Month: January 2013

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Our cake featured in Tala trade catalogue!

Our cake featured in Tala trade catalogue!

One of our cakes has been printed in Tala’s new trade catalogue!

Remember this cake we made months back? We created it by drawing inspiration from their wonderful range of retro products. We’re happy to share with you that Tala decided to include images of our cake in their 2013 trade catalogue! As you can see from the images above our cake features beside Tala’s range of quality sugarpaste/fondant tools and plunger cutters which we will be proudly stocking in the near future. Stay posted for further Tala themed cakes we may produce throughout the year ahead.

Our cake featured in Tala trade catalogue!

To view Tala’s wonderful products why not visit their website or Facebook page for lots of helpful recipes, tips, photographs and more!

Our cake featured in Tala trade catalogue!

 

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The Happy Egg Co. Cake - Time for Tea

Welcome to our first cake design development blog post in partnership with The Happy Egg Co. Our development posts will help take our readers through the cake design, recipe testing and trend forecasting process. We’ll show you what is involved in designing a cake and it’s recipe, how to gather inspiration, creating colour palettes and what fads in the cake world to look out for!

Time for Tea

The Happy Egg Co. Earl Crey Cake2011 and 2012 saw a trend in the ‘boozy cupcake’, so much so that it became a category in the National Cupcake Week’s list of competitions, but for those who remain tea-total (or those who overindulged in mulled wine at Christmas) a tea infused cake, cookie or cupcake is still a luxurious and tasty treat!

Flavours

The Happy Egg Co. Early Grey CakeTo begin our research and development we sat down with a nice cup of tea and a slice of Victoria sponge made with none other than Happy Egg Co. free range eggs in order to think of what flavour we’d like to create a recipe around. Some tantalizing flavours included Empress Grey (lighter and more floral than Earl Grey) with delicate orange blossom; darjeeling with zesty lime; peppermint tea with dark chocolate; Earl Grey with rich bergamot and lemon or blackberry buttercream; or finally chamomile with lavender (perhaps far too floral and ‘spring time’ for January). After some deliberation we settled on a fragrant Earl Grey flavour enhanced with bergamot and zesty lemon or blackberry buttercream! Alongside well sourced free range eggs by The Happy Egg Co. it is equally as important that all extracts are of the highest quality. Uncle Roy’s All Natural Bergamot extract provides the premium flavour required in any cake by Juniper Cakery.

Design ‘boards’

Another important stage of the cake development process involves gathering inspiration and creating quick design boards based on what flavour or season we initially base the cake on. Since we decided upon floral/citrus Earl Grey flavour our visual inspiration involved looking at incorporating fine china prints, begramot botanical prints, classic Wedgwood colours and detailing, traditional layer cakes, lace and doily prints and fresh lemon.

The Happy Egg Co. Earl Grey Cakes

Cake designs & sketches

From our design boards, colour palettes and photographs we get a better idea of what styles we want our cake to incorporate. This leads us to the sketching phase. We quickly draw out a few different cake designs and discuss the pros and cons. Things we need to consider include what The Happy Egg Co. wants and needs, how the cake will travel (including weight, shape, size and fragility), what cake decorating technique we can teach our lovely readers, and if we have translated our chosen flavour and design board images well.

The Happy Egg Co. Earl Grey Cakes

The Happy Egg Co. Earl Grey Cakes

Stay tuned to find out what design we decide to create!

 

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‘Tutorial Tuesday’ : How to make a sugarpaste/fondant bluebird!

‘Tutorial Tuesday’ : How to make a sugarpaste/fondant bluebird!

'Tutorial Tuesday' : How to make a sugarpaste/fondant bluebird

In this week’s tutorial we will show you how to create your very own little bluebird. This simple sugarpaste model is quick, easy and fun to make and perfect for any occasion. Why not transform your bluebird into a robin, blackbird or sparrow? Simply custom-colour your sugarpaste to create a bird fit for your occasion. This cute, cartoon-like bluebird adds a touch of fun to the current wedding trend.

