Cakes by Carrie-Anne

Ugh you guys have got to, HAVE GOT to be soooo sick of hearing the C word this month. I thought I was doing ok. At first. Legit. I haven’t been panicking, I’ve been living my life as per usual, trying to stay away from the news. A few days ago though, it just hit me. I’m not worried for myself or my babies. We’re fit and healthy. But I’m afraid for my husband, who will be dealing with people that are panicked, angry, and scared. The people who might lash out at him because he’s got a job to do, nothing personal, I know. But I’ve seen the worst of people these last few weeks…though I’ve also seen the best. My husband unfortunately deals with the worst much more often. To keep his family and his country safe. I worry that he won’t have enough to eat, or that someone hurts him or that he’s too tired to drive home after a long shift. For the most part I don’t get concerned for his safety….because he’s strong, and smart and knows how to handle himself…but with all these other factors, it’s a LOT to take in.

The cake cancellations and postponements are overwhelming, but because of the circumstances is totally understandable, but I still get scared. Even though I KNOW how lucky we are, and how much more we have than so many. It’s daunting. So I’m surrendering to the universe, calling in my angels, spirit guides, and higher self, and really focusing on the positives.

During this lock down I’m going to make sure I’m creating new products and sharing recipes. Making videos, and baking ALL the things. I’ll knit with my babies, create art, learn sign language, create the vegetable garden I’ve been planning for months, meditate, workout, eat, drink and just BE!

So far so good. Jaxon helped me plant our potatoes, while Hayden sat in the sunshine painting oat milk cartons. I sat outside with them in the moment. Just enjoying their company. Jaxon ran around the garden playing zombies and war games with his nerf guns and they were just being kids. And they know they’re safe, and fed. And that’s the main thing. And I’ll keep them from worrying as best I can.

I made 3 videos already that I’m just editing as I type and I’m going to be making many more. My husband is enjoying having me home more (he’s a bit of a traditionalist) and to be honest, I’m enjoying it too. I was in major burnout! So I’m taking this negativity of this pandemic and turning it to all the positives. I’m listening to my soul, spending time with my babies , and doing all the things I keep putting off or just don’t usually have the time to do. And this introvert is LOVING it! I can honestly say I feel so in my element being ordered to stay home.

Of course I get a bit restless, but that just means having my cup of coffee in the fresh, frosty air, getting my workouts in, and making sure I’m moving and being somewhat productive. Being on lockdown puts so much in perspective for me too, it’s such a truly humbling experience. And I know people are getting sick, and dying, and I’m not trying my to take away from that at ALL. But I’m definitely seeing the silver lining throughout this pandemic. And it gives me so much hope, and it makes me realise all the little, ‘insignificant’ things in life that we take for granted every single day. Because they’re actually much more significant than we think.

So here’s my first lockdown tutorial…it was made for my friends daughter who just turned one and LOVES bananas 🍌 so I made a banana flavoured sponge with Swiss meringue buttercream, and carved the cake to resemble a cute and fun peeled banana. Hope you guys like it! My next videos will include some good ol’ fashioned loaves that are so simple and satisfying both to make and eat. Happy Lockdown my loves, we WILL get through this. And if you need to talk, or if you’re just not handling the situation well, please get in touch. I am always here to listen.

Sending all the love and light and healing energy I can muster ❤️

PS…SEND FLOUR!!!

Everyone loves a rainbow 🌈 cupcake…am I right?! As an artist and customer..I love the look of a rainbow cake. But as a baker, I cringe at the thought. They’re actually a pain in the backside. We usually charge more…and if you don’t, you certainly should. They’re a faff. I internally groan when I hear that I have to make a rainbow cake. Yeah it’s the same vanilla cake recipe, but then you have to get out every bowl in the cupboard, divide the batter evenly, then use an ungodly amount of food dye to make sure the colour will still be vibrant after it’s baked. And then all the washing up. Oh, and you need to line 6 baking tins too. As I said, a faff! So it’s one thing to bake a rainbow CAKE…rainbow buttercream, slightly different, slightly easier. It’s still time consuming because… the BOWLS, and an all butter buttercream takes a lot of colour to get very vibrant, but I also used a very easy technique to get a gorgeous swirl with half the mess and all the colours.

What you’ll need:

Cling film (Saran wran)

Very large pastry bags

A Wilton 1B Piping tip

Rainbow Coloured Buttercream of your choice!

