Mini Christmas Pudding Chocolate Cakes

Today is school's Christmas Fete....... so last night I made some "Christmas Puddings"

Here's how I made them .......

First, I made a chocolate cake mix

150g caster sugar
150g butter
3 eggs
120g self raising flour
30g cocoa powder
vanilla essence - proper stuff
chocolate essence - only found in waitrose

Butter Icing
some butter, icing sugar & vanilla essence - I don't really measure

I have this lovely 8 mini dome / semi sphere silicone bakeware (Tefal) which is great for making round cakes (used it to make mini angry birds)  - I can't find it anymore bought it a few years ago however found something similar on  internet

once cooled I cut the dome so they were level, scooped out a little bit and added the butter icing ....

I joined them together using "cake pop" mix I made using the off cut cake & butter icing

I then covered them in chocolate flavoured fondant .... very tricky

I did "cheat" and had to add some fondant on the bottom and blend the joins

To make the "sauce"  I used a round cookie cutter and hand shaped with a sharp knife

added some sparkle the "sauce"

Now making the Holly Berries & Leaves

I bought some special Beau Flowerpaste which happened to be "holly green". I use a holly leaf cutter but you could easily just cut the shape with a template & knife.

The holy berries was just some red fondant icing which I added some "Christmas Red" colouring to do make them more red.   I added them to the leaves and used a leftover apple packaging from Sainsburys to shape the leaves in to the dome shape..... (I made these first and left them to dry while I made the cakes)

Once I'd made the cakes I added the holly to the top using a bit of icing & water mix .....

To make them nice for the fete, I placed them on 4" silver bases and bagged & tagged

I buy most of the my baking supplies from Craft Company
The clear bags are from LakeLand 50 for £2.99
The cute labels are from PaperGlitter

iPhone 4S Cake

iOS5 Icons - see below for the close ups

For the iPhone 4S launch - Friday 14th October 8am, I made a cake for my work mates at the O2 store in Leamington Spa.

I hand drew all the icons with various edible ink markers. I used the screen shot from the display stand (see below) which shows the new iOS5 icons. It took me about 3.5 hours to make the icons and in total took about 5 hours to make. As it was quite late in the night I had to make a "quick" chrome band with buttons, etc... and the background was black as it would have been too fiddly to try and copy/create the default iPhone background.

I asked Siri if it would like some cake, unfortunately it didn't understand the question and told me it could only search for business in the USA

Thanks to @O2  for tweeting my image on http://twitpic.com/700zis - currently has 1,692 views

Me at work (O2 Leamington Spa)

Cake on the iPhone Stand

I started work at 7am on the launch day and worked until about 6pm, with just the odd 2 min break here and there to grab a bite to eat as we were super busy as you can imagine.  We had a total of 97 iPhone 4S that day and the second guy in the queue was Seb he got there at 3am.  We didn't sell out until very late in the afternoon.

I'm very lucky that I work with an amazing bunch and had the most exciting and tiring day ever :)

Looking forward to the next iPhone launch whenever that may be

Edible iPhone Icons

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

We've only just cut the cake today, as it was "too nice" to eat :)

Finally cut the cake  :)

Did I design a Smart Phone not a PDA?

I studied BSc Product Design at university and realised that I didn't design a PDA but a Smart Phone !
also I called it the Em Pad  :)



Project : New Product Design and Development

Brief : Generate a new product in one of the following fields:

A Leisure product.
A Home domestic product.
A Business product.
A DIY / Maintenance product.
Also the term used to describe this type of development is Blue Sky Design, because this type of product does not exist.

Personal Note

I found this product difficult at first, trying to think of product that doesn't exisit isn't easy! I decided to choose a business product but it can be used as a home product. As we were designing for the future it was slightly easier to design as there weren't many constraints. I searched the internet for insperation and I came across Philips Vision of the Future Web Page which I found amazing and very helpful. I decided to design a PDA for the future. It's voice activated but also has a small pen which can be used instead and for short note taking. It has a built in camera so it can br used for taking pictures or video conferencing. It comes with all the software you need for word processing, e-mailing, surfing the internet, etc... It's similar to PDAs on the market now but it's more sophisticated and has advanced materials, microchip, etc... A full size model was made for the project and I like the natural look so wanted a wood look finish.




Via Flickr:
Designed this on my degree course back in 1995-6
My old website is still on Wayback Machinewith my other University designs.

