Caroline's Cake Company

Abigail Wedding Cake

2012-01-24T07:19:00.002Z

A cake for the lovely Abigail Hall! Abigail and Duncan got married in London but were having another celebration in Birmingham to share their joy with local friends and family.

The design was based on a cake by the wonderful My Sweet and Saucy but used white hydrangeas and a soft charcoal colour scheme.

At the venue!

I love the white and grey combination, do you?
x

Colourful Apres Ski Cake

2012-01-17T07:48:00.000Z

It's a freezing cold day here but hopefully these colourful photos will warm us up a touch! A cake for a 30th birthday party with an apres ski theme.

This was the invitation:

And this is the cake:

I love the stripey coloured candles, do you?

My first photoshoot

2012-01-09T13:27:00.001Z

Happy New Year all! I thought I would use my first post of the year to share one of the exciting events of last year!

I was contacted by the lovely Lauren of Grace and Gable asking if I would be interested in providing some cakes for a photoshoot to promote her new wedding planning company…and of course I said “Yes please!”. The theme of the shoot was Vintage Christmas and Lauren’s Pinterest board was so inspiring and exciting that my head was full of ideas. Lauren was going to be working with some fabulous suppliers too such as the wonderful photographer Ann-Kathrin Koch, the quirky The Flower Appreciation Society and Invitation Only so it was bound to be a good one.

The photoshoot was first published on the Rock my Wedding blog

Here are a few of the photographs, which is your favourite?

All photography by Ann-Kathrin Koch

Season's Greetings

2011-12-22T13:36:00.000Z

Thank you all for your support this year and best wishes for 2012!

Love

Caroline

Olly Murs Hat Cake

2011-11-22T08:34:00.000Z

This was another cake commission from the lovely Kym, this time for her daughter Alice who was turning 15 and is a huge Olly Murs fan! Kym had a photo of Alice meaning her idol so we used that as an edible polaroid in the brim of the hat.

Until next time...

Pink and Black Wedding Cake

2011-11-15T15:48:00.000Z

A bold wedding cake for a lovely couple. This was my first dairy-free fruit cake and, (given the 'scraps' that I ate I have to say), it was super moist and delicious!

The bride and groom provided the ribbon and cake stand and I think it looks very striking...congratulations Kate and James!

See you again soon

Monkey Face Cake

2011-11-09T07:56:00.000Z

Is it just me or is this little monkey super cute?! This sweet monkey face cake was commissioned for a first birthday celebration.

See you all again soon!

Teacups Wedding Cake

2011-11-01T08:13:00.000Z

The bride was from Stoke on Trent, the groom from Scotland hence the teacups and the kilt!

The wedding was in the Cotswolds so the cake needed to travel and was being transported by the bride's parents so myself and the construction department had many discussions and sleepless nights thinking about the safest way to support and move this kind of cake!

It did arrive safely though and the bride and groom were happy which is what it's all about:

'I've been desperate to say a huge thank you for the magnificent cake. I was so excited with it I totally loved it it was gorgeous and utterly perfect! '

Until next time!

Diamonds are forever...

2011-10-25T08:10:00.000+01:00

I was contacted by Sophie from the Birmingham Assay Office who was looking for a cake to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of 'AnchorCert’ - a business that test and certificate diamonds and gemstones. So what else could I do but use LOTS of edible diamonds and glitter for extra bling!

See you soon!
x

Special wedding cake topper

2011-10-18T12:36:00.000+01:00

Here is the handmade couple that I made for the top of the Purple and Gold Wedding Cake. Both the bride and groom use wheelchairs so the bride requested they were sat on wheelchairs in their wedding outfits with their tabby cat by their feet.

Email from Avril:

'Everyone commented on the figures on the top of the cake saying how well they had been done. We have them in a cake stand in pride of place in our kitchen. Anyway again many thanks. '

Purple and Gold Wedding Cake

2011-10-13T11:02:00.000+01:00

This cake was for a lovely couple called Avril and Neil. Each tier was a different flavour and decorated with a purple ribbon and bow (to match the wedding theme) and a gold flower.

I also made a personalised topper for them...but you'll have to wait for another post to see that!

Pink buttercream cakes

2011-09-21T10:01:00.000+01:00

Pink buttercream cakes for Sylvia who was celebrating her 25 year work anniversary (which is mightly impressive!)

I just loved the colour and texture of the buttercream - I wanted to dive right into it!

Congratulations Sylvia!

Underwater cake

2011-09-14T16:32:00.002+01:00

I loved this cake for a 40th birthday party - it's so cute!

What do you think of the seaweed 40?
x

Cars 2 Birthday Cake

2011-09-06T16:00:00.000+01:00

This cake was for a little boys 5th birthday party - and he loves Cars 2!

The bottom tier was vanilla and covered in grey icing with racing flag squares (128 squares in fact!) The car was sculpted from chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream and a vibrant red icing. The logos etc were hand painted and the spoiler had a little help from some dried spaghetti!

Thanks for stopping by!

Football and Fishing Cake

2011-08-31T16:44:00.000+01:00

I liked this cake. Neil commissioned me to make an 18th birthday cake for his nephew, Phil, who loves to fish and is a goalie in his spare time. Neil also wanted to include a model of Phil's girlfriend, Emily, on the cake too with the words 'I'm bored' on her t-shirt - teenagers eh?

My husband made the football goal and I think he made a fabulous job of it! Thank you Dave!

Feedback : 'The weekend was a huge success and the cake went down a treat!!'

Thanks for looking!
x

Pink and Sage Wedding Cake

2011-08-08T08:59:00.000+01:00

This cake was for a wedding reception at a beautiful old venue called Grafton Manor. The bride and groom chose fruit and chocolate cake tiers decorated with pale pink roses, sage coloured leaves, white butterflies and flowers with a sugar topper of themselves and their two little cats.
They are such a nice couple that they commissioned two cupcakes for their gluten intolerant guests as well - so thoughtful! (but I forgot to take a photo of them!)

Celebrate!

