Vintage Victoria Sponge Cupcakes

Hey guys and girls! 

I hope you are all well this evening? 

I'm so sorry that I haven't posted in a while, on any of the pages! Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and on here, but if you pop over to the life page, you can find out on what is taking me so long!

Now, I don't know about you; but the weather has been going up and down like a rocket! What with it being warm one week, blistering hot the week after, then dropping all the way back down into the singles nearly! 

If you have only just got here, we we're just talking about the typical British weather! 

Recipe: 

Start by weighing 2 large eggs, whatever the eggs they come too,

weigh the same for the following ingredients: 

Self Raising Flour

Butter

Caster Sugar

You will also need: 

1 x Punnet of Fresh Strawberries

300ml of Double Cream

1 tsp Vanilla

1-2 tbsp Milk

3 tsp Caster Sugar

1tsp Baking Powder 

Cupcake Cases

Let's get started!

1. Firstly, set your oven to 170 C, 350 F, Gas Mark 4 so it can heat up in the meantime.

You can also lay out the cupcake cases into the tray. 

2. Place the butter and sugar into a bowl and give it a good whisk until the butter goes a bit more pale. Then in a cup, crack open the eggs and give a good beating, once beaten, slowly but gradually add in the eggs a bit at a time. The mix will go all runny and may look curdled, but don't worry!

3. Next, sieve the flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl, once you have done this put it back through the sieve one bit at a time and gradually add it to the egg and butter mixture. I like to mix with a wooden spoon first - Just so none of the flour shoots out!

4. After gradually adding the flour and mixing in between, your mixture should be well incorporated. Once it is add in the milk and the vanilla, then mix again until soft and pale.

5. Spoon the mixture into the cases just below half, don't over fill as they will flood over the cases and we don't want that! Once you have used all the mixture, place into the oven for 10 minutes. After the 10 is up, check the cupcakes if they are still wobbling, leave them in for another 5-10 mins. 

6. Once the timer is up, take them out of the oven and leave them to cool IN THE TRAY.

DO NOT take them out of the tray, as they are still warm and can easily lose their shape. Leave them in until completely cool, then remove.

Topping

If you saw my post for the Vintage Victoria Sponge, the recipe and the guidelines for the fresh cream topping can be found on this post. 

If you don't want to click the link or don't have time, I have still posted a quick how to below, but it has been taken from the Vintage Victoria Sponge cake post. 

7. Whilst the cake is cooling, place the 300ml of double cream into a bowl, add 3 tsp of sugar and give it a good whisk on a medium - high speed.  

You will soon see the consistency of the cream start to change, keep going until you have soft speaks. Once you get to this stage, place some clingfilm over the top and place into the fridge to keep cool until the cake has fully cooled. 

8. When the cakes are cool, add a dollop of the cream onto each of the cupcakes, then after the strawberries have been washed and the tops are off. You can either cut them in half or place them whole on top of the cupcakes. And there you go! Once the cream is on, be sure to keep them the fridge to save the cream from going off. 

Enjoy!

21st Cupcake Fit For a King!

Hey everyone!

How are we all doing? 

I understand that I have been a bit quiet recently and yes I do need to post more and I also know that some of the post that will be new today, are actually in fact old - as far as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter go. But if you head on over to Sprinkle, Sparkle and Magic Life there is an update on why I've been so quiet recently. 

But for now, lets take a look at this GIANT cupcake! I do love making them, they're just so fun and wonderful to create!!

I apologise for the photo's I understand that they aren't very good, but believe it or not, this is from my phone and the phone has a better camera than my actual camera...if that just made any sense? 

The above photo is a little 'plaque' that was made, small dint's we're placed around the side to make it have a different effect and look, I was going for a gold coin look. It then was sprayed with silver Shimmer spray and then I carefully painted on the lettering and number :) With vodka and gel colours. 

Close up of that smooth, velvety buttercream! 

The cake was Victoria sponge with raspberry jam and vanilla buttercream in the centre, vanilla buttercream was also swirled on top too! 

