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INTRODUCE A FRIEND
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Hall Of Fame
I would like to apologise for getting 2 readers' photos mixed up last month. Hilary Casey's chocolate cupcakes were accredited to Anya so, from the production team here at Cake Craft World, a great big sorry to you both.
Anya McCarthy
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Dear Readers
Now I'm not saying that spring is finally here but....there are crocuses in my garden and they are making me smile. I feel very protective of them and worry that one last frost might come along and steal them away from me. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen. I also have a lovely glass of daffs on my desk which remind me that, even though they are one of the cheapest, most common flowers in the UK, they will always be my favourite. That is why I have created a lovely daffodil basket for you to try, just to get you in the mood for spring. Easter is always a time for celebrating with friends and family and Easter tea parties are becoming ever popular. Below you will find some ideas and offers to help your party be eggstra special this year! We are delighted to announce that we have been invited to enter the Ideal Home Show Cake Competition again this year. You may remember our Royal Wedding Cake entry from last year which unfortunately did not win but was stunning none the less. This year's theme is, of course, the Jubilee and we believe that we have come up with the winning design. Let's hope the judges think so too. So, I am now off to work on the competition cake and to try out some new products to include in next month's newsletter for you. Until then, keep your photos coming in to me at louise@cakcraftworld.com and I will catch up with you again in April. Until then, happy baking.  
Louise |
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Last year's Ideal Home Show competition cake
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Hoppy Easter to You All
I love these cute bunnies who seem to be just having fun hanging around the side of this Easter cake. They are made using the Karen Davies Rabbit Mould which is fantastically easy to use as long as you remember to dust the inside very lightly with cornflour before inserting your paste.
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Louise's Top Tip
It is well worth making your own little cornflour dispenser by cutting up a square of muslin (5" diameter approx), filling it with cornflour and tying it with an elastic band at the top. When tapped lightly onto your worktop it will dispense just the right amount of cornflour for you to work with. This is very handy when dusting the inside of moulds and making delicate sugar flowers.
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Spring Flower Basket
If you have the Medium 3D Cupcake Tin or thinking of buying one, as well as making beautiful giant cupcakes with it, you can also use it to create lovely baskets of flowers (and it is on special offer this month). This cake would be lovely at a tea party or the perfect Mother's Day gift. The basket effect is created by piping brown coloured buttercream in a basketweave pattern and it never fails to impress people.
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Louise's Top Tip
Many people ask us how to transport a giant cupcake as it is sometimes top heavy and therefore unstable. We have come up with a solution to this problem. Pierce a hole in the middle of your cake drum with a Scriber Needle or other sharp object and, using a circular motion, create a hole large enough that a plastic dowel will fit VERY TIGHTLY into it. If the hole is too big, the dowel will not sit tightly enough and move around. Once you have inserted a 9" tall White Plastic Dowel firmly into the hole, you can then pass the base and top of your cakes on to the dowel so that your cupcake is secure and supported from the inside.
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Now for the decoration...
To achieve the basket weave pattern - With the first bag, pipe a vertical line from the top to the bottom of the cupcake base.
- Now with the basket weave bag, hold it flat against the cake and pipe alternately over the vertical lines to create the basket weave effect.
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Easter Packaging
We have an abundance of beautiful packaging and ribbons this Easter and this picture is just a taster of what is on offer. For many more ideas and products click here.
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For the Glamorous Bunny in your life
Chocolate is quite a tricky medium to work with unless you are confident with tempering chocolate. If you are not it doesn't mean that you cannot produce beautiful chocolate eggs and bunnies for your friends and family to enjoy this Easter. This elegant bunny was made using only one side of the Sitting Up Plastic Bunny Mould and melted White Chocolate Couverture Chips. If you want different coloured bunnies in a sweet tasting candy you could use Candy Melts. They come in 9 beautiful colours and would brighten up anyone's Easter. The marbling effect on my rabbit has come from the second layer of chocolate being at a different temperature to the first layer of chocolate spread onto the mould. When I turned the rabbit out, I was disappointed that this had occurred and set about making another one. I then stood back for a moment and realised that actually I really liked the effect! It was different and more interesting than the glossy look that I had set out to achieve. So here you have it, my less than perfect looking rabbit that is perfect in my eyes! Present your chocolate bunny in a lovely cellophane bag with a tied ribbon or you could just make one half, like I have here, and stick it with chocolate to a Sugarpaste-covered board and decorate however you wish. I have put a Silver Dragee necklace around my bunny's neck and named her Bunny Golightly...
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Easter Biscuits to Hang
I don't know what it is about children but they love hanging things from trees! I have overcome this problem by sourcing this gorgeous metal tree stand and hang my home-made Easter biscuits from it each year. I use Peggy Porschen's sugar cookie recipe in her book Cake Chic as it turns out perfect cookies every time. I was lucky enough to have joined one of her cookie making classes last year and now I am addicted. If you wish to hang your biscuits from a tree be sure to punch a hole in the top of them as soon as you take them OUT of the oven. I tried punching the hole in them prior to baking but it just doesn't work. I have covered my biscuits with sugarpaste to give them an injection of colour and I am very pleased with the results. Experiment with your own designs and get creative.
The cookie cutters I used were the Pink Metal Bunny and Green Metal Lamb Cutters and the Plastic Duck and Egg Cookie Cutters; both of which come in a set of 2. 
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Easter Cupcakes
We have had great fun in the kitchen making up new designs for Easter this year and here are just a few of them. 
If you are looking for new ideas of how to display your cupcakes, we have come up with this basket feature which looks great and is something that you may already have in the house. We also found these lovely candle holders which make fantastic individual cupcake stands. 
This Set of 12 Easter Mini Cutters is perfect for making simple decorations for both cakes and cupcakes. Even the children can get involved. 
Easter wouldn't be Easter without a bright cupcake with some chocolate eggs and a fluffy chick to top it off. This is our 2012 version of a classic. 
If you have any Chocolate Sugar Coated Mini Eggs and Easter Chicks left over, buy an Easter ribbon from our extensive range and create a beautiful chocolate feast that will be a winner at any tea party. 
As I said, this is just a taster of what we have to offer this Easter. For a look at the full range of Easter products, click here.
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One Last Thing...
Don't forget that the clocks 'spring' forward on Sunday 25th March. |
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