Peace and Love

Remember a while back when I talked about my friend Tash? Her lovely mum was true to her word and contacted me again for another commission for the school!

This time, they were having a very special visit from someone called "The Scary Guy." He's scary because he looks like this:

He's a motivational speaker, and a big deal in America. He goes to schools all over the country to talk about prejudice, racism, respect and having love for others. I think he's great! Now on an international tour of UK schools, too, Tash's mum wanted to provide him and the kids with some delicious treats for his Scary day at her school. This time the order was even bigger - TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY cupcakes!!! I won't put pictures up of them, as they look exactly like the ones before, and plus I forgot to take pictures of them :D The only difference this time was that I was asked to provide about 25 undecorated cupcakes plus a load of goodies so that the kids could decorate them themselves. Sounds like a fun day of school to me...

She also asked me to come up with a cake for Scary Guy, something to say thankyou for him being there. As you can see, the guy is covered in tats, so I went with a heart-shaped (love) cake and used my ribbon roller cutter to cut strips of icing into 'scrolls' like you'd get in tattoos. The difference being, my scrolls had words of encouragement, like "peace" and "respect." Not "mum" like you'd expect on a biker dude.  

Icing on the Top:

• He's famous in America - and he ate MY cakes!!
• It's for a good cause!
• Everything was super yummy, and I even got a hug from the school advisor that came to pick it all up! :P

Burnt Bits:

• I still couldn't master the art of royal icing at this point, and my writing was too runny. It spread slightly, which you can see. It's not just a blurry picture.
• The "scrolls" I made were too thin, which is a problem because I used white icing on top of red and the red shows through :(
• I couldn't make the original delivery slot due to my old job not telling me about a shift I had that particular day. It was really unprofessional of me to have to cancel, and the order ended up getting picked up at 7am the day of the talk. I know Tash is a friend, so I really don't want it to seem like I was taking the piss. But seriously, I felt awful. Jim's mum, best friend and daughter-in-law all rallied around to help me ice the 250 cupcakes in record time, but thanks to Tash's mum being really lovely and understanding, I didn't need to rush. Thankyou to everyone for just being so amazing to me!

I later found out that the guy devoured most of the cake to himself, and really enjoyed it, so I got a bit of an ego boost there! :D Love for Scary!!

Happy Baking x

"I'm legit, bitch!"

I apologise for my rude title, family members :D I've recently got into Michael Patrick King's HILARIOUS new comedy '2 Broke Girl$' (in which, coincidently, the main characters are trying to build a cupcake business. Huh, go figure.) and Max receives her first cheque for a legitimate cupcake gig and screams this out to her diner patrons. Well this was my first legit gig!



One of my brilliant friends, Tash, recommended me to her mum (the headmistress of one of Plymouth's secondary schools) when she needed someone to make a cake and cupcakes for a staff event at the school. A cupcake shop in town - which will remain anonymous, but if you live in the Muff then there's only one - charge £1.50 for theirs, and my going rate is two-thirds of that. So Tash's mum came to me and asked to create a sandwich cake to raffle off (I think, it was a long time ago now) and the cupcakes were for the staff. She just told me to decorate them colourful and sparkly!

I love the sandwich cake, it was so fun creating all the fillings and it genuinely looks so edible! Hehe! I just baked two 8" square vanilla sponges and halved each of them, then covered them in white icing. I made cheese slices and poked holes through to make it look like cartoon cheese (seriously, can you actually buy cheese with holes in?), cut out round circles for tomatoes (not too much detail on the slices as I knew these would be well hidden underneath the "bread") and then streaked different shades of pink and green icing to make bacon and lettuce, respectively. I painted on bread "crusts" with brown food colouring, and dented the top of the "bread" with my knuckles to make it look loafy.

