace up.

I LOVE it, and saved myself £61!

30th birthday kitsch cake

I made this for my brothers girlfriend for her 30th birthday, It made her smile! This has to be my biggest challenge yet in the cake department. I really enjoyed making it, and was well pleased with the result, especially the  sugar roses!

Here's how I did it:

I made 2 square sponges, one smaller than the other, to make a tier and sandwiched them together with buttercream and jam, then covered them with more buttercream for the fondant icing to stick to.

Top tip- Spread some buttercream on the foil cake base, so the cake doesn't slide around.

I covered the  base cake first with white icing, then inserted 5 straws into the cake to act as a strengthener for the top cake to sit on. I then rolled out the black icing really thinly and cut out random strips with a pizza cutter for the zebra stripes, I  brushed the icing with a little water with a pastry brush so the strips adhere well.

I got the cake looking nice and smooth with a cake smoother, forgot to photograph it, it worked
 wonders!

I covered the top tier with pink fondant icing, then placed black ribbon round the edges to give a neat finish.

I made all the sugar roses by copying from a You Tube tutorial. They are very easy, but look  very complicated. ;)  I made these a few days in advance so they hardened up before decorating the cake.
I cut out the hearts and starts with little metal cutters, the leaves were cut by eye, and I used a sharp knife to draw the veins. I brushed with water again for the leaves and shapes to stick to, I used cocktail sticks to secure the roses into the cake.

 The heart and star shapes were made a week in advance so they were completely dry and hard.
I inserted 22 gauge craft wire into the shapes , which had first been twisted around a pencil to coil it. Insert a straw into the top cake then stick all the wire through that so it doesn't make contact with the sponge.

Finished with a light sprinkling of glitter.

It will be my 40th birthday this year think I will be making my own cake!