2011-08-01T08:26:00.000+01:00

Happy anniversary and magazine cover day to me!

It's my third cake company anniversary today AND I found out one of my cakes is on a magazine cover - can the day get any better?!

I made this cake for the Designer Vintage Bridal Show in February and my lovely photographer friend Louise Tugwell took some pictures for me. I sent them to the magazine and received an email saying they were using some of my images but I didn't expect to be on the cover - yay!

What do you think?

Garden for Three Cake

2011-07-08T14:01:00.000+01:00

This cake was for three siblings all celebrating birthdays within weeks of each other - one was turning 65, another 70 and the third 75! They all have a love of gardening and nature so we decided to go with a cake for each - June's cake was chocolate mud and decorated as a flowerpot with her favourite purple pansies on top. Paul loves his allotment so for him it was a carrot cake decorated as a raised bed with (of course) carrots growing out of the top. For Ken we went with a lemon and poppy seed cake decorated as a bird box.

I didn't want a front and back for this cake (I didn't want any arguments among the siblings about their cake being at the back!) so the board is meant to be viewed from all sides with each cake 'at the front'! (but this did make it super hard to photograph!)

See you again soon

Moo Cake

2011-06-24T06:39:00.000+01:00

My new (and lovely) regular client Kym wanted to surprise her friend Susie with a birthday cake. Susie is dairy, gluten and yeast intolerant (feel a bit sorry for her!) but I tested out my delectable chocolate mud recipe with dairy and gluten free ingredients and do you know what? It is (almost) as yummy!

Susie is a big fan of Caroline Shotton's work so we decided to recreate part of her Marilyn Moonroe painting.

Here's the painting:

And here's my painting!

I was really pleased with the painting but had a devil of a time with the dairy-free buttercream!

See you next time...

Lavender and buttermilk cake

2011-06-20T18:21:00.000+01:00

This cake was commissioned for a golden wedding anniversary celebration - how wonderful to be married for 50 years!

The bottom tier was fruit with a sponge top tier then covered in buttermilk coloured icing with sprigs of sugar lavender decorating the sides...(the lavender took many many hours to make!)

See you soon!

Rainbow Cake

2011-06-17T10:11:00.000+01:00

I must confess I've wanted to make a rainbow cake for quite a while now so I was chuffed when Liz contacted me about making one for her sister's 30th birthday! The covered cake is plain and unassuming...

...but the uncovered cake is a blaze of colour and makes me smile!

I hope the colours make you smile too!

Disney Cupcakes

2011-06-13T17:10:00.000+01:00

I don't generally accept cupcake only order but these were tied in with my giant Rolo order from last week... one of the gifts of the lucky 18 year old was a trip to Eurodisney with five of her friends and her stepmum had arranged t-shirts and hot pants with a different Disney character on each and wanted to also give them an individual cupcake for their 5am start on the Saturday morning!

Chocolate mud cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and edible prints on top - surrounded with that fabulous edible glitter of course!

There was Cinderella

Fairy godmother

(but a young version not the homely one you normally see!)

Mowgli

Pocahontas

Mufassa

and Tinkerbell!

Hope you had a good weekend Harriet!

x

Spotty 1st Birthday Cake

2011-06-06T17:48:00.000+01:00

A simple but colourful cake for a 1st birthday celebration! Celtic green with white spots, a number 1 and blocks indented with initials.

This was the green icing I was struggling to achieve earlier in the week - I got there in the end but used so much colouring that I advised my client to just give the birthday boy cake in case the colours made him hyper!

Rolo Cake!

2011-06-03T11:29:00.000+01:00

For those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook who doubted my rolo research yesterday - it actually was research!

This was a last minute cake for an 18th birthday. The recipient is nicknamed Rolo so her stepmum requested a giant rolo to celebrate the big day!

I was a bit disappointed with the covering of the cake as I didn't have time to leave it to dry before assembling but, as you can see from the photo below, rolos aren't perfect either!

Have a great weekend!
x

My first dessert table...

2011-05-31T08:39:00.000+01:00

When my friend Anna told me she was marrying her lovely boyfriend Patrick I was very happy, when she asked me to make their cake I was pleased and when she told me she wanted a dessert table I was super excited!

I love dessert tables and even though this dessert table is actually just a cake table (as there were no other kinds of dessert) I couldn't wait to get started. We ended up discussing the concept three times (and after a few glasses of pop the ideas kept flowing!) and I love the way it turned out.

Coffee-Choc Mini Muffins with icing discs indented with the couple's initials

Little marzipan hearts to accompany the fruit cake

Hand written signs pegged to vintage glasses

The rustic cake and topper from my previous post!

Zesty lemon cake

Chocolate mud cake (my favourite!)

Ink stamped cards for the home-made bunting

Beautiful fresh flowers displayed in milk bottles

Fresh flowers and more initials discs scattered on the vintage style table cloth

I don't think my photos really did it justice so I'm hoping the photographer took some better ones! But I did take quite a few myself (from all angles) so please enjoy

Here's hoping I'm asked to do more dessert tables as I love them!

Rustic Buttercream Wedding Cake

2011-05-28T14:59:00.000+01:00

A rustic buttercream wedding cake for my friend Anna. This cake will be used as the centrepiece for her cake table (like a dessert table but just cake!) at Hotel du Vin in Birmingham.

I love the photos that the groom-to-be chose for the topper!

Tune in soon to see the completed cake table!
x

Blogger problems

2011-05-26T17:30:00.000+01:00

Hi, I don't seem to be able to comment on the posts that I follow or comment on the lovely comments that people are leaving for me so if you've posted a lovely cake then 'I love it!' and if you've posted a comment for me 'thank you!'

x

Butterfly Baby Shower Cake

2011-05-20T13:02:00.000+01:00

A baby shower cake with butterflies and flowers...it ended up with a slightly tropical feel....I like it!

I love...Kimmidolls (esp this cake one!)

