Ideal Home Cake Decorator of the Year 2011!!!

Who'd have thunk it!

My dear friend forwarded me an email about the competition some time back... I had my eye on it. It was organised by the event team behind the Ideal Home Exhibition 2011. But after a close family friend passed away it really wasn't exactly the first thing on my mind. Anyway, somehow I made some time to put together an entry for the competition. 


The brief was to "create fabulous and spectacular cake designs worthy of the royal occasion" and a cake that would "celebrate the wedding and all that it embodies about the Great British spirit." 


So on the morning of I set about trying to create a simple (only had 4 hours) but impactful design. Thinking about the 'Great British spirit' I decided to theme the cake around two things: our classic vintage heritage (which clearly has made it's comeback) and food!

When I got to the exhibition, I found that there were actually two categories - one of them was for the 'professionals' and then there was the 'other one' - for the rest of us! Lol. Did I have a slightly bruised ego?? Hell yes! I found out that the professional category was by invite only. However, my cake was pretty pansy compared to the cakes of the professionals!  


I definitely have my sights set on the professional category for next year...  (well, atleast one can try!)


This year the professional category was won by the wonderful Michelle of Michelle Cakes (http://www.michellecakes.co.uk/) and her highly skilled entry is below! Wow. This blew my mind - especially the carving of Kate it's brilliant!

Sing Up!

Sing Up?? Seriously??


I have to say that I'd never heard of this organisation until they contacted me at The Little Cakery and asked us to create some customised cupcakes for them. So being the nosey parker that I am, I had a little wonder around on their website (http://www.singup.org/). In their own words, Sing Up "want to place singing at the heart of every school child's life". 
At first glance, one might not understand how singing really can change lives and even help to build stronger communities - But for me, growing up in a culture where music wakes up the sleeping soul, it completely makes sense that they should, as they say, 'help kids find their voice'. A fantastic organisation - I wish them every success in their endeavours!


Anyway, enough of me rambling... Here's a snap of the scrumptulicious vegan and gluten free chocolate cupcakes topped with various characters from their branding and ofcourse their own logo.

And might I also add, the cupcake is being fashioned on a brilliant little bargain I picked up at Lakeland in Bluewater in the January sales - it is a simple little thing but at £3 who's going to complain??? :-)

Wedding Cakes in London

The Little Cakery exhibited at the Northwood Golf Club 'In Wedding Fayre' on Sunday (28th March 2010).

We met some gorgeous brides, and some VERY organised brides (already planning for their 2012 weddings?!). We came across some wonderful ideas for weddings...

- Annie from Northwood is having a church wedding followed on by a Bar-B-Q reception - what a great idea! And she's looking for some gorgeous cupcakes for her chic/casual event.

- Charlotte and the Chocolate Fountain have got some fab offers on their chocolate fountains, with their lovely glow tables! They even offer kiddie size tables so the little ones cango and make their own mess!! The chocolate was deeelicious - ofcourse it was Belgian chocolate.  

-  Another bride was looking for a way to combine chocolate with lavender/purple.... so we suggested using white chocolate scrolls with a sparkle of purple lustre dust at the bottom of each scroll.... would love to see that idea come to life!!

Anyway, here are some snaps from the lovely day.... 

This was our display on the day. We wanted to demonstrate that The Little Cakery offer both the traditional tiered cakes, as well the vintage/chic cupcakes. The media bombards us with images and trends of wedding cupcakes, but it was surprising to see how many brides are still opting for the traditional three tiered wedding cake. 

This polka dot wedding cake is a great way of achieving a retro design, which is 'something different' for your wedding, but not 'too different'. The red ribbon gives it a gorgeous 'edge' whilst the white polka dots give a subtle retro feel.

It's always nice to add bespoke elements to your wedding day. This musical note on a cupcake would be great for music fans and those that play instruments! 

 

These gorgeous things around the cupcakes are called cupcake wrappers. They're a great way of adding a touch of 'wow' to your cupcake display! A variety of colours and stles are available, please enquire with The Little Cakery. 

Now this little bucket full of jelly beans was added as a decorative touch to our display. However, they down down a storm with many brides enquiring about prices for these little goodies. So, The Little Cakery will put together some quotes so that they can be used as display on your cake table, dessert table or for any other event - great for childrens parties when you're looking for something different. 

