Cake Portfolio

Creating a portfolio of your work is the most important thing you can do to promote your business wether it be via social media or a hard copy of your photos in a book..

Most importantly it's imperative you use photographs of cakes that you have designed and made your self don't be tempted to use photographs you find online if your just starting out and don't have many cakes too show. It's wrong on so many levels firstly you may be breaking a copyright law and secondly it's not a true representation of your work.  Your collection will soon grow.  On saying that if you find a cake that's outstanding being shared online and want to share it on your social media page please make sure the original designer is firstly ok with their work being shared and ensure the cake decorator is credited for his/her work and supply a link to their social media page I think it's just good manners and networking with other cake decorators can be good to get your name out there. 

Get the photographs right and take several shots from all different angles and some close ups of the finer details.  It's important to make sure the photographs are not taken on the work table still strewn with your tools icing sugar etc.... ( unless it's a photo tutorial. ). The finished cake should ideally have a nice back drop.  You can purchase back drops that are specifically designed for cake photography but these are quite costly.  I use wall paper samples ) these store away easily and you can have several pieces that you can choose from to match your cake with the added benefit of them being free.

 

Try and use some different angles than straight on shots these can make more visually pleasing photographs 

  

And props are great too especially for cupcakes choose props that compliment your cakes the £1 shops are great for picking up little props I picked up these little jugs and designed the cupcakes around it for a gift for my mum for Mother's Day a few years ago. 

There are several apps that are great for editing your photos and are free to use I personally love pic collage.  It's easy to edit and add text and makes great collages either free style or by using one of the many free templates.

Most people prefer to use their company logo or name as a watermark before posting online their are several free watermark apps I prefer to use the text function on my photo editing app it saves jumping from app to app. 

Try and use some 

Lastly sometimes you just don't get the perfect shot this is where I crop the hell out of the photos to cut out  background mess and try and savage something that's not too sad to post on line. I managed to get a few pics of the cake I made my niece for her baby shower and used pic college to edit them all together. 

Happy caking everyone ❤️

 

Rainbow dust progel food colouring

I have a few items I couldn't live without when I'm cake decorating or sugar modelling but the product that is my upmost favourite is rainbow dusts progel food colouring.

These are just superior to any other brands I have tried ( and I've tried a lot ) they come in a whole array of colours.  

I'm asked by other cakers when I recommend progel ( well rave on madly about ) why I find them that good.  I've managed with some help from friends to get two shops I use to stock them and converted many cakey friends who were a bit reluctant to try at first but to please me gave them a try.  They quickly changed brands after trying 😃

So what's so good about them !!!!

1: They are very easy to use just squeeze out the required amount ( no messy cocktail sticks needed here ) 

2: Very easy to store they come in a screw top tube so just pop them in a box or where ever you want to store them anyway you see fit. No need to ensure they are standing a certain way up to avoid nasty spillages they take forever to clean up. 

3: They wash off your hands so much better no need to go days with heavy stained hands. ( tip: rub a little trex into your hands before colouring and you will hardly find a trace of it on your hands after washing.)

4: The colours are amazing and so many to choose from.  It's very easy to obtain the deepest reds and blacks and the purple is the best match to cadburys purple I've seen the navy is also fantastic. 

If you haven't already tried these give them a try I'm sure you won't look back once you have. 

Link to the summer colour range of colours

Rich Dark Fruit Cake

I love this cake it's great for Christmas and to use as a traditional wedding cake.  If you are not a lover of fruit cake ( like I once was ) you should give this recipe a try it's beautifully moist and you can add more of the fruits you like.  

This recipe will make enough for a 8 inch round cake or 7 inch square.

The cake is beautifully moist and very boozy.  You can make a non alcholic version by soaking the fruit in cold tea, Apple or orange juice. 

To start you will need

2lb of dried fruit and mixed peel you can use any dried fruits and peel that you like as long as it weighs out to the 2lb use a good combination of fruit & peel you can use less of the fruits you don't like and more of those you do and a good 70cl bottle of brandy my rule is if you wouldn't drink it it's no good for your cake. 

I like to use some fried cranberries in my cake if it's for Christmas. 

Tip: You can use sherry, run or whiskey in place of the brandy. 

Get yourself a good sized bowl and add all the fruits and peel add half the bottle of brandy or non alcoholic alternative and cover with cling film the fruit will be soaking for a minimum of one week but if you can let it soak for longer all the better.  Stir the fruit daily and if the fruit absorbs all the liquid add a splash more.

Once your fruit as been well soaked you are ready to start making the cake.  

