Elephant Christening | Cakes

It has been a very long time since I have posted a blogpost. I want to use my blog as a way of documenting my cake making journey. I am learning new cake making skills everytime I make a cake (I don't think you ever stop learning really).

Recently, I was asked to create a christening cake for a little boy. I was sent an image of an idea they had in mind as a guide to work from. I always try to put my own twist on pictures of cakes I am sent (which I did for this cake) as I don't like to copy others work. I'd rather come up with my own original ideas.

The cake was a two tiered Victoria sponge cake with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream in the middle. I used a 6" round cake tin for the top tier and an 8" round cake tin for the bottom tier. I covered the sponge cakes with a vanilla buttercream I made for both of the tiers. Firstly, I crumb coated the sponges, and then added a thicker second coating of buttercream using a bench scraper and turn table to help achieve the ideal shape. 

Once the buttercream had set on both cakes, I rolled out some white fondant icing and cut it to the sizes that would cover the cakes. I then drooped the fondant over both cakes using a rolling pin. Using a fondant smoother, I went around the sides and top trying to get any marks out of the fondant. I also tried making the corners of the cake sharp using the fondant smoothers. When I finished with the fondant, I started adding all the decoration to the cake. I made the models a day before to give them time to harden. All of the decoration (besides the piping) was made from sugar paste, using colouring gels to colour and paint them. I also piped royal icing around the bottom of the cakes to make a beaded pearl effect border.

I was pleased with the overall finish of the cake and the little boy's family seemed to be very happy when they picked the cake up. 

I hope you enjoyed reading the blog, if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below. :)

Lauren xoxo

Winnie The Pooh Theme | Cakes

My interest in cake making and decorating has started to grow rapidly since the last time I posted on my blog. The past couple of months have made me recognise that I would definitely LOVE to pursue this as it is very clear to me that this is what I want to do. 

I'm extremely happy that things are starting to fall into place for me. Going back half a year ago, I felt lost with no ideas of what I wanted to do with my career, having no ambition or drive, it wasn't the greatest of places to be in. I am so excited for the plans ahead with my cake making and decorating, and will be working on my skills in every way that I can to help improve them as it is something I feel strongly passionate about. 

My Nan and Auntie had a joint meal to celebrate both of their birthday's as they were so close together. I decided to make a joint birthday cake for them as it made more sense being there were only ten of us at the meal. I knew that they both love Disney and my Auntie's favourite character is Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. This lead to the idea of making a Winnie the Pooh themed birthday cake. The theme/colours of the cake were also based around their personalities (girly, cute, happy and caring). 

The cake itself was a three layer Victoria sponge with a butter cream and strawberry jam filling inside. I then covered the cake and cake board with a fondant icing that I coloured myself to try and resemble grass. The figures of Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore are made from fondant icing that I coloured and hand sculpted myself. I made the bunting from fondant, wooden skewers, and flower wire. All decoration on the cake I hand sculptured myself from fondant icing. 

I hope you liked looking through the pictures and enjoyed reading what I wrote about the cake making and decorating. If you would like to know more about it or have any questions you would like to ask then feel free to leave a comment below. :)

Lauren xoxo 

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Little Seaside Town | Tenby

Recently, my family & I went to Tenby with some friends for a couple of days. We stayed in their Grandma's caravan which was in a cute, little caravan site near the centre of Tenby. It brought back quite a few memories as this used to be a yearly tradition for all of us. We would always go and visit the town centre and the beach. We would also normally visit a couple of attraction parks, but we decided to give them a miss this time around. However, we did bring Lily (my families dog) & Lola (our friends dog) along with us this time which was really lovely as we took them for a couple of walks around different places in Tenby. 

One of my favourite memories of the trips to Tenby would have to be when we would all sit around the dinning table in the evening and play various board games and card games for a couple of hours. We used to have a right old chuckle as every time we would play a game the men used to cheat (yet we would always manage to catch them out). This time around we did get to play a couple of games on one of the evenings which was a hoot. (If you were wondering, the men did cheat AGAIN, and NO they didn't get away with it!) 

