Simply Sparkles Winter Wedding Cake!

 

Last weekend was the wedding of Paul & Louise at the very Christmasssy-looking Etrop Grange, Manchester.

During their consultation Paul & Louise knew they wanted something quite simple with white being the main colour but with pearls and diamantes featuring also.

Because they were getting married in December they both loved the look of the Simply Sparkles cake that they had seen when I met them at a wedding fayre with sugar crystals completely covering the surface of the cake.

 

 

 

 So we adapted the design of Simply Sparkles by removing the ribbons, adding a simple diamante strip round the base of each tier and attaching 3 pearl and diamante brooches instead of the 1 in the original design.

 

The cake was sat on a simple mirrored cake stand supplied by Louise which had a wide band of diamantes round the edge and really matched the detail on the cake!

 

The cake itself was one tier of Butterscotch cake with Toffee Buttercream, one tier of Luscious Lemon with Lemon Curd Buttercream and one artificial tier to give the cake some additional height.

 

 

 

 

This morning I received the following email from Louise;

 

Hi Rachel... Well the cake went down a treat!!! I added a few crystals to the top and it looked amazing!!!

Thank you so much!

Love Louise x

 

This is the best part of my job and I wouldn't swap it for the world!

Our Christmas 2013 Range of Treats!

This year our range of Christmas products is a little different from just Christmas cupcakes, fruit cake and mince pies!

 

 

Starting with these fabulous round Bauble Cakes which come in a clear acetate presentation box wrapped with ribbon. They're £12 each and consist of two half-spheres of sponge cake with buttercream in the centre, they're then coated in buttercream, a layer of marzipan to create a smooth surface before being covered in sugarpaste and decorated in a colour/style of your choice. Shown here are traditional red and white colours but we also love them in deep purple!

 

These make fabulous gifts for people and are available to order for collection from Bury, alternatively they can be delivered for a small charge, please contact us for details.

 

 

 

 

Our delicious Rich Brandy Christmas Cakes come in two standard designs, one fun and colourful with candy canes and a Gingerbread Man character, the other beautiful and simple with a white snowflake wreath and sugarpaste bow. These come in a variety of sizes so please contact us for a price but to give you an idea, a 6" is £35 for collection from Bury, alternatively they can be delivered for a small charge. Smaller and larger cakes are available and designs can be tailored to your needs, colour schemes etc.

 

 

We've also created these fabulous Cookie & Brownie Kits which have already proven to be very popular gifts! At £10 each these are the perfect stocking filler, end of term present for teachers, office Secret Santa gift or perhaps that little something for a neighbour! These jars include all of the dry ingredients you need to make either Choc Chip & Pecan Cookies or Chocolate Brownies. The ingredients are carefully layered before being wrapped with Christmas ribbon and a label with the instructions attached.

 

Finally, we've created a range of hampers in three different sizes starting from £20. They come in a lovely round red hamper box, filled with lots of homemade edible treats and beautifully wrapped! 

 

The contents of each are listed below;

 

Small Hamper £20

Chocolate & Pistachio Fudge

French Macarons (small)

All Butter Orange & Cinnamon Shortbread

Chocolate & Hazelnut Biscotti

Truffles 

Medium Hamper £30

Chocolate & Pistachio Fudge

French Macarons (small)

All Butter Orange & Cinnamon Shortbread

Chocolate & Hazelnut Biscotti

Truffles

Decorated 2” Rich Brandy Fruit Cake

Gingerbread Men Biscuits

Large Hamper £40

Chocolate & Pistachio Fudge

French Macarons (large)

All Butter Orange & Cinnamon Shortbread

Chocolate & Hazelnut Biscotti

Truffles

Decorated 4” Rich Brandy Fruit Cake

Gingerbread Men Biscuits

Chocolate-dipped Marshmallows

 

 

Contact Rachel on 07789887177 or by e-mail at marieantoinette@hotmail.co.uk to order yours today!

 

 

Disney Tangled 3rd Birthday Cake

Last weekend I delivered a gorgeous little cake to a luck little girl who was turning the grand old age of 3!


















Lexi is completely besotted with Disney's Tangled, the modern day take on the story of Rapunzel and had asked her Mummy for a cake with a tower on it.
















So we set about coming up with this design, with a fabulous tower complete with a peaked slate roof, cobble bricks, vines and pretty flowers!
















As Lexi is living and breathing Tangled she obviously had all of the character toys so we used these to accessorise the cake and complete the look.




The cake itself was three delicious layers of Victoria Sponge cake sandwiched with raspberry jam & vanilla buttercream.

Lexi's Mum was super duper pleased with the cake when we delivered it and we hope Lexi and her friends loved it too!

 

Disney Planes 3rd Birthday Cake!

Today's cake was for a gorgeous little boy who is turning 3, I've made his Christening Cake (Hungry Caterpillar), 1st Birthday Cake (Chuggington) and his 2nd Birthday Cake (Finding Nemo) but this year Oliver is completely in love with Disney Planes!















