Old Blog | Carol's Cakes

Old Blog

Hello and welcome to my blog, I have started a new Blog section which you can access by clicking on the button to the right but please do take time to scroll through the pictures and posts below which will give you an idea about my baking journey. My story continues on the new Blog which I will of course try to keep updated on a regular basis.
Thank you Carol

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Charity Bake for Breast Cancer Now Afternoon Fizzy Tea at Alligator Pear, Tadworth

29th August 2023

Raffle prize.

Charity Bake for Breast Cancer Now Afternoon Fizzy Tea at Alligator Pear, Tadworth

29th August 2023

The very first Charity event that I organised in 2010 was for Breast Cancer Care and it was a Strawberry Tea, over a decade later Breast Cancer Care has amalgamated with Breast Cancer Now. One of our local independent retailers, Alligator Pear, is hosting a Fizzy tea to raise money for Breast Cancer Now tomorrow afternoon. Because of my previous association with the charities I contacted Alligator Pear and offered to donate a batch of cupcakes. I have baked 2 dozen cupcakes including a box of 4 to be used as a raffle prize. Had great fun making some very pretty toppers for this special event which I hope will raise a great deal of money. I used my go to vanilla cupcake sponge, filled the cakes with raspberry conserve, topped the cakes with vanilla buttercream and a selection of sugarpaste decorations, chocolate geo hearts, edible wafer paper butterflies and a selection of sprinkles. They looked pretty special.

Bank Holiday pudding - Strawberry Cheesecake

27th August 2023

I made this strawberry cheesecake for our Bank Holiday Monday get together with friends. I used a recipe on The Gluten Free Alchemist website, I halved the quantities and used an 18cm loose base deep cake tin. The strawberries are roasted for a more intense flavour before putting in a blender. The biscuit base uses digestive or hobnob biscuits and choc chips. The cheesecake mix is phili cream cheese and mascarpone and double cream. Once the cheesecake is set (4 Hours) drizzle over white chocolate and I used Dr Oetker sprinkles and then decorated with double cream swirls, white chocolate buttons and strawberries. Lovely light cheesecake, beautiful taste.

Coronation Blanket - finished at last

15th August 2023

The Coronation Blanket is now sown together the borders have been knitted, it has been washed and is ready to be put into service. I am really pleased, it looks beautiful.

Cupcake decorating class for two

15th August 2023

Here's an example of the cupcake toppers made.

Cupcake decorating class for two

15th August 2023

I had arranged to hold a cupcake decorating class for one of my gardening buddies and her granddaughter during the summer holidays. Because of dietary requirements I made a batch of gluten free cupcakes to decorate, along with a gf lemon drizzle loaf to have with coffee during the morning. I set the kitchen table up with two 'work stations' with mats, rolling pins, cornflour pouches, pallet knives and bags of coloured icing. We started at 10:00 am and made a selection of sugarpaste toppers with various cutters and embossers, spray glitter and glitter dust. We then made a bee and a ladybird topper as well. After a break for refreshments, the cupcakes were piped with buttercream, another technique to master, and the sugarpaste toppers added to the top off the cakes. We finished our morning by 12:30 with the classmates both taking away a box of 6 decorated cupcakes to be enjoyed later. A successful morning and fun as well.

Another Lemon Drizzle loaf

4th August 2023

I used some leftover cake batter to make another lemon drizzle loaf, to the plain madeira sponge I added the zest from 2 lemons, I then put spoonfuls of batter into a loaf tin and added some spoonfuls of lemon curd which I swirled into the batter. While the cake was baking I made a lemon drizzle mix 75 ml lemon juice mixed with 75 g or 3 oz of caster sugar. When the loaf was taken out of the oven I used a skewer to make holes in the top of the cake and then poured the drizzle mix over. I left the cake to cool completely in the tin. I then made a lemon glace icing which I put into a small piping bag, I cut the tip off the bag and piped across the top of the loaf thin lines, finishing the loaf with more lemon zest. Lovely with a cup of tea.

Baby shower cupcakes

4th August 2023

I was asked to make three dozen vanilla cupcakes for a Baby shower. The customer had a white and silver theme and had purchased personalised toppers so all that I needed to do was make the cupcakes (which I brushed with a vanilla syrup glaze and filled with raspberry jam) top them with vanilla buttercream piped in a ruffled swirl, decorate with some heart sprinkles and spritz with edible glitter spray. I baked the cupcakes in a silver cupcake case and then displayed them in white tulip cases, they looked beautiful and the customer was very pleased.

Coronation crafting - Knitted blanket

29th July 2023

I bought a pack of Emu wool and pattern from the Knitting Network to make a blanket to commemorate the Coronation. I started knitting the 48 squares on 13th May and have finally finished today. I just have the mammoth task now of sewing the squares together. I spent a while yesterday placing the squares in a good design and then clipping them together row by row so I didn't get too muddled up. Now I'm onto the sewing, I should be finished in another month as once sewn together I need to knit a border.

GF Vanilla Birthday cupcakes

29th July 2023

We are going to a celebration for a friend's birthday and as some of the other invitees follow a GF diet I decided to use a cupcake recipe found on The Gluten Free Alchemist's website. The recipe produced a very soft and light cupcake - my only negative comment might be that the ground almond that is added as an ingredient can be tasted quite strongly but maybe I should have mixed it into the flour better. That said overall I was pleased with the result. I put raspberry jam through the centre, added a vanilla and chocolate swirl and then topped with Happy Birthday sugar paste plaques.

Chocolate party cake for BVIB Gardening buddies

27th July 2023

I used a Sainsbury magazine recipe for a chocolate traybake cake, the cake was given a deep rich flavour by adding brown sugar to the cake batter. Once baked and cooled the cake was topped with a simple chocolate buttercream and decorated with jazzies and some M&S Colin the Caterpillar spots. I finished by sprinkling over Chocolate sugar strands. I measured and precut the cake so that it would be easy to serve as we were outside for our evening get together, the traybake tin made 24 decent sized portions. Lovely light cake, will be using this recipe again.

Raspberry Ripple loaf cake

21st July 2023

I used some spare cake batter to make a raspberry ripple loaf cake, I added pureed raspberries mixed with raspberry jam which was spooned between dollops of the cake batter and then swirled with a skewer. Once the cake was baked and cooled I piped rosettes of vanilla buttercream on the top and then drizzled over some more of the raspberry mixture and then scattered the top with a few sprinkles.

18th Birthday cupcakes with a Chelsea football theme

21st July 2023

I had an order to make cupcakes for a friend's son who turned 18 during the week, he's a massive Chelsea fan so I used that as the starting point and along with footballs, football shirts, boots, and trophy cups I made a selection of sugarpaste toppers. The Chelsea toppers were made using the club badge printed on to sugarpaste. I baked a vanilla madeira cupcake which I filled with raspberry jam and then topped with a swirl of buttercream which had a blue streak to it. The cakes looked spot-on and everybody was very pleased.

Tik Tok themed Birthday cupcakes

15th July 2023

I had an order to make cupcakes for a 10th birthday, the brief was to make salted caramel cupcakes with a salted caramel centre, vanilla buttercream (which I coloured pink, aqua blue and white) and decorate the cakes with TikTok themed decorations. I got some inspiration from searching the internet and then set about making the toppers using sugar paste with a colour pallet of pink, aqua blue, black and silver. I also found some wafer paper toppers with the TikTok logo so I was able to combine those with my own handmade decorations. Really pleased with the finish and the customer was super pleased too.

Banstead RBL Veterans Hub - Launch event

21st June 2023

We had a special event to attend this week, the launch of the local RBL Veteran's hub which is being supported and part funded by R&BBC. It was a great success with a good number of people attending as well as representatives from many local organisations who could pass on useful information to the Veterans. The meeting finished with a sandwich lunch and I had made a cake to celebrate the event and share with all who attended. I made a simple vanilla traybake cake, topped it with a thin layer of raspberry jam and fondant icing and then decorated it with buttercream rosettes and a simple message. The cake went down perfectly with a cup of tea so a great success.

Special Birthday cake (GF)

17th June 2023

Anybody who knows me knows that my bake of choice is a cupcake/s but occasionally I get asked to do something different, and this was one of those occasions. I was asked to make a birthday cake which needed to be gluten free ,. There was one special request to include Winnie the Pooh peeping around the zero on the cake but the rest of the decoration was up to me.. I found a recipe on the Gluten Free Alchemist's website, I sandwiched the vanilla sponge cakes together with vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam. I then coated the sponges in more vanilla buttercream and decorated the cake with sugar paste flowers, bees, butterflies and ladybirds. I was very pleased with the finished result of the decorations and I hope that the cake will be a success too.

Father's Day cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

16th June 2023

Totally Chocolate cupcakes

Father's Day cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

16th June 2023

I made two batches of cupcakes, vanilla and chocolate, decorated for Father's Day which we delivered to The Coffee House early this morning. Fortunately the Coffee House has lovely aircon which will stop the totally chocolate cupcakes (chocolate buttercream, chocolate stars, geo hearts and twirl or crunchie bites) from melting completely.

Alzheimer's Society Coffee Morning

15th June 2023

I helped organise a coffee morning for the Alzheimer's Society on Thursday. We decorated the Church Hall with balloons and dotted around the Hall were a selection of stalls: bric-a-brac, jewellery, greeting cards, knitted toys, gift bags and I had a stall selling cupcakes and other baked goods. We had quite a successful morning in spite of the scorching hot conditions and so far have raised over £350 for .the Alzheimer's Society.

Banstead Village in Bloom stall at Spring Flower Show

20th May 2023

I helped out on the BVIB stall at the Banstead Horticultural Show's Spring Flower Show, we sold cupcakes, wellington boot biscuits and a selection of greeting cards along with tickets for the upcoming Open Garden. Had a very successful afternoon raising money for BVIB.

Banstead Village in Bloom stall at Spring Flower Show

20th May 2023

Birthday cupcakes for Ray to take to Surrey SE Police HQ

8th May 2023

I have made yet more vanilla cupcakes today after all my Coronation baking for Ray's birthday tomorrow. Ray is a volunteer with Surrey Police at their SE HQ building so I have bought edible wafer paper toppers with police cars, vans and motorbikes on them to top the vanilla cupcakes which have a yellow, white and blue swirl of buttercream on the top, I've put the cakes in white, yellow and blue tulip cases which finish the cakes off perfectly. I hope that all the Police will enjoy them.

Coronation crafting, Tea time tiaras and Royal Rosettes

7th May 2023

I took some children's tea time tiaras and Royal Rosettes for friends to wear at the Street Party we were invited to. I use an Adventures in Crafting pattern for the Royal Rosettes and the Tea Time tiaras were made from a pattern in Let's Knit, the knitted crown is a sustainable alternative to a paper cracker hat but can be worn at parties during the summer for a bit of fun.

Coronation cake for Street Party with friends

7th May 2023

I made another vanilla traybake using the trusted Mary Berry recipe to take to the Street Party that we had been invited to. I topped the vanilla sponge with a thin layer of raspberry jam and fondant icing and then decorated the top with sugarpaste roses, crowns and union flags along with God Save the King. Many admired the cake and it disappeared quickly.

Coronation cookies for Street Party with friends

7th May 2023

I made a batch of Coronation choc chip cookies using the Jane's Patisserie recipe for Jubilee cookies. The cookies contain red and blue M&Ms as well as white choc chips. I reduced the size of the individual cookies from 80 g to 50 g and also cooked them slightly longer so that they have a crunch on the outside but still retain a chewy texture when you bite into them. Once cooled the cookies were dipped in white chocolate sprinkled with red and blue sprinkles and each cookie had a crown decoration. This recipe is always very successful..

18th birthday cupcakes, football theme

6th May 2023

I had an order to make a dozen vanilla cupcakes to be decorated for an 18th birthday with a football theme for a Spurs fan. I used a printed "Tottenham" icing topper for some of the cupcakes, along with a Happy Birthday embosser and football boot cutters and other football themes to finish off the cakes. I filled the cupcakes with raspberry jam and decorated with vanilla buttercream which had a blue stripe on it by painting lines of blue food colouring into the piping bag.. The customer was very pleased.

Coronation Vanilla trybake cake for The Bus Stop cafe

4th May 2023

I made a vanilla traybake using a trusted Mary Berry recipe, I topped the cake with a layer of strawberry jam and then fondant icing and used a selection of sugar paste decorations and buttercream to decorate the cake to be shared at The Bus Stop Cafe this morning. We also decorated the Hall where we hold the cafe with bunting and a flag, lovely morning.in anticipation of the Coronation.

Coronation cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

4th May 2023

We've delivered cupcakes for the Coronation to The Coffee House this morning. I used a vanilla sponge as the base, filled with strawberry jam and topped with vanilla buttercream and a selection of sugarpaste toppers made using cutters, and embossers. We delivered the cakes at 9 and they were sold out by lunch time so a very good result.

Coronation cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

4th May 2023

Easter cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

4th April 2023

We delivered Easter cupcakes to The Coffee House in Tadworth today, 1 batch of vanilla cupcakes which had an apricot jam centre and vanilla buttercream topping finished with Easter and Spring themed sugar paste toppers and 1 batch of chocolate cupcakes, some of which had a mini chocolate creme egg baked inside, topped with chocolate buttercream and finished with bunny and egg themed toppers. Very pleased with the overall effect.

Easter cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

4th April 2023

Easter Market at St Mark's, Great Tattenhams, Epsom Downs

1st April 2023

Another Market, at a new venue. I took along Cupcakes (standard and mini) choc chip cookies and a simnel traybake. The stall looked super pretty with a real Easter vibe using yellow and orange and zingy green and cerise. I also had egg cups for sale with hand knitted egg cosies hiding a cream egg. It was not quite the busy, vibrant market that I had hoped for but it was worth journey and we met some very friendly people.

Mother's Day cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

17th March 2023

We delivered 2 dozen Mother's Day cupcakes to The Coffee House this morning. I used the standard vanilla cupcake for one batch of cakes, I added a raspberry jam centre and used White chocolate buttercream as the topping, the cupcakes were all decorated with sugar paste plaques for Mother's Day. The second batch of cakes were baked using a new recipe, Prosecco cupcakes from Jane's Patisserie blog. These cupcakes were flavoured with prosecco, they had a prosecco drizzle painted on them whilst still warm from the oven and the buttercream was also flavoured with prosecco. I decorated these cakes with a variety of pastel toppers and roses. I will be interested to get some feedback on this particular flavour, I tried it myself and loved it. The picture shown is of the vanilla cupcakes, I have added a picture of the Prosecco cakes to the cupcake menu, seasonal cupcakes.