Crispy M&M's we're added inside the cake as a surprise and then topped around the cake to give off the effect of sprinkles! The base of the cake was solid blue candy melts with added white chocolate. With the cake placed inside it!

The lettering that you can see on the above photo and the one all the way at the top was a lovely mint green coloured sugarpaste and was made using Windsor's Clikstix's. Which took me some time to get used to at first, but I have sussed out the magic trick now! 

I also made a mini Desperado's beer bottle as asked by the customer. Had carved, then sprayed with gold and silver shimmer spray. and hand painted label! I am so proud and happy on how it turned out. I haven't got a clearer picture I am afraid but will try and find one! 

All in all, what can I say? I just LOVE making the giant cupcakes, they are so fun to create and you can go all out on them! Even though they are still the range in some aspects, they never seem to bore me or fail to make me amazed! 

Speak to you all soon, more blog posts to come!!

Vintage Victoria Sponge Cake

Hi everyone! 

How are we all today? I'm sorry I haven't been posting as of late, I've been super busy with things!

Head on over to  - The Life Of Sprinkle, Sparkle & Magic - Where you will find out why I have been so quiet and what has been happening with the world that I live in. 

In other news, see that big and beautiful cake above? I'm going to give you the recipe on how to create it, perfect for a lovely and warm summers day or as a comfort cake! The recipe has been adapted in some ways from the recipe by Cupcake Jemma, go and take a look at her page and youtube channel! - Cupcake Jemma's Youtube Channel 

Right! Let's get started!...

You will need: 

3 Eggs

Self Raising flour

Softened Butter

Caster Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla Extract 

1 tsp Baking Powder

1-2 tbsp Milk

--------------------

300ml Double cream

3 tsp Caster Sugar

Punnet of Fresh Strawberries and Blueberries 

Icing Sugar 

(Can opt out of the fresh fruit and change it to whatever you wish!) 

1. Set the oven to Gas Mark 3 / 170°C / 140°C (Fan)  

2. First off we need to weigh our eggs - I recently learnt this from Cupcake Jemma and have done it ever since, it's such a good thing to do and don't know why I've never heard of it before! 

3. So weigh the eggs and whatever they come too, weigh the same for the butter, caster sugar and the self raising flour. This will give you the prefect fluffy and soft cake! 

4. Once you have all your ingredients, place the butter into a bowl and whisk on a medium speed - If you don't have an electric whisk, no need to worry! You can always use the old good natural whisk! - Just be careful with those arms ;) Once the butter has been incorporated and changed colour - it should go a paler colour compared to when you first put it into the bowl, and should be nice, smooth and fluffy. 

5. Sieve in the sugar and whisk again on a medium speed until everything is incorporated. 

Next, get a spare bowl or cup and add all the eggs into it, give them a good whisk! Once you have done this, add in the eggs in three stages, like you would do if you we're cracking them into the bowl. Add in a bit of egg each time, whisking on a low - medium speed in between until it has all been mixed in. 

6. Once all the eggs have been mixed in, get the Self-Raising flour and add it into a fine sieve, or any sieve! Add in the Baking Powder too, gently shake the flour into the mix until it's all into the bowl - You may do this in stages to stop flour spilling over the edge of the bowl! I like to use a spatula or a spoon to gently fold in the flour first, instead of going straight to the whisk as I don't want it to fly everywhere! Once you have got some of the flour folded in and it looks like none will come out over the bowl, get whisking on a medium - high speed until it's all mixed in! 

5. Add in the milk and the vanilla extract and give it another good mix - If you think there needs to be more milk or flour just add it in - everyone has their own preferences! I know that the mix is the right consistency, by getting a big dollop onto the spoon and holding it above the bowl, it should take a few seconds for it to drop back into the bowl, if it falls off quicker than this or won't budge at all, it's the wrong consistency and you will need to add a bit more milk if it's too thick or a bit more flour if it's too thin. 

