This week we’re giving you all an early Jubilee present! If you’re itching to get started on your Jubilee designs, then here’s something you can prepare right now! We’re drawing on a previous blog and tweaking it to give you perfect Union Jack Jubilee Flags, which can be made, and sit waiting patiently til the big day.

What you’ll need…
The BDB Jubilee Flag Template, to download click here… Union Jack Flags
White card & Colour Printer
Scissors
Sellotape
Cocktail Sticks
Cupcake with Buttercream Swirl and Sprinkles (Piped using a 1M nozzle)

1. Print out your Union Jack Flags Template on white card

2. Carefully cut out your flags – don’t worry about the black line on the triangle, this will be hidden when finished

3. Fold over the triangle, place a cocktail stick in the crease (so the pointy top is below the top of the flag) and sellotape into place

4. Insert into cupcake. Simple yet oh so majestic!

We’ll be back next week with more Jubilee ideas, but until then, happy flag making!

Jenny x

We hope you all had a lovely Easter and managed to cook up some treats, as well as receiving many too!

This week we’re giving you three tutorials in one, just because we like you. If you haven’t yet seen them, we’ve recently started selling a brand spanking new product – Edible Icing Sheets available with two very different but equally lovely patterns, as seen in our Shabby Chic Cupcake Class. From what we hear you’ve absolutely loved them and we’re struggling to print them fast enough! So we thought we’d show you a few things you could do with yours…

What you’ll need for all of this week’s tutorials…

Ditsy Vintage Rose Edible Icing Sheet
Blue Door Bakery Polkadot Edible Icing Sheet
Scissors
Edible Ink Pen in Liquorice
Edible Glue & Paintbrush
Bow Cutter
White Florist Paste/Sugarpaste mixed with a little CMC Powder
Rolling Pin
Non-Stick Smooth Rolling Mat
Round Cutter (to fit the top of a cupcake)
Cocktail Sticks
Royal Icing for Flag Piping (optional)
Cupcakes
Buttercream (in a piping bag fitted with a 1M nozzle)
Blue Polkadot Cupcake Wrapper

Beautifully Wrapped Parcel Cupcake

1. Make a bow for your parcel using your bow cutter and florist paste/sugarpaste with CMC, plus 2 strips long enough to cover the width of your cupcake top. For an in depth tutorial on how to use your bow cutter please see our YouTube video below…

How To Make An Edible Bow For Cupcakes

2. Roll and cut out a piece of sugarpaste using a round cutter the same size as your cupcake top. Using the same cutter as a guide, cut out a circle of your polkadot Edible Icing Sheet (use your edible pen to draw a circle first if you’re not happy to do it freehand!). Remove the backing on your sheet and glue onto the sugarpaste, then fix your strips and box in place.

3. Pipe a rose swirl on top of a cupcake, then gently place your parcel circle on the top. Add a blue polkadot wrapper to really finish it off!

Edible Cupcake Flags (Minus the Cocktail Stick!)

1. Cut strips out of your Edible Icing Sheets roughly 6.5cm long and 2.5cm wide. Cut out an inverted “V” into one end of the strip and taper the other end. Making sure to remove the backing, glue your flags to the cocktail sticks, so that the tapered end is hidden – it works best if you seal the top just above the top of the cocktail stick to help the flag stay in place.

2. We’ve added a few phrases to ours using Royal icing but they look just as lovely proudly displaying nothing but the patterned icing. You may have to let everyone know that the flag in their cupcake is edible but don’t forget to warn them we haven’t quite managed the edible cocktail stick just yet!

Ditsy Vintage Rose

1. Take your rose Edible Icing Sheet and using your edible ink pen draw a large spiral – don’t worry about how neat your spiral is, the wonkier the rose, the more charm it has!

2. Cut along the line of your spiral. Remove the backing and beginning at the outer most point, start to roll your spiral so that the wider side forms the top of your rose, adding a little edible glue to the first twist to help it stick.

3. When you reach the end of your spiral cut of any excess and edible glue the free end to the side of the rose. You can shape the rose a little as you go, slowly allowing it to splay out a little towards the end. Leave it on a flat surface before adding to your cupcake, keeping one finger underneath whenever moving – it’ll be nice and secure once atop your cake!

