Happy ??th Kate!

This is most definitely one for the majority of my followers. Thanks to Abby, I get a load of traffic from fashion and beauty bloggers. Hope you like this one, I'm not going to go into immense detail from now on about my big cake projects - unless I come across a really amazing recipe. The story behind this cake is that it was made for my other half's auntie. She recently hit a big milestone birthday, but she has no idea that anyone other than her own sister knows her true age... So I treated her to a nice cake, and she love love LOVES designers - this cake is very fitting for her :)

However, this particular cake was fairly hard to complete - and included a hysterical breakdown in my kitchen that my mother had to calm down because I broke my new icing syringe on the first use... Drama drama drama. I used some new techniques too, so I'll tell you about them:

- This was the first time I had covered a cake board in sugarpaste icing. Really easy to do, just roll out enough icing to cover your cake board, brush over a titchy bit of water onto the board and transfer your icing onto the board. Cut off any excess from the edge of the board and leave to set OVERNIGHT. Very important you let it set, as the next day when you assemble your cake you won't leave any fingerprint impressions in the icing.
- This was the first time I used edible glitter. The cake shop lady told me you can roll it into the sugarpaste, but I didn't find this very effective, unless you use a massive amount of glitter, which is just a waste. I used Sugarcell for the first time, too. This is effectively a cake glue, which sets like wallpapering paste and you can paint onto cake surfaces and icing - this is how I got the glitter to stick to the icing and how I got the zip and Chanel logo to stick, too.
- This was the first time I got to use my new ribbon cutter tool. At £11 it wasn't cheap for a tiny contraption with different wheels to create even ribbons. There was a serated edge wheel that I used for the stitching effect of the quilted purse. Effective!

This cake isn't perfect, I know. I know it tilts, and you can see the individual layers of sponge through the icing. I think I just got pissed off with it really and just 'made do' in the end. Once I attatched the logo onto the cake, glitter got EVERYWHERE. So it was a case of sprinkling glitter all over the entire piece to make it fit in. Hmm. I think I should have used dowels in the sponge too, since it has no support in it.

I may include some videos soon. I have another Uni assignment this term to do with interactive media. Hmm, food for thought, anyways...

Happy Baking x