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Granny’s 90th Birthday Cake

Nicole — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:14:58 +0000

Today was my Granny’s 90th Birthday. I don’t even know how to begin describing her to you, for she is the most incredible person. Granny tells the best stories about her childhood in New York and countless other tales from her interesting life. All her anecdotes come with every detail as if it happened yesterday and I love hearing all her memories. My favourite accounts of hers are about the amazing foods she remembers, such as halloween ice cream cats from Manhattan or famous cookies from Boston. I hope she will be recounting her 90th birthday cake to people for years to come. I of course wanted to make something extra special for such an important birthday. I had the idea to make a cake version of a painting I did for her one Christmas. For the cake I made a three tier vanilla sponge and sandwiched the layers with raspberry jam and vanilla buttercream. I covered the outside of the cake in a layer of white vanilla buttercream, then added the colour on top. To achieve the paint-like appearance I mixed the white buttercream with food colouring as if I were mixing paints and used a palatte knife to create the brush strokes. I topped the cake with flowers I made in advance and let dry. I learnt how to make flowers out of flowerpaste especially for this cake and I loved it. I started with the roses as I vaguely knew how to do those and used the internet for help where I needed it. I made up how the other flowers would look just based on the painting and created the purple one by stacking lots of cut out flower shapes in different shades. I finished the cake with a ribbon that matched the border of the painting. I think it really does look like the painting, almost too pretty to eat. Almost. I absolutely adored making this cake, especially as it combined painting and baking. But mostly I adored making something special for a very special Granny. Happy 90th Birthday! x

Happy Birthday Ginetta

Nicole — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:04:36 +0000

I don’t really see Ginetta as my friend’s Mum, but as one of my own friends. She is amazing for so many reasons. Not only is she one heck of a scrabble opponent (we’ve been constantly playing ‘Words With Friends’ for years now),but she is warm, kind and has always been so welcoming to me. She is also one of those incredible people full of drive, ambition and passion for things she loves. For her 50th birthday cake I decided to combine two of these things, horseriding and flowers. As soon as I saw this stand I knew I had to use it for the base of the cake. It took me ages to track it down and it finally made it’s way to the UK thanks to my Dad via hand luggage (oops). Not knowing a lot about flowers I was lucky enough to have the help of Alexia from Bluebell and George. She helped me figure out how to arrange the flowers on the cake and chose the gorgeous yellow and purple calle lilies. I adore the shades she chose they work so perfectly together and stood out so nicely on top of the cake. For the cake itself I made a three tier Madiera cake using this simple recipe, then filled it with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream. To decorate it I covered the whole thing in more vanilla buttercream and then wrapped a piece of clear acetate around the cake, so the flowers wouldn’t be directly touching it. We glued the calle lilies onto the acetate and secured them with a matching coloured ribbon. I love that the cake is kind of hidden and the beautiful flowers are the focus. I hope she enjoys her cake and her special day. Happy 50th Birthday Ginetta!

Pimms Macarons

Nicole — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:47:38 +0000

So it was summer for like 5 seconds. Over last weekend’s bank holiday there was actual sun and it was warm. I wasn’t aware that this country was capable of warm anymore so it was a pleasant surprise, and perfect timing too. I mentioned we went to a birthday picnic but after that we went to a BBQ. This BBQ was amazing for many reasons, but one being the Pimms that was served. It was stuffed full of fruit and having not had it in so so long, it tasted even better. Although this weekend we didn’t have a repeat forecast (It rained and I got drenched. Boo) my friend Fiona came to stay and we decided to make macarons and immediately I knew what flavour to make. Pimms has such a great flavour and it’s one of those drinks that doesn’t taste like you’re drinking any alcohol (Dangerous. In a good way.) and reminds me so much of summer and tennis and our garden. For these macarons I began by making the shells using this recipe and had a tough time getting the pimms colour; they ended up a bit pink but I now I know for next time. For the fiilling I made a buttercream, flavoured with neat Pimms and mixed in strawberries, cucumber and mint. When assembling them I added in a large piece of strawberry in the centre which I might not do next time as it made the macarons go softer the next day and ooze strawberry goo. But boy did they taste like Pimms, especially when they were still a little chilled from the fridge. These definitely distracted me from the lack of sunshine and made it feel like summer again for 5 seconds.

Biscuiteers Butterflies

Nicole — Sun, 12 May 2013 21:07:01 +0000

I can’t think of a better way to spend a Sunday morning than icing butterfly biscuits at Biscuiteers. My sister bought me a class at their icing school which is part of their shop in Notting Hill. The shop was lovely, packed wall to wall full of biscuits and inspiration. I had a good look at all the biscuits before the class to see what I was aiming for. The class itself was so much fun. The school part is tucked downstairs in an adorable kitchen area and in a cosy booth my sister, my friend Fiona, another lovely lady and I we were shown step by step the icing process by our brilliant teacher Charlie. We were given plenty of biscuits to practice and learn new skills. I learnt a lot including how to get air bubbles out of piping bags (finally!), how they dry the icing quickly and how they layer the different types of icing. My favourite new trick is blending the colours by dragging them across one another with a oversized cocktail stick. I’m so pleased with how they turned out. The colours we used were gorgeous and we topped them off with gold paint which made the wings come to life. I could have spent all day playing with different designs and combinations but we only had a couple of hours. We did however leave with a generous gift bag complete with book and apron (score!), a tin full of pretty biscuits and huge smiles.

