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Chocolate & Cream Drizzle Cake

Chocolate and Cream Drizzle Cake

Chocolate and Cream Drizzle Cake

You can always be guaranteed a great glass of champagne or two and loads of laughs when celebrating anything with Ivana and this was definitely the case when she celebrated her birthday with her friends in July. Her birthday cake had to be just as elegant, beautiful and as fun as she is, so I added a creamy chocolate drizzle to this dark chocolate ganached cake. I enhanced a few of the dreamy drizzles with some champagne sugar pearls and then added the sugar pearls and champagne choc rocks to the base of the cake to complete the elegant look. I moulded soft dreamy layers of cream sugar paste into ruffled flowers with pearly centres and added these whimsical flowers to the top of Ivana’s cake. We toasted a wonderful friend with delicious champagne, snacks and decadent chocolate cake. Here’s to another great year Ivana filled with loads more love and laughter.

Chocolate and Cream Drizzle Cake

Chocolate and Cream Drizzle Cake

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Happy Birthday to a Wonderful Friend!

Scottish, Zimbabwean, South African 80th Birthday Cake

Scottish, Zimbabwean, South African 80th Cake

When you turn 80 and when you are celebrating with your partner you deserve a cake with a very long name, hence this Scottish, Zimbabwean, South African 80th Birthday Cake! I created this custom made cake for Mac and Sheenah for their joint 80th celebration and was given free reign by Shaunagh, their daughter-in-law, as long as it equally represented the 3 beautiful countries this special couple had lived in. On chatting with Shaunagh, we came up with the national flower for each country and Shaunagh then asked me to also include individual sugar work for both Mac and Sheenah. Sheenah’s passion is painting and I printed four of Sheenah’s beautiful paintings onto edible paper and created small canvases for the one side of the cake. Paint splashes below her paintings and the Protea for South Africa completed the painting theme for Sheenah.

scottish-zim-sa-cake-iphone1scottish-zim-sa-cake-iphone

Mac is a keen golfer and Shaunagh asked me to include a golf bag for him as well as bank notes as he was a banker. I am sure Mac has played many awesome games in all the countries they have lived and I thought it appropriate to add the golf bag to the Scottish-Thistle side of the cake where I included the part of the golf course on the board with its customary bunker and golf balls. The edible bank notes I added were South African rands and then on the Flame Lily side, the really old Zimbabwean 1 and 10 dollar bills, now quite extinct! The Brown Family Tartan I draped over the cake completed the overall look and I was so pleased to hear that everyone not only loved the design and detail of the cake but the delicious Passion Fruit Flavour and Vanilla Lime Buttercream especially chosen for this awesome couple. Congratulations Mac and Sheenah on celebrating your 80th Birthdays together and on loving each other, bringing up a wonderful family and sharing so many adventures in these 3 beautiful countries!

scottish-zim-sa-cake-iphone3Scottish, Zimbabwean, South African 80th Cakescottish-zim-sa-cake-iphone6Scottish, Zimbabwean, South African 80th Cake

Ceire Turns 18!

Ceire's 18th Birthday

Happy 18th Birthday Ceire!

Who knew that 18 years ago we would be blessed with a petite bundle of joy that would bring such fun into our lives! Ceire you are not only a beautiful & talented daughter but a wonderful & deeply caring friend to all those around you. I love your carefree spirit & fun nature as much as I love your quiet & thoughtful spirit. Both make you uniquely you! They say the hardest thing about being a mother is watching your children grow up and this is true in so many ways. As I have watched you grow there is the realisation that you have become more  independent and that is wonderful for you as you now have so many adventures ahead of you. You can take that carefree spirit and share it with the new friends you will make and it is no longer a treasure for the select few of us who have watched your grow up. Part of me wants to have all your spirit and fun for myself and our family but the biggest part of me knows that by letting you go you will have a chance to charm the rest of the world.

Ceire's 18th Birthday

Tasty Treats!

Such a perfectly pretty day with these tasty Champagne Brunch Treats made by Paige Derbyshire. Sweet Buttermilk Crumpet Stacks, Vanilla Muesli Panacotta with Berry Coulis and Fruit Kebabs with a decadent Mascarpone Cream were on the eats menu. Champagne with Candy Floss and Pimms with diced Strawberries and thin curls of Cucumber made the 18th Birthday Brunch just perfect for Ceire and her friends. Of course no celebration would be complete without the sweet ending and I made elegantly embossed flowers to complete the cakepops made by Gail Freer of Popcakes. The macarons I made in matching Champagne (passion fruit flavoured) and Pastel Pink (strawberries and cream flavoured). Sparkle Mallows and Pink and Lime Meringues completed the beautiful Dessert Table.

