And finally...

Gold award - Novelty cake
Finally, this is my entry. She's a medical graduate (Sheffield Uni - based on a friend), sitting on top of a large prescription pad with a pen and stethoscope. The pad is made of fruit cake and the top prescription is airbrushed and hand painted, everything else is modelling paste.
At the show someone knocked her head off but I have managed to repair her, replacing her hair and the mortar board.

 She suffered a second mishap on Saturday when I took her to a large charity ball in aid of www.getahead.org.uk which is a fantastic charity which raises much needed money for the treatment of cancers of the head.

She was there as an example of my work for an auction cake I was donating, a rather tipsy woman decided to shake hands with her and you can guess the rest, she now needs www.needapairofhandsstuckbackon.com rather urgently!

Now for Laurice!

What can I say about Laurice, she amazes me with what she can do, I mean, her untidiness amazes me, her ability to stay in bed all morning amazes me, but most of all her ability to make lovely cakes for the last three years and she is still only 11.
Here are her two entries for this years Cake International. Both were awarded gold and 1st place overall in the under 14s and under 18s at the NEC last week.
I love the cheeky look of Rudolph and the way the trees had an almost glassy look to them after she had airbrushed them to within an inch of their lives.

The inspiration for her second cake came from an old design in Cakes and Sugarcraft by Maisie Parrish. She wanted to make it last year but didn't have time!

Well done Laurice!

How cute are these sheep?

And Harry too!

Harry wanted to make a fishing penguin and drew a great design on paper. I think the finished product turned out to be even better even if looking scarily similar to Pingu! His practice trees were even more interesting than Millies but with the same switch to larger scissors when his centre started to lie a bit flat, it turned out pretty well in the end.
His penguin border was made using a lovely FPC penguin mould with snowballs made using a half ball mould.
My favourite bit is the fish with the line in it's mouth!

Well done Harry too!

Cake International 2011 Well Done Millie Moo!

Millies cake, gold award and second overall in the under 14s.
For her snowman border she used Karen Davies' lovely snowman head mould and added black circles for eyes and a carrot shaped nose.
Personally I think she did amazingly well with her tree, as some of the practice ones she made were a bit worrying. I couldn't stay in the room when she was cutting into this one and was amazed when I popped back for a sneaky peek. Just like her brother she was worried that the middle was going a bit flat so I gave her some slightly bigger scissors to use and it worked a treat!

Well done Millie Moo!

Back from a long blogging break!

I can't believe how much time has passed since I last posted on this site. I have still been making cakes but too busy to do much in the way of developing a business. We have all been very busy over the last few months with various projects. Laurice and Hannah (11) started secondary school in September so with the four kids at three different schools there's always lots going on.

Cake International has come and gone again at the NEC and once again I only managed to get one last minute cake made for it. This, despite last years promises of early planning and preparation (what a laugh!).
This year Hannah, who won a gold and 1st place overall with her first attempt last year, decided not to enter a cake, however Harry (13) and Millie (8) both insisted on having a go!
Laurice was determined to enter a cake in the under 18s birthday category as she had chosen a design last year but didn't get time to make it. We therefore ended up with Laurice (11), Harry and Millie entering Christmas cakes in the under 14s and Laurice with last years idea in the under 18s.

The children worked  very hard on their cakes during half-term, with Laurice starting her second cake and me on my novelty cake, in the week before the show, finishing around midnight the night before. A big improvement on the previous year when I ended up staying up all night two nights running to make and finish my cake. They each made practice models with white paste throughout the earlier part of the week before moving on to the real thing.

The work paid off and we all came away with gold awards for every cake. Laurice also took first place in both the under 14s and under 18s, with Millie and Harry picking up 2nd and 3rd overall with their gold winning entries.
Harry now wants to enter two cakes next year and always I dream of getting more than one made in time.
The head on my model was knocked off at the show before I had managed to take a photo so I have had to repair her hair and mortar board since then. Luckily she had already been judged.

I think a quick cup of tea and piece of shortbread is needed before I can pop back and start loading the photos from the show, followed by some pictures of the cakes I have been so busy with recently.
Anyway as I said tea and shortbread beckon!