'Tutorial Tuesday' : How to make a sugarpaste/fondant bluebird

What you need…

Sugarpaste in three colours (we coloured white modelling paste using Wilton sky blue and Wilton golden yellow)
Toothpicks
A Kebab stick
Paintbrush
Edible glue
Wilton black colouring paste
PME blade tool
Fondant rolling pin

'Tutorial Tuesday' : How to make a sugarpaste/fondant bluebird

Step one: Take approx half of your sky blue sugarpaste and shape it into a ‘whale’ as seen above. Once happy with your shape take the Blade tool by PME and make four slices; this will create a ‘fan’ look for your bluebird’s tail.

'Tutorial Tuesday' : How to make a sugarpaste/fondant bluebird

Step two: Set your bluebird’s body to one side for the time being. Take a small amount of blue and shape them both into an oval ensuring you taper one end ever so slightly. On the tapered end make two incisions to create the feathers on your bluebird’s wings.

'Tutorial Tuesday' : How to make a sugarpaste/fondant bluebird

Step three: Take the white sugarpaste and roll it out using the small rolling pin by PME. Using the blade tool by PME cut a rough circle out. Discard the remaining white sugarpaste and begin working around the circle with the blade tool to ‘feather’ the bluebird’s chest. Using the edible glue by Squires Kitchen now attach your bluebird’s chest in place.

'Tutorial Tuesday' : How to make a sugarpaste/fondant bluebird

Step four: Using the remaining sky blue sugarpaste roll a ball and set it to one side. Gently push a cocktail stick behind the white chest of your bluebird ensuring you adjust it according to your bluebird’s height. Put a small amount of edible glue by Squires Kitchen around the cocktail stick and gently slide the head in place. Attach the wings using a small amount of edible glue spread evenly with a paintbrush.

'Tutorial Tuesday' : How to make a sugarpaste/fondant bluebird

'Tutorial Tuesday' : How to make a sugarpaste/fondant bluebird

Step five: Break off a small piece of cocktail stick and place it where you would like your bluebird’s beak. Shape a beak using the golden yellow sugarpaste and fix in place.

'Tutorial Tuesday' : How to make a sugarpaste/fondant bluebird

Step six: Using the end of the kebab stick simply dip it into the black colouring by Wilton and dot two eyes in place to complete your bluebird’s lovely little face.

If you have followed this tutorial now you will have your very own little bluebird! We would love to see what variations you can come up with by adjusting colour, shape and size.

 

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‘Tutorial Tuesday': How to make a sugarpaste dinosaur!

‘Tutorial Tuesday’ How to make a sugarpaste dinosaur!

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste dinosaur

In this week’s tutorial we’re showing you how to make your own sugarpaste dinosaur. This fully edible model is perfect for themed cakes; experiment with proportions, size and colour to transform your dinosaur into an alligator or lizard. This tutorial is a quick and easy to theme your cakes and cupcakes.

What you need for this tutorial…

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste dinosaur

Sugarpaste in three contrasting colours
Blate tool by PME
Bone tool by PME
Edible glue by Squires Kitchen
Black by Wilton
Wooden kebab sick
Wooden cocktail stick

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste dinosaurStep one: Take a small amount of your chosen base colour and create a ‘tadpole’ shape to create the dinosaur’s body.

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste dinosaurStep two: Set your dinosaur’s body aside. Take a smaller amount of your chosen base colour and shape a circle for your dinosaur’s head. Be sure to taper the circle slightly to create a snout for your dinosaur.

Step three: Take the wooden cocktail stick and gently push in through the neck of your dinosaur. Paint a small amount of edible glue by Squires Kitchen around the cocktail stick. Now slide the dinosaur head into place.

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste dinosaurStep four: Now it is time to create your dinosaur’s nostrils. Using the Bone tool by PME gently indent two small nostrils in your dinosaur’s snout.

