Several years ago my friend Emma was expecting her second baby and had a baby shower, I decided to make a cake as a present for her. She requested raspberry and amaretto cake, I couldn’t wait to make it! Click here to see the recipe and keep reading.
Archive for the ‘Summer’ Category
Raspberry and Amaretti Baby Shower Cake
Posted in Celebration Cakes, Figure Modelling, Fruit/Veg, Iced Cakes, pink, Summer, tagged baby girl cake, Baby Shower Cake on November 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Peach and Pink Christening Cake
Posted in Celebration Cakes, Chocolate, Fruit/Veg, Iced Cakes, pink, Spring, Sugarpaste flowers, Summer, White, tagged buttercream cake, christening cake, sugar paste pink peony on November 7, 2022| 1 Comment »

I was asked to create a cake for one of the Mum’s from Chloe’s old pre-school for her new baby daughters Christening. She had several ideas but was undecided on exactly what she wanted. So I designed a cake based on a few separate ideas that hopefully ticked all the boxes! Click here to see more pics of this gorgeous girly cake.
(more…)Ice Cream Drip Cake
Posted in Celebration Cakes, Chocolate, Iced Cakes, Summer, tagged chocolate drip cake, Drip Cake, ice cream cake, melted ice cream drip cake on November 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Rich absolutely loves ice cream, so for his Birthday last year I decided to have a go at a melted ice cream drip cake. Not my usual style of cake, but I bought a special scraper to make striped in buttercream and had never used it, so thought this was a good opportunity to give it a go. Click here to see how I got on.
(more…)GBBO 2022 Technical Challenge No. 7 – Pistachio Praline Ice Cream
Posted in GBBO Challenges, Nuts, Puddings, Summer, tagged custard, GBBO Technical Challenge, pistachio ice cream on October 31, 2022| 1 Comment »

Another week down, another technical challenge done! Phew! I really liked the idea of custard week, and we were very excited to see that the technical was ice cream – I make a lot of ice cream, so I was looking forward to this one. Click here to keep reading.
(more…)Lawn Mowing 70th Birthday Cake
Posted in Celebration Cakes, Figure Modelling, Fruit/Veg, Green, Iced Cakes, Spices, Summer, tagged 70th Birthday Cake, garden cake, Lawn Mowing Cake on October 27, 2022| 1 Comment »

It was Dad’s 70th Birthday in the middle of August and he treated us all to a wonderful week away. Em and I discussed various ideas for his Birthday cake design and finally settled on a lawn mowing themed cake as Dad absolutely loves his lawn and mowing beautiful stripes into it! It was always something that we joked about as did his friends and neighbours too! Click here to find out more about this cake.
(more…)Plum and Almond Tray Bake
Posted in autumn, Fruit/Veg, Nuts, Summer, Tray Bakes, tagged Almonds, Autumn Baking, plum and almond tray bake, plums on October 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I love baking with plums, they are such an amazing colour and once cooked they are jammy, sharp and sweet all at the same time. Definitely one of my favourite fruits to eat and to bake with. So if you’re looking for a recipe to use up some plums, click here to keep reading and try this one out.
Cheesecake Ripple Plum Cake
Posted in autumn, Fruit/Veg, Summer, Tray Bakes, tagged Autumn Baking, cheesecake ripple, Plum tray bake, tray bake on October 22, 2022| 1 Comment »
Time for another plum recipe! I made this some time ago and was thinking about the recipe the other day, it was really delicious and I am not sure why I haven’t made it again since – probably because there is always something new to try out! Keep reading to see the recipe and how easy it is to make.
The recipe was from a Waitrose recipe card and could easily be adapted for different fruits like peaches, apricots or even blackberries. It’s delicious on its own as a cake or warm with ice cream as a pudding, enjoy!
200g full fat cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
3 tbsp caster sugar
4 medium eggs
175g butter softened
175g dark muscovado sugar
200g self raising flour
400g ripe plums stoned and roughly chopped
1. Pre heat the oven to 180 C, gas mark 4. Grease and line a 28 x 18cm baking tin with baking parchment making sure that the paper come up high enough around the sides.
2. In a bowl beat the cream cheese till soft. Add the vanilla bean paste, caster sugar and one of the eggs, beat using a hand held electric whisk till smooth.
3. Place the remaining eggs, butter, muscovado sugar and flour in a separate bowl. Beat for 2 mins till pale and creamy.
4. Spread half the creamed flour mixture onto the base of the tin, then dollop over half of the cream cheese mixture, spreading an uneven swirl through the base mixture. Scatter with half the plums. Spoon the remaining creamed flour mixture on top and dot with the rest of the cream cheese.
5. Scatter with the remaining plums then bake for about 45 mins until risen and just firm to touch. Leave to cool in the tin before cutting into pieces. Serve warm or cold with ice cream.
Mountain Wedding Cake
Posted in Figure Modelling, Fruit/Veg, Grey, Iced Cakes, Sugarpaste flowers, Summer, Wedding Cakes, White, tagged mountain cake, Painted cake, sugar paste figures, sugar paste peonies, sugarpaste roses, wedding cake on October 19, 2022| 1 Comment »

Em and Mark finally got married in June this year after several postponements due to Covid, but it was worth the wait! It was such an amazing day and we all have some very special memories of it. As Em made my wedding cake, it was my turn to return the favour and make her cake. Keep reading to find out more about her cake and one of the recipes.
(more…)GBBO 2022 Technical Challenge No. 5 – Lemon Meringue Pie
Posted in Fruit/Veg, GBBO Challenges, Pastry, Puddings, Summer, tagged GBBO Technical Challenge, lemon meringue pie, pastry on October 17, 2022| 1 Comment »

We were really looking forward to dessert week on the Bake Off, especially having seen the clip the week before showing the very limited instructions for making a lemon meringue pie. I honestly don’t think I have ever made a lemon meringue pie before, but I’ve made plenty of pastry, curd and meringue, so I was hoping it was going to be fairly straightforward. Click here to keep reading.
(more…)GBBO 2021 Technical Challenge No. 9 – Sable Breton
Posted in Fruit/Veg, GBBO Challenges, Nuts, Puddings, Summer, tagged GBBO, GBBO Technical Challenge, patisserie, sable Breton on November 22, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I can’t believe this is the penultimate technical challenge, we’ve had a lot of fun again this year trying them all out. In particular getting to try things I wouldn’t normally choose to make, the recipes always surprise us. This week was no exception, click here to see how I got on.
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