NOT a cupcake post but one from the heart.

Welcome autumn to grey old Blighty. Not for us the spectacular, crisp, Indian summers that some countries get to to experience.
Watching Autumn approach London is like watching the colour drain from a canvas, leaving behind only the faintest imprint of a city... It makes me a little meloncholy. The year is passing so quickly.
3 months until Christmas, unemployed (boo to redundancy), still no acting work on the horizon and almost another year older to boot.
But, I remain steadfastly positive, greatful for the wonderful experiences and people I have in my life and I know that even better things are just around the corner : )

And wedding number 5 was successfully completed on September 12th 2009 - yay : )
Beautifully themed in pink and black by the lovely bride Emma (is it terrible that I never did find out the grooms name???)

Emma wanted vanilla and chocolate cupcakes in black cases ( a nightmare to find and a double nightmare to get hold off due to the postal strike -yikes!!!) She requested pink ribbons on the outside of the cases (I was going to wrap the ribbon all the way around but it proved impossible so I made lots of little pink bows and fixed them to the outside of the cases) and pink heart sprinkles and pink glitter on top of the cupcakes with pink and white butter icing. She provided a really unique topper (A Day of the Dead - El Día de los Muertos or All Souls' Day - bride and groom) which I felt worked really well.

The venue was the fantastic London Canal Museum in Kings Cross:(http://www.canalmuseum.org.uk/)

The only downside was entering the venue at the same time as the wedding party (hugely embarrassing...).
We were running late due to ridiculous Saturday London traffic and although we were actually at the venue a few minutes before the wedding party, we couldn't get in as the manager/owner??? had locked the door and couldn't hear us knocking/yelling!!!! Thank goodness the meet and greet and whatnot was downstairs and the catering upstairs. It meant we had a bit of time to set up away from the wedding party (not stressful at all...).
Ah well....
I think the cakes were a success but as I've yet to hear from the bride, your guess is as good as mine : )
I'll keep my fingers crossed for positive feedback and of course, I'll let you know!

Ah, so my fourth wedding of the summer has been and gone and it was (I'm happy to say) a huge success. The bride and groom (particularly the groom who's an amazingly talented graphic designer!) wanted something that was simple, clean and sharp and a little "outside of the box" and came up with the idea of cupcake ice cream cones.

Easy to make (if a little time consuming...) and easy on the eye at a fabulous venue in Central London. A perfect summer wedding : )

Ah, so wedding number three is under my belt and I'm preparing for weddings number four and five...
I was really pleased with wedding number three (for Meredith and Stu) but blimey, getting the cupcakes to the (utterly beautiful) venue was a nightmare!
From North London to Central London (Stationers Hall near St Pauls Cathedral) took FOREVER...
We had a triathlon, a football match, Saturday traffic, roadworks and a diversion thrown at us and got there with only 35 minutes to set up almost 500 cupcakes before the wedding party arrived. PANIC.... Driving past the wedding venue and seeing the groom arrive didn't help with the nerves. He didn't see us (thank goodness) but I was so worried they would drive past us and get to the venue before we did (they hired an old routemaster to transport the guests from the Islington wedding venue to the reception).
But, we did it and the end result was lovely (even if I do say so myself).
The bride and groom knew what flavours they wanted (Vanilla cupcakes with a caramel centre and vanilla butter icing, Chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate and hazelnut centre and chocolate butter icing and finally the brides favourite, carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing) but didn't know what toppers they wanted. After a little deliberation, they decided to go with a gold and brown theme and so I sourced gold cupcake cases, matte brown cupcake cases and brown foil cupcake cases in both Mini and Biggie sizes. On top of the Vanilla Cupcakes in the gold cases, they went for a simple gold fondant star. On top of the chocolate cupcakes in the brown foil cases, they went for a chocolate curl (all handmade by me) and finally on top of the carrot cupcakes in the matte brown cases, they went for a sprinkle of gold cachous in a variety of sizes. They provided their own top cake.
Next wedding is ice-cream cupcakes... More on that closer to the time : )

As promised, the pictures from my most recent wedding order. I was so pleased with the way they came out. Nothing like my first wedding order and with all the daisies and movie themes, it really was quite a challenge. But, I'm always up for a challenge and think that on this occasion, I've done myself proud.