Icing on the Top:

• I was later told that the winner of the sandwich was thrilled with her prize, which makes me happy :)
• The loafy effect of the bread was an accident. I dented the top of the cake when I was painting on the crust by leaning my hand on the cake (not the first time I've done this, oops!) but actually it was like a happy accident, much like discovering penicillin, or my brother! Haha.
• I had so much fun decorating the cupcakes with a range of sweets - Smarties, Magic Stars, marshmallows, sparkly sprinkles, Malteasers, etc...
• I bought a new HUUUUUGE icing bag to decorate the cupcakes with - allowing me to ice around 25 cupcakes without stopping to refil my bag with buttercream. £8 well spent!
• I thought the picnic-blanket effect for the cake board was very effective :) And whaddyaknow, I used my sugarcraft gun to create the long strips of blue icing!

Burnt Bits:

• I made the cupcakes the night before they were due to go out, and the next morning found that the colouring from a lot of the Smarties had ran into the buttercream due to the moisture :(
• The "crust" I painted on the cake ran slightly onto the cake board design. I tried my best to clear it up with vodka, but I risked ruining the check blanket effect the harder I tried. Sucky.

Needless to say, my friend's mum was super-pleased with the results, and agreed that if she ever needed me again she would be sure to call. And two weeks later she did! My first cheque from the CITY COUNCIL arrived soon after this order as it was technically a school expense. WAHOOOOO!!!

And so began my short-lived journey to official self-employment.

Happy Baking x

Cup for 'Cap

For some absurd reason, Photobucket has decided it does not want to watermark my photo.  I'm not about to go about galavanting trying to work out how to use a new photo editing programme, so I've just uploaded it as it is. If you wanna steal it, go ahead. Make my day.

This was the first time I got to use my silicone giant cupcake mould. And I did not like it. I hate the feel of silicone. For this reason, I will never get fake boobies. Aside from that, it never feels clean - always greasy. And this particular mould had many nooks and crannys that were just ridiculous to grease beforehand, so I used Dr Oetker Cake Release Spray. I do tend to use this from time to time, if I'm in a lazy mood and don't want to line a tin. It works wonders on mini cake pans, too. More on that later, though. Also, lining a tin helps give your sponge some protection from the heat, so it's always good to use greaseproof paper in your tins. But like I say, it really wasn't feasable in this cake. So good old me, I pour in my vanilla sponge mix to about 2cm below the top of the mould. This allowed for the cake to rise as necessary, but still be able to level it off to a standard worthy of cupcake proportions. I covered the moulds (incase you haven't seen them, they come in two halves - the 'case' and the 'swirl.') in tin foil and baked until a skewer came out clean. I think this was about 45 minutes - 1 hour. Bear in mind that these moulds are DEEP so you want to ensure your sponge is THOROGHLY cooked through.

I haven't even told you this cake's history yet. I used to work in a retail concession within a food store (weird, I know. I think we were the only one in the country.) and word was soon spreading among the supermarket staff that I could make cakes. I was approached by the duty manager one day who asked if I'd like to donate a cake that they could raffle off for Mencap, which is that store's chosen charity to raise money for each year. I always liked getting stuck into charity gigs at work, whether it's fancy dress, hula-hooping (yup) or - you guessed it - baking cupcakes. (Buns.) So, of course I obliged. Now I know everyone is super crazy about cupcakes so I chose this design, plus I wanted to use the mould that my friend Jodie had so generously given me after she attempted a diabolical version for her daughter's first birthday. Needless to say, I did her second birthday cake :)

I really didn't like how this cake turned out. Even a co-worker said it wasn't my best work. Wow, that was like a smack to the face, but I knew it was true. I haphazardly covered the 'case' half of the cake in white icing, prettied it up with a bow, then covered the topping half with store-bought (slap to the wrist) chocolate fudge buttercream. I applied it with a flat-bladed knife, as I knew that if I tried to pipe it on exactly as you would a real cupcake in a swirl, it would just look like a massive poo. Sorry to be so blunt!

