Cakes, cakes and more cakes

Hey, long time no read!

This will just be a post about my most recent cakes (I didn't get a slice of a single one of them ;A;), so enjoy!


Simpsons 30 donut cake
One of my mum's friends requested the cake, a 30 made out of donuts, with Homer Simpson somewhere on it.
I don't think they meant a passed out Homer, surrounded by dozens of Duff Beer cans, but hey, artistic freedom and all that.

Please ignore the tablet the cake is on (which I stole from my grandma) and the unpretty edges of the pink icing D:
But looky here, I even made the middle layer of the cake purple to look like filling!

I know, it doesn't really look purple, but that's just because I had already slathered it with apricot jam. (Although slathered might be the wrong word, seeing how I ran out of jam in the middle of it...)

All in all, I'm quite happy with how the cake turned out!


Robin Hood cake
Another one of my mum's friends requested this one for her son's (grandson?) birthday! At first they actually wanted a tractor cake, but then, realising that the theme of the birthday party was Robin Hood, they changed their request accordingly. (Although I wouldn't have minded making a Robin Hood tractor cake...would have been interesting!)

I wasn't really sure what to make at first, but Robin Hood makes you think of Sherwood forest, so trees are kind of fitting, right?
It would have helped, if someone had told me that Disney's Robin Hood was completely ok, before, you know, I was already almost finished with the cake. Oh well.

Making the cake was actually kinda soothing. Roll a fondant snake, stick it onto the cake...roll a fondant snake, stick it onto the cake...roll a fondant snake...I think you got it.

On the left you can see what the tree looked like before I painted it~
I wish more people wanted tree cakes D:


Halo cake (with the help of a friend)
One of my own friends for once!
I baked the cake (chocolate cake, with cheesecake in the middle) and then she came over to help with the decorating. The little guy on top of the cake was made by me, and my friend had actually made another character, but stupid as she is, she wasn't happy with how hers turned out, so she ate it. Oh well.
We did not have any black fondant, so we just painted black all over the cake and then splattered blue, pink and white on top...yeah, it was a disaster, and we got more paint on ourselves than the cake, but it was fun!

No idea why all the pictures came out so blurry D: I swear I only painted with the vodka, nothing else!


Southpark Cartman cake
My most recent cake, made only two days ago, for our neighbour's son's 25th birthday!
At first she also wanted a Simpsons cake (which I wasn't all that thrilled about, because I had just made one), but then her other son came up with the Southpark idea, and while I personally do not like Southpark, I was super happy when I saw the picture!

I had a few problems with the hat (including the rim breaking off and my dad accidentally throwing something at it and squashing it...), but in the end, everything turned out okay(ish...I still think the hat could have looked better)

Anyway: Taa-daaaa~~~~

I have to admit, I'm actually really proud of this cake >w<

And that's all for today! :)

Merry Cheesemas!

Okay, I will start posting again, even though I still don't have photoshop, because there's so much to share!
So first off: Merry belated Christmas! Or Happy Holidays! Whatever you'd rather hear.

For the first time in pretty much ever, I am actually proud of something I have made.
Remember this pizza?
Well, I decided to make my sister a more permanent one out of latex.
I'd never done anything like this before, only a teeny, tiny shrunken head, which doesn't really count, just because it was that tiny.
So I bet I did a lot of stuff wrong, but the outcome is what counts, and like I said, I'm actually rather pleased with it.

 I first made the pizza, then the cheese out of clay and then molded it.

 Then poured in the latex, which actually firmed up way quicker than I thought it would.

(I accidentally broke the pizza mold and had to patch it before pouring in the latex...and later the whole thing broke...oh well)

 I didn't have much space to work on, so I wrapped my cake decorating table in aluminium foil and just used that. Together with my very professional tools: popsicle sticks, a kitchen sponge and bottle caps.

 I made the cheese after the pizza, and accidentally made it too small >-< After I was almost finished with everything, I thought of the ball with which the pizza was gagged in the episode, so I painted a ping pong ball (while giggling to myself the entire time...fumes, man) and used that.

The sauce and pepperoni were supposed to have a glossy finish, but I didn't have anything at home, and it being the holidays, the stores were either closed or I didn't have time. Personally, I'd still like to make it glossy now, but my sister says it's okay like this. For the next one, then ;)

 I'd say this is one of the best reactions one can get for a Christmas present reveal :D

 Pizzaface minion, gagged and bound, ready for questioning.

 And it fit perfectly into my sister's new shell backpack! So we took it along to our grandma's, where we had a bit of fun with it.

Like so ;)

Are socks your favourite, favourite clothes?

My photoshop is still down *le sigh*
But hey, look what I made! Dobby Socks Earrings!
(If you don't know which socks I am talking about, shame on you (and your cow)! Go back and read GoF)

Crocheted with sewing thread and a 0.4mm crochet hook! 8D
They're available at my etsy store if, you know, you need a present for the Harry Potter fan in your life or something.


Remember how I won a fabric design contest? Well, I got the fabric and it's absolutely adorable! The pattern is a bit larger than I thought it would be, but I really don't mind.
I want to get the most out of it, so I'm going to make a simple blanket, without cutting anything and then maybe quilt a few of the skulls :)

Skullskullskulls

Hey!
Long time no see!
Is it my fault? Well, only a bit.
Is it my Photoshop's fault? You can bet it is!
It's not like I don't want to post. I have tons of things I want to share!
My Photoshop just decided to die a horrible, horrible death, leaving me 'quickly-making-pictures-pretty'-less.
And I refuse to post pictures straight from the camera, now that I have witnessed the power of Photoshop Actions.

