decorative piping / little miss sunshine

a crumbs and doilies speciality is decorative piping – piping amazing pictures and words onto buttercream-frosted-cupcakes using royal icing.  i swear there is nothing these girls cannot pipe!  i sadly am still learning, but i thought today’s efforts were cute enough to share – hi little miss sunshine!  not a bad way to spend an afternoon at work x

cupcakes won!

just a few things in my life have changed in the last few weeks – not only have i left my job as a lawyer in Wellington, New Zealand, but I’ve also moved all the way around the world to London, England, and, best of all, have started working as a cupcake baker and decorator at one of London’s first, and definitely London’s best, cupcake bakery – Crumbs and Doilies.  so it looks like cupcakes have won the battle of cupcakes versus contracts!

given i’m baking and decorating cupcakes ‘by day’ now, less cupcakes made ‘by night’ are likely to be showing up on here for the next wee while.  but never fear, because the number of darling cake shops in London would blow your mind, and so (inspired by the lovely ‘tea & cake london’ book given to me on arrival in London by a lovely friend) i intend to visit as many as i can over the next few months and years and so will share my discoveries, and other baking-related adventures, here x

goodbye DLA cupcakes

this week I said goodbye to my lovely friends at DLA Phillips Fox as I’m heading to Londontown, so i made them farewell cupcakes with little DLA flags. Flags are a very easy and cute way to decorate your cupcakes – just print two copies of your image in a row, cut into a strip, glue and fold around the top of a toothpick (or half a kebab stick!). cute! x

 

peppermint cremes

did you know you can make delicious chocolates at home with an ice-cube tray…?  just melt chocolate, put a dollop in each cube hole and spread up the sides, then chill.  fill each shell with a filling of your (or your valentine’s!) choice – try nutella, peanut butter or peppermint creme (mix icing sugar, peppermint essence and a drop or two of water).  Top with more melted chocolate, bang on the bench to smooth, and chill again.  pop your choccies out and enjoy with your valentine x (ps. sorry no pictures of the final chocs – he ate them all!)