Icing on the Cake:

• For design purposes, it is aesthetically pleasing. Smarties works well for 'sprinkles,' and if I went too far with the decorations it would have looked rubbish and OTT.
• It was for charity. I earned no money on this cake, and was told later that about a half a booklet of raffle tickets were sold from people wanting to win the cake. You know how thick those books come, so I'm pleased.
• The guy that won it was on a diet, he just wanted to donate some money somehow so bought a ticket. The entire supermarket staff got to devour the cake in the staff canteen later. Win!

Burnt Bits:

• It wasn't my best work, and I'll put my hands up to that. I can see a little dent underneath the "swirl" and I have no idea how it got there.
• I was in such a rush that I smeared chocolate buttercream on the 'case' slightly. You can't see it, but I know it's there. I just wiped it off with kitchen roll, but if I took my time I know I could have gone to work on it with a clean piece and some vodka, bringing the white icing back to it's brilliance again.
• The silicone mould is horrible. I DO NOT recommend it. The edges of the cake felt slightly crispy from where the sponge pretty much "fried" against the cake release spray. I'm not really sure how that ended up tasting but I did smother the thing in buttercream before covering in icing so I'm hoping that it wasn't too bad. I hope :(
• Again, if I took my time over it, I could have really gone to town on the 'case.' I saw a technique on Ace of Cakes once, where they made an oyster cake. To get the ridges of the shell, they covered the sponge in the first layer of icing, like normal, then used a sugarcraft gun (godsend) to pipe long tubes of icing at intervals across the shell. They then covered it in the second layer of icing, and lo and behold - there were the little ridges across the shell! I could have SO done this on the cupcake wrapper to give that ridge effect. Maybe next time :(

At the end of the day, I know this cake wasn't my best work. I'm not saying it was my worst, either. You've seen my worst. But it was for charity, so it ultimately has a happy ending :)

Happy Baking x

My Week in Cakes

I know a lot of you have regular posts about your week, and it usually involves photos and a brief description of what's going on.. so I thought I'd do one just for this particularly busy week I've had! I was supposed to be having a week off work for holiday but it just turned into a mad baking session! Business is booming here at Cakes by Kirsten, and I'm getting orders all the time! :D Remember to check out the Facebook page here, a 'like' is all it takes to get the word around :)

1) Sherelle's 21st shoe box cake; the shoe and roses are made out of Flowerpaste and finished with PME Clear Finishing Spray! 2) Luke's 18th Bra Cake; I got a call at 11am, the customer said the original cake was involved in an accident and needed another one by 6:30pm. I got there at 6pm. BOOM! 3) These vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream are decorated with general supermarket sprinkles, but were sold to raise money for Breast Cancer Care! Over £230 raised!! 4) This chocolate fudge cake with chocolate buttercream cake is finished in the style of my Hello Kitty cakes, with edible sparkles. The tubing around the edges was created using my oh-so-nifty sugarcraft gun! 5) As simple as this victoria sponge is, I think it's flawless in my opinion! The flowerpaste numbers are finished with non-toxic glitter.

There you have it, a week in the life of a cake designer :) Children's cakes and a Glastonbury-themed engagement cake coming soon!

Happy Baking x

Red Velvet: Take Two!

Last year I had a disaster when it came to red velvet cupcakes. They were taking the USA by storm, and Brooke Davis wanted them for her wedding cupcake tower - so they must be yummy! However, the recipe isn't your usual vanilla-sponge-dyed-red cupcake, oh-ho-ho no! The 'velvet' comes from using buttermilk, which has a creamy consistency that gives the cupcakes a velvetty texture. They also have cocoa in, but it doesn't give a major chocolatey experience. It's more like when you have chocolate marble cake, and you like the taste, but can't really taste the difference between the chocolate and vanilla sections. I came across numerous recipes, all differing slightly from the previous, so I just took the easiest one I came across - YUK! They were like savoury bits of off-colour brown cupcakes. They went straight in the bin.

