It came to that time of year when everyone's Christmas trees were up, baubles hung, presents wrapped, and lets not all forget the important Christmas parties.
My Christmas party included the exciting yet difficult secret Santa gifts, with only the small budget of £5! (Such a difficult task with such a little amount of money). As i didn't really know the girl i got particularly well (she had just started working for us) i had a very difficult task on my hands- how can you get the perfect gift for someone you dont really know? After some long hard consideration the idea of a Christmas yule log sprouted in my mind (surely cake is a safe option- who doesnt love cake- and a festive one at that) but i knew that just any plain yule log wouldn't cut it, it was a Christmas gift after all!
After digging through a few old recipe books and searching the internet i arrived at Nigella Lawson's yule log recipie- it sounded perfect, and also looked like a new challenge to conquer as the special thing about this type of cake is that there is no flour involved at all- egg is the main component.
After a couple of hours the cake was made, rolled, cooled and filled and was simply sat there waiting to be decorated. The problem was though: how should it be decorated? There are so many different ideas surrounding Christmas i decided to play safe and go for the idea of a snow man and the north pole. After toying with a few piping techniques and many attempts and molding and creating the little snowman characters the cake was finally created!
Personally i couldn't watch my cake being eaten- i never can once I've spent so long making them, but i was assured it tastes as good as it looked, and for a secret Santa idea i'd definitely say i achieved the brief!
I have always loved the creativity that can be put into creating the perfect cake for the perfect occasion, the precise skill required, the vast pallet of colours, and the endless design opportunities. And it was for these reasons that i begun my cake creation journey and all that goes along with it..
My inspiration and love of all things cake comes directly from my grandma, who's genius creations have been some of the greatest birthday cakes i have ever seen- from cakes the shape of dolphins (i went through a serious dolphin phase- it happens! ) to all of both mine and my brothers favorite TV characters.
In the beginning i started making birthday cakes simply for my friends and family, learning different techniques and adding new skills to my repertoire, whilst also collating my resources. The first ever cake being for one of my best friends, and was in the shape of a penguin (this is the time happy feet 2 was first out and we were totally caught up in the adorable-ness of their fluffy little bodies)- the cake itself was a traditional chocolate sponge filled with an intense chocolate fudge butter cream and a creamy white chocolate butter cream for the little fellas fluffy tummy- mmm mmm mmm! (who doesn't love a good chocolate cake right?)
Needless to say improvement was required but for a starting point this cake developed both my shaping and piping skills- and even better, she loved it! Can't say the cake lasted for long though.. but when does it!
Shortly after this cake was made- i graduated sixth form, and as me and my friend went our separate ways to university i made her a parting gift in the form of a cake (again chocolate as its her favorite), yet with a slightly humerus aspect- since she was moving on to Durham university and she loved the Harry Potter films this cake was created- her very own Harry Potter cake!
I did discover piping and writing isn't as easy as it looks, and creating each aspect of the crest wasn't easy to say the least, but in the end i think it worked out quite well all considered.
This is where my cakes all first started, but there were and still are many more cakes to come..