I actually used American buttercream for this project. Couple of reasons…it had been a very long week and I had to get 60 cupcakes iced and done before work.. (I managed to do it all in 45 minutes) Annd I also find my regular Swiss Meringue takes a little more time to for the colours to develop. I made sure I didn’t compromise on taste though. I will share my recipe with you at a future date.  It’s easier to make vegan too..

but you do you! 😉 x

Method:

Lay down a large strip of cling film. Make sure it’s not too much longer than your piping bag.

Spoon your buttercream into long lines in the centre of the cling film. I went in order of the colours of the rainbow…but you really don’t need to do this.

Bring one side of the cling film over to the middle, then bring over the other side. It’s kinda like making sushi! Then take the ends and give it a twirl, almost as if you’re playing jump rope.

Cut one end of the cling film bag and insert it in to your prepared piping bag that has the 1B tip in it.

Then swirl away! It’s super easy, super fun, and you avoid all the mess that you’d have if you were to line the piping bag with each individual colour.

Here a little video of the piping!Rainbow Buttercream Swirl

Hope you guys ike it! Sending so much love and light,

Carrie xx

I get quite a few dinosaur requests. Dinosaurs have always been a pretty firm favourite for a lot of kids. My babies enjoyed them, but not near as much as me when I was a kid. As a child, when it came to dinosaurs I was OBSESSED! I knew the names of every kind, and I read ALL the books on the subject. I wanted so badly to be a palaeontologist…actually, it still kinda is a dream job of mine. I remember well, a summer that my dad decided he wanted to take us on a road trip and we ended up in Drumheller, Alberta, to visit their famous dinosaur museum 🥰 Thanks my dad, it’s a memory I’ll treasure forever….I’ll be sure to take my kids there one day too.

Diplodocus was my all time favourite dinosaur 🦕 probably because they just seemed to have the nicest nature..being herbivores and all. And I totally get the T Rex appeal. I actually think they’re quite sweet too, and Jurassic Park will ALWAYS be on my list of top favourite films, so most dinosaur cakes I make will usually feature a T. Rex. So here’s one I made from Rice Krispie Treats. I’d have loved to do a video tutorial but whenever I make cakes like these I always feel like I’m going to epically fail, so I don’t film, doubt myself the whole way through…and then I LOVE the result. Go figure right? 🤷🏻‍♀️🙄

So here’s a pictorial of my T Rex. I hope you like it!

To start, I made Rice Krispie Treats (RKT) . I usually eye ball this recipe. You want to use more rice cereal than marshmallows, and you want to heat the marshmallows quite a lot, because then it will set really hard, and keep its shape 🥰 I use gloves for this so I can mould the RKT without burning myself. And lots of butter or oil so it doesn’t stick to your hands.

Shape the RKT in to a large oval to form the head. Make a dent half way down to form the snout. I use the side of my palm to do this. Once you’re happy with the shape, set the head aside to set.

Roll out 3 long strips of fondant. They don’t need to be perfect. These will just make up the bone structure of the face.

Using a bit of buttercream, ‘glue’ one of the strips of fondant down the and back of the head.

Add the other two strips to either side of the head just as you did with the middle strip.

Using your fingers, pinch the fondant to make sharp edges to give the bones a bit more structure. This will be covered so I find the more dramatic you are with it the better as you’ll lose a lot of the definition once it’s covered.

Roll out 3 balls of fondant roughly the same sizes. This will be for the cheek bones and the snout.

Using a knife, cut in to the head to create a mouth. Pry the mouth open enough so you can create a cavity to place the tongue and teeth.

Press the 3 balls of fondant you rolled on to either side of the head as well as the snout. Press into the head to soften out the shape.

Roll out enough fondant to cover the head. I used a mixture of green and brown ProGel colours to achieve this green. Don’t roll too thinly or you will be able to see the rice crispies underneath.

Cover the head, and use the underside of your palm to secure the fondant to the head while giving the dinosaur more definition.

Once you’re happy with the shape, make sure to turn the fondant under the head as well as in to the mouth so there is no rice Crispies showing. Using a ball tool, create hollows for the eye sockets. I used another little tool (I forget the name) to create the nostrils.

I used the same tool as I did to make the nostrils to create some lines under the eyes. I rolled a couple of balls of yellow fondant for eyes and placed them in the sockets. I then used some black ProGel mixed with vodka to paint on the cat like pupil. I like to add a tiny ball of white fondant to the eye to create an animated effect.

Using a straw (bubble tea straws work great) and squishing it will make a great scale effect. Start pressing in to the fondant, but try not to overlap.