Spring Market at Tadworth Primary School PTA

12th March 2023

I had a cake and craft stall at the Spring Market at Tadworth Primary School being run by the PTA, it was the first market that they have held since 2020 so everybody was very excited. I made a variety of cupcakes, cookies, mini loaves and brownies decorated with an Easter theme. I also took along some Easter crafts. The stall had a very colouful appearance and although the market was only running for 2 hours it was still a successful event for me and for the School PTA which raised nearly £3000.

Chelsea FC themed birthday cupcakes

10th March 2023

This order was for a batch of vanilla birthday cupcakes, baked in Chelsea blue and then toppers decorated to also reflect the birthday boy being a huge Chelsea fan. I filled the cupcake sponge with Nutella topped each cake with a chocolate buttercream swirl and then added a variety of Chelsea/Football themed toppers. Really pleased with the finish and so was my customer.

Pudding for friends - February Sunday Lunches

I've been trying out some new recipes to give to friends for pudding, both are from Jane's Patisserie and use our favourite chocolate treat flavours as their base. The first I tried was using chocolate orange, digestive biscuits and cream - simple no bake flan which looked and tasted fabulous. The second recipe was for an After Eight tart. Slightly more complicated. The digestive biscuits are mixed with cocoa. The flan then has a layer of mint fondant - think peppermint creams - covered by chocolate ganache and then finished with After Eight mints and I also used some crushed aero mint bubbles to give a minty green colour. Both recipes were enjoyed by everybody, so a big thumbs up.

Valentine cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

13th February 2023

We've delivered 2 boxes of Valentine cupcakes to The Coffee House in Tadworth this morning, my first bake of the year for TCH so has to be something outstanding and I think these cakes tick the box. I baked a batch of vanilla and a batch of chocolate cupcakes (Pic of the chocolate cakes on The Cupcake Menu page). The vanilla cupcakes were topped with pink and white buttercream and the chocolate cakes with a chocolate swirl of buttercream. I used a variety of LissieLou Embossers and a rose cutter to make the decorations which I then painted and embellished with sprinkles and chocolate and Marshmallow hearts and mini Jammy Dodgers. Really pleased with the finished result. I hope that they will be a success at The Coffee Shop.

More Birthday cupcakes

10th February 2023

Today I've been making another batch of vanilla cupcakes which I've decorated to celebrate a birthday. I've added a strawberry jam centre, piped the cupcakes with a cream and pink vanilla buttercream and then I've used pastel pink, lilac and green sugarpaste toppers saying Happy Birthday and With Love. I have put swirls of the two colour buttercream on a further 4 cakes which I've decorated with Lindor strawberries and cream chocs along with roses, butterflies and a jewel pick. They look beautiful, I hope the customer and the lucky Birthday girl will be happy.

Fundraising for Ukraine

4th February 2023

This afternoon I'm attending a fundraiser to get vital supplies to the Ukraine frontline. We'll be entertained by a folk band from Kyiv along with homegrown talent in the shape of Virgo, with our friend Dave on the drums. I am taking along choc chip cookies containing blue and yellow M&Ms and decorated with white choc, sprinkles and a tiny sunflower and mini sunflower cupcakes to add to the refreshment table. .I was really pleased with both which added a colour pop to the table.

Fundraising for Ukraine

4th February 2023

Chocolate cake for induction of new Rector at St Peter's Church, Woodmansterne

11th January 2023

I have been decorating a chocolate traybake cake that I made on Tuesday. I glazed the cake with some sieved apricot jam before topping with chocolate buttercream, sugar paste roses (made from a chocolate flavoured sugar paste), sugar paste rose leaves and glamour sprinkles. The cake was very tasty but not too sweet and was enjoyed by many at the tea and cake event we arranged after the induction service this evening.

First bake for 2023 Birthday cupcakes

9th January 2023

Today's bake was a batch of vanilla cupcakes to be decorated for a birthday gift. I had made a number of sugar paste toppers using Lissie Lou embossers and cutters as well as moulds to make shoes and cupcakes. I used the easiest rose cutter to make pink roses as well. The vanilla cupcakes were filled with strawberry jam, topped with a vanilla buttercream which I'd added a pink ripple to by painting a stripe of pink food colouring into the icing bag and finished with the various toppers along with some strawberry and cream lindor sweets. The customer was really pleased with the cakes which she had commissioned me to make for her daughter.

Christmas cake

21st December 2022

In November I used a Delia Smith recipe to make our Christmas cake. I have been feeding the cake every couple of weeks with a tablespoon of brandy. Today I finished the decoration, I toasted a selection of nuts - halved walnuts, pecan nut halves and Brazil nuts until lightly golden. I mixed apricot jam with brandy, heated them together to make a glaze which I brushed the top of the cake with and then placed the nuts on the cake finally covering them with the remaining glaze. I finished the cake with a wide ribbon decorated with candy canes. I had placed the cake on a red cake board and put that on a white board and I wound star fairy lights around the board. Finally I added a red and gold Merry Christmas pick. (BTW On cutting the cake it is lovely and moist, I will be using this recipe again I am sure.)

Mini cupcakes for 9 Lessons and Carols Service

18th December 2022

Following the 9 Lessons and Carols service this evening we will be serving Mulled wine, mince pies and some of my mini cupcakes (for those who don't like mince pies or just fancy a change) to the congregation. I've made a selection of festive toppers for the mini cupcakes, which I used along with sugar penguins and chocolate Christmas trees to decorate 2 dozen vanilla mini cupcakes which were filled with Merry Berry jam and topped with vanilla buttercream. They went down a treat.

Christmas robin biscuits for The Bus Stop Cafe Carol Service

14th December 2022

We have a Carol Service at The Bus Stop Cafe in the morning so I've made these Mixed spice Christmas robin biscuits to share with the regulars. I used a Waitrose recipe, very simple to follow, once the biscuit dough is chilled using a robin cutter (also from Waitrose) you cut the shapes and then bake for just under 15 mins. The biscuits are decorated with glace cherries for the red breast, a chocolate flake for the wing and currant for the eye, all attached with a blob of Dr Oetker writing icing.

Christmas cupcakes for my yoga buddies

13th December 2022

I've made a dozen vanilla cupcakes, put raspberry jam through the centre and topped them with vanilla buttercream, then I've decorated them with a variety of Christmas themed toppers to celebrate the festive season with my yoga buddies after our last class of the year this morning.

Another batch of Special birthday cupcakes

12th December 2022

I've made a dozen vanilla cupcakes, put raspberry jam through the centre and topped them with vanilla buttercream, then I've decorated them to celebrate my lovely hairdresser and her twin sisters 60th birthday later in the week. Cakes to be delivered on Wednesday, I think that they will be very happy.

Christmas cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

12th December 2022

We delivered a selection of Christmas themed cupcakes to The Coffee House this morning. I used vanilla and chocolate cupcakes as the base and decorated the cakes with a selection of sugarpaste toppers as well as using buttercream to make Christmas trees and a few cute Rudolph the Reindeer as well. Wishing a Merry Christmas to all.

The Horseshoe, Preschool Christmas Bazaar

3rd December 2022

I had a stall at The Horseshoe Preschool Christmas Bazaar this morning. I had been baking and crafting like made. I took along a selection of Christmas decorated cupcakes and boxes of mini cupcakes too. For the crafts I had candy cane umbrellas, Chocolate orange covers, Christmas decorations and fingerless mitts. Not quite so busy as last night but a successful event nevertheless.

Merland Rise, Christmas Community Market

2nd December 2022

I had a stall at the Merland Rise Christmas Market this afternoon. I had been baking and crafting like made. As well as cupcakes (standard and mini) I took along gingerbread loaf cakes, NYC cookies (Janes Patisserie recipe) and Coconut snowmen. For the crafts I had candy cane umbrellas, Chocolate orange covers, Christmas decorations and fingerless mitts. I did really well on the edibles and sold everything, so a successful afternoon and a great group of people too.

Tadworth Christmas Lights,

2nd December 2022

Today I've made Chocolate Fudge and Vanilla cupcakes decorated with red and white sweets to add to the display at The Coffee House, Tadworth as they celebrate the Christmas lights switch-on. The Shop has been decorated with candy canes, and red and white sweets and I've decorated the cupcake order similarly. The Chocolate Fudge cupcakes have been decorated with candy canes and sprinkled with crushed candy cane. The Vanilla cupcakes are decorated with sugar paste toppers and then a variety of chocolate and jelly sweets on a Candy Crush theme. They really are very eye catching.

Chocolate birthday cupcakes

24th November 2022

Today I've made a batch of chocolate fudge cupcakes filled with Nutella and topped with chocolate buttercream. The cakes are for a guy who likes football and gardening amongst other things, so I've added toppers to reflect his hobbies along with a Happy Birthday plaque and a totally chocolate cake. The decorations were made using moulds, cutters and embossers and then painted using edible paint, Really pleased with the finished result and so was the customer.

Stir up Sunday

20th November 2022

Today is the traditional day to make a Christmas cake to give it enough time to mature with the addition of a little feeding between now and Christmas. I soaked the fruit overnight in Brandy and orange juice and then brought all the ingredients together before cooking for just over 4 hours at a very low gas. Really pleased with the result. This year I am going to decorate with glazed nuts. So that will come in a few weeks time. For now the cake is wrapped and I will feed with a little Brandy from time to time..

More Special Birthday cupcakes

18th November 2022

I had an order for 1 dozen birthday cupcakes, 50th and 40th birthdays The ladies concerned were having a girlie family celebration together so the cakes had to be really special. I made vanilla cupcakes with the usual jam filling and buttercream topping and then decorated the cakes with a selection of sugarpaste toppers made using embossers and cutters. The colour palette used was dusky pink and gold. They looked good enough to eat or just to sit and admire.

Remembrance mini cupcakes for the Bus Stop cafe and friends

11th November 2022

I made a batch of mini vanilla cupcakes, filled with jam and decorated them with vanilla buttercream topped with a small white plaque and remembrance poppy. I shared the cakes with the regulars at the Bus Stop cafe and took a box to a friend that I was meeting up with.

Special Birthday cupcakes

5th November 2022

I decorated a couple of vanilla cupcakes for a friend's special birthday. I used the go to vanilla cupcake filled with jam and topped with vanilla buttercream and then added sugar paste flowers, roses a vintage gold 'Happy Birthday' and a champagne bottle candle for good luck. It's fair to say that she was delighted.

Halloween cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

29th October 2022

I made Halloween cupcakes to deliver to The Coffee House, Tadworth. I used two different flavoured cupcakes as the base for the spooky decorations - Toffee apple sponge with caramel centre and salted caramel buttercream topping and Chocolate fudge sponge with nutella centre and chocolate buttercream topping. I had made decorations with various mats, embossers and moulds. I added chocolate spiders webs, popcorn, spooky eyes and pumpkin picks and a choocolate and orange swirl to some of the cupcakes for a trick or treat finish.

50th birthday cupcakes

22nd October 2022

I had an order to make a batch of cupcakes for a 50th birthday. I used a vanilla cupcake recipe as the base, filled the cakes with strawberry jam and then topped with vanilla buttercream. The customer had asked for a gold theme on the decorations so I used a variety of impression mats, cutters and embossers to make toppers for the cupcakes. I think it's fair to say that the customer was really happy and so was I!

Cheese and bacon muffins

13th October 2022

I have been meaning to try this recipe for a while, found it on the Jane's Patisserie blog. Lovely easy to make muffins which freeze well and can be reheated in the microwave in an instant. Taste great, recommended.

Harvest lunch at St Peter's Church, Woodmansterne

2nd October 2022

The end of a busy week, I helped today with providing a Harvest lunch for the local .St Peter's community. 50 people sat down for lunch which had all been donated by individuals in the community 'a take and share' lunch. My contribution was a pudding, a lemon meringue pie. I used a Mary Berry recipe to fill a M&S sweet pastry flan case. Really pleased with the finished result and it disappeared along with the majority of the other items which had been donated.

Community Christmas card and craft sale

1st October 2022

I recently made these little gnomes/gonks using tiny scraps of wool and a wooden bead for the nose. They are stuffed with a champagne cork, I added a hidden lindor chocolate and a thin ribbon so that they could hang on a tree. I took a box along to the Community market held in Banstead and donated them to the Banstead Village in Bloom stall to be sold along with other Christmas decorations and cards. They proved to be very popular and the stall raised £190 for BVIB. Now on a mission to make a few more..

Macmillan coffee morning

29th September 2022

It's that time of year again, we had a lovely coffee morning to raise money for Macmillan this morning at St Peter's Church Hall. There was tea, coffee, cake and stalls - plenty of opportunity to spend money for a worthy cause. We raised £341.50

Mini cupcakes for Memorial service

26th September 2022

We had a Memorial Service at St Peter's this afternoon for Jacky, who was a true inspiration. Long story, short, Jacky won a raffle prize which was a box of cupcakes that I had donated, sadly although she chose the flavours she would like she didn't get to enjoy them in person but we all had a little cake and thought of her xx.

Rock cakes

15th September 2022

Went for a cuppa with some friends and was served a lovely rock cake and that got me thinking that it was about time that I made some for myself. Found a recipe in one of my many Mary Berry cookbooks, so simple and the taste is just great. A real little piece of nostalgia.

Fundraising Afternoon tea for Ukraine

3rd September 2022

We went to a lovely local fundraiser event today to support Ukraine. The Afternoon tea was held in the Church Institute in Banstead. The team of Ukrainian volunteers were all beautifully dressed in blouses embroidered with their distinctive regional designs. The afternoon tea was well organised, the highlight was a traditional Ukrainian honey cake, a light cake actually made with 10 layers of biscuit and a mix of honey and buttercream. I made a donation of orange flavour mini cupcakes filled with orange curd and topped with cream cheese buttercream. I decorated the cupcakes with tiny sunflowers and then displayed them in yellow and blue tulip cases, they were very colourful and tasted good too! Well done to all the volunteers who raised nearly £1300.

Cakes to celebrate the start of the new yoga term

22nd August 2022

Off to yoga in the morning, I've made a batch of cupcakes to take along for my fellow classmates to celebrate getting together for the beginning of our new term.

I've used a lotus flower as part of the decoration and differing shades of purple as I know that our leader is particularly fond of that colour. The cakes are my go-to vanilla cupcakes with blackcurrant jam through the centre to give a little bite, vanilla buttercream and then finished with the yoga topper. The cakes are packaged in cake pods which make for easy transportation. Namaste

Cake decorating at the holiday club

11th August 2022

This morning I helped at the holiday club held at Merland Rise Church, I arranged 3 cake decorating sessions for the children, each group had a different theme starting at 10am with Princesses, followed by Superheroes at 11:30am and finally Mini beasts at 12:30pm. I had baked all the cakes and gave each child a carrier bag containing the coloured sugar paste that they needed to decorate their cupcakes along with some sprinkles and cake pods to take the cakes home. I set up work stations for each of the children with a work mat, rolling pin, dusting bag and some edible glue. They all had a great morning and produced some lovely colourful cakes. This pic shows the demo cakes that I made for the three sessions.