We hope we’ve inspired you to get creative with your Edible Icing Sheets, as always they and all of the other products featured in the blog are available from our online shop HERE and you can learn more about using them in our Shabby Chic Cupcakes Class.

Jenny x

Easter is fast approaching, which is a brilliant reason to get creative with our cupcakes! This week is the first of our Easter themed tutorials, to give you plenty of inspiration and time to plan what cakey treats you’ll be gifting!

What you’ll need…

Brown Sugar Paste (either pre-coloured or coloured with lots of Chestnut Gel)
CMC Powder
Edible Glue & Paintbrush
Yellow Florist Paste (coloured with Egg Yellow Gel Colour)
Bow Cutter (we used the medium size from our set of 3)
Non-Stick Rolling Mat
Foam Decoration Drying Pad
Mini Eggs
Grass & Hair Nozzle
Wilton 1M Nozzle
Piping Bags
Cupcake
Green Buttercream (we used a mixture of Party Green and Holly Green)
Chocolate Buttercream

1. First we need to make the handle and rim of our basket. Add a little CMC powder to your brown sugar paste (not too much as we need it to stay pliable while we’re working with it but set stiff!). Section 3 pieces, each roughly the size of a large Malteser! then roll each one very thinly, into very long sausages.

2. Glue together the sausages at one end and gently plait them, keeping them as tight as possible without stretching or breaking them – gently squeezing the length together after plaiting will get rid of any gaps and keep your plait neat. Glue together the other ends and cut off any excess.

3. Now cut two pieces of your plait, roughly 2 1/2 inches long and shape on the drying foam, one in a curved shape for the basket handle, and the other in a complete circle, with each end glued together to form the basket rim. Make a bow as per our Youtube tutorial (see below), stick to the rim and leave all pieces to dry overnight.

Bow Cutter Tutorial

4. Once your pieces are set, fit the grass nozzle into a piping bag and fill with green sugarpaste. Flat ice your cupcake with extra green buttercream (optional). Then pipe your grass – hold the piping bag vertical, squeeze gently then stop squeezing and pull away – repeat all over cupcake, leaving the centre a little lower or free of grass.

5. Fit the Wilton 1M nozzle into a piping bag and fill with chocolate buttercream. Pipe a circle just in from the edge of the cake, then pipe a second on top of the first to create a bit of height to your basket.

6. Add 3 Mini Eggs to the centre of your basket (we’ve added a few pearls too, just because they’re pretty!). Then take your basket rim and place it on top of the basket, surrounding the Mini Eggs. Now put your handle in place, fitting it just inside the rim, into the buttercream to hold it steady. Done!

We hope you enjoyed this week’s tutorial. If you’re pushed for time you can substitute the plaited handle for strawberry bootlaces with a small ribbon bow. Whichever way you make your Easter Basket Cupcakes we’d love to see a picture posted on our Facebook wall!

And remember, you can buy all of the equipment we use in each tutorial on our online shop, here… http://bluedoorbakery.highwire.com/

Jenny x

This week our blog aims to raise awareness for a fantastic cause, as well as showing you a few tips and tricks in the cupcake department! We’ll be demonstrating how to make a beautiful sugar paste daffodil in dedication to The Great Daffodil Appeal, run by Marie Curie Cancer Care.

“Each March, the Great Daffodil Appeal aims to get everyone to wear a daffodil in support of our Marie Curie Nurses and raise money to help us provide more free care to people with terminal cancer and other illnesses.” (Marie Curie website, February 2012)

We think its really important to support causes as worthy as this one, so this March we’ll have our very own box of daffodil pins, courtesy of Marie Curie Cancer Care. They’ll be available to all our lovely customers, visiting us for classes or our shop, for a small donation to the charity.

And now to make our daffodil….

