Workshops - June, July, September 2012

Oh you do like your cupcakes! So much so that even though it's a bit late in the day I am changing the workshops. They will still run on the original dates 16th June, 14th July and 1st September 2012. However there will now be two 2 hour workshops on each of those days. Workshop 1 will run from 10am-12 and will show you how to make lots of little animals for your cupcakes. Workshop 2 will run 2-4pm and will show you how to make little figures for your cupcakes (boy, girl fairy etc). The workshops will be held at the same place, the Roebuck Hotel, Ware, Hertfordshire and the cost is £30 per person per workshop. There is a maximum number of 10 places per workshop so nobody gets ignored and they are suitable for anybody including complete beginners. Come along, get sticky, drink coffee, chat and go home with something you didn't know you could do!

The main website will be updated as soon as possible to accomadate these changes. If you are interested please e-mail me so I can add you to the list.

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!

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!

@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!

School Summer Holidays

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

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!

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

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...

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...!!!

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"!

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!

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

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

My first glimpse

I have just been e-mailed the first set of proofs of the new book. This is the first opportunity I have had to see what it will look like. It's both exciting and quite incredible as the book is being produced in America and I have never met the editor, art director or anybody else working on it face to face. Indeed, I have not even spoken to anyone on the telephone. Everything has been conducted by e-mail.
If you're one of the internet generation who take it all in their stride, who laugh at us "internet immigrants" and our inability to instantly pick up and understand how the latest gadget works you will see no "magic" in this at all. Ancient, wizened cake bakers like myself however, stand in our kitchens, flour down our front and marvel at how all this has become possible.
I think it' looks great and my neice has already decided which one she wants for her birthday next year.

"Contact Me" problems

It would appear that there have been a few problems with the contact box on the wedding cake section of the site and some messages have not got through. If you have tried to write to me using the box and I have not replied, I am not being rude. Please try again.

The "Click here to contact Carol" button in the book section is working properly as is enquiries@caroldeaconcakedesign.co.uk in the wedding cake section. We will try to sort out the box and its picky temperamental attitude to which letters it forwards as soon as possible!

Many apologies
Carol

Fabulous Party Cakes and Cupcakes

Well I have now been given a title for the new book : "Fabulous Party Cakes and Cupcakes" and a publication date of 15th March 2011. It is even possible to reserve a copy already on various internet sites such as Amazon. I feel very nervous as I haven't seen proofs yet and don't know what it looks like. I still have the cakes from the book piled up in my dining room. I was too scared to dismantle anything in case it didn't come up to scratch and I had to reshoot the lot !

Anyway, back to the kichen. I have a stiletto shoe cake to do for Friday. It seemed such a simple request. The heel snapped off the first, a curious child broke the second and the third shoe is still in the mould glowering at me from across the kitchen. Talk about killer fashion !

New Book

I am sitting in my kitchen with one hour to go before the children finish school for the long Summer break. There is a battered Scooby Doo book on the floor and I completely empathise with the speech bubble coming out of Scooby's mouth that says "YIKES!!!!!"

Much of this year has been taken up with the putting together of a brand new book. A Big book this time which is to be published by Tuttle publishing in America. The book will be available globally and will be published Spring 2011.

As with my little book series, I have done all the photography myself (doing the self portrait was a bit of a laugh that involved a timer and a surf board) as well as the cakes.

The book (I'm still not 100% sure of the title at this moment in time) is a big book of party cakes and cupcakes that I hope you will enjoy and want to use time and time again.

Thank you for all your e-mails. I hope my responses have been useful.

Have a wonderful Summer

Carol x