This has now become somewhat of a classic design in its own time! The chocolate cigarello cake is a gorgeous cake, especially for those brides looking for a chocolate wedding cake. The ribbon could be any colour, and white chocolate scrolls could be used too. 

Cupcake towers look as chic as ever, and really take the hassle out of cutting cake! 

 I had to show this picture! This is just a little glimpse of the great variety of cupcake cases that The Littl eCakery can offer. The are a great way of adding some colour to your cupcakes without the additional cost of handmade details. 

Gucci Bag Cake

Well fashion certainly seems to be the theme of the week!

Here's my first ever Gucci bag (cake and otherwise!). It was ordered by a lovely lady from South Bermondsey, and I think it was for her daughters 21st birthday bash!

At the Little Cakery we certanly had fun making it, and I hope they had fun eating it! Happy 21st to Mary. We even had it delivered via our ecofriendly courier, Green Planet Logistics. Really takes the hassle out of things on important days like birthdays!

Remember, there novelty items can also be ordered as Vegan, and Gluten Free cakes, as well as eggless ofcourse.

CupCake Chic at London Fashion Week

Yep, you read right - The Little Cakery has been busy busy busy. We were fortunate enough to be the exclusive sponsors and suppliers of cupcakes to Vauxhall Fashion Scout at London Fashion Week this week. 

Here's a snippet of what I sent them, but will post more official pics later....

Alice in Cupcakeland.... sorry, I meant Wonderland!

So... it seems that i'm not very good at keeping my blog updated... my bad! 

We've had so much going on, and there's so much to share with you.... BUT I'll start with the magic that be Alice in Wonderland. A few weeks we were kindly asked by Emel magazine to create some Alice in Wonderland themed cupcakes... and boy did we create!

Here are some snaps of the gorgeous cakes, now a new addition to our couture collection. These are all hand made, with a lot of love and devotion. They are probably the most time consuming creations we've designed to date!! But we like to think that they are an reflection of the attention to detail that we so enjoy putting into all of our cakes.

Anyway...feast your eyes and enjoy!

 

  

  

 

To enquire about Alice in Wonderland themed cupcakes and cakes, drop us line.

w: www.thelittlecakery.co.uk

e: eat@thelittlecakery.co.uk

t: 07875930829

Not suitable for grown-ups!

Birthday parties were always a big thing in our family, and whenever possible Mum would always throw a birthday party for me and my sister. Mum did something different every year - some years she ordered the cake from a specialist and other years she attempted the cake herself. My favourite was a Garfield cake she put together, the novelty of it was what made it so memorable.


More and more parents seem to be 'theming' their kiddies birthdays, going all out on the celebrations, though childrens birthday parties really seem to be racking up the bill. Throughout 2009 we've done numerous kiddies cakes to suit a range of budgets - here are some highlights of our range which is not suitable for grown-ups!

Early on 2010 we'll bring you some tips and tricks for mum's and dad's to put together their children's birthday cakes themselves.

Kids often love novelty cakes, though this is where the biggest expense can occur. In situations like this going with a cake decorated with an edible image is a great budget saving option. This Aladdin themed cake, a 12" square which can provide approx 65 portions (usually more) is only £75. The cake was delivered to Gambado in Woodside Leisure Park, Watford.

This Snow White cake was probably one of the highlights of 2009. The dress forms the main part of the cake, and is made up of 4 x 8" layers. This would provide approx 45 portions, usually more, and is available at £95.

 

 

This gorgeous 'In the Night Garden' cake has to be a personal favourite! It captures the theme in its entirety and is a perfect choice for a childrens party with all of it's colours and shapes. 10" round, providing approx 45 portions and this one was delivered to Stanmore. Prices for this start from £70, and as shown is available at £120. 

 

Nemo - who doesn't love Nemo?! This was a brilliant choice, a cupcake tower, which took most of the hassle and mess out of cutting a big cake into individual portions. This one is a 8" top cutting cake which would provide approx 25 portions, and with 24 cupcakes with a mix of flavours. This Nemo set is £110, and was delivered to Kent.

 

This Curious George cake was a design inspired by a fellow cake maker in Canada. My client wanted something bright and colourful, and most of all something that would form the centre piece of her son's 1st birthday celebration. This is definitaly one of our more time consuming creations, though the final result is absolutely outstanding. This one serves approx 90 portions, is a 12" and 8" tiered square cake, and as it is shown is £260. This cake was delivered to Harrow.