Gallery

Some recent baking! Click on any of the images to see them on Instagram.

dawnycreates

Birthday Cake: When one of your lovely friends ask

Birthday Cake: When one of your lovely friends asks you to make a birthday cake for their son’s 16th birthday…. how can you refuse ? He’s a gorgeous lad whom I’ve known since a baby and a keen rugby player and is on track to play professionally 🤞First attempt at making a rugby ball cake, at one point it looked more like an egg, maybe it still does 🤣Anyway dropped it off last night after a day volunteering at the community lunch and joined in the birthday celebrations, before heading to another birthday party with another birthday cake in situ. Have a fab weekend guys 🤗 #birthdaycake #themecake #rugbycake #rugby #baking #bakinglove #homebaker #fondantcake #fondant #cake #cakedecorating

Cinnamon Buns: This recipe is from @breadaheadbake

Cinnamon Buns: This recipe is from @breadaheadbakery and is absolutely delicious. In fact they were so popular I need to make another batch soon. The recipe uses dark brown sugar so you get a lovely caramel flavour too. I’m super excited today as a friend has managed to get Madonna tickets for a few us for October at the O2 🎵🎤 Never seen Madonna live in Concert, despite enjoying her music so can’t wait. Wonder if she likes cinnamon buns ? 🤔😊 #cinnamon buns #bun #baking #homebaking #homebaker #bread-baking #bread #breadaheadbakery

Biscuit Art: Amazing what you can do with a little

Biscuit Art: Amazing what you can do with a little royal icing and a piece of gingerbread. A palette knife and it’s like working with acrylics, can create an abstract landscape in literally minutes, seriously. Go on have a go ….. Have a great weekend guys. I’m off out now to see a friends kittens, with my son ( seriously cute moment) doubt I’ll want to leave 🤣#biscuit #biscuits🍪 #baking #homebaker #art #biscuitart #bakingtherapy❤️

Comic Cake: So again Happy New Year everyone 🤗

Comic Cake: So again Happy New Year everyone 🤗 Phew it’s been a busy week, but managed a bake tonight. Comic cakes seem to be quite the trend at the mo and it looks like they are here to stay. Now I always like to try a trend so I did this one quickly tonight. I made a 6 layer chocolate fudge cake and I filled them with an orange chocolate caramel buttercream. I then decorated with fondant icing. I finished it just before midnight but had some jazz music playing to keep me company so it was quite relaxing. Im definitely going to experiment more with this trend . Plus I’ll also neaten it up next time, this was a practice one and a little rushed, well that’s my excuse anyway 🤫🤣 . Have a good week everyone whatever you’re up to and take care 😍#comiccakedesign #cake #cakedecorating #baking #homebaker #bake #fondantcake #buttercream #chocolatecake #comic #comicthemecake #cakes #cakeart #bakinglove

Happy New Year Everyone ! May 2023 bring you all h

Happy New Year Everyone ! May 2023 bring you all happiness and peace. Hoping too for those dreams that you aspire to, to hopefully come true 😘 Thanks for all your support this year and to my friends and family Thank-you for being there and being amazing in what has been a tough year. Here’s to a better year and lots more baking … sending you all hugs 🥂 🤗 #newyear #baking #homebaker #kingscollegecambridge

Merry Christmas Everyone! Have a fab Christmas &

Merry Christmas Everyone! Have a fab Christmas & New Year. Take Care everyone and sending seasons greetings to all, here’s to a better 2023 🤗 #baking #homebaker #christmas #cake #fondantcake

Christmas Cake number 3: Gone for a slightly arty

Christmas Cake number 3: Gone for a slightly arty one this time. Edible colours mixed with vodka on fondant icing. Cake is a traditional fruit cake but the dried fruits are soaked in mulled wine left overnight and then drained. The lovely cake stand is by @emma_bridgewater and was given to me as an Xmas/Thank you gift by the @maggiescambridge team last year. Hope you’re all having a good weekend, I’ve decided to mainly stay inside today making industrial quantities of mince pies . Take care 🤗 #cake #cakedecorating #baking #bakinglove #artcake #homebaker #fondantcake #christmascake

Stollen: Well one good thing about lots of snow i

Stollen: Well one good thing about lots of snow is that it’s a perfect excuse not to go out and just bake. Something comforting about being snug inside and bread baking. This recipe was from @breadaheadbakery . It came out really well, was so easy and delicious 😃I just changed the glaze to a dash of toffee vodka mixed with ginger syrup. On Monday I spent an hour and 20 mins walking through the snow to the hospital, trying desperately not to fall over and laughing with various sixth form students on route to college, all struggling too. I was also trying to balance carrying a carrot cake 🤔. I resorted to getting a taxi home end of the day, didn’t fancy spending the night in A&E. Anyway hope you’re all keeping warm and safe and enjoying building snowmen and having snow ball fights etc .. take care 🤗 #baking #homebaking #bake #bread #bread-baking #breadaheadbakery #stollen

