I'll Huff and I'll Puff......BAKEFEST 2014

Last weekend I entered my first ever competition, Bakefest 2014. This wonderful event was organised to raise much needed awareness and funds for ACT Meningitis. Below is a list of the category options but as it was my first competition I was automatically in the 'Novice Sugarcraft' section. The theme was 'Happy Birthday' which left it wide open to interpretation and after much consideration I decided to do a children's cake based upon the fairy tale of 'The 3 Little Pigs'.

First of all I began with the below cake dummies and there was many hours spent transitioning from before to after!!

The picture doesn't show it clearly but using my small letter cutters and some white petal paste (always better than sugarpaste for letters!) and wrote Happy Birthday Jack. Surprisingly, I was the only person who had writing on their entries for this category, below is a look at the competition!

There was some super demonstrations and prizes to be won at the event as well as lots of exhibitors supplying all sorts of equipment for decorating. I attended the Macaroon workshop which was in conjunction with Goodalls and was hosted my some of the stars of The Great Irish Bake Off and yes....this lead me to wanting macaroons for the whole rest of the weekend! So on Sunday afternoon I headed into Galway city and to the cutest little French bakery Le Petit Delice and treated myself to some of their fab offering:

Returning back to Salthill, I was THRILLED to be announced as winner of the category! Along with the cutest little trophy, I also got a voucher for Stuff 4 Cakes which is an absolute Aladdin's Cave of all things baking and cake related and I will definitely do a haul once I use it.

My Graduation Cake

As some of you may know I spent the last 3 years studying for a Commerce degree in NUI Galway and on the day of my graduation my Mam surprised me with this fabulous cake!

This masterpiece was a chocolate cake....with the compulsory chocolate fudge icing! To decorate sugarpaste  was used dyed into a variety of colours before being used. Covapaste sugar paste was used in creating this cake as it gives such a nice finish, it is available in Decobake who I have wrote about in previous blogs and who now have their website up and running (excitement!!). I think I have mentioned before that when using black it can be better to use black sugarpaste instead of dying white as quite a large quantity of dye will be required causing the consistency of the icing to change and make it more difficult to work with. If however you do decide to dye the traditional white sugarpaste Black Extra dye is a must!

 Scrolls and other delicate parts were left for a period to set over night to make sure they were secure for the car journey and to last the day until it was ate. A button cutter can be used to create flawless buttons but they can also be made by cutting out 2 perfectly round circles and then indenting them 4 times on each. A 'stitching wheel' is a must to get the effect on the dungarees and I think the one used was one produced by PME. 

Of course, no cake in our house is complete without a sprinkle of glitter and so some was put on his tongue as a finishing touch.

Happy Baking,
Laura

Keep calm and write a blog

My little blog has got very neglected over the last few weeks (well months to be honest). I promise that this year I will be keeping all of you posted of all my cake adventures more than ever! On recently looking back I have noticed that there are many cakes I never featured which really need to get a little mention here. Over the next few weeks I plan to feature the following so please stay tuned.....

Champagne Magnums with Bottles and ice

Minion Graduation Cake

Olaf from Frozen

'Researching' cupcakes in NY

So as some of you may know, I spent my summer in New York (so apologies for the lack of blogging!).
While I was there I did find a lot of AMAZING cupcake shops as well as some little gadgets that I just can't wait to use.

Magnolia:

Magnolia is one of the most famous bakeries in NY but if you are willing to wait in never ending queue then it is worth it. They, like most big bakeries in America, do daily specials which are always a little different and adventurous.

Georgetown:

I was very lucky to be get the opportunity to get the infamous Georgetown cupcakes on a couple of occasions in work. Now, I am VERY fussy when it comes to cupcakes but I have to say they are by far the best ones I have ever had! They have the most amazing selection of cupcakes I have ever seen as you can see below from their website;

http://www.georgetowncupcake.com/menu.html

In the name of research ;) I tried a lot of different ones and the best one they do is their Chocolate Ganache. It is made using Callebaut chocolate for the icing/frosting which I have been trying to get my hands on ever since! I also loved the Coconut and Salted Caramel.

