Exterminate... exterminate...!

Aaah, yes. The Dalek cake. This was made for a friend's birthday last September - she is, as you may have guessed, a Doctor Who fan of tragic proportions. This cake is the current undisputed titleholder of "my most time-consuming cake ever" - it took fourteen hours to decorate. All the panels, knobs, switches, iris, "ears" and weird bath plunger thing (which I've never been able to see a use for, by the way. I do watch the new Doctor Who, and I must say I've never seen a Dalek try to unclog a toilet), were individually handmade from sugarpaste, then dusted with bronze shimmer dust (where appropriate). The only non-edible parts of this cake were the rod supporting the iris (wooden dowel), the rod supporting the bath plunger thing (slightly thinner wooden dowel), and the laser, which my darling husband manufactured for me in his shed using a soldering iron (and yes, it was cleaned thoroughly before insertion!).

If I did this again, it might not take quite as long, as there was some experimentation involved. But it was definitely a labour of love - I had such fun making this, it was so exciting and different! Anyway, I'm sure there are some bits of it that aren't absolutely perfect, but I was really happy with the end result. And so, I think, was "Astrid".

Hello, and welcome to my brand-spanking-new blog, where I will come to show off all my latest forays into the world of baking (or at least I will when I have time)...

A bit about me: I have been cooking (including but not limited to baking) since the age of two, thanks to my mother, who I hold responsible for my love of the kitchen. She also made me beautiful birthday cakes, although technically they were carved out of icecream, not cake at all... But I am a relative newbie to cake decorating - around two years ago, quite by chance, I picked up and leafed through a copy of Peggy Porschen's amazing "Pretty Party Cakes" book, and it was like a whole new lobe opened up in my brain - I had to buy it, and start trying things out! It was so much fun that I haven't stopped since, and have now done everything from very basic cupcakes for my daughter's playgroup, to my friends' engagement cake. And this year I have two weddings to make the cakes for, which is a bit scary, but very exciting!

Anyway, I don't pretend I'm going to be the most eloquent blogger, nor the best photographer, but I hope you enjoy my pictures, and wish you all good luck with your own culinary efforts!