Happy New Year

Wow xmas was a busy time, also was poorly for a lot of it so wasn't much of a relaxing time. Hope everyone had a great xmas and New Year.


Wedding orders starting to flow in now for 2010 which is great. I love doing wedding cupcakes :-)


My new favourite flavour is coconut and pineapple cupcakes, soooo yummy. Also Strawberry Cheesecake is a close second.


This year i'd like to start branching out into bigger celebration cakes, will look for a couple of courses as i'm getting lots of requests for bigger cakes.


Here are some pictures of cuppies done the past few weeks:



Xmas cupcakes for a Vet





Magician Cupcakes






Girly Birthday Cupcakes

Merry Christmas

Hi Everyone, hope xmas plans are coming along.

I love Christmas! Busy time of year though. Got a few orders coming in which is good. 18th Birthday, Thank You cakes for local vet, Christmas Cupcakes etc.

Anyone been watching Kristie's Homemade Xmas? I love that show. So many fab ideas for Xmas and how much do I want to do Salt dough shapes! ?Takes me back!

Jobs I'm planning to do over the weekend: make candles, make cookies, send xmas cards, order xmas food shop online, make some more chutney and finish sewing bear.
Also I want to update the www.jessicascupcakes.com website. Need to freshen it up a bit, add some more pics and add some more flavour ranges so watch this space!

I'm loving the hummingbird bakery cookbook. I have done 2 recipes so far and both have been fab. Coconut and Pineapple and Strawberry Cheesecake. Yummy!

Couple of weeks ago I held a cupcake party, a girls night in one. They all had a fab time and made some fabulous cupcakes.
Next weekend is my Nephew's birthday so he will be having cupcake decorating and I'm also doing "magic" theme cupcakes for him.

I'm hoping that 2010 the party bookings get a bit busier as I love doing them.
Right must be getting on with things. Will post update and more pics soon, especially of anymore "crafty bits"!

Preparing for Christmas

Well I've been getting organised for christmas! Done most of the present shopping and wrapping which i'm very pleased about. Plus made a few yummy edible gifts.

A few people wanted the recipes so thought i'd post them on my blog. Let me know if you try any!

Rachel Allen's Fudge

375g condensed Milk

450g golden caster sugar
100g butter

1tsp vanilla essence (if required or 75g of chocolate chips)

1. melt the butter then add milk and sugar, cook for 10 to 15 minutes on a low heat.

2. fill the sink with some water and place this pan on and mix this mixture with some minutes. this will make the mixture hard quickly. when grainy, its time to put into a baking tray.

3. then put this mixture on the tin and spread out about 1cm think.

4. let it cool for about 5 minutes and you have to cut the shape within 3 to 5 minutes otherwise this mixture will very hard.

I put mine in cellophane gift bags here is a link for some I have used http://www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/acatalog/Cello_Bags.html

Pear Chutney

1kg (about 6) ripe pears
150g ready-to-eat dried prunes, chopped
150g sultanas
150g raisins
200g shallots, finely sliced
2 eating apples, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges
300g light muscovado sugar
1 cinnamon stick
600ml cider vinegar

1. Peel and core the pears, then chop them into chunks. Place them in a pan with the prunes, sultanas, raisins, shallots, apples, sugar and cinnamon stick. Pour in half of the cider vinegar, season and slowly bring to a simmer, stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Cook for 25 minutes more, until tender.

2. Pour in the rest of the cider vinegar and cook for a further 30 minutes, stirring often, until thickened. If it’s still runny, simmer for another 10-15 minutes.

3. Divide the hot chutney between sterilised jars, place a disc of waxed paper directly onto the chutney and seal with airtight lids or cellophane and elastic bands. Leave to cool.

Chocolate Winter Bark- Delicious Magazine

225g white chocolate, chopped
350g dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
200g salted peanuts

1. Put the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring now and then, until melted. Remove from the heat. Meanwhile, in a separate heatproof bowl, melt the dark chocolate over another pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally in the same way.

