My friend Steve organised a birthday BBQ and to make it a bit more fun his girlfriend Jen and I decided to go with a British theme as Steve is a big fan of all things British.  On the day Jen's Sister Sarah also played a huge part in the set-up!

I got to make the birthday cake which I was really looking forward to as I had recently seen a set of Emma Bridgewater tins that I wanted to base my design on.  Here are the tins:

To achieve this look I thought I would try hand painting the union jack designs with edible paint.  I was slightly nervous about painting the cake free hand but I gave it a go anyway and I was really happy with the finished cake.  Definitely my favourite cake so far!

For the sponge I used Primrose Bakery's vanilla layer cake recipe.  The bottom cake is an 8" four tier vanilla sponge filled with buttercream and jam and the top tier is a 6" three tier vanilla sponge also filled with buttercream and jam.   To ensure even spacing between the Union Jacks I measured the height and width of the cake using baking paper and drew my design on to it.  The crown was made from a gumpaste/ sugarpaste mixture and I used a silicon mold to make the fleur de lis detail which I stuck onto the crown once dry with some edible glue.  I painted the crown with edible gold paint.

We had a fantastic day and fun was had by all, especially the birthday boy. 

B is for Biscuit

Not only did I create a cake for the occasion my my friend Jen made some fantastic British themed decorated biscuits.  Jen is planning on starting a biscuit company called B is for Biscuit and as soon as she sets up her website I will be sure to let you know.  Here are a few pictures of Jen's biscuits and our British display: