x x x !

Valentine Cake 2012 - Rich fruit cake in red and white colours.



Baked a heart -shaped fruit cake and covered it with marzipan and pure white Fondant Paste.
Then I used red Royal Icing to pipe a heart-shaped filigree lace design on the centre of the cake. In the centre of this piped filigree design , I affixed a smaller heart-shaped design , made of red modelling paste decorated with sugar beads.
Then I trimmed this beaded centre piece by piping around it tiny white Royal icing shells.

I trimmed the top of the cake with hand-made edible white "Borderie Anglais" strips with red sugar ribbon insertions in them ; both trimmings were made of modelling sugar paste.

Hand- made red and white sugar roses and green sugar rose leaves gave the cake top a beautiful finish.

The cake was placed on a red cake board and the base of the cake was decorated around with red heart-shapes made of sugar paste.
Cake was completed by trimming all around its base with medium-sized shells piped on with pure white Royal Icing.


The delicious cake went down well as a dessert with glasses of sparkling fruity wines.
Fortunately for the cuddly teddy and the cake board, they are not edible; as such they escaped unscathed !
Have a sweet Valentine Day!

Merry Christmas and a Blessed Year !

I have had loads of fun , baking these Christmas cakes.
Do have a Sweet Time this Christmas . Share the Season's Cheer!



















Happy Birthday , Carla!

Floral Tributes

Tributes, can be made in words ,songs, picture collages and in floral presentations; which are made of fresh flowers or silk flowers.
Floral tributes are presentable not only for funerals , but also to express love, appreciation and as fun gifts and to celebrate events like weddings, birthdays and other anniversaries.

 

Usually floral tributes are popular presentations at funerals and memorials; and they do brighten funeral corteges.
I would recommend ,in addition to loads of fresh flowers, some inclusion of floral tributes in silk flowers because silk flowers last longer than fresh flower tributes.
However, an all-silk flowers presentation could give a "cheap" impression , especially for weddings and funerals; as fresh flowers are better for decorating the church and wedding reception venues.
Also , during funerals, a soothing and comforting atmosphere is created by
the sight and fragrance of sweet-smelling flowers on tops of coffins and the funeral corteges.

Floral tributes are fun to make but demand time and care to produce lovely designs.
Over the years, I have made quite a number of floral tributes for my family, for friends and for sale.
Here are some of my recent "floral forays".
Heart-Shaped Floral Tributes
Floral heart designs are popular as gifts to loved ones and as memorial floral tributes.
I made this design with fresh flowers - roses in red and fuschia colours with rose leaves and gypsophilia sprays encircling a centre-piece of tiny yellow blossom.
The design was trimmed with yellow pull-bows and pink ,red and yellow curly wurlies. It was made on a base of a closed-heart oasis frame which I edged with red box-pleated ribbon.


Variations of this closed-heart designs can be made on open-heart and double-heart oasis frames like these:


Floral Cushion Design

 

 

I made this Floral Cushion tribute with of shades of pink and peach flowers - roses , alstroemerias, carnations and gerberas; with a floral centre of pink roses trimmed with rose leaves and white gysophilla sprays and ribbon bows in pink , peach and gold colours.


The cushion design has a square oasis frame base trimmed with gold-coloured ribbon.
Floral tributes in cushions and pillow designs come in square and rectangular frames of varying sizes.


Floral Cross Design
Floral cross designs come in varying sizes and designs. They beautify coffin tops and graves.

I made this floral design with fresh flowers of white , red and pink carnations and roses, garnished with few blades of bear grass; on a cross frame trimmed with box -pleated white ribbons and green/white silk rope trimmings and white ,pink and red curly wurlies and little silk bows.

 

Floral Cross designs , like all floral tributes, are made in fresh or silk flowers and in various imaginative designs.

Enjoy the Summer !

Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.
John Ruskin

 

Keep your face always toward the sunshine - and shadows will fall behind you.
Walt Whitman

 

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow.
Helen Keller

 

 

Enjoy the Summer !