Gold and Aqua roses

We love making cakes that are a little different from the norm and the aqua coloured ribbons alongside the gorgeous rich gold ribbons on this cake were truly a head turner. Gareth and Gary had definite ideas of their colour scheme which we love. It makes the final item much clearer in our minds too! Gareth had seen another of our cakes on our Facebook page which had a cascade of roses trailing down the front of the cake and found his perfect wedding cake in it.

 

The roses are all handmade and we spent an almost unthinkable amount of time making the individual rose petals to make up the larger roses to dress this cake.(tip: when you think you've made enough, double it. We do this often with our Daisy cake. The base tier absolutely eats them up and whilst there looks like plenty, they often get used up on this tier alone!!)

I just love the tumbling effect of the roses down the tiers of the cake and the two colours work perfectly together and in the venue which was Knowsley hall and alongside the Stationery from Dragonfly. Check out the full album of images and see their gorgeous wedding for yourself, here: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferONeillCakes?ref=hl

A Vintage Tea cake

This was such a beautiful wedding for so many reasons. Lisa had collected these gorgeous teacups of all different designs. Our job was to make an array of different cupcakes with varying flavours and designs. And to sit on top of these was a three tier Birdcage style cake with roses and ivy to compliment the cakes below.

Some had rosebuds, some had full rose heads. There were some with beads and some with swirls of fluffy lemon cream, rich chocolate Baileys ganache atop chocolate Baileys cakes and tasty orange cream topped carrot cakes.

 

 When we arrived at Hillbark with the cakes, we were greeted with these gorgeous little crackers and strings of pearls to finish the dressing of the stand. We also love the cake wrappers which some of the cupcakes sat in.

 

A very vintage wedding cake for a very vintage wedding with some seriously tasty cupcakes!!

A recipe for a cake stand

Last weekend we exhibited at the UK wedding show at St George's Hall in Liverpool. This was our little home from home for the weekend.

 

 

We wanted to go back to cake making basics this time and show that we bake everything from scratch using flour, butter, sugar, free range eggs, real fruits in our gorgeous boozy fruit cake... the list goes on! We dressed the walls with sumptuous red wallpaper to compliment our logo and had some pretty and personalised bunting made (thanks to www.dragonflycouturestationery.com !) which just finished off our stand perfectly.

Lastly we picked our prettiest and most popular cakes to show that from the basic ingredients, beautiful things can be made. 

After two days of chatting to happy couples and meeting other lovely wedding suppliers we packed everything away until next time; our cakes can still be seen though! They are on display in our showroom at The Turret.

Blue Daisy Cake

 Another perfect example of how one of our most popular cakes can be changed completely with something as simple as a change of ribbon colours and some very sparkly crystal encrusted cake toppers.

When I was delivering this cake this morning, the groom dressed in all his wedding finery spotted our van and came running over to introduce himself but more importantly to see the cake! The colour of his (and the other groomsmen's!) cravat(s) perfectly matched the royal blue ribbons which the cake is trimmed with.

When I arrived at the always gorgeous Thornton Manor, the cake table was dressed with photos and a guest book for people to sign. We finished the decoration off by sprinkling the crystals that Elizabeth had left for us around the cake.

 

 

Vanilla Champagne cake, Chocolate Baileys, Lemon and Boozy Fruit cake were the flavours of the day.

Spicy advert from a friend

I was looking for an advert that stood out and something that was is as unique to us as the cakes that we make. So I immediately thought of my lovely friend Mrs B from Chilliefish.co.uk. She creates all manner of special things from Birthday invitations to branding makeovers with new logos and since she designed our Brochures- see a previous post, I knew she'd do an amazing job. And I think she just about pulled it out of the bag... Only joking, she totally pulled it out of the bag!!

So here is our new ad which can be seen in County Brides magazine, Your Merseyside wedding magazine along with others to be confirmed soon.

 

 

We're so very happy with our new ad Lisa! Thank you again x

Ivory and Blackberry flowers

We have a cake in the showroom which is stark white with black flowers made by making individual petals by cutting out the shapes below and then working them into petals and then placing them into a flower formation.

 

 

The cake as nice as we think it is didn't receive much admiration from many people. Until we put it in pride of place right by the front door. Since then we have taken more orders for cakes like it than we ever did! And this little beauty is one of them. It is iced in a warming ivory colour instead of white and the flowers are also made in ivory. I love the way the flowers stand out even though they are made in the same colour as the background and that little bit of sparkle helps with that too.

 

Sometimes just a few little bits of sparkle is enough.

 

And what an absolutely beautiful day for a wedding! Helping to pick out the sparkle just right through the windows of the grand and beautiful Thornton Manor. 

The on the day wedding stationery from Dragonfly couture stationery which included an absolutely huge and truly beautiful table plan complimented this cake perfectly. 

What a perfect day for a wedding and what a wedding.

