Happy Retirement cake

Following the cake i made for Chrissa, her aunty asked if i could make a cake for someone who is retiring at the school she works at. I was thrilled! I haven't had too much practice with cakes yet but i had done the one for Chrissa only a couple of weeks ago and i figure i wont get better unless i practice!

The only instruction i was given is for the cake to read 'happy retirement laurie' and she also mentioned that he likes planes. I hope Laurie likes the plane, my husband and i made it together and i thought it looked cute - hopefully Laurie wasnt expecting a realistic looking plane!!! This is what i came up with...

Scary cupcakes and cookies for Riley

Work is a great source for orders!! A work colleague was aware that i love baking and she had seen some previous cupcakes i had made for other work colleagues. She is just lovely and asked if i'd like to make some scary cupcakes and cookies for her son's 9th birthday. It really is lovely when people appreciate and like what you do.

It was quite amusing because her son had strict instructions on the design and didn't want anything girly for his female friends. He said that if he has to eat cupcakes with butterflies at their parties then they have to give in and eat boyish cupcakes too. His mum and i were discussing that his opinion will probably change in a year or two :)

I didn't have to do any research for the design of these cupcakes, i was provided with a picture of cupcakes that Riley liked. These were fun to make and a nice change from the very detailed Planet Cake baby cupcakes i have made recently!! Still though, i couldn't have done it without the help of my wonderful apprentice (yes, husband he he)...he did ALL the mummies. I think they look great, definitely my favourite design from the lot.

The cookies were packaged in little cellophane bags and tied with a blue ribbon. What a lovely thought - Riley was going to distribute these to his class mates. The chocolate cupcakes are for the family birthday on the weekend.

Happy birthday Riley!

A cake instead of cupcakes...

A friend's daughters birthday was coming up and she knows how much i love to bake so she asked if i would like to make cupcakes for her daughter's 3rd birthday. Naturally i said yes!

She confirmed that she would have 40 people attending and because cupcakes are quite time consuming we decided on a cake instead. The last time i decorated a cake was in October and that was my first cake on my own (first was actually at Planet Cake but i had help there, so im not counting it! :) ). I was a little nervous as i haven't had that much practice with cakes but i love a challenge and it really helped to build my confidence with cakes. Im looking forward to making more.

After doing this cake i realise that a cake is definitely much less time consuming that cupcakes. Cupcakes can be very fiddly....but they are still my fave!

The cake is chocolate mudcake with chocolate ganache and i decorated as girly as i could....pink, butterflies and flowers! Happy Birthday Chrissa, lots of love xoxo