I was reliably informed by Oliver's Mum that his favourite characters were Ripslinger and Dusty so I set about coming up with a two-tiered design suitable for a fantastic kids party!












I covered both tiers in white sugarpaste then set about with the airbrush to get  a lovely bold blue and a cheerful bright yellow before beginning to decorate.

Aside from a handmade Dusty & Ripslinger I also added a name plate on the front of the cake in the style of the Disney Planes logo and a row of white billowy clouds round the top of the cake.

 
 
 
 

It was certainly a colourful cake with some really cute characters, I love making kids cakes, you can really go to town on them and this one was definitely eye-catching!

Ruby Wedding Anniversary Party Cake

A couple of weeks ago we went down to my in-laws in Suffolk as they had arranged a Ruby Doo to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary!













As keen Cross Country Skiers and the proud owners of a new and very luxurious camper van for them to enjoy their retirement touring round Europe, I wanted to incorporate both of these elements into the cake design.
















I made a sugar model of Chris & Marilyn all kitted out in ski-wear including skis, poles, woolly hats and hip flask for the regular port stops!


















The mountain back-drop was a 4" cake topped with rice-krispy-treats moulded into 3 peaks. I used sugar crystals on top of the mountain to create a snowy, icy effect.

















Throughout their 40 year marriage Chris & Marilyn have lived in Leeds, Worcester and now Lidgate in Suffolk so I made a wooden signpost with hand painted lettering on, took me a few attempts with shaky hands but I got there in the end!

Pretty Flowers & Lace 70th Birthday Cake

About a month ago I was asked to create a pretty birthday cake for someone's Mum's 70th Birthday.















I hate seeing boring and old fashioned birthday cakes for people's parents & grandparents so wanted to make something that was gorgeous and stylish and would still appeal to younger people.











I decided to combine a pretty lace effect, pearls and a selection of pastel coloured flowers.

A lace mould was used to create the decorative banner round the side of the cake, I then inset blush pink pearls into the detail of the lace to add an extra dimension.

I made a selection of pastel pink, peach, lilac and purple flowers and added ivory pearl centres and positioned them round the top edge of the cake before adding some large ivory pearls randomly placed inbetween.

Finally, I used large ivory coloured pearls to create a number 70 on top of the cake.

The lady who ordered this cake was so pleased with it, her colleague immediately ordered the same design for her Gran's birthday up in Newcastle a few weeks later!

Brides & Grooms come and see us this Sunday 3rd in Altrincham.......

Simply Sparkles & 3D Guinness Cake

Last weekend was the wedding of the beautiful Yemi & Justin at The Castlefield Rooms in Manchester.

During the planning of their wedding, Justin, who is Irish, was intent on finding someone who could create him a large 3D pint of Guinness made entirely from cake, red velvet cake to be specific.





I was so excited and so completely nervous to create this cake along with their gorgeous Simply Sparkles cake, complete with handmade Yemi & Justin cake topper all made in their wedding day colours of chocolate brown and gold.

I loved the enthusiasm Yemi & Justin had when it came to their cakes, packed full of personality and really unique!

The delivery of the Guinness cake was beyond stressful, it stood 16 inches tall (it was only supposed to be a foot tall but the groom decided to make it even bigger two weeks before the big day!) and of course due to the shape, was considerably top heavy. We held up a LOT of traffic that day going 10 miles an hour but it got there in one piece and looked amazing set up in the stunning Brindley Room.

I took step by step pictures of the making of the Guinness cake so will complete another blog post separately to demonstrate the transformation!

I can't wait to see some pictures of Yemi & Justin cutting into their cakes. As for the Guinness cake, hopefully it will be a long time before I have to create another pint glass cake!

Masquerade Ball Cake!

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to create a Masquerade Ball themed cake for a florists gorgeous Autumn/Winter window display. Bored of the usual oranges and brown seen in window displays during Autumn, Victoria from Lancashire Floristry www.lancashirefloristry.co.uk decided on a decadent and colourful masquerade ball theme incorporating a lovely rich colour scheme of black, turquoise, deep purple, silver and plum.

So I set about creating something that would hopefully fit in perfectly!
 

 This cake involved four tiers with the following decoration; a 12" tier covered in turquoise sugar ruffles, airbrushed with metallic turquoise paint with a row of sugar ribbon roses round the top; a 10" tier covered with diamond cut-outs, airbrushed with metallic purple paint; an extra deep 8" tier covered with bright pink sugarpaste with a diagonal cascade of brightly coloured sugar ribbon roses and finally a 6" top tier covered in purple fabric billow weave, also airbrushed with metallic purple paint.

 
 

 



On top of the cake sat a handmade masquerade ball mask, made from edible pastillage and hand-decorated using airbrush paints, hand-piping and edible glitter.
 









