Okay so my cakes are made so the next step is to fill the layers with butter icing and cover each tier with icing. I think the most difficult part of this is slicing the cake layers in half- I always seem to struggle with cutting them evenly! However, I think I did quite a good job this time as I kept my knife straight and guided the knife into the cake by rotating it on a turntable stand.

Okay, so you're probably wondering why I've been a bad girl? Well, it's fairly obvious really...I've not updated my blog quite a while (as you may have noticed!). However, that isn't to say I haven't been baking. Quite the opposite really. I've been very busy baking, cake decorating, and trying to fit in a little college work inbetween (eek!). I was planning to wait until college was over until I made my next blog post, but tonight I decided that would be far too long, and that I would get straight to work on a new update. So here it is! As I have made quite a lot of sweets and treats in the past few months, I thought I would share a few of the best with you.

Last week we celebrated a special occasion, as my (not so) little sister Helen turned 21 years of age. With help from my sisters boyfriend Rabbi, me and my parents organised a suprise jungle themed party for Helen last Saturday, which, luckily we managed to keep a suprise until the big night! The party was a success and everybody seemed to have a brilliant time.

I put myself in charge of the sweets and cake (not suprisingly) and created a birthday cake that tied in with the jungle theme. I'd actually been planning this cake for a long time as last year, I said to myself that Helen's 21st birthday cake would be the best cake I've ever made! I really wanted to live up to my own expectations...

The finished cake consisted of three tiers made from different types of sponge: fruit cake, chocolate cake and victoria sandwich. The best three types of cake in my opinion! I decorated the cakes in animal print designs and made jungle animals out of marzipan (I also sneaked in a Tigger, did you notice?)

Everybody was certainly very impressed with the cake (including Helen) and although it took a lot of work, I felt a great sense of achievement once the finished piece was put together- the hard work always pays off in the end- especially when you eat the first slice!
I managed to get a few close up shots of the marzipan animals as I think they are kinda cute. What do you think?

One of my work collegues asked me if I could make a cake for her partner's birthday this year and of course I very happily accepted. My first step to designing the cake is to find out the interests of the person who will be receiving it. So...I asked...
"Kelly, what kind of things does your partner like?"
"He likes going to the pub"
Hmmm...a cake with a pint of beer iced on it? Nah, maybe not..
"Anything else he likes?"
"Well, he supports Nottingham Forest."
Aha. This was better. I could do a white cake with a Nottingham Forest logo iced in the middle and 'Happy Birthday Richard' written around the edge- simple(ish) but effective!

My first idea was to make the logo out of marzipan but after a little thought I decided it would be best to do it in royal icing using a run out technique. This is something I find quite difficult but I knew it wouldn't get any easier if I didn't practice! Unfortunately, my first attempt turned out to be a disaster. My royal icing was slightly too runny so the logo sort of merged together, making it hard to make out what it actually was (although my Dad thought it looked great). However..it gets worse. I left the cake under a bright light to dry out the icing for around 20 minutes. When I came back, an air bubble had somehow formed beneath the fondant icing (I'm guessing this was due to the heat) which of course completely ruined the run out as it cracked and hardened over the 'bump'- complete nightmare!

I decided to consult my mother. After a short discussion we decided that the best thing to do was make a plaque out of roll out icing to cover the mistake and start again on top. This time, I really couldn't mess up! Luckily my second attempt was much better and I am fairly happy with the finished cake. Most importantly, Kelly thought it was lovely and has even requested another cake for christmas. Sometimes these things are just meant to happen. We learn valuble lessons from our mistakes!