Not quite so ridiculous cakes...

I went to a cupcake decorating class at the Cocoa Box in Hampstead on Saturday, and the lovely (and very skillful!) teachers taught me how to make pretty cupcakes!

My buttercream piping skills need a bit of work, but at least I know how to do it now, and I've learnt how to fill an icing bag properly which was a long overdue lesson! Hopefully next time I ice I won't get it all up my elbows and 80% of it outside the bag...

The cakes were already baked (three vanilla, three chocolate) and then we had cream cheese icing, fondant and strawberry buttercream, plus bowls of sprinkles, glitter and sweets to play with.  My favourite design they taught was the cupcake on a cupcake...and my little piggy!

Oink oink.

The class was really fun, recommended! http://www.thecocoabox.co.uk/ Maybe I'll start making sensible cute cupcakes for birthdays now instead of epic 3D ones? (Although I do have a 3D one in the pipline for Windor's birthday that is going to be quite special...think Lionel Richie's 'Hello' video. Pics will be up for that one early August!)

The Tin Lizzy

For her Ruby Wedding anniversay party, my auntie wanted a cake replica of her boat, Tin Lizzy:

So I made one!

I started with a square sponge on a cake board which I covered in blue roll-out icing. I used some surplus bits of icing for the waves, and then used white butter cream icing for wave foam on the crests and around the front of the boat. I used blue buttercream in my icing gun to detail around the base.

For the boat, I baked another square sponge and cut out the shape with a very sharp knife, then covered it in white icing, and a layer of red icing underneath. I used white buttercream to detail the edges, and then grey buttercream to fill in the deck, which I then covered in sugar sprinkles.

The figures of my uncle and auntie are just sugar paste, coloured and moulded into the right shapes, although they came out a bit too pink! Getting too much sun on the boat clearly.

Finally, the sail is just two cookie sticks taped together for the mast (I have no idea what one would use a cookie stick for? I just found them at the Jane Asher shop!) and then rice paper. Easy peasy.