Sew Yummy: Sewing Cupcakes

We are over half way in the Sew Yummy series. I hope you’ve all been enjoying everything my guests have made so far. I’ve been so impressed with every post and today’s guest doesn’t disappoint. I am really excited to introduce Laura from lauralovescakes.

Laura’s blog is so full of amazing cakes, cookies and other sweet treats. She is certainly very talented and always seems to be attending amazing courses to improve her skills, like this Ladurée Masterclass at Harrods – I’m just a bit jealous 🙂 Some of my favourite things Laura has made include Piñata Cookies, incredibly realistic Flowerpot Cakes, Gold Medal Millionaire’s Shortbread and Ice Cream Cake Pops. Laura also hosts the popular monthly baking challenge Calendar Cakes with Dolly Bakes. Today she’s used sewing as the inspiration for some very cute cupcakes.

***

I’m really excited to be taking part in ‘Sew Yummy’ and I’ve loved reading all the posts so far. I’m such a baking fan but I can only admire and aspire to all the fabulous sewing projects on Laura’s blog!

After much deliberation I decided on cupcakes for my project as I thought it would be fun to top each one with a different item of sewing paraphernalia from tape measures to buttons and scissors to cotton reels…these cupcakes have got everything you need.

When it comes to cake decoration there are so many great sugarcrafting tools available which can really bring projects to life and these are just a few of my favourites…

You can get all sorts of moulds and this button mould just makes the cutest decorations. To make the buttons I used white Sugar Florist Paste and coloured it up using Sugarflair paste colours. All you need to do is take a small ball of paste, press it into the mould and then carefully turn it out.

For the little cotton reels I used a sugarpaste gun to make the thread. To use the gun you load the barrel with paste and then gently squeeze the handle which forces the paste out in the desired pattern. The gun comes with a variety of different end pieces (discs) and these can be used to create lots of different effects such as hair, grass, ropes and logs to name but a few.

One of the cupcakes has a quilt sat on top for which I used a small square cutter to make the quilt squares and then went round each one with the stitching tool that you can see below. This is a great tool as it really makes sugarpaste creations look authentic. It’s commonly used on handbag and suitcase cakes, as well as modelled teddy bears.

I made most of the decorations the day before baking as they require time to harden, usually overnight. This is also important if you wish to give your creations shape, for example the tape measures were made by cutting out strips of white paste which were then shaped over little rolls of kitchen towel. Left overnight the tape measures set in position to give the wavy effect. When hardened the paste also gives a suitable surface for writing on with edible pen.

When all the elements were ready to assemble I piped swirls on half of the cupcakes using a Wilton 1M nozzle and then covered the other half in circles of sugarpaste attached with a thin layer of buttercream. The recipe I used for the vanilla cupcakes was this one from Pretty Witty Cakes. Overall, I was really pleased with the result and I think these would be the perfect gift for any sewing enthusiast.

Finally, I’d like to thank Laura for inviting me to participate, I really enjoyed making these sewing inspired cupcakes…and I may also have been inspired to give sewing a go myself! 🙂

***

They are fantastic Laura! There are so many little details, I’m sure any seamstress would be delighted to receive these. I’d love it if you had been inspired to try sewing. Thank you so much for taking part today.