Claire Elizabeth

Looking back on 2012...

16:36

Happy New Year to all my lovely readers!

I thought I'd begin 2013 by looking back at some of my best cakes from 2012, so here are my favourites:

Mum's Fred Astaire 1940's inspired birthday cake

My most challenging novelty cake yet- Thomas the Tank Engine!

Lydia's childhood toy Ducky- made into a cake!

Tea party cake to celebrate the success of Tiffin Tea House

Kirsty & Daniel's wedding cake

An artic inspired wedding cake for a couple who love polar bears!

One for a shopoholic...

...and another...

...and if you can't afford the real bag, why not have one made out of cake!

Giant cupcake for Grandma

A cake for a 50th birthday celebration

..and to round off the year, a cupcake feast for an engagement party-nice!

Phew, what a year! 2012 has definitely been a good one for celebration cakes and I hope that 2013 brings many more. If you're interested in ordering a special cake this year for any occasion, big or small, then you can contact me at clairey_1988@yahoo.co.uk or visit my website at http://www.claire-elizabeth.co.uk/

I think I'm now going to spend a little (or a lot) of time browsing the January sales- I certainly feel like treating myself to something new! If you're like me and are too lazy to actually go to the shops, then there are some great online offers and deals about- one of my favourites being the brilliant sale at dotcomgift shop. There are some fantastic bargains to be found, so check it out by clicking the link below:

http://www.dotcomgiftshop.com/special-offers?all=1

I'll be back soon with my first bakes of the year!

-Claire x

Late seasons greetings!

16:22

Hello and seasons greetings to you all! I apoligise that this post is a little late and the big day is now over- but hey it's still the festive season so I thought I'd update you all on what I have been doing over the past few weeks!

I started by decorating our family Christmas cake, which is something I like to put aside a whole day to do. I decided to do something a bit different this year, and used my recently purchased dome shaped mould to make an igloo cake, complete with an edible family of little penguins dressed in appropriate winter gear!

Inside the igloo hides a deliciously moist and rich dark fruit cake which I covered in marzipan and roll-out icing. It's actually a fairly simple cake to make, although rather difficult to remove from the tin once baked (I admit that I did have to 'glue' the top of the cake back on since it got stuck in the mould-oops!).

Since I moved out into my own flat earlier on in the year, I now have my very own Christmas tree to decorate and so I thought what better to do than to make some homemade edible tree decorations. I found a Hairy Bikers recipe for speculaas biscuits, which are a traditional continental Christmas biscuit according to the BBC.

Basically they are lovely little crisp biscuits lightly spiced with ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. I cut mine into snowflake shapes and drizzled them with a little glace icing once baked- I think they make give the finishing touch to my tree, what do you think?

I really have been rather busy this December. Mince pies, shortbread, florentines, truffles, rocky road, panetonne, gingernuts, crackers, cupcakes and biscotti-I have gone baking mad this Christmas (as if I wasn't already)! Unfortunately I just haven't had the time to photograph everything and write about each bake but here are just a few snapshots that I did manage to get!

2013 is nearly upon us and I look forward to seeing what the new year brings. I can't wait to try out some new recipes and I welcome your thoughts and comments for anything new and inspirational-any ideas?

Edible Pressies!

16:36

Well lets face it, now that Halloween and Bonfire night are both over, it's pretty much all about the lead up to Christmas and so I thought I'd start off the festive baking with the classic Christmas cake. I love a bit of boozy rich fruit cake at this time of year (or anytime of year actually!) and boozy my recipe certainly is as I soak my fruits in sherry a week before baking my cakes, and feed them with more once cooked and cooled- nice!

This year I have been making lots of individual cakes to be part of the Christmas hampers for sale at my work place Tiffin Tea House. Icing and decorating over 30 little cakes certainly takes its toll but they really do make lovely little gifts and it is something one can do in advance since a good rich fruit cake will actually improve and 'mature' over time so it's always good to make them early!

To make these little gift cakes, all you need is a large deep square baking tin and your favourite fruit cake recipe. Once baked, you can cut your cakes into any size you like- I did mine 3" by 3" to make perfect little cubes. For those of you who are not a fan of a fruit cake (and I know many who aren't!) then you can of course use any cake recipe you like-genoise sponge with butter icing and jam works well and I find that this generally goes down well with most people, even the fussy ones!

To cover the cakes you can colour your own sugar paste which is available in most supermarkets, or buy it already coloured which is certainly the easier option! I chose to decorate mine with handmade sugar paste bows and stars but other shapes are available (!) so let your imagination go wild!