So I did a bit more research this year: typing "best red velvet cupcake recipe EVER!" into Google helped. Forgive me, I can't remember the website I got it from, but I have altered it slightly anywho - so no copyright troubles :)

Ingredients:
- 500g Plain Flour
- 165g Butter
- 500g Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 6 tbsp Red Food Colouring (Or just use a whole bottle of SILVER SPOON colouring, NOT Dr Oetker. They come out orange!)
- 2 tbsp Cocoa Powder
- 1.5 tsp Vanilla Essence
- 1.5 tsp Salt
- 330ml Buttermilk (You find this alongside the cream in the supermarket - do NOT use regular milk!)
- 1.5 tsp Vinegar
- 1.5 tsp Baking Powder

Method:
1) In a large bowl, whisk the butter on it's own. Gradually add in the sugar and continue whisking.
2) Add the eggs, one at a time - continue to whisk.
3) In a separate small bowl, mix the cocoa, red food colouring and vanilla together. Add to the batter.
4) In another bowl, mix the salt with the buttermilk. Gradually add to the batter, alternating with the flour in three's.
5) In your final bowl (sorry, lot's of washing up!) mix the baking powder and vinegar until it fizzes. Finally add this to your batter.
6) Separate into baking cases to just over half full and bake for 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and swirl on your choice of buttercream or cream cheese frosting and decorate!

I had a load of mixture left over, and couldn't be bothered to use up any more bun cases, so I just bunged it into a loaf tin! I'm not the biggest fan of cream cheese frosting - the red velvet cake I had in New York had meringue frosting... I think! - so I decorated mine with vanilla buttercream and the crumbs from the loaf tin. I never really intended on blogging this baking experience but because I was so pleased with the taste (not my finest presentation moment!) I thought I best share with you guys!

P.s Supermarkets are cottoning on to this trend, too. Don't try Morrisons Red Velvet cupcakes, the buttcream is ROCK hard and the sponge is dire. Tesco have their own variation, which they describe as 'chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate-filled centre', but I have yet to try them!

Are you from the US? Do you have a particular Red Velvet recipe you can pass on to us across the pond?? Comment below!
Happy Baking! x

The Baker's Back...

Over a month since my last post - I'm so sorry!! I've had probably the most hectic few weeks of my life recently and suddenly become a responsible adult by moving out of my parents' and in with my gorgeous boy!! As you all know, I've started a small business called 'Cakes by Kirsten' and this has been one of the reasons for my shoddy blogging! Here's what I've been up to over the weeks...

1) Martini Glass Cake - 2) Willy Cupcakes - 3) Lady Gaga Cupcakes - 4) Holy Communion Cake - 5) Blu Parrot Cake - 6) Fresia Fruit Wedding Cake - 7) Oliver's Christening Cake - 8) Paula's Pirate Cake - 9)  - Red Velvet Cupcakes

I know it must be super boring that I haven't been blogging my recipes lately, and have gone a bit bigheaded with the whole "look at what I can do!" motion, so I'll post the recipe to the Red Velvet cupcakes in a few posts' time :) 

Couple of Cupcakes

I'm getting more requests these days for cupcake orders. Naturally, they're the "in" thing right now and I don't doubt they are much more popular than my cakes. I've had two orders to do lately, the first was for Abby's auntie and uncle's wedding favours.

Chocolate Fudge Wedding Cupcake Favours

I had an absolute nightmare with these. They tasted amazing, don't get me wrong (yes, I can feel how big my head is). But because they had risen slightly in the centre, it was awful to ice with buttercream without it sliding off. The cupcakes were to go in clear plastic boxes tied with ribbon, so sliding buttercream was not a good look up the side of the box. So I wiped off the buttercream, started again. And again. And again. I was in tears trying to rectify the problem, and eventually had to cut the top of each cupcake off, swirl on some pre-made buttercream (because I had ran out of icing sugar and time was running out!!) and finish with some home-made chocolate roses. Remember how to make them? No? Find out here!

N.B Although watermarked, these images are actually courtesy of Abby's cousin - how amazing is this photography!!!

