The Tale of a Wannabe Wedding Cake Decorator

I have made no secret of the fact that I harbour a dream to quit the medical sales rat race one day and make a living from baking and cake decorating. I do in fact have something of a game plan for this, but have a little superstition (founded from blowing out the birthday cake candles I fear) that if I speak my goals out loud they will fail to come true. Maybe one day I shall surprise you all with the big reveal when it happens, and be all nonchalant .."oh yes, I planned this all along"... 

Anyway, I digress. When I first started this whole cake decorating/ recipe developing/ blogging malarkey back in September, a very dear friend of mine approached me and asked me to make her wedding cake, for the big day in June 2013. At that time, my cake decorating skills had pretty much started and ended with this...

... pretty huh! None-the-less, I have a terrible character flaw in never saying 'No' to anyone, and more importantly, my gorgeous friend had a seemingly bottomless supply of faith and belief in me, something which I will never forget, and will cherish for the rest of my life.

The wedding was last weekend, and after months of planning, taste testing, sharing photos and ideas, and colour matching buttercream, not to mention a 16 hour mammoth baking session, the finished cake took its place amongst the stunning vintage-style floral displays and table decorations. 

The brief was this: A selection of vintage style cupcakes, displayed in a tower, with a small one tier cake on top for the cutting the cake ceremony. The wedding colours were a selection of pastel lilacs, pinks and ivory, and the wedding flowers included memory lane roses, sweet avalanche roses, and frilly lisianthus. 

Colour-matching buttercream using paint colour charts!

Memory Lane Rose Image

Sweet Avalanche Rose Image

 The Creative Process...

Sugarcraft Flowers in Production

And here are a selection of photos of the finished display...

The finished display installed at the venue

The display had 6 different cupcake designs, with each design in 3 colours

Edible pearls added to the 'Vintage' theme

Additional sugarcraft flowers and leaves were added to the stand as decorations

We used these adorable shimmery lace cupcake wrappers for a more elegant feel

How cute are the personalised Lego Bride and Groom!?

The cake was 8 inches, with a mini 3 inch cake for the Bride and Groom to stand proud

Handmade sugar eucalyptus springs added some greenery to the display

The stand was decorated with strings of pearls too

There were a mixture of buttercream and fondant topped cupcakes

The edge of the cake was decorated with ribbon and lace, and embossed with edible pearls

A very vintage inspired wedding cake and cupcake tower!

Without sounding self-indulgent, this whole process was so exciting, and rewarding, and has totally re-affirmed my desire to do this and only this for a living. From the original planning, right through hand-making the flowers, and finally assembling the tower and seeing the vision come to life, I loved every moment, and would do it every day if I could. Thank you so much to my amazing friend for giving me the trust and the opportunity to do this, and I'm so pleased that you loved it! xxx

Is it possible for the cake decorator to get post-wedding blues too? My dining table seems very bleak now it is no longer covered in sugar roses! 

How To Make The Perfect Buttercream Frosting

Buttercream is a perfect accessory to any cake or bake, due to it's versatility when it comes to colouring and flavouring it. There are several variations of buttercream, from a simple butter and sugar mix, to the more complex and delicate meringue based buttercreams, which use various methods of mixing beaten egg whites with sugar or sugar syrup, then beating in the butter. These are known as Italian, Swiss and French meringue buttercreams, and each has a slightly different preparation method to create a slightly different taste and texture. 

This post however is about the most commonly found buttercream recipe in English dishes. It is made up of butter and icing sugar, generally in a 1:2 parts ratio, and can be used to decorate cupcakes, fill and cover cakes, or form the integral layer between a cake and its fondant covering. The recipe is simple enough, but I believe there is a knack to the preparation of buttercream in order to turn it from sickly sweet butter, into a smooth, light, creamy cake topping. A smooth, well prepared buttercream will be easy to pipe, without leaving raggedy edges and air bubbles. 

Vanilla Cupcakes with a pure Vanilla Buttercream

The ingredients here make enough buttercream to top six large cupcakes, or fill and top an eight inch cake. The basic ratio is one part butter to two parts icing sugar, so you can multiply up these quantities as much as you need to for your bake. 

Ingredients

100 grams good quality unsalted butter

200 grams icing sugar

a little milk

Variations

Buttercream can be coloured and/ or flavoured to suit the overall look and taste of your cakes and cupcakes. 

