Christian Louboutin shoe

Until now, this has been the most challenging and time-consuming of my cakes. The shoebox was cake and the shoe was made from gum paste. Gum paste is a similar texture to fondant but it dries very hard so it is great for making figurines, flowers, cake toppers, and shoes.

The shoe took about 3 days (well, evenings after work at least) to make because each element - outer sole, stiletto heel, inner sole, the sides, etc - had to dry and harden before the next part could be stuck on. I was basing the design on the birthday girl's classic black Louboutin stiletto (which she was conveniently wearing on the night!) but I couldn't find a template for a fully closed shoe - only open toe or strappy. This made it more tricky and there was some definite trial and error involved in creating my own template.

I am a firm believer in detail so I of course included the infamous Louboutin red sole and the little 'Louboutin' sign along with pretend stitching on the inner sole.

Considering it was my first attempt, I was happy with how it turned out.

For the basic process of making a gumpaste shoe, have a look at this. The end result is incredible - way better than mine! I'll have to get practising ...

Super Mario

This cake was made last year to celebrate the 30th birthday of a big kid who loves Super Mario. To date it is one of my favourite cakes that I've made. It was also a great excuse to play Super Mario again after all these years ... just to remember what the set up looked like of course (coins, boxes, green rolling hills and all).

Chocolate Caramel (Mars Bar) Cake

When my brother was at boarding school (years and years ago) they all had a choice of birthday cake that the cook would make for them. He would always choose the Mars Bar cake - chocolate cake with chocolate sprinkles around the outside and a layer of caramel on top etc. I still remember him telling us about it at the time. The boys clearly thought it was brilliant and a highlight when either themselves or their classmates had a birthday and they could all enjoy this culinary delight.

This week I had yet another birthday celebration with my friends and the birthday girl loves caramel so this seemed like a good time to experiment with my own interpretation of a Mars bar cake. It was a chocolate sponge cake with caramel filling, covered in chocolate buttercream, with slices of Mars bar around the bottom and crushed Mars bar on top with caramel drizzled over. When I was decorating the cake, I was in my own little world and it was only when I finished that I had a sudden realisation that it might in fact be inedibly sweet. Luckily (with small pieces) it was delicious and sweet but without being too sickly - phew!

A selection of my cakes and bakes so far ...

Chilli-chocolate cake suitcase with a vanilla cake (with mango and passionfruit filling) globe
(Indian themed flavours)

'Baby-friendly' banana cake decorated with fresh berries for a 1st birthday party (no sugar and no dairy) together with the cake for the adults! 

'Baby-friendly' banana cake decorated with fresh berries for a 1st birthday party 

(no sugar and no dairy)

 

'Sophie the Giraffe' and friends 

 

 Fondant polar bears

Movie themed 

Christmas gingerbread house (before I finished decorating the front of the house)!

 Rudolph the Reindeer cake pops

Super Mario ! 

Halloween cupcakes

4 layer caramel chocolate cake - (layers: vanilla, caramel, choco-caramel, chocolate) with caramel buttercream between each cake layer. Topped off with white chocolate piping and mini champagne bottle candles.

  Cake replica of a unique guitar

Personalised Liverpool football shirt

 A simple cake to celebrate Easter

Gumpaste Christian Louboutin shoe

Christian Louboutin cake shoebox and gumpaste shoe



 For a keen runner

 Baby shower

Because sometimes we all need a rainbow and sparkling unicorn in our lives!

Chinese farewell cake 

 Housewarming cupcakes

Halloween pumpkin cake