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Monday 22 November 2010




As promised, here are the pictutres of my window.. in progress :-)

Sunday 21 November 2010

Studio Window

I dropped my cakes off this evening at the Just Darling Cake Studio, in preparation for dressing the window tomorrow afternoon... I'm a nervous wreck! All of a sudden I'm really nervous about putting the cakes in the window. Although the studio will not be open until next tuesday 30th November I thought the window being dressed may provoke people's interest for the actual opening.

I'm patially nervous because Alisa who owns La Fleur floral and bridal who I lease my studio and the window space off has done an amazing job with her window and mine is going to look a lot less festive. However, the decision not to go too festive was a conscious one and as I can't see many Christmas brides having left their cake ordering until now :-) I'm hoping to appeal to 2011's brides and wanted to showcase what I can do for them. Initially I will display one of my own creations and one from the Ruby Bloom collection and depending on how much space is left, a cupcake stand and a Christmas cake. There will also be at least 6 more cakes on display in the Studio upstairs.

I will post pictures of the dressed window tomorrow evening, fingers crossed it will be as eye catching as I hope.

Saturday 6 November 2010

Cake International

I'm a little hyper after today's expedition to Birmingham :-) Cake International at the NEC is heaven for Cake geeks like me! I have definitely made a dent in my budget but have bought some absolutely gorgeous things and I can't believe it but I actually got an airbrush! It's been on my wish list for ages but was nervous about buying something I have no idea how to use. After a quick demo at the NEC I'm ready to go and the effects are so cool.

I also bought some beautiful lustres in colours that are to die for, can't wait to use them, will be experimenting tomorrow night when the girls are safely tucked up in bed... I'm such a spoil sport their eyes lit up when they saw all my goodies :-) I have got lots of pretty stencils and impression mats to try too, I'm not going to know when to start. Now all I need is for my flaming dummy cakes to arrive so I can get to work on my display cakes for the shop... they've only been on order for TWO weeks!

Thanks to Jayne Walsh of The Little Fairy Cakery in Newcastle for the lift and lovely company... did we stop talking at all today??? :-)

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Classically trained versus self taught ?

I've never made a secret of the fact that I did not go to college to learn how to decorate cakes. Apart from a term at night school to learn how to decorate a Christmas cake I've had no 'training' at all. I have however, wondered if this would be a handicap in the professional world where qualifications are so important. As I'm on the verge of moving into that professional arena it's been on my mind more often but thanks to an eye opening conversation with Craig my new baker I'm feeling a lot more confident that my work will speak for itself.

Craig is both a baker and decorator, he is classically trained to ice cakes through Thomas Danby College and his piping is amazing, he's fast and accurate and the results are fabulous. My piping stinks, it's something I'm working on but to be honest I hardly ever need to do it and that's where I've realised the distinction is. I'm not trying to be classically trained my cakes are vastly different in style from the traditional piped creations. It's almost like two entirely different products, people who want one of Craig's cakes would not look twice at mine and vice versa.

Craig was shocked at how long I spend icing a cake, he looks at decorating from a completely different perspective, he pipes the borders, the names etc... applies ready made models and hey presto his cake is done. A typical cake would cost in the region of £27 whereas my basic is £70 and the difference is not training it's time. My details are painstakingly created to the clients specific requirements. The models are hand made and details such as wedding dressing can reflect those worn by the brides themselves. I absolutely revel in the detail, I guess it's where my passion lies.

It was fascinating to swop methods and ideas about how things can be achieved and I think we both learnt a lot. I'm really looking forward to working with Craig and his team at Hoffmans. The cakes I tasted were absolutely delicious and the range of flavours fabulous, I'll be updating my website with these shortly.

I think I can safely say that although I do not have certificates with my qualifications emblazoned across them to hang on my wall, I will have stunning (if I do say so myself :-)) examples of my work for everyone to see and hopefully those cakes will tell you more than any qualifications can.

Tuesday 26 October 2010

The pretty things




When I open Just Darling Cakes I want the room to be fabulous and really showcase the cakes and also the Just Darling Brand. It's really important to me to get all the little details right, so with that in mind I've been having lots of fun sourcing all sorts of pretty things to help create the effect I'm after.
The top picture is just the cutest thing, it's a cupcake door stop from Laura Ashley and it literally jumped into my arms... I just couldn't say no! :-) I've also bought some lovely seat pads for the chairs from there and a gorgeous 3 tier cake stand to display my cupcakes on.
From the Range in Halifax, I found these adorable tea/coffee/sugar canisters... I'd actually given up hope when I found these. They are perfect and a snip at £3.99 each :-)
I've also been sourcing some flat topped cake stands to display the wedding cakes on, especially the new Ruby Bloom Range which will be launched shortly. Jane Campy of Ruby Bloom in Wakefield is designing an exclusive range of wedding cakes for me which will be displayed at both our premises. More news about this soon...