2. Stir the peanuts into the dark chocolate.
Spread out on a baking paper-lined baking sheet, so that the peanuts form a single layer.
Drop spoonfuls of white chocolate on top, and swirl both chocolates together using a skewer or the end of a spoon (so that it looks like tree bark). Allow to cool.

3. Set in the fridge for about 1 hour. Break the bark into large pieces.

Again I will put these in cello bags and tie with ribbon.

Easy Strawberry Jam

1kg/2lb strawberries

1kg caster sugar

The zest and juice of 1 lemon

Place the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest into a saucepan. Place over a low heat and simmer very gently until the sugar dissolves. Turn the heat to high and boil vigorously for 10 minutes.

Do the wrinkle test (see introduction); if the jam has set, remove it from the heat and leave in the pan for 10 minutes to ensure even distribution of fruit and juice.

Spoon into sterilised jars, seal and allow to cool before storing in the fridge or cool place.

I cut out circles in fabric and placed over jam jars and tied with ribbon/string.

I'm planning to make some xmas decorations etc but need to get a sewing machine 1st. I'm planning to get on this weekend. So will post some updates once i've made some bits.

Well firstly apologies for the long delay between posts, just not found the time to get on here.

Been busy baking, getting sorted for my new (day) job which starts tomorrow and sorting out admin.

I have a couple of cupcake parties booked now which is fab, they are great fun and seem to be popular.

Really starting to feel the cold weather now, the slow cooker is out and has been used a fair bit already. Also searched high and low today for a hot water bottle but could not find one anywhere! May have to order one online. Shops are full of these things you put in the microwave- i just want a normal bog standard hot water bottle!

Made my Christmas cake the other day which filled the house with all my favourite smells, also used some of the mixture to make christmas cupcakes which went down lovely with a cup of tea.

Made some sex and the city girlie style cupcakes for a 40th which worked out well, loved the colours- see below






Also have a done a few simple poured fondant cupcakes



This week not many orders to do apart from some wedding samples which is probably a bit of a blessing seeing as this week I am starting my new day job with Nationwide. Wish me luck!

Monkey Madness

Monkey Island was my favourite ever game when i was growing up. And They have remade it! Very excited to get my hands on this!!!

Sugar and Spice and all things nice

Well Derren Brown did not manage to stick me to my seat so am able to post an update!

Today I have made some garden cupcakes and some sweetie cupcakes and must admit i did eat one myself too!!!

I had a delivery of some new sprinkles today which is exciting!!! I know very sad that i get excited by sprinkles! Trying to build up my collection so if you have any good sprinkle sites let me know!

Tomorrow I have girlie cupcakes to make and also some baby boy christening cupcakes. Looking forward to doing them as the customer has come up with some nice designs.

I'm also sorting through all my cake decorating things and getting some kind of order together, sprinkles in one drawer, cutters in another etc! We are in the process of looking for a new house and I'm dreaming of a bigger kitchen with lots of space!

I really need to get a better camera so I can take some more professional looking photos of my cupcakes. I see others and they look fab. I also want to get my website done professionally in the next month or 2 so watch this space!

I am now as of today on my garden leave from my job that I was made redundant so using the time to try out some new designs, recipes, looking at new suppliers, sorting out admin, do some marketing etc. If anyone has some nice cupcake recipes for me to try let me know :-) I'm going to do some sticky gingerbread ones and some lemon meringue cupcakes too, will let you know how they turn out.

Happy Baking xx

It's National Cupcake Week

Well i've been quite busy the past few weeks so sorry I have not posted for a little while.

I've done wedding cupcakes, tea party cupcakes, birthday cupcakes, thank you and just because cupcakes.

It's National Cupcake week so this Saturday i'm at Small Tot's nursury in Banbury with my cakes to try and spread the cupcake love, pop in if you are around. I also have some birthday cupcakes and Christening cupcakes to do this week.

I also want to try out some new flavours of cupcakes this week so if you have any suggestions get in touch!

Today I heard the news that Patrick Swayze had passed away. Very sad news, Dirty Dancing is one of my favourite films. My thoughts are with his family.

Wedding cupcakes- Lemon, Vanilla and Strawberry

Chocolate and Vanilla Mix

Cupcakes for Hen Party