Breakfast at Bethany's

Not a lot of people get the pleasure of designing and making their own birthday cake. Of course, unless my mum is really on the ball one year I get to sneak past her and spend hours pinning, drawing and making- a birthday present in itself! This year I turned 21, and to celebrate I had big ideas- four tiers of ideas to be exact...

The theme I chose for my party not only encompassed my favourite film, but my favourite place. I always said I'd go back to New York City for my 21st birthday- but time and money decided New York would have to come to me. I planned to create a four tiered cake, decorated with yellow cabs and New York/Breakfast at Tiffany's icons- from the Statue of Liberty to Tiffany's Fifth Avenue store- with a Tiffany's (or Bethany's) box to top.

So, here goes nothing..

After making my favourite lemon drizzle cake, and covering the four tiers with buttercream and fondant, I started with the basic building outlines- drawing my own templates on paper and cutting out fondant using a paring knife and rotary cutter. I then added the details tier by tier- starting with the taxis, moving up to the buildings.

The beauty of blogging is it is just that easy! Before you know it I'm adding the topper and voila! The finished article, from various angles...

I loved making it, even though the last few hours were cutting it a bit fine! The summer baking rush is all over.. for now!

B x

My First Christening

... well, not my first christening, but rather my first christening cake.. In between the mass of macarons I have been making for my degree show (see previous post!) I managed to find time to create a cute little cake for a little girl named Hollie. 

I thought the design was really cute- personally I might have chosen different colours for the bears but overall it worked well! Especially my lovely new font stampers.. :) 

B x

402 Macarons and the end of an era

Yep, you read that right- three flavours, three fillings, three colours- four hundred and two macarons. As my degree was mainly creative, we had the chance at the end to showcase all our hard work over the last three years in a degree show, for family and friends as well as professionals from industry. Our concept was 'DECODE'...

As I was on the committee, I was the first to pipe up and offer my baking services. Little did I realise that was so much easier said than done! I was taken up on this offer, and commissioned to make four hundred macarons, in three specially created FMB flavours- CocoNut(Shell), FMB Orange and Earl Grey Matter.

Although I am taking on more and more orders, I still work in a domestic kitchen, with limited space (thanks mummy!) which meant that I essentially took over the entire first floor of my parents' house with drying, cooling and filling these eight hundred and four macaron shells.

Not to mention carting them all, in their finished state, one hundred and three miles down the M1 to Nottingham!

They turned out to be a big hit, and really added to the number of people coming into our show- of course they stayed for the company!

B x 

My most recent project- in between dissertation stress and the overwhelming feeling my world is about to change forever- was to design and create a 50th birthday cake for my best friend's mum. As you can probably tell by my website (bethanyandco.com), girlie cakes are kinda my thing. However, the client was not a girlie girl, but also not a tomboy- something I find hard to grasp. Designing a cake that did not contain flowers nor race cars is something I have little to no experience in.

But here we are: a non girlie, non race car cake.

I actually had a lot of fun with it, and the look on her face was all worth it in the end!

More projects to follow...

B x

ramekin 101

My train of thought with baking (and, admittedly, most things) tends to start with scouring the Pinterest stratosphere. This time, however, it started in John Lewis with the cutest little ramekins you've ever seen... I had to do SOMETHING to justify buying the six little porcelain pots. So I rummaged through the file in my brain marked 'to bake', and came up with Hot Chocolate Souffles... 


They're just SO cute! Be warned: they are incredibly delicious, but incredibly rich. Bake at your own risk...They really need to be eaten directly from the oven, but if you want you can refrigerate the mixture for up to 48hrs- perfect to bake individually as and when needed. 

for 8 mini souffles
50g soft unsalted butter, at room temp
150g caster sugar
4 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
half a tsp baking powder
50g strong white flour (the same you use to make bread, even italian 00 will do)
300g dark chocolate
for the decor
mini marshmallows, as many as you can handle!

If baking straight away, preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6/400ºF. Fill a saucepan up with water and heat until boiling. Break up the chocolate and place in a heatproof bowl. Turn down the heat a little and place the bowl of chocolate over the saucepan and gently stir. Cream the butter and sugar together whilst the chocolate is melting- if you're not great at multitasking, wait until the chocolate is completely melted to start the creaming process!Crack the eggs into the mixture and whisk gently. Add in the flour, baking powder and vanilla essence and stir. At this point the chocolate should have cooled enough to fold into the rest of the mixture. Stir until completely incorporated and finally spoon into the adorable little ramekins (adorable not compulsory...). Place the ramekins on a baking tray and bake for 8 minutes (10 if baking from the fridge). Quickly take the souffles out, pop the marshmallows on top and bake for a further 2 minutes.Voila! 
P.S. don't count the calories, for goodness' sake...

B x

chocolate & orange "you passed!" cupcakes

Today marks a pivotal point in all parent's lives: the day their youngest child passes their driving test. My little brother S is now 6'1 and can legally drive all by himself; two points that make me feel the title of little brother is now not so applicable... So to celebrate/sugar-coat my sorrows, I made chocolate & orange 'you passed!' cupcakes-

for the cupcakes

100g flour

50g cocoa powder

1tsp baking powder

2 eggs, @ room temp

a few drops vanilla extract

150g butter, melted and allowed to cool

50g semisweet chocolate chips

for the icing

100g butter, @ room temp

280g icing sugar

juice of 1/2 an orange 

zest of 1 orange

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Combine the dry ingredients first, then add the eggs ( I like to add them whilst the butter's cooling). Then add the butter and vanilla extract, mixing with a wooden spoon gently. Finally fold in the chocolate chips. Spoon into paper cases and cook for 12-18 minutes or until firm and springy to the touch. I like to stick a cocktail stick into the cake nearest the door until it comes out clean to check they're all properly cooked. 

While they're cooling, I make the icing.. Chuck in all the ingredients at once, it really doesn't matter in which order! Mix with an electric whisk (or handheld for the saints of the world...) until combined and the mixture holds its shape- add more icing sugar/butter as needed. Fill a piping bag with the icing mixture and pipe away!

I made the little toppers and printed them onto sticky labels. The background actually has a picture of vintage Fiat 500s - our shared car is the updated one, sorry S... But yay, you passed!

B x

Here goes nothing...

I have been known to say that blogging is a self indulgent activity. That unless you have something really, really interesting to say, you shouldn't post it on the internet. 

So, here's my first post on my exceptionally interesting blog.

Whether or not everybody will find it interesting is as yet undecided- but most people like cake, and most people like aesthetically pleasing objects (two topics that I like to think I'm rather good at), so the odds are in my favour. 

I'll drink to that!

B x