Step five: To add eyes simply roll two small balls of white sugarpaste and squash them down between your index finger and thumb. With a small amount of edible glue by Squires Kitchen attach two eyes onto your little dinosaur. Using the end of the wooden kebab stick take a small about of black colouring by Wilton and ‘stamp’ two pupils on your dinosaur’s eyes.

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste dinosaurStep six: Take your chosen base colour and roll out two sausage shapes. Using the blade tool by PME slice the sausages in half to create four dinosaur legs! To create the ‘claws’ simply roll out a contrasting colour between your fingers and glue them on with a small amount of edible glue by Squires Kitchen.
Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste dinosaurStep seven: Take the remainder of your chosen base colour and shape triangles in various shapes to create the dinosaur’s tail spikes. Paint a stripe of edible glue by Squires Kitchen from your dinosaur’s neck down to the tail and secure them in place.

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste dinosaurStep eight: Take your Blade tool by PME and scour lines in each of your dinosaur’s knees and snout to add definition.

Step nine: To customise your dinosaur why not experiment with this tutorial? We add pink spots to our dinosaur using a contrasting colour? You can stamp out hearts, stars or cut out lines to decorate your dino’s skin!

Congratulations! Using this tutorial you now have your very own sugarpaste dinosaur to adorn your fun cakes and cupcakes with!

 

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‘Tutorial Tuesday': How to make a sugarpaste cat!

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste cat

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste cat!

In this week’s tutorial we’re showing you how to create your own adorable little cat from sugarpaste. This fully edible decoration is perfect for adorning your beautiful cakes and cupcakes with; use them to add fun to kids’ cupcakes or add character to a wedding cake and use to make cake toppers! This tutorial is also quick and easy enough for you to adapt and customise to suit themed parties and events!

What you need:

Sugarpaste (in whatever colours you wish your cat to be plus black and white for the eyes and pink for the nose and ears)
PME blade tool
PME shell tool
PME scallop tool
Toothpicks
Paintbrush
Edible glue

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste catStep one: To form the body shape mold a pear shape from some sugarpaste. Using your blade tool scour and shape two legs out of the front of your cat’s body. Use the shell tool and press cat ‘toes’ into your cat’s paws.

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste cat

Step two: To make your cat’s head roll out and shape a ball of sugarpaste and set aside.

Step three: We added some contrasting fur detail by cutting out a zig-zag edged shape from white sugarpaste.

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste catStep four: Now to form your cat’s muzzle. Using a small amount of pink coloured sugarpaste create a small triangle; this will become the nose. Also, using some sugarpaste (we used a contrasting white) and a round piping tip cut out two small circles and attach to the ‘cheek’ area of your cat’s face. Glue the pink nose nestled atop both circles. This is your cat’s muzzle.

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste catStep five: Make two small triangles out of matching sugarpaste and two smaller triangles out of pink sugarpaste then attach together using edible glue. Finally, glue the ears to your little cat’s head.

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste catStep six: To create you cat’s tail simply roll out a long piece of sugarpaste that tapers to one end. Curl the tail around your cat’s feet and glue the back-end in place.

Tutorial Tuesday - How to make a sugarpaste catStep seven: For the eyes use a small round piping tip (Wilton 1A) to cut out two white circles and two black circles (custom cut these to make them slightly smaller than the whites). Glue the black atop the whites and glue to the top of the head.

If you’ve followed this tutorial then you will now have a beautiful sugarpaste cat that you can personalise for any occassion! Why not adjust this tutorial and make the body smaller and the head and eyes larger to turn your cat into a wide eyed kitten perfect for nestling into rich buttercream piped cupcakes? To make this tutorial extra wild you can also choose different colours, patterns and styles of ‘fur’ to make an array of felines from cheetahs and leopards to sugarpaste mane-d lions.

 

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