What you’ll need

Non-stick Rolling Mat
Rolling Pin
Sugarpaste coloured with a little Egg Yellow Gel Colour
Petunia Cutter & Mould Set
Foam Drying Pad
Lemon Yellow Dusting Colour
Paintbrush
Cocktail Stick
Edible Glue
Cupcake & Buttercream for frosting

1. Roll out the yellow paste reasonably thinly and cut out the petunia shape. Then place the shape in the mould and press down gently to emboss your flower

2. Take your paintbrush and Lemon Yellow dusting colour and dust your flower from the centre outward, applying quite liberally into the centre but leaving the edges pale. Leave the flower to dry on the bumpy side of a foam drying pad, so that it curls in on itself slightly

3. And now to create the trumpet! Take a small piece of the yellow sugarpaste (roughly the size of your little finger nail) and roll into a cone between your thumb and forefinger, gently flattening the bottom with your other forefinger

4. Now take the end of your paintbrush and push your cone onto the top of it so that it sits snugly, with the paintbrush nearly reaching the point

5. Keeping the cone on the end of the paintbrush, gently press the cocktail stick into the side, lengthways. Continue this right the way around the cone so that it gives a “grooved” effect. This will also thin out the trumpet and make it slightly larger

6. Brush the centre of the flower with a little edible glue and place the trumpet in the centre. Leave to dry before dusting the inside of the cone with more lemon yellow

7. Place on a cupcake with a pre-piped swirl and join us in making more people aware of the Great Daffodil Appeal!

We hope you enjoyed the blog this week and that you’ll be wearing a daffodil on your lapel as well as your cupcake.

For more information on the Marie Curie Great Daffodil Appeal, ideas for fundraising, how you can join in, and to donate to a great cause please click HERE

Thank you!

Jenny x

This is a great little trick to learn just in case you run out of piping bags… or you just want to show off your amazing cupcake knowledge and skill! Great for royal icing piping and other delicate details.

What you’ll need…

Greaseproof Paper
Scissors
Stapler
Nozzle

1. Take a section of greaseproof paper and fold side to side to form a triangle, then trim off any excess paper, so it creates a square when unfolded (this will make 2 piping bags)

2. Cut the paper in half along the fold, to leave you with two triangles of equal size

3. In your left hand hold one paper up high, at the corner, with the longest side of the triangle running down the length of your forearm

4. Take the other corner of the longest side and take it across to meet the remaining corner, while curling it inwards to form a cone, keeping the point as tight as possible

5. Keeping hold of the joined corners in your right hand, bring your left hand down towards them and around the back, continuing to wrap the paper around itself, then holding all three corners in your right hand

6. Keep the point of your cone tight and hold all three corners together. Here you’re looking to have three ” peaks” at the top back of your cone

7. Fold over the three peaks and staple into place to keep your cone stable.

8. Cut a small hole in the point, big enough to fit your nozzle and fill with icing, ready for wonderful piping

Laura x

The nation’s love of “vintage” is here to stay and we will continue to embrace it as long it wants to be here! Cupcakes are perfect for adorning with edible vintage style decorations and when done well, can really enhance the look of any wedding or event based on the theme. One finishing touch we’ve always loved is lace or ribbon trim, added to the cupcake just before displaying, it can make a wedding tower or tea party spread that little bit more beautiful, not to mention making your Valentine’s Day cupcakes even more romantic! It’s so effective, but I’ll let you into a little secret…. It’s so easy to achieve!

We’ve made up two tutorials today, to show you just how easy it is to create two different looks using lace and ribbon on your cupcakes.

Lace Trim

What you’ll need…

Length of lace, preferably with one straight and one scalloped edge
Good quality double sided tape (reasonably thin)
Scissors
Cupcake
Tape measure (optional)

1. (Optional) If you want to be thrifty with your lace and tape, first measure the circumference of a ready baked cupcake at the top of the case (one of your own as everyones’ differ in size!), but giving yourself an extra 1cm or so per cake. Then times by the number of cakes you’d like to have trim to find out exactly how much you’ll need. However, it doesn’t hurt to buy extra, prepare and use at a later date, or find something else wonderfully vintage to use the left over lace on!

Tip! Most material shops cost their ribbon and lace per metre rather than by imperial measurements, so bear this in mind when measuring out how much you’ll need.

2. Lay the strip of lace flat along a surface. Carefully stick the double sided tape as neatly as possible along the straight edge of the lace, trying to keep it below the top of the lace (so its hidden from view). Leave the free side of the tape covered.

3. Now cut the number of pieces you need, using the measurements from earlier, or if you decided to stock up and didn’t do any measuring. Simply take a scrap of tape/paper and place around the outside of the cupcake, cut the scrap to the right length (plus roughly 1cm) and all your pieces of lace trim to the same length.

