Easter Eggs & Bunny Cute Delicious Cookies

Just a quick word to wish everyone a Happy Easter.

I whipped up these pretty cookies to take to work as an Easter treat for my colleagues.

These cute bunny cookies are chocolate flavour and the egg cookies are a tangy orange flavour. Then I decorated them in sugarpaste –  they make a great feast for any eyes.

Chocolate and Orange flavours

Cookies are great for Wedding favours or just a special hand-made gift for any occasion. Numerous shapes are available and the way they are decorated is limitless.

If you’d like me to make cookies or decorate a cake in a bespoke style or something completely different  for your special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. Please feel free to leave me an email or a message and I will always get back to you as soon as possible.

Nottingham LocalCard Celebration Cake…

Nottingham LocalCard have just celebrated their 2nd Anniversary and kindly requested I make them a cake with their logo to celebrate.

I recently added my business to their website www.nottinghamlocalcard.com so this cake will be featured in their January newsletter too! How exciting!

 

 

When designing a cake you need some inspiration so the best place to look for it in this case was their website. I needed to see what the membership card looked like, fonts, colours and any other unique feature to them that might make the cake special. Sometimes it can help by doing a very quick sketch.

Creating cakes has been in my life for over 3 years now and I never stop amazing myself at what I can do or new techniques I can teach myself – there is always something new to learn. I still like to be true to myself and produce a pleasing design out of my head rather than someones book or off the internet with as little cutters as possible (all hand-cut and hand-made; the only shop bought cutters used in this design is the flowers on the girls shoulders and a frilled circle cutter for the skirt). I still get thrilled when I am working on a cake and seeing it evolve as every cake is different and beautiful.

I decided on making a rectangle cake that I could place a plaque (credit card shaped) on top. Firstly, I started the membership card by mixing a similar colour referenced to the website colour (you are never going to match exactly) into some white modelling paste, rolled it out thinly and then cut a rectangle with round corners out of it. This was then left for 24 hours to harden.

 

 

The next step was to cut out the logo with a scalpel in white and black modelling paste, let them harden and hand paint a keyline in black around the white letters. After that they were attached with edible glue.

I kept cross referencing to the membership card to make sure I was getting the style correct and that the logo was in the right position before hand-painting the rest of the lettering directly onto the plaque in black and white again following the brand. When all this was complete I carefully lifted the finished plaque up and attached it to the top of the cake with more edible glue.

 

 

The website features members’ holding their membership cards so this inspired me to make characters doing the same. I created a man and a woman, both holding tiny cards, wearing the same colours to reflect the rest of the cake and make it all coordinated.

The characters were started from the feet upwards. For the girl the feet and legs were made separately then the skirt is attached on top of that. Then it was time for the body then the arms followed by the head. The man was created in the same way but obviously wearing a suit. The finer details such as the painted toe nails, buttons and small membership card were added last. Inside each figure is one plastic dowling which must be removed if the figures are to be eaten but the rest is all edible.

LocalCard loved the cake and took photographs for their newsletter to come out in January. I hope you enjoyed reading about this.

 

If you’d like me to decorate a cake in a similar bespoke style or something completely different  for your special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. Please feel free to leave me an email or a message and I will always get back to you as soon as possible.

 

A Day Out Fishing…

This was a first for me…to design a cake topper incorporating a man fishing for a 50th Birthday cake.  I had to do my research for what he would wear and what shape the fishes would be. When I create my designs I like some form of realistic reference (not anybody elses cake ideas I must stress they are totally original) and then just let the idea flow and take a form of its own.

He had to be decked out in his fashionable fishing gear with his catch of the day…well nearly anyway. So sat on a lush green bank at the edge of a bright blue pond he is relaxing in the sun and enjoying trying to catch the biggest fish ever.

I used modelling paste for my character and fishes and modelling paste with Tylo powder for the sign, rod and basket as these needed to be harder so they could stand up andnot flop over.

I started off by covering the square vanilla sponge cake with green sugarpaste and then after leaving it to harden I then proceeded to make the pond with marbled blue sugarpaste.

Using the end of a paintbrush I formed small ripples around the waters edge to give it some movement.

 

For the grass I first attached a large piece of green sugarpaste and moulded it into a shape that resembled a mound. To get a rough texture I used a cocktail stick (any pointed tool will do) and dragged it upwards and all-over until all the green turned into grass.

I built the little man (he ended up about 6 inches tall) from his feet up. I first applied the boots and then the legs went on separately. The next section was his body and then his arms. At this point I inserted a lollipop/modelling stick to secure his body in place and then finished off with his head and hat.

 

The fish that’s caught on the fishing line in the pond was created our of white modelling paste and then hand painted. On the basket I used my pallet knife to draw the basket weave pattern onto it before constructing it with edible glue. After leaving it for 24 hrs to dry I filled it with white sugarpaste and then painted the fishes in it too.

The fishing rod does have wire inside it to stop it flexing and breaking and the same wire then is the wire on the rod to catch the fish. This part is removed before eating the cake as it is not edible but needed be this way to get the best results.

If you’d like me to decorate a cake in a similar bespoke style or something completely different  for your special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. Please leave me an email or a message and I will always get back to you as soon as possible.

Cute Snowmen Mini Christmas Cakes

Well it’s nearly that time of year again…time to get ready for the big day and organise all the food, puddings and Christmas cakes a few weeks in advance for the big parties. I just had to make these cute little snowmen throwing snowballs at each other, having fun at Yuletide and perched on top of some yummy mini fruit cakes.