 

Delicate '50s monochrome

I love going back to see the cakes that I've made in the past and this is an old favourite of mine and a few years old now! I love the way this cake, even though it has the harsh colours of black and white is so delicate and is so completely softened by the scalloped edges along the top and bottom and the large sugar bow. Square cakes to me are more contemporary and this one certainly is although the dress that it was based on was a '50s style strapless dress (very similar to the dress below) with beautiful underskirt which is mimicked by the flowers underneath the scalloped edge.
 

I am planning to make this cake again in a different colour to see if it has the same affect that I am in love with. Possibly even replacing the bow with a large flower.  I will post pictures after it's completed to give a step by step guide.
In the meantime though, look out for our bow tutorial where we'll show step by step guide on how to make bows and ideas of cakes that can be made with these bows. Ideas are forming in my mind already!!

 

Lamb cake in six easy steps!

Sometimes having the perfect cake tin for baking your vision is not possible. And most of the time the best thing to do is bake two or more round cakes and carve them out by hand. That's also how we made the chainsaw, landrover and artic generic red Christmas truck (which can be seen on our Facebook page) and actually everything shaped was carved by hand and using no moulds.

So we started this cake with 4 x 8" round cakes. And took a knife to them.

The body is starting to take shape, we kept on building with strawberry preserve and buttercream adding legs and then more body and head.

The whole cake was then covered with buttercream.

Next was the task of icing the cake. We decided to cover the legs separately which we've actually never done before but since the back of the cake was going to be covered completely with white fluffy royal icing and the legs needed to be less so, it didn't matter that the whole cake wasn't covered first.

The ears were made a few days before with SFP so that they could set hard and stick up at the sides of the lambs head. We think it looks quite cute sitting in it's grass full of daisies and holding the girls age and name in it's mouth. 

 

 

Thank you for our thank yous!

We really do appreciate every single thank you card and email that we have ever received. I felt like I had to share a small sample of some of them and if you look closely, you can even see some cakes. I love the way the rose cake had photographs of family weddings surrounding it. Absolutely perfect touch.

Step by step Pansy making

 This last month all we have been thinking about is pansies. And pansy making and a pansy cake. So while making the pansies I took pictures at different stages to show the path from a rolled out piece of icing to a full wedding cake. So I looked through many of the books that we have here in the showroom to find a good pansy instruction and failed to find what I needed. Most called for wiring the icing which I didn't want.  I wanted these flowers to be stuck on the cake with no protruding pansies or petals. A lot of the instructions also called for a cutter which I didn't have. So, instead of looking at icing pansies, I searched pinterest and found some beautiful images of pansies and realised that the shape is a rather easy one to mimic. So using a petal cutter I got to work.

Icing is a very forgiving medium to work with and stretches a treat when worked properly. Believe it or not the five petals on the pansies are made using the exact same cutter.
We left the pansies to dry overnight and then got to work on painting them.

 

The last job was to add the black lines and the tiny dots in the centres of each pansy. The result is this pretty four tier cake. The vibrancy of the colours means that there doesn't need to be pansies on every inch of the cake. 

Pansy cake. Perfect for a Summer garden wedding.

 

 

 

 



Second Anemone

This is the second time I have written a blog about this cake. The first post was:

This was a different way of working for me. Holly and Martin spent most of their time abroad and our only contact was email. They had seen images of things they liked and we decided to design something based upon that. Their colour scheme was deep purple and their flowers were anemones. So a cute little anemone with a purple centre was the centrepiece of this pretty cake.

 I recently came across a Facebook status from Thornton Manor with a link to this photographer's site and after emailing them, they kindly sent me some images of  Holly and Martin's cake! Was lovely to see the whole day and the very beautiful anemones that were present throughout their day and were the inspiration for this cake. Was also very lovely to receive a couple of very lovely pictures of the cake; which shows it off so much better than the first post and my camera phone...

Gorgeous pictures by Murray photography who can be found here:

www.murrayphotography.com

A marriage of cake and stationery with flowers

Each tier of this lovely lace cake for Sheila and Tom's wedding at Hillbark Hotel was fruit. Our gorgeous very mature fruit cake which was doused with brandy, covered with apricot preserve, marzipan, icing so that finally the gorgeous lace panels could decorate two tiers of the cake. The lace panels are painstakingly cut from their press and tiny details are then cut out from the centre of the panels by hand.

To pick out even more detail, we then pipe over with royal icing to achieve this look. Sheila wanted some sparkle on the cake to compliment her dress so we added a few tiny diamante every now and again as flower centres. Lastly the bow was placed just above the bottom tier at a slightly quirky and off centre angle which I think finished off this cake.

These images were taken by http://www.cgweddings.co.uk/ whose diary of pictures of the whole day is stunning.

