Sandra's 50 lemon cupcakes

So my boss Sandra recently commissioned me to make
50 cupcakes for her 50th birthday!

She's a big fan of my vanilla sponge with lemon buttercream cupcakes.

Because I piped the icing I had to make more than usual and
managed to get through 1.5kg of icing sugar.

But I used half-fat creme fraiche, so that evened things out.

It being a big birthday, I thought edible gold

glitter and stars were in order... which fitted in
well with the general children's party atmosphere.

I think Sandra ate her way through one box of cakes,
while the rest of the office devoured the other...

...pretty quickly.

Best of all, Sandra gamely posed with a lovely pair of cupcakes.

Big thanks to Catrin Cullen for the photos.

Chocolate chilli cupcakes

I made these for Lindsey's surprise 30th birthday party.

Mini chocolate brownie cupcakes with a big hit of hot chilli powder.

I added the red sparkles for extra dramatic effect.

As you can see, Catrin was so taken aback (and loaded with Prosecco),

that the camera shook a little when the box was opened.

Pinglewood biscuits

Old phone pic no. 5

Here are some little shortbread biscuits made with my awesome 101 cookie cutter kit.

They were soon eaten by a nasty faceless blogger man.

Espresso coffee cake

Old phone pic no. 4

This was an Espresso coffee cake I made for my dad's birthday cake last year.

It's a marble vanilla/coffee liqueur marble cake
covered with espresso coffee icing and chocolate covered coffee beans.

Glossy double choc cupcakes

Old phone pic no. 3

These were some double choc cupcakes I made for
Joey and Andrew's joint birthday a few years ago...

I think they were choc fudge cakes with a glossy dark chocolate ganache icing.

WARNING: Though silver balls look cool, they can take a tooth out.

Mini coffee walnut cakes

Old phone pic no.2

These were individual mini coffee walnut sponge cakes from a recipe in You magazine.


Kind of impossible to eat, but really cute and very tasty.

Scarlet fever cakes

I've just found loads of old photos on my phone,
so thought I'd share them on here.

Old phone pic no. 1

First up, some cakes I made for my boss Sandra
on her return to work after a nasty bout of scarlet fever...

...Nope, I didn't think anyone could catch scarlet fever any more either.

S-layer cake

It was Lucy Furvert-Hunt's birthday this week,
so Pinglewood and I decided a Slayer cake was in order.

It was a vanilla sponge, sandwiched with vanilla buttercream
in the middle and slathered with thick black chocolate icing.

A sprinkling of black glitter created the magic,
while Dr Oetker provided the red and yellow royal icing.

Lucy seemed to like it.

And it took a while to convince her to cut into it...

But finally, she relented...

Thankfully for Fatrick.

More spaghetti and meatballs cupcakes...

Glad to see the XL Recordings crew enjoyed

the spaghetti and meatballs cupcakes.

I particularly like the different way everyone has approached

the first bite of what is a tricky-to-eat cake...

Prism cupcakes

So I was very excited when Anna asked me to make cupcakes

for her Prism launch party during London Fashion Week.

We even got a mention on Style.com!

"In fact, judging by the crowd at last night’s launch party for Prism,
the eyewear range designed by Anna Laub, even folks with 20/20
vision are keen to accessorize their eyes. Laub had taken over the roof
deck at London’s Soho House, and along with the lychee cocktails and
miniature cupcakes going around, there were pairs of glasses from the
new line there for the trying-on."

Style.com/blog

After an exhaustive tasting session, we decided to go for vanilla
cupcakes with four different types of icing to match the different finishes,
as well as the triangular Prism logo in rolled black Royal icing.

Above is the metallic blue, lime flavoured icing to
match London in Midnight Blue.

Cream and black vanilla and chocolate buttercream
icing to match Paris Zebra Horn.

Black chocolate icing dusted with matt black
powder to match Rio Matt Black.

And pale grey lemon icing to match New York Crystal Grey.

And here's Elizabeth Rose Bankford in her Crystal Grey Prisms,
with a lychee cocktail and lemon cupcake!

Spaghetti and meatballs cupcakes

I made these for Ruth's leaving do at work.
At first glance, they look a little worrying...

But everyone seemed to think they tasted good.

Dolly Mixture birthday cake

Vanilla buttercream frosted sponge
sandwich cake with Dolly Mixture...

...for Mum's birthday!

Labour of love

Ok, so here's my FAILED entry to the

Woman & Home cupcake competition...


Thanks are also due to Tom and Catrin who were
on the creative team. There's always next year...

Joey and Andrew's birthday cakes

And these were chocolate and vanilla

cupcakes for Joey and Andrew's birthday.


They chocolate icing was decorated with white chocolate buttons...


...and the vanilla icing had Milky Way Magic Stars.

Vanilla and lemon birthday cupcakes

Here are the cupcakes I made for my mum's birthday party last year.

The floral cakes (above) were vanilla buttercream

and the dolly mixture (below) were lemon.


I displayed them on tiered stands covered with doilies
and put a few candles on the ones on the top.