Christmas Treats

I loved making these. I wanted to make a collection of treats that were Christmas-themed. I decided on ginger cupcakes with brandy butter-icing and chocolate orange cupcakes, as they are both flavours I associate a lot with this season.


Ginger cupcakes with brandy-butter icing, topped with Christmas sprinkles and crushed ginger biscuits.


Orange cupcakes with chocolate truffle icing, topped with a chocolate orange segment.

I also made snowflake sugar cookies with edible glitter which were really cute and tasty. I just need to perfect the art of transferring difficult shapes onto a baking sheet without them stretching about.


Snowflake sugar cookies with white edible glitter.

Halloween Treats

I made two lots of Halloween treats for yesterday's Karaoke Circus show. This is a very popular event where guest comedians and members of the audience sing karaoke backed by a live band. The show is always immense amounts of fun and the crowd is very lively. At the interval my friend Rose and I handed out treats. She made delicious pumpkin and orange cupcakes whereas made these little beauties...



Witches Fingers

Shortbread fingers with a hint of whiskey and almond 'finger nails'. The idea was taken from Forkable and they worked out a treat. There was a danger of the dough being over-worked but I think they came out better than expected.



Zombie Peanut-Butter Eyeballs.

Another recipe from Forkable but with a few changes, these were really fun to make and tasted amazing. I didn't go with the paraffin wax coating because as good as theirs looked, I wasn't comfortable with using wax (and when I tested it out the texture it was less than appealing). The rice crispies was also omitted as I wanted smooth eyeballs, so I just mixed butter with a jar of peanut butter and added icing sugar until the consistency felt right. I wish I had had time to paint on some creepy-looking veins but I may make similar but less scary treats for Xmas so I can always improve on what I've made.

National Cupcake Week

I never asked what nation was actually celebrating this wonder of a holiday period, but frankly I didn't care. I wanted to make cupcakes every single day but after throwing my back out I've had to be careful over how much I get up to.


This was a gluten-free vanilla cupcake with a simple white chocolate button on top. I'm rather pleased about my gluten-free recipe and my friend (who is a celiac) agrees. =)


I asked a friend what his favourite flavour is and he said strawberry. These are strawberry cupcakes (with strawberry flavouring and dried strawberries inside) with a butter-cream icing and a fresh strawberry on top. I should make these for Wimbledon season.


Andy finally, apple and cinnamon cake. I love this flavour and wanted to test it out with some frozen stewed apples my nan gave me. They were a treat - even if they don't look as pretty as the others.

I experimented with cookies this bank-holiday weekend and thought I'd share the first batch on here:



The biscuit is a basic sugar cookie recipe, with royal icing on top. I found it really easy to work with and although my icing needs a little work, I'm really happy how lovely these came out on my first try.

Cupcake Ordering FAQ

Do you sell gluten-free/allergy specific cupcakes?
Yes I do! If you require gluten-free cupcakes then please advise me when ordering to ensure both the cupcake recipe and all decorations are gluten free. Please also state if you have any nut allergies. I do not use nut ingredients unless specifically stated but it's always nice to be warned. I currently don't have dairy-free/egg-free cupcakes but I am working on it.


Do you deliver?
I prefer if customers come to collect their orders but if delivery is absolutely necessary I will do so. I live in Aylesbury and am willing to travel but if it is a reasonable distance (over 10 miles) I may have to add a small fee to cover petrol costs.


How should I store my cupcakes?
They should be kept in an air-tight container in a cool, dark place. Refrigeration is not required and it will dry out the cake. Cream-filled cakes however need to be stored in the fridge. They will last 3-4 days.


Do you have any cupcake stands?
I have a cupcake tower which you can see in many of my pictures which can be lent with a deposit. I am looking to buy more in the near future too.


Do your cupcakes come in boxes?
I have half-dozen boxes that I can package them in if they are for a gift. If you wish to have your cupcakes in a box please tell me. If you order more cupcakes and want them in display boxes please give me fair warning in advance as I will need to order them.

Two Birthday Cakes

I was commissioned to make two cakes last week - both for birthdays. One was for a customer who wanted a really moist and yummy chocolate cake. I knew exactly the recipe needed for it - the chocolate mud recipe I used for the mud cupcakes in the last post.



