here come the coos!!

Mooooo!!!! Yes up here in the Highlands of Scotland coos (cows) are horny and hairy.....aye much like the locals.... They tend to go by names such as Hamish, Hector and, er, Fred. It's true. They are also generally total suckers for romance, (Fred especially) and love to wildly wave flags on wedding days while perched on a grassy highland hilltop. It is truely a sight to behold....

What? You don't believe me? Look!! its true!!

plenty of pets!

One of the most popular requests i have for a cake top, is to include those special, often furry, members of the family that are for some reason not going to the actual wedding!! Dogs and cats.... bunny rabbits.... ferrets... budgies, and cockatoos.... lizards.......yes i did say furry, but quite often scaled or feathered or clawed too!! All wonderful tho and all great to add to a cake top so they can be involved in the big day!

I am occasionally asked for horses as well but of course as they are so much bigger than many pets, they would take up a fair bit of space on a cake which isn't always practical. Cakes these days are all shapes and sizes of course, but typically a traditional top tier would be 6 inches diameter. Also a model horse is a bit of a project in itself, as they are alot more tricky to build than a bride and groom, so my time and therefore cost has to be considered.

However just lately i had a request from Little Venice Cake Company in London, for whom i make clay figures from time to time for, you guessed it....a horse. Coincidentally around that time i had a request from a cake top customer who was very keen that her horse and pets cats would star on her cake......horses it seems are alot like buses....

LVCC's horse, above on the left, was first with a rider also sculpted in clay. This was for a cake that had been comissioned to celebrate a special birthday. The figure and horse and the grassy base they stand on are all seperate pieces, so the horse and rider would be placed on the cake as desired and then the grassy base can be used afterwards to display them. I did something similar for the bases for the cake top above right. My customer wanted to experiment a bit with how she would place the figures on her cake as she had a few options, wheter it be all on one tier, seperate tiers or even if the pets would sit on the table next to the cake. So while bride and groom are fixed to thier grassy base, the cats and the horse are not fixedto theirs, allowing them to be fixed to the cake independantly. Or if the bases are used they are actually shaped to curve around each other so they can be placed as close as possible and make a nice neat group!

Whew! So i guess it is true that for cake tops just like in the home, space and time can be an issue to what pet you may choose!!

pretty in pink

One of my favourite things about caketop making is having a wee sneak preview of what the bride and grrom will look like on the day, when all those carefully chosen outfits, flowers and pretty colours come together. Grooms' tie or cravate often mirror the bridesmaids' dress colour, which may often match theshades in the Brides' bouquet, which often tone in with the buttonhole flower, which occasionally echoes hair colour....

emails emails ....emails... DONE!

YAAAAY!!!!! Emails are all up to date as of now! 18.39 28th July 2011 Oh yes!! If you are awaiting a reply still then the ether has intercepted it somehow or the spooky inbox mail muncher monster may have got it when i wasn't looking..... give me a ring should you be a victim of this dreadful fate.... xx

Here is one of the reasons i was very slow at emails this month.... Big congratulations to Jim and Margret who make a lovely couple and don't actually look anything like a pair of teddy bears.... although now you mention it....!!

Tour de Caketops!

Well it's July folks and that must mean le Tour de France is on le telly, (or in my case the pooter) while i remain chained to my workdesk making lots of summer wedding caketops!! Whew, Alpe d'Huez tomorrow too so no rest for the wicked..... Still, when i see those cyclists climbing big mountains and battling it out in rain, wind and shine, well i just think to myself, Hey where's your kilt??!! No doubt the Bride awaits the best dressed at the finish....!!

It'll be all over on Sunday of course when all roll into Paris. If you happen to be there look out for this charming couple, you may spot the splendid hat!! This cake top is one i made recently and was great fun to make and challenged me to attempt some gravity defiying, big mountain climbing, sewing skills... I posted it off to France and happily it made its way to the capital even quicker than the Tour, and has already had it's big day in Paris. Bonne Chance!! (unfortunatly i never studied French so i can't add anything clever or witty here, quel dommage...)

the kids are alright

I've mentioned before how nice it is when customers get back in touch after their wedding with a photo or just a friendly email letting me know how the caketop did on the big day. Sometimes tho i do hear from customers much later on... in fact very occasionally when they have a another sort of cake needing a special cake top!

Christening, or a special first birthday cake are often an occasion for a cake top that can be kept. I don't do too many i have to say as wedding cake tops keep me very busy especially at this time of year! But if it is a past customer who says nice things about how the cake top did at the wedding day... it's hard to say no!

Put your back into it!!

Yes! I should be making much more effort! I have to appologise for a lack of blog posts -where has the time gone?! Well it's busy caketop season here again and time has been flying by. However it does mean i have a backlog of new and varied caketop stories that i can share with you when i do get my typing finger out....

So my back has been needing some stretching and excercising lately i am sure, as i have been gulity of very poor posture as i'm working away on caketops..... Now, if only there was a Physiotherapist in the vicinity....

Aaaah Ha!!! Just like magic i have found one!!! This lady is most certainly the person to turn to in a case such as mine. Look, she has her model spine to prove it....what's that...she has a pair of running shoes.... oh and she likes shopping too i can tell. Her groom meanwhile, seems to be a cricket fan, he likes cars by the look of that magazine under his arm, must be good at maths with a calculator in hand too, maybe he's an accountant?.... and is that a West Ham scarf i spy around his neck? Gosh it's amazing what one can tell about people by their caketops!!!

Congratulations to our happy couple who are indeed enjoying their hobbies and professions as well as looking very splendid in their wedding outfits! All the very best for the big day!!

Now... do you think chocolate cake would be good for my back?