Friday 18 November 2011

Cake International Excel London 27-29 April 2012

Have just been told that due to the huge success of the recent Cake International Exhibition at the NEC Birmingham, the organisers ICHF are going to run TWO events in 2012. The first will be at the Excel in London 27-29 April 2012. The second will be at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham 9-11th November. Follow the link for more details http://www.ichf.co.uk/cake/

Get those baking tins out now!

Monday 12 September 2011

Facebook

Should anyone be interested, you can now find me on Facebook under " Carol Deacon Cakes".
My website should be undergoing a bit of a makeover shortly so the links to Facebook, Twitter and You Tube will be made more prominent. It's finding the time for all this time saving technology!

Thursday 8 September 2011

@caroldeaconcake - Carol is now twittering

Ok I am now attempting to twitter...dah! dah! dah! cue dramatic music @caroldeaconcake is my username.
Now enough computer fiddling for today ...back to the kitchen!

Monday 5 September 2011

School Summer Holidays

Yay! I survived all six weeks of them!!!!

Monday 18 July 2011

Cake International Advert


Hah! been feeling a bit off colour today but have managed to upload (or is it download?) anyway whatever the direction, I have managed to put a banner for the forthcoming NEC cake show on here.
To anyone competent with a computer this will seem a huge under achievement but it's a small digital step forward for the central processing unit in this old cake decorating mainframe's brain!

Thursday 30 June 2011

You Tube

Being a bit of an internet dinosaur, it's taken a while but courtesy of my 12 yearl old daughter I have just produced two short films on You Tube to back up two of the cake designs from "Fabulous Party Cakes and Cupcakes". One is "Happy Hamsters" and the other is a "Simple Rose Cupcake". Hopefully now I've got the hang of it, more will follow.
My channel is "carolmdeacon" but just typing "Carol Deacon" into videos on the google or You Tube home pages should get you there too.
The website is about to undergo some updating so eventually there should be a direct link on that too.
It all takes sooooooo much time though!!

Cake International NEC 4-6th November 2011

If you enjoy cake decorating and can get to the NEC in Birmingham sometime over the 4-6th November 2011, come and see me and many other cake enthusiasts at the fabulous "Cake International" Show. I shall be on the "Meet the Author" stand with my book, demonstrations and a big smile hoping someone will actually want to come and meet me!
For more details, visit the ICHF website http://www.ichf.co.uk/cake

Thursday 19 May 2011

The finishing line in sight

Hah! Have finally finished the new book despite losing all my photos for a day (me and electronics -we do weird things together!)
Actually it drives my husband mad. "How come the computer works fine for everyone else - you touch it and some message I've never heard of before comes up and it all goes blue"
Anyway he hunted around in cyberspace and seems to have found them again which is a relief as I have a particularly interesting wedding cake coming up...

Monday 9 May 2011

The Times

Am becoming media tart (pardon the patisserie pun!)

Am in today's edition of "The Times" in an article about stress!

There's a picture of me in my kitchen with some cakes and my washing machine, blurb about how I got to be in my kitchen with my cakes and my washing machine and even a plug for "Fabulous Party Cakes and Cupcakes."
I hope the publicity means the good folks at Tuttle won't be too upset that I'm a bit late finishing the sequel...!!!

Friday 4 March 2011

Christmas Came a bit Early!

Well there I am putting together a Christmas cake for the next book. As it's only March it's a bit early to get enthusiastic about Christmas so to get in the mood I had put on a Christmas hat and was playing Christmas music full blast.
Suddenly I realise the doorbell's ringing. I answer it - it's a delivery man and he's looking at me a bit strangely. I realise I'm still wearing the Santa hat and "Little Drummer Boy" is belting out of the kitchen.
He hands me a parcel. "Present for you" he says. We look at each other. He doesn't miss a beat. "Ho Ho Ho" he says totally deadpan. As I shut the door I see his shoulders in his van heaving with laughter.
I suppose it's nice that my work entertains people even if it's not in quite the way I'd intended!

I have now removed the Santa hat and am playing "Take That"!