Ceire's 18th Birthday

A Sweet Ending to a Wonderful Birthday!

Ceire's 18th Birthday

Beautiful Balloons to Celebrate a Beautiful Young Woman!

Daisies & Paintings for Jenny

Daisy Cupcakes

Jenny’s  birthday cupcakes each year are always colourful, always different and always fun to make. Jenny has ordered everything from hot air balloons to paintings to daisies to celebrate birthdays with her family and friends.  I didn’t blog your PaintNite Cupcakes from last year Jenny as October ran away with me with last minute orders. The PaintNite birthday celebration was not only  a brilliant way to have fun with your guests while you celebrated your birthday but it gave me the idea to make tiny paintings as cupcake toppers for your cupcakes. The painting you all were going to recreate your masterpieces from was this peaceful water and bullrush scene and I printed these miniatures and popped them onto their sugar paste canvases.

PaintNite CupcakesPaintNite Cupcakes

Thanks again for this delightful order of pretty yellow, orange and blue Namaqualand Daisies for your birthday this year. I know you were inspired by the bright blue daisy from Lisa’s 60th Birthday Cake and it was fun to remake the daisies in miniature and dust them in the hues of the Namaqualand daisies you love. Happy Birthday and pleased to hear that you and everyone else loved the lemon and red velvet flavours of the cupcakes.

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Cakepops for Michelle & Hayley!

Cakepops by Gail Freer of Popcakes Flowers by Cupcakes2Delite

Cakepops by Gail Freer of Popcakes Flowers by Cupcakes2Delite

On Wednesday morning we celebrated our 2 October babies, Michelle and Hayley, turning another year good looking! Fun festivities as usual with yummy cakepops, delicious food, photos, balloons, presents and loads of laughter as always. Gail Freer of Popcakes made these delectable chocolate cakepops and I made sugar paste flowers to add to the cakepops. Fragile cherry blossoms with pink centres and tiny blossoms to create lanterns were perfect for Michelle before she heads off on her trip to Japan and colourful flowers in pastel yellow and lime green to show off Hayley’s love of colour.

Cakepops by Gail Freer of Popcakes Flowers by Cupcakes2DeliteCakepops by Gail Freer of Popcakes Flowers by Cupcakes2Delite

Cakepops by Gail Freer of Popcakes Flowers by Cupcakes2Delite

Happy Birthday Michelle & Hayley!

I just love how much colour and fun these 2 friends bring into my life, from all the shared moments of bringing up our children and Trinityhouse School memories to the laughter on our crazy Wednesday mornings. Without friends like you life would definitely not be as much fun. Wishing you an awesome year ahead!

Cakepops by Gail Freer of Popcakes Flowers by Cupcakes2Delite

Cakepops by Gail Freer of Popcakes Flowers by Cupcakes2Delite

Cream & Burgundy Wedding

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Karel and Amanda were married early in September in the tranquil and beautiful grounds of Glen Afric with their close family and friends and of course the gentle company of the Glen Afric wild life. It was a complete surprise for me that I was able watch as this wonderful couple arrived to their reception set out in the shaded gardens of Glen Afric. They were accompanied by a mother elephant and her 2 babies who then stood and fed quietly as the couple had photographs taken with their guests. What a peaceful way to begin a wedding celebration.

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

From the moment I met Karel and Amanda at our first ‘cake consultation’, I knew that taking part in their celebration would be perfect. It did help that they were both enticed by my cupcake testers with their pretty heart toppers and that they loved the idea of being represented in sugar on their wedding cake. They were a fun couple to reproduce in sugar, Karel strong and dapper in his wedding suit and cream cravat and Amanda petite in her beautiful white rouched lace wedding dress and gorgeous blonde curls. They sat very happily on their wedding cake iced to suit the natural theme of their wedding.

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Wishing this special couple many years of holding each other’s hands, sharing gentle loving gestures and laughter as they start this exciting chapter in their lives.

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

The matching cupcakes I iced with a dreamy coffee buttercream swirl and added the sugar paste embossed hearts and rolled roses that Amanda chose in cream and burgundy. Tiny non pareils and dragees sprinkled into the folds of the buttercream completed the look of the cupcakes and  Champagne pearls added the final touch around the bottom of the cake. Dainty filigree cupcake holders were perfect for these cupcakes which I placed tiered below the cake on a natural log stand. Thank you Karel and Amanda for trusting me on your wedding day and for being such a delightful couple to create for.

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes

Cream & Burgundy Wedding Cake & Cupcakes