The favours came out amazingly (despite the smidgens of pre-buttercream you can see underneath the final swirl). They were finished with chocolate and cream organza ribbon and a label for everyone's names. Technically, these cupcakes acted as 1) favours, 2) name placements, 3) dessert! How efficient! Here's the second order:

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Now this was a challenge. I have never tasted carrot cake. I have never tasted cream cheese frosting. What the hell? I have no idea if they tasted like what they were supposed to taste like, but I made extra for my parents to be a judging panel. They liked them, and carrot cake is my dad's favourite so that had to be a good sign. Okay then, proceed.

My friend Emily from university got married last week - congratulations! She wanted a spin on the general hen party and organised a vintage tea party to have with her girlfriends - bunting included! She asked me to create these cupcakes with an assortment of coloured sugarpaste roses to finish. Suffice to say, this is probably the only cake order I've done where I haven't descended into tears. Wahoo!! She loved them, and even paid more than what I asked for them because of this! How generous?! (I think the gingham cupcake boxes added the extra pzazz, don't you? Oh I love the word pzazz lately!)

The roses are made in exactly the same method as the chocolate ones, with a star cut-out of green icing underneath for the leaves :)

Happy Baking x

Chocolate Melt in the Middle Buns

I say buns... I'm sick of the word cupcake. I'm British. And after choosing to do a bloody dissertation on that fricking subject I refuse to refer to fairy cakes as them. Anyone with me on this?

Anywho, ranting aside, Abby and I decided to make some scrumptious buns the other day - chocolate melt in the middle with chocolate buttercream (not frosting ;) ) and sugar decorations. I can't remember the recipe as such, but it doesn't matter - any general chocolate bun mixture will suffice; the only difference you make for the "melt in the middle" part is by adding a square of your favourite chocolate into the middle of the buncases when you've filled them about a 1/3 of the way full.

The recipe we used did advise to eat them straight away, and we did for the image above, and they were extremely yummy! However I waited a few hours before sharing with my other half, and the square of Galaxy I'd used had turned back to a solid :(

Luckily, as an alternative, I know how to make the real melt in the middle puddings. I'd try using a melted chocolate and double cream mixture in the centre of each fairy cake next time - preferably dark chocolate even though I don't like it on it's own - it does add to the flavour.

I've got a cake treat for the majority of my followers in the next post ;) Hopefully it will turn out alright, it's setting at the moment...

Happy Baking x

Chocolate Roses

I've recently posted on my Facebook a mass call out to anyone who wants a cake doing, and suprisingly, I've already got another wedding cake to do this year! Ahh!! What's more, it's my friend Jodie's cake - she's a complete chocoholic and so she wants an EXTREMELY chocolatey cake. There is a little shop on our seafront that specialises in chocolate celebration cakes, but to be honest they are totally overpriced and frankly quite rude in there, too. No wonder Jodie came to me!

With this in mind, I had to get a riddle on with getting to grips with cocoform. She doesn't know exactly what she wants, but I best be prepared for whatever she asks for. I dabbled in cocoform for my mum's 50th cake, but mostly that was just rolling it over a cake, with a little white chocolate bow. I need to challenge myself.. So I made chocolate roses today. I got a tiny pink mixing bowl complete with wooden spoon and sponge mix for christmas, and didn't want to waste the sponge mix. I made a few cupcakes with the mix, and decided to decorate with chocolate buttercream and chocolate roses.

To make 7 large chocolate roses, you will need:

- 100g Milk Chocolate Squires Modelling Chocolate. This comes in at around £5 for a pack of 150g - so use wisely!

- Cling film

Method:

1) Knead the cocoform until pliable. The natural cocoa butter will lubricate the paste, so there is NO NEED for Trex or icing sugar.

2) Take off little pieces of cocoform and form into balls a little smaller than Malteasers, but all different sizes.

3) Tear off a piece of cling film, and place a few balls of cocoform onto the film. Pull over one end of the film to cover the balls.

4) Flatten each ball using the palm of your hand, then carefully smooth over two thirds of the petal pieces using the edge of your thumb. This will make it easier to mould the petals to make them look more realistic.