The amazing flowers on the cake table are by Earth flowers: http://www.earthflowers.co.uk/  Earth also dressed the beautiful table plan made by Ling at Dragonfly Couture Stationery: http://dragonflycouturestationery.com/

This wedding was such a perfect example of every element completing the next. I really like the way the flowers linked the table plan to the cake and everything in between and that I was able to see the day from beginning to end through the pictures; and that I saw Sheila's exquisite dress!

A cake for a birthday

We make a lot of Birthday cakes which I will add now and again, here's just a selection, from something very pretty and girly with paper thin flowers to something that looks like it will tear through another cake...(see chainsaw post!!) We absolutely love making pretty things here and love to be challenged. It's also great to find out different ways of doing things like different ways to make flowers that we've made for years. It's always eye opening.
Last week as well as the eight tier lace cake; which Helen and Stuart loved(!) we made amazingly chocolatey chocolate birthday cake which certainly killed the chocolate cravings for a week or two... and we made an 'exquisite' little rose and pearl flower spray for a ruby wedding anniversary. Images of this will also be uploaded when the computer plays ball and uploads them. Cake toppers which were sticking out of the top of the chocolate cake were also made last week with 'Happy Birthday' and message piped on to pink hearts and stars. It was all we could do to stop ourselves from eating the remaining revels, milky bar buttons, galaxy caramel balls, malteasers... the list goes on. But we were restrained. It is Summer after all...!!

Lace Applique

Sometimes I love my job. Today is absolutely no exception. Again, a week of differences but two cakes have stood out; one more than the other since it literally towered over the birthday cake and as much as the toppers on the chocolate mountain birthday cake tried, they couldn't reach the heady heights of an 8 tier cake.

 

 

Alternate tiers of this cake had a beautiful lace pattern which was overpiped with royal icing and tiny pearls piped above the lace and above the ribbon on the tiers without lace. Tiers are filled with Vanilla cake which is filled with strawbverry preserve and buttercream, Chocolate Aphrodisiac cake with chocolate truffle cream centre, Boozy fruit cake and lastly our increasingly popular Spiced caramel apple cake; this is so popular as less people are opting for our gorgeous rich fruit cake although still want a little tradition present. Our spiced apple cake is a delicious moist treat made with apples, citrus fruits, spices and sultana, baked to our special recipe and then filled with a layer of caramel and a layer of cinnamon cream. Delightful, and a perfect finishing touch.

Ivory lace

This five tier cake with ever so delicate lace piping was based on a sage green cake from the showroom which had the same decoration. This cake is iced in ivory and with the lace being piped in white it shows off the decoration perfectly. Finished with a black chiffon ribbon overlaid with double satin bridal white. It's fantastic to make something that we've made before being made in a slightly different way or slightly different colour. Some designs are so versatile this way. The classy cake of previous posts is a great example of this. One of our most popular cakes and looks amazing in so many different colours.

Delicate Classy Cake

Sometimes a little less is more than just a little more. And this pretty classy cake always proves that point perfectly. Four tiers of gorgeous cake iced in white sugar paste and finished with beautiful double satin ribbons, diamante trim and a large bow. Jaime brought in her own broach, a little rose of diamantes which made this cake even more delicate and sparkly. What a little beauty.

A chainsaw cake?

Last week was the most unusual week of cake that I have had for a long time. First of all was a 7 tier grand royal icing cake; image can be seen on our website. A beautiful seven tiers of royal icing design. Each tier a slightly different design from the next which was finished with a diamante monogram of the Bride and Groom's initials. And then this cake. The complete antithesis of such a traditionally beautiful cake.
A completely edible chainsaw, made for a tree surgeon friend's retirement party. The chainsaw is made from Vanilla cake with strawberry preserve and buttercream, and is cutting through a Chocolate Aphrodisiac log.
I wonder what this week will hold...??!

Heart cake toppers

These cute little cake toppers were made for an 18th(never!) Birthday cake. Little hearts on top of sticks which then get pushed in to the cake. The 18s are painted in silver and then left to dry and lastly a little spray of edible glitter to give them a little extra sparkle!

Spring in the Snow

Last week was all about white chocolate. A three tier cake with white chocolate middle tier, Luscious Lemon base tier and boozy fruit cake top tier. The cake was then covered in white chocolate curls and trimmed with fresh green ribbon. The finishing touch was then to cover the cake in white chocolate buttons, which was a massive temptation which we resisted! We think the fresh coloured ribbon against the chocolate curls really gave the cake a spring look. Then it snowed.  Lucky that we have our trusty four wheel drive which plowed through the snow and delivered the cake to the Church. I'm sure the wedding pictures will be absolutely beautiful at a snow covered Thornton Hall.

Art Deco Chandelier

I love it when we hear from brides about their big day and especially love to see pictures, so I was absolutely over the moon when I opened an email from Kati and found 8 images of the art deco chandelier cake and the couple cutting it! It really looked at home at the Leverhulme hotel with it's gorgeous chandeliers and amongst the couple's art deco style on the day wedding stationery. And we absolutely love the detailing on Kati's stunning dress.