Progress Report




It's been a busy few days in the new home of Just Darling Cakes. Mark and my Dad have been busy stripping wallpaper and applying the new much prettier paper and getting started on the painting. We've only got one day left with my Dad helping so I've been drafted in to help with the painting tomorrow as well.
The top picture shows the gorgeous Laura Ashley wallpaper on the feature wall. I will be displaying my white and ivory wedding cakes against this wall. The next picture is of my hard working Dad who flew in from Hungary last week with a few days notice to kick start the decorating process. Apparently he's painting some bits of wood to edge the wall or something like that... am leaving the technical stuff to him.
The last picture is Mark who is really pleased with his paint spattered trousers... proof he's been hard at it... apparently!
While they've been busy decorating I've been busy spending, but more of that in the next post :-)


Friday 15 October 2010

'THE STRESS'




It's been a hell of a few weeks and it's not over yet, but thought I'd better get it all off my chest before I explode.... I have found some premises to turn into a cake design studio and showroom... that's the good news... the bad news is the bank still can't make their mind up whether they are giving me a loan or not.... GRRRRR


About three weeks ago when I was working on a wedding cake and chatting to the bride about a few last minute details, she told me she was vacating the room she rents in Huddersfield where she runs her beauticians... and that it might be suitable for me. I had been looking around for some time but the rents are incredible round here. So the next day I checked the venue out... it's fabulous! Location wise I couldn't ask for more, it's central Huddersfield and above a florist and bridal wear shop :-) The rent is doable and the room just needs redecorating and kitting out with work surfaces etc...

I have spent the last few weeks in a whirlwind of sourcing cupboards, plumbers (am currently on number 4... don't ask!), flooring, a baker and goodness knows what else which I've loved and then the bit I'm struggling with which has taken up the most time and given me the most grey hairs... the bank! To be fair the individuals I've dealt with have been fabulous and really helpful, it's just the system I'm up against, I'm not asking for the world but in today's climate they are really making me jump through hoops and tonight at 4.45 I find out I've got to wait until some point on Monday for an answer :-(

I'm sure it will all be worth it though I'm sooooo excited about this and I know it's the right time/venue etc... so I've just got to keep everything crossed that the bank pulls through. I'll keep you posted.... but for now I'll pop some pictures up of the building itself... Just Darling Cakes will be located above the bridal shop and will also have a ground floor window to display cakes.

The Baker











Personalised cakes are great fun to make and so special for the recipient. I was asked to replicate a cake made last year for an Italian great grandma (see above) but this time it was for the 70th birthday of a lady who bakes pies, who often wears a navy blue fleece and always wears rubber gloves when baking!!! Apparently she also ends up covered in a lot of flour (I with her on that one, I always end up wearing twice as much as goes into the cake).


The pies in question were corned beef ones, so I thought a representation of the ingredients along with a finished pie would look good on the table in front of Irene in her baking gear. I had great fun trying to make the bowl for the mashed up corned beef and the pie dish... you have to get pretty inventive. All in all I'm really pleased with how this turned out, it was a welcome distraction from all the mad stresses this week has brought... but more about that in my next blog with hopefully some good news too!

Monday 4 October 2010

Musical Notes and Plain but not Simple




Again two very different cakes this week. The first a 40th Birthday cake for a music lover who plays the trombone. I have to admit when I took this order I said to the lady ordering it 'musical notes no problem, what instrument does he play?' and then 'ahhh' when she said trombone and I'm thinking how the hell am I going to do that? I'm fairly pleased with the result, I think it passes a resemblance to a trombone if not completely technically correct :-)




The second is the most plain cake I have ever done and is testimony to how much I've learnt in the last year or two. I know plain sounds simple but it's so not, there is literally nowhere to hide. Every millimetre of icing has to be flawless and smooth... no mean feat, you even hear professionals on the tv talking about how they cover small faults with detail. So although it didn't excite my creative process it made me realise how much I've improved :-)
I need to apologise for the quality of the pictures though, they were taken on my mobile... not that my camera is much better!

Thursday 23 September 2010

Two very different cakes and a very happy cake designer (that's me!)




