Rose Swirl Cake Class

It was great to have a couple of students whom had come all the way from the Netherlands to take part in our cake making class. They have been friends since Uni days but like so many of us don't get to see enough of each other now their lives are filled with work and children. So, every year they come to England to meet up for the weekend, stay in a hotel and plan some fun activities. Usually involving some form of cake baking or cupcake decorating. We were very pleased that on this occasion they chose to come to us. What a delicious excuse to get together with old friends!

During the class the students each made their own cake mixture and baked the cakes themselves. They then made a delicious buttercream icing whilst the cakes were cooling. After that they trimmed the cakes using a cake cutter. Then they filled and crumb coated them. Once they had done this they created a stunning design by piping on two tone buttercream rose swirls all over the cakes. They looked absolutely beautiful and the students were thrilled with what they achieved. Hopefully the ones that were flying back to the Netherlands survived the journey.

Hannah's Afternoon Tea Hen

When we were asked to host an afternoon tea hen party for 18 I wasn't quite sure our kitchen was big enough. It turned out to be one of the most fun events that we've done here at Cookie Girl HQ. As you can see from the photos bride to be Hannah and her friends and family could not have had more fun. Her sister Naomi did a wonderful job planning the cake making class and afternoon tea. Naomi, her mum and Auntie arrived early to decorate very tastefully as you can see from the photos. We started off with a delicious afternoon tea created by me (obvs). This consisted of; Scones, Chocolate eclairs, Mille Feuille, Strawberry Tarts and Chocolate Brownies. Alongside a selection of sandwiches, curtesy of M&S, (there is a limit to what I can make for a group of this size!). And lashings of tea (English Breakfast & Earl Grey) as well as Cappuccinos. Once they had eaten their fill we moved on to the real reason they were there. The cake decorating class. The girls loved learning how to perfect the art of cake decorating using a variety of coloured butter cream, glitter and edible decorations. The decorated cupcakes they created were really beautiful and they were thrilled to take them home to show off to friends and family. They were a really lovely group and hopefully some of them will come back to take one of our cake, biscuit or cupcake baking classes. Or maybe they will decide to build on their skills and join us for an intermediate or advanced cupcake decorating class in the future.

Mariam's Cake Baking Birthday Party

Mariam had the great idea to have a cake making class for her birthday. She is a big fan of The Great British Bake Off and really wanted to have her very own cake class. She got together seven of her dearest friends and together they baked up a storm in our lovely HQ kitchen at their very own cake baking class in London. They really appreciated the relaxed atmosphere and the fact that it felt like they were 'home from home'. They did a great job making the cupcakes from scratch using free range eggs and butter to ensure the tastiest, most melt in the mouth cupcakes imaginable. They then showed off their competitive piping skills which I must say were generally very impressive and led to some beautifully decorated cakes. They were thrilled with the end results from their cake class and excited to be taking their freshly baked cakes home to share with their families. As a lot of them are getting married soon there was a lot of talk about hen parties. It was even discussed that they could do one of our cake making hen days. Watch this space as they may all be back to improve their skills before too long!

Buttercream Flowers Cake Making Class

It was really lovely to have Emily and Millie come back for another cake class. They have now worked their way up from basic through intermediate to advanced cake decorating (featured here). As you can see their results were spectacular. They made a beautiful antique ruffle cake, a buttercream rose cake, a variety of carnation cakes and even a poinsettia style cake (although we kept to pastel colours). it was tricky work pipin each buttercream flower petal by petal but the results were well worth the effort. They were very keen to learn how to make sugarpaste roses as they had never worked with fondant icing or sugarpaste before. So I created a bespoke class for them. We also had a mum and daughter join us. They did brilliantly, particularly considering it was the first class they had attended one of my classes. If you would like to learn how to do the sugarpaste roses then come along to one of my full day cake decorating classes and we will cover that and so much more. If you are mainly interested in the buttercream flowers then come to one of my advanced classes. 

