What I've Been Up To Lately...

I've been a little absent from my keyboard for the last few weeks, so I thought I'd write a little post to show you what I've been up to lately. As you know, cake decorating is kind of my baby. I have a business idea and plan in the back of my mind, and I'm hopeful that within the next 18 months to 2 years I will be in a position to get the wheels in motion. 

I've always known that it's going to take a little while to get a professional cake business off the ground. The main issue I have at the moment is that we live in a rented property that's not ideal to run a business from. Rather then forcing the issue, my plan is to spend a couple of years building a portfolio of designs, getting plenty of practice, and learning from my mistakes, whilst at the same time saving towards our own place that will of course be cake business perfect! 

It's a solid plan - each cake teaches me a few new lessons in how to (or not to) do things. My rule is that I will make cakes for friends and family, at the cost of ingredients. I get to develop my skills and portfolio, they get a cake. The hard part now seems to be being strong enough to stay firmly on the right path. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, and it would be very easy to get carried away on people's enthusiasm, however until I am ready to deal with Environmental Health and the Tax Man I have to keep things strictly to friends and family. 

Anyway, here is a little round up of the projects that have kept me away from my blog the last few weeks...

This little fella had a back story. The recipient of the cake is apparently very proud of his lawn, but has to battle with the kid's rabbit who likes to run around eating the flower beds! 

I made this cake right in the middle of the big heatwave, and learned a very important lesson - fondant melts quickly in the heat, and buttercream melts even quicker! Getting the grass stripes to stay put whilst I positioned the next was nigh on impossible, but we got there in the end. In the absence of an air conditioned kitchen, I very much learned that when it's hot, do cake decorating in the middle of the night! 

Next up was this remake of the classic Sex Pistols album cover 'Never Mind The Bo****ks'. A few changes in wording to make it kid friendly, and we have a birthday cake for an old school punk fan! 

This was a last minute creation for a friend who lives a great distance away, and came about 2 months after her birthday, hence the belated message! Wicked the Musical has a lot of significance for her so it was nice to work the theme into this cake. We went for an overall theme of Elphaba, the wicked witch, but added a little sparkle with stars and pink glitter to capture a little of the essence of Glinda! 

This Hello Kitty cake was one of my favourites to make, maybe something to do with my inner ballerina princess? Re-creating such a recognisable character was a little daunting as there is no real room for error, and children are of course the most discerning of judges, so some careful planning and stencilling was needed to make sure that Kitty came out just right! 

I loved everything about making this Skittles cake, including all the extra Skittles that just had to be eaten (I may have been slightly buzzing on e-numbers by the end). My facebook page went wild for this design when I posted it - by far one of the most popular to date I think! 

This weekend I've made a serious amount of cakes, seven to be exact! Four were little samplers for my brother's oldest friends for their wedding next year. This was the first of the other three, a simple white chocolate and strawberry cake for my friend's birthday (her favourite) after which we went for Chinese food and beers! I decorated this one with some simple fondant roses in bright colours and a little gift tag. 

Peppa Pig was a last minute request from my brother for a kids party he was going to with his girlfriend. As I reside in a kid free house I don't have much knowledge of Peppa and her friends if I'm honest, but trusty google led the way on this one, and I had a message telling me she was a big hit!

And last but by no means least, this Sheffield United cake has just been picked up by an old friend for her partner's birthday this week. 

So there we are! Another eight cakes to add to my growing picture gallery, and hopefully you can see why I have had to neglect you all recently! I promise however that there is a recipe coming soon for an epic Amaretto Cheesecake that will make all things right again! Happy Sunday one and all, I'm off to find some wine! xx