More cupcakes to share at afternoon tea with friends

25th July 2022

Some friends were coming for tea so I made a small batch of lemon cupcakes filled with lemon curd, topped with lemon buttercream and a mini lemon meringue (M&S) and also a batch of mini vanilla cupcakes which I decorated with gardening themed toppers and flowers and displayed in rainbow tulip cases. Tasted and looked great.

Cupcakes for friends

25th July 2022

I decorated these vanilla cupcakes to share with friends, they look just perfect for an afternoon tea.

21st birthday cupcakes

25th July 2022

Today's job has been to make a batch of vanilla cupcakes, filled with straweberry jam and topped with vanilla buttercream and then decorated for a 21st birthday. I made a selection of sugar paste toppers using pastel colours flowers and butterflies. I used moulds, patchwork cutters and embossers which were then handpainted or dusted with edible glitterdust. The end result was a batch of really pretty cakes.

St Peter's day cake for St Peter's church celebration

26th June 2022

This morning we had a special celebration at our local Church, St Peter's Woodmansterne a service to celebrate St Peter's day followed by the planting of a rambling rose in the Churchyard to mark the Queen's Jubilee. Everybody got together in the Church Hall after for tea and cake. A lot of the community came along to join with the Church congregation and enjoy a cuppa with cake that had been baked and bought by many of the parisioners. I also made a special celebration cake, a vanilla sponge topped with a thin layer of orange curd and then fondant icing decorated with a Church. Around the end of the cake I placed roses to represent the Rambling Rector rose that had just been planted.

Birthday mini cupcakes for me

22nd June 2022

It's my birthday today so I just had to treat myself with a small batch of chocolate mini cupcakes, I filled the cakes with raspberry jam and then topped with white chocolate and vanilla buttercream. I decorated the cakes with some of my favourite things - mini percy pigs (provided by my friend Shiv), sugar cats and petunias. They tasted great washed down with a raspberry gin fizz and a cup of tea.

Father's day cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

17th June 2022

It's Father's day on Sunday, I delivered 2 dozen cupcakes to The Coffee House this morning for all those lovely children who want to treat Dad and maybe themselves too. I made a selection of flavoured cupcakes - vanilla, chocolate fudge and lemon and decorated the cakes with colourful toppers along with a chocolate fix as well.

Birthday gift cake voucher

16th June 2022

A few months ago I was asked to make 70th birthday cupcakes and also provide a gift voucher for 6 cupcakes to be made in the future. The gift voucher was used this week and I made 6 lemon cupcakes, the lemon sponge was filled with lemon curd, decorated with lemon flavoured buttercream. Half of the cupcakes were decorated with lemon roses and the remainder with a lemon meringue, lemon jelly slices and sugar paste flowers. A lovely zingy flavour and super cool decorations for the hot weather.

Open Gardens in Banstead, BVIB

11/12th June 2022

I helped with the Open Gardens weekend in Banstead by providing cakes for two of the Open gardens. I made vanilla cupcakes which were decorated with the Banstead Village in Bloom logo (see previous blog) and displayed in clear plastic pods so that they were easy to take away. I also made a selection of mini cakes which were decorated with garden themed toppers and I also provided knitted bee and ladybird flowerpot toppers. The event was a great success, the lovely weather encouraged over 200 people to get out and visit the Open Gardens which resulted in many charities benefitting.

Jubilee Street Party

4th June 2022

We were invited to a Street Party today to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, there was music, lots of good food, chat with friends old and new and of course cake. I made a large batch of mini vanilla cupcakes filled with strawberry jam and decorated with roses and union flags to be enjoyed by all.

Jubilee celebrations at The Bus Stop Cafe

2nd June 2022

This morning we decorated the Church Hall with bunting ready to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee with a coffee, a special fruit cake topped with marzipan and fondant icing and finished with buttercream, Jubilee sprinkles and sugar craft cake decorations and a chocolate corgi. We had a 'Royal' themed quiz followed by a rendition of The National Anthem. A lovely time was had by all.

Jubilee Cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

30th May 2022

I delivered three dozen Jubilee cupcakes to The Coffee House, Tadworth this morning. I had made a selection of different sugar paste toppers using embossers, moulds and cutters to create a vibrant and witty selection of cakes. I hope that they will sell well. I used a vanilla cupcake as the base with a strawberry jam centre and vanilla buttercream swirl, topped with sugar paste toppers and jubilee sprinkles.

Jubilee Crafting

21st May 2022

How many different covers can you make for a chocolate orange you might wonder, it seems to be endless, so here's the latest permutation a Crown for the Queen's Platinum Jubille

Banstead Horticultural Society 90th anniversary - BVIB stall

21st May 2022

The Banstead Village in Bloom stall was a resounding success today. I had made cupcakes, shortbread bees and welly boots and knitted bee and ladybird flowerpot decorations - all sold out. We also had dddGreetings cards and tickets for our Open Garden event which did really well too so a very successful day.

BVIB Logo cupcakes for Banstead Horticultural Society 90th anniversary

20th May 2022

My local community gardening team have a stall tomorrow at an event to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Banstead Horticultural Society. I am making cupcakes to sell. I used the logo for Banstead Village in Bloom which I had transferred onto thin sheets of icing and then laser cut into cupcake toppers, the service is offered by Cakecraftworld, my go to supplier for cake decorating supplies. I had cut sugarpaste discs with a fluted cutter which I allowed to dry thoroughly before pasting the printed icing onto. These decorations were the crowning glory on a vanilla cupcake, filled with blueberry jam and topped with vanilla buttercream. They proved to be a great success and sold out.

Ray's Special birthday, finally a vanilla traybake cake

12th May 2022

For the final cake to celebrate Ray's birthday I made a vanilla traybake cake topped with jam and fondant icing along with sugarpaste decorations on a motorbike theme to take to share with the regulars at the Bus Stop cafe. The cake looked spot on and tasted lovely. So mission accomplished.

Ray's Special birthday, mini cupcakes

9th May 2022

Ray's birthday today so after going to the cinema and having a nice lunch out I have set to and made a large batch of mini vanilla cupcakes filled with blueberry jam and topped with buttercream to be delivered to Reigate and Banstead police where Ray will be volunteering tomorrow. I've decorated the cakes with a Happy Birthday message painted in gold sparkle, some petunias and roses and finally a batch of rice paper police vehicles which seemed appropriate. The cakes went down a storm!

Ray's Special birthday, cakes, cakes and more cakes

6th May 2022

My partner has a special birthday next week and to get us in the celebratory mood I made a Victoria sponge which I filled with strawberry jam, topped with white sugarpaste and a printed motorbike topper and then added buttercream stars and sprinkles.

Celebrating friends with a special birthday

1st May 2022

We had a lovely lunch with friends yesterday, using the Bank Holiday to get together and also to celebrate a special birthday for 3 of the group. I made us orange sponge cupcakes with a blood orange curd centre (National Trust) topped with Cream cheese flavoured buttercream and a sugarpaste topper decorated using a LissieLou Celebrate stamp which I painted with Gold sparkle edible paint and added sugar rainbows, champagne bottles and stars. They looked fabulous and tasted good too!!

Afternoon tea mini cupcakes for Merland Rise Church

30th April 2022

I was asked to make 35 mini cupcakes for a ladies late afternoon tea event arranged at Merland Rise Church as part of a day full of events for ladies - you can see them on the top tier of the cake stand. I used the standard vanilla cupcake recipe, filled the cakes with strawberry jam, topped with vanilla buttercream and sprinkles and then added sugar paste decorations making them as pretty as I could, cup and saucer, cupcake, rose, petunia, slice of cake in pastel colours finished off by putting the cake in a pastel coloured canape case and spritzing with silver glitter dust.

Cake and craft stall at The Alzheimers Societies Bake for Dementia fundraiser, The Bus Stop Cafe, Woodmansterne

28th April 2022

Bee and Ladybird flowerpot decorations

Cake and craft stall at The Alzheimers Societies Bake for Dementia fundraiser, The Bus Stop Cafe, Woodmansterne

28th April 2022

Blossom shortbread

Cake and craft stall at The Alzheimers Societies Bake for Dementia fundraiser, The Bus Stop Cafe, Woodmansterne

28th April 2022

This morning we are holding a fundraiser - Bake for Dementia - for the Alzheimers Society at The Bus Stop Cafe in Woodmansterne. I had my usual cake and craft stall, I made vanilla cupcakes decorated for the Alzheimers Society in shades of blue, I made chocolate fund cupcakes topped with salted caramel buttercream, to try something new I made mini ginger loaves and mini carrot loaves and I also made lemon shortbread topped with a sugarpaste blossom. For my knitted craft items I hade coat hangers, Unicorn chocolate orange covers and bee and ladybird flowerpot decorations. It all looked very jolly and colourful the event was well supported and I sold a great deal!

Coffee cake for The Alzheimers Societies Bake for Dementia fundraiser, The Bus Stop Cafe, Woodmansterne

28th April 2022

This morning we are holding a fundraiser - Bake for Dementia - for the Alzheimers Society at The Bus Stop Cafe in Woodmansterne. I made this coffee cake to be served to all those who attended with a cup of tea or coffee. I used a trusted Mary Berry coffee traybake recipe, topped with coffee buttercream, chocolate coffee beans and sugar paste decorations. There wasn't a crumb left.

Thanksgiving mini cupcakes for Merland Rise Church

22nd April 2022

Yet more mini cupcakes, I had an order from Merland Rise Church to make 125 for a Thanksgiving event they were holding to mark the very special life of their Pastor who had sadly died from a brain tumour. I made 4 different flavour cakes - vanilla decorated with petunias and roses (shown), Chocolate, Toffee and Lemon.

Happy Special Birthday for friends in the garden

16th April 2022

To mark a friend's special birthday we hosted an afternoon tea in the garden, fortunately the weather was glorious and we sat outside. I made a batch of mini cupcakes decorated for the occasion, we all had a lovely time. I used a fantastic cake plate to display the cakes, it has tiny cupcakes hanging around it great fun and a really thoughtful Christmas present.

Happy Easter at the Bus Stop cafe, Woodmansterne

14th April 2022

I made a batch of mini simnel cupcakes for the regulars at the Bus Stop cafe to enjoy, the tiny little cakes were brushed with apricot jam and topped with a circle of marzipan a dot of buttercream and a blossom finished with a felt chick pic.

Easter Cupcakes at The Coffee House, Tadworth

13th April 2022

I made 3 different flavours of cupcakes for The Coffee House for Easter, Simnel which I decorated with a circle of marzipan a fluffy chick, blossom and a mini egg; Orange cupcake with a blood orange curd centre (National Trust), topped with vanilla buttercream and an egg shaped sugar paste topper decorated with a Happy Easter LissieLou embosser and finally Chocolate Fudge cupcakes topped with chocolate buttercream and as many Rabbit sweeties as I could find along with carrots, blossoms and mini eggs.

Easter biscuits - Daffodil shortbread and Bunny gingerbread

11th April 2022

I made a batch of Mary Berry shortbread which I flavoured with lemon zest and then using a LissieLou daffodil cutter cut and baked for The Coffee House in Tadworth. Once baked and cooled I brushed with lemon curd to fix on the sugarpaste daffodil that I had embossed with the LissieLou daffodil and then hand painted with edible paint. I also decorated some heart shaped gingerbread biscuits that I had made, they were topped with a sugarpaste heart decorated as a bunny face and pipe cleaners for the ears.

Birthday mini cupcakes

5th April 2022

I made another batch of mini vanilla cupcakes which I filled with strawberry jam and then topped with buttercream and handmade sugar paste decorations. The cupcakes were purchased to be given as a birthday gift and they looked delightful.

Cake stall at Church Car boot sale

2nd April 2022

I had a cake stall with an Easter theme at my local Church Hall this morning. I was very fortunate that my stall was inside as it turned out to be quite a wintry morning. I had made some Easter craft items - knitted chick, lamb and rabbit covers for chocolate cream eggs along with Unicorn and Chick covers for Terry's chocolate orange. I also had china egg cups filled with a chocolate cream egg and topped with a knitted tea cosy. I made mini and standard cupcakes and decorated gingerbread heart biscuits with sugarpaste toppers and bunny ears. The stall looked very eye catching and it turned out to be a successful morning.

70th birthday cupcakes

26th March 2022

I made a batch of mini vanilla cupcakes filled with strawberry jam and topped with buttercream. The decoration, to fit in with an Elvis theme, had tiny red plaques and enough cakes to spell out a Happy Birthday message with a few left over to decorate with Blue suede shoes and musical notes.

Mother's Day cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

24th March 2022

I have been busy baking for The Coffee House, Tadworth today making a selection of Mother's Day cupcakes which I'll delivery tomorrow. I've made two varieties of cupcake - Lemon and Strawberry & Vanilla - I filled the cupcakes with lemon curd and jam respectively, brushed the top with a lemon or strawberry glaze and then topped the cupcakes with buttercream and sugar paste decorations. The lemon cupcakes were topped with a pretty plaque decorated with a watering can filled with flowers and then popped into lemon and lilac coloured tulip cases. The strawberry and vanilla cupcakes were decorated with either a sugar paste plaque or a swirl of buttercream and sugar paste roses, hearts and a Lindor choc and placed in pink and green tulip cases. They looked sooooo pretty!

Comfort blankets

10th March 2022

I have made two throws/blankets to give to my cousins who recently lost their Mum. I used contemporary colours so that the blanket could be thrown over the back of a chair or used as a comfort blanket for those days when everything seems a little grey

Valentine's day Market at Merland Rise Church, Tadworth

14th February 2022

I had a cake stall at the Valentine's day market at Merland Rise Church. I had great fun making the cupcakes, mini cupcakes, loaf cakes and heart gingerbread for the stall, everything was decorated with cherubs, roses, hearts and kisses. I met some really friendly people and had a successful event selling out. Hooray, Happy Valentine's day.

Valentine's day at The Coffee House, Tadworth

14th February 2022

I made a selection of cupcakes to celebrate Valentine's day - Red Velvet sponge with a cream cheese flavoured buttercream, Vanilla sponge with strawberry jam centre topped with vanilla buttercream and chocolate fudge sponge with chocolate buttercream. The cakes were topped with hearts, roses and kisses perfect for the day.

Mini cupcakes Accession of the Queen for the Bus Stop Cafe

10th February 2022

I made a another batch of mini cupcakes, the go to vanilla sponge with strawberry jam centre and then topped with vanilla buttercream. I have made mini toppers with red white and blue flowers added a crown, some sprinkles and a union flag for the Bus Stop cafe tomorrow.