Once you have let the icing dry out a little, wrap each cake in cellophane and finish them off with some pretty ribbon or stickers- I love these cute little stickers from dotcomgift shop.
Now all you need to do is to give your gift cakes to the special (most deserving) people in your life- just wait until you see the smiles on their faces :)

No tricks, just treats

17:39

I've been back in the kitchen again (although did I ever leave?) baking some sweet goodies as one likes to do at this time of year. Last year I took some classic recipes and jazzed them up with a Halloween twist- remember my haunted gingerbread house? This year I began by trying something new and tried a new twist on the famous Battenberg cake by making a chocolate orange version.

I discovered how well chocolate and marzipan go together when I once covered a chocolate cake in marzipan rather than icing. I don't know what it is but I just love the combination of the two flavours. As a fan of chocolate orange (it's not Terry's, it's mine) I added orange zest to half of my cake mixture and melted dark chocolate to the other to create that two-toned chequered pattern that the Battenberg traditionally has. I thought the dark brown and orange colours would fit in quite nicely with my Halloween theme, but I also decorated my cake with mini pumpkin faces that I made from coloured sugar paste just to finish it off!

Although I'm sure many of you would rather just stick with the traditional pink 'n' yellow chequered cake, I love this version and I now have more ideas for other flavour combinations I can't wait to try!

Okay, so now back to some classic everyday bakes- cupcakes and biscuits. Both are very easy to make and the possibilities for different decorations one can do are endless! This makes them perfect for when you want to create something yummy for a particular occasion.

I made a batch of my all-butter vanilla biscuits, cut out in Halloween shapes, which I then iced with royal icing in appropriate colours and designs- simple but effective!

Now I made cupcakes last Halloween and I thought I better not do the same decoration (I wouldn't want to bore you all now) so I had a little think and came up with these!

They did involve little more work but I think I prefer this years cupcakes more than the last, although they may turn your tongue purpley green....nice!

Happy Halloween everybody!

Yes...it's on the way

16:39

Now I know you will all probably moan at me for bringing up the subject of Christmas in October, but as a baker one has to start planning things in advance...even if it is just soaking fruits to create a wonderfully moist Christmas cake, right? Besides, you can't really escape from all the hype, it will soon be everywhere and before you know it December will arrive and the countdown will really begin!

I have very fond Christmas memories, and I recently decided to take a trip down memory lane and take a look at some childhood photos my Mum has stored away at home. Looking back over the years, it got me thinking about some of the wonderful gifts I have received at Christmas. Of course, there is all the usual stuff that we secretly love- socks, smellies, chocolate etc, but also the not so usual (for example the Minnie Mouse telephone I received from my Grandparents last year!).

On receiving our BIG present..

However, I think my favourite gift by far was, believe it or not, a box. I remember receiving this as a joint present with my sister the Christmas of 1994 and little did we know that this large wooden box on wheels would bring us many years of fun, joy and make-believe. So what was so special about this box you ask? Well, upon mine and my sister's first peek inside, we soon realised that it was a dressing up box, and contained a variety of costumes such as pink tutu's, witches hats, sequined cloaks and plastic heels-classy!

It certainly kept us occupied for the rest of the day, and over the entire Christmas period in fact. The great thing was, when we did start to get bored of the box, new costumes were added (many of which were made by my very talented Grandma) and so the fun continued. Besides, when we did have enough of dressing up, me and my sister would empty out the box, climb inside and pretend we were on a ship, sailing away to a far away land...

Loving the sequins...

Pretty princess Helen...not sure about the red tights though sis!

And the worst Christmas gift I ever received? Well, in all honesty, I don't have one. I know we all moan about receiving yet another pair of socks or an ugly knitted Christmas jumper (I never got one of these and would actually quite like one!) but I believe we all should be grateful for any gift that is given to us, because remember, it's the thought that counts (sorry, I just had to say it!).

Heading out with my new gear!

However, if you you do get stuck for ideas this year, then one place I can recommend for a great variety of gifts that are bound to please anybody-male and female, young and old, is dotcomgift shop. In fact, I have already been having a cheeky little looks myself and added quite a few things to my list! Here are some of my favourite products:

For difficult Dads:

I love this doormat and I think it makes a rather amusing present for any Dad

For busy Mums:
My mum always has a million and one things to do, so I think this chalkboard is perfect for scribbling down those 'to-do' lists and any other things we don't want to forget, plus it looks pretty too!

For the siblings:
I love dotcomgiftshop's range of novelty gifts, and for an amusing gift to give your (annoying at times) little brothers and sisters, check out these printed toilet rolls!

And for the Grandparents:
I know that my Grandparents love to be out in the garden, and I think these mini blackboard garden markers are so cute, and really useful if you like to do a bit of planting!