Hello everybody!

How are things going?

Currently I’m spending some days in Barcelona visiting family and friends. I’m not baking these days because I don’t have enough baking tools here : (  They are almost all in London! In addition, my mum’s oven is pretty old-fashioned, making quite difficult to bake properly! This is the reason why I’ve been a bit off recently.

Everyone I know in Barcelona asks me for some home-made cupcakes but unfortunately I can’t please them. The shoemaker’s son always goes barefoot! They all should pay me a visit in London if they want to taste them! ; )

Although I’m not baking during these Holidays, I’m really happy to stay with my family and friends. I’m enjoying a lot with them and I’m trying to rest a bit too. I’ll go back to London with a lot of energy! ; )

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Before coming here, a friend of mine placed an order for his son’s birthday. It was a jungle themed party that took place in a soft play area with some other children. There was another birthday girl there. They both blew out the candles together. Everybody had a happy and fun afternoon!

I made handcrafted giraffes, elephants, snakes and hippos by modelling gum paste. They all showed their faces through the grass, which was piped with green buttercream. I used a multi-opening tip (#234) for this purpose.

I also made a large snake which consisted of several cupcakes placed in a zigzag row.

And this is the jungle cake I also made for that occasion:

It was a two layer chocolate cake filled with strawberry jam and decorated with buttercream and sugarpaste figures. The leaves on sides were made with dark green buttercream. I used Sugarflair Holly green paste to colour it as well as the tip #67 to pipe them.

Look at the monkey’s tail trying to catch a banana!

But that was not all! My friend had seen a raspberry basket in my blog before and she also wanted a similar one for his birthday’s son party.

I wouldn’t like to leave you without wishing you all a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Sara

I’ve loved Christmas since I was a child. Xmas for me is illusion, happiness, joy, love, warmth… It’s a beautiful moment to gather with your family and enjoy all together.

This is being my first Christmas in London. Currently it’s amazingly decorated: Hyde Park, London Bridge, Westminster, Oxford Street… Hundreds of lights and garnishes everywhere. London is surrounded by such a magic atmosphere!

During this season I like decorating my Xmas tree with lots of garnishes, walking along the illuminated and crowded streets, watching Christmas films (even if I’ve watched them several times), and eating the typical food of this season, specially the sweet one (“turrón”, “polvorones”, “mantecados”… they’re all typical Spanish!! Yummmmmmmmy!!).

As I forgot my huge Xmas tree in Barcelona, this year I decided to make Xmas tree cupcakes instead! And as it’s difficult to find my favourite kind of “turrón” here (the “Jijona” ‘s one), I decided to eat them all too! haha. All in one! I’m jocking! Actually my partner brought some of them into his office to share with his workmates. Merry Christmas, guys!

These Xmas tree cupcakes are surprisingly easy to make. I got my inspiration from the book Objetivo: Cupcake Perfecto whose writer is Alma Obregón.

How To Make Them

Bake your cupcakes in brown paper liners. Let them cool onto a cooling rack. Meanwhile roll out some yellow gum paste (I used Wilton lemon yellow to colour it) and cut some stars by using a small star shaped pastry cutter.

Once your cupcakes have completely cooled, fill your piping bag with green buttercream (I used Wilton leaf green to colour it) and pipe a tall swirl onto each cupcake by using the #2D tip decoration (closed star). Immediately after (before buttercream dries), sprinkle your cupcake with sugar balls and add a star on top.

Give them a try! You’ll surprise all your guests this Christmas!

Have a nice week.

Sara

Hey there!

Few days ago I posted my experience at Bcn&Cake, the first Baking and Cake Decorating Fair celebrated in Barcelona. It took place last weekend (November 24th – 25th), but I’ve been quite excited since then and this post is the proof, haha.

One of the best experiences there, was to meet Alma (from Objetivo Cupcake Perfecto), as I already mentioned in the last post. She’s A-M-A-Z-I-N-G in many ways!! I’ve learnt lots of things about making cupcakes since I found her blog. Thanks for sharing your baking knowledge with all of us! I’m your fan number one in London, for sure! ; )

I also had the pleasure to meet other well-known international cake decorators, such as Lindy Smith and Marcela Capó.

With Lindy Smith 

With Marcela Capó 

I also want to highlight those stands that I specially liked. They were  Fiesta Cake Barcelona, I Love Cookies, Cooking Cookies, Sara Sweet Cakes, Con un Toque de Azúcar, For the Cakes, Vainilla y Caramelo, Manenas, DeCake, La Casita Dulce de las Flores, I love Aprons, etc. Well done to all of you! : )

I posted really nice cake pictures in the previous post, all of them absolute master pieces which were showcased in the fair. Here are some other lovely cakes and cookies that I and my friend Ester could enjoy there:

I hope you’ve enjoyed these wonderful cakes as much as I did!

As I already mentioned in the previous post, there were not just cakes, cookies and cupcakes in the fair, but also both many baking ingredients and decorating tools. These are some of the tools I got:

Some of them are still wrapped. I haven’t used them for the first time yet! But I’m eager to do it the sooner the better!!

I won’t easily forget my visit to Bcn&Cake!

Have a nice week!

Sara