Birthday mini cupcakes for a dear friend

23rd January 2022

I made a batch of mini cupcakes, the go to vanilla sponge with strawberry jam centre and then topped with vanilla buttercream. I added 3 stripes of pink food colour to the icing bag to add a little special something to the decoration and then topped the cupcakes with handmade and bought sugar toppers - a bee, daisy, rose and slice of cake - all perfect for a birthday tea.

Savoury sausage roll - Tom Kerridge and Marcus Rashford recipe

15th January 2022

I made a very tasty savoury sausage roll for supper and to eat cold using a Tom Kerridge and Marcus Rashford recipe. The filling combined sausage meat with grated potato, onion and mushroom along with mustard and tomato ketchup. Once wrapped in the pastry I sprinkled on a little cheese and then baked. The only comment I would have about using this recipe is that combining the vegetable with the sausage meat does mean there is quite a bit of water so difficult to achieve the crispy bottom that everybody loves. But a very tasty recipe and would be great for a picnic when we get to the Summer.

70th birthday cake for a friend and one of the regulars at the Bus Stop Cafe

6th January 2022

I made a large vanilla cake which I fixed to a cakeboard and then layered the top with strawberry jam and fondant icing. I decorated the top with sugarpaste decorations that I'd made for a friend who is a drummer in a band and petrolhead - so a set of drums, musical notes and a couple of smart cars topped the cake along with buttercream rosettes and silver sugar sprinkles. The cake was shared with the regulars at the cafe with a cup of tea or coffee, it tasted great.

Final Christmas bake - Chocolate, cherry and amaretto Christmas cake

20th December 2021

I used a Woman's Weekly recipe to make this Christmas cake in November before decorating the week before Christmas with a thin layer of marzipan on the top and white fondant icing. I then rolled green sugarpaste into a sausage shape and bent it into a wreath shape and fixed it to the top of the cake with dots of dark green royal icing. I used the royal icing to cover the wreath with rosettes which I then stuck holly and ivy leaves to along with mini gilded gingerbread men, candy canes and snowflakes and then spritzed with glitter spray. Very happy with the finished effect.

Christmas cake bites, Nativity decorated cake for the Bus Stop Cafe

16th December 2021

I made a light fruitcake (I used a Mary Berry recipe) baked in a traybake tin and topped with a thin layer of marzipan and fondant icing. I then decorated the cake with a nativity scene in the centre surrounded by angels, stars, holly leaves and bells. Really pleased with the cake and it disappeared quickly when it was served with a cup of tea at the Bus Stop Cafe at our impromptu Christmas Carol service.

Christmas cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

14th December 2021

I made a batch of 24 vanilla cupcakes which I filled with National Trust jingleberry jam and topped with vanilla buttercream. I then decorated the cupcakes with Christmas toppers of baubles, Christmas trees and Christmas greetings. They looked great on The Coffee House facebook site.

Christmas crafting - knitted wreath version 2

13th December 2021

I made a couple of these wreaths for Christmas gifts for my friends, I knitted holly leaves and berries, a robin and pine cones which I fixed to a woodland wreath with a glue gun, I also added sequins to the holly leaves and snowflake buttons. I then wrapped battery powered lights around the wreath and finished with a length of ribbon to hang the wreath from a picture frame or door. Very happy with these too.

Christmas crafting - knitted wreath

13th December 2021

I made a number of these wreaths for Christmas gifts for my friends, I knitted candles, holly leaves and berries and flames which are fixed to an embroidery hoop wrapped with glitter tinsel yarn. I added sequins to give a drip effect to the candle. Very happy with these.

Christmas mini cupcakes for friends

13th December 2021

I made a batch of mini Christmas cupcakes to take to friends as a Christmas gift. They looked perfect in the tiny egg boxes which I use to display a clutch of 4 cakes. I made an orange and mincemeat flavoured sponge which I topped with vanilla buttercream and then used sugarpaste decorations. A perfect mouthful.

Christmas cupcakes for the yoga class

6th December 2021

I've been asked by my yoga teacher to make Christmas cupcakes for the last yoga class of the year. Made the reliable vanilla cupcake, added NT Jingleberry jam to the centre then topped with a swirl of vanilla buttercream and a sugarpaste decoration. Boxed each cake individually in a box decorated with sparkly holly leaves. Really pleased and I hope that Ross will be too as well as the other yoga students.

RBL afternoon tea

5th December 2021

I made another batch - 50 - of mini poppy cupcakes for an afternoon tea which the local branch of the RBL were hosting for all their poppy sellers. The little poppy cakes were a great success with everybody.

Christmas Community Market, Merland Rise

2nd December 2021

I had a stall at a local Christmas market, gosh it's been a while since we had a Christmas market. I baked a selection of cupcakes - standard and mini - made some knitted crafty items to sell as well and the afternoon was a great success.

Harry Potter cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

30th November 2021

Tadworth are having a Christmas lights switch-on this evening, the shop windows are being decorated and The Coffee House have chosen Harry Potter as their theme so I've made cupcakes to fit in, Harry Potter's owl Hedwig, Harry Potter glasses and the golden snitch. The sugarpaste toppers were used to decorate vanilla cupcakes filled with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream. Apparently they flew off the shelves!

Remembrance mini cupcakes for The Bus Stop Cafe

11th November 2021

I made a batch of mini vanilla cupcakes filled with raspberry jam, topped with vanilla buttercream and decorated with poppies (the cutter was something bought from Lakeland which has had a lot of use) and displayed in mini red tulip cases. I took the cakes to The Bus Stop Cafe yesterday, Armistice day, to share with the regulars, they went down a treat with cup of tea or coffee.

Halloween cupcakes for The Coffee House Tadworth

28th October 2021

I made two batches of Halloween cupcakes for The Coffee House in Tadworth, Chocolate fudge flavour cakes with a chocolate buttercream topping and caramel cakes with salted caramel buttercream. The Chocolate cakes were finished with sugarpaste toppers decorated with suitably spooky designs the caramel cakes had salted caramel swirls which were filled with popcorn, marshmallows and chocolate buttons and halloween sugar decorations. Great fun making them, I got a lot of the inspiration from my go to baking website Cakecraftworld.com.

The Children's Society fundraiser

28th October 2021

We held a fundraiser for The ChiIdren's Society at the Bus Stop cafe this morning, To go with the tea and coffee I made a vanilla traybake adding choc chips and fudge chips to give a little interest and then topped the cake with buttercream. We had decided on an autumn theme for our fundraiser so I used sugarpaste disks decorated with hedgehogs, mice, fairies and autumn leaves to finish off the cake. I was very pleased with the overall effect and the cake tasted really good too.

70th birthday mini cupcakes

24th October 2021

I made a batch of mini vanilla cupcakes, filled them with jam and then topped with buttercream and sugarpaste disks to spell our a birthday message for a friends special birthday. He was very pleased.

Dragon fly and water lily 80th birthday cake

14th October 2021

I was asked to make a coffee traybake cake to celebrate the 80th birthday of one of the ladies who regularly attends the Bus Stop Cafe. Her friend who commissioned the order told me that dragon flies were a favourite, I also made some water lilies to complement the dragon flies and champagne bottles and champagne glasses.

We shared the cake at the Bus Stop Cafe which everybody enjoyed.

Sporty Birthday cupcakes

8th October 2021

I made a batch of chocolate chip and vanilla and strawberry cupcakes and then decorated them with sporty themed cupcake toppers including motor racing, football and horseracing for a birthday celebration.

Macmillan Coffee Morning, Saint Peter's Church Hall

23rd September 2021

This morning we held a coffee morning to raise funds for the Macmillan charity.

We had decorated our hall using the green and purple of Macmillan, which provided a lovely welcome to all those who came. Entry was by donation for which we provided a mug of tea or coffee, and a sausage roll/biscuit/piece of coffee cake. I decorated the coffee cake with cups and cakes made from sugarpaste. I filled a cake stall with cupcakes, vanilla biscuits and loaf cakes which I sold by the slice. We also had a raffle and a gift stall for all our visitors to select from. We had a lively morning with a very good turnout and currently we have raised £436 for the charity with a little more money still to come to be collected which was an excellent result.

Biscoff marble loaf cake

5th September 2021

I found this recipe in the Sainsbury magazine under their 'One for the Tin' bake. The loaf cake is a combination of crunchy Biscoff spread, crushed Lotus biscuits and a choc/coffee mocha mix.

Once baked the loaf is drizzled with dark chocolate and melted Biscoff spread.

Perfect with a cup of coffee.

Back to school cupcakes

1st September 2021

I made some fun back-to-school cupcakes for The Coffee House in Tadworth, the cakes were loosely based on the popular Percy Pig and Colin Caterpillar sweets.

I used a vanilla cake as the base for the Percy cupcakes which I filled with strawberry jam and then topped with vanilla buttercream a Percy pig sweet and sprinkles. I made a simple chocolate cupcake which was topped with chocolate buttercream paste a Colin sweet and sprinkles. They looked great fun.

Persian tea loaf

13th August 2021

It's back to baking loaf cakes so that I can slice and freeze my bakes. The latest recipe that I've tried is for a Persian tea loaf, the dried fruit (dates, sultanas and some ginger) are soaked overnight in fairly strong Earl Grey tea. The fruit is then mixed with flour, semolina, soft brown sugar and ground almonds, eggs, oil and tahini. While the cake was cooking I made a syrup with lemon juice, rind and rosewater. When the cake comes out of the oven make a few holes in the top with either a fork or skewer and then pour over the syrup and top with dried rose petals and sliced pistachio nuts. Just beautiful.

Namaste cupcakes for yoga class

26th July 2021

It's the last yoga class for the Summer term tomorrow so I have made cupcakes for our class leader and the rest of my yoga colleagues. I used a vanilla sponge as the base for these cupcakes, which I filled with strawberry jam and topped with vanilla buttercream, I decorated the cupcakes with sugarpaste toppers which had lotus flowers, flowers and namaste printed onto each cake. The cakes were put in coordinating tulip cases and then boxed. Very pleased with the finished result.

Strawberry summer cupcakes - with a nod to afternoon tea

11th July 2021

I used a vanilla sponge as the base for these cupcakes, when baked I filled the cupcakes with strawberry jam and added a wash of strawberry and vanilla syrup glaze. I then topped the cakes with vanilla buttercream which I had coloured pink and white and a selection of sugarpaste decorations such as teacups and biscuits, a slice of sponge and a cupcake along with a segment of fresh strawberry and sprinkles..

40th birthday cupcakes

11th July 2021

Today I've been baking and decorating 40th birthday cupcakes. I used a vanilla sponge as the base, when baked I filled the cupcakes with strawberry jam and added a wash of strawberry and vanilla syrup glaze. I then topped the cakes with vanilla buttercream which I had coloured pink and white and a selection of sugarpaste toppers. I was really pleased with the result and I hope that the birthday girl will be too on her birthday tomorrow.

The Alzheimer's Society cupcake day Fundraiser

1st July 2021

At last we are able to hold a fundraiser for The Alzheimer's Society. We decorated the local Church Hall and to coincide with the Thursday Bus Stop Cafe put on a sale for the Alzheimer's Societies annual cupcake day. We had socially distanced tables for the regular clients to have a coffee and for a donation provided them with either a sausage roll or coffee cake (I had made and decorated a large coffee traybake to be cut up) or maybe both! We had stalls spaced around the hall - Bring and Buy, Jewellery, Greeting cards and Carol's cakes. In addition to the sausage rolls and coffee cake I had made mini and standard cupcakes decorated with forget me nots. I made a GF Clementine and Lemon pollenta cake and I had knitted NHS dolls to sell. Although donations were slightly down on last year we had a bright and jolly morning. The cakes that were leftover were taken to The Coffee House in Tadworth who very kindly made a donation and gave extra publicity to the Alzheimer's Society. A successful first charity fundraiser for 2021.

A Birthday Cake for me

22nd June 2021

I made a Victoria sponge for my birthday, I used a Mary Berry recipe and for a deeper sponge I used a 4 egg recipe with 8oz of the other ingredients and 20 cm sponge tins. I filled the sponge with Raspberry jam and pink tinted buttercream which had raspberry jam folded through it. I covered the sides and the top of the sponge with buttercream and used M&S Percy Pigg Sprinkles to coat the sides. On the top of the sponge I piped rose swirls (I painted lines down the inside of the piping bag with pink food colour to outline the petals of the roses) which were alternately decorated with Percy Pig sweets and rose leaves. Happy Birthday to me.

Father's Day cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

17th June 2021

A beautiful plate of cupcakes made with Father's Day in mind to be sold at The Coffee House, Tadworth. I made vanilla cupcakes filled with strawberry jam topped with vanilla buttercream and sugarpaste 'I Love Dad' and for my second batch of cakes I added choc chips to the vanilla sponge and finished the cakes with salted caramel buttercream and Father's Day bunting decorations made from sugarpaste..

Perfect as a gift for Dad this weekend.

60th birthday cupcakes

11th June 2021

I have been decorating cupcakes this morning for a 60th birthday. The customer asked for a regal blue, pearls and hydrangea to be used in the decoration. I baked vanilla cupcakes, filled with strawberry jam and topped with vanilla buttercream. I added toppers which had champagne bottles and glasses, hydrangea flowers and some personal messages for the birthday girl. Really pleased with the finished result.

Garden themed cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

27th May 2021

With a bank holiday weekend looming and beautiful weather to enjoy what could be better than spending the time in the garden which I took as my theme for a batch of cupcakes for The Coffee House in Tadworth. I made 3 different flavoured cupcakes; honey and lemon with a cream cheese honey and lemon buttercream, vanilla with jam centre and vanilla buttercream and finally toffee with salted caramel buttercream. The cupcakes were decorated with sugarpaste bees and garden tools and buttercream flowers. Great fun to make.

Re-opening of the Bus Stop Cafe - hooray

20th May 2021

Our local Church cafe has re-opened after 6 months and more online zoom quizzes - all good fun - than can be counted.

In February 2021 the Cafe celebrated 10 years so in recognition of this I made a decorative topper for Digestive biscuits which I also sandwiched together with Jam and cream for all the lovely regulars at the cafe to enjoy.

Beehive biscuit

13th May 2021

I recently bought a biscuit mix from cakecraftworld and used it to make this very pretty beehive biscuit, I used a cutter from Lakeland and painted the mini bees with writing icing.

Ray's birthday tea in the garden

8th May 2021

We had another socially distanced afternoon tea in the garden to celebrate Ray's birthday. I made a chocolate bundt cake which I decorated with cape gooseberries and filled with chocolates.

Mayday afternoon tea in the garden

1st May 2021

We had friends over for a socially distanced MayDay afternoon tea, as some of our visitors have a gluten free diet I decorated Mrs Crimble macaroons with a sugarpaste topper with bunting and a maypole. They looked very jolly.