I have thoroughly enjoyed this week's orders. So different and challenging in different ways but I enjoyed them so much.

The top cake is a four tier cake with two layers of spicy carrot cake and two of chocolate for Lauren and Martin who married at Bagden Hall today. Lauren saw a cake similar to this in a bridal magazine and requested a version for their own wedding. The background is ivory to match Lauren's dress and the accent colour to coordinate with the bridesmaids.

The challenge was two fold with this cake the stacking with separators and the edible images. The stacking turned out to be fairly easy (yep I know the top tier is wonky on this pic but I changed it before I left :-) and very effective, it's definitely something I will look to incorporate into future designs. The edible images were great fun but nearly gave me a heart attack. Murphy's law says that the more fragile something is the more you will shake when handling it. However, I love the finished effect and thanks again to http://www.eatyourphoto.co.uk/ for their great service and speedy turnaround.

The second cake is a version of one of my designs I did for a photo shoot at the beginning of the year. This time though the accent colour was Merlot rather than being entirely white. I'm quite surprised how one colour can change the look of a cake so much, it's definitely more dramatic this way! The merlot colour was a challenge in itself. Icing is white and to colour something this deeply takes an awful lot of colour which is turn makes the icing a sticky mess, even great quantities of tylo made this quite hard to handle. When I first put the drapes on I felt the colour was still too flat, so I applied a coat of burgundy petal dust and snowflake lustre dust mixed with a little vodka to give the effect of the organza in the bridesmaids dresses... I love the way it turned out.

DJ Decks




This was a wedding cake and gift in one, from Rachel to her husband as he's a DJ and she wanted a really cool cake to represent that at their wedding. I love these cakes where it's both a challenge to me and a really special message to the recipient :-)

Everything is edible there are two 10" sponges one vanilla and one chocolate, a 6" chocoate square and two 8" half height round vanilla cakes. All the details are made from sugarpaste strengthened with tylo and the shiny effect comes from spraying with lustre spray in lieu of an airbursh, which sadly remains on my wish list. The lustre spray is lethal, although perfectly food safe and edible it gets EVERYWHERE, my kitchen will never be the same and I was high as a kite for 24 hours after spraying :-)


I used edible images for the Technics discs to get a realistic look. It's the first time I've used them but I'm really pleased with the results and I can't fault the website I got them from http://www.eatyourphoto.co.uk/ their customer service is fabulous... as I found out with my second order this week, definitely a case of nothing being too much trouble so THANK YOU :-)

I'll be posting more pictures tomorrow of this weeks wedding cakes, two very different cakes but both great fun to make.

Sunday 5 September 2010

Buddy's Roses
















I'm a huge fan of Buddy Valastro of Cake Boss fame (top picture), despite all the 'created' drama in his shows I find them addictive and it's great when I can pass my addiction off as research by actually learning something from it.

I find rose making fiddly and the results less than satisfying so I thought i'd attempt to teach myself Buddy's way of making roses. He uses a five petal cutter, rather than individual petal cutters (the way I was taught at college). I kind of bodged my way through it and the photos above are first attempt and could definitely do with a little improvement but I like the method :-)
I have put the pictues above so will talk through them in order:
The first picture after Buddy is the flowerpaste on the pad ready to be thinned. You can see the cutter alongside, the letters and numbers on the cutter are guidance for the order to wrap the petals around the flower.
The second is my improvised drying rack. Buddy dries his roses upside down from what I guess are special racks, but I found the tins and cooling rack did the trick, although I would like to source a real one as this wasn't too stable, I'd hate to knock a full one over...
I noticed Buddy uses a thin foam pad under the bud while he attaches the petals, I had to improvise again and the black cup shaped thing is an indent from an apple tray, but it needs to be flexible so will have to try again with some foam. Something is definitely needed to stop the warmth of my hands making the flower paste sticky. The third photo shows one row of petals attached and one flat ready to be attached.
The final photo is the finished rose, it's so far from perfect but on the right track :-) Practice makes perfect and all that!





Sunday 22 August 2010

The Wow Factor


More and more brides come to me asking for something 'simple'... and I'm making an educated guess in thinking it has more to do with the economic climate than personal taste. However, as somebody who is creative I would much rather design a cake with wow factor than recreate a lack lustre chainstore/supermarket design and unless there is some painstaking and particularly time consuming detail the price is not going to shoot up astronomically.