5) Take a small petal and curl it around itself using your thumb and forefinger. This will be the centre of the rose.

6) Gently add more petals to the centre of the rose, attaching them naturally with the cocoa butter in the cocoform. Use bigger petals towards the end of the rose, and curl the edges to make them a little wilted.

7) Cut off the bottom of the rose once finished, you will find that it gets quite fat with every layer of petals you add. I find that 8 petals is the average for every rose.

Please note, that as much as you may love chocolate, cocoform does not taste exactly like your favourite bar of Dairy Milk. It has glucose in the mixture to make it malleable, so it won't be exactly the same, but it's still edible. It's like the chocolate you get in your advent calendar every christmas - it doesn't taste just right, but you still eat it anyway :P

What do you think? Stick to icing flowers or do these look alright for a first-timer? :D
Happy Baking x

Red Velvet Cupcakes: Not feeling the craze?

So in light of starting my dissy year at Uni I have succesfully procrastinated for another evening by baking some new flavour cupcakes - Red Velvet. All the cupcake blogs I follow have been raving about these, and even Brooke from One Tree Hill wanted them as part of her wedding cake (ahh I love it :P). Simply put, they are the usual recipe for vanilla cupcakes, but with cocoa powder and red food colouring. I'm not feeling it. I was expecting some mind blowing taste explosion to happen but my parents and I were left feeling disappointed after a taste-testing sesh. Maybe it was the recipe I used. Maybe it was my oven. I don't mean to toot my own horn but I'm one of the best cooks in my family, so I don't like to blame myself :P

Cocoa Powder and Red Food Colouring "Paste," this was added to the cake batter.

Anyway, I won't tell you the recipe. I think it was a ridiculous take on the basic vanilla sponge method. It even told me to add a mixture of bicarb of soda and white vinegar (and we all know what happens with that, we all used them in some sort of volcano project at school). Anyways, they do look good, I'll give myself that. But I won't be trying them again until I taste an amazingly good Red Velvet cupcake, possibly from a shop. I'm sure it won't take long for the UK to cotton on to this American craze.

The pretty pattern the cocoa paste made once swirled with the cake batter.

Oh and one of my best friend's, Nikki, bought me a little present the other day - my new apron! How cute is that?!

Anyone else tasted some great/not so great Red Velvet Cupcakes? Let me know!
Happy Baking x

Introducing.. The Cupcake Wrapper

I've just come across these bad boys whilst searching for new wedding cake material, and I have to say, they are absolutely adorable! A little expensive, these Cupcake Wrappers can transform any shoddy looking cupcake into a work of art with a flick of a wrapper. They look set to be a hit with weddings and other special events, take a look at my favourites - there's at least one to suit all... Including baby-boom theme, christmas, Valentine's Day and even Twilight.. I especially love the Picket Fence style - reminds me of being on Desperate Housewives :P

All pictures are courtesy of eBay, where you can find the wrappers sold in multiple packs. Check out Amazon, too, for their range.

Happy Baking x

Happy Birthday!

Two weeks too late, I know. But I can safely say that Jim's 21st Birthday Cupcake Tier Cake was a massive success! :D I have even been asked to make someone's Wedding Cake now!!! So I'm a very happy girlie. Anyways, so what happened? If you've been following, I bought all the ingredients and equipment in the weeks leading up to my boyfriend's big birthday party at the end of May. The night before the party, I actually made the cupcakes, using the same recipe from Pink Muffins (vanilla, mutual favourite). On the day of the party, I woke up super early and spent the following FOUR hours decorating 30 cupcakes. Every cupcake was individual, and was designed with my boyfriend's favourite foods being the main theme.