2011-05-18T08:48:00.002+01:00

Just look at this cake from Cake Occasions - how cool is that? I have a bit of a thing for Kimmidolls anyway and I think this is an amazing interpretation. I particularly love the hair - I would love a bob like that myself (but maybe not in white!)!!

Even the lettering is perfect!

Check out some of their other work here.

Princess Castle Cake

2011-05-16T17:57:00.000+01:00

This was another first... this time for a Princess Castle Cake! I would have LOVED a cake like this when I was small so I was quite jealous of Millie celebrating her third birthday with such a grand design (only joking about the jealousy bit!)

The bottom tier was chocolate mud cake layered with chocolate buttercream, the top tier was a dummy and each of the towers were made of sugar. If you follow me on Twitter or like me on Facebook then you will know that the towers gave me some trouble but they survived (and castles should have wonky towers right??!)

Lawn Tennis Anniversary Cake

2011-05-09T18:04:00.000+01:00

This cake was commissioned to celebrate the 100th anniverary of the Midland School Girls Lawn Tennis League. The tournament was to be held at the King Edwards High School for Girls and they wanted a special cake for a celebratory afternoon tea!

We went with green to represent the tennis court, white to represent the original white tennis balls and included a 'vintaged up' tennis badge plus an edible paper plaque!

P.S. I wish I'd kept the tennis green a little lighter on this cake to give it more of a vintage feel....oh, well.... next time!

x

I love...being blogged!

2011-05-06T08:43:00.000+01:00

I received a lovely email from Nicole at The Aisle Style blog asking if she may use one of my cake images - of course I said yes!

The post is now published which is exciting but doubley exciting is the fact the I share the post with an image by My Sweet and Saucy - I love her work!

Apparently Nicole found me via Consumed By Cake so thank you Consumed By Cake!

Baby Shower Cake

2011-04-22T09:18:00.000+01:00

My first baby shower cake!

They don't know the gender of the baby so it was decided to go with some vintage/lilac/bunting kind of theme. This bunting and table decorations were bought for the shower so I tried to incorporate this in the cake design.

Here's the cake!

Hope they like it!

I like...Nadine's Cakes and Cakes by Tess!

2011-04-18T09:02:00.000+01:00

I don't know what the story is with these two ladies but they appear to be friends and both make the most beautiful cakes and produce the most beautiful photographs of their most beautiful cakes!

Here are some images from Nadine's Cakes. I love her use of colour, beads and lace. I first found out about her work when she started following my blog and now she is in my favourite cake blog list!

I found Cakes by Tess through Nadine and also added her to my cake favourites list! Her work uses delicate shades, texture and extreme prettiness!

Enjoy! x

Giraffe Cake

2011-04-15T16:39:00.000+01:00

Do you remember the roses cake I made in January for Paige who attends a prestigious ballet school in Birmingham? Well, this cake was for her sister Kayleigh who also attends the ballet school.

Kayleigh is a giraffe lover so we went with a giraffe/jungle kind of theme...

I love...Kate Edmondson Bridal Couture

2011-04-11T18:05:00.000+01:00

I met Kate Edmondson Bridal Couture at the Designer Vintage Bridal Show in February and she is really the loveliest lady! Her designs are AMAZING and I wanted to share a little bit of her with you!

Tell me a bit about your company?
We design and make luxury wedding dresses and headpieces for the discerning bride using luxury silks and satins and laces. The service we provide is a personalise design and fit process whereby all brides receive a free initial consultation receiving expert advice on the shapes fabrics budgets and styling advice. During the consultation brides can try on samples from the existing collection. Some brides may have an idea of the dress they like I am also able to design one around their ideas. We also design and make headpieces also using luxury silk and laces. The headpiece can also be made in the same fabric of your dress. We work very closely with all our brides to ensure each piece is unique and individual.

How did you get into wedding dress design?
I have wanted to be a bridal wear designer since the age of 10 so I knew I would pursue a career in this area. So I went straight to Art College and did a Btec National Diploma in Clothing which equipped me with basic pattern cutting and construction skills. I then went on to further my studies and graduated with BA Hons in Fashion in 1997. During that period I also worked for various wedding dress designer based in London gaining valuable experience. I have also love following bridal fashion and would collect bridal magazines. During my work experience I realised I wanted to own my own label. So I started working from home making wedding dresses to local brides. I got funding from the Princes Trust which helped me to buy a cutting table, tailors dummy and other tools of the trade.

My favourite part of the whole process is the designing. I love draping developing styles on the stand and pattern cutting. I love transforming a drawing into real life dresses. Bring the dream into a reality is a real buzz.

Do you have a favourite dress you have designed?
I have a few dresses that I like Rosetta being one of those which is a heavy crepe dress with a rose in the front. I also like Antonia which has a real vintage feel and 1930s look made in ivory crepe back satin. Imogene which is a gold dress in vintage lace.

I would love to make a wedding dress for Sienna Miller and Kate Moss both women are the epitomise style and glamour.

Do you have any exciting plans for the future?
I would like to keep showcasing my dresses at vintage bridal shows. Develop relationships with bridal boutiques. I would also love to get my dresses into Browns Bride London. I would eventually like to have my own shop.

Which designers do you admire?
I have several bridalwear designers I like Phillipa Lepley who produces classic elegant dresses. The cut and fit of her dresses are exquisite. I admire the quality of her dresses. I also like the designer Jenny Packham, David Fielden, Amanda Wakeley. These designers have a fresh and modern approach to bridalwear. I also love Elizabeth Filmore an American based designer I love a stunning collection of dresses.

Thank you Kate and hope to see you soon! x

Gruffalo Cake

2011-04-08T11:06:00.000+01:00

This was the second Gruffalo cake I have made. Last year I made one for my nephew Leo's 2nd birthday on the 3rd April...this year it was for Oscar's 2nd birthday on the 2nd April (which I find a little co-incidental...or is that just me?!)

Anyway, I was really pleased with how it turned out but for any further orders I really need to work on that Gruffalo jawline!

