Sometimes the most simple of tasks can be a little bamboozling and may not be so simple after all. Knowing how to fill your cakes and what to avoid can make or break that 6 tier masterpiece you’ve spent weeks designing. Head on over to the Craftsy Blog to read our top tips on how to fill your cakes to perfection!
We’ve some exciting news to share! We’re now writing over at Craftsy’s blog as well as here at our humble online abode. We’ll be talking about cakes (of course) and sharing lots of fun cake decorating tricks and tutorials! For our second Craftsy blog post we’re offering up some handy tips on tinting fondant and how to create a beautiful vintage colour palette. We even created the Parisan Macarons / Salon de Thé cupcakes below to help illustrate just how lovely a vintage colour scheme can be!
So, if you’ve a burning need to know how to achieve a gorgeous vintage colour palette then head on over to Craftsy to see our post!
Do you love Cake Decoration Magazine? We sure do! For their lovely spring edition our Lamb and Anemone flower topper tutorials were featured within their pages. Now our Floral Birdcage Cake (and how to create it) is sitting proudly upon pages 52 and 53 of their Summer 2014 issue! Go and grab your copy today and discover lots of gorgeous cakes and tutorials for you to re-create at home!
2014 is officially here which means our partnership with The Happy Egg Co. is coming to an end. We’ve made a selection of delicious cakes for them over the past year and experimented with lots of flavours, palettes and designs; our last cake certainly won’t be any different! Though the new year brings with it the beginning of winter, Valentine’s Day offers the opportunity to use otherwise ‘summery’ ingredients; strawberries and champagne! With this in mind we’re very excited to announce that our very last cake with The Happy Egg Co. incorporates some of life’s little luxuries; strawberries, white chocolates, and roses all tied together with a generous helping of champagne!
For this cake our colour palette is inspired by gorgeous bouquets of roses that traditionally find themselves delivered to loved ones on Valentine’s Day. The vibrant and soft pinks of roses combined with fresh greens and delicate creams lend themselves wonderfully to cakes and other sweet treats of the season!
The festive season is just around the corner and of course we are incredibly excited! We love everything about this time of year; woolly jumpers, blustery weather, houses adorned with tinkling lights and the abundance of fantastic flavours on offer! With all this in mind an obvious flavour choice for our next cake with The Happy Egg Co. jumped out at us; after dinner mint! The luxurious combination of dark chocolate and smooth mint cream is a seasonal classic around the Christmas dinner table, and one to share with family and friends while watching winter TV specials! We loved the idea of a decadent cake incorporating the fresh sweet taste of peppermint and the bitter creaminess of dark chocolate. Why not finish a festive dinner with an after dinner mint cake instead? We certainly will; we’re salivating at the thought!
Another thing we adore about combining peppermint with dark cocoa is the vibrancy of natural greens contrasted perfectly next to warm browns and crisp grey whites. They do say that you eat with your eyes first so festive greens and natural browns will help tempt everyone!
You don’t even have to wait until after your evening meal to enjoy such a cake flavour. It’s winter in less than a month so why not indulge and warm up your tummy with a generous slice and a piping hot mug of peppermint hot cocoa! Excited? Watch this space for our truly tempting and taste bud tingling recipe!
October is officially here which means burnt reds, oranges and yellows are quickly taking over the leafy greens of summer. Though this is, perhaps, the biggest change when we look through our window here at Juniper Cakery HQ there are also notable changes being made in the food and baking world too. The thought of warming seasoned fruits, soups and desserts have inspired this month’s recipe which is to be a spiced apple cake!
The bittersweet taste of apple and their deep reds and autumnal greens are perfect for this time of year. Their traditional, and much loved, pairing with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and allspice creates a warm, homemade feel perfect for getting cosy in the coming blustery months.
September is quickly moving towards October which means wrapping up and keeping warm is a must! The thought of cool, crisp mornings and dark evenings have inspired this month’s recipe which is to be a coffee, caramel and brown sugar cake! The rich, nutty tones of coffee and the crunchy texture of brown sugar fits right in when we imagine the burnt oranges, yellows and reds of autumn.
The inviting scent of coffee beans we’ve had circulating through our studio reminds us of winter mornings when a warm drink is a great substitute for a lie in! Coffee cake is a classic and adding brown sugar to the mix will deepen the colour and enrich the flavour too!
Pairing a caramel buttercream with coffee and brown sugar adds another dimension and reminds us of fun, flavoursome hot drinks offered by coffee shops in winter. The recipe we have in mind would also work wonderfully with gingerbread or eggnog but we think a silky caramel buttercream would add a luxurious taste and texture without overpowering the coffee and brown sugar.
As the end of summer looms beaches across the UK are jam-packed with holiday makers hoping to enjoy the last bit of warm weather. We too enjoyed a trip to the seaside where we were on a mission to eat lots of fruity ice cream and make sandcastles. When we returned home we were inspired to put the two together and create a raspberry ripple sandcastle cake for this month’s happy egg co. recipe!
The tart bursts of flavour from fresh raspberries remind us of past, and recent, visits to the beach on a typical British summer day. Classic flavours like vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, raspberry ripple and banana would attract adults and children alike to ice cream parlors and vans across the country. Raspberry ripple was always our favourite but it wouldn’t be a ‘ripple’ if it wasn’t accompanied by another classic flavour, vanilla!
Pairing fresh, homegrown raspberries and vanilla pod infused buttercream is a great, simple way to recreate a seaside staple! The fun, novelty sandcastle cake for this month is a wonderful way to enjoy the remaining sunshine from the comfort of your own home!
As fresh blueberries ripen in the Juniper Cakery HQ garden what better way to enjoy the month of July than by including them in this month’s happy egg recipe! Everywhere you go you’ll see blueberries in drinks, yogurts, desserts and maybe even in your own garden too.
The tart taste of blueberry is perfect for a summer-themed cake recipe but the freshness they bring also makes them subtle enough to be paired with another flavour. The scent of fresh plants, trees and flowers have become a frequent enjoyment here at Juniper Cakery now that the warm, balmy weather is finally here; the most prominent of all being lavender!
Lavender would bring subtle tones of floral flavour to an otherwise all fruit recipe so our minds were soon made up; this month’s happy egg co. cake will be a white layer cake with blueberries and lavender baked in and filled with lashings of white chocolate buttercream! The natural, deep tones included in this month’s colour pallet are inspired by the blue and purple hues taken from the blueberries and lavender themselves.
As dark clouds turn to blue skies over the UK we couldn’t think of a better way to enjoy the month of June than with fresh, tart, fruity flavours! Everywhere you go you’ll see slices of lemon and lime bobbing in iced fizzy drinks, in ice creams, sorbets and ice pops and even squeezed on fish and chips on a trip to the sea side.
The citrus taste of lemon and lime also happens to make a delicious cake, which is great news for us! We’re yet to meet someone who doesn’t love a classic lemon drizzle cake but we wanted to add a third flavour to the mix. We considered mango, coconut and raspberry before we decided upon passion fruit!
The passion fruit adds a luxurious tropical kick to an old British favourite so our minds are made up; this month’s Happy Egg Co. cake will be lemon, lime and passion fruit flavoured! The vibrant tones included in this month’s colour palette were naturally inspired by the fruits themselves and the golden hues and zesty greens are perfect for June and July.
