in pursuit of organised-ness

Vanilla extract is one of the key ingredients in my cakes. It gives them a bit of a lift. However, it is also the most expensive ingredient. So, while I was looking online to find what other options may be available, I found some instructions on making your own vanilla extract. I combined the general ethos and quantities from a few sources (see list below) and decided to make my own! Photo Taken: 13th March 2011 In the jar above are 5 and a half vanilla pods (because we'd used half of one that day for another recipe) and 280ml of vodka. Make sure the vanilla pods are completely covered, then leave the jar for about 8 weeks in a cool, and preferably dark, place. Make sure to gently shake the jar about once a week. And that's it! Just 3 days later, this is how my vanilla extract is looking: Photo taken 16th March 2011 Look at the colour already & it smells amazing! Vanilla extract can also be made with Rum, which I imagine would give amazing flavour to fruit...

Hello. Yes I am still alive! I can't believe it's nearly March. The last few (6) weeks have been a bit bizarre for a number of reasons I won't go into right now. One of the biggest changes is my decision to go part-time at my 'day job'. Starting now. I have been thinking about it for a while, as it would give me more time to focus on my cakes especially as the business is growing, so I need to spend time doing some planning. I'm hoping it will also give me a bit more incentive as I'll have to start making money to subsidise my wage (or pay for holidays & treats). I am really excited about it, as it will also give me a chance to spend more time blogging and knitting, to spend more time learning cake techniques and get to grips with my beautiful new camera ( Canon EOS 550D ). There's also bits and pieces that need doing in the house and not being restricted to doing this on weekends and evenings will make a difference. So, that's what I...

On the weekend I was asked to make a cupcake tower & cake pops for a friend's son's naming ceremony. The civil ceremony version of a Christening. So I made 50 each of chocolate fudge and vanilla cupcakes and cake pops, with a blue & white colour scheme. Although a little stressed (beacuse I left some of it til the last minute) I was really pleased with the way it turned out and had lots of compliments - which is always nice! Not many people in this part of the country (Swansea, South Wales) had come across cake pops, so it was very much a novelty and very well recieved. This was a first for me in a few ways (hence worthy of a blog post!). 1. My first naming ceremony/christening cupcake tower. 2. My first cake pops order. 3. My first chocolate cake pops. Cupcake Tower & Cake Pops Vanilla & Chocolate Fudge Cake Pops Close up of Cupcake Tower Close up of Cupcake Tower Top of Cupcake Tower with Personalised 'S' toppers.

I forgot this was on my list! Thanks to some left over cake & buttercream I made my very own cake pops yesterday. Feedback was excellent and the people I gave them to had never seen or heard about them - let alone tried them. I was very pleased and will be adding them to my minirhi bakes! baking list.

On Friday I spoke to a lovely lady at Swansea Council Environment Department about registering my kitchen. She was very helpful & apparently I can register and bake from my kitchen as long as the cats aren't in there while I'm baking & all services are disinfected before I begin. Hurrah!! So the plan now is to sort out my kitchen, maybe paint a little bit. Sort out storage & whatever else I need to bake & run proper kitchen. Very excited!  And I promise to blog about my progress and provide links to help anyone else along the way. This weekend has been pretty busy. I have made a birthday cake for my 7 year old neice & a cupcake tower for my 13 year old nephew. Plus I attempted cake balls, which looked ok, but didn't taste great! :( Not enough buttercream I think. Here they are:

Here is the birthday cake I made for my nephew on his first birthday! Was actually prety pleased with this one. Next week I will be working on a cake for my neice's 7th birthday (REALLY can't believe she's going to be 7!!) and a choc cupcake tower, topped by a 6" choc fudge cake, for another nephew who'll be 13. I'm looking forward to it, just makes me wish I could be doing it as a 'proper job' - although would that then take the fun out of it?! On another note, I've been doing loads of reading lately, although have come to a bit of a stop today as I finished my book sooner than I thought and have nothing else lined up yet. I've recently joined www.goodreads.com , which is great for finding new books, recording what I've read or want to read, and there are challenges such as A-Z author challenge and 50 books in a year .

Here is the birthday cake I made on the weekend for the first birthday of twins Nixon & Seth.

'In the Night Garden' first birthday cake for my cousin's beautiful daughter. Really enjoyed doing it, although definitely need practice on the characters. Have got a fairy castle cake to do for next weekend - which I am really looking forward to. One of my first cake memories is a fairy castle cake my parents friend made. It was gorgeous and the candles sat inside it so it looked all lit up... Ahhhhhh

It's been so long since my last post! Wow - can't believe the time has gone so fast. I haven't really done much of anything since my last post - besides going to Itay for my best friend's wedding - which was fabulous! I've made a few cakes - which I will post about individually. Haven't done a great deal of knitting. Have done a LOT of working. :( But it pays the bills, and I am enjoying it at the moment - it's just so busy that by the time I get home I either have more work to do, housework or am too tired. Anyway enough moaning... I have a carrot cake in the oven, which is why I thought to check in on my blog, and am planning an evening of knitting. I am planning a bit of a bake fest over the next few weeks as I have a few cakes to make - halloween cake, a first birthday cake for my cousin's daughter, lots of Christmas cakes, husband's birthday cake and my company's first birthday cake! PLUS I came across Rachel Allen's 30 Day Muffin Recipe...

I have just tasted the Poppy Seed Cake from Rachel Allen's Bake. It's good! I added a bit of lemon juice to the butter icing for something a bit different. Very nice!

The brief for this cake was ' I want a pink heart shaped cake with pretty sparkly things on it' - she was delighted with it. Inside was pink and vanilla marble sponge, buttercream and strawberry jam.

Here is a tea cup birthday cake I made for my gran, Mams, who was 85 on the weekend. (The plate and jammy dodgers are real!) Went down well, just wish I could get my icing a bit straighter and neater. . . BUT to help with that I have enrolled on a cake decorating course at http://www.sweetartconfectionerysupplies.co.uk/ in Port Talbot. Can't wait! It starts 2 weeks tomorrow and my mum is coming along too. Will let you know how it goes. Next cake is a cupcake tower for my husband's nephew's 21st birthday. (I know technically that makes him my nephew too, but I'm 27, not old enough for a 21 year old nephew!!) Colour to be red.

I was asked to make a cake for my friend's mum's 50th Birthday party. This was the result. It's a plain sponge cake, with jam and buttercream filling and covered in ready to roll icing. The top is covered in '50' and the little silver hearts are edible decorations. In hind sight I should have done a bit of piping around the bottoms of the bottom and middle tiers to tidy up the edges, but all in all, pretty pleased with it. I really fancy doing a cake decorating course now though, as the icing wasn't very smooth and i kept making little marks on it.

I made this cake for my husband's 31st birthday as he is a big fan of darts and plays regularly. I should have made the cake a bit bigger to make it easier to put together and needed to measure the pieces so they'd fit together better. The numbers were done using number cutters I bought. I whimped out on doing the wire as well, after all the fiddly cutting out I don't think my hands were steady enough. It gave the right impression, but definitely room for improvement...there's always next year! :)

I've been doing a lot of baking lately. To celebrate BSS becoming a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner I thought I'd make some cup cakes using my new edible blue glitter and letters. For a friend's birthday I made a cake to reflect his gardening habit - his garden, including shed and wormery!