Balham Cake Off, Round TWO...

♥ Ceri makes...  Earlier today I was competing in round TWO of the Balham Cake Off at Trinity stores.  This week's challenge was to bring along a Balham inspired bake.

Everyone was so creative with their entries...

I'll pop my vanilla cupcake recipe on the blog later this week so you can try it at home yourself!

Upcoming Balham Cake Off dates here...

See you there!

♥ Ceri makes...  xx

Hen Party Cupcakes...

♥ Ceri makes...  whipped up these hen party themed cupcakes for the lovely Yvonne at work, yummy...

♥ Ceri makes xx

Christmas Cupcakes...

♥ Ceri makes...  just thought I would share a few snaps of the Christmas cupcakes I made for my team at work instead of giving out Christmas cards.  Some cake boxes and a bit of red ribbon add a gifting touch to these simple vanilla cupcakes using my trusty Hummingbird Bakery recipe...

♥ Ceri makes...  xx

Cake days...

♥ Ceri makes...  tested out a new cupcake recipe from mummyB's new Hummingbird bakery book 'Cake Days'.  On request from my team at work I whipped up some banoffee cupcakes,  a bit of a fiddly recipe but worth it!

♥ Ceri makes... xx

Family festivities...

♥ Ceri makes...  managed to finish my wedding bunting just in time for the festivities over the bank holiday weekend!  Looked lovely in the outdoor gazebo even if I do say so myself!

As well as whipping up the bunting a team of us created some wedding cupcakes and my very talented mummyB had the extra important task of making the Fiona Cairns inspired centre piece cake.  It looked lovely at the wedding breakfast held at Bank restaurant in Birmingham...

A second day of wedding celebrations and even more cupcakes were wheeled out! The proud cake making family team...

♥ Ceri makes... xx

Birthday times...

♥ Ceri makes...  has been busy of late celebrating my birthday,  firstly with a relaxed birthday weekend at home in the countryside and more recently in London with a debauched afternoon tea party!  

LOTS of baking in the build up to the main event but was definitely worth it for this feast for the eyes...

Not bad for a first attempt at macaroons...

For something equally as impressive (but A LOT less faff) try whipping up some minature french pastries like the ones below...

To make at home simply roll out some puff pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin,  glaze with a little beaten egg, sprinkle with icing sugar,  cut into rectangles using a pizza wheel for speed,  lay on a baking tray and bake in a 200C oven (180C fan oven,  gas mark 6) for approx 8 minutes or until slightly golden on top.  Break the shells in half and allow to cool,  whip some double cream adding caster sugar and vanilla extract to taste.  Fill the bottom half of the shells with a blob of whipped cream,  pop on some pieces of sliced fruit (I like strawberries and blueberries!)  place the top half of the shell back add a blob of whipped cream and add another piece of fruit for decoration  ...yummy!


♥ Ceri makes...  xx

Mostly baking cupcakes...

♥ Ceri makes... has been offline for a few days mostly due to LOTS of baking birthday cupcakes! Seem to have mastered the basic Vanilla Hummingbird Cupcake recipe so I'm trying to be a bit more creative with my decorations. My best make so far has to be the 'Top Gun' themed cupcakes I whipped up for my friend Russ' 80s Top Gun party, a bit of clever colouring and some royal icing decorations look fab...

Also had a first attempt at the Chocolate Hummingbird Cupcake recipe, which may not look as impressive definitely passed the taste test ...yummy! x

♥ Ceri makes… come back soon for more top tips and ideas!x

♥ Ceri makes… come back soon for more top tips and ideas!x