The Ferrari of the Tractor World...?!

Now, I'm no expert when it comes to tractors but after discussing this cake with a friend he kindly informed me that this tractor is no less than the Ferrari of the tractor world!!

So with that in mind I would like to present to you the...

Fendt 936 Vario!!!

Made from vanilla sponge and yummy raspberry jam, the Fendt 936 Vario is completely and utterly edible!!

The Sugar Buddha Cake

I'm super excited to tell you all about last weeks Sugar Buddha Cake!

I had so much fun making this one.

The customer was brilliantly specific with their order.  They wanted a square vanilla and jam sponge with a golden laughing Buddha and a bottle of red saying Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad, 60 Not Out!  

So, I set about fashioning a Buddha out of sugar, which I have endearingly named The Sugar Buddha.  

And this is how I did it...

Using white fondant icing mixed with a little CMC (a powder that allows fondant to have more elasticity and set harder) I modelled him starting with his magnificent belly...

...then I added his legs, creating his feet and toes along the way, then covered them to create his lounge pants...

...next I modelled his breasts (for want of a better word) and his arms and hands which started off looking like this...

...again I added more fondant with CMC to create a lovely robe to cover some of his modest breasts and his arms, and then roughly rolled out a ball for his head...

...with one of my faithful modelling tools I sculpted his fabulous laughing mouth, nose and eyes and attached his brilliantly over sized ear lobes...

...next, with black food colouring I painted in all the dark areas and details...

...and finally I sprayed him using the amazingly effective PME Edible Lustre Spray and left him to dry...

We became quite attached during this process and I was sorry to see him go.  He sat on my side until I was ready for him to be stationed on the cake and every time he caught my eye his expression made me chuckle!

Anyhoo, this cake isn't all about Buddha (although that was my favourite part) I also created a tiny little bottle of wine and hand painted 'Pinot Noir 2012' on the label....

All that was left was the golden lettering...

The Carpenters Cupcakes

I have a friend named Angie

She’s really rather handy

At making things

From other things

& I think that’s just dandy!

 Yeah, so I've got this friend, and her name is Angie and she makes things… mainly out of wood, wood that she finds lying around on the streets, outside people’s houses etc, I’m sure you get the idea, the recycled kind.

Angie is amazing; I gave her an old chest of drawers once and found out that it's recently been re-fashioned into shelving for another friends vinyls.  Recycling like that just warms my heart.

In Angie’s house nothing is wasted, while visiting the other day she explained how she’d found a use for a tiny slither of lacy fabric she’d stashed over 30 years ago… two little dolls summer dresses… obviously.  She’s a little bit nuts but I wouldn’t change her for the world.

Then, it turned out that last month while I was considering new coffee table designs, like you do, Angie was also considering what she could possibly make next and during a little get together a new project came about.

Therefore, to thank her for my absolutely perfect new coffee table that I love dearly and to wish her a Happy Birthday I created these cupcakes featuring little tiny carpentry tools.  They went down a treat at the local pub over a beer or two, or three… ummm… I forget the details.

And just so you can appreciate Angie’s handiwork, I present to you, my new coffee table!!!

& here’s a little something from Angie…

“My Birthday Cupcakes were not only a wonderful surprise but tasted as good as they looked. The degree of thought which went into the personalised decoration was awesome, of course you have to know me to appreciate the relevance but that’s what you're great at doing Rachel. BIG THANKS. Angie :-) X”

Dressing Table Cake

For Eva's 50th Birthday her friends wanted a dressing table cake showing the mess she made when getting ready to go out.

According to her friends Eva spends ages getting ready, trying on every piece of clothing she owns and making a good old mess along the way, I don't know about you but it sounds pretty familiar to me!!!

Her friends specifically asked for spilt nail polish and clothes strewn around the floor, and as you may or may not already be aware... your cakey wish is my command.

My favourite Lemon Drizzle sponge featured as the innerds.

Here's Eva's cake featuring Eva herself and a right royal mess!!!

Happy 50th Eva!!

Beyblade for a 6th Birthday

This Beyblade inspired cake was a quick last minute number for my friends little boy Elijah who loves his Beyblade and turned 6 this month.

It's a simple chocolate sponge with Nutella filling with some super simple decorations but he loved it! :)

Happy 6th Birthday Elijah!!

The King of the BBQ

This year for my friends birthday it was decided that we would make a cake in honour of his amazingly fabulous BBQ skills.

Now, to say that Mark can BBQ a burger would be an understatement!  Some of the more memorable dishes have included 'Beer Can Chicken' and Pork Ribs.  He will always pull out all the stops when preparing a delicious spread for us.  He bakes his own bread to compliment his awesome potato salad and loves to try a new BBQ recipe every time, I'm not sure how he does it but these brand new attempts are always totally and utterly delicious.

Unfortunately, due to last minute party organising there just wasn't time to replicate 'Beer Can Chicken' into cake so I created a generic BBQ cake with burgers and sausages, but just so you don't feel left out of the food feast here are a couple of his creations...

I apologise to anyone who leans towards the chicken welfare code (as I do myself), but I can 100% confirm that a little thank you was said before inserting the poor thing onto a beer can and once again before digging in... he was delicious though!! :)

Mark's Beer Can Chicken

Mark's BBQ Ribs

More meat than rib!!

Anyway, back to the cake...

It's only small, but I thoroughly enjoyed painting on the charcoals and of course eating my fair share...

Chocolate Sponge & Nutella Innerds

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!!!

Fern's 27th Birthday Cupcakes