Easter Cupcake Class

We enjoyed a lovely chocolatey Easter class yesterday afternoon.

We were high on chocolate smells within the first 10 minutes!

During this class we discussed baking and the making of buttercream, and then got down to some hard work.

Whilst 3 types of chocolate were melting on the back of the Aga, we made some decorations with milk chocolate fondant icing and coloured some white fondant icing to make pretty flowers and butterflies.

In the background, there was some rich chocolate ganache being made from double cream and melted Green and Blacks dark chocolate.

Some of our buttercream was turned into chocolate buttercream with melted chocolate and some with cocoa powder.  We had our usual swirl Wilton 1M nozzle, and a small grass nozzle to create the chocolate nests and the green grass.

I had trays of sprinkles out today, one just full of chocolate sprinkles, another of chocolate eggs and sweetie eggs, and our usual Colourful Cupcakes glitter and pretty sprinkles (and of course little yellow chicks, from Paperchase).

There was a mad final 20 minutes as these beautiful creations came together.

An Amazing Stage 2 Class

We had a great Stage 2 Cupcake Class on Saturday morning.

Six ladies managing to create beautiful flowers with buttercream and flower paste, in very warm conditions!

In the Stage 2 class, we spend time looking at new nozzle techniques to create roses, peonies and chrysanthemums with buttercream.  We then create flower paste rosebuds and then we get onto the large petalled roses.

Fiddly things, but one of those things that once you have the technique, you just need to practice practice practice! 

I thought the finished boxes of cupcakes looked incredibly talented.

Our next Stage 2 class is Friday 11 April at 11am - 1.30pm, £60.

This includes all materials, ingredients, 6 decorated cupcakes to take home and a top tips/recipe booklet.

Rock Choir Cupcakes

 

When I'm not baking and running classes at Treetops, I love to sing.

I sing with Basingstoke's Rock Choir, a great group that has grown to 170 of us over the past three years, we have sung in some fantastic locations, learnt brilliant songs and we do enjoy a good trip out!

On Saturday, a very early coach departed from Basingstoke to take us to Regents Park in London.

It was the annual fundraising event for Missing People, one of our Rock Choir charities.

"Miles for Missing People" was a 10k run and a 2 mile walk, with 600 of us from various south east choirs singing at the beginning and end.

There was a cake stall (hence my baking) face painting and despite the rain and mud a great atmosphere.

Vegan Cupcakes

I can't believe how delicious these vegan cupcakes were, I say were, because they didn't hang around for long!

They were gluten free, dairy free and egg free.

A new addition to Colourful Cupcake's offerings, I also make gluten free cupcakes to order too.

My trip to Squires Kitchen's Cake Decorating, Chocolate and Sugarcraft Show

I spent a very inspiring morning in Farnham at Squire's Annual International Cake Decorating, Chocolate and Sugarcraft Show, I left it too late to buy a ticket last year, so this year I was very organised, I was even organised enough to be there twenty minutes early, but already the queue had built to quite a length!

This is a very popular show, with lots of well known industry faces running classes and demos throughout the three days.

There are trade stands with everything you could possibly think of to help you in your creativity, I liked the fact that on each stall somebody was demonstrating, so you could see before you bought, pick up some new ideas and then just spend the morning walking around in an inspired daze.

I was blown away by the AMAZING cakes in the Wedding Cake Hall, they were all so stunning, there was so much detail, colour, creativity, classic simplicity and originality.

I have taken some photos of my favourites, whether it was the colour combination, the knowledge of knowing just how long all those flowers will have taken, our just the wow the cake created amongst tables and tables of cakes.

Since I've been home, I've also visited their websites, and have seen even more of their styles and creations.

The first two cakes are by The Pretty Cake Company

I love the pastel colours of the first one, it's very "me". 

The cake below is so effective, with the different size tiers and box styling, it looked like it was really fun to make. 

This striking green and white beauty is by Tasteful Cakes

I loved all the different flowers, and the lace detailing on the cake.

This vivid green really stood out and I loved how all the flowers cascaded towards the bottom, it's made by Jess Hill Cakes

I love blues, the ribbons and flowers on this cake made it look so pretty.

It was made by Jelly Cake

Just the amount of work that went into all of these stunning roses made me stand and stare!  In very vintage shades it was another beauty also made by Jelly Cake

And yes, I found a cupcake!  A lovely classic vintage style, with roses, leaves and petals sitting in beautiful china, by Lucky Sixpence

My Grandma's favourite flower, Lily of the Valley; a simply stunning classic cake, pretty detailing with a lovely finishing bow.  Made by Scrum Diddly Cakes

Scrum Diddly also made this incredibly floral cake, hours and hours of work here!

The roses were stunning

Michelle of Scrum Diddly also made this lovely tower.

Having looked at all of my photos, I realised that there were alot of fresh green and white colour schemes, or perhaps that was just what took my eye today.  Lovely spring greens.

And finally, a sweetie of a cake, it's lovely, pretty pastels and cute little flowers, from The Great Little Cake Company

Jill and Natalie were also demonstrating making a wedding cake in one of the rooms, it was great to see them at work.

The Squires website is well worth a visit, for it's shop, it's courses and it's books.

SQUIRES

I look forward to playing with my new goodies later this week!

Pink Birthday Cupcakes

Getting ready for a pink cupcake order

Buttercream in two shades of pink with a cream vanilla.

I made 18 birthday cupcakes, with sugarcraft flowers, butterflies, hearts and rosebuds.

Cupcake Classes at Treetops

We have been running Cupcake Classes at Treetops for over two years now and have had great fun in the process.  We've shared lots of baking tips, discovered new websites, shared tucked away sugarcraft shops and made hundreds and hundreds of beautiful cupcakes!

I know many of you come to the classes because you enjoy baking and make lots of your own cakes, but I still like us to start baking and making the cupcakes together, so we can talk about baking and sharing tips before we move onto the icing and decorating.

Many of you come because you've got a children's party coming up, or need to know how to make masses of cupcakes successfully because you are making some for a wedding or a fundraising stall.  Being a small group of no more than six people, we have time to discuss your forthcoming event and help you plan for it.

Others just fancy a fun day out, it's very relaxing rolling and cutting out the fondant icing, it takes us back to our play-doh days!

Coming to a class is also great because you get to play with all of my cutters, plungers and sugarcraft equipment, try out a variety of decorations and sprinkles, and can work out which things you really like before you go off and spend your money.

You leave with a recipe and top-tips booklet, we talk about so many things during the class, it's useful to have something to look back on, websites I recommend, cookery books I think are worth investing in etc

But best of all is when I hear lovely feedback from you, saying what a great time you've had, and even better is when you send me photos of your new creations!

Here is a fabulous photo I received this morning from Laura who came to a class recently, she is on a roll now and is very busy enjoying her baking!  This is a giant cupcake cake she made for her sister's 21st birthday.

So, if you've been to a class and have any photos to share, please email them to me, I'd love to see them.

There are some new dates for the Summer Term, which can be found by clicking on the dates page at the top of the blog.