Mmmm.. Cupcakes

My love of making and eating cupcakes is really what got me interested in baking in the first place. Who doesn't love a good cupcake?

 I was searching the world wide web for something fun to make and I spotted a recipe for Oreo buttercream and I had to try it! It was really easy to make and tasted great!

I made loads but this is all that was left when I came back after getting my camera.  

They were all eaten and went down a treat! 

xoxo

JD!

I follow several cake blogs, who post new blogs every week of LOADS of cakes! I however, am lucky if I have one cake to post in a week! 

This week I had a John Deere Tractor cake to make. 

I was nervous when I agreed to do this this as it isn't your ordinary cake. But I chanced it, and I like to think I succeeded! 

When I was finished I decided to put the left over cake under/around the cake to make it look like it was stuck in mud. I also pipped a little bit of green coloured butter cream icing to look like grass. 

Overall, I thought the cake was good for a first attempt at a tractor.

I hope my next tractor isn't as stressful to make! 

xoxo

Two Years Today!

My boyfriend and I are going out two years today. And me wanting any excuse to make a cake, and his love of chocolate, I decided to make him a chocolate cake! 

I went for a kind of, "You hold the key to my heart", sort theme. Granted he didn't really understand what the whole chain/padlock was about, but that's just lads for ya! 

I put two roses at the front to represent our two years together. 

I really liked this cake because it was so small and simple!

And Daniel certainly enjoyed eating it!

xoxo 

GUESS

I made a cake this week for my best friends sisters 21st birthday. Whether they agreed to have me make the cake because of my ability or my friends persistence, I'll never know. 

They asked for a GUESS handbag, and a GUESS handbag they got! 

It was going to be the biggest cake I had ever made so I was really worried about being able to cover it with fonant. But I got there in the end. 

I put Zola on each end as I wasn't going writing 'Happy Birthday' on the cake so it was just a little personal touch. 

Being just 16 and not having a notion about the correct was of decorating a cake, there are mistakes in all my baking. There was a crack in the fondant at the back, which I hadn't a clue how to fix. So I created a pocket at the back to cleverly cover my error. 

I attempted to get a quilted effect on the cake, but that didn't exactly work out. That will be put on the top of my Google search list. 

I made some lipstick out of icing I had left over from other cakes. The idea of this was to have it looking like the birthday message was wrote with the lipstick. I also put the number of the lipstick as 21! 

I also made vanilla cupcakes!

 The family were very happy with the cake and it went down a treat at the party!

xoxo

You've got Mail!

Being the proud mother she is, my mam was showing off this very blog in her office at work. Her colleague seen the picture of the cake I made for my best friends sweet 16th birthday and asked that I made one like it for her daughters 11th birthday. 

I wanted to really step up with this cake as I didn't think the one I made for my friend was as good as it could be. Particularly I wanted to improve on the bow. Because I thought the other one was quite shapless, there was no texture to it. 

I thought I achieved what I wanted with the bow, I thought it was a lot more pretty. With the Happy Birthday wish I attempted to make it look like a stamp on the top right corner of the present. How ever I don't think that came across. 

On the side I have a "Priority Mail" sticker. This is a personal touch as the young girls last name is 'Prior' so I [I say I, but in reality it was my mothers idea] decided to add this as it was a parcel so I thought along with the stamp it would look good. 

The family was very happy and that's what counts!

xoxo

Elphin GAA

After making her daughters 3rd birthday cake, my boyfriends sister, Leona. asked me to make a cake for her wedding. Not the actual wedding cake of course, but for her friends birthday on the day. 

The overall theme of the wedding was GAA football. So naturally, she asked for the cake of a GAA football I made previously but with some Elphin flags. 

I painted on the flags by adding vodka to my food colouring gel to make it runny so I could paint with it.

I wrote on the cake using edible markers. 

I didn't like how 'bumpy' it appears to be, but I think that's from the icing being too thin. But I'll know for again eh? 

xoxo 

Dora The Explorer!

I have made many treats but I was over the moon when my boyfriends sister asked me if I would make her daughters 3rd birthday cake. 

I was really nervous as someone was paying money for what I made so I wanted it to be perfect! 

All I was told was to have it, 'Dora the Explorer' themed. 

I researched loads and decided to make Royal Icing transfers, and just place them along the edge of the cake. However, as I had not done these before, and me having the worst luck in the world, they broke when I went to remove them! 

So from that, I decided just to make the Dora figure, and the monkey figure just out of Sugar Paste icing. 

I wasn't entirely happy with the Dora figure, I thought she looked much older then she should. 

Overall, I was quite happy with the cake, and so was everyone at the party.


xoxo

Starting Off ..

Welcome to my Blog - featuring my extremely amateur treats from my kitchen.

I'm only 16 so I don't know the science behind anything. I learn mostly from watching 'Ace of Cakes' and research on the internet. For me, it's mostly trial and error, and if I'm lucky, improvement. 

This is the first decent cake I made. It was for my sisters 19th birthday in May. Even though it's only a fresh cream cake, I was still delighted with it! 

My boyfriends birthday is on the very same day, so this was then made for him. Not as good, but he was still happy with it!

Here are some of the other cakes I've made to date :

This was for my sisters boyfriends 20th birthday.

This was for my eldest brothers birthday. He is a big Liverpool fan!

This Micky Mouse cake was then for my brothers friends birthday.

My father drives a lorry for a living, which was the inspiration for his birthday cake. 

My best friends sweet 16th birthday cake. I went with the 'present' theme as it was her birthday present from me. 

I made this cake for my aunt in-laws first day in her new house. 

I entered this cake in the local agricultural show in the area. I decided to do a GAA football as our local team was in the county semi-final the following weekend. I got 1st prize! 

I also entered 'Cookie Monster' and 'Elmo' cupcakes. 

I have made lots of cupcakes for tea-mornings at my mams work place: 

xoxo