A selection of cakes and cupcakes I have decorated with buttercream

Flavouring your buttercream should be done around halfway through the process. You can add a dash of an extract, such as vanilla, rose water, peppermint, or lavender. For a more citrus flavour, grate the zest of an orange, lemon or lime into the mixture, or for a chocolate buttercream, swap out some of the icing sugar for a high quality cocoa powder such as Green and Blacks. You can flavour buttercream even with liquids, such as champagne or coffee. The important thing to remember if you are adding a liquid is to increase the quantity of icing sugar by double the volume of the liquid, so as not to alter the final consistency, and to incorporate them gently so as not to curdle or split the buttercream. 

Equally you can colour buttercream in any shade you should wish. It will naturally be a slightly off-white colour, however if you prepare it well, it will be as good as white to the eye. When using food colouring, always try to use a gel based colour, as they will not alter the consistency of your buttercream. If you do use a liquid food colour, remember to add an extra tablespoon of icing sugar to balance out the additional liquid. 

Method

Sift the icing sugar well into a bowl and set aside. 

In a large mixing bowl, add the butter roughly chopped into several chunks. Use a good quality unsalted butter here, as you will get a far superior flavour to using a spread containing vegetable oils. I always cook with salted butter, however to keep the lightness use unsalted here, plus you don't get the salt taste interfering with any additional flavour you add. I always use Lurpak for my buttercream, as I trust the taste, and it's lighter colour allows you to get an almost white buttercream. 

Now, take a hand whisk, and beat the butter for a minute...

...and another minute - can you see it getting lighter in colour? ...

...and one more - it should now have the appearance of whipped double cream, and be almost white...

Now we start to add the icing sugar. Retrieve the bowl of sifted icing sugar you set aside earlier. Now add the icing sugar two tablespoons at a time. Any more than this, and you will be engulfed in a white cloud of sugar as soon as you turn your whisk on!

Keep going now, adding a couple of tablespoons of icing sugar, beating until combined, and then adding a little more. About halfway through the icing sugar, add your flavouring if you are using one, this makes sure it gets fully combined through the buttercream.

Continue with the icing sugar until it has all been used. As you add more and more sugar, the mixture will start to thicken and get stiffer. By the time you have added all the icing sugar, the mixture may have formed a texture similar in appearance to scrambled eggs...

... carefully add a teaspoon of milk, and beat well. This is usually enough to bring the mixture back to the perfect piping consistency. If needed, add a second teaspoon of milk, but be careful as too much and the mixture may start to curdle. Your buttercream should now look like this...

If you are adding a colour to the buttercream, do it at this stage. Any earlier, and you risk diluting the colour as you add more icing sugar. Adding the colour to the finished product allows you to get exactly the right shade for your cake or cupcakes. 

Now you are ready to ice your cake. If you are planning to pipe the buttercream, prepare your piping bag and tip. Open the top of the bag wide, and fold over a good third of the bag. Use a mug or jug as a holder for your bag so you still have the use of both hands. 

Spoon the buttercream into the bag one spoonful at a time, each time, push the buttercream down into the bag, and use the side to scrape the spoon clean. Try to keep pushing more buttercream down into the bag to avoid creating any pockets of air in the bag that will affect the flow when piping. 

And now you are ready to pipe! Enjoy!

Black Forest Cupcakes

I'm off to Brussels for a few days for work this week, which means three bake-free days (boo) and a lot of networking (boo again). In the interest of making sure that Gary doesn't suffer too much from cake-withdrawal in my absence, I offered to bake him something to keep his sugar levels up, to which he replied that he wanted a Black Forest Gateaux. After explaining that this might not be the best bake, considering the fresh cream would prevent it from keeping well, we compromised on a "black forest flavoured" alternative. Basically, as long as it had cherries and chocolate I was onto a winner! 

Black Forest Cupcake

I started with my absolute go-to chocolate cake recipe as a base for these cupcakes, and started to raid the cupboards for additions to make up the Black Forest elements. The flavourings here might be a little unconventional for any fresh cream and cherry purists out there, but I can promise that this recipe makes 12 sweet, fruity and yet chocolaty, perfect little cupcakes.

I have used maraschino, or glace cherries in this recipe over fresh ones, firstly because that happens to be what I had to hand, but secondly as I wanted the sweetness of the cherry syrup to cut through my dense rich chocolate cake. I have further enhanced the fruit flavour by adding Grenadine, a non-alcoholic fruit flavoured syrup mostly used in cocktails. Whilst not necessarily made from cherries, (my bottle has raspberries and strawberries on the label, although traditionally Grenadine is made from pomegranate or blackcurrants) the sweet syrup complements the flavours of the maraschino cherries and works well in these cupcakes. You could omit the Grenadine from this recipe if you didn't have any, and use the syrup from the jar of maraschino cherries instead. 

