There are many things I love in this world. Chocolate, tea, babies, winter just to name a few. Though there is one thing that I absolutely love! I like to think of it as my secret talent (though it won’t be much of a secret once you read this).
I absolutely love baking and decorating special occasion cakes!!
It’s a bit of a hobby of mine that all began back in 2013 when my auntie asked me to make her daughter’s 3rd birthday cake. She gave me a tiara and asked me to incorporate that on the cake somehow but the rest was up to me. My auntie was only really expecting a nice buttercream iced cake with a tiara on top but I took things to another level! You could say I am a high achiever because I soon got to teaching myself how to make a two tiered fondant cake from scratch. A little elaborate for a 3rd birthday, though for me this was a golden opportunity to challenge my baking abilities and try something outside my ‘amateur baker’ comfort zone. To be honest I watched that many YouTube tutorials I could probably have made this cake in my sleep.
The cake itself was a rainbow marble butter cake with a vanilla buttercream for the crumb coat. I then covered the entire cake with homemade marshmallow fondant icing (which tastes so much better than store-bought or normal fondant icing….trust me!). I even went as far as making fondant roses and a large bow for the front. I’m not gonna lie, I was pretty chuffed with how it all turned out and how far my cake making/decorating skills had come! When I rocked up to the party with the cake in hand my auntie actually started crying when she saw it (and not because she was horrified….at least I don’t thinks so). From that moment onward I knew I had found my secret love, my favourite hobby, and maybe even my secret talent!!
Here is the end result! (Please ignore the terrible photo quality, let just say photography wasn’t my secret talent in 2013)
Since then I have made a heap of other cakes for family and friends and even considered starting a small ‘amateur’ cake making business. Although fondant icing looks really cool and is fun to work with I tend to make more buttercream cakes now because you can’t beat that beautifully creamy buttercream taste. My favourite type of cakes to make are semi naked layered cakes decorated with fresh flowers. They just look so pretty!
This was my 21st birthday cake which tasted incredible! It had alternating layers of chocolate brownie cake, white chocolate mud cake, and raspberry butter cake. Iced with salted caramel swiss meringue buttercream and drizzled with salted caramel sauce!
This was the cake I made for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. It was a vanilla butter cake with a fresh raspberry filling for the top tier and a humming-bird cake for the bottom tier.
Unfortunately I didn’t get a very good photo of this creation though it was one of my favourites! This was a wedding cake I made for a friend of mine. It was a rich chocolate cake for the bottom tier and a vanilla tea cake for the top tier, all iced in swiss meringue buttercream and topped with some gorgeous fresh flower arrangements.
These are just a few of the cakes I have had the opportunity to make but they are probably my favourites! If you have ever considered giving cake making a shot I’d definitely say go for it! You will probably surprise yourself like I did.
This week I challenge you to step outside your comfort zone and try something new! Whether that is in the realm of baking or not. Would love to know if you’ve given cake making a go before and feel free to share any of your tips and tricks that you may have learnt during the process.
Enjoy you’re weekend guys! xx
Alyssa Anne 