A Lucky Bake

Hi guys,

It's been an exciting week for me with M's Kitchen - I had a lucky break - my first ever cake order and being asked to make a wedding cake! 

My very first cake order was a vanilla and strawberry layered sponge cake for a friends grandma's 88th birthday and I was so pleased to hear she enjoyed it. So much so, she didn't even want to share it with her family and they had to fight for a piece! I was happy with this cake but I am still working hard to achieve those perfectly straight sides.

On my recent quest to make a perfectly smooth and level layered sponge cake, I have:

• Used a cake leveler to ensure all sponges are the same height
• Done a 'crumb coat' to lock in loose crumbs before the main buttercream covering
• Used my cake turntable and a cake scraper in order to achieve a super smooth finish

But, unfortunately it still isn't the instagram worthy cake I am dreaming of - so the mission continues! The next thing I want to try is to cut the outer crust off the cake using a circular template, 1 inch smaller than the baked sponges. This would make each sponge absolutely identical and hopefully will help me create a perfectly straight cake with military precision!

Last sunday it was Mother's Day in the UK and to celebrate I made an assortment of cupcakes for my boyfriends mum. It was a lot of fun making a standard cake batter and then dividing it into four to add the individual flavourings. I included: lemon, strawberry, honeycomb and chocolate. It was also a great opportunity to practise my piping skills and try out lots of different nozzles. I used a 6mm round nozzle for the first time (see chocolate cupcake) and really liked the affect. I absolutely love making cupcakes - if one goes wrong you can scoop up the icing and start again or just feast on the dodgy ones as leftovers (I know my housemates enjoy this!).

The biggest news of the week is the announcement of a family wedding! My boyfriends brother and partner are getting married and they have asked me to make the wedding cake. I'm so excited and it's such an honour to be involved. The wedding is happening in less than 4 weeks and I need to design, practise and then make the wedding cake! It's so exciting but also pretty scary. The bride loves cupcakes and buttercream and one of the wedding colours is a pastel pink. I'm having great fun putting together a few ideas and will keep you updated on my progress.

I hope you all had a lovely week and I would love to hear about your baking adventures. Please comment below or tag me in your instagram posts @kitchen.m.s.

Happy baking :-)

Love,

M