My Birthday Cake - R2D2

It was my Birthday on Monday and had no idea what cake I wanted.
After watching an episode of "Ace of Cakes" making a R2D2 cake I knew straight away that's what I wanted. I don't have the skills to make a full size, working R2D2 cake like Duff and his team but it didn't stop me having a go!

I went to my local cake suppliers and got some polystyrene cake dummies. I used a 6" round one for the bottom - I could have used cake but only had one 6" tin and didn't have time to bake a second cake. I also bought a 6" square one so I could cut it and make the legs.

I used a CAD program to draw out a rough shape for the legs.

For the dome I used the Wilton Sports Ball Pan, which is 6" round too.

I made a basic vanilla sponge and put some butter icing inside the dome.

Covered in white fondant and decorated using coloured fondant and used my cutters.

Some of the detailing is just random as just wanted a simple yet recognisable look

I took it to work and it was enjoyed by everyone :o)

For info on making your own Star Wars cake checkout - http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Make-A-Star-Wars-Cake

3D Angry Bird Cake

My oven broke just before Christmas and with the help of family and friends, I bought a new one from Ikea last weekend.

I'd been planning on making an Angry Bird cake after seeing @bobbiealice 's amazing cupcakes on PocketLint, I thought I must make my idea of a 3D round cake and thought what better way to test my new oven :o)

I used the Wilton sports ball cake pan for the big one and used silicone semi dome tray to make the mini ones. I decided to go a bit crazy with the insides and make what in USA call funfetti basically it's basic vanilla sponge with sugar strands

Covering them was very tricky as the fondant kinda pleated itself at the bottom. I managed to "hide" the messy bits the beige tummy.

The beak and feathers are attached with cocktail sticks

I've decided to take the Big Angry Bird to work for them to eat and I made some mini ones for my husband, best friend & a special black on for my son as it's his favourite one!

I'm hoping to post a mini to @roviomobile if they let me know their address asap as they won't fly that far


Update: The cake arrived at Rovio and they loved it. Pockelint wrote an article about my cake and my local cake suppliers Craft Company also sell the Wilton Sport Ball Tin.






All of the cakes with plushies ...






The insides .......

iphone 4 cake for Alex

My lovely friend Alex at work loves his gadgets same as me, we're often told we talk too much geek at work :o)
So I thought for his birthday I'd make him an iphone 3 cake. Alex then took 3 weeks off work and by then had got himself a shiny new iphone 4.
I sneakily managed to get him to send me a screen shot of his mobile so I could copy it exactly :o)
I was a bit rushed for time today and only had 3 hours sleep as was working on origami orders. I used rainbow dust edible pens to hand draw the icon my copy wasn't that great but it is my first attempt.

I didn't get time to line up the icon nicely and also didn't get chance to add the red band around the side. Alex like me is a lefty and has that "holding it in the wrong hand" problem and as listed on Lifehacker Alex has been using his Vodafone VIP bracelet

Also got Alex some little birthday gifts :o) A screen protector, a lovely papercraft iphone /ipod stand and my never fail gift for a bloke LEGO ! a lego spaceman keyring to be precise there were loads to choose from at LegoLand so decided to go old school :o)

Baking for School Fete

Had a busy morning and with the help of my husband made ....
48 mini cupcakes with butterflies, bees & ladybirds on
20 flower cookie lollies
ickle people biscuits
and a giant cupcake.

I think we made about £40 for the school :o)

and of course it rained.



I've taken photos with a proper camera hope to upload soon

Mumswhobake.com cupcake class

Woody with his cake we made at mumswhobake.com

Last weekend Woody & I went to Milton Keynes to meet Vicki (www.mumswhobake.com) and to have some fun decorating cupcakes we had a lovely few hours there and bought some stuff too.

We learnt how make the lovely butter icing swirls and even got to play with glitter & lusture and even hand coloured our fondant which did mean very colourful hands, mine were bright pink for a few days.

You can find out about the courses here http://www.mumswhobake.co.uk/shop/category.php?id_category=45
and hopefully there will be more advanced courses next year

Sackboy Cake

Sackboy is a cute character from a Playstation 3 game called Little Big Planet made by Media Molecule - (http://www.mediamolecule.com/)
My best mate Ben loves this game (he specially bought a PS3 & new TV so he could play this game) and I made this cake for his birthday.