6. Grab two 8" cake tins and grease them with some butter using some greaseproof paper, then add a little bit of flour into the pan and move it around, getting onto all the sides and in the groves. Once this is done, evenly dispatch the cake batter into both tins, then grabbing a spoon or a pallet knife evenly smooth the tops of the cakes; this will cause them to be nice and flat when they come out of the oven. 

Place in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes. Check to see if the cake is done by placing a knife into the centre, if it comes out clean and the top of the cake springs back once pressed gently, it is ready. Only take the cake out to test after 20 mins, DO NOT take out any sooner. 

7. Whilst the cake is cooling, place the 300ml of double cream into a bowl, add 3 tsp of sugar and give it a good whisk on a medium - high speed.  

You will soon see the consistency of the cream start to change, keep going until you have soft speaks. Once you get to this stage, place some clingfilm over the top and place into the fridge to keep cool until the cake has fully cooled. 

8. Cut the tops off the strawberries and then cut them all in half, give the strawberries and blueberries a good wash and then leave them to dry a little. 

9. Finally, face one of the sponges down onto a plate or board, add some of the cream onto the cake and then place some strawberries on top. Creating a circle of strawberries with the pointed end sticking in the centre, imagine an open flower. Place the other layer of sponge on top and press lightly, then add some more of the cream on top, then some strawberries and blueberries (you may place blueberries in the middle of the cake too! completely up to you!) Then add a dusting of icing sugar to the cake! 

All there is left to do, is cut yourself a big slice of cake and dig in! 

Hope you enjoyed this recipe! Once again, ideas where taken from Cupcake Jemma, I just adapted it a little bit, go check her out!

 Tune in next time!

Much Love, 

Three Tiered Victoria Monster Cake

Evening everyone!

How are we all doing? 

Bit of an old cake I'm afraid, by old I just mean that I forgot to post it!

The cake is just like the Chocolate Monster Cake which you can see here! But it's Victoria Sponge..Go on, click the link, you know you want too ;)

But it's Victoria Sponge!

Don't look! There's a baby picture of me in the background! *Covers screen with hand* Anyway, I'll crack on with it shall I? 

The above cake, was again three tiers, with vanilla buttercream and strawberry jam sandwiching the sponges together. Crumb coated then covered in smooth Vanilla buttercream. 

Green, white and lilac meringue kisses we're made and placed on top and around the base of the cake (I thought this added more 'WOW' factor to it, don't you think?"

Milk, dark and white chocolate shards, covered in pretty pearlescent sugar balls and then sprayed with silver shimmer spray. I have christened this chocolate bark, Galaxy Bark!

The cake then had the chosen sweets (By my granddad for my granddad) Which we're the classic, Bassett All-sorts! 

I LOVE making these Katherine Sabbath inspired cakes! They're just so fun to make and you can never go over the top or do too little, they always look elegant and crazy which is just amazing and so fun! They're so creative! Give it a go yourself and go mad!

We also made some cupcakes for the special occasion! Fluffy Vanilla sponge, smooth Vanilla buttercream, complete with Silver and Gold shimmer '80' toppers!

I enjoy making these cakes so much and I enjoy working with buttercream even more, it makes such a great finish and they just look beautiful!

If YOU wish to make this cake, stay tuned and the recipe will be up soon! 

Much love as always, 

Paris Themed Birthday Cake

Evening everyone! 

How are we all doing? 

I've just finished going through all the posts, seeing as half of them had photo's missing! Can you believe it, no? Me neither!

Anyway, I don't have many more updates to give you all, well, I do but I will do them all in a batch post. You will all soon see!  For now I will grant you the access to view some of the last cakes that I have recently done, there are three but will all be posted in separate posts (They need their glory! Haha) 

And here we have it! The two tiered, Paris themed birthday cake. I really did enjoy making this cake so much and for once I wasn't really stressful, Hoozah! It was great and so fun!

Now to the specifics: The bottom layer was a Funfetti cake with vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam sandwiched together, the top tier is chocolate cake sandwiched together with chocolate buttercream. 