Christmas Cake number 2: Painted cakes seem a big

Christmas Cake number 2: Painted cakes seem a big trend at the moment so I thought I’d apply a bit of abstract art to the next one. This is a gin and earl grey fruit cake. It’s covered in marzipan and fondant icing and I’ve used cocoa butter mixed with edible colours to create the design. Love how you can use fondant as a canvas for art. Right cake number 3 next 😍 #christmascake #christmas #cake #fruitcake #baking #bake #homebaker #homebaking #cakedecorating #fondant #bakinglove #baking

The first of many Christmas Cakes: So it’s that

The first of many Christmas Cakes: So it’s that time of year when I’m industrially making Xmas cakes. This one is for Maggies for the charity raffle. It’s to go in the hamper with the many other great goodies. I asked many visitors what they wanted and they said simple, yet traditional . So a basic fruit cake fed with sherry and a little gin. Covered and decorated in fondant. Currently working on cake and design number 2 . Take care guys 🤗 #baking #homebaker #cakedecorating #cake #christmas #christmascake #bake #fondantcake #fondantdecoration

Raspberry & Chocolate Macarons : More macaron baki

Raspberry & Chocolate Macarons : More macaron baking this time with chocolate and freeze dried raspberries. Been a mega busy week so haven’t had so much time to bake. In fact so busy I got a text Tuesday saying where are you ? I’d completely forgotten I was supposed to be at a drinks thing, then they told me it was their birthday which made me feel a million times worse, lots of apologies etc etc 😮 I spent yesterday helping cook Xmas dinner for 50 for the community lunch. Phew that was a busy one. I think £5 for a full turkey roast Xmas dinner, pudding and tea coffee is amazing value and yet they were still in prophet for charity. Along with helping cook I was tasked with waitressing . Though as someone joked helping me we were more Fawlty Towers than Michelin star 🤣 Plus it wasn’t until everyone was half way through their dinner we realised the cranberry sauce was still in the car 🤣. Love those events very busy but super team of volunteers and such a laugh. Plus seeing everyone so happy is what we all need right now. 🤗. #macarons #bakinglove #baking #homecooking #chocolate #raspberry #bake #homebaker

Pampusky: This is a Ukrainian garlic, dill bread d

Pampusky: This is a Ukrainian garlic, dill bread designed to be torn, shared and eaten with soup etc … the recipe is from @bbcgoodfood and is from Valya Kandaurova . I adapted it slightly, filling it with cheese and pickles and then splitting the dough and twisting. It’s absolutely delicious, a must if you have time this weekend to bake. In fact I made it again the next day it was so delicious. It has milk and butter added to it to give a lovely soft texture but a slightly crunchy outside. Sun is shining, sky is blue looks like a lovely day to go for a walk, so that’s what I shall do 🤗 #bbcgoodfood #baking #breadbaking #bread #homebaker #pampusky #cooking #homecooking #garlic #dill

Post Wedding Celebration Cake: This is my nod to B

Post Wedding Celebration Cake: This is my nod to Bake off ….. showstopper….I made this for a lovely couple from India, currently working as nurses here, who had a very simple wedding celebration last week. This was my gift to them to share with coffee and the congregation today. I Challenged myself to make this in one day though I had a slight panic this morning and decided it needed a topper. So this morning I quickly made the biscuit topper. I didn’t really have a design before hand but had an idea in my head. The top tier is a chocolate fudge cake , the next layers are carrot cake and banana cake. For the banana cake I slightly adapted @nigellalawson recipe , it’s absolutely delicious and never fails. The frosting is a caramel flavoured cream cheese buttercream . I debated using an Italian meringue buttercream but the cream cheese goes so well with the flavour combinations. I made the chocolate collars for a bit of contrast but in hindsight I think candy melts and a colourful collar would have worked better. I did a small fault line in the cake and used some sprinkles that resembled confetti. The cake was a lot larger than I intended and my bag on wheels/ trolley dolly just about coped, how I got it all there still intact after a 25min walk was beyond me. Had a lovely day Friday going to my friends retirement do,and my first Xmas dinner of the year. Hope you all had a lovely weekend 🤗…… #cake #cakedecorating #weddingcake #gbbo #baking #homebaker #chocolate #bananacake #carrotcake #bakinglove #bake

Rose Macarons: Ok so no bake off technical challen

Rose Macarons: Ok so no bake off technical challenge to post today. To be honest I don’t really like summer pudding and my friends don’t seem to keen either, think it’s the cold soggy bread so thought I’d make these, to post. I’m doing a celebration cake next 🤞post on Sunday if looks ok. I used a different method this time for the macarons, and didn’t use the hot syrup method, came out ok I think. Recipe for basic macaron from @bbcgoodfood I flavoured these with a hint of rose water which I also used to flavour the white chocolate whipped ganache along with a hint of lemon and mint. I was so pleased that @syabira_bakes won the Bake Off final, she was amazing. Have a fab weekend guys 🌹😍#baking #gbbo #homecooking #macarons #bake #bakinglove #homebaker #rose