I have a cake company local to me and I bought some Belgian Chocolate Paste - 2.5kg Ref: 01950 - http://www.craftcompany.co.uk/acatalog/Sugarpaste_For_covering_Cakes.html and covered the cake with that 6mm thick !!

The cake itself is chocolate sponge using 50g to 1 egg ratio with cocoa powder some vanilla essence and some chocolate essence (from USA but available in Waitrose) and chocolate butter icing using the cocoa, vanilla & chocolate essence again.
there are a few skewers and chopsticks in him and I had to put the head on just before taking photo as it was too heavy for the body to cope!
The zip is black fondant with silver dusting paste hand sculpted

It tasted it very yummy as the fondant is like fudge !

Will wanting to be as high as the clouds

I've not been feeling well and my new medications makes me very sleepy as in staying in bed/sofa until lunchtime!
I was really good today and made myself get up at 9am to take Will to Hatton. We got there nice and early and Will got to play on the new JCB ride for ages before anyone else arrived.

I love this photo of him wanting to reach the clouds :o)

Mustang Cake based on a Mustang Transformer

I've been baking again!
I saw my husband's mustang transformer and thought it would be good to copy. A work mate is leaving and wanted to make a car cake (my first one) and I'm really pleased with it.
I hope they like it at work
*Update* My son saw the cake this morning and told me it didn't match so added the back red lights and the wing (more images on flickr)

The Cake was based on Mrs Beetons recipe for maderia cake
10 eggs
400g sugar (aster)
400g butter
500g SR Flour
a bit of baking powder
about 4 capfulls of vanilla essence
took just under an hour to bake at 150 though the other cake burnt I was using my new 12inch square tin that you divide up into various sizes these were 6 x 12 inches
Silverwood foldaway cake pan from Lakeland

Burger Cake !

Will with burger cake
Originally uploaded by emtysoe

My friend was having a BBQ today and was trying to think of cool cake to make and decided on a burger as it was a BBQ.

It's made of 3 layers ........
bun - vanilla sponge with teddy bear brown icing
burger - chocolate sponge with chocolate flavour icing
with cheese, lettuce and tomato icing

stuck together with white chocolate butter icing and sesame seeds is white fudge icing - my husband did that bit :o)


took about 4 hours or so to make using the standard 1 egg to 50g of butter, flour & sugar. I added vanilla essence to all layers and added chocolate powder to the chocolate layer.

Made with help of Maude - twitter.com/MaudeTheCow

Maude the Cow Cookie

I've been following Maude on Twitter and she really makes my day. I'm saving up my moo points to get the baking kit and fuzzy felt though the offer runs out at end of May and I don;t think I can get through that much butter if you use Anchor and not collecting please can you send them to me :o)

Using the image of Maude on the packet I made this cookie, I'm not sure where Maude lives as I'd like to send it to her.

Origami Kryten

As Dave is bring back Red Dward I decided to try and find the origami kryten I made using a robot design in a Paul Jackson book.

This is a second model and the original was send to Robert Llewellyn - he sent me a postcard I think he liked it :o)

http://dave.uktv.co.uk/shows/sitcom/red-dwarf/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=red%20dwarf%20on%20dave&utm_campaign=Dave%20Red%20Dwarf%20Show&gclid=CLKvrPyC4JkCFUgTzAodtThArw

London Underground Tube Cake

I made this for my son's 4th Birthday. He loves the tube. Originally he wanted 10 carriages then decided on a tunnel.
My husband helped me with some of the detailing.

Woody with brownie

I forgot to take a photo of the brownies before eating them but did take one with Woody.
i've tried making brownies before a few years ago but they just cake out like chocolate cake.
I'm on a cooking course and we learnt how to make them last week. In the recipe it says to add nuts but Will didn't like them with nuts so I made mine with chocolate chunks but they just melted away.

XBox 360 Cake

XBox 360 Cake
Originally uploaded by emtysoe

I'm still ill with chronic tension headaches (5 months now) and baking relaxes me. My team leader at work is leaving and she's a big xbox gamer so I made her this cake.

Yule Log

Had lots of fun making this!

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake
Originally uploaded by emtysoe

I had some left over orange icing. I made a carrott cake.
I've been very poorly and not been able to do any origami

Hand Made Lavender Card

Lavender Card
Originally uploaded by emtysoe

I made this as a thank you card for Sarah as she's made me some cakes. I love Lavender it's my favourite flower and scent!

www.sarahedwardscakes.co.uk/