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Taking my fancy

Just a few bits…

So I’ve got a bit of a thing for kitchens, it’s the room I’m drawn to and definitely the place I spend the most time. It’s not just the furniture that I lust after, although I do dream of a pink Aga, but all the accessories and finishing touches.

For years I lived in student houses and then rented, they were never places where I could have made cosy or my own, so now I’m making up for lost time. I view my house as an on-going project, there are always ideas that I screen grab and an ever growing shopping list. In our house, these accessories have become known as ‘just a few bits’and I’m always on the look out for more bits. I discreetly add these bits and then wait for husband to notice.

One place I’ve accessorised with a few bits, is the top of the kitchen cupboards. We have two white cupboards on a white wall on either side of the cooker hood, which I felt looked a bit bare. I ordered a couple of mirror balls from EBay, for less than £30 they added a bit of interest and sparkle to an otherwise empty space.

Then while having a good old look online, I found a perspex ‘dancing ‘sign on Rockett St George. I ummed and arghed, put it in my basket, ummed and arghed some more then hit the buy button and cowered. A week later my sign arrived, bigger than I thought because I never measured it, but when I put it on top of the cupboard it actually seemed pretty damn perfect.

On the other side is a small collection of the Crystal Head Vodka bottles. Neither my husband or me drink vodka but we first saw the bottles in Vegas a few years ago. We didn’t buy one and regretted it instantly. Then as if by magic, we received one in the post as a gift.  It looked too damn good to hide away, so we put it on top of the kitchen cupboard. The Aurora one was a Christmas present and the baby one was picked up in America, it’s now like the three bears but in vodka skull form, on top of the cupboard.

Not a sprinkle in sight

Don’t get me wrong, you can’t beat a good dollop of sprinkles, but sometimes it’s nice to do something a little different. Hiding in my drawer of sugar craft bits and pieces, I stumbled across a bikini mould that I hadn’t used in ages. This, I thought, would be the perfect cake topper for the cupcakes for my mum’s birthday.

The knack of using these moulds is to make sure you get a decent covering of icing sugar or cornflour right into the nooks and crannies of the mould and making sure your sugarpaste hasn’t been handled too much other wise you risk getting part of it stuck in the mould. Once they were free of the mould I then left for about 20 minutes just to firm up before placing on the cupcakes.

I can’t remember where the bikini moulds came from, but here’s a cheeky selection


Happy Birthday mould TheVanillaValley £6.95 plus shipping
Lips mould home sale_sky on Ebay £2.42
Wonder Woman mould WeLOVE3dprinting on Etsy £4.50
Skulls ArtycoUK on Etsy £7.50 (Sugar Skull) & £17.95 (skull)
Gamer mould The Craft Company £19.06 plus shipping
Cherries Kawaiikitchen on Etsy £4.21 plus shipping
Shoes TheVanillaValley £8.35 plus shipping

All that glitters is gold

After all that snow that the beast from the east left us, how about something all glittery and sparkly? During my usual trawl through the cake supplies shop, I took the plunge and bought some sheets of gold leaf, something I’ve wanted to try for ages. And while I was there I picked up some edible gold paint and sprinkles, well it would be rude not to.

As it was my first foray into gold leaf I wanted to give myself something simple to get a good feel. I decided on a simple design on a plain iced white cake and topped with some silk flowers. It’s actually a lot simpler than I thought. You need a couple of brushes and some water; brush the water onto the area you want to cover, then place the gold leaf onto that area and smooth with the dry brush. I jabbed the gold leaf a little to give it some texture. I used some silk flowers that I had that had a little gold sparkle to top off.

While I was on a roll, I decided to paint some Haribo Star Mix in the edible gold paint, because why not? I opted for the ring and the love heart over the egg. The paint is ready to use, just brush on. It’s quite thick so you get a good coverage but the Haribo still needed a couple of coats. If you were painting straight onto icing one coat would be plenty.

And to complete the gold rush, sprinkles and stars scattered over cupcakes, probably the simplest way to bring a bit of bling into your cake making.