Simnel cake for Easter afternoon tea

4th April 2021

I made a Simnel cake as the centre piece for our Easter afternoon tea in the garden with some friends. I used a Mary Berry recipe and decorated the cake with primrose blossoms a marzipan nest chocolate eggs and an Easter bunny.

Easter cupcakes for the NHS ITU teams at local hospitals

3rd April 2021

I made sixty Easter cupcakes to be donated to ITU teams at three of our local hospitals (St George's Tooting, St Helier and Epsom) as a thank you to the staff for all their hardwork during the pandemic. I made lemon cupcakes decorated with a selection of daffodil toppers and chocolate cupcakes decorated with a chocolate frosting nest and mini eggs. I packaged the cakes into Easter bags and added Happy Easter labels and then put the cakes into boxes decorated with rainbows for the NHS. I've heard that they were very pleased with their treat but really it is the very least I could do for all they have done for us.

Easter cupcakes for The Coffee House

31st March 2021

I made three dozen Easter cupcakes for The Coffee House in Tadworth. I made elderflower and lemon cakes decorated with a selection of daffodil toppers, carrot cupcakes decorated with cream cheese flavoured frosting, rabbits, carrots, eggs and primrose blossoms and finally chocolate cupcakes with a mini creme egg baked inside and decorated with a chocolate frosting nest and mini eggs. Really happy with the finished result.

Easter trail at St Peter's Church - Easter baskets and painted stones

25th March 2021

I made paper Easter baskets and decorated stones as a contribution towards the Easter trail which will be set up before Easter for the local children to follow. Once the children have followed the trail they will be given a basket containing mini Easter eggs on Easter Sunday.

Lockdown crafting - stash busting blanket for Percy Pig

19th March 2021

As well as baking I have been doing quite a lot of crafting - knitting and crocheting - during the lockdown. The latest item that I've finished is a blanket which used up a few of the many balls of wool that I have stashed away and coincidentally the colours co-ordinated perfectly with the lovely soft percy pig I've been given.

Mother's day baking for The Coffee House, Tadworth

12th March 2021

Further image of Mother's day cakes.

Mother's day baking for The Coffee House, Tadworth

12th March 2021

I delivered 3 dozen cupcakes to The Coffee House this morning for Mother's Day. I had made two different flavours, white chocolate and raspberry (I used a flavoured cake mix from cakecraft world) with a raspberry jam centre, vanilla buttercream and sugarpaste decoration and lemon drizzle, which was a recipe from Jane's patisserie and had a lemon drizzle soak, lemon curd centre and I used lemon drizzle flavoured icing sugar to get the right amount of zing, these were also decorated with sugarpaste decorations. I'm hoping that the Coffee House clientelle will love them.

Peanut butter and chocolate cookies

22nd February 2021

I picked up a recipe card in Waitrose for these peanut butter and chocolate cookies. I made a few adjustments to the recipe using crunching peanut butter instead of smooth, and using some leftover dark chocolate with salted almonds. I used 65 gms of mixture approx 3 oz per cookie, you weigh the dough out after it has chilled and then shape into a ball before putting on a lined baking tray and into the oven. I found the cooking time needed was longer than 12-15 mins, I used about 22 mins which coloured the biscuits more and also gives more of a crunch. Great recipe would recommend. Thank you Waitrose!

Lockdown crafting - Upcycling wire basket to make garden planter

20th February 2021

I was very kindly given a wire basket containing cheese, crackers and wine at Christmas, the basket was far too nice to be forgotten about so having bought some pots of miniature daffodils, crocus and anemone blanda I set about making a garden planter. I lined the basket with polythene making a few holes at the bottom for drainage. I then filled the basket with garden bark, I added an assortment of tin cans arranged to fill the basket and then planted the ready growing bulbs into the tin cans, finally putting a layer of bark across the top of the basket, I wrapped coloured raffia around the handles of the basked and the finishing touch was a wooden sign with our house number on it which my partner had made.

Lockdown crafting - Rainbow blanket

16th February 2021

Another project completed in lockdown, a knitted Rainbow blanket, which I will be sending to my goddaughter for her three little daughters to use inside at the moment and for picnics later in the year. I made multicoloured pompoms to complete the blanket and also attached one of my personalised labels.

Valentine cupcakes for local ITU teams

13th February 2021

I delivered 60 cupcakes to a friend who has set up a support group for our local nursing staff at 2 hospitals, Epsom and St Helier. The aim is to provide the nurses with treats to make them aware of how much we all value their services. The cakes were chocolate - decorated for Valentine's day and also vanilla - decorated with Rainbows and hearts. They are going to be delivered tomorrow, Valentines day, along with giant Valentines cards. I am really pleased to be involved with this initiative.

Valentine cupcakes for The Coffee House

11th February 2021

With the country still in lockdown it has been a difficult time for The Coffee House but the shop is open for a takeaway service and this morning I delivered Valentine themed cupcakes (chocolate and bakewell flavour) which tasted great and looked fantastic on their facebook site. I hope that they fly off the shelf.

Office accessories

23rd January 2021

I've jazzed up a few old tin cans with knitted wraps showcasing cable stitches, the cans hold pens and pencils in our office now.

Cold weather means woolly gloves, fingerless mits and a scarf

23rd January 2021

With all this very cold weather I had to make something for myself too so I made mittens, fingerless mits and a scarf. I used a natural aran added a gold thread black trim and pompoms. They all keep me very warm.

Cold weather means woolly gloves are needed

23rd January 2021

With all this very cold weather that we have been experiencing I have made woolly gloves for my partner.

Clementine covid crafting marmalade

9th January 2021

To use up the glut of clementines from Christmas I made a batch of clementine marmalade using a recipe in the Sainsburys magazine (you can also add juniper berries and gin to this if you like). With 500 gms of clementines and 1 kg of sugar I made 3 large jars of marmalade and 6 mini jars. I used a fat quarter bought from Aldi to make jar covers finished with co-ordinating ribbon and blackboard labels . The marmalade tastes great and the jars look really pretty.

January crafting

2nd January 2021

To keep myself occupied over Christmas (I knew that it would be a strange one not being able to get together with friends) I bought some super chunky wool named Gorgeous - and it really was - to make snoods in three beautiful colours; pink, blue and purple. The pattern was moss stitch which showcased the yarn perfectly, knitted on 20 mm needles rather like rolling pins. Really pleased with the finished result, they are so snug just perfect to wear when going out walking. I have posted out a few to my walking buddies.

Traditional Christmas cake

24th December 2020

I made a buttered rum fruit cake using a recipe from Good Housekeeping magazine at the end of November (on Stir-up Sunday). Once bake and cooled the cake was stored in paper and foil and fed with rum every week or so. To decorate the cake I brushed the top with apricot jam and then topped with a circle of marzipan. I then rolled a large circle of sugarpaste which I fixed to the cake with a very thin wash of boiled water. After smoothing the sugarpaste and cutting the sides I used royal icing to pipe rosettes around the top and the bottom of the cake and then used sprinkles and holly leaves to decorate along with a traditional Victorian Christmas scene made from cardboard. I also added Merry Christmas dusted with gold to the cake board.

Yule log baking assignment

24th December 2020

My final baking assignment for the year was a Yule log which I filled with vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam and then covered with chocolate buttercream and sugarpaste leaves, flowers and snowflakes. I also made spotted toadstools from mini meringues and marshmallows to add to the woodland theme. This was all placed on a 12" diameter red board finished with sugarpaste Merry Christmas dusted with gold glitter. My customer and her family were very happy.

Nativity window at St Peter's Church Hall

21st December 2020

One of the projects that I have been working on (with some help from Ray) during December has been to make a collage of the nativity scene to be fixed to one of the Church Hall windows. The idea was to have a new illustration for each week of Advent. We used card, tissue paper, felt, pipe cleaners and the start was hand knitted with tinsel yarn to create the nativity scene of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and a Shepherd with his sheep..

Mini nativity cupcakes for Bus Stop cafe friends

19th December 2020

I made a batch of mini vanilla cupcakes, decorated them with the nativity cupcake toppers (see previous post ref Messy Church at home) that I had bought from Cakecraft world and boxed them up into mini egg boxes to deliver to friends and near neighbours from the Bus Stop cafe. Just wanted to spread some Christmas cheer to the friends we would usually meet at the Bus Stop cafe.

Christmas cupcakes for the Coffee House

14th December 2020

I made a selection of decorations for the Christmas cupcakes that I baked for the Coffee House, I used a basic vanilla cupcake batter which I folded Christmas Hundreds and Thousands through. When the cakes had been baked I took out the centre using an apple corer and filled the space with Christmas sprinkles, then I replaced the sponge plug and decorated the cakes with either cream or green coloured vanilla buttercream.

Lebkuchen - honey spiced biscuits

11th December 2020

I used a recipe published in Waitrose's weekend paper to make these little honey spiced biscuits, the heart shape is a tradition but the dough could be cut with any shape cutter. The top of each biscuit was washed with egg white and then decorated with glace cherries and blanched almonds. After baking I decorated the almonds with a gold edible dust.

Nativity cupcakes for Messy Church at Home

8th December 2020

I made vanilla cupcakes for the children who have been attending Messy Church and decorated the cakes with a nativity topper and then bagged each cake up individually for delivery at home. The toppers were bought from www.cakecraftworld.co.uk which has a great online shop and is also a source of inspiration for all baking projects.

The Coffee House, Tadworth 1 year anniversary

2nd December 2020

Wednesday 2nd December was the 1 year anniversary for The Coffee House, what a fantastic job they have done to keep the business up and running given the number of business challenges they have had to deal with over the last nine months. I made chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and decorated them with sugarpaste discs which had been imprinted with the following messages: Thank you, With love and Celebrate which seemed appropriate for the occasion. I then handpainted the messages and used sprinkles to complete the decorations.

Christmas crafting - knitted baubles

29th November 2020

I have been busy working on a few Christmas projects including these knitted baubles featuring Santa, a jolly snowman and an elf. They look very sweet. I used a pattern from a Christmas collection devised by Zoe Halstead, one of my favourite designers for little Christmas novelties.

Cake for Remembrance Sunday

8th November 2020

I made a 3 tier sponge (vanilla, red velvet, vanilla) for Remembrance Sunday which I covered with cream cheese frosting and sugarpaste and decorated with poppies and poppy leaves to make a clock face. I used a poppy cutter from Lakeland to get the perfect shape. Very pleased with the result.

18th birthday cupcakes

5th November 2020

I was asked to make birthday cupcakes for the daughter of a dear friend, her special request was for red velvet with cream cheese frosting. I decorated the cakes with sugarpaste roses (the purple roses were painted with piping gel which really brought out the colour), champagne bottles and glasses and a cigarette - a mother-daughter joke. They were both very pleased.

Halloween cupcakes for The Coffee House

28th October 2020

I made a batch of spiced apple cupcakes for The Coffee House in Tadworth and decorated them for Halloween. I used National Trust toffee apple curd for the cake centre and then made a salted caramel frosting finishing the cakes with Halloween sugar paste decorations. I also used a Jem piping tube which when piped gives a hollow rosette which I then filled with marshmallows and popcorn to make treat cakes.

The Children's Society coffee morning

22nd October 2020

We had a socially distanced coffee morning for The Children's Society at the Bus Stop cafe in Woodmansterne this morning. I made sausage rolls and a double lemon traybake cake using a Mary Berry recipe and decorated the cake using Sugar and Crumbs Lemon drizzle flavoured icing sugar to make a buttercream topping. I had also used a patchwork cutter to make pirates and princesses to decorate the cake along with chocolate buttons, Dolly mixtures, mini marshmallows and mini jazzies.

Biker Birthday cake

17th October 2020

I made a birthday cake with a biker theme for a friend. I used a Victoria sponge as the base, filled the sponges with strawberry jam and vanilla frosting and topped the cake with a thin layer of strawberry jam and vanilla frosting I then placed in the centre a sugar paste plaque that had been decorated with a biker patchwork cutter and hand painted. I used alphabet cutters and red sugar paste for the message and to finish I piped vanilla frosting swirls around the top of the cake and added Super Hero sprinkles from cakecraftworld.co.uk.

Early Christmas crafting

14th October 2020

I've had a lot going on recently and needed something to help me relax so used my go to craft knitting and made these knitted snowglobes from a pattern found in Let's Knit, I did plan to give them away but I think they may be decorating my tree this year!

Lemon sponge for tea with friends

10th October 2020

We've got some friends coming for afternoon tea tomorrow so I made a lemon sponge using a staple Delia Smith recipe. I added a tspn of lemon extract to give a punchier flavour to the sponge and I used Lemon drizzle flavoured icing sugar for the filling and topping. I also added a layer of lemon curd through the middle. To decorate I used Dr Oetker wafer flowers, lemon sugar nibbs and M&S mini lemon meringues. PS. The cake was a great success

Banana and choc chip muffins

4th October 2020

What do you do with a couple of bananas left at the bottom of the fruit bowl? You make banana and choc chip muffins of course using a Mary Berry recipe, they were very good and to save the temptation of eating too many I put half a dozen in the freezer, which will be a treat on a rainy day..

Mni cupcakes for afternoon tea with friends

26th September 2020

We had a socially distanced afternoon tea get together with a group of four friends on Saturday afternoon, I made mini cupcakes - carrot and lemon - to provide a sweet bite for my friends. The cakes looked super cute and would be suitable for any get together or gathering where you wanted to serve finger food.

Macmillan coffee morning

24th September 2020

I have been doing my prep today for the Macmillan coffee morning that I will be helping at tomorrow at the Bus Stop Cafe in Woodmansterne. I have made a coffee traybake decorated with sugar paste cakes and biscuits, mini cupcakes, Macmillan gift bags and sausage rolls. Things will be a little strange as we have to adhere to the social distancing regulations but I am sure that all the regulars at the cafe will come along to support this great charity.

Fireman cupcakes for a 3rd birthday party

19th September 2020

I had an order for cupcakes for a 3rd birthday with a fireman theme, not something that I make everyday, i made 30 cupcakes using vanilla and chocolate cakes as the base. The vanilla cakes were decorated with a 3 colour - red, yellow and orange, frosting and the chocolate cakes with a creamy chocolate frosting both were topped with sugar paste decorations of fire engines, flames and all things fireman. The finished result was a very bright and cheerful batch of birthday cupcakes and the customer was very happy when she collected them. Happy Birthday Ben !!

Coffee cupcakes for The Coffee House

17th September 2020

The customers at The Coffee House are partial to a coffee and walnut cake but I decided to make them coffee cupcakes to bring a little variety. I brushed the top of the coffee cakes with a coffee syrup soak, then decorated with coffee flavoured frosting and decorated with dark chocolate covered coffee beans, chocolate vermicelli and a spritz of gold dust. The cakes were displayed in chocolate coloured tulip cases with a gold swirl. They looked very smart and the customers thought that they were delicious!