4. Carefully stick to your finished cupcakes, as close to the top of the case as possible, overlapping the lace at the back of the cupcake.

Bow Trim

Much the same as the lace trim, but adding a very cute bow to the front of your cupcake. You’ll need the same things to make this, just replacing the lace with twice as much ribbon, remembering that slightly thinner ribbon will work best.

1. Cut a piece of ribbon long enough to reach around the circumference of your cupcake, plus a cm or two extra. Cut a piece a little longer, which will form your bow.

2. Lay out the piece of ribbon to go around your cupcake on a surface, then tie the other ribbon around it in a knot, as close to the centre as you can.

3. Tighten the knot and tie your bow with the same piece of ribbon, shaping and cutting off any excess and neatening up the ends.

4. As with the lace trim, apply the double sided tape and attach to your cupcake.

We hope you enjoyed reading this week’s blog and then enjoy finding out how simple it is at home! Also remember that if you’re transporting your cakes its best to add your trim when at your venue, so all of the trims stay in place and don’t get knocked/squashed on the way. This way is no where near as stressful when you have perfect sized strips of ready-taped lace all prepared for when you arrive, rather than unsticking trims from boxes and other cakes, and trying to straighten wonky bows and uncrease scalloped edging!

Jenny x

National Marriage Week is fast approaching (7th-14th February), closely followed by Valentine’s day, and did you know its traditional for women to propose to their man in a leap year? According to Irish legend, St Bridget struck a deal with St Patrick to allow women to propose to men every 4 years. This is said to have been agreed on in order to balance male and female roles, much the same way the leap day is intended to balance the calendar. If however, the proposal was refused, the male was expected to buy the woman many pairs of gloves in order to hide the shame of her not having an engagement ring.

We feel we’ve moved on (just a bit) from this so if you’re planning on proposing, not proposing, being proposed to, not being proposed to, it really hasn’t crossed your mind, or you couldn’t imagine anything worse, forget the gloves and the ring and lets all just make and eat beautiful cakes instead and if it happens, it happens, we’ll deal with it then!

What you’ll need…
Non-Stick Smooth Rolling Mat
Rolling Pin
Florist Paste (Or sugar paste mixed with CMC Powder)
Ruler (30cm)
Cutting Wheel and/or Quilt Design Wheel
Heart/Arum Lily Cutter (Small)
Glitter & Brush (Optional)
Cupcake covered with sugar paste or piped with swirl

1. Roll out a piece of florist paste, making it very long and very thin. Using the cutting wheel and ruler cut the paste to length of the ruler. Then cut a thin strip for your ribbon.

2. Using the quilting wheel carefully run it down each side of the ribbon, to create a stitched effect.
3. Take the small heart cutter and use the point to cut a triangle into each end of the ribbon.

4. With the stitching facing upwards fold the ribbon in half to make a good crease.

5.Then unfold and start to shape the heart, crossing the ribbon at the point and twisting to create a whimsical finish!

6. Leave to dry overnight and place on your cupcake.

Enjoy!

Jenny x

If your supply of edible glue runs dry and you’ve got some Blue Door Bakery CMC powder handy, fear not! Whip yourself up some more glue overnight with this very simple recipe…

What you’ll need…

CMC powder
Warm water
Empty pot
Paintbrush (for stirring)
Teaspoon
Homemade edible glue label (optional)

1. Put about one quarter of a teaspoon of CMC powder into your empty pot

2. Add roughly 20ml of warm water to the powder and stir quickly and thoroughly with the end of your paintbrush. The mixture may look lumpy at this point but don’t worry! All will be fine in the morning!

3. Put a lid on the pot and store in the fridge overnight.
4. In the morning the mixture should be of a syrupy consistency and run from the brush so if it seems a little thick simply add a touch more water until you have the desired thickness.

5. Stick til your heart’s content!

We hope you enjoyed our tutorial this week, and don’t forget, you can buy CMC powder and edible glue in our online shop (might be best to get two pots next time….)

Jenny x

One of the things we get asked about the most is the mighty giant cupcake, from recipe to decoration. So this week we thought we’d tell you exactly how we do it! Below is the recipe and instructions for our vanilla giant cupcake.