Private Baking Lesson

This was such a lovely lesson. David had never baked before and it was something that he'd always wanted to learn. After a life changing event he realised that there was no time like the present. He wanted to learn to make a cake with real wow factor. I thought that a chocolate and vanilla marble cake would be prefect. We spent a lovely afternoon together and he couldn't believe how quickly he got the hang of it. He had literally never attempted to bake anything before not event cupcakes or cookies. You can imagine how delighted he was by the end results once he'd finished off the cake with piped buttercream swirls. The finishing touch was an edible rice paper leopard print butterfly and gold sprinkles. When he got home his wife could not believe that he made the cake from scratch.

Afternoon Tea Hen Party

I was asked by Natalie, who was organising Weeta's cake making hen party, if I would also be able to provide them with afternoon tea. Although I new that it would be a lot of extra work I though 'Why not?'. It gave me the opportunity to create some delicious pastries which was a refreshing change from my usual repertoire of cakes, cookies and biscuits. As well as a selection of savoury sandwiches I made them; plain, fruit and gluten free scones. All served with clotted cream and strawberry jam. They then tucked into; mini Mille Feuille, mini strawberry & vanilla tartlets, mini lemon meringue pies, mini pecan brownies and mini chocolate eclairs. Needless to say this was one group of hens that didn't get started on the cupcakes they had made during their cake making class. As far as hen days go it was a very civilised one with only a couple of bottles of bubbly drunk but much fun and games had by all. Weeta is lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends who ensured her hen party was a day to be remembered.

Buttercream Flower Cakes

Buttercream flower & ruffle cupcakes

I absolutely love teaching our advanced cupcake decorating class. The students are always amazed by how professional their results are. With our beginners http://www.cookiegirl.co.uk/empty-land/ and intermediate http://www.cookiegirl.co.uk/empty-land-1/ cake classes we use cream cheese icing as it gives a good flow. When it comes piping roses, carnations, frills etc we use buttercream for this cake decorating class as we need a firmer icing to allow the individual petals to stay up.

We have a lot of clients who come to the beginners class and then move onto the intermediate and advanced classes. Some people choose to do them all in one day. This means they can from amateur to professional standard in a very short time.

Unicorn Rainbow Cake Table

I was really excited about doing this for Cosy's 6th birthday party. Having thought there was no theme she would like better (ever since her princess party last year) i was a bit miffed to discover that she wanted a My Little Pony one instead! Having already invested in unicorn balloons, plates etc I dug my heels in. As you can see she couldn't have been more thrilled with the results. I made a Rainbow Unicorn Cake, Rainbow Cupcakes, Unicorn Bark, Unicorn Cake Pops. Recipes to follow....

Frapuccino Cupcakes

Makes 12

Cakes:

5oz butter

5oz golden caster sugar

3 medium eggs

½ cup (125ml) filter or cafetiere coffee

2 tsp vanilla extract

7oz self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time then stir in the filter coffee and vanilla extract. Use a fork to combine the flour and baking powder together. Add the flour mixture to the egg, butter and sugar. Fill a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases and divide the mixture equally between them. Bake in a preheated oven at 170º for 15 to 20 minutes until springy to the touch.

Place on a cooling rack and leave to cool.

Icing:

1 dsp instant coffee powder

1tbsp boiling water

250g unsalted butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

400g royal icing sugar

Chocolate sprinkles to decorate

Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water. Cream the butter in an electric mixer. Add the coffee mixture and the vanilla to this followed by the royal icing sugar. Whisk on a high speed for five minutes. Once the icing is ready put it into a piping bag and pipe classic swirls on to the cooled cupcakes. Use chocolate sprinkles to decorate.

Family Hen Party

What a wonderful group of ladies came along to Sarita's cupcake decorating hen party. It was a family get together and included both the brides mum and the future mum in law. Who was clearly already a well loved member of the clan. They had a great time making cakes that looked really professional. I think that a couple of them were already quite experienced cake decorators, although they tried to keep that a secret! The girls were all limitting themselves to one cupcake each as they didn't want to eat too much pre wedding (especially the bride who didn't want to have her dress refitted!) They loved the huge variety of glitter and sprinkles we had provided and had a healthy bit of competition going with regards to who was piping the most perfect buttercream swirls.  A glass of bubbly got them in the hen party mood and by the end they were thrilled to be taking home 8 perfectly iced cupcake creations. They said it was well worth coming to London for the cake class hen day. In fact they are even talking about joining us for one of our cake baking classes in our North West London HQ. Maybe not before the honeymoon though!