Dear Readers

They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach so if you are a cake maker capturing your sweetheart should be child's play this Valentine's Day!

Times are hard, especially after Christmas so many people decide to save their pennies and dine in on the most romantic night of the year. If this is what you plan to do then why not bake a showstopper cake to present at the end of your meal to really knock his or her socks off?

After a much needed Christmas break, the team here are buzzing about the year ahead. We have so much going on and so little time to do it all in, I have a feeling that we will blink and Easter will be upon us.

This month I have designed some cakes with romance and love in mind so whether your sweetheart is male, female, young or old, I am confident that you will find something to interest you. Have a go at making some fancy treats and don't forget to send a photo of them to me at louise@cakecraftworld.com.

I will leave you to enjoy the newsletter and, in the words of the great John Lennon, "All you need is LOVE". Don't forget to check out our extensive Valentine's range of bags, boxes and ribbons available online.

 

Sometimes, white just isn't enough so if you are a lover of colour and glitter, then this 3 tier stunner could be just the one for you.

Unusual in its shape, two tiers of round cake covered in fuchsia pink sugarpaste and one middle hexagonal cake covered in pink sugarpaste, this cake really stands out from the rest. If you thought that red and pink didn't work together then here is the proof that it does. I used our beautiful red satin ribbon in different widths of 25mm and 15mm for the top and bottom tier and 15 mm pale pink ribbon for the middle tiers to neaten the bottom of the cakes. As far as I believe, romance and sparkle go hand in hand so all the decorations on this cake are covered with the ever popular non toxic glitters. These glitters are fantastic for brushing over decorations such as fairy wings, hearts and stars on wires to achieve a really pretty effect. Although they are non toxic, they are also labelled as non edible and therefore they are for decoration purposes only and should not be eaten. This is why we only use our glitters on decorations that can be pulled off the cake before consumption. Here in the kitchen, we use PME Glaze Spray for attaching and sealing the glitter onto decorations - simply spray the decoration with the glaze, sprinkle over with glitter and re-spray lightly. Leave for approximately 15 minutes and the glitter is set in place and will not transfer on to the cake. My kisses and hugs (X and O) are made from flower paste and cut from the Extra Large Alphabet Patchwork Cutters. The roses are from our large range of handmade sugar flowers and as before, the glitter is attached and sealed with the PME Glaze Spray.

We have some delightful new cupcake cases. This angelic collection contains 100 professional heavy gauge paper cupcake cases in 4 different cherub designs. They are presented in a display box with hanging tags and we absolutely love them.

Our beautiful botanical collection contains 100 professional heavy gauge paper cupcake cases in 4 different floral designs. These would be great for afternoon tea parties heaped high with piped cream and topped with fresh fruit or, as shown here, our vintage pink wafer roses. Absolutely scrummy!

These fantastic comic strip cupcake cases contain 100 professional heavy gauge paper cases in 4 different designs. Speech bubbles include the phrases "we simply must have more cupcakes", "real men love cupcakes too", "gee! what a swell cupcake" & "Brad can't resist my cupcakes!" They really are great fun and look even better with these multi-coloured sugar dots sprinkled all over them.

Perfect Piping Tips

We have been busy putting together a free cupcake piping guide on how to achieve different piping techniques included in the Little Venice Cake Company cupcake piping nozzle kit. This kit consists of 6 nozzles and 4 disposable piping bags as well as a delicious cupcake recipe.  

Download our free guide by clicking here. 

Brand New Valentine Decorations

Now For Something a Little Bit.......Different!

The cake was finished off with a tied bow in black satin ribbon and a good splattering of black food colouring. We used Sugarflair's Liquorice Black Paste Colour and diluted it down with a little water before carefully flicking it over the cake with a brush.  

A Couple of Ways to Say "I Love You"

This mini 5" cake on the left is an ideal gift for the one you love as it's not too big but there is just enough for you both to tuck into. I cut out the scalloped red sugarpaste plaque with one of the cutters from the Reversible 6 Piece Circular Cutter Set and then stencilled the linked hearts on top. To achieve this, gently rub a light covering of Jem Petal Base onto the surface of the plaque, attach the Hearts Stencil and carefully brush over with Sugarflair's Royal Gold Edible Lustre Dust. Just be very steady and careful not to disturb the dust when peeling the stencil off. To finish, I played around with red and pink satin ribbons and co-ordinated the decoration with gold balls and a gold round cake drum.

For the cupcake I embossed the red sugarpaste using an impressions rolling pin and delicately painted the raised design with Little Venice Cake Company Bronze Lustre Liquid Colour. I then finished off the cupcake with a large red turkey rose edged in the same bronze paint. 

3 Different Ways With Our Very Own Love Birds

Inspired by a Valentine's Day card, this cake is the cutest thing ever. The love birds are made from a set of 4 Heart Leaf Cutters. I simply turned the cut out hearts sideways and piped the eyes and legs on using black royal icing although you could draw the features on using a black edible ink pen.

Everyone at CakeCraftWorld has fallen in love with this cake! Once again I have used the impressions rolling pin for the plaque and, this time, the set of 2 Heart Leaf Cutters. The cake has been edged with our Pink & Red Hearts Sprinkle Mix. The little beaks and feet were made using the PME Small Metal Heart Plunger Cutter. The eyes and feathers can be added at the end with an edible colouring pen.

 

This pretty little cupcake uses the same design, this time using the Pink & Red Hearts Sprinkle Mix for the feet and beaks and our lovely metallic red foil muffin cases.

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Thank you for all your photos and please do keep them coming in to louise@cakecraftworld.com