First ever (successful) cake pops!

Many hours have I spent attempting to make the so easy looking cake pops. Every time I failed. Simple as that. Mainly due to issues with the very frustrating and fiddly candy melts that won't melt thin enough, or the cake spewing over the top of the cake pop tin (through a hole in the lid).

I managed to solve my usual problems by adding sunflower oil to thin the chocolate. This thins it very well, but for those weirded out by this, it does not affect the taste! I also piped the cake batter into the tins to get the exact amount of cake batter.

I thought those of you might like to know that I also made a fondant rose and mini apple pies today, which were very tasty. The rose is actually for the christmas cake I am helping to decorate. Not very christmasy but très elegante. Plus, I wanted to use my new "ball tool" (If anyone knows of a technical name for this, I would love to know what it is). Unfortunately I do not have the photos for you to see because I didn't think of taking any at the time.

At the moment I am currently knitting a small "angel cake"(-yes, a bit odd for a teen but I enjoy being crafts and being able to make so many things out of a ball of wool). I bought a book from a craft store with instructions on how to knit 20 different cakes, which is right up my street. I will hopefully post a picture when it is finished, seeing as I am about half way.

I just want to say a big thank you to all my readers, as today is the one year anniversary of this blog. You have made this website what it is today!

It is not an amazing picture or cake pop, but as promised, the cake pop photo:

The cupcake faerie
xx

Recipe: http://thosesunnydays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/tasty-treat-tuesday-chocolate-vanilla.html

This link is not the recipe I used. I improvised and made a plain vanilla cake batter, and baked it in a cake pop tray and then melted some chocolate for the coating. I don't like to crumble up cake to mix with frosting because it makes the cake too sweet. And who would crumble up an innocent little cake?

The best christmas gifts for the cupcake lover

With christmas getting closer by the minute, now is the time to start shopping for presents before the holiday shopping rush starts. For those out there who love everything cupcake, I have designed a cute cake stand gift set. Most of the products are easy to find, but if you want a few quick links I have at the bottom of the post. You can use the cake stand for:

• A table ornament
• A christmas present for cupcake lovers
• Separate gift ideas (only use a few of the ideas in the picture)

A sweet (16) afternoon tea!

It was my 16th birthday the other day, and my mum surprised me by getting my cousin, aunt and gran round and by setting out a wonderful afternoon tea "spread". When I came in the living room looked wonderful, with a set of fancy cups and saucers, scones, jam and a teapot to be filled with "Betty's tea room blend" tea. I must admit it was very fun, especially with the one man comedy show that is my cousin ( who is also scarily like sheldon cooper from the big bang theory at times). All in all it was a great birthday, and thank you to everyone who made it so great!

My wall of inspiration

Over the past few months, I have been been collecting various postcards and leaflets to stick onto my bedroom wall. After putting up what must be at least 50 of them, i thought that I would show my readers the results:

The Cake And Bake Show 2012

Cake lovers across the United Kingdom gathered on the 22nd September at the start of the 2 day Cake And Bake Show. Finding out about the show by chance when browsing through delicious magazine, I managed to book tickets for the event. It was full of people trying to pick up tips, equipment and decorations to make the best cakes.

There were many features of the event, including classrooms, in which you can learn new techniques, star speakers, including Eric Lanlard, Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry, cupcake decorating stations, children's baking sessions, cake making competitions, not to mention the various stalls from which to buy the latest cake decorating products.

Hot chocolate cupcakes

Ok, so these are more of a "prototype" ready for a baking competition I am entering at my dad's work. I have come up with the recipe for "hot chocolate cupcakes". It is a chocolate sponge with cream on top with marshmallows, and melted chocolate (i didn't have the ingredients for chocolate ganache) in the centre. I also made some mini choc chip cookies to go with it :)

Berry delicous...

Ok so today, with a little help from my brother, I made some strawberries and cream cupcakes. Here are the pictures. It is a strawberry flavoured sponge, with a strawberry jam (or jelly as they call it in some places) and piped double cream with a strawberry. They tasted very nice :)

Mini contest results

Hey guys! As promised, here are the pictures of my chocolate and cream cupcakes. Me and my cousin had a mini bake off around the theme of gardening, so I made a little chocolate flower on top of each cupcake. However, some may not look like flowers :) In the end, my cousin was so hungry that he ate his before we could have them judged :)

Lemonade cupcake attempt

Finally, as promised, I have made some lemonade cupcakes for you all. They are not great, but they are good for a new baker, so I am pretty pleased. If you see any green specks on the cupcakes, it is popping candy. Unfortunately I got "magic colour changing" popping candy, and the candy just happens to turn green, so there are small flecks of green on top of the cupcakes.