You will need 

8 oz Plain flour 

8 oz Butter

4 Eggs

4 oz Molasses brown sugar

4 oz soft brown sugar

1 good tablespoon of Black treacle 

2oz of Ground almonds 

Grated Rind 1 lemon 

Grated rind 2 oranges

1 teaspoon of Mixed spice 

1 teaspoon of Ground nutmeg 

( you can add an additional teaspoon of mixed spice if you prefer the cake to be more spicy ) 

Begin by sieving all the dry ingredients together the flour and spices and add the ground almonds leave to one side.

Next grate the rind of the lemon and 2 oranges into the the bowl with the fruit. 

1: Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

2: Add the eggs whisking in 1 at a time. 

3: Add the sifted flour and spices in 2 parts ensuring the flour is fully combined before adding the second half.

Next add the fruit use a slotted spoon to drain off any excess liquid from the fruit if there is any ? and mix until the fruit as been evenly distributed throughout the mixture 

Pour into a 8 inch tin that's been fully lined with baking parchment use a double layer of parchment on the sides and bottom of the tin.  Level off the mixture with the back of a spoon and add a piece of baking parchment over the top cut a small hole in the middle of the paper to allow any steam to escape. 

Bake in a pre heated oven at 140c for 41/2 hours. You can give the cake little turns during the baking time to ensure a even bake the cake is ready when a skewer comes out clean.  The cake should be quite firm and a little springy to the touch allow the cake to cool completely in the tin.

Cooking times vary so check your cake several times during cooking if need be you can turn your oven up or down a little.  4 1/2 hours is the approx time but I have had some cook a little quicker. 

Once cool the cake should have become a lot more firmer DONT WORRY it's not over baked this will allow you to feed the cake with more brandy.

Remove the cake from the tin and leave the lining paper on the cake remove the top piece of baking parchment and pierce the cake several times with a tooth pick and sprinkle a few teaspoons of brandy over the cake replace the paper back on top and wrap in more baking parchment then in a good layer of tin foil.

Always ensure the cake is well wrapped in parchment paper before wrapping in tin foil the tin foil should not come into contact with the cake. 

Feed the cake every few days with a teaspoon or 2 of the brandy until the cake is beautifully matured and moist.  Some people feed their cakes for months but I normally do 4-6 weeks 

After this time the cake is ready to cover in marzipan ready for a layer of fondant or royal icing. 

For a summer fruit cake I make in the same way but use rum to soak the fruit and feed the cake. I use dried tropical fruits papya, mango etc I also omit the black treacle and molasses instead I replace with golden syrup and use light brown soft sugar. 

Happy baking ❤️

Teddy tutorial

You will need 

300 gms of fondant

Tylo/cmc powder 

Progel colours in:

Grey, black & baby blue

Ball tool

Small sharp knife 

Small bowl 

First take a small ball of fondant about the size of a penny and put to one side in a plastic bag.

Colour the remaining fondant with the grey progel and add 3/4 of a teaspoon of Cmc powder knead in well and let it rest for an hour before you begin modelling. 

Take a few more pea sized pieces from the fondant and put into a bowl with half a tea spoon of hot water leave to one side until the fondant as absorbed the water then mash down so you have a  sugar cement paste. ( this will glue your pieces together better and ensure no legs or feet drop off when moving the finished model. ) 

1:  Take 120gms from the fondant and roll out into a tall cone shape. ( don't worry about getting all the cracks out if there are any as these will be lost when you do the fur.) 

2:  Next take your knife and indent small lines into the fondant go all different ways and kind of use a flicking motion so that the fur lifts and looks more realistic.  You can go back over any areas if they seem too flat or uniform.

3:  Using the back of the knife indent a seam along the front of his body and using the tip of the knife indent stitch marks about 5 or 6 along the line.

4:  next take approx 20 gms of the fondant and roll into a sausage shape about 2 inches long, cut in half.  At one end of both pieces use the knife to make some score marks then add a little sugar cement ( scoring will help the pieces get a firm grip into the body. ) 

5:  Attach thd legs either side of the body then cover the joins ( where the leg meets the body ) with a little sugar cement and use the knife to blend the body and leg by making the fur marks.  You should end with an invisible seam.

6:  Take 30 gms of fondant and cut in half;  roll each piece into a egg shape and slightly flatten.  Use the knife to create fur around the edge of both pieces. 

7:  attach the feet to the legs using the same method used to attach legs.

8:  Use the knife to blend the feet into the legs and continue to create the fur over the rest of the feet.  Use the tip of the knife to create stitch marks around the bottom of each foot.

9:  make a small indent with your finger on top of the body and make some small score marks ready for the head to attach 

Leave for a few hours to firm up or better still over night.

10: Make the head by using 70 gms of fondant and rolling into a ball add some sugar cement to the top of the body and make a few score marks on a small circle of the head attach to the body and use the knife to create fur all over the head ( don't worry if the head distorts a bit; you can reshape after and add some more fur marks if they have flattened down. )

11: take a pea sized piece from the White fondant that you put by, and the same again from the grey and knead together to make a pale grey.  Use half of it to roll out a small ball then using your finger flatten out to make the muzzle.

