Unicorn Cake Class

Pamela got in touch to ask if I could teach a group baking workshop for her daughter Ava’s birthday. She was turning 8 and wanted to celebrate with her family. When I found out that unicorns were her favourite then I knew that the Unicorn Cake making class would be the thing to do. The group had no experience with baking or decorating cakes and were not sure that they were up to the challenge. By the end of the 2hr cake workshop they were amazed by the end results and went home very happy with their stunning, unicorn cake creations.

Team Bonding at CAA

A great time was had by all at CAA at their team bonding workshop. We did a bit of a different cake making event on this occasion. They particularly wanted to get their hands on some fondant icing (or edible Play Doh, as I like to think of it) and create some Christmas themed cakes. They had a great time making, snow men, elves, Christmas trees and even Father Christmas. But the winning cupcake was actually a beautiful and original snow leopard. The girl who made it was thrilled to take home her very own, personalised copy of my best selling recipe book! They were a great group who really put 100% into what they were doing and it seemed to be a lovely place to work. The group seemed really close, more like family than co-workers. And their boss seemed astonishingly young (unless it’s just a sign of me getting older!). We really loved working with them and are looking forward to doing more events there in the future.

Sugar paste Roses and Fondant cupcakes Class

I had a lovely morning on Saturday teaching Aimee and Beejal how to make sugar paste roses by hand in our full day cake making class. They also used cutters and moulds to create a variety of different sugar paste flowers and leaves to create a stunning range of floral cupcakes. We also spent time working on their buttercream piping techniques and using rolled fondant to cover the cupcakes. Although both of them are keen bakers neither of them had any experience with piping icing or working with fondant icing or sugar paste. They were surprised to discover how straightforward it was to construct these beautiful adornments. It is really about knowing the correct equipment to use and having the process broken down into simple step by step instructions. The girls absolutely loved their cake making class and are looking forward to coming back to do more soon.

Hawaiian 8th Birthday Party

I’d had the idea ages ago to do a Hawaiian themed party for Cosy Mae’s 8th birthday party. The combination of palm trees, pineapples and Hula girls just seemed like an inspiring combination for a cake table. Also, being June I thought we were pretty much guaranteed sunshine- ha! In the lead up to the forecast every report I read predicted rain all day which was hardly surprising as it had pretty much rained every day leading up to the party. By some miracle the sun came out and we were blessed with blue sky and temperate weather. It was a big relief as we had 20 kids coming and had recently moved out of a house and into a flat with a huge communal garden. It would have been really depressing (and very claustrophobic) if we’d been rained off and had to be inside. We had some brilliant games; limbo, hula dancing statues, Hawaiian treasure hunt and of course parcel parcel, as my kids call it (when will they grow out of it?!). As usual, like a nutter, I spent weeks planning the cake table and then a couple of weeks prepping and making the contents for the cake table. On it we had; Hula Girl Birthday Cake (Oreo flavour), Tropical flower cupcakes, iced biscuits (Palm tree, Pineapple, Mermaid and Ice cream), Hawaiian Hula Bark, Tiki Cake Pops, Sea and Starfish Meringues. I used an orange cotton fabric to make a sunset colour back drop and table cloth (I finally got a piece of foam board to use as a backdrop base.) I was pretty pleased with the over all effect although I do always wish there was a professional photographer on hand to capture my hard work before it is all devoured and demolished by ravenous kids.

Baby Shower at The Lanesborough Hotel

Although Celeste Bickle now lives in Ireland she decided to host her baby shower in Central London. That way all her closest friends could be there. Bryony and the whole team at Entourage Collection had done a fantastic job creating a beautiful space for the baby shower event. They had covered every detail perfectly. Each of the place names at the dining table had a unique portrait of the guest on them. Due to the fact that Celeste had watched my cake making and cake decorating tutorials on YouTube she was really keen that I host the event. Initially I didn’t think I could do his as that week before Christmas was incredibly busy for us with a variety. In the end I managed to move things around so that I could be there for the first hour before handing over the workshop to the lovely Nadia. She was really thrilled that I’d managed to make it as I kept it as a surprise. The cake making activity was a huge hit with her guests. They did a fantastic job and loved all our new sprinkles including rubber duck sprinkles as well a baby elephants and bunnies. It was a great ice breaker for the ladies who didn’t know each other already. All in all the cake making class was just perfect for a fun baby shower activity. Celeste was such a delightful lady and her friends were very warm and relaxed. Attending the event was an absolute pleasure.

