ASock monkey, just clarifying that when. I say I aim for 4" cakes, I mean including the buttercream :)

G'night :D

ASock monkey if you are doing a 6 inch cake (diameter) and scaling down a 8 inch recipe for it I would make the volume of batter for the 8 inch and split it between 2 6 inch pans. That's the wY I do it and it it comes out nicely risen.

If I was then doing an 8" & 10" the same way, would I have to scale them upto 10" & 12" split between two tins or is it not that straightforward?

I'm not too worried about this cake - I'll just use this to test the flavours and chocolate outer. I made my praline paste earlier, which was tricky without a food processor. I ended up using a pestle & mortar, so I fully expect to have one arm like Madonna tomorrow.

AI not sure. I know the 8 between 2 6's works as I do it for 6 inch cakes so I can get a good height. It's worked with both chocolate and vanilla.

AErm....on top of things......nearly........?

One buttercream done (pre-Bake Off) finished off some more SP buds, and prepped for my silhouette which I'm going to attempt to cut out now - eek!

After that it's bed for me - need to get up early to head over to Lakeland and clear them out of white Renshaws.........sigh.....

Knackered, hope tomorrow makes up for today!

Hope you are ok Lizzy, don't overdo it if you're feeling poorly.

Night All!

A

That was me petit, it looks so nice and professional. I did an Oreo birthday cake for my sons birthday and enjoyed piping the top of it in a similar style I think it looks lovely. My pipings not as good as yours though.

AEvening all :-)

Fantastic news Tiddy that your ok, hope your cakes are going well I'm sure they are up to your usual ninja degree of excellence!

Great car cake loubee! Well done you :-)

Petitecat lovely cake !

I've been so naff leaving things to the last minute got two cakes this Weekend and I am so behind ! I just am so busy lately with no time at all to keep up with anything properly !

Thanks all for your pink posts ! My neon pink should arrive tomorrow so I will let you all know what it's like !

Lizzy hope your not too poorly x

Maisie don't know if your about but planning on trying your Xmas cake recipe soon for a trial run. I know I'm too early but I'm so excited for Christmas already !!

AOh forgot to say Mel I'm so sorry your having a rough ride. I'm sure with a fresh head you'll sort things in the morning x

AThank you Jo about the cake. Looking forward to seeing the cakes your doing this weekend.

Good luck with the jewellery toppers Relznik.

AMorning

Relznik a honey cake I'm intrigued never made one of those. Look forward to seeing the jewellery toppers.

Loubee thanks I hope I get round to posting pictures. My caking world would be much simpler if my darn social life and in fact more aptly my kids social life didn't get in the way ! Got a 1D cake, and a horse themed 25th wedding anniversary cake. Really hope my new script tappits arrive in time for that one !

Day off today so hopefully will manage to get some baking and making done.

Have a good day all :-)

AOoh ooh! I've got one job already crossed off today's list, go me! Batch of Royal made before breakfast, I'm determined today will *not* be a repeat of yesterday.....

Good luck with the jewellery toppers Suzanne, can't wait to see them!

SockMonkey good luck with your cake, not sure I can help with heights as I think it's quite recipe dependant. Personally I bake 2 cakes per tier, and tort into 3 layers so there's 2 layers of filling. Normally I get about 4" in height.

Jo good luck with all your cakes too!

Right, best get on.......hope everyone else is ok!

AMorning all

Oh dear, still feeling naff. Nothing I can put my finger on, just general bleurghness, coupled now with the threat of migraine (come on imigran, work dammit, I can't have that coming on full blast today) and a weird but sharp pain between my shoulder blades that started last night and is persisting. Is that indigestion? I never know where that is, I'm so crap.

Oh well, off to physio after school run and then have to crack on with the slippers regardless. At least now that they've bought the date forward I have tomorrow clear.

Are you raring to go yet Suzanne (sorry, Your Highness)? :-D You've probably got half of them done by now, hehe ;-) Maybe not then :-D

AGo Mel, Woooooooooo! :-D

AMorning all,was busy last night, made a quick cake for a colleague. I cant believe how much work there is for my ice/snow castle, mind you thats probably me. It may look abit naff tho, Mmmm, not sure about it yet, the one tier a turned into two, and got a cupcake board to make by tomorrow! I work all day today,argh.

Morning all - wondered where you were Barbara.  Can't wait to see your castle.  It's a bit like buses I find - nothing for ages and then all at once.

Lizzy - I am feeling the same - I'm sure it's because I'm getting up in the dark now.  My head is like fog and I am just so sluggish.  Can't get into my diet (no change there) but I know I have to do something as I am probably borderline diabetic (my diagnosis - my age/myweight/myactivity - first two high and last one low!).  So probably getting the autumn "blues".  I have promised myself a duvet day soon with the laptop and tutorials on flowers.  However, will have to postpone that as seriously busy at work.

Suzanne - did you say what colour background you decided on for your jewellery toppers?  Really can't wait to see them.

Gray - any news on the submarine?  I try to catch up on my phone but it's a Samsung and sometimes I get frozen out of the thing - so sorry if you already posted.

Haven't heard from M4rvel - how is it going with the medal?

Or Tiddy - how are you and what have you got in the pipeline?

Or Maisie....where are you?  Missing your witty comments.

Kelsey - what about you???  Saw your shoe on Cake Circle - looking lovely.

When are all you guys meeting up then at CI????  I need a group photo you know! 