Another lockdown project - Just like Granny used

10th September 2020

I made these vintage looking coat hanger covers using wool from my stash of oddments, they are beautiful and remind me so much of the type of thing that Granny used to have in her wardrobe, but really they are far too decorative to hide away and would be perfect to hang a necklace on.

Cherry Tomato Chutney

4th September 2020

Doing some change of Season work in the garden I picked all the remaining cherry tomatoes and using a Nigel Slater recipe made a small batch of chutney.

It's an ideal recipe as you can use all the tomatoes ripe and unripe, which you combine with a chopped onion (I used a red onion), raisins, brown sugar, white wine vinegar, mustard seeds and chilli (I used chilli flakes). The chutney takes an hour to cook and doesn't have the strong vinegar smell that usually fills the house when making chutney. Once the jars are filled they should be stored for a month to mature in a cool dark place before using. I had a small amount left over which I've tried already and it has a lovely fruity taste with a hint of chilli kick after.

90th Birthday cupcakes

4th September 2020

A lovely job to do, making 90th birthday cupcakes with a theme of flowers and sewing. I first made vanilla cupcakes which when baked I added a strawberry jam centre to. I made vanilla buttercream, colouring half pink and then piped a pretty pink and cream swirl onto each cake. I was able to find some perfect edible wafer paper toppers on ebay to decorate the cakes with Singer sewing machines, pin cushions and cotton reels, I made flowers from pastel sugarpaste and letters to spell 'Nan' which I dusted with rose gold glitter dust. A very pretty cake.

21st Birthday cake

27th August 2020

I've been working for a couple of days on a 21st birthday cake. I was asked to make the cake with the theme of cats and dogs, using a lilac, blue and silver colour scheme. I made a white chocolate and strawberry tray bake {I used a Mary Berry recipe) which I then decorated with Vanilla and white chocolate frosting and sugarpaste decorations (cats made using a patchwork cutter which I handpainted, dogs from a cutter bought from Lakeland, roses using a mould with leaves and blossoms all made using cutters). The cake sat on a covered board which i dusted with lilac glitter dust and decorated with cats and blossoms.. Purrrrfect!

Sunflower cupcakes for The Coffee House

19th August 2020

On such a grey day I wanted to do something that I enjoy, I have been baking for The Coffee House and have made beautiful sunflower cupcakes that I think will make the customers smile. I've used a chocolate cupcake as the base, added blood orange curd (National Trust) through the centre and topped the cakes with chocolate buttercream and sugarpaste sunflowers. The centres of the sunflowers are made from a mini oreo biscuit and choc chips. I've put the cakes in yellow tulip cases and given each sunflower a spritz of gold dust. They look very cheerful and taste yummy!!

Another lockdown project completed

15th August 2020

Today is Granny Square Day and very appropriately I have just completed one of the projects that I started during lockdown - a crocheted bag using granny squares.

Today is also VJ Day, so sending much love and respect to the few servicemen and women that are remaining and also taking time while doing my craft to think about the many thousands that never returned from the War with Japan that we owe so much to.

Chocolate sponge cake

4th August 2020

I made a chocolate sponge cake for a friend's birthday this week, nice deep sponge using 3 eggs and 6 oz of all the other ingredients, I then filled and topped the sponge with chocolate fudge made with evaporated milk and Bournville chocolate, vanilla buttercream and a think layer of salted caramel sauce. I decorated the top with chocolate curls and mini chunks of salted caramel fudge.

(Recipe for sponge and chocolate fudge topping found in the Delia cookbook, comes out perfectly every time.)

Messy Church at home - Fish biscuits

2nd August 2020

I finished my prep for the August Messy Church at home pack this morning. This month’s Bible story is Jesus and the amazing catch of fish. So I have produced some easy to decorate fish biscuits (I used rich team biscuits covered with coloured buttercream and sweets - M&Ms, marshmallows and flying saucers. I used edible eyes from my cake decorating stash but equally effective is a slice of marshmallow decorated with an edible pen) that the children will be able to copy. I made a few props from sugarpaste using a marine theme to make a pretty ocean scene to photograph for the worksheet that will be circulated by email.

Birthday carrot cupcakes

18th July 2020

I made a batch of carrot cupcakes to celebrate a 15th birthday. The carrot cakes were brushed with an orange syrup, decorated with sugar and crumbs cream cheese flavoured icing sugar buttercream and topped with a sweetmelt carrot from cakecraftworld.co.uk. I displayed the cakes in tulip cases, orange and brown and gold to make them birthday special. They went down a treat. Happy Birthday Thomas!

The Coffee House, Pina Colada cupcakes

16th July 2020

Just in time for the hotter weather at the end of the week I made a batch of pina colada cocktail cupcakes for The Coffee House. The sponge mixture was flavoured with coconut essence and malibu liqueur, the baked cakes were brushed with pineapple syrup and filled with coconut buttercream and fresh pineapple. The cakes were then topped with coconut buttercream, sprinkled with dessicated coconut and a glace cherry. The finishing touch was a cocktail umbrella and a straw. "Chin-chin!"

Lockdown project - Afternoon tea blanket

11th July 2020

I've finished a few lockdown craft projects over the last 12 weeks, this is something which I am really pleased with, a knitted patchwork picnic blanket made up of 20 patterned squares sewn together and finished with a crocheted edge.

Hooray for the NHS

5th July 2020

Today I made a Victoria sponge.(Delia recipe - 6oz of all ingredients to give a deeper sponge) filled with strawberry jam and buttercream and the top layer of sponge covered with a thin layer of jam to secure a circle of sugarpaste. I decorated the top wtih rainbows made from sugarpaste using pastry cutters, chocolate letters and buttercream rosettes topped with rainbow spinkles. At 5 pm across the country people will be clapping to say thank you and to celebrate the 72nd anniversary of the NHS and we will then have tea and a slice of cake.

Another lock-down bake, Banana and Chocolate loaf cake

29th June 2020

We are still at home shielding so to cheer us up I made a Banana and chocolate loaf cake, decorated with a chocolate fudge frosting, chocolate curls, honeycomb and fudge pieces and bronze crunch. Very good with a cup of tea and it freezes very well too.

Birthday Giant Cupcake

22nd June 2020

For my birthday this year I decided to make a giant cupcake using a strawberries and cream flavoured baking mix (cakecraft world) and strawberries and cream flavoured frosting (sugar and crumbs). I covered a circular cakeboard with icing which I rolled with a daisy patterned rolling pin and then dusted with pink glitter dust. I cut Happy Birthday from pink sugarpaste which I stuck to the cakeboard along with sugarpaste flower decorations. The baked cupcake was filled with frosting and strawberry jam. The bottom section was covered with frosting and then decorated with white chocolate fingers to give the effect of a cupcake case, the top section was decorated with buttercream roses using two colour buttercream. I then added sugarpaste decorations, pink sprinkles, tall thin candles and spritzed the whole thing with pink glitter duster. Happy Birthday to me, I am very pleased with my cake.

Father's Day cupcakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

18th June 2020

Hooray The Coffee House in Tadworth is open for takeaway coffee and of course cake! (amongst other things). This morning I delivered chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate buttercream centre and chocolate buttercream swirl on top decorated for Father's Day, the cakes are bright and jolly with three distinct themes; gardening, football and emoji. Let's hope that they put a smile on the face of every Dad who receives one.

Parkin with cream cheese and black treacle frosting

12th June 2020

This is another recipe that I have taken from Baking Heaven magazine, a Parkin is a traditional cake which originated in the northern England, the recipe uses oats, golden syrup and black treacle which gives it a chewy texture when baked. It can either be decorated as here with a cream cheese based frosting with vanilla and black treacle added and then sprinkled with honeycomb chips or the plain Parkin can be wrapped and left in a tin where will become sticky - whichever version you choose it is very good with a cup of tea.

Messy Church at home

3rd June 2020

Over the last few months instead of all getting together at the Church Hall for Messy Church the children have been receiving a sheet of activities at home. I have been helping with the task sheet for the edible craft for June with a theme of Jesus and the faithful soldier. The children will need to decorate a biscuit with a speech bubble and the words "be healed" so I have given them a few ideas depending on what the children or Mum has available at home.

Knitted flowerpot decorations

27th May 2020

Hooray, found a lovely local gardener (Tania, the garden angel) to buy some Summer bedding plants from so I have spent this afternoon planting my pots and a window box with red geraniums and a selection of petunias, lobelia and verbena. To add my own unique twist I have also added knitted bees (made from string and cotton yarn with black button eyes, then sewn up and lightly stuffed and threaded onto a bamboo kebab skewer to fix in the pot) to the pots, they look beeutiful!

Lemon poppyseed loaf cakes

21st May 2020

I used a Sainsburys magazine recipe to make a lemon poppyseed loaf cake, I reduced the amount of poppyseeds in the mix and I also used the batter to make 2 smaller cakes rather than one large which I thought was guaranteed to overflow in the oven. Good result, one cake sliced and put into the freezer.

PS. The cake was defrosted and enjoyed by the Rangers at Polesden Lacey at a socially distanced gathering in early July.

Banoffee cake

14th May 2020

Trying to ensure that I don't waste anything I made a Banoffee cake with a couple of very sad looking bananas. I also chopped into the mix some chocolate covered fudge chocolates. The topping was a salted caramel buttercream decorated with tiny pieces of fudge. I portioned the cake and froze slices to be able to enjoy a piece another day.

VE Day

8th May 2020

Another strange bank holiday, celebrated without friends or family but at least the sun was shining. With the promise of some kind of street party and also to coincide with Ray's birthday I made a vanilla traybake with a jam centre and red, white and blue frosting rose swirls which I decorated with union flags, red roses and ribbon. Very patriotic

Bread

2nd May 2020

I have made bread in the past with varying degrees of success, I looked online for a recipe which I could make in my kitchenaid mixer and found something which was straightforward and so far has produced outstanding results with both dried and fresh yeast. There really is nothing nicer than your own baked fresh bread.

Knitted baby book

30th April 2020

Here's another of my coronavirus craft projects, I made this knitted book which I am going to donate to the local baby/toddler group once life gets back to normal. It was a good way to use up some of the spare wool I have, I found the pattern in Just Knitting magazine.

Boho Rainbow window hanging

25th April 2020

I've been using the lockdown period to do some simple crafts and one of my projects has been to make crocheted rainbow windowing hangings. A friend on the Isle of Wight saw the rainbow hanging in a window when she was out for her daily walk so she sent me a message to ask if I could make one for her. I'm not a whizz at crochet but she knows that I like a challenge and I have been really pleased with the result and have gone on to make many more for friends.

Simnel loaf

17th April 2020

During the period of lockdown I have baking once a week, I have been trying to find variations on a theme of loaf cake recipes as these are easy to portion and freeze. This week I've made a simnel loaf (I found the recipe on the BBC Food website) which has a nice sponge like texture, the dried fruit is given a quick blast in the microwave with orange juice + zest (I didn't have an orange so used the juice and zest from a couple of satsumas instead) to plump up the fruit. The cake uses 50 gms of marzipan shaped into a roll which is put into the loaf tin on top of half of the cake mixture and then covered with the remaining half. Once baked the cake is decorated with a lemon glace icing and either glace cherries and marzipan balls or I used surgarpaste flower decorations that I had made using moulds and also a patchwork cutter to give it a Spring vibe.

Cadburys Creme Egg Banana bread

10th April 2020

I have a surplus of Cadburys Creme Eggs at home as my plans for an Easter Market stall were put on hold because of the covid-19 restrictions. Fortunately, when the latest edition of my Baking Heaven magazine arrived it had just the recipe I needed to make use of a few of the Creme Eggs. A basic banana bread recipe has been given an Easter twist with a chopped creme egg added to the batter. Once baked the loaf is decorated with buttercream which has a couple of melted creme eggs added to it, giving a fudgy consistency and taste. I decorated the cake with Cadburys mini eggs, piped egg decorations from cakecraftworld.co.uk and also Tweety Pie sprinkletti. I was very pleased with the finished result and the taste was just perfect.

Easter Gingerbread house

6th April 2020

I had noticed on Pinterest and Google that there is a growing trend to decorate a Gingerbread house for Spring / Easter. So, I used a gingerbread house kit left over from Christmas that I bought at Ikea as my base, I covered the sides with sugarpaste and when dry painted on grass and flowers trailing around the door and the front windows. I used a covered piece of cardboard for the roof, as the weight of the roof can often lead to the sides buckling. Once everything was stuck together with royal icing I placed the house on a cakeboard covered with green sugarpaste and decorated with dessicated coconut which had been coloured green for grass. I used chocolate eggs for the garden path and added mini flowers, chicks (not to be eaten) carrots and rabbits to finish off the design.

Happy Easter.

Carrot loaf

4th April 2020

If you open your social media or more traditionally a newspaper you will see that the coronavirus has given everybody the urge to bake and why should I be any different. Today I made a carrot loaf using a Rachel Allen recipe. The loaf contains sultanas and walnuts in addition to carrots and has a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg and mixed spice for flavour. I also used some orange extract which I soaked the sultanas in before adding them to the mix. The topping is a sugar and crumbs flavoured icing sugar - cream cheese - which I made the buttercream with using salted butter to reduce the sweetness. The loaf was then decorated with sweetmelt carrots from cakecraftworld.co.uk and a few strands of orange zest. Having sliced the loaf I have put half of the slices, individually wrapped, into the freezer as an experiment as I am not sure how the decoration will freeze and then defrost. We'll have to wait and see which I'm sure won't be long! Happy baking.

Chocolate and Vanilla marble loaf

1st April 2020

Midway through the second week of confinement to our home and I have continued to bake as my go to stress relief tool. Everything has been carefully baked, sliced, portioned into recycled plastic trays and stacked in the freezer to provide a little slice of joy while we live through these uncertain times. So far I have made apple palm pies, lemon drizzle loaves, bread pudding and most recently Chocolate and vanilla marble loaf - a recipe from the Sainsburys magazine. It is a really simple recipe, one basic sponge divided into two, the chocolate sponge is flavoured with cocoa powder, orange juice and zest, the plain sponge with vanilla extract. The sponge mixes are spooned alternately into a loaf tin (best to use a loaf tin liner) and then swirled through with a tea knife. Once baked the chocolate topping is made from melted dark chocolate, golden syrup, vanilla extract and a small amount of butter. Just perfect.

