Tea, anyone?

I tend to bake a box of cupcakes and decorate them according to a certain person's taste. One of my friends is a bit of a tea addict (just like myself...) so I decided to make her some tea-themed cupcakes (picture below)

I decided to stick with a pretty floral theme, so I decided to decorate three of the cupcakes with a sugarpaste rose. These are something it has taken me a while to master, but now I feel like I could probably make them in my sleep!

I then decided to create a sugarpaste teapot (which to be honest I am very pleased with, this was my second attempt at making one, and it seemed to turn out well) and a matching teacup. As it turned out, she loved these two cakes in particular, until she held the box out to offer one to a friend, and they took the teapot cake. Then her partner gave the teacup to the dog!! Never mind!

I am getting into the habit of creating a "gift tag" on at least one cake per box. Call it my trademark if you will :o) Somebody said the other day they could tell a certain box of cakes was made by me, I took that to be a compliment, and hope it didnt mean that I am predictable in my decorations!
I am a big fan of decorating cupcakes with flowers, so am always pleased when asked to create a box for women rather than men!

I tend to use buttercream on the majority of my cupcakes. This is not only because many people seem to like the buttercream, but also because I do think it looks nice, and the decorations sit nicely on top. I occasionally create a sugarpaste disc upon  which I can place an edible decoration, such as the teapot and tea cup.

First Time Blogger!

Jennie : Wow where do I start? I guess I should explain when my love of baking began!

I never really had an interest in baking when I was younger, and actually it took me until the age of 25 before I realised it was something I wanted to do. I remember the box of cupcakes I gave my best friend as part of her christmas present. At the time, I was so proud of them. But now, I look at the picture I took of them, and I cringe because they look like such a half-hearted attempt!

Ever since then, I have regularly baked and decorated cupcakes as presents for friends and family. I have tried to improve my baking and decorating skills each time and would like to think I've improved tenfold since the above picture, but I still doubt my skills every single time! I think the problem is, it doesn't matter how many times people tell you they like your work, you will still doubt yourself and won't be 100% happy with it.

I will use this blog to show you some of my favourite creations from the last year or so and will make personal recommendations on my preferred methods when baking/decorating cakes.

I hope you enjoy looking through my photos - looking through them is a nice reminder of how far I've come, bearing in mind I have only ever had one cake decorating class.

The box of cupcakes I decorated during my class, which I got to take home to show off to my family and friends! :o)