Let them eat cake

It seems I have not posted any details of the cake decorating I've been doing on this blog. I meant to post a whole lotta detail about each cake, and I'd still like to get to it. This set on flickr shows a whole lot of making cake stuff. The order of the cakes, and what I learned from each one, is as follows:

1st: January 2008: Zeb's 3rd birthday cake. A bird cake.
I learn: That one can buy plastic icing (fondant) in the shop. That this is fun. That cake glitter exists. That gel colours are what one uses to colour fondant. That I need a better way of ensuring that the models don't gradually ooze downwards whilst drying.

2nd: July 2008: Aeroplane cake for two friends who are leaving.


I learn: That water icing runs, damn it! That Tylose is a marvelous, wonderful, model-stiffening powder of great goodness.

3rd: January 2009: Zeb's 4th birthday cake - Underwater themed

I learn: That I need to know a lot more about this craft. That water icing is not good for sticking together the layers of cake. That I need a better paint brush.
(You can check out the diver here - I'm pleased with the diver)

4th: January 2009. Zeb's school birthday - 46 Mr Men and Little Miss cupcakes.



I learn: That a fine paint brush is essential. That black gel colouring makes a good paint for fine details. That tweezers are good things to have. That when using the gel colours (at least, the ones I have), red and blue make black, not purple. (Pink and blue make purple - go figure!).That I may be ever so slightly prone to obsession :).

5th: March 2009: Baby shower cake, made from this book:

I learn: That one can emboss fondant icing with a pattern. That having the right tools makes the job easier. That I am prone to over-colouring :). That fondant must be stuck onto the cake with buttercream or jam.

6th: March 2009: Pooh cake for my brother:


I learn: That Baking911 is a truly marvelous website. That freezing your cakes before carving makes it much easier to do. That chocolate buttercream is not always light and fluffy :}. That thinning gel colours with vodka makes a fantastic paint! That model bits can be stuck together with water. That my standard chocolate cake is a little too light to be shaped easily.

And that's it for now. Hopefully it won't be another year before I post again :).

Paid it forward!

Finally finished the first installment of my pay it forward stuff. Here they are:

A pair of fingerless gloves for starmadeshadow, about oooh, 16 months after the request. (And actually modelled on the hands they were made for.)

I might not be speedy, but I get there eventually :). These were super fun to knit, and I used Elle Elite, a wool / cotton blend. More details, including a link to the pattern on Ravelry. I really like the designer's stuff. I have done tons of other crafty stuff in the meantime, like the little cardigan I knitted for my daughter's teacher last April.


This was from an old magazine pattern, and one of the first things I've knitted using a wool, not an acrylic. I'm particularly proud of the strawberries cross-stitched on to the jersey. It's the first time I've done cross-stitch on knitting, and I think it worked really really well. I tried to make the strawberries match the so-cute buttons that I used. I really like the way the bright colours of the buttons and the decorations redeem the jersey from creamy blandness. I liked the texture of the block pattern too.


I used Jaegar baby merino that I bought on sale, and it feels sooo nice once it's knitted up. I have two more balls of a blue / cream mix to use which I may just use for own brand new baby. He needs a new hat.