It was nice to get away and explore for a couple of days. I loved being able to work on my photography and take different pictures of things in the Town.  

I hope you have liked looking through the pictures that I captured when I was in Tenby. I have decided that I am going to be doing a lot more photography blogposts as I have been really enjoying focusing on my photography at the moment. Sorry that my blogposts have been lacking, I am going to start uploading them more regularly from now onwards. If you have any questions you would like to ask, you can leave them in the comments below. It would be nice to hear any thoughts and opinions you may have on the blogpost as well. I hope that this post has been able to interest or inspire you in some way or another. :)

Lauren xoxo

Choices

As a child most of us had ideas of what we wanted to be when we were older, whether that was a ballerina, teacher, astronaut, etc... (I know that I wanted to be a pop star/celebrity, haha!!) We would then most probably change our minds several times until we discovered a more realistic route that we wanted to follow (for me this was the arty, visual side). 


Towards the end of high school I started to think about what it was I actually wanted to do with my life. I found I was asking myself a lot of questions such as 'What do I enjoy doing most? What am I good at? What will I most likely succeed at? How would I be able to build a career with the path I choose?' (and as you can imagine, the list of questions didn't end there) It was then that I realised that I didn't have a particular route that I wanted to pursue. I knew I would have to decide on something sooner or later as I wouldn't be at school forever, which led me to choosing a college course specializing in several subjects (the choice was also based on what I was best at and what I most enjoyed doing) 

I thought that the time at college would help me figure out the specific subject that I would specialise in and have an interest in (I presumed that I would eventually realise what subject it was that I most had an interest in). However, as time went on I started to worry and panic as I was still unsure of what I wanted to do. It seemed like everyone around me had an idea of what they wanted to do which made the situation feel a lot worse (and I felt like I had to make a decision). It dawned on me that I had become lost and uncertain of my career path. 

When making decisions to do with our future, we often find ourselves having to take risks and try new things. This can be scary and can feel pointless at times (well at least that is what I have found), which can put us off wanting to go ahead with anything. It can often lead us to feeling more confused as there are so many different routes and options that we don't know where to start or which one to take. When we don't know what to do, we can sometimes fall into things that we don't actually like doing. This will happen at some point for anyone (unless the person is extremely lucky). However, everyone has a choice; they can choose whether they want to try something new or they can choose to stick to the same thing. If someone is unhappy then they don't have to stick to the same thing (I think it was my nan that said to me 'The world is your oyster') Constantly changing ideas and trying new things can feel like a waste of time, but it could be thought of as part of a learning process (you would be finding out more about yourself that you never knew before).

At the moment I am still currently unsure of what I want to do and what path to take which is why I have decided to have a year or two to think about what it is that I actually want to do (kind of like a gap year). I have learnt that it is okay not knowing and I've discovered recently that there are so many other people are in the same boat as me (which makes it that little bit easier). People can figure out what there passion is straight away, yet others can go years still trying. I guess not knowing can be a good thing as you get to try out new things that you may have not thought about if you knew what your passion was straight away. I have learnt that there is no point in worrying about it though as something will work out in the end as it always does (my nan believes that our lives are already mapped out for us)

This blogpost is a bit different to what I'm used to as I wanted to try writing about something that people can hopefully relate to. I wasn't too sure whether to do this blogpost originally as I thought it may come a cross too deep (so sorry if it has). It would be great if could let me know what your thoughts and opinions on this are in the comments below. If you have any questions you can also leave them in the comments below. I hope you have enjoyed reading this blogpost and that it has been useful in some way. :)


Lauren
xoxo

Afternoon Walks

Every now and then when the weather is decent I like to go for a walk as it helps me relax and clears all thoughts from my head. I take my camera with me as I never know when there could be a moment that I would like to capture. Afternoon walks are one of my favourite times to experiment with my photography as I feel it's the time of day I tend to learn more. 

These are a couple of photographs that I captured when I was on a dog walk with my parents. It was quite chilly with the slightest bit of sun, as it was winter/spring season, which I found was great conditions to do some experimenting in.  I love a picture with different textures which is why I like taking photographs with a lot of pattern, detail and movement in.   