Strawberry and Pistachio Cake

Nicole — Thu, 09 May 2013 06:22:15 +0000

Wednesdays are becoming my favourite day of the week. As I mentioned before we have been invading our friends house to watch Mad Men every Wednesday evening since the season began. There’s something nice about a mid week gathering that allows you to pause and relax with friends. Last week I made no contribution to the evening and merely consumed everything I was offered. So this week I thought I would make something special. I didn’t have any thoughts on what this would be until I was in the supermarket and picked up the June issue of Olive Magazine. A recipe for strawberry and pistachio cake caught my eye immediately, mostly due to the gorgeous colour combination. The cake was super simple to make with few steps and clear instructions. The only change I made was to make it in a round tin. I also went a bit overboard arranging strawberries on top. It was somewhat therapeutic. I hardly use pistachio when baking but loved the texture it added to the cake and it was great with the fresh strawberries and frosting.

Teddy Bears for Teddy

Nicole — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:58:06 +0000

Teddy (and Emily) are new friends but somehow they feel like a firm part of our friendship group already. Teddy has had all the birthday luck this year. Not only did her birthday fall on a bank holiday, it also was one of the warmest days we have had so far this year. We celebrated by having one of the best picnics ever on top of Primrose Hill in the sunshine. I totally had this in my head the whole time. I of course wanted to take her some birthday cupcakes and couldn’t resist making tiny teddy toppers. As she is over from Canada I chose red and white and finished them with a teeny red flower. I hope she had a lovely day and a memorable birthday in England! x

Maple Bacon Cupcakes for Andrew

Nicole — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:00:38 +0000

There are people in my life that I just know I’m going to be friends with forever. I know this because I can be far away from them and only exchange a few funny texts from time to time, but when we do get together it’s like they were never more than a few streets away. The distance doesn’t really matter. They are equally as important to me as the friends that I love and see most days, but it’s special when they come home to visit and I get to see their faces. Andrew is one of these people. I’ve known him for most of my short life and it was really annoying that he decided to move to Dubai to work. Stupid. He came back to visit this week and requested some baked goods and blog love so I made him these. Vanilla cupcakes with maple syrup frosting topped with crispy streaky bacon. I wanted to make these for a couple of reasons. They reminded me of the road trip we took across America a couple of years ago and being at an IHOP. Also because we laughed at him a lot for going via Canada to meet us in LA for the roadtrip. Stupid. So the maple bacon combo was perfect for reminding him of this. These cupcakes have the same feeling as pancakes, fluffy and kind of comforting. One of the best things about making these was the smell of bacon that lingered in the kitchen all morning, my favourite. If I made them again I would add some blueberries to the vanilla cake to make it extra pancake like. I hope he liked them and comes back again soon!

Little Bird Cupcakes

Nicole — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:27:35 +0000

Little Bird are a company who share an office with Found, where my sister works. One of their little birds, Rhianon, is flying the nest this week and so these cupcakes are a farewell to her. When I agreed to make these cupcakes I was unsure of what I was going to do. I pretty much instantly fell in love with the logo and colour combo of the company. It’s just so darn cute. So that was my starting point. But, it wasn’t until I sat down with a pile of fondant icing, some cutters and their website up in front of me that it all came together. The turquoise and brown together is quite striking but to me is softened by the scalloped topper, simple bird and flower. I opted for chocolate cake to keep with the colours and turquoise vanilla frosting. I hope she has a brilliant last day and enjoys her cupcakes!

Mini Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes

Nicole — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 12:09:20 +0000

If you don’t watch Mad Men you definitely should. I can’t recommend it enough. I loved it from the first episode and quickly stormed through the box sets. It has everything I want in a tv show; great scripts, complex characters, intense relationships and an amazing wardrobe. Not to mention, a very attractive leading man. Previously I’ve watched it mostly on my own, glued to the laptop. So when I heard that Season 6 was starting and that my friends, who also watch it, were going to have ‘Mad Men Nights’ I was beyond happy. This week we did a cheese fondue inspired by a scene from last weeks show. Mad Men transitions through the decades and we are roughly in the late 60s so I wanted to bring a retro American dessert. I chose the pineapple upside-down cake but made it party sized. I used this recipe and made them in muffin tins instead. I love mini cakes and this one was really simple to make.

Macaron Cake

Nicole — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 21:48:44 +0000

This might be one of my favourite things I’ve made to date. Nothing says birthday like rainbow and this birthday cake is for my cousin Eloise. She doesn’t really like cake (what?! yes.) but really liked my raspberry macarons so I decided to go on that. I knew exactly how I wanted it to look and made multiple scrawly drawings trying to plan and get it perfect. Because I feel a birthday cake should have at least a small amount of cake, I made a vanilla sponge to act as a pedestal for the macarons. I lined the outside of the cake in two tiers of macarons and put the rest on this clear 4 tier stand. I chose to do a reverse rainbow and one of the hardest parts was deciding on what flavours to use. I went for pinky red raspberry, orange, yellow passionfruit, green mojito, blue coconut and purple blueberry. I loved mixing up all the fillings, especially the mojito using rum, lime and mint. It tastes exactly like the drink! I adored making this cake but it took a long time, in fact, ALL day. But after 12 hours and many batches of macarons later it came together. I couldn’t have done it without my sister who was such a massive help. I think she secretly enjoyed it, even if I did make her wash the spatula about 16 times. I’m really proud of how it turned out and I hope Eloise enjoys eating her mountain of macarons! Happy Birthday Eloise x