Handmade snowmen throwing snowballs at each other

This snowman got bowled over by the snowballs

Snowman enjoying his snowball fight

Ideal to make all Christmas parties festive with that special touch

These unique hand-made snowmen have their hats and scarves hand-painted in edible gold to match their gold buttons and the gold snowflakes. They will look great on any festive table.

If you’d like me to decorate a cake in a similar bespoke style or something completely different  for your special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. Please leave me an email or a message and I will always get back to you as soon as possible.

Beautiful Butterfly Cake, Another Step On…

You will probably recognise this cake but notice that its more vibrant in colour than before. I decided to take my first design one step further to show how the design can evolve into this beautiful celebration cake.

All the previous hand-painting made the the gold, turquoise and a hint of silver easy to apply – like a childs colouring-in book.

This design would be wonderful for any type of celebration cake – even a wedding cake with a difference.

If you’d like me to decorate a cake in a similar bespoke style or something completely different  for your special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. Please leave me an email or a message and I will always get back to you as soon as possible.

Beautiful Butterfly Cake…

I’ve been waiting to have a go at this creation that’s in my head for a little while now. If you have followed my blogs before you will have seen the square plaques I have painted for my previous demonstrations; now I wanted to have a go on a cake and I know butterflies are in fashion so I felt one large butterfly would complete this dynamic cake.

 

I love the pinky lilac colour of this cake and felt it was delicate enough to hold and show off a strong design with a large butterfly.

Now I already had my painting inspiration from my previous designs so I decided to dive in and paint straight on the cake with no patterns to follow, no traced pattern. Basically I doodled this freehand onto the cake then just kept repeating a similar pattern and making it up as I went along – I love this style has it as a vintage feel and looks a bit like a henna tatoo too.

 

 

Free flowing doodle

 

Now to the butterfly…I did not use any cutters in this process. I found photos of butterflies and cut out my own card template to get the wing shapes. It was like producing flowers really; cut out shape, insert wire, use poppy veiner to create wing veins and ball tool to soften edges. The body was more tricky and that was moulded around florist wire too. These were left for 24 hours to dry then painted and taped together to form this striking butterfly.

 

If you’d like me to decorate a cake in a similar bespoke style or something completely different  for your special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. Please leave me an email or a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Textured Vintage Wedding Cake

This vintage Wedding cake was designed for a unique vintage themed Wedding at Papplewick Pumping Station, Nottinghamshire. The blue-green Royal icing textured surface, with the silver shimmer all over, enriched the colours of the fresh flower garlands adorning it.

Textured Royal Icing with Garlands of Fresh Flowers

Garlands with Hydrangeas were draped around the edge of this 2 tiered fruit cake to create a very dramatic and beautiful effect complementing the brides original vintage dress.

Extra Deep Tiers made from Rich Fruit Cake

If you’d like me to decorate a cake in a similar bespoke style or something completely different  for your special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. Please leave me an email or a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

A Delightful Delicate Lilac Poppy Celebration Cake

This cake was inspired by my beautiful large lilac poppies that I grew from seed in my new garden. In the Summer they burst into these fantastic delicate flowers which only lasted one day before throwing all the petals around the garden like confetti.

I have never made these flowers before and do not have any metal cutters so I cut off a head and dismantled it. Sometimes they only had 4 petals and sometimes 6. I proceeded to make templates in card of the petals to keep for future use and took a photograph to cross reference with as well.

The center was made first and then the stamens were added after that. The white with a hint of pale lilac petal paste was cut and wires inserted to produce four large petal. Finally they were painted to simulate the patterns on the real flowers; I like my finished flowers to look pretty but not altogether too realistic to show they are handmade.

The cake was completed with a frill down the front that highlights the flower.

If you’d like me to decorate a cake in a similar bespoke style for a special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. I am reachable between 1.00pm – 2.00pm in the day and evenings plus weekends. Leave me an email or a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

A Beautiful Golden Anniversary Cake

I was commissioned to create this wonderful Golden Anniversary cake for a couple celebrating 50 years of wonderful marriage. Congratulations you both.

 

This couple are a real inspiration and so they required a beautiful fruit cake decorated in gorgeous gold flowers to signify their 50 years together.

I really enjoyed creating these little flowers using specialist cutters and veiners and then finished these by painting them gold once they had dried.

 

When searching for the correct ribbon I had my gold lustre dust in my hand and the ribbon in the other as I wanted a good match (there are a few different golds – two different golds would clash and not look beautiful enough).

And then with a steady hand I piped the wording onto a pre-hardened plaque I had made. Once that was dry I used the finest brush I had to painted the piping in the same gold.

If you’d like me to decorate a cake in a similar bespoke style for a special occasion then please feel free to contact me for a quote. Copper Top Cakes is based in Nottingham and delivers to the East Midlands area. I am reachable between 1.00pm – 2.00pm in the day and evenings. Leave me an email or a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Now An Accredited British Sugar Guild Demonstrator

I am now an accredited British Sugar Guild Demonstrator (BSG) after passing my final assessment. This means I demonstrate to a high standard following the guidelines outlined by the BSG so you get a more interesting, pleasant and informative experience.

Introducing myself to everyone who came to the demonstration

 

This is me half way through the demo painting on the sugarpaste

 

Here is my current display