All filler, no killer.

I've been making 'filler' flowers for a sugar craft posy this evening, so I thought I'd share the technique.


Take a piece of Flower paste or modelling clay etc. if you're not making the flowers for a cake, and roll it into a pea sized ball.



Place the ball in your hand and roll your finger on one side until it looks a bit like a tiny egg.


Take a toothpick and stick it in the round side of the egg, then move it in an ever increasing circle so you end up with an opening.


Cut into this opening with a scissors, until you have 5 sections.


Pinch each section between your thumb and fore finger, you may have to tweak it slightly so they become rounded.


Take a paper covered wire and cut it to about 7cm. Make a hook at one end and dip it into edible glue.



Stick the wire through the centre of the flower and slide it down until the hooked end fits snugly. (It doesn't matter if you can see a tiny bit of green as this makes a more authentic looking flower.)

Take a stamen and cut the end off, dip it into edible glue and place it in the centre so you can just see the tip.

Place the stems in polystyrene/oasis so the flowers can dry overnight.

If you have any questions just ask! Enjoy ^_^

Nom nom nom

I'm becoming quite obsessed with meringue...I have discovered that if you take a Lemon Cheesecake Muller Light yogurt

and crumble a meringue nest ontop




you get a lazy man's Lemon meringue pie, just without the actual pie bit. Yummy!

Lone Wolf.

Phew! What a weekend! I've been a busy little bee since I last posted; mainly working so I could make the most of the weekend.

Friday I celebrated The Boy's birthday by eating sushi (I had Seaweed salad for the first time. It was gooooood - No land based salads for me any more!) and drinking White Russians. I treated/tret him to an early birthday present:




Her name is Pandarosa and she now rules over the kingdom of Display Cabinet.

Saturday I spent 4 and a half hours on this cake (also for the boy. He REALLY likes wolves and who doesn't eh?!)



Not exactly what I envisaged but I'm pretty pleased with the result. Here are some pics so you can construct your own cake rock/mountain:



Bake yourself a cake. A square one is probably best as it has more pointy bits.



Cut a corner off the cake and place it on top of the other (larger) piece. Keep cutting off smaller pieces and positioning them until you are happy with the shape. Stick the bits together with jam or butter icing.



Cover with butter icing, just like I'm doing here, or use fondant instead. WARNING: This much butter icing may induce giddiness and may also be followed by a trip to the dentist.



Take a toothpick and dip it in black food colouring (paste is best as it doesn't run so much)then drag it down the cake following it's contours. For that extra authentic rocky goodness pipe royal icing into the nooks and crannies. It doesn't have to be perfect as it'll look like scraggly grass.

As for how to make the wolf...that was kind of hit and miss, plus I forgot to take photos because time was running out...as there were even more fun times to be had! Kimmi, Mexican, shopping and The Road to name but a few. Although you probably can't describe The Road as 'fun' - I spent most of the movie cowering behind my scarf. I guess the fun bit for me was the outing to the cinema.

Anyway, hope you all had awesome weekends too! ^_^

Update

Urrgh! This last few days/weeks have been very tiresome. Due to the snow I lost a few hours from my flexi time and I have to work them back by the end of the week. Hence why I've been working my butt off and was ready for bed by 7.30pm last night! So, seen as though I had a little me time this evening I thought it was high time I posted.

Even though worked sucked there were a few little glimmers of frivolity to be had this week. One being my friend (and other half of 'Team Glamour') Lisa's birthday. Lisa usually hates her birthday and mopes around her house all on her lonesome, so I endeavoured to change this and made a cake!


Lisa is never seen without her ipod, it may as well be surgically attached. She loved it, there were lots of Oooo's and Ahhh's and she was smiling the whole day. Mission accomplished! Although I think the extremely fit men wearing leather trousers and not much else also helped. No, we didn't have tickets to see the Chippendales, we actually had a cultural evening at the theatre...Chicago at the Wales Millennium Centre to be exact, which was amazing as ever and even though I had my reservations, I have to say Marti Pellow was a great Billy Flynn.

Anyway, less about all that jazz (heh, get it) and more about cake! I'm very excited about the prospect of making a very special one for 'The Boy's' birthday that is at the end of this week, it's top secret at he moment but I shall reveal all very soon. Here are some other cakes I have made recently:

The dog is modelled on my very own Finn, as it was a birthday cake for my Dad.

Happy Halloween! I'm actually in love with this cake, I didn't want anyone to cut it. I kept 'Lenny' the cat for a good month.

Roses. Lots of roses.

This was a birthday cake for my brother, it was supposed to be a red dragon as he is very proud of being Welsh. Although it kind of looks more like a dinosaurs...which also works I guess.

Christmas cake! It was my first time using patchwork cutters, I used the Jolly Snowmen and Father Christmas cutter which you can get from most good Sugar Craft shops. They were hard to use at first but I think I've got the technique now.

I had this amazing apron for Christmas which I do all my baking in now.

'The Boy' bought it for me. As a friend pointed out, a lot of girls may be offended by their boyfriends buying them an apron for Christmas, especially a 1950's style hostess apron, but not me. In fact it shows that he does actually listen to me sometimes; as I did complain about my previous apron and threatened to make myself a tabbard. Everyone's a winner! You can get your very own hostess apron from www.jessiesteele.com I really want to get myself another one so I can have it when the other is in the wash. The Cabbage Rose design is my fave!


I thought I had had way more to say, but not to worry if it comes back to me I shall do another post tomorrow. Toodles!

5 Things I am Coveting This Week

Ahh so very pretty. I wish I lived in America so it would be easier to buy trinkets from 'Etsy.com' This lady has many, many, many other sweet bits and pieces on sale, but I particularly like these stylized birds on muted backgrounds.

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How cute is this little penguin?! There is also a panda version that is just as sweet, I have a crush on both - as well as many other things from 'Mod Cloth' (follow the link bellow.) I have just discovered this website & wish I had enough money to ship all the things I want to the U. K. (& that's just the home-ware, I haven't even started on their clothing & vintage section yet!)

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I'm having trouble trying to look fashionable in this atrocious weather, so I'll just have to buy these boots. Perfect excuse.

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It's an owl. Enough said.

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I'm a sucker for hand made cosmetics, especially when they look this good. Plus 'Lush' have a great environmental policy, so you feel like you're doing your bit without even having to lift a perfectly manicured finger. Oooh & it smells of roses, Mmmmm my favourite.

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Frozen Britain

Due to the inclement weather that the whole of Britain is experiencing recently, I have been unable to leave the house as often as one would want & recommend. Therefore cabin fever has set in & the need to occupy oneself with new & exciting activities is a must. Hence why I have started this blog.

I find this photograph quite awe inspiring. Although we shouldn't be surprised as it is winter after all. If it weren't for the Gulf Stream & other contributing factors (I'm no geographer) this would be a regular occurrence, due to the fact our little island is on the same latitude as Moscow. Think I'll have to invest in a Russian hat.

Here are the awesome icicles I can see from my landing window. The photo doesn't do them justice as they are far more impressive in real life but I'm far too short & afraid of heights to take a better one.