Been working on a cake for my mum and dad's 41st anniversary!  Due to circumstances we never did anything for their fortieth and so this year I decided to organise a bit of a get together.  We had a pie and pea supper for family and friends at the lovely Potting Shed Cafe in the Pot House Hamlet at Silkstone, near Barnsley.  It is such a cosy and beautiful venue and the food is superb. My hubby suggested doing a beach scene cake as my mum and dad like to go to St Ives and are also quite fond of the Maldives.  And thanks to my beautiful daughter who is a fine art photographer (The Blushing Peony) I get great pictures of my work!!

I have enjoyed a new challenge this past few weeks - making edible succulents.  My cousin's son got married yesterday and I was asked to make a traditional looking fruit cake! Not sure it truly is traditional to add succulents, but it definitely went with the theme of their reception.

Been busy this week making cupcakes for my nephew and niece's pool party.  They had a great time, playing on a giant blow-up floating obstacle course.  Think the adults had more fun than the littlies though! Anyway, I made lovely raspberry jam flavoured cupcakes and topped them with a swirl of buttercream around a circle of sea and creature! They went down a treat in the snack boxes prepared for after the big swim!

Alstroemeria and miniature carnations add beauty and colour to this draped wedding cake. And I am so lucky having a daughter that is talented with photography skills. After spending a day at the park doing a photoshoot for a group of mums and little chums she came and did a photoshoot of my cake! So thank you very much Tabitha!  www.theblushingpeony.co.uk

I decided to make a turtle or two! I think they are quite cute and would make good toppers for a kids party or even on a baby shower cake. They are so simple to make, the kind of thing that you could make at home with your children on a rainy day, and we have had a lot of rainy days lately!

It was a beautiful January engagement party with fairy lights and buntin everywhere. There were cheese and crackers, slices of hams and salami, and glasses of fizz and sparkle.  It needed a nice winter cake with a sprinkle of glitter. 

This year I had a great challenge - that of making my daughter's wedding cake. There are so many cakes on pinterest that she could not make up her mind what she wanted! White chocolate mud cake was to be the flavour of the cake, and so I would be able to get on with the baking or so I thought! But was it to be round or square? After deliberating we finally plumped for deep square tiers. 

She knew she wanted a gold and pink theme and preferably real gold leaf somewhere on the cake! Her flower choice was peony, and so I began the many hours of creating sugarpaste peonies and buds. A lot of work is involved in making these flowers, but the end result is well worth the time and effort.

Finally she decided that she wanted an ombre effect cake, with a gold top tier. 

We put the finished delight on a ceramic cake stand, which I was slightly worried that it would not be able to hold the weight, but it did us proud!

My mum added the final romantic touch of two swarovski swans to symbolize the union of two people joining for life. 

What a beautiful day it turned out to be and we are so grateful to the people who worked so hard to make it the perfect day.

This beautiful picture was taken by Belle and Beau photography.