I hope you liked looking through a couple of the photographs that I took. If you have any questions you would like to ask then you can leave a comment below. :)


Lauren
xoxo

February Fashion Favourites

February was an eventful month for me (as it normally is every year) due to there being several birthdays within my family. Me, my Auntie and my Nan have birthdays within 9 days of each other which means that the celebrations for them are quite close together. I tend to often go away or do something within the month, whether that would be a day out somewhere or a short/weekend holiday. 

As it was my birthday in February I decided to go on a little shopping spree and thought it would be nice to treat myself to a couple of new items for my wardrobe. I was also running low on clothes to wear for the winter/spring season so wanted to update what I already had slightly (which I figured could actually just be an excuse for buying more clothes, haha).

I thought that I would share a couple of everyday clothing items that I have been loving and wearing throughout February.  

Britney Garta Soft Knit Jumper Pink
Shop - Boohoo
Price - £12

Long Sleeve Ribbed Funnel Neck Top

Shop - Topshop

Price - £15

 Khaki Ribbed Long Sleeve Crop Top 

Grey Ribbed Long Sleeve Crop Top

Shop - Newlook (both)

Price - £8.99 (both)

Mylton Shirt Red Check

Shop - Jack Wills

Price - £24 (sale)

Sol Cal Graphic Tank Dark Grey

Shop - Hollister

Price £19

I had been wanting to do a 'Fashion Favourites' blogpost and thought that as I purchased some clothes within February, it would be the perfect time to do one. I like looking at other peoples 'Favourites' blogposts which inspired me to do my own. 

I hope you enjoyed reading the post and looking through the different items. If you have any questions you would like to ask me about then you can leave a comment below:)


Lauren xoxo

Two Tier Flower Cake

I decided to make a birthday cake for my Nan as it was her 65th birthday. I had wanted some experience with making birthday cakes anyway and thought it would be a good excuse to have ago. 
I had to think about what theme and colours to use and did a couple of drawings to plan it out. I also had to write down a list of things that I would need to make it - This gave me an idea of how much everything was going to cost. I wouldn't recommend making a cake unless you are willing to pay for everything you will need. The ingredients and equipment can be quite pricey which is why I made a list to give me a rough idea. 

Baking
I used a Victoria sponge cake recipe to make the cake. I cooked the cake in a 6inch cake tin and 10inch cake tin. For the 6inch tin I made the same amount of mixture that would be made when creating a Victoria sponge cake using 2x 20cm cake tins. I used triple the amount of mixture when using the 10inch cake tin. 


Shaping
When the cakes had cooled down, I cut the tops off both the 6inch and 10inch cakes with a cake leveller to flatten them. I then cut both cakes through the middle like you would on a Victoria sponge cake and put a thin layer of butter icing and jam in the middle. I also put butter icing around the sides and top of the cakes to help the fondant stick to it when decorating.   


Decorating
To decorate the cakes I used fondant icing, flower cutters, ribbon, cake boards and flower wires for cakes. 
I had to make the flowers a day before I made the cake as they take such a long time to make and set. I made these using fondant icing, flower cutters, the end of a paint brush for detail, and a sausage/pineapple and cheese stick to add detail. 
I used a teal colour fondant icing for the 10inch cake which I bought from a cake supply shop before, and I used a white fondant for the 6inch cake which was purchased from a local supermarket. 
I rolled out the fondant for the 6inch cake and placed it onto the cake. I then did the same for the 10inch cake, only using a different colour fondant. I used icing sugar to stop the fondant from sticking to the surface area. 
I then transferred the cakes onto their cake boards. I placed the 6inch cake on top of the 10inch cake in the centre of it. I put a black ribbon around the 6inch cake for decoration. To finish the cake off, I started to decorate it by arranging all of the flowers.


This is just a brief write up of how I made the cake overall. I didn't go into much detail as the blog post would have been too long. If you would like me to write blog posts on how I made the cake in more detail then just let me know in the comments. I hope you enjoyed reading this post. This was my first attempt at making a birthday cake so sorry if you didn't find it that useful. 


Lauren
xoxo