Cake Making Birthday Party

Camilla wanted to celebrate her birthday by getting together with her best friends and having a cake making workshop. They had a great time. Firstly they learnt how to bake the cakes from scratch using organic eggs and real butter as well as fair trade sugar and flour. I explained how much better ‘mouth feel’ and flavour you get using real butter rather than margarine which I really don’t think is good for you. I try and use organic and free range whenever possible in my baking lessons. There was plenty of time do chat over a glass of bubbly whilst the cakes baked. We even put on Heart FM for more of a party vibe. They were a really interesting group of girls. All of them lawyers in different fields and at different companies. Some of them want us to go into their offices to host one of our popular cake making team bonding, client and networking events. We’ve worked a lot with law firms over the years. They seem to really like how well are events work as icebreakers and bonding experiences. Once the cakes were baked I showed the girls how to trim the cakes using a cake cutter (a bit like a cheese wire) and a bread knife. Then I demonstrated filling and crumb coating the cakes. Finally I taught them how to ice the cakes with a palette knife and some different styles of decorations they could finish decorating the cakes with. As you can see they each did something totally unique in the cake class They were really thrilled with the end results and excited to take them home to show to their family and friends. What a great cake making birthday party Camilla had. And who knows, perhaps I will be seeing her soon at a cake making company event in her offices!

Vanilla Cupcake Class

This was a lovelys small cake making class. The ladies had a great time learning how to bake delicious vanilla cupcakes from scratch. This gave me the opportunity to work with each of them individually giving them tips and guidance on how to improve their cake baking and decorating techniques. Michelle was originally planning on bringing her 9yr old daughter as she is a passionate cake maker and really wanted to have a baking lesson. Unfortunately the daughter ended up double booked so she brought her friend instead. Michelle enjoyed herself so much that she is now planning on bringing her daughter back to do the same class! They did a great job with their baking and all turned out to be fairly proficient at piping buttercream swirls and by the time we finished they were getting to a near professional level of cake decorating. We spent a lot of time focused on creating beautiful buttercream roses. These are the one time of buttercream flowers that we cover in the beginners class. I love the fact that people can move from beginners to a high standard in a short time when it comes to piping swirls on cupcakes. They were thrilled with the end results. We even made a few extra cakes so that they could sample their creations and still take home a full box of a dozen of their gorgeous cupcake creations. What a great cake class!

Red Velvet Cupcake Class

For her birthday Dan wanted to bring his wife Ellie for a private cake baking class with me. She was already an able baker but wanted to learn to lift her cake making skills to a more professional level. It was such a thoughtful present and she was thrilled that he had splashed out on a private lesson rather than a group cake making lesson. We had a really fun 3hrs together. She had never made red velvet cupcakes before so was really excited to try the recipe out. They came out absolutely perfectly which was a great boost to her confidence. As Dan was not sure about that flavour and much preferred good old classic vanilla cupcakes we made those as well! Dan got involved with the swirl piping too. They were very happy to be taking home two dozen cupcakes and a signed copy of my recipe book. What a great couple!

Buttercream Swirls Private Class

It was hard to believe that Rebecca had never tried piping buttercream swirls when she did cake making before. She was an absolute natural! She really benefited from the focus of a private one to one cake decorating lesson. We covered the swirl piping techniques that we would do in our usual beginners cake class as well as some of the sugarpaste work we do in the full day decorating class. She absolutely loved creating the sugarpaste roses and as you can see from the photos she did a brilliant job with them. She spent time experimenting with the different fondant molds to make a variety of edible adornments including; broaches, bows and flowers. She also decided to use this cake class to experiment with two tone icing colours. I showed her a variety of different ways to get good effects without having to invest in a two channel bag (which I personally don’t think look very good anyway). We had such a great time working together and I’m looking forward to her returning to learn intermediate and advanced piping techniques at her next cupcake workshop.

Cupcake Baking Class

We had a great time on Saturday's half day cupcake baking workshop. The cake making class was attended by four passionate bakers. Tina and Sophie were old friends who shared a passion for cake baking. Sophie treated Tina to the class as her birthday treat. They both work in theatre so were pleased to find a date that fitted in with their busy schedules. Tina will soon be off on tour with world famous celebrity Peppa Pig! The other two attendees were Irit who is a talented pianist and singer and Anam who works with children with special needs. They were all very focused which ensured they got fantastic results. Their cupcakes came out perfectly light and fluffy and they soon picked up the various cake decorating techniques. They loved doing the rose swirl and as it was a small class I was able to work individually with each of them. This ensured that they all managed to create perfect buttercream swirls. They loved getting their hands on our huge box of sprinkles and edible decorations. The glitter was an especially big hit. At the end of the 3hr session they had a great sense of achievement, each leaving the cake making class with a box of a dozen delicious cupcakes to enjoy with their friends and family.