Fame Again!!

You know the football shirt cakes I did for the 90 year old twins?

I got a phone call from the customer earlier today to say that there's a small article about them in the Jewish Chronicle and that my cake's in the picture!

This is the photo:

And this is the article:

http://www.thejc.com/articles/spurs-fan-twins-do-party-double

Shame I didn't get a mention, LOL!!! But, coo, look at me... published twice in one week!!! :o)

Fame!!!

Well, OK, not quite.

But I'm so excited... like a kid at Christmas!!!

There's a magazine called "Wedding Cakes - A Design Source" and I sent in my wedding cake photos. And some of them have been used in the magazine! And I'm just so proud of myself. Nothing like this has happened to me before.

Lots and lots of people get their cake pictures in this magazine. I'm not unique. But I used to buy it and look longingly at the cakes, wishing I could produce things like that (I still do look through it, wishing I could produce some of the amazing cakes). And now, my cakes are actually in that very magazine!!!

I was working at the youth club today (making lunches for the children) so my mum went to buy the magazine for me (it was only published today!) I got three copies! LOL!! One to keep in pristine condition, one to show off with ;o) and one I've sent to my Auntie in Canada.

And the best thing is that I get my business name and website details listed in the magazine. It'll be wonderful if I get some business from it!

Week Of Twins!

I realised I had cakes for twins on Thursday and then cakes for twins on Sunday.

I got a lovely email with photos, from the family of the 90 year old twins:

"Many thanks for the cakes, they were much admired and enjoyed.

Jo & Philip"

and

"What can I say, the cake was absolutely amazing and what a lovely function.

Natalie"

Cookies & Cupcakes - Done!

I have a large roll of cellophane... like the stuff florists use to wrap bouquets.

I cut some of that and made a sort of wrapper/envelope/bag thingy for the 4 remaining cookies.

I could have sworn I had more bags, though. I did look last night.

I was right. I did have more bags. Found them this morning. After I'd finished wrapping the cookies, of course. Grrrr!!!

Anyway, I was up at just after 7am this morning to bake the cupcakes. Customer collected them at midday. I finished with about only 20 minutes to spare.

After lunch, I'm going to start the two football shirt cakes that are being collected in the morning.

B*gger!

And I was doing so well.

OK, so it took me a LOT longer to get the cookies done this evening. But that's not the problem.

The problem is I've run out of bloody bags. I'm 4 short. And I had everything timed perfectly. Sh*t!

I'll sort it out in the morning... either beg my mum to go to Romford to get some for me, or else I'll have to go myself. But only if I get the cupcakes done first.

*sigh*

A Bridge Too Far!

"A bridge too far!!" - That was what my cleaner said, when I told her that I finally got into bed at 2.30 this morning!!

It does look good, though! :o) It needed to be in the pastel colours that I've done it in. I originally did a brown, wooden looking bridge and it just wasn't right. So I looked on the ITNG website and the bridge is cream and blue. It looks much better.

I'm going ot photograph it very shortly!

Time For Bed??

The thing is, I know that, really, I need to leave it all to set solid before I can try to do any more to it. And it is 2am.

But I'm worried that if it all goes wrong when I assemble it in the morning, then I don't have time to re-do one.

It's a risk I'm going to have to take, though.

Good night.

Where Did My Post Go?

I made a posting at 12.30 to say I was all but finished and that I just had to do the bridge. Hmm... the bridge. The bridge. Why did I say I'd do a bridge?

When I did the bridge on the Winnie 'Pooh Sticks' cake, it was easier because it was two round cakes that were much closer together. For this order, there are two number one shaped cakes. So they have to be further apart.

Now, it's coming up to 1am and I waiting for some pastillage to be ready. Only a few minutes. Luckily, pastillage dries quite quickly. But it's going to take me a while to get this right. I can tell.

*sigh*

I'm so tired.

My cleaner's coming tomorrow and - just for a change - I haven't tidied up. At the risk of repeating myself, I don't clean before the cleaner comes, but I do like to tidy! Otherwise, she'll spend all her time tidying before she can actually get to things to clean them!

Going to Plan

Well, I'm pretty much on-course. And that's not bad, considering that, yesterday, when I was working out what I'd do when, I forgot that I had a hospital appointment today.

Both cakes are covered and on the board. Now, I just need to make the characters, pipe around the cakes and do the inscriptions.

This Week

I did a football shirt cake for a friend's little boy whose party was on Sunday. They loved it. In fact, they refused to cut it on Sunday! I told them yesterday that they had to cut it!!! If they'd wanted to just look at it, I'd have made it out of polystyrene! Besides, if they didn't eat it soon, it would be stale.

