Trying the master the icing trademark

Swirls?  Buttercream?  Royal Icing?  Writing?  Flowers?  Magnolia inspired?  Flat peak?  a little dot like Lolas and Sprinkles Bakery?  Fondant?  Ooooh SO many choices!

Right; I need a signature ‘topping’ design.  Everyone seems to have one, but me.

So I have started trying out a few things.  Until now I’ve just done a bog standard swirl or a bit of a fluffy splodgey top covered in colour co-ordinated sprinkles (it’s all about the colour palette dahrlings!).  But now I feel I need something that says – ‘that’s a Coco Loco Cupcake’.

I hadn’t used Royal Icing before, so I gave that a bash (not quite happy with that, think I need to get a proper ‘tip’ for the icing thingy-me-jig so the letters come out a bit neater)  and I tried some swirls and patterns (unhappy with all of these due to a ‘buttercream issue’).

So I had a bit of a tantrum, because it didn’t turn out the way I planned.

So I had to give myself a kick up the back-side and tell myself to not be such a perfectionist and practise makes perfecto!

Will try again later in the week when I have to do my VERY LAST freebie box of cupcakes for my best friend’s brother’s charity evening – he cycled all the way to John O’Goats (did I spell that right?) for the Parkinson’s charity, which Sarah’s Mum suffers from.

Mum and Dad bought me back a cupcake from Waitrose too – for ‘Research’ they said.  It was Mint buttercream and dense chocolate sponge.  The sponge was actually very dry and bland.. and salty.  The mint buttercream was rather nice actually, if you like the taste of chewing gum on your chocolate sponge.   I was also quite frightened by the bright green colouring – it reminded me of Halloween!

Bake, Rattle and Roll!

Oh, how exciting!  I have a blog.  I feel like I’ve finally joined the party everyone’s  been having for the last umpteen number of years.

I’ve always wanted a blog but now that I have one,  I feel like I should nurture it like a new little pot plant.  So I will try to invest lots of lovely hours blogging about my baking adventures. Rock and roll!

Oh, just remembered – must tell you;  Saw Piers Morgan at the train station in Cardiff yesterday, looked at him and said ( stoooopidly) ‘ Oh my god, you’re Piers Morgan!’  (DOH! moment!  Of course he knows his freekin’ name Angie!)

Thankfully he didn’t seem too bothered and smiled and said – ‘Hello there!’

He’s actually not as tall in real life – but to his credit, he is much better looking.

Tomorrow I am going to have a lie in.  Then a mASSIVE baking session will commence.  And I mean MAHUSSSSIVE!

Went on a very inspiring workshop today with the AWESOME Shikhita of Fair Cake, London.  I’m in total awe of this lady.  She is now my new pin up.  I’m taking Mark Owen down for the first time in 15 years.

She runs lots of cupcakery making courses and workshops so you must all sign up now and learn from this super-dooper lady 🙂

Off to bedfordshire now.  Will dream of cupcake empire.  Nighty night x