Once the whole head has been embossed, take the blunt edge of a knife and score the ridge of the middle bone going down the centre of the head.

Paint the nostrils with black paint to add a bit more shadow and depth.

Take a ball of pink fondant and press in to the mouth, making sure to cover any green, and Rice Krispie treats.

Using a smaller ball took, I made indentations for the teeth. I then formed a cone shape with pink fondant for the tongue. I pushed it down with my hand and scored a line down the middle.

I coloured some fondant with cream ProGel to get an off white colour for the teeth. I then rolled small pieces of the fondant into cone shapes that had points on either side. This just makes inserting them into the pre made holes a bit easier.

Before adding the teeth, centre the tongue in the dinosaur’s mouth. I then used a bit of water to fix the teeth in to place.

Once all the teeth are in place, roll out two long thin pieces of green fondant. This will cover the gum line to give it a clean finish as well. I scored the fondant with the back of my knife to add a bit more definition.

Once everything is in place you can use an airbrush if you have one to add some more realism to the dinosaur. You can also use some cocoa powder on a big fluffy brush (which I did here). I then finished it all off with a spray of edible clear glaze to give my Dino a lovely shine!

To make the leaves I just cut out green fondant free hand, then scored veins in to them. On other cakes I’ve used a magnolia leaf cutter, scored the leaves, and then arranges them around the dinosaur’s head. To cover the cake board quickly and effectively, I bllitzed some bourbon biscuits in the food processor. Not too finely as you wants more course bits to make its look more realistic. And that’s that folks. A fairly simple T-Rex Cake!

You guys!! Sometimes I get a cake order, and I just can’t WAIT to get started on it…I’ll still procrasticake…absolutely, but I still get super excited about it. I get asked to make cakes exactly to the customer’s specifications….I get asked to replicate certain cakes. And then I get asked to make cakes with a certain theme, etc and to just have artistic license. And I LOVE those cakes…except when I get writer’s block….but for the cake maker. And I will google and google some more. Then I’ll procrastinate, then some more. Then I’ll exhaust all my google searches. And nothing. I just CANNOT for the life of me, figure out what the hell I’m going to do.

I totally panic at some point. I don’t want to let my customer down. But then they’ve given me all the information I need. But my vision is lacking. So it was for this particular cake. I was asked to make a cake for a 70 year old woman who loves to craft, especially needle felting and papercraft. She loves her garden birds etc etc. So initially I’m like ‘yeah, sure! Leave it with me!’ Then the closer it gets I’m like ‘sake..what can I do?!’ And I’ve baked the cake. I’ve torted it, filled it, and now I’m staring at a naked cake. Wondering what in God’s name I’m going to make of it. So I start with one element…how about ‘felt’ birds?! That way it incorporates the craft and her love of garden birds. Sure, I’ll make a couple of garden birds, maybe a finch or robin, easy! So I do that, make them look a little like they’re a bit wooly. Now how do I incorporate some paper craft…yes! Wafer paper! So I decide on colours and I go with my favourites. Duck egg blue, pale pink, and gold.

Thankfully because of my love of crafting, I own a few paper punches. So I cover the cake in duck egg blue fondant, and look for my craft punches. Except I only have white wafer paper, and I REALLY want to make gold. So I try a technique really hoping it will work (because the cake is being picked up in about 2 hours….MY LIFE! )

So I take my trex (vegetable fat/shortening) and smear it over my punched paper. Lightly mind you. I don’t want globs of fat everywhere. I then used my gorgeous shimmer gold by Faye Cahill and used a really fluffy brush and dusted it over the paper.

And it worked perfectly! I made some gorgeous white ribbon roses that I also made from wafer paper and then just gave them a quick dusting of pink with my airbrush. I put on some finishing touches, and I was pleasantly surprised with the result. So sometimes…you just have to wing it. Because we can’t always have the most perfect ideas! No matter how hard you try, sometimes the inspiration is lacking. But also, sometimes you find your best work when you’re working under pressure. So don’t stress..after all my loves…it is JUST cake at the end of the day. And god knows one’s life will NOT be ruined over one dodgy cake. It sucks balls when a customer does complains…but unfortunately, that’s just life. It happens. You learn, and hopefully you get better. In this case, thankfully, I had a very happy customer.. Thanks Elisabeth! 😉🥰

I was pretty pleased with the outcome too. Let’s hope that’s the last of the caker’s block for sometime 🤪