How I got Into cake decorating.

I've briefly mentioned my love for arts and crafts, but my most recent love affair is with cakes and cake decorating! 

In 2005 I had a go at decorating my eldest son, Jake's blessing cake. It was an absolute disaster and looked nothing like how I envisaged! I bought a baby themed patchwork cutter set from a local cake shop, didn't have a clue what to do with it and just winged it! You could tell!

My second attempt at cake decorating was a little more adventurous and was for my Jake's third birthday. He was having a pirate party and found the perfect, simple cake design. I asked my local cake shop to colour the fondant and I baked and decorated the cake. This was long before I'd learnt the art of trimming, levelling and crumb coating a cake!! It was lumpy as hell but I was so proud of that achievement! 

The design I aimed for......

The cake I made!

I waited a good few years before attempting a decorated cake but I used to 
bake buns and baked a mean chocolate cake! We ordered Jake a 6th Birthday cake as he was having a birthday party and wanted something special. We got a small two tier cake and 15 matching cupcakes for £30! An absolute bargain but the lady, a family friend at the time, wouldn't accept any more. Sadly though, the cupcakes went untouched and the cake was so dry, it went in the bin. That's when I thought that I could do something like that - I wouldn't be perfect but I'm sure with practice I could! I had the baking sorted with compliments flying left right and centre about the quality of my cakes, I just had to learn the art of decorating. 

Stumped with what to do for our Liam's first birthday just three months after Jake's party, I thought I'd have a go at baking and decorating him a number cake! I like to give myself a challenge! Numbers are a pain in the butt with the corners and sharp angles to get that icing into! I didn't have a clue how to colour fondant and had some ready made icing left in the cupboard so mixed some blue and green with lots of white to get the shades that matched Liam's party ware. The piped icing was just the above mixed fondant watered down! Again, this cake was by no means perfect (I made another for Liam's birthday camping trip!), I can see all the hand marks and lumps and bumps but I made this using very little knowledge or tools! 

I was so proud of this cake!

I began making decorated cupcakes and by Christmas 2011 had picked up a few orders seeing me take my first big cake order in January 2012. This was my proudest moment and still is. It catapulted me and my confidence. I began thinking I could do this. I am good at something other than being a mummy! Little did I know that it would launch a business and transform me and my life. I became an independent woman again.