Anatomy of a Cupcake

2011-04-06T07:51:00.000+01:00

I saw this picture on a fabulous blog that I follow called domesikated and it made me smile so I thought I'd share:

Shoe and Bag Cake

2011-04-01T12:13:00.000+01:00

A cake for a very sophisticated 10 year old!

The initial brief was a cake with lots of shoes and bags and clothes decorating it but this eventually evolved into the design below. We went with kitten heels rather than high and a clutch bag rather than shoulder but tried to bling it up with the addition of some gold! I used dusky pink colouring which I love!

The shoes and bag were only lightly secured on the cake so that Izzy could keep them if she wanted a memento (I know I would have wanted to at her age!)

I like.....Rob Gillespie Photography

2011-03-28T13:55:00.003+01:00

I came across Rob Gillespie last month. He took the wedding photographs for the lovely Lucy and Alex last year and his photo of my Wedgwood Cake made it into Your Wedding magazine (which was very exciting for me).

I really like his work and so thought I'd showcase his company by asking a few questions.....

Tell me a bit about your company?
I run the business with my fiancé, Sarah and we’ve been a full-time company since summer 2007. Although we do undertake other kinds of photography, weddings are our speciality. Right from the start, we offered two photographers and long coverage times as standard and that’s something we’ve maintained. We have a keep-it-simple approach to most things we do and above all else we want our clients to feel relaxed in front of the cameras.

How did you get into photography?
I’d been a ‘snapper’ for many years but started taking it a bit more seriously around 2003 when I got my first decent camera. I then did a night-school course and the rest came from that really.

What is your favourite part of your work?
Although the actual ‘shooting’ of the wedding can be an awful lot of fun, I’d have to say the initial presentation we show the couples is my favourite part. Lots of emotions.

Do you have a favourite photograph?
We’ve taken tens of thousands of images so picking one favourite is nearly impossible. Some of my own faves are probably during the receiving line – especially when it happens spontaneously rather than being orchestrated by the venue. Not so keen on the cake-cutting LOL. (hey, the cake cutting is the most important bit of the wedding!)

Do you have a favourite venue?
That’s a tricky one because we’ve seen venues big, small, cheap and expensive and of course everything inbetween so comparing them is very difficult. Purely in terms of photogenics, Ettington Park Hotel is always a lovely place to work at, but there’s so much more to a venue than how it looks. Mallory Court is gorgeous and at the other end of the scale Avoncroft Museum in Bromsgrove is just fabulous. We liked it so much we chose it for our own wedding later this year.

Are there any people or places that you would love to photograph?
It would be lovely to do a ‘couple’ photoshoot somewhere up in the Scottish Highlands. It’s a place we retreat to every year on holiday. Part of the challenge on any wedding though is working with you have an some of our favourite images were taken around the shopping streets of Dorridge! In terms of people, I can’t honestly say there’s anyone famous I have any great desire to photograph. The challenge and the interest for me is taking a couple who are perhaps a bit nervous of having their photo taken, working with them for a while and getting some great images that show their personality.

Do you have any exciting plans for the future?
We’ve just introduced a ‘Rock The Frock’ session. Although it’s not a new idea in the industry, not that many people here in the UK offer it and it’s something we’ve really enjoyed so far. It’s a great excuse for bride’s to get their dress back on for a day. There’s a couple of other things on the horizon but I can’t talk about them yet!

Which photographers do you admire?
Landscape photography is something I got into a long time before I ever shot a wedding, so I have a few heroes from that part of the industry – Joe Cornish and Ansel Adams especially. Steve McCurry’s work for National Geographic is heart-wrenching at times. In terms of wedding photographers I tend to favour those who aren’t too flashy and keep things simple – Jeff Ascough and Marcus Bell spring to mind. I’m not so keen on the ‘rockstar’ photographer mentality because at the end of the day, we’re just one part of wedding.

Thanks Rob and Sarah!

(Make sure you all check out the website too www.robgillespiephoto.co.uk)

Press from the Designer Vintage Bridal Show

2011-03-21T19:12:00.000Z

The Birmingham Mail newspaper did a piece on the Designer Vintage Bridal Show and guess what? One of my cakes was featured - yay!

A photoshoot

2011-03-18T12:34:00.000Z

I am lucky to know a photographer.... I'm even luckier that she's lovely.....so lovely she agreed to take some photos of the display cakes I made for my first bridal show! I have already introduced her on the blog but her name is Louise Tugnell.

I carted five cakes down to Louise's studio and we spent a lovely couple of hours shooting the cakes in various positions (that's the royal 'we' of course...I just stood around and got in the way!)

Here are some of my favourites... I've uploaded more onto my Flickr account if you feel the urge..

In The Cities Cake

2011-03-14T08:38:00.000Z

This cake was for the In The Cities networking group's charity event called Gorgeous 2011.

I tried to combine the two logos to create a cake that covered both the group and the event.

The cake was for display only (as I provide lots of mini muffins to eat!) so the base was made of three polysterene dummies covered in royal icing then air brushed yellow with sugar siloutettes of the buildings and women plus the In The Cities text. The topper was like a lollipop made of two cake boards and a dowel so it could spin around if pushed...Dave joked that we should have put a motor in to spin the topper automatically - how cool would that have been?!

Gold!

2011-03-05T13:32:00.000Z

...always believe in your soul, you've got the power to know you're indestructible, always believe in....

Sorry, got a bit carried away there! This is a 'Favourite Things' cake for a 60th birthday celebration and one of the items was a Spandau Ballet record (which just gets me singing... Gold!), The cake also included make up, sewing bits and Shrek - I like a lady with diverse tastes! The model on the top tier is dressed in the outfit the recipient wore to her daughter's wedding and as it's a fake tier she can keep it as a memento too.

A few lovely mentions...

2011-02-28T07:30:00.002Z

Since participating in the Designer Vintage Bridal Show last week we've had a few mentions and some pictures of our cakes on different websites so....

The lovely Emily-Jayne gave us a mention on her blog...thanks Emily-Jayne!

"Also the rather lovely Caroline's Cake Company, who kept me fueled on delicious cake samples for the weekend! "

And these blogs included a few photos of our lovely cakes! (all by Emma Case photography) - thank you all!