Ingredients

350g Unsalted Butter
350g Caster Sugar
6 eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
350g Self-raising Flour
175g Plain Flour

You’ll also need a giant cupcake pan. Our favourite is the Wilton Giant Cupcake Pan for shape and ease of use, so the baking method is based on using this particular mould. We use this with Wilton Cake Release, which is used to grease the pan, making the cake easier to remove.

1. Turn the oven to 140C/275F/Gas mark 1 and grease the giant cupcake pan with the Wilton Cake Release
2. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl, using a standalone or hand-held mixer
3. Add the vanilla and the eggs gradually, mixing all of the time, until combined
4. Mix in all of the flour by hand using a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth
5. Spoon two thirds of the mixture into the side of the pan intended for the bottom of the giant cupcake
6. Bake for roughly 20 minutes
7. Remove from the oven and spoon the remaining mixture into the side of the pan intended for the top of the cupcake
8. Replace in the oven and bake for a further 70 minutes or until both sides are baked. To test whether the cake is cooked right through, insert a skewer into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean your cake is cooked, if not return to the oven until cooked. If you find your top is a little drier than the bottom adjust time accordingly.
9. Leave the cake in the pan on a cooling rack until cooled
10. The cake should come away from the pan fairly easily, but carefully slide a palette knife down the sides of the cake to release it if it sticks a little
11. Leave until completely cooled before decorating

For a master-class on how to ice a giant cupcake please click HERE to see our Youtube video!

If you’re finding your giant cupcake a little dry, try adding 1 tsp glycerine, which primarily helps keep moisture in the cake, making it a little softer. And if you’d rather make a chocolatey giant cupcake simply leave out the vanilla extract and replace 60g plain flour with good quality cocoa.

Enjoy!

Jenny

In our last blog of the year we wave goodbye to a very eventful and enjoyable 2011 and say hello to an exciting 2012 with a fantastic cupcake companion… The New Year Clock!

We’re a fan of Martha Stewart’s book “Cupcakes” so thought we’d do our own version of her “New Year’s Clock Cupcakes”.

What you’ll need…

12 Cupcakes
Buttercream
White sugar paste
Black florist paste
Trex
Set of round metal cutters
Tappits Upper Case/Number Cutters (includes cutting template stick)
Non-stick smooth rolling pad
Foam drying pad
Rolling pin
Angled palette knife
Edible glue & paintbrush
Cocktail sticks
Edible glitter (we used silver)
Large cake board

1. Take your black florist paste and work it in your hands until soft and pliable (using a little Trex if necessary), then roll out very very thinly.

2. If you have one, cut out a strip of the paste using the template stick included with your Tappits (this gives the perfect size strip to cut out each number with your Tappits!). Then, placing the “1” over the paste, create a cross and push down firmly, wiggling the Tappit cutter to make sure you get a clean edge.

3. To remove the “1” from the cutter, quite firmly tap the end of the cutter against your rolling pin until the number comes loose. Carefully place the number on the foam drying pad and reshape if necessary. Continue to cut out all of the numbers until you have “1” to “12” and leave to dry. The numbers can be very fiddly so if you can, its best to use cocktail sticks to pick them up and reshape them.

4. Roll out your white sugar paste, leaving it quite thick for a smoother finish. Then cut out a circle using the circle cutter most similar in size to the top of your cupcakes.

5. Now, using your palette knife, put a small mound of buttercream in the centre of a cupcake, being careful not to push it too close to the edge of the cupcake or onto the case.

6. Gently pick up the circle of sugar paste and place it so that one portion of the side sits snugly into the inside of the cupcake case. Then slowly work around the edge of the paste, almost pulling back the edge to slot it inside the case. Gently tuck the last bit in and smooth all around the edge with a finger.

7. Add a very small amount of glue to the centre of the cupcake and add a number. Repeat until all 12 cupcakes are covered and have been paired with their number.

8. Place the cupcakes around the edge of the cake board and use either paper cut out or sugar paste dial hands (we rolled 2 pieces of our black florist paste into very long thin sausages – one slightly longer than the other)

9. As its New Year we added a little celebratory glitter to our clock cupcakes!

Thank you for joining us in our blogs, its been very lovely to have you! We hope you have a fantastic New Year party and an even better 2012!

Jenny x