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!!

 

Pretty Lilac-Pink Wedding Cake

Today I drove down to the beautiful Arley Hall & Gardens in Cheshire to deliver a wedding cake for Sarah & Jay who I met in the spring at a Brides Up North Wedding Fayre at the Bowden Rooms.
 

They chose a four tier cake for their guests with four different flavours;
 
Luscious Lemon with Lemon Curd Buttercream
Chocolate Truffle with Chocolate Ganache Buttercream
Butterscotch with Toffee Sauce Buttercream
Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Buttercream







Sarah & Jay wanted something quite simple in design but with really deep tiers with clean cut edges to them. Because of this, they ended up with tiers around 13cms deep each rather than my usual 9cms (M&S cakes are only about 5cms deep!!).

I also coated the cakes in chocolate ganache rather than buttercream before putting the sugarpaste on so that I could achieve a much sharper edge than you would normally get with buttercream.












When it came to decoration, Sarah had made her own invites using a really pretty ivory lace and a beautiful lilacy-pink ribbon so we used this as the basis of the design along with a large hand-made sugar rose in lilacy-pink.

Unlike cakes with lots of detail on which can take a lot of hours to decorate, this cake came together relatively quickly. However, due to the deep nature of the tiers and the lack of decoration on them, the sugarpaste had to be perfect, no room for errors here!











A lot of time and attention went into ganaching and covering these cakes to get the simple clean lines that Sarah & Jay wanted, sometimes the more simple designs are more difficult to get right!!

Sarah & Jay were both so excited about this cake, not only for how it was going to look but also about the delicious flavours they had chosen.

I love it when both the Bride & Groom get excited about the wedding cake and really hope they've had an amazing day today, I can't wait to see the photos!!

Rachel x
 

Pretty Rabbit Christening Cake!

 

This weekend I made a beautiful Christening cake for a gorgeous little girl called Elizabeth Kitty, or Betty as her parents call her which I think is adorable!!

 

Michelle, Betty's Mum told me to make it pink & white with initialled building blocks and a bunny rabbit figure as bunnies are Betty's favourite, so cute!!

 

The cake was four (yes four!) layers of chocolate sponge cake sandwiched with chocolate buttercream before being covered in white sugarpaste.

 

 

As well as the building blocks and the rabbit, I piped Betty's full name and date of birth on the top of cake and put three pink hearts on the front of the cake, two of which were stamped with "Betty". The hearts all had tiny hand piped pearls all the way around.

 

A selection of small pink and white flowers were dotted around the cake to complete to pretty girly look.

 

I love this cake, it was so pretty and girly with some lovely attention to detail!!

Delicious Cupcake Flavours!!

This week I've made two cupcake flavours, Maple & Pecan topped with Maple Buttercream and finished with a shard of pecan toffee, and Chocolate Cherry with a Syrup-soaked cherry inside, topped with Vanilla Cherry Buttercream!

 

The Maple & Pecan are my new favourite cupcake flavour and I have to be careful not to eat the spare few I have left!!

 

They were made for two lovely ladies who in the last couple of weeks have given birth to two lovely little ladies! I'm still in the process of testing cupcakes by post, it worked well in normal temperatures in spring but I was a bit worried about these warmer temperatures so wanted to see how they fare.

 

They've been boxed up and posted and will arrive with their lovely recipients tomorrow so fingers crossed!!

Small yet perfectly formed cakes.....

Recently I've made several small but very beautiful cakes and thought I'd share them with you as I've become a fan of small but stunning cakes!!

 

 

These cakes are 4" in diameter which may seem small but there's four layers of cake in each making them around 4" tall, double what you'd get in a supermarket cake!!

 

 

I think you'll agree that no matter the small size, these cakes look gorgeous and I'd be more than happy to receive one for a special occasion! 

 

Serving approximately ten portions, they can be made in any flavour and can be decorated in any way, the choice is yours!!

 

I also made these lemon cupcakes topped with lemon buttercream and white sugarpaste before being topped with handmade sugar flowers in deep purple and pale lilac blossom with pearl centres and I think they're so pretty!

 

 

Our cupcakes range from £1.75 to £3.00 each depending upon quantity and the degree of decoration required.

 

From a box of six to a cupcake tower for a wedding or party, these cupcakes are perfect for giving your guests their own individual treat!