Memory Box Memorial Birthday Cake for Gabby

I had the honour of making a memorial cake for my good friend Gabby's Grandfather who would have turned 100 if he hadn't passed away just weeks before his birthday. So armed with photos photoes of him and his medals from the war, his engineers set and what I remember of him, thinking about the fact he always drove around in his Jag... I set about designing a cake that would incorporate all those memories. So i decided to make a wooden memory box that held these things that symbolised him.

I started with his picture on fondant mixed with modelling paste to look like his photo.

I built up the edges of the cake after i ganached it and and used Rice treats...as buddy would say,sticking them down with ganache. 

My stupid phone switched off so I didnt get any pictures of making the war medals, which is annoying, or the making of the engineer tools and the jaguar mascot.

the tools were allmade with modelling paste and fondant mixed together half /half, and I did the detail on the medlas with my icing tip and a fondant tool... i coloured with gold and silver paint and copper coloured lustre powder.

The interior of the box is lined with blue fondant and sprinkled with blue coconut, to soften the look of the box's interior and make it look like it has been lined with material. Yep that meant at 11pm I was dying coconut. lol

theres a good shot of the Leaping Jaguar

I added his name and  Year of birth and death on the front of the cake.

I made the wood grain look with a sharp tool and drew long lines into the side of the cake to create texture and glazed it with apricot jam and water mixture to make it look shiny like a lacquered box.

I was really honoured to do this cake for Gabby and her family, Her grandfather was a real dapper gentleman about town, and it was a touching tribute to him on what would have been his 100th birthday. Happy Birthday Frank Couch Michell wherever you are!

Strawberry Cupcakes from my Mate Betty.



This Post is for the special people out there who find it hard to get their heads around the cupcake, there are couture cupcake courses out there and there is a fair amount of cupcake snobbery going around at the moment. So this blog is dedicated to the time poor  domestic GODS AND GODDESSES out there who want the couture look but have half the time. Okay it all started because i cant walk past a bargain. I saw that Betty cake Mixes were on special and so i bought a few, because i am no cake snob... i have 4 kids and if i can use a packet mix at home i will! So i tried their new one, and it smells just like strawberries! 
I went to my BFF Marnie's house today and i decided to take some cupcakes, I was really pressed for time so I used my bargain cake mixes , Strawberries and Cream OMG Yum!!! And quickly threw them into the Kenwood mixer that i ressurected from my mums house and Beat me some batter... it was totally pink! Sweet as!

I just dolloped the icing on top of the cupcake, quite roughly... i was making it up as i went so i was pretty sure you wouldnt see it as messy by the time i figured out the rest.

I used the frosting provided because i dont like wastage and Its a yummy mix as well, so i thought i would stack some fondant flowers onto the cupcakes and make something girly and pretty.... i had very little time so i improvised.....

I used the little icing pens you can get from your local supermarket.... it saves alot of time and fiddling around with piping bags... we have no time people! i drew a flower on top of the cupcake and then thought i needed something else so i got some fondant out....

You guys can buy some premade icing flowers from the supermarket... or alternately you can buy some fondant and some cutters... they come in handy... your local supermarket has small packets of fondant for cheap and you can use basic food colouring to dye it the colour you want.... they even sell cupcake toppers online for cheap on those hand made websites.... its do-able people!

i used my balling tool to shape the flower so that the petals stood up them i just stuck it on top of the dollop of icing

one dot of icing on top for the centre of the flower and its lovely... if you like you can put a cashous in the middle of the flower for something shiny... but its up to you. xx

there they are ready for marnies house.

Lawn Bowls Bag cake.....

My next cake was a lawn Bowls bag, for a friend. She also got the twee pot cake, so she is officially my best customer! A picture of the bag was sent to me, as the birthday boy is an avid bowls player.... and this is how it turned out.....

The cool thing about this cake was that i got to buy a new tool to make it.... i call it a zipper and stitching tool, like a pastry cutter, but with 3 interchangeable heads.... it rocks... alot of the detail was made with the stitching tool.

it started out as all cakes do... with chocolate slab cake and chocolate buttercream.

cut to shape, to look like a bag

 ganashed and i made it quite smooth...lol...not shown.....

then fondant all over in sections, plus a pocket ready for the black trimmings and handles to be applied.

it was all about small details, using a piping tip i made the studs and made the silver emblem fondant and my trusty edible silver paint

zipper detail

I applied fondant to the board like grass and textured it with a clean cloth...and made a jack.(white ball) out of shaped rice bars and fondant and a black bowls made the same way. add the zippers and you may not be able to see but all the black detail has stitches to look like it was actually sewn.

Add the handles, which was a bit of a conundrum, i decided to use plastic tubing covered in black fondant and mounted on skewers to stand them up...

its a good pic of the bowls ball and there you can see the skewers holding up the handles.and i added the square stitched patches to make it all flow together and it was done..! sort of... i mean i am leaving out the smaller things that make it special like the studding detail and the white polishing cloth sitting under the larger ball. all the zippers added with water as my sticking agent....the lettering of the happy birthday sign....

Craig and Danielle were really happy with the overall look of the cake and i was pretty happy with it also. the back of the cake looked the same as the front except for the pocket, i put only one pocket on the cake.... it looked quite like the picture sent to me... i'll let
you be the judge. xx