Now certified in food safety and hygiene!

I've finally done it. This morning I completed [and passed!] the Level 2 Food Safety & Hygiene for Catering course; my City & Guilds Accredited Certificate will be on its way to me on Monday.  :)

I completed the training online through the Virtual College who offer lots of different e-learning courses. In total, it took me 2 hours to complete and I found it to be very easy to follow. You are able to go at your own pace and the system also allows you to save and come back to it later if you don't have time to complete it all in one sitting. 

Cake International 2011

It's that time of year again.... Cake International at Birmingham's NEC!! I visited the exhibition yesterday, opting to go on the Friday again this year as I've heard that it is more quiet than the Saturday and Sunday.

Once I got over the sheer volume of people there - supposedly it wasn't that busy[!!] - I had a bit of a wander around the hall. Lots of stalls, as expected, however I wasn't able to get near them. Not even close! Way too many people for my liking. But, as I don't have money to burn at the moment, in a way it was better that I couldn't see all the goodies.

Enrolled :)

Well, almost. I've sent my enrolment form and payment off so that I can start a City & Guilds Level 1 in Confectionery.

I'll be studying from home with a tutor for guidance from Sugarcraft Online, who are a City & Guilds approved centre.

Lost and Found

Well... I've been planning this cake since April. No idea why I didn't get moving on it quicker!

Lily and (not so) mini orchids

The evening class that I was attending has come to an end :( This term we made a lily and mini orchids from flower paste and wired them into a spray. The course was a short one, just 5 weeks, so there was quite a bit to take in.

A little thank you

I made these cupcakes for my boyfriends parents as a little thank you for helping out with the garden.

Father's day cuppies

Here are the cupcakes that I made for my boyfriends Dad for Father's Day :)

Yay! It fits!

Following on from the recommendation of a friend, I recently ordered the Silverwood multisize cake tin from Lakeland [along with a few other goodies ;)]. I wasn't convinced that it would fit in my oven as the shelves are exactly 12" deep, leaving hardly any room for the door to close. But since it was free delivery [those 'other' goodies took me over £50... eeek!] and free returns, there was no harm in trying.

Upon its arrival I put the tin together and gave it a whirl in my oven. And it fits! Yay! :)

The tin is designed to be fully collapsible which allows it to be stored flat. It arrived in 7 pieces; a solid base tray, four sides which interlink with each other and two dividers which allow you to make up to four cakes at once. 

When constructed, it is a 12" square and the sides simply sit on top of the base tray. 

Long time, no blog...

After taking the fortnight off from work for the Easter period, I am now back in the office and being very unproductive cake-wise. I have many things spinning around in my head yet no motivation to do anything :(

Project - April: hydrangeas

I am a member of the British Sugarcraft Guild [BSG] forum - I find it to be a great place to get help, advice and encouragement from like-minded people. And it is always nice to look at other peoples work and chat about cakes :)

Some of the BSG forum members take part in a monthly project. A topic or theme is decided and then whoever wants to take part completes the project within the month and posts a photograph of their work. This month, the topic was hydrangeas.

The Royal Wedding Cake

As the whole world knows, Prince William and Catherine Middleton were married yesterday at Westminister Abbey. Since my invitation went missing in the post, I resorted to watching the ceremony at home.

There were only two bits that I really wanted to see; the dress [it was beautiful] and the cake [obviously! ;)]. I was even more interested in the cake because it was a Leicestershire business woman called Fiona Cairns who was commissioned to make the cake for their special day. 

There had been a lot of talk in the press and amongst cake designers about what the cake would look like; Would it be royal iced? Would it be traditional or would Kate go for something more modern?

Easter chicken feet cuppies

Happy Easter!

Choccy cupcakes with whipped buttercream

It has been a busy, busy week. Not cake busy, just general busy. I'm on annual leave from work over the Easter period and have been hoping to get lots of cakey things done, but so far I've not managed much!

This afternoon I made some chocolate cupcakes and topped them off with a vanilla whipped buttercream swirl.

Two Chicks

I first saw an advert for Two Chicks Free Range Liquid Egg White in a magazine and to be honest, I initially thought "who'd want that?!"

I don't eat omelette's or drink raw egg and I love egg yolks - it's my favourite bit! So the idea of a product like this baffled me. I know that athletes have egg whites a lot because they are high in protein, but to me the packaging doesn't scream 'body builder'.

I didn't really consider the product again after that.

Mary Jane template, raising funds in aid of G.O.S.H.

The icing on the cake ~ by Jo ~ is raising funds in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital charity (G.O.S.H.) by selling a template and instructions on how to make these fabulous Mary Jane shoes, pictured below.

Let's make people

Thursday was the last of the sugarcraft classes for this term. The topic of the course was modelling, with the brief being "Let's Make People". Over the 10 weeks, we were to complete four projects using different methods and mediums in order to complete them

The first was to make a man sitting on an armchair out of marzipan. Using a 50/50 mixture of sugar paste and flower paste, we then made a child sitting on a rug. The third project was to make a person from one piece of paste, again using the 50/50 mixture. Unfortunately, I have no photographs of these, but they weren't very good so no one is missing out ;)

The final project was one of our own choice. We were to model a person using any of the techniques we had learned over the course. I chose to make a boy with a dog.

Oh I wish it could be Christmas everyday (even in March!)

Yes, I am rather late with the photographs, I know. Or, since I've only just set up this page, you could say that I'm incredibly early! Either way, here is my Christmas candle cake with my first ever attempt at wired flowers.

Welcome to ♥ crumberley ♥

I have spent a fair few hours over the weekend setting up my new blog and it is certainly starting to take shape. Welcome! I hope that you like it - and that someone gets to read it! ;)

My aim for the blog is that it will be a place where I can document my cake decorating achievements. As time goes on, I will post about the cakes I have created and include photographs of them within the various pages on my website.