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes;

50 grams dark muscovado sugar

25 grams good quality cocoa powder (I use Green and Black's)

125 ml boiling water

1 tablespoon Grenadine

65 grams unsalted butter

75 grams caster sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

115 grams plain flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda

12 maraschino cherries

For the vanilla buttercream frosting;

250 grams unsalted good quality butter

500 grams icing sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

To decorate;

cocoa powder

12 maraschino cherries

Grenadine

Method:

Sift the cocoa powder into a mixing bowl, and add the dark muscovado sugar. Pour over the boiling water, and whisk to form a syrup. Add the tablespoon of Grenadine, mix again, and set aside. 

In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy, then add the caster sugar and beat again until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the vanilla extract, and mix well. Gradually pour in the cocoa mixture, whisking continuously, and stir until all the ingredients are well combined. Use a spatula, and make sure there is no butter left on the bottom of the bowl. 

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, and add the baking powder and bicarb of soda. Mix well. Add the flour mixture to the batter, and fold in. You will have quite a loose runny mixture once it is all combined. 

Divide the mixture between 12 cupcake cases. Take the 12 maraschino cherries, and chop each one roughly into quarters, sprinkling the pieces across the top of each of the cupcakes. 

Bake the cakes at 180 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes, until they are springy to the touch. Remove from the oven, and cool completely on a cooling rack. 

To make the buttercream frosting, beat the butter in a large bowl until creamy, then gradually add the icing sugar, a little at a time. Add the vanilla extract and the milk around halfway through, then continue until all the icing sugar has been incorporated. The mixture should have a whipped cream-like consistency. 

Finally, to decorate the cupcakes when cool, transfer the buttercream to a piping bag, and pipe swirls onto of each of the cupcakes.

Dust the top of each with a little cocoa powder, place a whole maraschino cherry on the top, and drizzle a little of the Grenadine over. (I did this by pouring a bit at a time into a 1/4 teaspoon measure and then drizzling from there in order to not pour too much at once). 

The finished cupcakes are rich and chocolaty on the bottom, with a hint of cherry, and then topped with a light buttercream, and a sweet drizzle of fruit from the Grenadine running through... mmmm...

I am entering these cupcakes into this month's Tea Time Treats, hosted by Lavender and Lovage, and What Kate Baked, where the theme this month is Fairy Cakes, Cupcakes and Muffins. 

Honey Cream Cake and the First Ever Chesterfield Clandestine Cake Club

Last Monday evening heralded the first ever meeting of the Chesterfield division of the Clandestine Cake Club. For those of you not yet familiar with the growing sensation that is the Clandestine Cake Club, here is a little potted history. Founded by Lynn Hill in Leeds in 2010, the CCC is a gathering of like-minded cake folk. Lynn's vision was to create a club that would allow people to get together over Tea and Cake and socialise. All the attendees bake and bring a cake, usually against a set theme for the meeting, and spend a few hours chatting and sampling the cakes on offer. The clandestine part comes from the fact that the location of each meeting changes, and is not disclosed to the group until just before the event. 

Fast forward two years, and many of the bloggers that I follow and love are members of their local CCC. I have greedily read their blog posts about their fantastic bakes, and seen the photos of tables groaning under the weight of the most glorious selection of cakes. So imagine my excitement when browsing the CCC website and I saw that Fiona had only gone and set up a Chesterfield division! I emailed her immediately and signed up. 

We met on Monday night, and the event was held at Harleys Hairdressers on Chatsworth Road. I'd never been to Harleys before, but want to just take a second to describe this gorgeous little salon. Harleys is a Hair and Beauty Salon, but with a stunning boutique gift shop attached (Harleys Interiors), and a cosy little waiting area with plush couches and chairs. The unprepossessing exterior of Harleys barely hints at the stylish, yet homey atmosphere inside, and I can easily imagine losing a day in here, being pampered, getting my hair done, and browsing the shop. It made a great venue for the CCC as well, as the cakes were displayed around the salon on the hair stations, so we could easily meander through and assess enjoy each cake on its own little podium!

'Spring has Sprung' Honey Cream Cake

Anyways, back to my cake. The theme for our first meeting was 'Spring has Sprung' (haha as I type this there are 3 inches of snow on the ground outside). Fiona had advised me that there were already several Lemon based creations on the list, so I wanted to provide a different flavour. With March not really heralding a great selection of seasonal produce that could form the basis of a cake, my thought process took me to emerging buds, and flowers coming back to life after winter, and I pictured bumble bees starting to gather pollen again to make honey...so Honey Cake it was! Made with leftovers and things that I had to hand in the pantry, this recipe is one of my own creation. I have since discovered it is very similar in make up to a Russian Medovnik Honey Cake, although the Medovik cake generally has 10 much thinner layers to its make up than the four here in my cake. 