Chocolate, hazelnut & raspberry vertical tarts: 2

Chocolate, hazelnut & raspberry vertical tarts: 2 posts in one day …. What’s going on 🫢Had my covid booster on Friday and weirdly supervised by a nurse I worked with way back in transplants years ago, had a lovely catch up. No reaction with other boosters but a slight reaction with this one a temperature and muscle fatigue, hasn’t stopped me baking though, in fact went a bit baking crazy from lack of going out. This is Pru Leith’s recipe and the technical challenge this week on Bake Off. Ok so it wasn’t too bad but my pastry cases are a little thicker than I’d like and probably so is the jelly. One of the cases snapped trying to squash the chocolate mousse in and let’s just say trying to pipe cream in a tiny space was hmmm a little tricky. So taste wise the mousse was very rich, I couldn’t eat much at all but it balanced well combined with the biscuit and jelly. Personally raspberries and chocolate are one of my favourite flavours. They were really fun to make and easily do able in 2 hours, I timed it. If you were to serve at a dinner party, for example they’re the sort of thing you could assemble at the last minute and you can always have the broken one for yourself 😀. #pastry #gbbotwitterbakealong #gbbo #verticaltart #pruleithrecipe #baking #homebaker #patisserie #bake #cooking #homecooking #bakingtherapy❤️ #raspberry #chocolate #desert

Remembrance Sunday: Lemon drizzle cake, all edible

Remembrance Sunday: Lemon drizzle cake, all edible. A little scruffy I think, or artistic hmmm not sure. Not perfect or my best but big enough to share for anyone who likes blue icing 😬. #remembrancesunday #cake #cakedecorating #baking #homebaker #bake #bakinglove #bakingfun

Raspberry Mouse Tart: Ok so it’s patisserie week

Raspberry Mouse Tart: Ok so it’s patisserie week on Bake Off and I attempted the technical challenge, but I didn’t have any cooks rings for the pastry circles so I used a muffin tin. Well it didn’t work as they were far too small to accommodate any fillings. So I bought some rings on the way home today, not cheap, but ‘they will come in handy’ the man in the shop told me ‘when you do your designer rice and salad stacks ‘🤔😀So that will be my next post. And for now here’s a tart : Sort of went a bit rogue here, channelling my inner artist 🤣, and feeling inspired to do a playful bright bake for a dog lover friend. I was looking at a Banksy image and kinda just made this up as I went along really. That’s the good thing about baking you can just let yourself go free with design, something I’m trying to incorporate a bit more. For this tart I made a sweet shortcrust pastry case and made a raspberry mousse to go inside, using left over pastry for the flowers. I made some green lime flavoured shortbread biscuits which I crushed for the grass and the poodles and heart are made from fondant, with some chocolate disks and raspberries. 🤞they like it. Have a lovely weekend everyone 😍#tart #pastry #mousse #raspberrymousse #bake #bakinglove #baking #homebaker #cooking #homecooking #fondant

Cherry Pie: Couldn’t decide if I prefer the firs

Cherry Pie: Couldn’t decide if I prefer the first or second pie design, so I included both. I blind baked the case filled with a cherry compote then played around with the pie lid design. Is it a pie or tart with a lid, I’ll let you decide. I experimented with painting the pastry mid baking this time instead of adding the colour to the dough seems to have come out ok, I think. I used the pastry recipe from @julie_jonesuk as it’s pretty reliable and yummy. Though lots of chilling and it takes 45mins to blind-bake the case, a luxury I guess they can’t afford on bake off. #pastry #cooking #cook #homebaker #home-baked #bake #pie #cherrypie #gbbo

Cherry &Lemon Curd Vol au Vents: Ok so pastry week

Cherry &Lemon Curd Vol au Vents: Ok so pastry week on Bake Off, so thought I’d do the signature vol au vents and will do a decorative pie next. How they did rough puff pastry and made them in 2 hours is quite something. I went for heart shapes, thought why not have a go. Some were a bit lopsided, uneven but for sweet treats they look quite cute. I filled them with lemon curd flavoured with a little mint and I poached some cherries in port with orange, allspice and cinnamon to put inside. The cherries were divine, I left them in a low in the slow cooker . However I made the lemon curd a bit too sharp so there was a tug of war flavour wise. I think if I repeat some almond cream patisserie would work really well. #gbbo #pastry #volauvents #cooking #homecooking #bake #baking #homebaker #cherry #lemoncurd

Baptism: Cake made to share for a lovely girl aged

Baptism: Cake made to share for a lovely girl aged 10 called Rosie who was baptised on Sunday. I made some extra cakes to share and 50 angel biscuits . The cake was a combination of fruit and sponge and the first time I’d done a diamond pattern on fondant. Also the first time I’d made a cake for a baptism. Carrying it all in the pouring rain with a 30 min walk there was a bit tricky but hats off to Lakeland their large plastic cake carriers I put them in were 100% waterproof. Hmmm probably make a good advert 🤣 Sitting in Gail’s Bakery soaked again whilst writing this …. Hope you’re all keeping dry, have a good week 🤗 #baptism #baptismcake #fondantcake #baking #cakedecorating #cake #bake #bakinglove

Load More… Follow on Instagram