I have been super busy the last couple of weeks!

Not only do I make cakes for customers to order but I also teach cake decorating to others which I absolutely love.

I have recently started 2 pme diploma courses teaching sugarflowers and sugarpaste.

They are both completely different from each other so the variety is great.

So far on the sugarflowers course we have made roses, Blackberries, Cala lilies, Rose leaves, and Carnations the students I have are very friendly and extremely eager to learn.

 On the sugarpaste course we have just started so only covered 1 week but we got so much done and the students all left feeling extremely proud of themselves and the beautiful cakes they made. We covered cutting and filling of a cake as well as covering the cake in sugarpaste to a professional level ( a couple of the students have never decorated a cake before they did so well)

We also looked at some beautiful and simple decoration to make the cakes look completed at a professional level.

We all had a great time and I cannot wait until the next lesson

Here is a guide of the amount of sugarpaste and marzipan required for each size cake

The table below gives a rough guide to the number of portions you can cut from square or round cakes of various sizes.

Rich fruit cakes are traditionally cut into pieces measuring 1 inch x 1 inch, whilst sponge cake portions are usually larger, about 2 inch x 1inch.  This means a sponge cake cuts into fewer portions than a similar sized fruit cake ~ the first two columns in the table below below show number of portions for a fruit cake, and the last two are for sponge cakes.

Shapes such as ovals, hearts and hexagons will give roughly the same number of portions as a round cake of the same size.  Bear in mind that square cakes are easier to cut into rows of neat and tidy portions than round cakes! 

                                              

       

Here is a lovely moist rich chocolate cake recipe that the entire family will love.....

 

250g Plain Flour

60g Cocoa Powder

1 1/2 teaspoons Bicarbonate of Soda

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Salt

225g Caster Sugar

150g Mayonnaise ( regular)

240ml Water

1 heaped teaspoon of Instant Coffee

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract/Essence

 

1. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, bicarb of soda, baking powder and salt together.

2. In a seperate bowl, mix the caster sugar and mayonnaise together.

3. Dissolve the coffee in the water and add the vanilla to this.

4. Add the coffee mix to the sugar and mayonnaise and whisk until well combined.

5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until well combined and fairly smooth.

6. Spoon the mixture into your prepared muffin trays.

7. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

8. Let cool in tray for 5 minutes and then cool completely before topping with your choice of frosting.

AND ENJOY

I don't know about you but I have always been a little bit of a nightmare when it comes to impulse shopping.

Today is no different. I normally come across cake equipment that I don't want but I really need it (well at least that's what I tell Mr cake)

I am very very fortunate and live in the countryside with a very good sized garden. Last summer we created a nice little vegetable patch and being as its my first ever attempt I absolutely loved it. So this year we have decided to go bigger and better and have a great variety of fresh veg.

After speaking with a friend (which is where the impulse shopping comes in) We got talking about my garden and veg and the big plans I have next year and we got onto the conversation of chickens and before you know it she has informed me that she is selling her chicken coop which I just cant say no to. After all who wanted want nice fresh eggs every morning.

I am so excited and just cant wait to have 2 little chickens running around the garden and lovely fresh eggs of a morning.

Here is the recipe for the nicest lemon meringue pie.......

For the pastry

I find it better once it has been in the fridge for a while and served cold but this is preference.

Please not this recipe has been found on the internet however I have used this recipe for a long time and wouldn't change a thing.  ENJOY

Today was supposed to be a baking free day.... but I just cant stay out of the kitchen.

We all know how busy the Christmas period is with making cakes, sweets and of course shopping and in the cakes, tarts and arts headquarters its been non stop ever since!

Today was my first relaxed day since before Christmas so I had planned for a little me time and with 2 young children that never seems to happen.

So I dropped the children to school and went home to have a quick tidy up ready for a relaxed day just me, a cup of tea and all my baking programs.

After 10 minutes of all that beautiful baking I was witnessing I could not resist it any longer so off I went to the kitchen!

A quick route through the cupboards and fridge I am armed with Flour, Eggs, Butter, Lemons, Orange, cornflour and sugar I am ready to go!

3 hours later I have the most beautiful lemon meringue pie I have ever seen and tasted. I have the recipe to hand if you fancy giving it ago yourselves I can assure you it is totally worth every minute of time put in to make it.

It doesn't matter how hard i try I just cant stay out of the kitchen :-)

Now with a lovely baked lemon meringue pie I really need to start planning and organising the challenges and excitement for the next couple of weeks.

All cakes for the week are prepped and ready for completion, that's just leaves me with party prep and we all love a good party. 

My lovely new flyers have arrived so I am all set to go with the organising of themes and packages for the cake decorating parties.

This is going to be my biggest task over the next few weeks so all children's cake decorating parties are perfect and completely unique to each child.

We are going to have themes for animal lovers, princesses, super heros, Christmas, Easter and so much more there is just so much you can do with cake and I am so excited to share and support the children during the cake decorating parties.

The best part of the cake decorating parties is watching the childrens enthusiasm and excitement as they make every little cake come to life. Children have so much imagination I find it truly fascinating that after a bit of support and guidance that each child can come up with a cupcake design all of their own and make it look totally amazing. They really are an inspiration and make my job one that I absolutely love

Welcome to Cakes Tarts and arts.....

Let me start with you telling you a little about me....

My name is Kim Garland and I have been running my own cake business since 2008.

I have diplomas in Sugarflowers, Sugarpaste and Royal icing. I have also been given a great opportunity and been teaching cake decorating to other people since 2009.

Making cakes really did start off for me as a hobby and because I wanted to be able to make my childrens cakes because I really was quite shockingly bad. But with the right help and guidance I have managed to push my hobby forward I do a job that I never dreamt I would be able to.

We are very excited with all the things we have in the pipeline for this year starting with children's cake decorating parties which I am super excited about. I have been running children's parties since 2009 which I was running through another company however now I am going to be pushing them forward through my own company with some fantastic new themes.

The children absolutely love these parties and the best part is they get to take all their masterpieces home