Ingredients

For the Honey Cake

225 grams butter

450 grams golden caster sugar

4 eggs

350 grams plain flour

1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

200 grams honey flavour greek yoghurt

80 grams honey

For the Honey Cream filling

1 x 395 gram tin of condensed milk

3 eggs

2 tablespoons honey

60 grams unsalted butter

For the 'Spring has Sprung' decoration

500 grams unsalted butter

500 grams icing sugar

Food colour gels in orange, yellow, and green

A selection of sugarpaste blossoms

Method

To make the cake - pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees, and lightly grease two 9 inch cake tins. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating in well. 

Put the yoghurt and honey in a jug and stir together. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, and add the bicarb and the salt. 

Now gradually add the flour and yoghurt mixtures a bit at a time, alternating between the wet and the dry, and fold into the egg mixture. Stir well to make sure that all the ingredients are well combined. 

Spoon the mixture evenly into the two prepared tins, and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until it passes the skewer test. Remove the cakes from the tins, and place on a cooling rack. 

To make the honey cream filling - Put the condensed milk, eggs, butter and honey in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Heat over a low heat until all the ingredients have melted and blended together. Turn up the heat and bring to a low boil. Stir the mixture continuously until it thickens, then transfer to a bowl, and set aside to cool.

Once the mixture has cooled, place it in the fridge to set a little. You may need to occasionally stir or whisk the mixture to prevent it from getting lumpy. 

To assemble the cake - take a large serrated knife, and carefully flatten the tops off the two cakes. Then slice both cakes horizontally so that you end up with four even flat cakes. Build up the cake by layering cake, then the chilled honey cream, then cake, and so on until you have used all the layers. 

If you are serving the cake just like this, reserve some of the cream for the top of the cake to finish it. If you decide to go on and decorate like mine, make the top layer cake, and use all the cream on the inside. 

Four Layer Honey Cream Cake

For the 'Spring has Sprung' decoration

Make up the buttercream by beating the butter until pale and creamy, the gradually mixing in the icing sugar. Split the buttercream into 4 equal quantities. 

Using one quarter of the buttercream, roughly crumb coat the sides of the cake, by applying a thin layer all over. This helps to seal in the cream, and stop crumbs sticking to the finished design.

Place the cake in the fridge for 30 minutes to allow the crumb coat to set. Meanwhile, using the remaining three portions of buttercream, colour them in yellow, orange and green, and put into piping bags. 

Take the cake, and with the piping bags, pipe a row of dots vertically down the side of the cake, alternating the colours. Using a pallet knife, smudge the dots sideways to create the petal effect. Pipe the next row of dots over the tail of the smudged petal. By shifting the colour pattern up by one, you can start to build a spiral effect around the cake. Repeat until the pattern runs all the way around the cake. Then do the same on the top of the cake. Here I have made circles of the colours graduating to the centre. 

Finally to finish the cake, place some sugarpaste decorations in the centre. I made some blossoms and daffodils to finish mine, using flowerpaste rather than sugarpaste. 

Flowerpaste Daffodils and Blossoms

Of course, one of the best things about the Clandestine Cake Club, is that any cake that isn't eaten at the end of the night gets to come home! Here is my little take home tin, with a selection of yummy treats...

Valentine's Day Black Forest Chocolate Cherry Cake

I am so excited to share this recipe and cake creation with you all, as I have had it mentally drawn up in the back of my mind for Valentine's Day for the last few weeks! It was actually baked for Valentine's Day, however I have had to wait until today to post it, as there is a hidden surprise inside and of course, it needed to be photographed! 

This is my Black Forest Chocolate Cherry Cake, with Cherry Brandy Ganache, Buttercream Roses and Dark Chocolate Hearts - an absolute feast for the eyes and the taste buds for Valentine's Day...

'Black Forest' Chocolate Cherry Cake ...

... and it hides it's own little secret - a bright pink Cherry heart!!

... with a hidden pink heart!

