FREE CAKES FOR KIDS

I'm sure you would agree that every child deserves a birthday cake and I have recently been working with a UK charity called Free Cakes For Kids who are a great group of volunteers that donate a birthday cake for children whose families would usually find it difficult to provide one.
Children are referred by local groups and organisations with details of the child's gender, age and interests and a volunteer from their local community makes the cake.


There are Free Cakes For Kids groups all over the country which you could get involved in.  You are under no obligation and can bake as little or as much as you like and don't worry about your decorating skills not being up to parr, a child receiving a birthday cake will love it.  There are other ways to help too, perhaps delivering a cake or promoting your local group.  Or do you know a group that could work with FCFK.

It such a lovely cause to be part of and brings so much happiness.

GOLF CAKE

I don't really enjoy making novelty cakes, I've not got the fingers or patience for  fiddley details.  My husband Sean is way better at all that sort of stuff, check out the tractor cake he made recently.

Regardless of my lack of ability in this area, I do get asked quite often for cakes with a theme.  Usually I have an idea in my head, think 'how hard can it be' then half way through construction and too late for me to back out, I'm regretting it sorely.  Like the Womble cake I tried to make for my father that ended up looking more like the Wicker Man due to the amount of cocktail sticks I had to use as scaffold to support it!

Sometimes however, my memory of previous failings lets me down and I agree.  This was one of those occasions but this time I kept it simple and hopefully have produced an effective result.

Before anything else I cut out a slight hollow which would become the sand bunker.  

The sponge cake was then spread with buttercream and covered in a pale green fondant icing.  I then brushed a little water in the dip and sprinkled on soft brown sugar for sand.

I cut out a shape in blue icing for the water then sprinkled it with a fine blue and flakey blue glitter.  The grass was piped on with buttercream with a grass nozzle.

Finishing touches were the flag pole made from a bamboo skewer coloured with a felt tip, the golf ball from a small piece of fondant icing and the piped message.

I wish they were all as straight forward as this