Cake design is very hard to price, it's an expensive product to create if you use the best ingredients, and it's very time consuming, so cake designers generally price the raw ingredients, the utilities/overheads, and then decide how long the cake will take to create and charge an hourly fee. Once I have this price, I'm my own worst enemy in agreeing to do all sorts of extras to give the client the cake of their dreams to the detriment of my profit margin. However, I would much, much rather do this and deliver a cake which goes beyond expectations than give the client a cake that nobody remembers.


So I was incredibly excited by this evening's phonecall asking me to recreate my logo cake above for a 17th Birthday, the client was emphatic that she wanted a cake with real wow factor, something her daughter and her friends can oooh and ahhh over and that everyone will remember. I love it when my clients are really enthusiastic about their cakes and want something really special and different, there is nothing I love better than working on these kind of cakes.


So I guess what I'm saying is be demanding, test me see what you can get for your money Give me your ideas and your budget and see what I can do. I would much rather create the cake of your dreams that the one you assume you can afford.

Tuesday 6 July 2010

Jemima's Baptism

























I loved making this cake and recreating Jemima Puddleduck from the much loved Beatrix Potter's Tales as a gift to baby Jemima on her baptism. Photos are from her Daddy Mark of http://www.markskeetphotography.co.uk/.

Pre-School Fair
















On Saturday it was a local pre-school's summer fair and I was asked to provide a cupcake stall. It was great fun, from planning the cupcake cases and boxes to spending a lovely afternoon at the fair. This was the first time I'd done a stall like this and it definitely will not be the last. It has really spurred me on too, in the pursuit of my own cupcake cafe one day.
I have posted some pictures above to give an idea of the stall. We had the following flavours for sale and I'm glad to say that the table was empty by the end of the fair :-):
Vanilla with vanilla buttercream
Carrot with cinnamon buttercream
Chocolate with peanut butter buttercream
White Chocolate with Raspberry Coulis and Vanilla Buttercream
Chocolate with Chocolate buttercream
Thanks to Kate for all her help, writing labels, icing cupcakes and helping at the fair, you're a star! Photos are courtesy of Jo Bilham who is actually a make up artist but her photography rocks too. Check out her blog at http://www.makeupmummy.blogspot.com/.





Ruby Red

A little while ago I signed up to test Ruby Red Cosmetics, I love Ruby Red so it seemed like a bit of a no brainer... well I've had my first lot of samples and I'm so excited :-)

It's been a stressful few weeks and I seem to be meeting myself coming back so my skin has definitely been suffering, so I was over the moon that the first products I get to test are a new cleanser and moisuriser.

The cleanser is a 'Natural Oil Face Cleanser' and is suitable for all types of skin. It removes dirt and makeup from your skin without stripping the natural oils away. It contains gorgeous ingredients such as Jojoba oil, shea butter, lavender, clary sage... need I go on? The aroma itself is delicious and instantly relaxing thanks to the last two ingredients above. You spread the cleanser on your face and massage in. Then take off with a warm, damp flannel. My skin felt really deeply cleansed but without the squeaky dryness you get with normal cleansers it was left amazingly soft.

The moisturiser for want of a better word is a 'Natural Face Oil', which plumps up the skin and can be used under another moisturiser or on its own. It contains a nourishing blend of Wheatgerm, Safflower, Evening Primrose and Clary sage to name a few of the ingredients. Again I found this really relaxing to use and felt instantly calmed. Even my 6 year old commented how nice I smelt when she had a hug!

I can't wait until these products are available to buy as I've nearly used up all my samples and my skin is not going to be happy at going back to basics until I can get hold of some more!

Other Ruby Red products that I can recommend from personal use are:

Natural Solid Perfume - Frangipani and Orange Blossom... Jo Whiley raves about these and I know why, gorgeous feminine sents that last.

Organic Honey and Vanilla Lip Balm - this is bliss for lips, I love it. Mine goes everywhere with me :-)

Saturday 19 June 2010

Liz and Peter McDonald Wedding Photos







Way back in April... that already seems like several years ago... I created a wedding cake for Liz and Peter. We drew inspiration from Liz's bridal gown and the entire three tiers was covered with hand cut lace detail. They also opted for a bride and groom to top the cake and reflect their outfits on the day.



Liz has kindly sent me the photo above showing the happy couple cutting the cake. I have also included on of their group shots, which shows my little sis :-) She's the one standing next to her boyfriend Alex, who is the guy behind the vicar! Congratulations Liz and Peter, hope you are enjoying married life :-) xxxx

Friday 11 June 2010

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, love them or hate them?