The flavours in this cake are inspired by the great classic Black Forest Gateaux, but with a few changes and twists in order to meet the design I had in mind. This cake is best made the day before needed as the ganache needs time to set before the remainder of the decorations are added. To recreate this gorgeous cake, you will need the following ingredients;

For the Pink Cherry Heart

• 100g butter
• 100g golden caster sugar
• 2 free range eggs
• 1 teaspoon either cherry brandy or cherry extract
• 100g self raising flour
• Pink or red food colouring (I used Sugarflair gel in Ruby)

For the Chocolate Sponge

• 150g butter
• 150g golden caster sugar
• 3 free range eggs
• 100g self raising flour
• 20g good quality cocoa powder (I used Green & Blacks here)

For the Cherry Brandy Ganache

• 200g good quality dark chocolate
• 200g double cream
• 1 teaspoon cherry brandy

For the Buttercream

• 70g icing sugar
• 50g butter, softened

To Decorate

• Glacé cherries
• 30g melted chocolate

Method

Start by making the pink cherry heart centre. Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees. Line an 8 inch square cake tin with baking parchment leaving an overhang to make removing the sponge easier. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Lightly beat the eggs, and add to the mixture along with the cherry brandy. Beat together until combined. Sift in the self raising flour, and fold into the mixture. Finally add two to three drops of the food colouring, and mix well until you achieve a bright pink colour throughout the mixture.

Transfer the mixture to the lined tin, and take time to spread evenly into the corners of the tin. You want to avoid any uneven rise in the sponge. The mixture will spread thinly across the pan, we are aiming for a large flat surface of cake to cut shapes from. Place in the oven. The low temperature should allow the mixture to cook without colouring it too much on the crust. Bake for around 10 - 15 minutes until firm to touch, then remove from the oven. 

Whilst the sponge is still warm, use the baking parchment to lift it from the tin. Turn the sponge upside down on a chopping board, and peel away the baking parchment, revealing the soft underside of the cake. Use heart shaped cookie cutter to cut away 8 - 10 hearts from the sponge. Set aside on a cooling rack. (Make sure that the shape and size of the cookie cutter fits comfortably inside the loaf tin for the overall cake.)

Next step is to make the chocolate outside of the cake. Line a loaf tine with baking parchment and grease well. Turn the oven temperature up to 180 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugar, then add in the beaten eggs. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and combine well. 

Spoon a few spoonfuls of the mixture into the bottom of the lined loaf tin. Then take the pink hearts, and line then up upside down in the tin. Work from the middle outwards and gently press them together to prevent the chocolate mixture spreading between them when baking. 

Fill the tin with the remainder of the chocolate mixture, being careful not to knock the hearts out of position. Make sure that you cover the tops of the hearts completely. Flatten the mixture over the tin evenly, as the top of the tin will become the bottom of the cake when served. 

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Remove the tin from the oven, and place on a cooking rack. 

Meanwhile, make the chocolate ganache. Heat the double cream in a saucepan just until it starts to bubble. Turn down the heat, and add the chocolate pieces a little at a time, stirring throughout. The mixture should turn smooth and glossy. Add the cherry brandy and stir well. Set the mixture aside in a bowl until cool, and then place in the fridge to allow the mixture to firm up. It needs to be smooth enough to spread easily, but firm enough to hold shape and not run down the cake. 

Turn the cake out of the loaf tin, using the baking parchment to lift it out. Turn the cake upside down. You may need to use a knife to level off the top of the cake for it to sit flat, if so, be careful not to cut too deep as you don't want to cut any chunks out of the inner heart shape. 

Once the cake is cooled completely, and the ganache is the correct consistency, place the cake on a serving plate, and cover the cake completely with the ganache. Don't worry too much about getting a perfectly smooth finish, I deliberately wanted a more homely 'rough around the edges' look, just make sure that all of the surface of the cake is covered. Return the covered cake to the fridge to allow the ganache to set. 

Finally, it is time to decorate the cake. 

Start by melting the dark chocolate, either in the microwave carefully, or by tempering it over a bowl of hot water. Transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a number 2 nozzle. On a sheet of greaseproof paper draw a range of hearts to decorate the top of the cake. Again, I made these quite messy and rough. Set aside to cool and set. 

In a small bowl, mix together the ingredients to make the buttercream. Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag with a star nozzle fitted. Roughly pipe a row of roses along the top of the cake by placing the nozzle onto the cake and then spiraling outwards. Allow the roses to overlap each other. 

Finally, arrange the set chocolate hearts along the top of the cake, pressing them into the buttercream to stand upright. Alternate the hearts with glacé cherries. 

Now all that is left is to serve your cake, and enjoy the look of surprise on the face of your beloved when the inner pink heart is revealed! 

I am entering this cake into Calender Cakes, run by Laura at Laura Loves Cakes and Rachel at Dolly Bakes, where the theme is 'My Achey Cakey Heart', and Classic French hosted by Jen at Blue Kitchen Bakes, where the theme this month is Ganache.