Happy 1st birthday Ava

My cousin Ava turned one recently and I was asked to make some cupcakes to celebrate.  I decided to stick with a natural colour for the buttercream and went for mainly pastel colours for the decorations.

After much deliberation, i settled on bunny rabbits, teddy bears, butterflies, hearts, presents, balloons and roses.

I piped the buttercream on in pretty swirls before adding the decorations i had made earlier on in the week.

 I made the bunny rabbits using a very cute cutter that i found in a very cute shop in Lewes.  I don't remember how much i paid for it but i remember thinking "Bargain, mate".  I added some detail by sticking on a bobbly tail, making an indent in the ear and one for the eye and then dusted them with glitter and a pearl lustre.

I decided not to go with string for the balloons, but instead selected some individual hundreds and thousands that matched the colours i had used and stuck them just below the balloon to give the impression of a little knot.

I went for some classic sugarpaste roses as well, which I have to say, I have become quite speedy at making.  When i first learnt how to do them it took me yonks to get a nice neat one, but now, give me the paste and I'm away.

These little blue teddies looked really effective and were a bit like alien bears. 

To create these, I used two different sized mini heart cutters, the larger one for the dark pink and then the smaller one for the lighter pink which i stuck on top.  Got those cutters at Cake International the other day and I can't stop using them!

I created my butterflies by using a textured rolling pin to make a patterned surface.  I then used a cutter to get some butterfly wings.  I placed the body of the butterfly which is just a thin sausage onto some baking paper, which was folded in the middle and rested on top of an opened book and then glued a wing to each side.  Because I left them in this position for a few days to dry, they kept their fluttering shape when i stuck them on top of the cakes.

Finally, the little presents.  After making little boxes out of sugarpaste, i then made indents where the ribbon was going to go.  I used some of that new Dr Oetker Designer icing which i put into my own piping bag and then piped the ribbon onto the pressies.  I used an edible ink pen to do the dots on this one.

You may have noticed a considerable improvement in the quality of my photos.  Unfortunately I can't take credit for this as it is down to my chap Tom's fancy new camera and awesome photography skills.  Thanks for them Tom.  Should you or anyone you know be getting married any time soon, you can make use of his talents for your Wedding Video