Sorry - so many questions and so little time......  Gonna pop in later.  Bye for now.

Kathy

Morning!!

Overslept this morning - so about to have a cuppa and some breakfast before I start work.

I decided on 'rich jewel tones' for the discs on top of the cupcakes - so like the gorgeous colours in the necklace Kelsey posted a pic of.  Sugarflair have some lovely new colourings, so I bought Royal Blue and Egyptian Orange (it's like a burnt orange, rather than a bright orange).  And I'm going do do a nice pink, but with a hint of claret through it, so it's bright but not neon. 

The jewellery itself is going to be fairly basic....  but I *hope* it will be effective!  I'm basically trying to copy the pics I found online!

Lizzy & Kath - I hope you both feel better very soon.  I hate waking up with a 'heavy, fuggy' head.  Happened to me on Monday.

I can't believe how quickly the evenings are drawing in now..... it seems to have happened a lot quicker this year. 

ASuzanne, I have a jewellery cake to make in a week or two, unless she changes her mind. You never know, was gonna be this week, then not, so who knows. Look forward to seeing what you do.

Was gonna make necklace, bracelet etc.

AMorning everyone, there are a lot of people AWOL from here at the moment aren't there? How dare they have lives outside of this thread haha.

Nanny can't wait to see your castle cake. I was so looking forward to doing one but it didn't end up going through, he changed his mind, so I'll have to find someone else who needs a princess castle now haha.

All of these jewellery cakes sound fun too. I may have a Vegas cake coming up, I just need to get in touch with her and see if she still wants it and if that is still her theme. I hope so!

Hope everyone gets much crossed off their to do list today. I love crossing things off lists...

Morning all. 

Suzanne, those colours sound gorgeous. One of these days I'll expand my colour palette, mine's so basic compared to yours.

Lizzy and Kathy, hope you are both better today.

Sugarluva, I agree, I want to make jewelery too! I guess in a way I will be. The plan is the middle tier of my 3 tier dummy will have 'pearls' all around the bottom, probably 3-4 rows of them. 

Yay, I rang Lakeland to ask if I can colour their Magic Powder Icing and they said yes!! Hurrah. I'm also going to get some Renshaw's from them, but only if they're on sale as I'm only covering dummies so don't want to spend too much!

Hope you all have a great day x

ASooo tired. Literally been up all night with a poorly two year old, I have college tonight which will be sponsored by caffeine and pro-plus.

AHe seems a bit better now, hopefully just a 24 hour thing. I don't do red bull, just lots of tea for me. And lots of munching as I have zero energy and we all know the best way to get energy is to eat copious amounts of chocolate

That redbull is dangerous stuff petitecat.  I had a tin of it after a bad nights sleep at my daughters and needing to be alert for a 5 hour drive home with hubby.  Talk about hyped up.  I drove the whole way home, myself, not letting hubby share.  I never stopped talking the entire way.  I could not sit still even when I got home (normally I would be exhausted after driving all that way) and then to top it off I burst out in red spots from head to toe.  And not just one or two but more like measles.  We decided that it might not be a good idea for me to ever have that stuff again.

Sorry to hear about your little one Siany.  Glad he seems on the mend now.

Cazza - I had a sip of Redbull once.  That was enough.  Never again.  Vile stuff!  I'd rather have a cup of coffee with a teaspoon of sugar and some food, if I need an energy boost.  Or at a push, I don't mind Lucozade.  But all those other energy drinks are vile!  Waaaaay too sweet for me (and I consider myself to have a sweet tooth!)

Oh Sian - poor you and poor little one.  Sorry Jean I'm with cazza and Suzanne - Rebull is the stuff of nightmares.  I cannot understand one work colleague's addiction to it.  She has tons of cans on her desk, in her drawers, in her bag.....she doesn't seem "odd" but am assuming that when she stops she is going to be murder to deal with.  However, I think she won't be able to stop.

Kathy

LOL I was just kidding actually. Siany said caffeine and pro-plus (is that a caffeine tablet?) and so I came up with redbull. I don't drink it either. I have been caffeine free for nearly a year. I only drink decaff. 

I have had redbull before, but didn't drink the whole can. I thought it might kill me. 

Kathy, my husband gets headaches when he doesn't drink enough coffee! 

Oooh Cazza you might be allergic to it!

AOh Lizzy poor you, hope you are feeling ok, and you too Siany after your late night! Kathy I'm the same in winter, awful getting up in the dark, takes me ages to properly wake up!

Just having a break, 5 tiers covered and just letting them set for a bit. Now having a 'procrastination' debate as to when to stack vs paint one of the cakes. It's 3 tiers, painting around the base of each. Do I paint then stack, risking smudges when moving, or stack then paint, risking accidental drips/brush marks etc.......leaning toward to latter, but not sure. I could also do with the space, entire kitchen is covered at the moment so getting rid of 2 cake spaces would be handy.....I normally wait overnight at least between SP and stack, but after yesterday's debacle I don't really have the time...

Hope you are getting on ok Suzanne!

Oh, and I love Renshaws! Cleaned out Lakeland this morning (got very odd looks buying 10 packs of white LOL) and it's a gazillion times better than yesterday! Jean I think Lakeland and Hobbycraft have offers on coloured Renshaws at the moment, not on white though (which is cheaper in Lakeland).

Nanny hope your castle is going ok, can't wait to see it!