Mother's Day cupcakes for The Coffee House

19th March 2020

This will probably be my last baking assignment for The Coffee House for a while as we move into uncertain times due to the corona virus outbreak. To go out on a high I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes which were filled with raspberry jam, glazed with a vanilla syrup and topped with vanilla buttercream, the cakes were decorated with sugarpaste to represent a bouquet of flowers, a tea table and a tasty tea time treat for Mum. I made these cakes with my own Mum very much in mind, sadly she died in November but she would have loved how pretty and colourful the cakes are xx

Messy Church, Parting of the Red Sea cupcakes

14th March 2020

My challenge for Messy Church was to create a cupcake that the children would be able to decorate showing Moses parting the Red Sea. I made a vanilla cupcake as the base and decorated the top with a 3 coloured (green, turquoise and blue) buttercream in a wave pattern leave a gap through the middle which I filled with shortbread crumbs for the sand. Moses was made from a jelly baby. I wrapped sugar paste over the head and then tied round a strawberry lace for his headdress. With a pretzel for the staff and various sugar decorations, sweets and mermaid sprinkles the sea effect was complete.

Birthday cupcakes

9th March 2020

I had a commission to make birthday cupcakes for a friend today. I made two flavours, Totally Lemon (lemon sponge, lemon syrup glaze, lemon curd centre and lemon buttercream decorated with lemon jelly slices and mini meringues) and Toffee Salted caramel (toffee sponge, salted caramel centre, salted caramel buttercream decorated with chocolate curls, honeybomb, fudge pieces, bronze crunch drizzled with dark chocolate. She was very pleased.

Coffee cake for the new Rector at St Peter's Woodmansterne

3rd March 2020

As my contribution to the refreshments following the service to Induct the new Rector at St Peter's Woodmansterne I made a coffee traybake decorated with sugarpaste flowers which were made with a brush embroidery mould and I also added chocolate covered coffee beans. To complete I added a sugarpaste message "Welcome to St Peter's" made with script cutters.

Easter crafting

1st March 2020

I have been making some Easter chicks to sell at a Craft fair in April. I've always made these little chicks at Easter but this year I have given then an upgrade with fluttery eyelashes, straw hats and pastel ribbons and flowers - very on-trend.

A slice of chocolate cake for our extra day

29th February 2020

What could be nicer than a cup of tea and a slice of chocolate cake on our extra day. I made an all in one chocolate sponge using a well tested Delia recipe. I filled the cake with National Trust Blood Orange curd - it's wonderful - and a chocolate fudge filling and topping also a well tested Delia recipe. I went for a simple decorating option using segments of Chocolate Orange dusted with tangerine coloured glitter dust. Perfect.

Snowdrops for the 3 o'clock special

16th February 2020

As you will have realised if you look at my blog on a regular basis I do a fair bit of baking for St Peter's Church in Woodmansterne. This afternoon the Church held a 3 O’Clock Special service geared towards those with learning disabilities or special needs of any kind and as I had some snowdrop toppers made I decorated vanilla cupcakes* with them and have donated the batch of cakes to the Church for the tea after the service. (The cakes were filled with greengage jam and then brushed with a vanilla syrup glaze. I used a vanilla buttercream all topped off with the handpainted toppers.)

Valentine's Day

14th February 2020

I made a further batch of standard chocolate cupcakes for The Coffee House in Tadworth. I baked these with a secret strawberry sponge heart in the centre, decorated them with chocolate frosting and sugar paste red roses and M&S Love Letters. They were a hit with the customers.

Valentine's Day

14th February 2020

I baked a large batch of chocolate mini cupcakes, I gave them a raspberry jam centre and decorated with chocolate frosting and a selection of icing decorations that I had made myself and bought from the wonderful Cakecraft World www.cakecraftworld.co.uk. The cakes were delivered to the Church cafe yesterday and today they will be shared with my yoga class and my lovely hairdresser Josie.

Brexit

31st January 2020

Yes, I know even the word is controversial, it is the thing that has divided families and broken friendships but like it or loathe it Brexit and 31st January 2020 will be a special day in our history and every special day deserves a cake.

Chocolate Orange birthday cupcakes

24th January 2020

I was asked to make some chocolate birthday cupcakes. I found a recipe which used a Terry's Chocolate Orange. The sponge contained chopped chocolate orange along with orange essence for flavouring. The buttercream was also flavoured with orange essence and then the cake was decorated with a chocolate orange segment, drizzled with dark chocolate and dusted with Cocoa diamond dust. The cakes were presented in a chocolate coloured tulip muffin case. They were a resounding success.

Mini carrot cakes for The Bus Stop cafe

16th January 2020

I made bite sized carrot cakes for The Bus Stop cafe this week, once baked and while still warm the cakes are brushed with an orange syrup glaze which makes for a moist and tasty cake. The cakes are decorated with an orange cream cheese topping and finished with either a sugar carrot or an orange jelly slice.

Cherry Bakewell cupcakes for The Coffee House

13th January 2020

This week I've made Cherry Bakewell cupcakes for The Coffee House. The sponge contains ground almonds and once baked the centre is removed and filled with raspberry jam. The cake is topped off with lemon glace icing and a glace cherry. The result is a moist cake full of flavour. The cakes are displayed in a red tulip case giving a simple by striking finish.

Messy Church Butterfly Biscuits

8th January 2020

I have another session at Messy Church at the weekend and needed to come up with some ideas to decorate Rich tea biscuits with a butterfly topper. This is my favourite decoration of the 3 options that I came up with and uses sugar paste butterflies stuck onto a plain disc and shaped to look as though they are flying out of the biscuit, the butterflies can be painted and the disc can also be decorated with blue dust and rainbow decorations. .

New Year baking

5th January 2020

Continuing my baking for The Coffee House in Tadworth we decided that customers would probably be looking for something a little healthier at the start of the New Year so I made these little carrot and orange cupcakes. The cakes were topped with an orange syrup and then decorated with orange glace icing and an orange jelly slice.

Christmas Cake

25th December 2019

I made a spiced port and orange Christmas Cake this year using a recipe which I found in Country Living magazine. I then decorated the cake with a very thin layer of marzipan and fondant icing on the top which was finished off with a printed topper and moulded sugar paste decorations of pine cones, fir tree, ivy, Christmas roses and poinsettia. Finally I wrapped a wired festive ribbon around the cake. The inspiration for my cake was taken from the CakeCraftWorld website.

Christmas Market at Chessington Garden Centre

22nd December 2019

I've had a busy week leading up to 22nd December as I've been making and decorating cupcakes (I made Chocolate cakes decorated with a Christmas pudding, Vanilla cupcakes with snowflakes on a "Frozen" theme, Red velvet cakes decorated with santas and candy canes and something more adult a spiced fruit with brandy soaked raisins and brandy buttercream frosting decorated with Christmas trees), decorating gingerbread biscuits and getting all my Christmas knits in order for my stall (log cabin) at the Christmas Market. It was a bright and sunny day (after all the rain) but noticeably colder - which obviously works well for the cakes - not a huge amount of footfall in the Christmas market first thing but after a slow start the cakes began to disappear, so a successful day and end to the year.

Merry Christmas and thanks for your suppport.

Red Velvet cupcakes for The Coffee House

15th December 2019

I made red velvet cupcakes today, which were filled and topped with buttery cream cheese frosting. The cakes were decorated with a Santa topper, red and white peppermint candy canes and little gingerbread people. I hope they are popular with the customers tomorrow.

Stained glass window biscuits for Messy Church

14th December 2019

Today we had the Christmas session for Messy Church. I made star shaped stained glass window biscuits for the children to decorate and then hang on their Christmas tree, if they could resist the urge to eat the biscuit. I used a vanilla and lemon sugar biscuit dough as the base, stamped out a star in the centre which I then filled with crushed fruit sweets. The key to keeping the star shape when baking is to chill the biscuit dough before it is baked. The biscuits were then decorated with coloured writing icing and sprinkles. The children talked about the nativity story as they decorated and who followed the star.

Mini festive cupcakes for The Bus Stop Cafe and Yoga Class

11th December 2019

More Christmas baking this week for the Bus Stop Cafe and friends at the weekly yoga class I attend. I used my favourite chocolate cupcake recipe to make a large batch of mini cupcakes. Each cake was filled with National Trust festive Jingleberry Jam and then decorated with chocolate buttercream, sugar paste holly and mini decorations.

Festive cakes for The Coffee House, Tadworth

9th December 2019

I started my Xmas baking yesterday using Christmas toppers that I've made using a variety of moulds with sugar paste and patchwork cutters that I have then hand painted. I baked a spiced fruit cupcake, added a cinnamon syrup glaze, cinnamon frosting and then decorated with my Christmas toppers. The second batch of cupcakes were traditional chocolate with a chocolate frosting centre and topping. I then decorated with a christmas pudding look topper and also chocolate stars. One batch of mixed cupcakes was delivered to The Coffee House in Tadworth by my trusty helper and a further batch was delivered to the Garden/Countryside team at Polesden Lacey.

The Coffee House, Tadworth launches today

2nd December 2019

Very excited, I've been asked to make cupcakes for a friend/ex-work colleague who has launched her own business today. I made a vanilla cupcake with vanilla syrup, strawberry jam centre, vanilla buttercream and personalised toppers for The Coffee House made from sugar paste. Wishing you much success Sarah.

Christmas Cake Topper - Decorating Course

29th November 2019

I had a great day today with the ladies from Cakecraft World and Cakecraft tv learning to use moulds and painting, shading and dusting sugar paste and modelling paste to make this lovely Christmas wreath cake topper.

Armistice day - Remembrance cupcakes

11th November 2019

To honour the fallen of the Great War, WWII and all those that we choose to remember at this time of year I made Poppy cupcakes for the Bus Stop Cafe last Thursday. Lakeland had produced some plunge cutters which were a great help in getting the exact poppy shape needed, I made the poppies in advance to allow them to dry and then painted the centres black. I decorated red velvet cupcakes (made using a Nigella recipe) with a cream cheese icing, which I also put through the centre of the cakes. The poppies were stuck to a simple white sugar paste plaque using edible glue I then added a poppy leaf. I baked the cakes in red cases to reinforce the red colour.

Children's Light Party

31st October 2019

I helped with a children's Light Party this afternoon. We focused on light and happy things rather than scary halloween. I baked vanilla/choc chip sponge cupcakes decorated with vanilla buttercream and topped with a planet and stars themed cupcake topper. The night sky was created by marbling black, navy and white sugarpaste together. The cakes were decorated with edible sprinkles and finally spray glitter. Over 20 children dropped into our party taking part in many different activities and they were rewarded with a goody bag.

Celebrating Autumn at the Bus Stop Cafe

31st October 2019

I made a selection of decorations to top some chocolate cherry cupcakes (chocolate sponge containing dried cherries with cherry jam centre and white chocolate buttercream) that I baked for the Bus Stop cafe. The idea was to move away from scary Halloween and instead celebrate the season with pretty pumpkins, owls, fireworks and autumn leaves on a bonfire.

Christmas crafting

20th October 2019

I have already started my Christmas crafting and have made these knitted snowmen which are filled with a chocolate orange. NB. there are only 70 sleeps until Christmas.

Carol's Cakes at Ladies charity lunch

19th October 2019

I was very pleased to have a cake stall at a ladies charity lunch in Banstead this morning. The lunch was to raise funds for the Royal Marsden Hospital with approx 250 ladies present. I took along a selection of cupcakes: cherry bakewell, choc/cherry, vanilla and strawberry and lemon all displayed in either coloured tulip cases or patterned cake collars to give the stand extra colour. There were also mini carrot cupcakes packaged in a mini egg box decorated with a carrot. I was also selling some ideas for Christmas gifts, knitted snowmen filled with a chocolate orange and knitted Christmas pudding filled with a lindor choc. It was great to meet so many of the guests and to receive so many lovely comments about my cakes.

Charity Baking - The Children's Society

17th October 2019

There was a fundraiser at the Bus Stop Cafe this morning for The Children's Society, I made a coffee cake to be cut up and sold to raise proceeds for the charity. I decorated the cake with sugarpaste teapots and teacups, unicorns, chocolate covered coffee beans and edible wafer paper butterflies.

Macmillan Coffee Morning - Let's brew this

26th September 2019

Our Macmillan Coffee Morning started at 9:00 am, we had decorated the Church Hall the evening before with bunting and balloons and our stalls were ready for some brisk business. I made a selection of cupcakes, Golden Madeira, Lemon, Choc/Mint Aero and Carrot to sell in aid of the Macmillan Coffee Morning. I used multi-coloured tulip cases to display the cakes which made my stand look very colourful. I also made mini cakes which were packaged in mini egg-boxes - they look cute and are easy to transport. The centrepiece for my stand was the Coffee cake mentioned below. It was a successful morning for the cafe, bring and buy, greetings cards and my cake stall so far our collection has reached £350 for Macmillan with a bit more money still to come.

Update - Final total raised £470.

Macmillan Coffee Morning - Coffee cake

26th September 2019

I made a coffee trayback for the Macmillan Coffee Morning today using a Mary Berry recipe which I decorated with sugar paste teapots and tea cups along with chocolate covered coffee beans. The cake proved to be very popular with a cup of coffee from the Bus Stop Cafe.

Macmillan Coffee Morning - Preparation

20th September 2019

I'm helping to arrange a Macmillan Coffee Morning on 26th September to be held in conjunction with the Bus Stop Cafe, St Peter's Church Hall, Woodmansterne. As usual I'll be baking a selection of cakes but as I also like making little knitted items I have dressed a pair of mini teddy bears with jackets, hats and scarves all in the Macmillan colours of purple and green. Here's one of them, what a cute bear!

Messy Church - Harvest biscuits

14th September 2019

It was Messy Church again this weekend and the theme 'Harvest, food is a gift from God, God loves a cheerful giver.' The harvest biscuits are made to represent an ear of corn. I used a breakfast biscuit fixed to a lolly stick to make the base. The biscuits were either covered with yellow sugar paste for the biscuits I decorated in advance or with yellow icing for the biscuits that the children decorated this afternoon. We used smarties to decorate and then wrapped each biscuit in a green crepe paper wrapper, to look like a corn husk, finished with a raffia bow to hold the wrapper in place. Very colourful and tasy too!.

Wedding favours

31st August 2019

I was asked a while ago if I would make wedding favours for a friend, she wanted something with a Scottish theme to celebrate the heritage of her husband to be. We decided that a thistle would be perfect. My mission was to create a cupcake topper combining a handpainted thistle with a purple sugar paste plaque stamped with the names of the bride and groom and I needed to make 100. The topper was the crowning glory on a golden madeira cupcake with a raspberry jam centre and vanilla frosting. The cakes where packaged in a gift bag tied with a tartan ribbon. A fitting tribute to a beautiful Bride and handsome Groom and a lovely gift for all of their guests..

Sausage roll cupcakes!