Rachel Simpsons Shoes

Rock 'n' Roll Bride

And Love My Dress blog mentioned us in the vendor listings too!

Designer Vintage Bridal Show

2011-02-24T15:41:00.000Z

It was my first bridal show last weekend. The Designer Vintage Bridal Show took place at Highbury Hall in Birmingham - a fantastic venue. Each room in the house was filled with amazing stands and companies - exciting and inspirational.

Dave and I arrived at the venue on the Friday evening to set up:

Then it was Saturday and the show was about to start!

Our spot was on the landing looking over the main hall. I must admit that my first thought on seeing our position on the plans was 'welcome to the cheap seats' but in fact I think it was a good position - open space, easy to nose over the ballastrade, nice backdrop, quirky space for cards and cake stands. The disadvantages were the landing was narrow, so a shallower table would have been better, and there wasn't an obviously walk through so some people headed straight to the wedding dress rooms then headed straight back downstairs (perhaps I should have positioned Dave at the top of the stairs to head them off!)

Another nice thing about the landing was our neighbouring exhibitors were all lovely! Next to us at the end of the room were the Nero String Quartet - lovely ladies who played fantastic covers of songs by bands like The Killers and Elbow as well as the classics like 'Get me to the church on time' - they made us smile many times with their choices throughout the two days of the show.
Our opposite neighbour was Sheena Holland who makes amazing head pieces from vintage material, buttons, pearls or whatever she can lay her hands on - check out her work...it's stunning.
Next was Abigail Hall (who incidentally only lives around the corner from me) a house stylish but also creates beautiful paintings and could be seen with her easel bringing art to life.
Our other next door neighbour was Liezl Croft - lovely photography and nice to chat to as well!
In the adjacent room were two more lovely companies Kate Edmondson Bridal Couture and image consultant Emily-Jayne. Kate creates the most beautiful wedding dresses but what I loved EVEN more were the gorgeous hats and veils she had on her display (I would like one just to wear around the house to make me feel glam while I'm washing up!). Kate was accompanied by the sweetest man (I didn't find out if they were a couple or even his name (shame on me)) but he was SO friendly he put a smile on my face each time I saw him. Emily-Jayne was super glamourous (I must confess to being envious of both the outfits she wore at the show!) and super nice - she even gave me a mention on her blog!

Some little samples for the guests (and other exhibitors!)

We met some lovely lovely people (and hopefully future clients!) - they were lining up to sample our wares!

I must say a big thank you to my lovely helpers - my husband Dave and my sister Julia! I could not have managed without them... they engaged with people, said lovely things about my work, brought the stand to life, gave out LOTS of cake bites and thankfully gave me time to rest (my cold was kicking in) - thank you both SO much!

Were you one of the lovely people we met at the show? We'd love to hear what you thought of our stand and cakes and service...

Speak soon!

Caroline's Cake Company...in the press!

2011-02-14T12:30:00.000Z

My clients, the lovely Lucy and Alex, have had their wedding day featured in West Midlands Your Wedding magazine! Not only does this mean I get to see some stunning photographs of their special day but Caroline's Cake Company gets a mention too!

The photos were taken by Rob Gillespie Photography and I'd love a copy of the cake photo for my website....(maybe I should contact Rob eh?!)

My day...

2011-02-11T16:29:00.000Z

...in preparation for the Designer Vintage Wedding Show next weekend.....

Designer Vintage Bridal Show 19th/20th Feb 2011

2011-02-07T12:54:00.000Z

I'm going to be an exhibitor at the Designer Vintage Bridal Show!

This will be my first Bridal Show and I am feeling excited and terrified in equal measure!

The show is taking place on the 19th and 20th February at Highbury Hall in Moseley, Birmingham which is a beautiful house built by Joseph Chamberlain in 1878. Each room is packed with period features and the main hall is wood panelled with a gorgeous balustrade around the top level - fantastic for photos me thinks.

There will be some amazing and inspiring exhibitors at the show. I am particularly looking forward to seeing the wedding dresses by Tobi Hannah - they look so fresh and cool, love them!

And I love this old photo I found online of the Highbury Hall in 1900 - looks Manderley out of the book Rebecca (anyone know it?)

So remember....19th/20th February...Highbury Hall...and me!

x

Rotunda Cake

2011-02-04T14:32:00.000Z

Just a few more snaps of the Rotunda cake that I took before the event last week...

The inspiration!

And the cake. If I ever make a Rotunda cake again I'm going to put a little plastic rail around the balcony with little tables and chairs and I'd like to get the roof more accurate with struts and bars and stuff!

In The Cities event

2011-01-31T18:05:00.000Z

Last Thursday I was invited to an event organised by the networking group In The Cities, which is run by two wonderful PR people Bran Cook of Mother Brown PR and Judith Fine of Finesse Services. The event was held in the centre of Birmingham in the Rotunda building at one of the penthouses owned by Staying Cool. They run serviced apartments which are super cool and in a fabulous locaion.

And the penthouse was amazing! Stunning views over the city and even though it was on the 20th floor, and I am not good with heights, I didn't feel scared (inside anyway, I wasn't brave enough to make it out onto the balcony!!)

I decided to make a cake for the event based on the Rotunda building that we were going to be in, as well as a mountain of chocolate, vanilla and lemon cake to give out to the guests.

Here's my little table:

This is my little Rotunda cake...in the Rotunda!

And this is the actual building my cake was based on! What do you think? Similar? I wish I'd had more time to add more details to the cake but time was against me...

Until next time.. x

White and Gold Wedding Cake

2011-01-28T13:00:00.000Z

This is another cake from the event last November. The design came to be in a very unusual way - as I was trying to fall asleep I had a flash of the image in my head - is that strange??! I think cake is definitely my obsession.

Originally the 'stems' down the side were going to be turquoise/blue but I bought a gold vintage stand so changed my mind!

