Happy Blogaversary!

So I missed my very own one year Blogaversary. It's like missing your own birthday, or your pets birthday, or an anniversary on a really obvious day. Tragic.

BUT

I am now halfway between the anniversary of this blog, and the one year anniversary of officially launching Stiletto Studio as a business, so in a very busy and ridiculous month of madness, I'm letting myself off the hook :)

So - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME! And what better way to celebrate than with cake? (On EVERY occasion, let's be honest) But before I get onto the details of that, here's a quick recap of the year that was!

- This time last year I was blogging about my first ever party! A Sex & the City 2 party organised with one of my besties, who has since moved away to Scotland. I miss doing parties - and I miss her more!

- Stiletto Studio started as a blog to showcase my cake-pop explorations a-la-Bakerella (as I've said before) but has since developed into parties, and then cupcakes, and now cakes. I haven't made a cake pop since April, and my 1st Wedding cake is in October!

- In the last year I have made 37 cakes, and (approximately) 600 cupcakes. That's about 300 bags of icing sugar! 80 blocks of butter, 85 blocks of chocolate, and at least a zillion hours spent bending over the kitchen bench squinting and thoroughly failing at multi-tasking.

- I have now moved into a flat with a whole room to hold all the cake stands, cupcake wrappers, tools, tissue paper, cupcake boxes, bags of fondant and cake tins I am now the proud owner of. One day soon, I will need a whole house.

So there you go! A year that was not at all what I expected, but perfectly summed up by a quote from one of the most fabulous and inspirational women of our time;

"I believe everything happens for a reason. People change so that you learn to let go. Thing's go wrong so that you learn to appreciate them when they are right. You believe less so eventually you trust no one but yourself. And sometimes, good things fall apart so better things can fall together"

- Marilyn Monroe (thank you to Jess of JB Photography for sharing)

Back to the cake - which I'm sure is what you've been waiting for. This was a 5 tier cake for one of my closest friends birthdays - 3 layers of Caramel mud cake, 2 layers of Banana cake, torted and covered in a rich milk chocolate ganache.

It was truly a towering goddess of sugary goodness.

On which note, I should perhaps go and whip up a cake to eat in celebration of finally putting this post up!

Still to come in the near future: an adorable Madagascar themed cake, Prince Williams' Chocolate Biscuit cake, and a Marshmallow slice recipe that needs to be eaten a tray at a time. YUM

- B xx

Cute as a button babyshower!

About time, I know. I completely forgot this post was sitting in my drafts, with the photos already chosen and uploaded, waiting patiently for me to share.

I think I've said once before that nothing ever ends up being what you expect. I thought this blog was going to be a quirky diary of my baking exploits - primarily at the time, cake pops a laBakerella. Then suddenly I was teaching myself how to make cakes, now I'm spending every day fielding calls and emails about Cupcake Bouquet deliveries! Like I said - not what I expected!

Now I suddenly realise my big one year Blogoversary (is there a correct way to spell that...) is next Tuesday! And I haven't even had a themed party since January, much less planned one for my own celebration. What a slacker.

The white board over my very busy and important desk has a list of all the delicious things I've done in the last year but am yet to post here, so I'm biting the bullet and getting onto the first one on the list - the Cute as a Button themed babyshower I made some treats for earlier in the year.

I think my very favourite thing about this theme (besides how adorable it is) is how simple it is - nothing complex or busy about it, just cute and colourful as everything baby-related should be. Plus the colour theme of this one (picked by the clients) would really work for any baby shower.

Lots and lots of teeny tiny vanilla cupcakes

They're so teeny tiny, they'd almost be cute even WITHOUT the buttons.

And then for something different - and probably my very favourite discovery in the last year - chocolate dipped marshmallows :D

If you've never had one, go and find a marshmallow, dip it in the first chocolate you can find, and experience bliss. (Or else go and buy marshmallows and chocolate - I forget that normal peoples kitchens don't necessarily have emergency supplies of marshmallows, chocolate and fondant at all times!)

The display boxes for the marshmallow pops were another of my favourite things. Just little gift boxes with foam and shiny plasticky strippy stuff I found, with a big yellow polka dot ribbon tied around them. Doesn't get much easier than that!

And very effective - as well as better for transporting. I think I even still have them somewhere.... though if you could see all the stock and baking related bits and pieces I've accumulated in the last year, you'd understand why I can't be sure.

And then cookies! And finally - FINALLY - I found a recipe for sugar cookies that I actually LIKE. The cookies I made for my sisters Breakfast at Tiffanys party LOOKED fabulous, but didn't taste too great... In fact I think we chucked the left overs out. But these ones are sweet, and moreish, and EASY, and a perfect colour. I found the recipe here. Thank you to Megan's Cooking for sharing!

(P.S - I haven't shared the Breakfast at Tiffanys party on here yet, because I was hoping with everything crossed that Amy Atlas might share it on her site! But since that hasn't happened in 5 months, I think it's time :) In the meantime, the photos are all up on my Facebook page here)

So there you go! The full spread of goodies for a very cute Babyshower - my first! Though hopefully there'll be lots more to come - I'm dying to do a Pea in a Pod themed babyshower for someone! Think of all that green pea cuteness.

Shall have to start thinking of what to blog about on my blogaversary... Probably cake! I have some photos of a truly delicious two tiered Lemon and White chocolate Mud Cake I made that may just do the trick. But then let's be honest, why pass up a perfectly good opportunity to make MORE cake??

- B xx