I'm really happy how this turned out, but I am going to practice my writing some more. A friend of mine who worked in Thorntons has given me some great tips.

The next cake is a little bit different from your average birthday affair. My friend at work wanted to give her a son an extra special cake to commemorate not just his 21st birthday but also him graduating university after studying History. His dissertation was on Stalin so she thought up having a Communist cake:



It's a Black Russian cake (basically chocolate with a lot of vodka and coffee liqueur) with red buttercream icing and yellow fondant decoration. On the side it reads 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY COMRADE'. Thankfully he found it as funny as his mother did and they said it was very tasty.

Chocolate Lovers Cupcakes

These were an order placed by a colleague at work for her husband's birthday. They are chocolate mud cupcakes with white chocolate butter-cream icing. They are pretty spectacular, I must say. =)

Our First Cake Sale!

Yesterday, my lovely friend and I sold cupcakes, cakes and biscuits in order to raise money for Cancer Research at Aylesbury's Relay for Life. Our gym Curves was there as one of the relay teams and whilst they worked up a sweat, we sold yummy treats to the hungry masses.



I had a selection of different cupakes for punters to choose from - all vanilla cakes but with chocolate fudge, orange or vanilla icings. Alongside I made some special gluten-free cakes because I've heard good feedback about my recipe.



I also made my speciality ice-cream cupcakes (with the added modification of custard filling!) which sold out within minutes. I really, really need to design a carry-case for those - I had several heart-attacks getting them to the show.



My friend Kirsty stayed up all night making an array of desserts, such as lemon drizzle cake, coffee cake, rum and raisin cake and carrot cake. They all went down a treat and we managed to raise about £80 for charity!

Methinks we need to set up shop at the local car boot. =)

When life gives you lemons...

I made these lemon-meringue cupcakes for my birthday this year. I am a huge love of lemon meringue pie and I always think that a great dessert needs to be tried in cupcake form.

I would love to try other desserts - key-lime pie, perhaps? Maybe Mississippi mud? Or maybe even jam tarts? Now THAT is a challenge I like.

Cherry Cola Cupcakes

I love cherry cola - it's possibly one of the greatest beverages since someone decided to put tonic water with gin. I also love the idea of making new and awesome cupcake flavours. Tada!

The sponge is my normal recipe with a good kick of Kirsberry and enough glacé cherries to make every bite juicy. The icing is a recipe for cola icing I found online. Now. I think I can improve on the icing tenfold (it used cocoa which meant it really just tasted like fudge), so I just need to experiment with some cola flavourings and see what I can make. They were awfully gooey and yummy though. =)

Company Logo

A dear friend of mine agreed to design a logo for me. She made me a lovely cupcake clay model called Nigel a while back and I wanted something similar for my company.



I think he's delightful. ^^

Birthday Cake Order

This is an order I made for a colleague and friend at work. Her son's birthday party is tomorrow and I tried my best to make them as fun and delightful for the kids as possible:


They are chocolate chip vanilla cupcakes with chocolate fudge icing, topped with various sweeties. I really like making them look fun and interesting - not to mention tasty.

I was also asked to make half a dozen 'adult cakes' - it was suggested coffee but she gave me free-reign so I indeed used coffee and a few extra special ingredients.


These are chocolate-coffee mud cakes with chocolate fudge and coffee Baileys icing. They are pretty decadent but I figured the adults deserve a treat too at this party, so why not make it extra yummy?

These are my ice-cream cupcakes I made for my co-workers, half as a Friday pick-me-up and half as an experiment. I loved the idea of cupcakes in a wafer cone and wasn't sure how good they would work out after being in an oven.


Overall the reaction was good, and despite the unhelpful comment of 'Nah, I wouldn't buy one' someone made the handy comment of how there should be a spoonful of jam in them, as they are quite tall compared to your average cupcake. I like the idea and will definitely do it next time. =)

Starting up

This is the first entry to my new blog all about my sweet treats. I experiment a lot with ideas and recipes, trying my very best to make the best tasting and looking desserts to be found.


(You've soon notice I do a look of these photos - all neatly lined up and 'pointing' in the same direction.)


(Then again I do like clusters of cakes too.)

In the future I shall be posting experiments (both good and bad), batches I've made for customers and a few recipes I've gathered up/created that I adore.