Merry Christmas Cakes

It's that time of year again. I'm talking about festive cake decorating, obviously. This years effort is Star Wars themed of course!

Here are some of my favourites from previous years :-)

 

 

Happy Easter

Hey folks! As you can see I've been in full on crochet mode these last couple of weeks. I even managed to knit a chubby little chic. Isn't he sweet!

Meet Ramona, Ana, Mary and Jennifer! Each of these clucky (get it!?) ladies is guarding a chocolate egg. Nom. The pattern I used is from Idea Ivana and it's free - big thanks to Ivana for dreaming up and sharing such a fun project.

I also want to say hello and thank you to Adele of Nice Things By Adele *waves*. A few weeks ago I won this cute little bobble hat egg cosy through a competition on her blog. It arrived swiftly and atop a creme egg. Thanks so much Adele!

Obviously, the chocolate didn't last long but I soon found a new use for the bobble hat. It's a perfect fit for Dave the chick!

I hope all you lovely people have a great Easter break. I plan to watch movies and eat ALL the chocolate.

February

The past month has been a super busy one that's gone by in the bit of blur. I found time to make these pretty crochet flowers and I'm working on a few more. I'm mulling over what to do with them - bunting, brooches? What do you think?

There's been a bit of scrapbooking with these cute little stickers and pretty floral papers.

I sorted through my fabric stash. Just look at the pretty colours and patterns! One thing I want to try this year is quilting. Hopefully I'll find some time to get started on that soon.

No blog is complete without pics of some recent treats! Clockwise from top left: my chocolate dipped meringues, salted caramel and chocolate icecream at the pub, a delicious pistachio biscuit at Aromi, pancake with caramelised apples and homemade salted caramel. YUM! I knocked up a banoffee pie with the leftover salted caramel too.

I hope your February has been as tasty as mine!

Happy New Year

Woah! Can you believe another year has passed by?! To get things off to a good start I crocheted this adorable lucky cat.

The last month or so I've been a bit obsessed with these paper bows. They're just so satisfying. I made loads to decorate Christmas gifts. You can find the tutorial here.

My second make of 2015 is this cushion cover. It's definitely brighening things up. Hooray for pom poms! I already have plans to make another.

The first bake of year was pecan brownie. I can't think of a better way to start 2015. Here's to another crafty, cake-filled year :-)

Wedding Cake

Earlier in the year I had the enormous pleasure of making a wedding cake for a colleague. As you can see there was a bit of a Dr Who theme!

The botton tier was a 12" chocolate sponge and the top was an 8" victoria sponge. I'd not made this quantity or size of cake before, nevermind decorated one. I don't tend to do many fully iced cakes, just the odd few at Christmas and they're usually round, so I was really pleased with the finish I managed on these.

I'm afriad I can't take credit for the gorgeous toppers - these were from Eternal Cake Toppers. I think having their doggies on the cake was a lovely touch!

I loved the experience of doing this, and it was wonderful to see so many people enjoying and appreciating something that I'd created, but it reaffirmed that I much prefer baking as a hobby!

Brambling at Mill Road Cemetery

A fair few weeks ago I went blackberry picking at the local cemetery. There were lots of big juicy blackberries to be had.

The cemetery is a little haven away from the hustle and bustle of Mill Road. It's a lovely place to go for a little wander.

As might be expected, it's a tranquil place. There are intricately carved monuments and headstones in almost every direction.

I love the textures and pinches of colour you stumble upon here and there.

A lot of the blackberries (or brambles if you're from Up North like me) were ripe for picking and dropped off the branches with ease.

If you live in Cambridge and have never been, I highly recommend a visit. To find out more take a look at the Mill Road Cemetery website.

I managed to fill my jug to the brim! I went again a couple of weeks ago and there wasn't all that many so it's just as well I got in there early.

I used some of my haul to make some blackberry syrup which I've used in cocktails and desserts. The rest went into some blackberry and apple gin. I've not made it before (I used this recipe) and I can't wait to try it - roll on Christmas!

A very special Birthday

A few weeks back we celebrated a very special lady celebrated a very special Birthday. Mr Makes Nan turned 100! I know, amazing right?! She is an incredible person who never fails to make me smile with all the tales she has to tell about her life.

 

To mark the occasion a party was held on a hot weekend in July, which meant everyone could enjoy themselves outside in the garden. It was a wonderful day with masses of tasty food and great live music provided by the very talented musicians in the family.



There was plenty of punch to be had and, after a delicious buffet, there were too many desserts to choose from, which *obviously* meant I had to try a little bit of everything (with the exception of anything with strawberries as I'm allergic).

Virginia's key lime pie

Judith's fruity pavlovas

my lemon curd merigues

strawberry cheesecake

and it wouldn't be a party without a giant chocolate cake! It was so hot I thought the ganache would never set but it eventually did. It was a big old cake - 24cm wide and 14cm tall - but it disappeared pretty quickly once the candles had been blown out!