I love Moo

2011-01-24T09:00:00.016Z

Have you heard of Moo? They are an amazing printing company. Their products are high quality, their website is easy to use and their service is excellent - what more can I say?

I use them for my business cards, which are the cutest size I've ever seen, and this week I ordered some greeting cards and the most adorable little stickers - I'll let you know how I intend to use these later...

Rose birthday cake for a future ballet star?

2011-01-21T09:19:00.025Z

Paige was 14 last Saturday.
She lives in Birmingham.
Her family live in Yorkshire.
This is because she goes to ballet school...

I find this overwhelmingly impressive. I took ballet lessons as a child and, even though I enjoyed it, wasn't very good. Paige is SO good that she started studying at Elmhurst School of Dance at the age of 11. Her mum must be so proud and also a little sad that her daughter lives so far away, and I've found out that her second daughter started at the school in September - twice the pride and twice the sadness!

This was the third birthday cake that I have made for Paige (previous ones being ballet shoes and a Twilight cake). In keeping with her 'advancing years', we went for a more grown-up design incorporating her favourite flowers and using pistachio and ruby colours.

Feedback:

'Just to let you know, Paige loved her cake , she sent me a message saying it is so pretty and (((((((((((((AMAZING))))))))) (that is how paige wrote it). Paige also said that you are clever and good at your cake making & she has adored every cake you have made her and they taste soooooooooo scrummy!!.'

'Look at me I'm 40!' cake

2011-01-15T09:01:00.001Z

This is another cake I made for the Style Event last year. It was designed for a 40th birthday celebration and I wanted the feel of the cake to be celebration rather than commiseration - look at me I'm 40!
I love the use of moulds to add texture to a cake. These were just flower centre moulds in different sizes and painted with gold around the edges.
The figure is surrounded by 40th birthday cards - happy birthday lady!

Cute cake and 40s retro stand

2010-12-18T12:44:00.001Z

This little cake is just too cute (even if I do say so myself!). I made it for an event I did with my neighbour Beth.

P.S. It was displayed on this little vintage 1940s cake stand

I'm a guest blogger!

2010-12-11T12:00:00.000Z

I was invited to write a post for the Groupon Birmingham blog. They asked for some Christmas cake tips...click here to see what I wrote!

Giraffe Cake

2010-12-10T09:52:00.000Z

What do you think of this giraffe cake?! I'm really pleased with how it worked out (although one of the giraffes lost a leg in transit!)

Peony 90th Birthday Cake

2010-12-02T19:29:00.000Z

Hi all, sorry it's been while... This cake was for a lady who is going to celebrate her 90th birthday on Sunday! Her granddaugther, Lucy, contacted me to make the birthday cake. The brief was fruit cake, royal icing and a simple design.

Lucy sent through the birthday party invitation and we decided to incorporate the purple-y colour and the list of relationships (I guess by the time you reach 90 you're related to lots of people!)

And we agreed on this design:

And this is the final cake (I was actually quite pleased with how the royal icing turned out. I don't make many royal iced cakes so I've had less practice and Lucy wanted to collect the cake a day early due to the adverse weather conditions in the UK at the moment so I couldn't do as many coats as I would have liked but I think it still looked okay!)

I am in love with the peony! I have wanted to make a peony for ages but have never had the time so I was thrilled to make one today! I used The Cakerator's Peony tutorial (which is fantastic - thank you!) and I think it worked really well...I feel there will be more peonies to come!

Thanks for reading and speak soon!

Back of the cake

2010-11-22T08:03:00.001Z

You know the way you normally try make each view of the cake perfect so that it looks good whichever angle it is viewed from? Well, as the Fluid Design cake was for a photoshoot, would only be viewed from one angle and had such a complicated background I had no choice but to leave the back of the cake looking a right mess!

These are some snaps of the cake when I delivered it. Look at all the dowels and messy royal icing blobs! The shame...

Fluid Design Cake

2010-11-21T17:59:00.000Z

This cake was commissioned by Fluid Designs - a design company based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham. It is their 15th birthday and they wanted to celebrate with a cake based on their company logo which they would photograph and use for the coming year's publicity.

Their logo looks like this:

Their cake looked like this:

And this is the image from their photoshoot:

Thoughts?

Mutual appreciation

2010-11-09T12:58:00.000Z

I was really touched by this lovely blog post that Giovanna's Cakes wrote about me today.

Sometimes I feel a little lost and have doubts about my work so it's lovely to hear such supportive words...

Thank you Giovanna, I think you're fantastic too!

Style in the Second City Event

2010-11-03T08:12:00.000Z

On Friday November 26th I will be participating in the Style in the Second City event at Edgbaston Priory Tennis Club. The event has been organised by my lovely neighbour Beth of Beth Goodrham Personal Stylist fame (remember I blogged about her earlier this year?) and during the evening she will use clothes, sourced from the High Street and designer stores, to dress models of all ages and sizes to showcase the trends for the season. She will talk the audience through the outfits and accessories, advise individuals on alternatives to suit their body shapes, answer questions and offer clothes and accessories to buy.

I will have a stand and be displaying my wares at the event, exciting eh? I will also be providing some sweet treats for the guests to enjoy with their glass of fizz so definitely worth coming just for that I'd say!

There are still some tickets available so if you would like to attend email brum.goodrhams@blueyonder.co.uk or call Beth on 07966 381361

Golf Cake

2010-10-29T08:00:00.000+01:00

This design (based on a cake by Heather's Cake) was requested by my client for her father's 70th birthday celebrations at Edgbaston Golf Club.

All fruit cake with the bottom tier decorated with an argyle pattern (which took hours to complete!) and the top tier decorated with a nod towards a golf course and finished with a large 70 and a sugar model of the birthday golfer.

The family are from Ireland hence the Irish flags.

Wedgwood at the venue...

2010-10-25T19:02:00.000+01:00

A few snaps of the 'Wedgwood wedding' cake at the venue!

Wedgwood Inspired Wedding Cake

2010-10-25T07:40:00.002+01:00

This wedding cake was for the daughter of one of my best clients!