Yesterday I went to the cake supply shop to get a few things and to meet a lovely lady called Beckie. Beckie is a cake maker and also makes the most delicious cupcakes that she sells at a couple of markets. As I have a cupcake order this weekend, I asked if she'd sell me some boxes... she brought me 3 boxes and wouldn't take any money for them. So thank you again.

There was no school today; I drove the boys to my MIL, went shopping for eggs (and bought a couple of other things whilst I was there), came home, baked a 7" square (one of the two cakes for order for Thursday), had some lunch, covered the 14" x 24" cake board, made the bridge for the cake (and I'm keeping everything crossed that it will set by tomorrow) put another cake in the oven, went to collect the boys, came home, took the cake out of the oven, made dinner. No wonder I'm too tired to make the figures for the cakes!

So, tomorrow I've got to completely decorate the cakes and make the figures. I should be able to do that OK.

Thursday night I'm going to make the cookie dough for Saturdays' cookies & cupcakes order.

Friday I'll bake, decorate and bag the cookies, and I'll also bake the two football shirt cakes that I've got on order for Sunday.

Saturday morning I'm getting up EARLY to bake the cupcakes... I want them to be as fresh as possible (they're being picked up at around midday!)

Saturday afternoon and evening I'll decorate the football shirt cakes for Sunday morning.

Phew!

That's the plan.

Aaaaand.... Relax!

Phew!

As my most hectic week ever closes, I can take a deep breath and relax.

Maybe stress suits me?? I really pulled it out of the bag with the other two cakes this week, too!! I have to say I surprised myself with the LV handbag... all that free-hand painting in gold and it looks fantastic! (if I do say so myself!!! AND the customer sent me a lovely e-mail.... so it's not just me, LOL)

The 8" cake I was woried about was a bit duff in the middle, so I had to bake another one.

I did have to go to the cake supply shop. And I also ran some errands whilst I was out and about (eg I took my mobile phone to the Car Phone Warehouse to be repaired, filled the car up with petrol... that sort of thing. Nothing life-changing, but things that add precious time onto your overall journey!)

So Friday morning I baked the 8" cake. I also covered the large cake board on Friday. In the evening, I got as far as marzipanning the 3 (well, actually 4, if you count the tiny half-ball cake on top!) cakes.

Yesterday, I covered them with sugarpaste, stacked and finished the decorations.

I ABSOLUTELY BL**DY LOVE THIS CAKE.

It's so pretty! It turned out so well!! I can't wait to photograph it shortly (although it's cold, wet, grey day out there, so there won't be very good light :o( ... it's not fair!!)

The most amazing thing is how absolutely relaxed I was doing this cake. I felt totally in control of it... not it in control of me! I got into a routine of how I made the flowers, 8 at a time (that's the number of holes there are in my shaper tray!) and I just got on with it!

FYI, there are 42 daisies around the bottom tier, 33 around the middle tier, 22 around the middle tier and 33 larger daisies covering the top dome of cake!!! Only had 1 breakage and that was when I dropped one of the larger ones! :oD

Photo to follow very shortly! See my cake photos on my other blog:

http://patacake-parties.blogspot.com/

Best Laid Plans and all that.....

Well, the plan was to bake the 8" and 5" cakes this evening and make some daisies.

I've baked the cakes. But - and I won't know for sure until I cut it through tomorrow - I have a horrible feeling the 8" cake isn't a good 'un. I'm not sure why. Every now and again, these things happen (usually when you're working to a really tight schedule!).

So tomorrow morning I'll cut it through and if it's no good, I'll have to whack another one in the oven.

Also, I haven't even started the daisies.

:o(

And I've also realised that I don't know if I have the box/cake drum for this cake. So I could also end up making a dash to Romford, to the cake supply shop!

Busy!

Oh boy!! What a week.

Saturday 27th Sept - my mum's birthday cake
Monday 29th Sept - 10 people at my house for dinner
Tuesday 30th Sept - to my mother-in-law's house for dinner
Wednesday 1st Oct - Cake order being collected (tin of peas cake)
Thursday 2nd Oct - Cake order being collected (Louis Vuitton handbag cake)
Sunday 5th Oct - Cake order being collected (3 tier christening cake)

Everything going to schedule at the moment. Handbag cake just been collected, and after I've had a cup of tea and then cleared the kitchen, I'll bake the bottom tier (11") of the christening cake and then this evening I'll bake the 8" and 5" cakes. Tonight, I'll also make the hundreds of daisies that I need to go around the base of each cake!! Friday and Saturday will be spent decorating the cake.

So, it's all in hand.... watch this space!