Tuesday 8 February 2011

Gelatin (Gelatine) Icing Recipe

Ingredients

5 tablespoons water
2 sheets (leaves) gelatine
2 teaspoons liquid glucose (you should be able to find this in the supermarket, if not try your local chemist/drugstore)
500g (1lb 2oz) icing sugar (confectioner's sugar)
2-3 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)

Method

1. Place 5 tablespoons of water into a small heatproof bowl and stand inside a saucepan with about 2cm (1/2 inch) of water in the base.

2. Using scissors, cut the gelatin leaves into small pieces and place into the water in the bowl. Gently prod them to make sure all the gelatin is submerged.

3. Place the saucepan on a gentle heat and slowly heat the water. As it heats up, the gelatine should start to dissolve. Once it has dissolved completely remove the bowl from the heat.

4. Spoon two teaspoonfuls of liquid glucose into the gelatin and stir in.

5. Place the icing sugar (confectioner's sugar) into a large mixing bowl.

6. Tip the gelatin/glucose mixture into the centre and stir in.

7. When you can no longer stir, use your hand to mix the rest together. (It will seem quite lumpy at this stage.)

8. Sprinkle the cornflour over your work surface and place the gelating icing on top. Knead the icing adding more cornflour if necessary. You should end up with icing that feels quite silky and smooth.

9. Place into a plastic food bag (as it will start to harden very quickly )until you need to use it.


Gelatin icing can be used immediately and does not need to be refrigerated. If it gets difficult to handle you can try softening it by giving it a quick blast in the microwave (about 5 seconds)

Gelatin (Gelatine) Icing

Gelatin icing is a type of icing that sets hard and brittle. I use it for all sorts of things including castle turrets, flags and plaques. It is not suitable for covering cakes as it would be difficult to cut. There are similar types of icing available that perform the same type of function - pastillage is one. There are numerous recipes available online. You can also buy ready made pastillage and pastillage powders that you mix up from cake decorating equipment stores.
I opted for using gelatin icing in my books because the ingredients are easy to get hold of and should be available in your local supermarket. However the books use powdered gelatin and in the UK at least something rather peculiar has happened to powdered gelatin.

It started with a couple of e-mails from readers trying to make their own gelatin icing and has now become a regular torrent. Instead of producing a smooth stretchy icing, the powdered gelatin is producing something dry, stringy, and completely unuseable. What have you done oh Gelatin manufacturers???

So to try and save any potential castle cake makers out there from dry stringy frustration, I have spent the last two afternoons experimenting with gelatin leaves (sheets). These are thin transparent sheets of gelatin that you should be able to find in your supermarket. As I was doing this it crossed my mind that you could cut these up to make glass for windows in a gingerbread house but hey I digress...

Recipe to follow!

Monday 10 January 2011

Knebworth Wedding Spectacular

A quick wedding fayre update.

I will now also be displaying my wedding cakes at the Knebworth Wedding Spectacular on Sunday 23rd January 2011

http:www.theweddingguide.info/knebworth

Monday 3 January 2011

Wedding Fayres January 2011

Just in case anyone is interested I will be exhibiting my wedding cakes at two wedding shows in Hertfordshire this month:-

January 9th at Hanbury Manor near Ware SG12 0SD 11-4pm

January 16th at Ware Priory, High Street Ware SG12 9AL 11-3pm

Happy New Year

Oops where did last year go? I still haven't got started on last year's new year resolutions!

As you will see from the title page, "Fabulous Party Cakes & Cup Cakes" will be out in March and is already available for pre-order.

You know it's an odd business writing a book. It's hugely intense for a number of months trying to fit writing, making the cakes, photography and general panics and deadlines around family life. Then the intensity dies down while the book is edited. Then it comes back for you to proof read, to check for mistakes and by this time you've had a bit of a chance to lift you head above the parapets. Now you find yourself wracked with concern. Is it as good as you hope? Will anyone buy it? and... and... and...

Anyway, I guess Tuttle the publishers must be pleased with it as they've already asked me to begin work on ideas for the next book. So you know what? Now that deadlines are once more on the horizon I have a strong suspicion that that this year's New year resolutions will be falling by the wayside again!

Happy New Year