Aaanyway, I have news!
I won something!
/pause while I do a victory lap around a chair
So, I entered a skull-themed design competition at stoff'n, a site where you can upload any design/pattern/image you want and they'll print you some lovely fabric.
First place (ME!!) got 80€ (100$) to spend, which, I won't lie, won't get you very far, but I'm absolutely excited none the less.
(If you're wondering, I spent my money on 2m (about 2yd) of the cheapest fabric, 3 teeny tiny test pieces and shipment)

Now, winning is already awesome, but the second part is that now my 3 designs in the top 20 (mine were on #1, #3 and #20) can be bought! And every time someones buys a piece (ranging from 20cm to fat quarters, to meters), I earn a little bit of money!
Which is rather brilliant, if you ask me.

Probably making an apron out of my Chefskull fabric, we'll see :D

ChefSkull

SkullCluster

Skullphabet

On another, more serious note, it pains me to tell you that the little lemony tentacle monster did not survive. Rest in peace, little wiggle.

The lemon is in play

For the longest time, I have wanted a lemon tree. Because of reasons.
The only problem: they can be insanely expensive. Or maybe they just seem insanely expensive to a poor person like myself.
So last year, IKEA had lemon trees! Now picture me dancing through the plant isles, chanting 'LEMONS! LEMONS!' at the top of my lungs.
That wasn't my actual reaction, but it would have been, if there hadn't been any people around. No, I just did a quick little happy dance on the spot.
I paid for my lemon tree (full of happiness), I drove him home (full of happiness), I named him Richardson (full of happiness), I gave him his own little space on my desk (full of happiness).
And how does he repay me?
By almost dying!
I actually blame IKEA. Why? Because they sold lemon trees in the middle of winter! And apparently Richardson thought the two minute walk from IKEA to the car was enough time to freeze to death.
Thankfully after lots of care, the finest citrus fertiliser money can buy (actually, it was the only one and it was quite cheap) and a playlist full of Korean pop songs, he recovered.
When I bought Richardson (named after Douglas Richardson of Cabin Pressure), he had two huge (and I mean huge) lemons dangling from a branch. I left them on the tree until they decided to jump off themselves (almost gave me a heart attack). After that, I couldn't get myself to throw them away, they were so pretty!
(You're probably asking yourself why I didn't eat them. Because the sticker on the pot said I shouldn't. Who knows what kind of chemicals they spray on there...I would probably have grown an extra arm if I had eaten them! But next time the tree grows some fruit, you can bet I will devour them with glee.)
So the lemons just lay around, chilling in the living room, then chilling in the kitchen.
Until, after about half a year of chilling, my father brutally murdered them.
Yesterday he cut them in half, for reasons still unknown to me. And you know what he discovered?
NEW LIFE!
Praise cheeses!
I'm not yet sure if they are lemon trees or tiny tentacle monsters which inhabit abandoned lemons, but whatever they'll grow up to be, I'll keep you updated.
(That is, if they reach adulthood. Let me get my K-pop songs)

Cookie Time

I bought Black Treacle for the first time last year (main reason being the awesome Halloween tins it came in), and haven't done much with it since.
So because I don't want it to go bad (can treacle even go bad?), I made some cookies!
And they are SO DELICIOUS.

Black Treacle Cookies
(from allrecipes.co.uk)
155g (⅔ cup + 1 tsp) butter
200g (¾ cup + 2 tbsp) sugar
 60g (4 tbsp) black treacle
1 egg
250g (1¼ cup) flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground cloves

1 pinch salt

additional sugar

*

Melt the butter and set aside to cool.

Add sugar, egg and treacle, beat well.

Sieve together dry ingredients, then add to the mixture and stir until combined.
Chill for three hours or over night.

Preheat oven to 190°C.
Form dough into walnut sized balls, roll them in the additional sugar and place on parchment lined baking trays.
Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Don't worry if they come out a bit crispier than you like, just store them in an air tight container, and they'll be chewy and delicious the next day!

*the original recipe also calls for ½ tsp ground ginger, if that's your thing

Cupcakes, cupcakes, more cupcakes!

One of my mother's friends apparently likes my cupcakes! Oh yeah!
She asked if I could bake 20, so of course I said yes and baked 70.
I see your raised eyebrow, and raise you another.
Yes, I can get carried away sometimes, but my dad told me to make some for us as well, and 50 sounds about right for four people, right? Right?

I tried two new recipes, Ultimate Marble Cupcakes and Homemade Lemon Cupcakes, both by Sally's Baking Addiction.
The marble cupcakes are so pretty and delicious (even though the frosting is a bit too sweet for my taste), I almost don't want to eat them! Almost. I already had three.
The lemon ones aren't my favourite lemon cupcakes, but they're not bad and my parents both think they're delicious.
Other than that I also made my go-to chocolate cupcake with my go-to frosting, raspberry whipped cream.

 From left to right: Ultimate Marble Cupcakes, Homemade Lemon Cupcakes (used a different frosting) and Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Whipped Cream

 LOOK AT THOSE PRETTY SWIRLS

I love how currants come in different colours :D (am I the only one who thinks that cupcake has a major derp face?)