Although this cake took a lot of time to create, I was really pleased with the final effect, especially once it was in place in the window display alongside Victoria's floral creations. Apparently the display is already attracting a lot of attention from customers and passers-by so job done!

Marie Antoinette Cakes Photoshoot!!

Well last week was hectic to say the least and all because we had out first ever styled photo shoot for the new extended Simply Antoinette range.

For those of you who don't know about Simply Antoinette, it's a range of stunning but fairly simple designs that are classic and clean in their look but essentially take less time to decorate than some of the more intricate designs that are available and therefore, cost less!

The small range was so popular following the Spring wedding shows that it has since been extended and a photo shoot was clearly in need to showcase these cake to the fullest!

The designs are all based upon a three-tier template which provide approximately 110 portions of sponge cake for £295 (not including delivery). However, all aspects of the cakes including size, shape, colours, decorative detail and flavours can be tailored to your personal preference in your consultation but can of course affect the overall price.

The wonderful Julie from Julie Lomax Photography took all of the photos, she's so easy to work with and really got involved in understanding the overall look I wanted to create before the shoot, visiting the venue with me to assess the space and discussing the shots we really wanted to create. It was a long day and a real slog but we both soldiered on to really get the looks we wanted.







The flowers (which would be my second choice of profession after cakes!) were beautifully created by the lovely Victoria from Lancashire Floristry who unfortunately couldn't be at the shoot on the day but who got super excited about coming up with some fabulous arrangements in colours that were pretty much out of season so I didn't exactly make her job easy!!

Finally, the venue we chose was the wonderful Rose and Lee Vintage studio (appointment only) run by Fiona who regularly travels to Italy to pick up the most gorgeous and eclectic mix of beautiful treats from huge beds, mirrors, tables, armchairs you name it she can get it! She also offers a re-upholstery & restoration service so you can really tailor these vintage pieces to your home. Fiona hired out her studio and gave us free reign to use anything as props and it really made things a lot easier! Even as we were leaving after spending the whole day there, I was spotting things I hadn't even noticed before!!




The photos look great and I can't wait to share them all with you, they'll be making an appearance on the website soon so watch this space!

Come and see us at our Autumn Wedding Fayres

So it's the beginning of the Autumn Wedding Fayre season and I thought it would only be right for me to let you know which shows we'll be at over the coming months!

We'll have loads of cake designs for you to look at including some of our Couture Range as well as some new designs from out Simply Antoinette Range seen as it was so popular at the Spring shows.

We'll also have some delicious cake flavours for you to sample and will be on hand to answer your cake related questions!!

Our first show is this Friday, 13th September at the lovely Astley Bank Hotel.

This venue has had a lot of renovation done to it over the last 2 years and now has a gorgeous orangery room leading onto gardens at the back.

It's Friday evening starting at 5pm and you can see more details about the venue on their website by clicking on the following link http://www.astleybank.co.uk/


Our second show is Sunday 3rd November at the gorgeous Bowden Rooms in Altrincham, Cheshire. This venue offers several spaces for you to use with real vintage glamour and is truly a hidden gem!

This Vintage Wedding Fayre is run by Brides up North http://bridesupnorth.com/wedding-showcases/ and provides a brilliant selection of quirky unique suppliers for you to really get the wedding you want!

More information about the venue can be found by clicking on the following link http://www.thebowdonrooms.co.uk/


Our third show is Sunday 10th November at The Belle Epoque in Knutsford. I simply love this venue, it's style and décor are so well suited to Marie Antoinette Cakes I can't wait to do this wedding fayre!!

The venue is so beautiful, glamorous and stylish it really is worth a look http://www.thebelleepoque.com/weddings.php



Our final show of the season is Sunday 17th November at the brilliant Castlefield Rooms in Manchester City Centre.

This brilliant space offers several options in a really great setting in the lovely area of Castlefield next to the Bridgewater Canal http://www.thecastlefieldrooms.com/weddings.php


So that's our wedding fayre schedule for Autumn, we can't wait to meet lots of newly engaged couples and hear about their exciting plans. If you already met us at one of the Spring shows and fancy coming down for another chat then please do!!

Bride & Groom Cake Toppers

This weekend I went down to Birmingham to attend a course at The Blue Door Bakery. I've been making novelty sugarpaste characters for cakes for some time now but haven't ever really attempted a more grown up Bride & Groom for someone's wedding cake so decided that the best way to learn was to go on a one day course.





The day went so fast as it was jam-packed with step by step instructions and demos of how to create a gorgeous and adorable looking bride and groom for the top of the wedding cake.





I particularly love the faces on these toppers, full of so much character and fun achieved by hand painting the eyes and fabulous hairstyles!!

I have a set of Bride & Groom toppers to do for a lovely couple in October and I can't wait to create edible sugar versions of them after learning these techniques.




Thanks for the days tuition Clare, you're a fab and very patient teacher!!