The bride and groom requested a version of a Martha Stewart cake and this was the final design.

The top tier was carrot cake and decorated with small sugar roses. The middle tier was chocolate mud and piped with a simple stem and leaf design and the bottom tier was fruit cake and decorated with brush embroidered leaves.

My Favourite Things Christening Cake

2010-10-18T08:35:00.001+01:00

This cake was commissioned for the joint christening of a brother and sister.

William is 2 and a 1/2 years old and likes football, cars, Thomas the tank engine and climbing trees.

Ciara is 1 and loves to walk round pushing a baby pram, monkeys and dolls.

A blog post on me?

2010-10-16T15:48:00.000+01:00

I am honored to be featured on Rachel Simpson Shoes blog!

Her creations are gorgeous and she's another one of those people that I wish I'd known when I was getting married - I would definitely have bought my wedding shoes from her!

Check me out on http://www.rachelsimpsonshoes.co.uk/blog/?p=1097

x

Vogue

2010-10-07T08:05:00.001+01:00

It's a momentus week for me - I'm in Vogue! The magazine that is, it's not just that I'm popular...

Okay, it is just an advertorial rather than an editorial (yes, I paid to be there!) but it is still quite a thrill to see my company name in print...in Vogue! We're the first business on the page too - like it.

Vogue is out on the 7th October....

21st Birthday Cake

2010-10-05T08:50:00.000+01:00

This cake was commissioned for a 21st birthday celebration. Gemma gave me a photo of an existing cake that she wanted me to reproduce as it fitted in with her party theme perfectly!

Louise Tugwell Photography

2010-09-23T12:51:00.000+01:00

I had an lovely meeting today with Louise Tugwell of Louise Tugwell Photography.

She is based just down the road from me but this is the first time we've met (I must get out more) and I'm glad that we are finally in contact!

She is an amazing photographer who provides studio portraits and wedding photos but specialises in on location shoots.

Just look at the adorable photo on the front of her website, I love the chubby hands:

Louise's studio (at 26 The Circle, Harborne) has a lovely vibe and as you enter you just relax and you know that your pictures are going to be as amazing as the ones hanging on the walls.

We had a lovely cup of tea, I got to see her work with a client and I'm hoping to see a lot more of her in the future!

What happened to the Diving couple?

2010-09-18T16:27:00.000+01:00

My clients have asked me to make their cake topper into a keepsake. As a reminder here's the bride and groom topper the day before the wedding:

And this is how they look now:

Poor things! This was all a sharp eyed bridesmaid could salvage from the cake cutting. The groom just has a stump for a left arm and one of the brides arms has disappeared altogether. Their feet are missing, they have cake crumbs encrusted on their outfits and don't get me started on their mucky faces!

Hopefully I'll be able to restore them to their former glory...

Lollipop cupcakes

2010-09-07T08:25:00.000+01:00

These cupcakes were commissioned by my mother-in-law, Pam. She was hosting a party and wanted each guest to have their own cupcake with their name on it (so no arguments perhaps?)

She left the colours and design to me, her only stipulation was they must be chocolate mud (well who can blame her?)

Diving Wedding Cake

2010-09-02T19:24:00.000+01:00

Last week I made a wedding cake for a lovely couple who met whilst diving. The cake was a three tier stacked together with separators which were to be covered with fresh flowers. We transported the individual tiers and stacked them together at the venue (Wroxall Abbey - nice!), I got my camera out to take my usual 1000 photographs and discovered I'd left the memory card at home..... to say I was frustrated by this is an understatement!

I did take a few snaps at home before we left...this is the underwater camera:

Here are the bride and groom with their diving gear on:

I did manage to take a couple of shots with my phone but it's not the same is it?....

I'm hoping some kind person will send me some photos of the completed cake!

Teal and Ivory Wedding Cake

2010-08-31T09:21:00.000+01:00

Blimey, where has the last week gone?! Been busy, busy in Caroline's Cake Company world but I'm over the worst of it and have survived!

In March last year at the National Wedding Show one of my cake was displayed and there was a competition to win a wedding cake made by yours truly. The competition was run in conjunction with Wedding Magazine and the lucky winner was Hannah White who opted for a teal and ivory wedding cake consisting of fruit cake, chocolate mud and vanilla sponge cake with a 4" dummy cake on the top for extra height and impact.

Hannah is such a lovely girl and so undemanding so it was a real pleasure to participate in her special day!

A black and white photograph just for fun, do you like it?

Giant Cupcake

2010-08-23T09:41:00.000+01:00

I was recommended to a client by the builder who created our lovely bathroom earlier this year. Paul (the builder) was at our house nearly every day for almost a month so he got to taste fruit cake, lemon cake, chocolate mud cake, vanilla cupcakes and leftover wedding favours and even though he was 'trying to be good' his resolve would melt every time I put a cup of tea and plate of goodies in front of him! (I'm not sure if that makes me a bad person...)

Paul recommended me to his sister, Karen, who was looking for a cake for her daughter’s 21st birthday family celebration (which was to be held outside last Saturday...it rained most of the day.....) Karen had seen a giant cupcake in Selfridges and asked me to recreate one....this was my first giant cupcake and I was grateful to The Cakerator for her recent tutorial!

Ooo, I'd like to just eat this peak of buttercream now!

Ferrari Cake (oh, and flowers too)

2010-08-17T08:23:00.000+01:00

This cake was commissioned for twins...a girl and boy set of twins (well, man and woman now) to celebrate their 40th birthday. The boy likes Ferrari's and the girl likes yellow sunflowers so here's what we went with. I was very anxious about this design...cars and flowers can be tricky...but I kind of like it!

4 simple goals...