I LOVE THEM :-) But appreciate they are a bit of a marmite kinda thing. However, my partner in crime and fellow Reese's addict Donna suggested a cupcake version today and, feeling inspired I just had to have a tinker and see if I could pull it off.




The peanut butter buttercream, was an instant success, I just mixed peanut butter (smooth) with vanilla buttercream 1:2 parts and it's amazing I could eat it by the spoonful.




For the cupcakes I thought it would warrant a really chocolately sponge quite dense and toothsome, so I went for the chocolate part of the Hummingbird's blackbottom cupcakes, which are made with oil rather than butter and are really dense.




I topped the buttercream swirls with crushed peanut m&ms (didn't have any reese's pieces this was a spur of the moment thing) and the other half with crushed cupcake mixture, both work well and I'm not sure which I prefer, might just have to mix them both together? The gorgeous little cupcake toppers I can't take credit for they were a lovely surprise from my friend Jayne which arrived in yesterday's post.




I wish the blog had a tasting application, but you'll have to take my word for it... they are pretty damn good. I think the cupcake mixture could do with being slightly sweeter (it's quite a dark chocolate effect) but the texture works really well with the peanut butter buttercream. They are definitely on the list for the summer fair on the 3rd July. Any other suggestions most appreciated so far I'm thinking:




Peanut Butter and Chocolate


Strawberries and Cream


White Chocolate and Raspberry coulis


Melting Marshmallows




Wednesday 9 June 2010

Ruby Red

I'm a huge fan of Ruby Red Organic potions and lotions: Check this offer out while it lasts:
http://www.rubyredcosmetics.co.uk/bliss.php

3 bath soaks for £22.50!

Update


Firstly I had better apologise for a serious lack of posts in the last few weeks... Sorry! It has been more than a bit mad here for various reasons, the most relevant being researching and creating a business plan for Just Darling Cakes with a view to acquiring premises for a Design Studio (for the wedding and celebration cakes) and a CupCake Cafe. It's both exciting and terrifying and is in its infancy at the moment, the plan is still being drawn up. However, the downside is it very time consuming so I have neglected the blog slightly.


However, it hasn't been all work and no play, it was my Birthday last week and thanks to my fabulous friends we had a great night out in Leeds and lots of champagne cocktails :-) So thank you girls it was great fun!


It's most definitely back to work now though and I do promise to keep you more regularly updated on the business premises and general news. Thanks for bearing with me :-)

Tuesday 25 May 2010

Who said romance was dead????




The link will take you to an article in the Harrogate Advertiser which shows a video proposal made from one of our soldiers in Afghanistan to his partner who is a Police Officer in North Yorkshire. As Stephen will be serving in Afghanistan until August and could not propose in person, he organised for the ring and a beautiful bouquet to be delievered to Harrogate Police station to surprise Lynsey when she thought she was simply attending the morning briefing :-) What a lovely start to her working day!


I'm also very pleased to say I'll be making Lynsey and Stephen's wedding cake, keep an eye out later in the year for pictures.


I love a good love story, it's even better when it's real life and not on the pages of the trashy novels i'm addicted to!

Tuesday 18 May 2010

Just Darling Cakes in Vogue







You may have heard me mention it once or twice but Just Darling Cakes is lucky enough to be seen in Vogue this month :-)

Monday 17 May 2010

Lili's Cake and Roller Blading :-)




It's great fun when I actually know the recipient of a cake I'm making and this weekend was a special one for Lili, who I've known since she was tiny and who turned six on sunday. It's doubly great when the recipient is having a roller blading party and I'm invited :-) Well I should clarify my daughters were invited but they needed some help with their roller blades and naturally the best way to teach them was by skating myself. they soon got the hang of it and I spent the next two hours whizzing around with the kids... so much fun! I am seriously considering getting myself a pair as a fitness thing!






Naturally Lili's cake had a roller blading theme and the little girl on top is meant to resemble her. I'll let you know about the roller blades :-)

Friday 7 May 2010

Cascading Blossoms







This wedding cake has been a labour of love and I am so proud of the results. I love this design which I would love to take credit for but which was inspired by a picture given to me by the bride. As Jennifer wanted the wow factor without needing several hundred portions of cake the top two tiers are dummy cakes, the bottom tier is traditional fruit cake laced (generously) with brandy, the next tier spicy carrot cake and the next vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream.






The cakes were stacked and the ribbon added, and then came the flowers, my hand is ready to drop off with all the piping, each one required a tiny blob of royal icing and then the centres needed to be piped and all the surrounding dots and stems... but it was all worth it. Even if I do say so myself it certainly has wow factor :-)