Meet The Tutor – Dani

Posted on Wednesday 22nd February, 2017

Here at BDB now, most people who come along to our classes have me. Laura, our other amazing Guru teaches on Thursdays. So, I wanted to tell you all a little bit about us both. While Laura is busy taking some blog selfies and answering my crazy questions… I’ll fill you in on me.

dani 3 About Me…. I’m Dani and I’m 21 (ok, 34) . I married Dean at age 16 and we’ve been married now for almost 18 years. We have 2 gorgeous girls, Mae who is 14 and Lana who is 9. We also have 2 barmy dogs called Bella and Milo, and a crazy cat called Fizz (or King Fizz as he rules the house!)

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I love……. I love parties! Not staying out till 3am kind of parties though, I still like to be in bed with a cup of tea by 11. We love Halloween house parties. I think as I make pretty cakes all year its great to go wild with blood and gore every now and again and create something disgusting. We have a lot of kitchen parties for no reason what so ever. Nothing better than some good music, disco lights on and a dance while you are cooking the dinner!

I love the beach, especially with good friends and family. I love Christmas, I begin my Christmas excitement in January! I love Channing Tatum and Gary Barlow and would happily feed them cake anytime!! I love my slippers, especially if they have ears on! I love a good strong cup of Yorkshire tea. I love being at home and watching Disney Films. I would happily watch them over any grown up film! I love making huge wedding cakes. My most favourite kind of cake to make.

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Me and Cakes…. I’ve always enjoyed baking since having my girls. My plan was to to go uni and become a primary school teacher. I started doing cakes as a hobby. I came to a few BDB classes almost 5 years ago (Laura taught me) I was asked me to teach and I’ve been here ever since. Its much easier teaching adults than children. I don’t have to use the naughty step too often!!

My favourites…. My favourite class to teach is our Wedding Cake Masterclass. Its amazing to see the results of complete beginners who really doubt their abilities, then leave with something they are incredibly proud of and a little extra cake confidence. I guess this applies to all our classes though. There is nothing better than seeing someone who doesn’t believe they can do it, prove themselves wrong and create something beautiful.

My favourite cakes to eat are (I have to choose 2!) Chocolate rocky road cupcakes. Honestly, you’ve never tasted anything like these in your life. Calorie filled and chocolate filled cake..what could be better. We teach these in our Chocolate cupcake class. But, I also love Sticky toffee cake with toffee sauce. Its THE best cake ever and one slice is never enough. Find this recipe in our recipes\tutorials section.

Whats your favourite kind of cake to eat? What cake would you feed your hunky celeb crush?

Lots of cake love

Dani xx

Big Cakes And Buttercream

Posted on Tuesday 21st February, 2017

There is nothing nicer than looking at a cake, all straight, sharp, flawless and utterly perfect. However to get this, you need to use sugar paste and smooth until your little arms are done in! I’m not a huge fan of sugar paste to eat. I’d much rather get stuck in to a filthy, huge, sticky, gooey cake covered in lashings of buttercream. So, to get your cake looking ship shape with buttercream, heres our top tips….

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Layer your cake – Using a cake leveller will make this a whole lot easier and it’ll also look gorgeously even when you slice into it too.

Buttercream those layers – Stacking your cake with filling. Yum! Buttercream, ganache, toffee sauce, salted caramel, the list is endless.

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Crumb coat – Spreading on a thin layer of buttercream using your palette knife will seal in those crumbs so when it comes to your final layer of buttercream, it’ll look fab. Make sure you use a side scraper to take off the excess and smooth it out.

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Final buttercream crumb coat – Now shove that buttercream on nice and thick, all over. By adding this thick layer you’ll get a really even, straight finish to your cake. Once its totally covered, again, gently scrape off using your side scraper until all smooth and straight.

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Keep going and fill in any gaps or low bits of buttercream and scrape again. Don’t forget the top! Use your palette knife for this and scrape from the outside edge into the middle.

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Finishing touches – Add some buttercream in a piping bag with a Jem 2D nozzle and swirl! I begin by swirling at 12, 6, 3 and 9 o’clock. This way the swirls are nice and even. Then just fill in the gaps.

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SPRINKLES!!!! My most favourite thing in the world. Sprinkles!! Take some beautiful sprinkles and sprinkle til your heart’s content! These gorgeous sprinkles are from sweetapolita.

Whats your favourite sprinkles? Any top tips for layering big cakes? Let us know..

Lots of cake love

Dani xx

Valentines Bear Cake Tutorial

Posted on Monday 13th February, 2017

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With Valentines Day fast approaching, what better than to create this super cute teddy bear cake.

You’ll need -

6 inch round cake (You can download our Baking Guide from recipes\tutorials section of our website)

Chocolate buttercream

Cake leveller

Palette knife

Piping bag

Jem 2D nozzle

Brown and pink sugar paste

Cocktail sticks

Heart cutters

Side scraper

Start off by adding a little bit of buttercream to your cake drum to stick the cake to. Then layer up your levelled cakes with a little buttercream. Make sure the cake is straight. Sounds obvious I know but making sure it stands up straight at this point will make your life a lot easier.

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Take a side scraper and scrape away the excess buttercream. You can add texture using your palette knife if you don’t want to pipe fur. Add on your face features and ta-da!!

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If you want to pipe fur, add on lots of little hearts around the cake and the mouth piece. Fill your piping bag with buttercream and get piping! I started off piping around the bottom and building up to the top in layers. Pipe around the edge and on the top of the cake before adding on the ears and eyes. Make sure you avoid the little hearts and the mouth.

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To make the features -

Ears - Take a large ball of paste and flatten slightly. Using the end of your rolling pin, press gently into the middle of your flattened circle to put a dent in the centre. Cut in half for your two ears. Squash a pink ball of paste and glue this in the middle of the ears. Add a little line detail with a cocktail stick. Insert a cocktail stick in each side of the ears for support.

Mouth – Cut out a large circle of paste and slice off a small amount from the bottom. Using a smaller circle cutter, gently press for the mouth. Add a line with your palette knife and a cute heart nose. I also added pink dust for cheeks.

Eyes – Make small balls of dark brown paste and flatten. Add on teeny tiny balls of white paste.

Stick straight on to the buttercream before it sets and you won’t need glue.

Happy Valentines Day

Dani xx