2010-08-12T17:52:00.000+01:00

I follow the blog A Beautiful Mess and their latest post involves achieving goals before the new year:

"the guidelines...
1. choose simple goals that will make your life richer and happier on a daily basis. choose things you may not otherwise get done, but that are not difficult to accomplish.
2. do not choose result oriented goals, choose activity oriented goals. for example.... instead of "lose 10 pounds", choose something like "eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day". get what i'm saying? positive actions instead of just the end result!
3. choose goals that are personal that you believe will truly make your life richer just by doing them! they can be daily, weekly or one time experiences.
4. choose a reward for each goal as it is accomplished! it can be a small or large reward.
5. blog your goals, each one as you achieve it and a big post when they are all finished before the new year! i'll be doing this too! links back to this post are appreciated. "

My goals:
1. Walk somewhere every day - I work from home and sometimes don't leave the house all day, not good for my soul or waistline...
2. Tweet every day - I enjoy reading tweets but feel self conscious about writing them, need to get over it (maybe I could tweet about my daily walk...)
3. Befriend 'soon to be opened' cupcake business on the high street - yes, they're my competition but I could turn it into a positive cake collaboration
4. Buy fabric and make something - I received a sewing machine last Christmas, I bought a pattern in March but all my good creative intentions are draining away, need to just do it!

What would your goals be?

What did you fill it with?...

2010-08-12T16:43:00.000+01:00

...I've been asked, so here's an update on Logan (yes, the cupboard has a name)

He is filled with ribbons, cupcake cases, my cricut cake, cake tins, boxes and my lovely cake stand:

A new addition to the team

2010-08-11T15:18:00.000+01:00

I didn't like his curtains when I got him home...

Much better, but I think I might frost the glass...

So much space....

As predicted, he's already full....

Nursery Cake

2010-08-10T08:57:00.000+01:00

One of my favourite clients, Debs, asked me to make a cake for her son. He was leaving nursery to go to 'big school' and Debs wanted to give the nursery staff a present to thank them for all their help.

This is the logo on the wall outside the nursery building.

And this is the cake!

(I used my Cricut Cake to do the lettering to get the same font and it worked well - I'm so pleased!)

This is the lovely email from Debs:

Hi Caroline

The staff were so impressed with the design, the cameras came out immediately! Apparently it was all gone by the Friday afternoon – unbelievable given the size, so obviously went down well, the chocolate mud always does! And I had lots of tears which Ben and Freya thought was hilarious!

Thank you so much, yet again!

LoL Dx

Elvis Wedding Cake

2010-08-03T18:37:00.000+01:00

Claire and Andrew are a lovely couple. They came round to see me, we looked at magazines, ate cake and discussed their day and cake desires.

Apparently one of the reasons they chose my company was that they saw from my blog that I have given my car a name (it's Pierre by the way as he's French) and that is something they would do too! I think that's the most important aspect when choosing a cake designer - choose one that fits with you.

But enough of that and onto the cake! Andrew is a big Elvis fan so wanted his figure to be dressed as Elvis at Las Vegas, complete with the flares and jewelled cape! I’m not sure how much Claire shares his love but she wanted to be depicted in her wedding dress and was helpful enough to send through some photos of the dress so I could make her figure’s clothing more accurate.

I must admit that I love this cake. I love the purple ribbon and the purple flower centres and the flow of the dress and cape across the top of the cake.

Elegant but lots of fun and I received a lovely email the next day from Claire:

‘…we couldn't go away without letting you know how much we and everyone at our wedding yesterday LOVED our cake! My mum and dad had already seen it before us and were so excited about it so I knew we would be delighted, but when we saw it for ourselves we just couldn't believe how brilliant it was and how much effort you had put into making sure the dress and the jump suit were just spot on!

Thank you so much for being so lovely to work with and for taking so much care to make our cake so 'us'! It was one of the talking points of our day and we told everyone about you!
Many thanks again for all the time you must have spent on it.’

I’m so glad they liked it!

(The wedding was held at Nuthurst Grange in Hockley Heath which is a lovely venue with a helipad on the lawn outside the building – how posh!)

Tobiah Tayo Photography

2010-07-30T16:20:00.000+01:00

Sticking with the theme of Gill and Pete's wedding I must tell you about the photographer that 'shot their day' (is this what it's called? There must be some cool phrase that is used about taking photos, anyone like to enlighten me?).

His name is Tobiah Tayo and he is super cool!

Check out his blog to see the wonderful photos he took of the wedding. Thank you for letting me use these photos on my blog Tobiah!

What a fab shot of the other boat!

Isn't this a fabuous shot of the cake?!

Which carrot cake was chosen?

2010-07-29T20:56:00.000+01:00

I know you must be in tenterhooks wondering which carrot cake was used for the Gill and Pete's wedding cake... well, it was the Marks and Spencer one! I used the same recipe as the book but just increased the amount of grated carrot and, judging by the reaction at the wedding, everyone agreed it was delicious!

Many thanks to Victoria's Cake Boutique for posting her carrot cake recipe - I will be trying that one when I get a minute!

(I'd just like to add that while we were up in the Lake District we visited a really nice cafe and I HAD TO have the carrot cake (it's my new obsession) and I must say...it isn't a patch on mine! It was far too cinnamon-y for my liking and in fact it was slightly uncooked!...)

Gill and Pete's Wedding Day

2010-07-29T20:51:00.000+01:00

Well, what can I say about this day?.... Lovely place, handsome groom, beautiful bride, lots of smiles and laughter and love, fabulous food, great speeches, relaxing boat trip and the sun even came out! We had such a good time.

I've just realised that I was rubbish at taking photos of weddings..... I have no pictures of the marquee, the bunting, the place settings, the table plan, the outside of the venue, the polaroid camera and guest book, the food, the band and not many of the bride and groom either....must do better next time....

Me and Dave with shiny faces and Lake Windermere in the background

The groom waiting for the bride (second left)

The marquee was decorated with homemade bunting, beautful place settings and cool table numbers

The boat ride

Fab shot of Gill taken by Dave

The cake was designed by the bride and groom and I love it! The middle tier colour scheme was matched to the wedding bunting and the topper was from Gill's fifth birthday when she had a wedding party!

I love the topper - vintage and full of memories...

The cutting of the cake

That cheeky Gill just helped herself to some icing!

Ahh, some for Pete too!

The first dance

Congratulations Gill and Pete!