The bottom layer was then covered in white sugar paste and the top in mint green. Emerald stripes of sugarpaste we're placed around the bottom tier, whilst emerald polka dots we're placed around the top tier. 

Using modelling paste, I created one large pink rose to sit on top, and four little white roses to be placed on top of the bottom tier. I made silhouettes out of black sugarpaste and placed them inbetween the emerald stripes. Making the black stand out more on the white background. 

Last but not least, there's an Eiffel Tower stuck on top, constructed out of Rice cripsies and covered with many layers of white chocolate and then green. We then placed black and white ribbon around the base of each cake to make it look even more pretty, and pinned them in with a pearl coloured bobby bin (Don't worry, it was brand new, not used for anything else and sterilized first) 

I really enjoyed making this cake, especially the silhouettes, I just love them!  I really liked how it looked and everything. It was a surprise for the customer as her partner had bought her tickets to go away to Paris for the weekend and surprised her with her birthday cake! How wicked is that! Very happy to be a part of it. 

Much love, 

Sprinkle, Sparkle & Magic

Cycling Cake

Dad's birthday cake last year!

He's gotten really into his Cycling over the year and I've very very proud of him for what he has achieved so far with it. This was before he went on his cycling trip, where he cycled around Holland on his own only taking his bike and his tent and money. 

Very well done to my dad! HOOZAH!

He liked the cake and he enjoyed his holiday even more, but he was tired when he got back :) 

Looking back now, this is another cake that I want to re-do as I have learnt quite a bit over this year since going to college and feel I could of decorated and designed the bike a bit more. 

The cake was Vanilla Victoria sponge with raspberry jam inside :) 

- Em xx 

Snooker Table Cake

Afternoon all! 

Sorry I haven't been in touch recently, I've been posting on my Facebook page, which I must add that I do use more. But I am determined to update this more frequently, just like I do with Facebook. If anyone is interested in taking a look by the way or would like to give me a like, then please search on Facebook for Sprinkle, Sparkle and Magic and you should find me. Thanks! 

Anyway! The above cake is one that I did a while ago to be honest but I never got round to updating the blog. As you can see it's a Snooker Table cake, woo! :D 

I mad this for my Granddad who has a fascination with snooker at the moment. I am very proud to say that he enjoyed it and loved it also :) Was really fun creating this cake and I loved doing all the detail on it as well, all the way down to the little chalk cube and the snooker balls. 

The cake was a simple homemade Victoria Sponge cake with strawberry jam and buttercream and a plain cake, no Vanilla. Everything else is made out of fondant icing which I coloured myself with food colouring. 

The snooker balls we're made out of fondant icing then rolled and stuck onto the cake with writing icing. 

I really enjoyed making this cake and glad that my Granddad was pleased with it also :) 

Thanks, Emma xx 

55th Wedding Anniversary Cake

Hi everyone, long time no see, or speak should I say? 

I have quite a few cakes to put on here, which should of been on here sooner, but I have recently got a new job, in hopes to save for my cake business and driving lessons haha, but all is going well. So I am a tad busy, but don't let that put you of ever ordering a cake if you need one, I will still be able to make it for you! 

The Cake

Now, this cake was very special to make, and I loved every minute of baking and decorating it, I love making all of them. But this was very special. 

It was made for my Nanan and Granddad's 55th Wedding anniversary, and I loved every minute of making it. 

I know the pattern of the flowers around the cake don't flow well as the packet I bought ended up to have a dud white one, but I'll get it right next time. My Nan has Alzheimer's which is very upsetting and sad though the cake cheered my granddad up who  was very touched by it, which was lovely in a way. 

My nan doesn't eat much anymore, but she does like to eat homemade Victoria sponge cakes, which is good so I make them for her so she has something to eat (Though granddad does like to have his share!) 

The cake is 12" and double layered with smooth strawberry jam in the middle and homemade butter cream icing in the middle. There's fondant icing on the top and the "55th" is also fondant, which was if I'm honest, the numbers we're printed out and I placed them onto some fondant and cut round the paper with a sharp knife. I'm quite proud on how they turned out. 