12: Attach to the head making sure the bottom goes right under the head.  Then use the back of the knife to indent a line 3/4 up the middle.

13: Use the knife again to indent a line up the middle of the head and use the tip to indent a few stich marks. Make 2 eye sockets with the ball tool.  Then attach 2 pea sized pieces for his ears with a little cement glue. 

14: Use the knife to make fur marks over the ears and blend into the head.  Make a little indent in the middle of each ear with the ball tool. 

Using the lighted grey roll a small piece and flatten out with your finger then cut into a square shape to make a patch for his head add stitch marks with the knife.

15: Using approx 20 gms of fondant roll into a savage shape and cut in half continue to shape the arms tapering one end out.  Attach to the body with sugar cement. ( you may need to adjust the arms to ensure they are in proportion. )

Finish by colouring a tiny amount of the grey fondant black and roll 2 balls and insert into the eye sockets. Then colour a small piece of the White a pale blue for the nose.

You can choose to finish your bear in a number of different ways to match the occasion add a crown, bows, flowers and a number of different accessories.

 

Flower paste

Flower paste is a firmer dough then modelling paste and can be rolled really thinly.  It's also great to use in place of modelling paste for models that need a stronger firmer paste.

You will need

500 gm fondant

1 tsp cmc/tylo powder 

3/4 tsp of egg white 

2 tsp of cream of tar tar 

1/4 tsp glycerine ( optional )

You can use powdered egg white but you need to add water to the egg white and make it up as directed on the packet.

First knead in your CMC powder until it's fully combined. You can Then add the egg white and knead in throughly if it becomes to sticky add a little trex to your work surface.  Once the egg white as been completely kneaded in you can add the cream of tar tar and again knead well until the paste becomes nice and smooth. ( glycerine can now be added if using ) 

Cut in half and wrap each piece in cling film and then store in a zip lock bag. 

The paste is best left over night before use.

Paper parchment piping bag

I learnt how to make these at college and was surprised when my tutor said we needed to learn how to make them... Surely it's quicker to just buy disposable bags you can get them cheaply enough I thought.

 

I'm now completely converted to making my own parchment bags.  They are one of the many amazing things I learnt from my tutor 😀

I use them all the time now for piping small details on cakes, decorating cookies they are especially good if you need to have several colours.  I use them for royal icing, run out icing, piping gel & butter cream details.  The only time I actually use a disposable piping bag now is for piping on the top of cupcakes.. And filling the centres of my large cakes.

There is s knack to making a good piping bag as I found out from trial and error; if it's not folded correctly or tightly enough you will find the bag will split open as soon as you apply any pressure to it. I had lots of oops, oops & ooopps before I was able to produce a decent bag that functioned as it should. 

You need a roll of parchment baking paper and a small pallet knife or knife to make your triangles ready to fold into bags. 

To fold your bags start like this.

Take point A and fold inwards up to point B.

Then take point C and wrap around; bringing point C up behind point B so all the points line up and you have a cone.

You can now adjust so that the tip of the bag is very pointed and no light can be seen through the tip.

Your finished bag should look like this inside so no visible hole can be seen at the tip and the seams at the back of the bag are nice and tightly folded over each other.

Not like this where you can see a hole and the seam at the back of the bag is very loose. 

When your happy that the bag as been folded correctly you can fold the top down 3 or 4 times to secure the cone. 

You can cut the tip off the bag and drop a icing nozzle straight in or use on its own. 

I usually make up a batch and leave them in a cup so they are readily at hand. 

 

 

 

 

 

Sugar cookie recipe

250g softened butter

250g castor sugar

1 large egg

500g plain flour 

2tsp vanilla paste 

Baking paper 

1: Cream the butter, sugar & vanilla until they are mixed do not over best as this will make the cookies spread when cooking. 

2: Add the egg and beat in until it's fully combined.

3: Add flour and on a low setting mix until it forms a dough.

4: Wrap in cling film and let the dough chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

5: Place dough on a sheet of baking paper and cover dough with another sheet roll out to an even thickness of roughly 1cm ( if you have spacers use these to ensure a uniform thickness ) 

6: Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and transfer carefully to a baking tray lined with baking paper.

7: Bake for approx 10 mins at 160c fan until the edges have just started colouring.

8: Allow to cool on a wire cooling rack before decorating.

Try some different flavours add finely grated lemon or orange zest or some almond extract for chocolate replace 60g of the flour with coco powder.

Cookies can be decorated in a number of ways this cookie is traditionally used for the elaborate run out icing but a simple glaze; sprinkles or cut out fondant shapes are great for the kids to do. 

Cookies will keep for a few weeks if kept in a air tight container.  So are great for making ahead of time. 

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