The films, just incase you're interested, were Superman (I made a pair of superman pants), Indiana Jones (a fedora), Star Trek (the Star Trek Insignia), Star Wars (light sabers), Bond (a Martini glass) and finally Wall-e (the plant in the boot). There was also a little heart shaped top cake with the figures of Wall-e & Eve (which I bought as they were far too detailed and difficult to make...)
I find out on Saturday what the designs of my next wedding order in August will be and will fill you in on the details soon. I do know that the bride wants carrot cake, not one of my specialities!!!!
Another challenge - yay :)

Ah, summer is finally here and even though the huge thunder and lightening storm yesterday was a bit of a downer, today's sunshine more than makes up for it.
Life is good despite recent redundancy and I'm feeling really positive :)
I'm currently in the process of wedding order number 2 (I have 2 more after this one - yay) and it's a curious mix of classical and kooky. The majority of the cupcakes will have gerbera daisies (my favourite flower) which I'm having fun making at the moment and the rest of the cupcakes will be movie themed :)
The movies are:
Superman, Indiana Jones, Wall-E, Star Trek, Star Wars and Bond.
I'm going to attempt a 3d creation for these cupcakes and I'm excited and nervous as I really want them to come out well.
I will of course post pictures of the finished product and you can judge for yourselves...

So in my last post, I spoke of my first batch of wedding cupcakes. And, here's how they looked on the big day. I am immensely proud of myself :)
Based on a Martha Stewart creation (thank you Martha). Pale blue and cream (the blue matched the bridesmaid dresses) with very fine fondant hearts (also in pale blue and cream) with the initials of both the bride and groom. There were 120 "Biggies" (vanilla with a gooey chocolate centre) and a couple of dozen "mini's" for the small people at the party :) There were also a handful of gluten and wheatfree cupcakes so that everybody could enjoy a sweet morsel. I also made a top cake (something I rarely do, as big cakes are not my thing) but I think it finished off the whole design perfectly. The top cake was a traditional victoria sponge (at the grooms request) with an amazing raspberry preserve centre and lashings of buttercream - Happy Days xxx

Damp blustery March has arrived, bringing with it the first signs of Spring and the first of my wedding cupcakes. It's not a HUGE order but the Bride and Groom have been very specific about what they want and I'm a little nervous. Lovely Ciara and Brian have seen a divine Martha Stewart confection and have asked me to re-create it. It's a little labour intensive (actually, a lot labour intensive) but I think I'm up to the challenge. I'll post pictures when I'm done
: )

And finally, like so many others in the current distressing economical downturn, I'm being made redundant!!! I guess I'm sort of worried, but not really as it wasn't my dream job and so now I'll HAVE to focus on what I actually want from my life. It's sort of exciting really : )
But, I will miss the flexibility and security of a "regular" job and most importantly, the amazing friends I've made :(

Onwards and upwards with positive thoughts all the way xxx

NOT a cupcake post, but one from the heart.

So, it's 2009.
2009!!!!
How on earth did that happen?

Christmas was so, so busy but lovely and my New Year celebrations were very quiet. Just me, the bugaboo and a bottle of babycham - don't ask!

But, I start the year hopeful.

I've just read and re-read The Secret.
I kept putting it off because of all the hype but it's re-energised and re-focused me and I'm a little sorry that I waited because I love the message.
If you get the chance, please read it.

I know now that good things are happening to me because that's all I'm asking the universe for and I'm doing all I can to attract only the positive into my life and it's working and I'm so grateful I can't even begin to tell you.

Whoever may be out there reading this (and it may be only me...) I wish you a wonderful, positive, abundant, fruitful, truly happy and joyous 2009.

x