I then sprayed them with edible silver shimmer spray to give it a shiny touch. The cake board has icing rolled out on top and there is a emerald green ribbon around the base of the cake and a pale blue ribbon around the cake board to give it a nice colourful band and to add a bit of colour to the cake. 

The writing is done using writing icing and I admit it isn't that great, but they we're happy with it.  

Hope you like it, any questions or feedback on it if you can give me any would be great! :) 

- Emma x

Greyhound Records - Record Company Launch

Hey there!

So I haven't updated this in a while, but I need to do like three posts on three different cakes and then after I need to do another post haha. So, I best get started!

This is a cake I designed, made and decorated for a launch event for a new record label called Greyhound Records (You can search for them on Facebook in you're interested, there under Business I think, not the band one)

It took quite some time to do this even though it doesn't look like it, as things kept getting changed all the time as soon as I had sorted things out. But it all got sorted out in the end. 

I baked three different flavours of 12" cakes, on the left was Captain Morgan's Rum, the middle was plain and then the right side was Malibu Rum. As I said I baked three different  12" cakes, then cut them all up into thirds each. There was spare cake but only a little. I then stuck all the pieces together and then put fresh cream and strawberry jam in the middle. 

I bought some pre-made black fondant icing, though I bought two blocks of it and ended up having to nip to the store on the day the cake had to be finished and grab another block of icing as I didn't have enough! Needed an extra pair of hands to help me lift and carefully place over the cake, thank you to Mr. Burrows. Who is in the photo holding the cake for me. 

The writing on the cake went well, and I did it ever so straight which I was surprised at, since I thought it would go slanted but it didn't! And the dog! Oh my god, that took some re-thinking and time but had to use a smaller icing tube as the one i used for the writing wouldn't of done it, as it was too big. Was really stressful doing the writing and dog part through, Jesus haha. 

Was okay in the end though. I can't remember how many it served to be fair, which I should of done but I know the slices we're small. I would guess it served about 45 people, So I didn't think that was bad. Still had a small bit left, but most of it went down well! Really glad! and even got an order from it :D 

All in all I really enjoyed it and the Launch event went down smashing! They even had pizza for £3.50 a full one too! Was very yummy! ;) I loved the look of it in the end, just plain and simple yet professional in a way. Hope you liked having a look, more cakes to come soon! 

- Emma

Ball Dress Cake

Hi there, me again! 

So I should of posted this a while a go, but just couldn't find the time what with College, family and seeing the other half. But here I am :) 

I designed this cake by hand, and drew it all out first so I could get an understanding of it. I went with my imagination in this one, and didn't copy anything. It was my first attempt at a dress cake and I think I did quite okay, granted there are bits and pieces that needed more TLC than others and I just need to practise that more. But hey! I got paid for it, so I'm not complaining, haha. 

The cake was designed for a family member, my aunt. Who had recently taken up ball room dancing, I thought it would be a nice surprise for her to have something she liked instead of going to the store and buying one that may not have tickled her fancy, or she may have possibly had that cake the year before. But never the less, she loved it! And I am so happy she did, it nearly all fell apart at one point, but it didn't! 

This cake is a Victoria sponge, with light spreadable strawberry jam and some whisked double cream instead of the plain old butter cream. It worked out wonderful, the cream went nicely and it tasted lovely, or so what I have heard. It took a grand total of 2 hours to bake, I think and about 6 - 7 hours to decorate.

I also did the design by tracing it out on paper first, then placing it on the cake and sticking cocktail stick in it so it wouldn't move. Then cut round it with a bread knife. So not that bad for timing I don't think. 

I really enjoyed doing this cake and hope to make it again soon, and loved doing the frills on the bottom, granted I also need more work on them, but hey! There's a first for everything. I loved doing the decoration and the ribbon also, was a nice way to end it I think. I may not look the best but I am so proud of it :) 

Hope you enjoyed looking at it too! - If you ever wish to have a cake like this or something similar, let me know!

Cheers, 

Em xx