Simona's Bakery (New Jersey):

I got to go to Jersey Shore twice over the summer which was so pretty and made a lovely change from the hustle and bustle of NY. When I was there I ended up staying across the road from Simona's Bakery and stumbled upon it one morning when looking for something for breakfast. However, once inside this little store I just HAD TO try some. There was so many to chose from which shocked me considering the size of the shop. Simona's was a little different to in that it also had what you would expect from a bakery such as breads and pastries and not just a 'cupcakery' which you would find in the city. This place felt a little less commercial but with over 100 flavours to chose from you just have to try at least one! We decided not ot be too adventorous for this bakery (as we were having these cupcakes and breakfast ) and ended up getting a Red Velvet and a Carrot Cake. I found these a little disappointing if I am being honest.

May Favorites

I love reading blogs myself and have noticed a lot of beauty and fashion bloggers have started doing monthly favorites and I think its a fabulous idea! Here are my offerings for May...

5. Disposable Icing Bags.

I was baking with my mam one weekend and discovered these in her kitchen and have been completely converted! One of my signature icings/frostings is a chocolate fudge one which is a very thick consistency and so it is very hard to get a regular icing bag completely 

                                           

4. Decobake

This shop sells EVERYTHING their best store in my opinion is in Clane, Co. Kildare. As far as I know their on-line store is still under construction but if you have time it is well worth a trip. Staff are so friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. They also run classes and free demonstrations which I am dying to try out.

                                       

3. Kitchen Aid

Ok, so I haven't got my hands on my own one yet but I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! They come in such a fabulous range of colours. It is my 'when I win the lotto' purchase and have even decided on the colour I want (Bayleaf). For anyone who has one or has ever used one you will understand my obsession. They are so sturdy as well as stylish and are great for mixing cakes such as fruit which can be difficult when using lighter mixers. They also come with an ice- cream making attachment which is always a lovely added bonus.

      

                                               

2. Edible Glitter

Still a firm favourite I absolutley love using them to bring colours to life, espically letters for names or any kind of writing on a cake. I went to the Cake International Cake Fair last year in Birmingham and found this one and I have to say it is the best I have used. The fair was so good for picking up bits like that are very reasonable prices. I have been meaning to look into buying direct but until then you can pick them up in good cake supply stores. 'Disco Hologram White' is my favourite colour I have tried so far as it  goes with all colours of sugar paste. I also like to but a little bit in a sieve and sprinkle it over giant cupcakes.

1. My new Cath Kidston apron!

For my birthday last month my sister got me this very cute apron and matching oven glove for baking in. She picked them up in Cath Kidston which I absolutely love.

Coloured Drums

I mentioned before how I was going to start using coloured drums and the occasion finally came recently when asked to make a 7th birthday cake which I was under strict instructions to make 'chocolate with flowers'. Having been always told to cover cake drums it made such a welcome revelation when coloured drums became widespread. They save so much time and can really lift a plain cake. They also save sugarpaste as I seem to be flying through it lately.

 Of course there are many cakes that need the seamless continuation of cake to board such as this one which I put up a post about a while ago.

Next weekend I am getting making a cake using Isomalt for the first time and I am super excited to try out the new craze. Stay tuned for the post about it. 

Back to Sesame St.

After the success of the Elmo giant cupcake I made a while back I got asked to make a cookie monster inspired cake for an upcoming birthday.

Like before I used my silicone cupcake moulds and baked in the oven. I don't know if I mentioned this before but it is SO important to turn down your oven a little when using these as opposed to traditional tins as it takes a little longer for the heat to reach the centre of the cake and for it to cook properly.

What I really like about my one is that there is a little lid like mould that sits on top of the botton part and makes an indent in the base so you can fill it with icing/frosting....of course if yours don't I would really advise you to make some room because it really adds to the cake.

I made the mistake of buying blue liquid dye instead of the gel form and so this changed the consistency of the buttercream a little bit and it needs to be quiet stiff to stay in place on a cake such as this one. If I were to redo this cake again I think I would add in a some more dye as I don' think he came out dark enough. 

As a finishing touch the most obvious thing to do was to include a cookie which really made the cake in my opinion. I also managed to get my hands on a box especially for giant cupcakes with a cupcake cut out on the side so when dropping it off at party everyone can see. I really liked this idea but more so from the point of view that the box won't be continuously opened and potentially damaging the cake with everyone 'just having a look'. 

I did a mini haul in my local cake supply shop and finally got myself some letter cutters which I will do a post about soon. Also I have finally started to use coloured drums as covering the silver ones really does eat into prep time so I will do a post on that soon also.