We have a range of cakes, each decorated with:
- Mini Oreos - he loves them!
- Silver Balls
- Dr Oetker Chocolate Stars
- Silver Spoon Blue and White Writing Icing
- Rolled Icing in the shape of stars
- The buttercream I cannot take credit for. I cheated. Sorry guys, but my main reasoning behind this was there was already two jars of Betty Crocker vanilla and chocolate buttercream in the cupboard, and with funds being already low (oh yeah, I paid for the whole party as his present. Not cheap!) I used them on the cakes. However, I do know how to make buttercream, so don't lose faith. It's not hard. Butter. Icing Sugar. Bit o' milk. Colouring. Flavouring. EASY.

This was the central focus of the whole cake. Unfortunately, my plans did not go well for this part. I did aim to make a range of different sized icing stars and affix them to silver wire, then have them sprayed behind the '21.' This went terribly, albeit my original thinking that it would be easy. You see them a lot on today's celebration cakes, I even had one on my 18th cake two years ago. However, the stars broke. They melted. Thet slid down the wire. It didn't end well... I even tried supergluing them to the wire, but instead of superglue drying clear like usual, it didn't when used on rolled icing. Damn! Try again soon.

This cake was used as a deterrent for nosey party attendees. It says "Don't Touch," as I thought the style of cake wouldn't be obvious as the Birthday Boy's actual birthday cake and people would assume the cake was part of the buffet. No, people. (I later found out that this cake was stolen and mashed into the mouth of my friend. Not impressed!)

So, I'm pleased with how it turned out. What do you think? Would you ever have a cupcake tier-cake?
Kirsten x

Forgive my Ignorance..

Hi y'all...
Just a quick note to say that I am still new to the blogging world, so forgive me if you've been following me and I haven't as yet returned the favour :P I know it says I've been blogging since February, which indeed I have, but those posts were actually copy and pastes from my WordPress blog. You see, I had to start up this blog as part of my University course (I study Media Production, web practices comes in handy...) and they set us up with a rubbishy WordPress account. However, the beautiful and talented Abby told me that this was easier, and I could customise my blog more personally here. Of course, my best friend has helped me immensely along my blogging way, so I have to give her credit for being amazing :) Go follow her, god knows she's been great in advertising my blog... She knows what she's talking about on her site, so get on there!!!
So yeah, that's about it. I'm gonna do a giveaway when I reach 75 followers. Seems like a good number :) It'll most definitely include the Cupcake recipe book I've mentioned previously, so watch this space.
P.s I never made the cupcake tier-cake for Mothers's Day :( Didn't have the time or money! But the wheels have been set in motion for the planning of my boyfriend's 21st Birthday and yep - the cake will be coming from yours truly! Keep a look out for that one in July...

Kirsten x

Birthday Cupcakes

A few weeks ago was my mate Ry's 20th birthday. Although he was sad that he would never be a teenager again, I gave him reason to act like a child by baking him loads of Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream. "Mmmm," I hear you say? Of course, everyone likes buns. Everyone should have baked buns once in their life at least. My boyfriend's mum made me positively drool at Christmas when she gave me a Cupcake Recipe Book - written by the owners of the Primrose Bakery in London. YAMMY! Even though I don't like recipe books, you MUST buy this one, the pictures alone are enough to whisk you away to the till with two under each arm. It doesn't just have recipes for basic cupcakes, but also tells you how to make birthday cakes, different types of icing (Peanut Butter, White Chocolate, Peppermint!!) and even a cupcake Wedding Cake!

Anyway, I chose basic Vanilla buns as there was also a party at Ry's house. Vanilla suits everyone's taste buds. I added chocolate buttercream to make them extra-heavenly, and then bought a selection of chocolate treats to top off with; buttons, Smarties Eggs, sprinkles etc.
I won't give you the recipe for this one guys, instead I want to encourage you to buy "Cupcakes from the Primrose Bakery." I may sound like a walking-talking advert but you really can't go wrong with these recipes. It's an essential Bible for your kitchen shelf. Happy Baking!

P.s Watch this space. I have given myself an idea for Mother's Day: Floaty, flowery cupcake-tiered M.D cake? My mum will be thrilled :D Stay tuned!

Kirsten x