16th August 2019

No, I'm not joking. I was asked to make a batch of cupcakes decorated with sausage rolls, for somebody who obviously loves sausage rolls! Good old ebay provided the perfect topper and I then made chocolate cupcakes, added a salted caramel centre, salted caramel buttercream, chocolate and honey comb sprinkles all topped off with the all important edible wafer sausage roll. I put the cakes in tulip cases to give an extra special finishing touch. The cakes were a great success.

Thank you cakes

9th August 2019

I needed to make some Thank you cakes to send to a friend and decided that the mini cupcakes would be just perfect for the job. I made a batch of vanilla batter, which after baking I filled with a strawberry jam centre, topped with buttercream and then decorated with flowers, butterflies and sweeties. I then boxed the cakes up to complete the gift.

Busy Baking week - Project 3

3rd August 2019

Finally, I had been invited to tea with my dear friend's Aunt so I made some mini cupcakes for our tea which were just so sweet they would be perfect for a dollies tea party. The same chocolate sponge recipe was used with a raspberry centre and chocolate buttercream rosette topping, the cakes were displayed in mini pink tulip cases and decorated with sugar paste flowers, mini jazzies, edible wafer paper butterflies and spritzed with edible glitter spray. Irresistible.

Busy Baking week - Project 2

2nd August 2019

My next job was to make some farming themed cupcakes for a friend's birthday. I used edible paper tractor cutouts as the focal point with a royal icing wildflower border, which was decorated using sugarpaste flowers, butterflies and green glitter sugar to bring it all together. The base was a chocolate sponge with raspberry centre and chocolate buttercream swirl to represent the ploughed field. Very Countryfile!

Busy Baking week

1st August 2019

I've had a busy end to the week with a number of baking projects to complete.

Firstly, I was asked to make 16th birthday cupcakes - these needed to have a more masculine edge to them, so we opted for a Playstation theme. Great colour combination of red sugar paste plaque and hand painted black/multi colour playstation topper on a chocolate sponge with Nutella centre and chocolate buttercream.

Busy Baking week

27th July 2019

I had a commission to make cakes for a milestone birthday this week, an 18th birthday. For the 18th birthday collection I made vanilla, lemon and chocolate cupcakes. I used moulds and cutters with sugar paste to create champagne glasses and bottles, initial letters, the number 18, roses, leaves and flowers to decorate the cakes.

Namaste cupcakes for Gentle yoga class

22nd July 2019

We had the final class for the Summer term.of gentle yoga this morning and as a treat for my teacher and other yoga colleagues I made a batch of vanilla cupcakes decorated with flowers and praying hands to signify Namaste - we say Namaste at the end of our yoga session when we bring our hands together in prayer and bow our heads - translated from the Sanskrit this means I bow to you, in the context of yoga it is an expression of thanks between the participants and their tutor.

Football mad birthday cupcakes

19th July 2019

I have just completed an order for birthday cupcakes for a young football fan. I made vanilla cupcakes with a strawberry jam centre and strawberry syrup glaze baked in a football theme cupcake case. Having established that he was passionate about all things Chelsea I had personalised football shirts made from edible wafer paper as a cupcake topper and added them to sugar paste footballs and blue toppers which included his name and age.

The flight of the Bumble bee - Lemon and honey bee cupcakes, Bus Stop Cafe

18th July 2019

This week I made Lemon and honey bee cupcakes for the Bus Stop cafe. I used a Rowse honey recipe, including honey and grated lemon zest in the cake batter. The buttercream includes cream cheese and honey from a local beekeeper. I decorated the cakes with sugar paste bees (using flaked almonds for the wings and flower stamen for the antennae) and flowers. I also added a honeycomb design to the top of the cakes with hexagonal yellow sugarpaste cutouts and traced the flight of the bumblebee with an edible pen. Buzz buzz

Messy Church Star and moon biscuits

12th July 2019

National Trust Anniversary cupcakes

5th July 2019

I made cakes for my partner to take into Polesden Lacey today to celebrate volunteering for the NT for 4 years. The decoration was my take on the NT logo with Oak leaves and an acorn made from sugar paste and a chocolate biscuit twig. I used a toffee cupcake as the base with salted caramel buttercream and the cake was encased in a green tulip muffin case.

Summer berries - diy Patisserie

30th June 2019

With all this fantastic summer sunshine there has been an abundance of summer berries just crying out to be used in baking. This month not only have I made the Pimms cupcakes but Summer Pudding and these lovely Strawberry and Raspberry eclairs (I found the recipe in an Ocado magazine). They didn't last long!

Summer solstice, Summer sun, Summer cup

21st June 2019

What could be better than a cupcake based on Pimms - as it is my birthday this weekend I've made a few cupcakes to celebrate. The sponge is flavoured with orange and lemon zest and once cooked soaked with a Pimms syrup which includes cucumber, mint, orange and lemon zest. The buttercream is also flavoured with Pimms but to add another twist is coloured and flavoured with strawberries, orange, cucumber and mint giving a multi coloured swirl all topped off with a slice of strawberry, sugarpaste flowers and a paper straw.. Cheers!

Alzheimer's Society Cupcake Day Sale at the Bus Stop Cafe

13th June 2019

I supported the Alzheimer's Society yesterday by holding a Cupcake sale at the Bus Stop cafe in Woodmansterne. My stall had the theme of Forget me not with some themed gifts to purchase in addition to a lot of cupcakes both standard (vanilla with blueberry centre, toffee salted caramel and pink lemonade) and mini size. The lovely ladies at the cafe provided a Bring and Buy Stall, Plants and Greetings cards. We had a very successful morning all the cakes were sold and we raised a total of £300.00 for the Charity.

Caterham Food Festival - Team Cupcake the other valuable member

9th June 2019

So that you can see the cakes in close-up I've added pictures to the products page. Thank you to all of those people who stopped to talk, took photos and gave us compliments on our colourful stand.

Caterham Food Festival

9th June 2019

Bright and early on Sunday 9th June Team Cupcake headed off to Caterham to set up the Carol's Cakes stand at our first Food Festival. After a bit of a slow start all of the cakes were sold, which was great as this was an untested market. The stall had the theme of mythical and beautiful creatures, on offer were Vanilla Mermaid and Unicorn cupcakes, Pink Lemonade Flamingo cupcakes, Lemon and Toffee Salted Caramel Alpaca cupcakes and for the traditionalists Chocolate cupcakes.

Milestone Birthday cupcakes - Part 2

24th May 2019

This week I've made cupcakes for a milestone birthday. I made lemon cakes which were topped with a lemon syrup glaze, filled with lemon curd and decorated with lemon buttercream and a sugarpaste daisy painted with yellow edible paint and sprayed with silver edible lustre dust.

Milestone Birthday cupcakes

24th May 2019

This week I've made cupcakes for a milestone birthday. I made chocolate cakes which were decorated with chocolate buttercream, a chocolate flavour sugarpaste rose and leaves topped off with a very glitzy Happy Birthday. The sugarpaste rose and leaves were sprayed with an edible glaze to give a super sheen and the finished cakes were sprayed with gold edible lustre dust.

Blooming Lovely - my tribute to the Chelsea Flower Show for the Bus Stop Cafe

16th May 2019

As a tribute to the Chelsea Flower Show next week I made flower themed cakes for the Bus Stop Cafe today. The cakes are a vanilla sponge with strawberry jam centre. The decorations are a golden rose, spikey chrysanthemum and bi-colour hydrangea.

Messy Church Crown biscuits

10th May 2019

I'm helping with the crafts at Messy Church tomorrow so have been baking crown biscuits today - I used a multi-purpose Mary Berry biscuit recipe which includes semolina to give the biscuits crispness and contains lemon zest for flavour. Before baking the dough was chilled for a couple of hours to ensure that a good shape is retained. I have also cut out crown shapes from brightly coloured sugarpaste to stick onto the biscuits and we'll be using sprinkles and sweets to finish decorating the biscuits.

On parade

6th May 2019

It will be my chief taster, chauffeur and all round good egg's birthday tomorrow. As he has close links with and is interested in all things military I have gone with that theme to decorate some toffee flavoured cupcakes. I hope that he likes them.

May Queen Fair

6th May 2019

On this chilly Bank Holiday Monday I'm helping to promote Messy Church on Woodmansterne Green this afternoon and also helping with some very basic craft sessions for any of the children who want to stop by our tent. We will be giving out leaflets along with one of the fun emoji biscuits.

Love is in the Air

2nd May 2019

This week I've made cupcakes for a Hen Party, vanilla with a strawberry centre, strawberry syrup glaze, vanilla buttercream and covered with sugarpaste blossom - perfect for May - with an edible butterfly to complete the look. Just beautiful.

Something completely different - Asparagus, olive and sundried tomato loaf

25th April 2019

This is one of my favourite recipes which was published in the BBC Good Food magazine some time ago, it is made with asparagus, black olives, cheese and sundried tomatoes. This savoury loaf is great served warm as a starter, for lunch with a simple tomato salad, cold in lunchboxes or cut into small squares and served with drinks. If you'd like the recipe just get in touch via the contact page.

Easter cupcakes for the Bus Stop Cafe and friends

17th April 2019

I have baked 3 new recipes for the Bus Stop Cafe tomorrow and for visiting friends; Banoffee cupcakes (chocolate cake containing banana and fudge pieces, covered with chocolate spread and vanilla buttercream and decorated with sugar paste rabbits), Simnel Muffins (sponge flavoured with mixed spice, dried fruit and marzipan covered with almond flavoured glace icing and decorated with sugarpaste flowers and mini eggs) and Creme Egg cupcakes (chocolate cake containing a mini creme egg topped with bi-colour icing, half a creme egg and sugarpaste flowers finished with golden glitter spray). I hope they like them.

Spelt and Yoghurt Simnel cakes - countdown to Easter

14th April 2019

Started Easter baking today, an Easter treat for my yoga class tomorrow morning, I used a Spelt and Yoghurt cake mix sample which had been sent to me by lovely Cakecraft World (www.cakecraftworld.co.uk) I added mixed spice, dried fruits and marzipan to the mix. The cupcakes were topped with a vanilla buttercream mix which I coloured yellow and added a hint of almond essence. I also used the buttercream to make a cream centre. The cakes were decorated with edible hand painted daffodil plaques.

Mint Choc Aero cupcakes

7th April 2019

I tried another new recipe this weekend, Mint Choc Aero cupcakes. The chocolate cupcakes are baked with 2 frozen mint choc aeros inside. Once cooled the cakes are decorated with a swirl of peppermint flavoured buttercream, followed by a small piped rosette of chocolate buttercream topped with another mint choc aero. They look and taste wonderful.

Mum's 90th Birthday cake

3rd April 2019

I've made two Strawberry and White Chocolate traybakes using a Mary Berry recipe for Mum's 90th birthday today. The cakes are piped with a bi-colour vanilla buttercream and then decorated with handmade flowers, leaves and edible paper butterflies all dusted with raspberry pearl sugar and pink glitter spray. The Happy Birthday topper was made from modelling paste and painted pale pink using edible paint.

Perfect - Happy Birthday Mum x

When is a cupcake not a cupcake?

1st April 2019

So the thing that I do in between baking is make small craft items, there's a milestone birthday in the family this week and I've been making lots and lots of little knitted cupcake sweetie covers to give to the residents of the Home where my Mum lives when we have her 90th birthday tea. Don't they look cute.

Mother's Day cupcakes

28th March, 2019

I took a batch of very lemony (lemon sponge, lemon curd centre, lemon syrup glaze and lemon buttercream) cupcakes to the Bus Stop cafe in Woodmansterne this morning for Mother's Day. They were decorated with a tulip field design made from coloured sugarpaste topped with a chocolate 'Mum' and a heart. They were very popular with the regulars.

Cordon Bleu School

23rd March, 2019

I visited the Cordon Bleu school, Bloomsbury Square to watch a demo on Working with Chocolate organised by Cakecraft World. Many interesting techniques were displayed and samples of chocolate were given to the 70 strong audience, the only shame was that the impressive Show Stopper created was actually a cake dummy covered in chocolate, what a waste!

Tulip cupcake toppers

22nd March, 2019

I've been working on some decoration ideas for Mother's Day cupcakes, so with an RHS bulb leaflet as inspiration and a patchwork cutter as the tool of choice along with edible paints I've produced the toppers opposite, I also plan to make a tulip field topper which was a design idea in a recent issue of Cake Decorating Heaven.

Bakewell cupcakes

17th March, 2019

This recipe is full of flavour and when decorated is a very pretty cake, I've made this batch as a taster sample. The cake is almond flavoured with a cherry jam centre, cherry bakewell flavoured buttercream coloured pink and white (using Sugar and Crumbs Cherry Bakewell flavoured icing sugar www.sugarandcrumbs.co.uk) decorated with glace cherries and Sprinkletti sprinkles made by Scrumptious www.scrumptious.uk.net

Emoji biscuits for Messy Church

9th March, 2019

These biscuits are an ideal way to keep children occupied. I used Rich Tea biscuits as the base, painted them with lemon curd (or any jam will do) and then cut out a circle with a pastry cutter the same size as the biscuit. The faces were decorated using M&Ms, edible pens and fondant icing. (TIP- I found it easier to write on the icing after it had been allowed to dry for a while). Have fun.

New packaging

2nd March, 2019

I have been handprinting new cupcake labels to go with the website launch. Each cupcake box will now be tied with Nutscene raffia and will be completed with the handprinted label tied with either Nutscene Jute twirly twine or Nutscene Candy Twist Bakers twine - nutscene.com. The cupcake printing block was bought from theartycraftyplace.co.uk

Jaffa Cakes

23rd February, 2019

I tried out the recipe in the Weekly Waitrose Paper today - it was Martha Collison's take on Jaffa Cakes. Not exactly straight forward and some would say why bother when you can just open a packet - but they were worth the effort and tasted yummy.

Valentine cupcakes

14th February, 2019

The Valentine cupcakes were made for my local Church cafe, The Bus Stop Cafe in Woodmansterne, which is open every Thursday morning and I try to bake for them once a month. The Valentine cupcakes had a hidden secret, a raspberry flavoured heart baked within the chocolate cake. This was a recipe and technique that I found on the www.cakecraftworld.co.uk website. The cupcakes were decorated with chocolate buttercream, edible wafer paper roses, sugar hearts and rose leaves and a glitter heart. They looked the business!

Lindor Cupcakes

24th January, 2019

Tried a new recipe, Lindor Cupcakes, which were Birthday cupcakes to fulfill an order.

The cakes contain a frozen Lindor chocolate which melts as the cake bakes. The cakes were topped with vanilla buttercream and a gold dusted Lindor chocolate to finish. Perfect!

The feedback was very good so I will be using this recipe again.

Carol's Cakes home made especially for you