Shoe birthday cake

When a friend ordered a birthday cake for his fiancée giving the brief that it should be girly and maybe involve shoes, I was very excited! Firstly, most of the cakes and cupcakes I have decorated recently have been for men. Whilst they have been fun, I craved doing something girly for a change. Secondly, I had my eye on a design I’d seen in Peggy Porschen’s Pretty Party Cakes, which I was given for my birthday.

I love the way Peggy Porschen does candy stripes down the sides of her cakes so I thought I’d have a go at this (the dark pink lines were more successful as I got the consistency of the royal icing better than for the light pink). I also wanted to practise my piped royal icing flowers as I haven’t done any for a few months. So the perfect inspiration for me was Peggy’s Valentine’s Heart.

I also needed to include a shoe in the design so I made one out of gumpaste. I was really pleased with how it turned out and loved the shimmer effect I got when I dusted it with shimmering pale pink lustre. I embossed the inside of the shoe and the bow using an embossing plate.

I think this has to be one of my favourite cakes that I have made so far as it was such fun to make. The feedback I had was good so I hope Su enjoyed her birthday cake

Karmic Koala Cake

Karmic Koala Cake, originally uploaded by cupcake_cook.

I made this cake to celebrate the release of Karmic Koala and it got quite a lot of internet attention from Ubuntu fans! The original picture I posted to Twitter was viewed over 1500 times and it was retweeted over 40 times! What a famous little koala he was!

I sent the cake into work with my husband the following day and giggled as I saw pictures on Twitter of the little koala minus his legs (I ran out of edible glue so they were just resting against him!). Hope they all enjoyed the cake – an empty plate came home at the end of the day!

Grace’s Birthday Cake

It was Grace’s 5th birthday at the beginning of October and she finally decided, after much deliberation, that she wanted a High School Musical cake. I had a cupcake order to complete the same day so decided to go for the easy option and ordered some cupcake toppers to cut up and use on the top of the cake! She also decided she wanted a rainbow cake so I spent several hours making various coloured sponges – enough to turn most adults’ stomachs but apparently a big hit with children!

So here is the finished cake

and here is the inside in all its rainbow glory!

Wordless Wednesday – Cupcakes!

I’ve seen quite a few Wordless Wednesday posts pop up on Twitter so I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon too! Here are some cupcakes I’ve made recently (yes, I know I’ve written some words – but I like to talk!!) Enjoy!

Think Pink

As most of you probably already know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Sadly, many of you will know someone who has been affected by breast cancer as it is now the most common cancer in the UK with almost 46,000 new cases diagnosed every year. My Grandma has had breast cancer twice and is one of the lucky people who, due to improved detection and treatments, has survived the disease.

I am always thankful to those who make such a great effort to raise funds and awareness and wanted to join in with the fundraising this year. I have designed a range of cupcakes and will be donating 50p from each ‘think pink’ cupcake sold during October to Cancer Research.

Whether you’re holding an event and would like to order these special cupcakes or just fancy some cupcakes for yourself or friends, drop me a line on cakeshopcorner@googlemail.com. If you don’t fancy cupcakes but would still like to donate, I have set up a justgiving fundraising page so please give what you can.

Pink ribbon cupcakes are just £1 each with 50p donated to Cancer Research UK for each cake sold.

Pink rose cupcakes are £1.50 each with 50p donated to Cancer Research UK for each cupcake sold.

Train cake

Last weekend I had a cake order that was a challenge to make but great fun! A friend asked for a birthday cake for her Dad’s birthday and sent me a picture of his favourite train. After sketching out many ideas and worrying that I would end up with a dodgy looking Thomas the Tank Engine-like cake, I finally came up with a design that I liked!

I made a vanilla Madeira cake and carved it using the piece I cut off to make the tunnel. The board, sides of the cake, stones and flowers are coloured sugarpaste and the grass is buttercream. The train is made from a mixture of sugarpaste and flowerpaste with piped royal icing decoration.

I hope he liked his birthday cake!

National Cupcake Week

Yay, it’s National Cupcake Week so why not treat yourself with this special offer from Cake Shop Corner?

I am offering a 15% discount on all cupcake orders placed between September 14th and 20th. You can get yourself a box of 6 beautifully decorated cupcakes for only £8.50 or 12 for £17 (plus P+P if you want them delivered anywhere in the UK). Just email me at cakeshopcorner@googlemail.com or DM me on Twitter and quote NCW for your discount.

Eat plenty of cupcakes and enjoy your week!

Ordering cakes

Firstly I must say a big thank you to Karin from Café Bébé who has included Cake Shop Corner on her Mumpreneurs page. If you haven’t already done so, pop over and have a look at Café Bébé where you will find lots of helpful reviews, mumpreneur listings and competitions.

Secondly, I have had a few people ask me recently via Twitter and my blog if they are able to order cakes, which made me realise I haven’t really made it clear I am open for business! I am now happy to send cupcakes via courier (if you read my previous post and are happy with the condition they arrived in!) and obviously if you live in the Eastleigh/Winchester/Southampton area I am happy to deliver cakes and cupcakes or you can collect them from me.

Prices vary depending on what style you would like, but start from £1.25 per cupcake (a simple cupcake with a buttercream or fondant topping and sprinkles) and from £25 for celebration cakes.

Cake flavours include vanilla, chocolate, toffee fudge, coffee, lemon and carrot but feel free to request something different and I will give it a go! If you’ve seen a particular cupcake decoration or flavour on my blog or flickr page that you’d like then do let me know.

You can DM me on Twitter if you follow me or drop me a line at cakeshopcorner@googlemail.com to get a quote.

Thank you all for the lovely comments recently on twitter, facebook and my blog, xx

Thank you!

Just a quick post to say a big thank you to everyone who has offered to be a guinea pig for my postal cake trials. I had over 20 people contact me via my blog, twitter and Facebook page. I’m just sorry I won’t be able to send a box to everyone, but the courier cost for that many boxes would bankrupt me before the business is even up and running properly!

The first box was delivered this morning to Louise of Cocktail PR and I was delighted to find out that it was a success. The cakes arrived the right way up, intact and edible. I see from the photos that Louise sent me that one cake was a bit squashed but I think this is due to the fact that I had to fashion my own cupcake dividers out of thin card. A quick improvement here should help.

Here is the box packed and ready to go:

And here’s how they looked when they arrived:

Not too bad for a first attempt so I’m hopeful I’ll get it cracked and soon be able to offer cakes by post.

Guinea pigs required!

No, not the small furry variety! I need some willing volunteers to help out with my experiment!

For a while I’ve been wanting to try and send some of my cupcakes in the post (well, via courier) to see if this is a possible extension to my cake business. I also have another idea, which I’m keeping under wraps for now! I ordered some from another company to see how they arrived and I have to say the answer is – not good!

So what I need is a few volunteers who I can send a box of cakes to who:

a) like cake

b) won’t be gutted if they arrive in a dreadful mess

c) are willing to take a couple of photos of how the cakes look when they arrive and report back on whether they were intact/inedible/suitable for a gift etc.

d) spread the word if it is a success (and keep quiet if it is a massive failure!)

I can’t guarantee what I will send you or when it will be (but I will email to let you know when it’s on its way). If you would like to be one of my guinea pigs please either leave a comment with some kind of contact details (obviously not your full name, address and directions for burglars! An email address will do!) or DM me if you follow me on twitter. (And no Cumbers, I am not sending you cakes in the post – you can collect them yourself! )

Thank you kind cake-loving people! x