Life is What You Bake it!: What Katie did Next

Showing posts with label What Katie did Next. Show all posts

A Great Gatsby Cake to make Leo proud!

Not a happy Leo! He's seen our Great Gatsby photo shoot with Sarah Vivienne and realised his researchers seriously let him down on the cake front.......he looks MAD!!

Next time Leo, make sure you tell them that this is how it's done!

The flowers and piping on the cakes were inspired by the gorgeous detailing on the Claire Pettibone dresses

Visit Sarahs blog to see the whole shoot

Vintage Birdcage Wedding Cakes

One of my favourite trends for this year is the vintage bird cage theme, and I love incorporating it to produce a vintage bird cage wedding cake.

My personal favourite is my most recent Peacock bird cage cake, which we used a little artistic licence to change the peacock colour to pink instead of the usual turquoise! It was taken to a wedding at the beautiful Holdenby House in Leicestershire.

Quote from an article written about Peggy Porshen - my idol and the woman who has single handedly transformed the cake industry from an out-dated pensioners hobby to a worldwide baking trend for all ages! I considered a cake making career when I was only 16, but being young and influential it wasn't really the trendy career to pursue!

"I asked Peggy about setting up your own business and she said that a reality check is one of the most important things to do! It may appear a bed of roses making cakes all day, but it’s hard work and you have to be careful with your pricing too. She recommended that you take into account your time and ingredients and charge it by three times your costs. Furthermore, Peggy commented that she had wished she’d studied some sort of business course as it is a business, not just having fun in the kitchen. Many cake makers don’t charge enough and really don’t make money from their cakes"

Couldn't have said it better myself!

You can read the whole article here
http://www.thediaryofacakemaker.com/peggy-porschen-question-and-answer-session/

Hot on Peggys heels, were Choccywoccydoodah, who have carved their own individual niche into the world of chocolate wedding cakes. Here's my tribute to them with one of my favourite designs of theirs.

Sneaky Peak at My Burghley Show Display

It's a busy week here preparing for Burghley wedding show this Sunday, where I'll be showcasing 6 of my cakes - 3 of them brand new!

Here's a sneaky peak to one of them, inspired by this gorgeous ruffle dress.

The middle tier is layers of the luxurious sugar ruffles and the other 2 tiers have a sumptious silky satin finish to the icing. I've then finished it with a touch of black ribbon to cordite with the belt on the dress

Unfortunately I don't know the actual designer that made this dress. Does anybody actually know of a local bridal shop that has a dress like this???

http://www.couture-cakes.co.uk/Portfolio/Iced-Wedding-Cakes/roseruffletieredweddingcak.html

If you're coming to see us (or our cakes!) at Burghley show this Sunday, I highly recommend you come in the afternoon - as the morning get's really busy - and to book tickets, because they can only let a limited number of people through the door!

Wadenhoe Wedding

Wow what beautiful weather it's been for a wedding today - especially considering how miserable it's been lately! Wadenhoe was the perfect setting for this wedding, as their grounds were in full bloom and the scenery from the house was stunning!

Floristy by Keepsakes of Yaxley

Old McDonalds Wedding Cake

When Louisa came to me with the brief for this cake, her mother was horrified at the thought of a novelty wedding cake, and I completely understood what she meant, because it had the potential to look really cheesy and inappropriate. I think we managed to add just the amount of sophistication to it though!

Death by Chocolate?

Only someone with a truly dottie imagination can get with a theme like this.....yes you've guessed it Dottie Photography / Creations styled this shoot, with cake and sweet treats by us of course.

Chocolate Indulgence!

This cake was errrrr fun, and very messy to make!

Silver Lapwing Award

Daddy Watts received a big pat on the back today - he won the Silver Lapwing Award (the UK's most prestigious award for farming & conservation) - for the second time!

The Watts family all trotted off down to London town to receive the award from Adam Henson (the BBC Countryfile presenter) at the HOuse of Commons. We were rather skeptical that they'd pass it our way a second time, so it was a lovely surprise.

As you know, we like to make sure we bake our cakes with ingredients direct fromt he farm, including our free range eggs, organic raspberries, and we even have our organic wheat milled at a local windmill. If only we could grow cocoa, and Silver Spoon would allow for traceability of our sugar beet, then we'd have it all sewn up!