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This month we're back at the BSG meeting, and Feb's is one of my favourites as it's Mini Dems week. This time the lovely Lesley, Marion and Pam offered their teaching skills showing us how to make multiple things with modelling paste, sugarpaste and royal icing. To start us off, Lesley gave us a fabulous demonstration on how to make these dogs, just in time for Valentine's Day. After much discussion between her, Lucy and myself, we decided that the head part could also be used as a seal...

When you make regular buttercream, it generally takes on the colour of the butter and has a creamy yellow colour to it. Now that's great if you're not bothered about the colour. However, if you'd like to get yours into a whiter shade, then all you need to do is the following. Simply add tiny amounts of purple concentrated food dye with a toothpick, yes, that's right, I did say purple. Do it in stages and mix it in. You will see the 'yellow tinge' start to disappear and the white transform...

As we are approaching Valentine's day, I thought I would make some themed teddy bear toppers for you to have a go at. I have made them in a knitted bear design using a knitting mould and also a plain design in case you don't have a mould. They are easy to make and another project you can do with the kids. I have created two designs so you can decide which one you like best. To make the teddy bear cupcake toppers, you will need the following:- Ingredients and Equipment Brown/White/Red...

Thanks to Nicola and Judith, we're back on with the meetings again this year, and luckily they asked Neil McGrath to start us off with an array of chocolatey treats. This chocolate tulip mousse dessert was just one of the products that Neil showed us how to re-create, and we also got to taste test a few items too. The tulip was made from white and dark chocolate, mousse, a dusting of cocoa powder and a white chocolate transfer disc. Neil demonstrated how to make white chocolate hearts...

There are different types of modelling paste on the market, but I have found that Saracino gives remarkable results. (See Saracino Review) If you do not have any modelling paste and wish to make your own, then all you need to do is add one teaspoon of tylose powder to around 250 grams of icing/fondant/sugarpaste. To ensure you get the best results, add the tylose in stages so you can feel whether the paste needs all the powder or if you need a little less or more. Humidity and weather...

When using Icing/Sugarpaste or Fondant on a cake, you must always ensure that it has a good shelf life and is in date before you cover your cake. However, if you are making dummy toppers or a display cake, then the icing/sugarpaste/fondant doesn't have to be in date as it isn't going to be consumed. The only thing you may find with the out-of-date paste is that it may be harder and drier and could require a little more kneading. Tip: Always keep your out-of-date icing sugarpaste fondant...

Is this another misadventure? So I was playing around with some Teddy Bear designs a few weeks ago and trying to put something together for Valentine's day. However, after playing about with a few things, I finally landed on this. The only problem is the overall look and design of the bears wasn't something I was overjoyed with, so I'm thinking of going back to the drawing board. The thing about bears and me is that I prefer them when they have fur rather than them being flat or smooth. To...

Due to various reasons, many people cannot tolerate eggs in their baked goods. Therefore if you find yourself in this quandary, here are a few alternative ingredients you can use instead. Ingredients that can be substituted for an egg(s) in baking:- Apple Sauce You can use apple sauce to replace your egg(s). Not only will it prevent your bakes from drying out, but it will also add moisture to them too. However, to ensure that your bakes aren't too sweet, use unsweetened apple sauce. If...

These were another cupcake topper that I created over the festive period. To make the Poinsettia shapes, I used my Rose Calyx cutters in various sizes. I used poppy red and Renshaw emerald green and then used some golden crunch pieces for the centre. Tutorials Easy Cupcake Toppers Creative Corner

Here is another quick and easy festive cupcake topper for you to have a go at, albeit this time, it's a Santa Topper for you and the kids to try. If you wish to make the easy Santa cupcake topper, you will need to do the following: Equipment/Ingredients Medium Pastry Circle Cutter Dresden Tool/Cocktail Stick Knife/Strip Cutter or Infinity Cutter Palette Knife Small Circle Push Cutters Red, White, Black and Yellow Icing Fondant Batch of Cupcakes Buttercream or Jam Water or Edible Glue...

As I have made a Santa cupcake topper, I thought it only fair to incorporate the elves in there, too, so after a few design changes, I finally landed on this. Now I will show you the other variation, and then you can decide which one suits you best. Again for this, you will only need a few colours of icing fondant and edible pearls if you prefer. To make the toppers, you will only need green, yellow and brown icing fondant. Red pearls or red icing. A knife and some circle cutters. Method...

So this was our final meeting of the year, and it didn't disappoint as Judith had our creative juices flowing by teaching us how to do some Iris Folding. Now, if like me, you've never heard of it, let alone done any, it's generally used for cards and crafts. However, for this meeting, we were taught how to re-create the design using modelling paste instead. Judith explained that the reason we used modelling paste was that in order to recreate the technique, the paste needed to be nearly...

Hi everybody, Continuing with my adventures into all things chocolate, I had a go at making filled chocolates. I used white, milk and dark chocolate then decided to try using candy melts as well so chose red for the roses and hearts.. I melts the chocolate and using a small brush coated the different moulds with various melted chocolate. I placed these in the fridge to set whilst I made the fillings. I decided on caramel for some and chocolate ganache for others. I also decided to use...

Hi, I have started to have a go at making hot chocolate bombs. first I melted some dark, white and milk chocolate in the microwave and then coated the inside of the moulds, as I have only one mould i had to do each type of chocolate at a time. i let the chocolate harden in the fridge then when set carefully unmourned them, I heated a very small frying pan and carefully held the cho mould on the pan to smooth the edges, and put them back in the fridge till I had completed all of them. I...

As we are heading towards Christmas, I decided to make some Candy Cane Chocolate Bars. So after sending my daughter on an expedition to get some Candy Canes, I finally managed to get some time to make them. As the Candy Canes were festive red, white and green, I decided to use them with both dark and white chocolate to see which one I preferred visually. I then went through my baking cupboard to see what other decorations I could use to keep with the theme. Once decided, I stripped the...

Always on the lookout for new decorating tools, I came across these PME Inifinity Multicutters recently and thought I would give them a whirl. Now I do have similar cutters by a different brand. However, these are larger than the ones I have, and add to that, there are two different sizes in the packet; they were definitely worth a try. Product Care/Instructions There are no product care instructions on the packaging. However, I washed these in hot soapy water and allowed them to air dry...

If you've ever thought about freezing pastry dough, here are a few tips you might like to keep in mind. Pastry Dough You can freeze both raw dough and blind-baked pastry dough. Raw pastry dough (wrapped in a disc shape when frozen) can be thawed in the fridge and then baked. This will be a much fresher pastry when baked but will only have a short shelf life in the freezer. If you have raw pastry tart shells straight from the freezer, these can be blind-baked straight away. They may need...