And God said, "Let there be cake!"

So about six years ago I embarked on my first iced cake. For as long as I can remember my Mum has always made birthday cakes for us. Nothing overly ambitious, a simple sponge cake and some butter cream would keep us happy no end but it was something that always took place. For my brother's twelfth birthday however I was keen to help out with this tradition, little did I know I would in fact create a new one. 

All I needed was a set of coloured icing and I managed to create this...

Since then, for every event you can think of I have made iced cakes with various designs and characters on, each cake becoming more and more ambitious and ridiculous.

To me it was no different than using my Mum's leftover pastry to make snails for the top of the beautiful pie she had made. I loved it. I loved how fiddly it all was and how much concentration it took. I could spend hours making an elaborate piece for the top of just about anything. I am completely self taught and everything is one great big experiment to me. 

Since that first cake eight years ago I have come along way, not so much in that I am making cakes for the Queen but I have made my fair share of cakes for friends and family. However if someone had told me I would be making cakes for money I would have laughed... quite hysterically in fact. How could my bizarre past time become a money making scheme?

It does seem to be on the path to becoming just that. I remember speaking to a colleague at work about a cake business she used for her daughter's third birthday party and a simple cake had set her back over £60. I couldn't believe it. Even me with my basic maths knew that something wasn't quite right there- even taking into account ingredients and their time didn't justify that cost, especially to a young single mother. It was at that point I uttered out some words that didn't quite sink in until after I had said them -"I can make your daughter's birthday cake". And there you have it. The path to my latest cake. 

So this thrilling Friday night I have spent my time making a cake for a soon to be four year old girl while many other people my age are probably out throwing up in a bin outside of a shady nightclub by now. I was armed with a mountain of icing and cake decorating supplies and this as my guide to the cake of a young girls dreams...

This really wasn't much to go by at all but somehow I have managed to pull it off for a fraction of the price of the other business she used last year. Here is the finished result which I painstakingly put together this evening...

I don't even think these photos do it justice. The level of detail here is extraordinary, from the polka dots on her leggings, the fastenings on her shoes right down to her hair ties. It's all there. In case you (like I was at the time) are struggling to recognise who this chick is, sat on the top of a cake here is a little bit of guidance for you...

This is Doc McStuffins. She likes to fix broken toys in her backyard playhouse clinic and for some reason this makes her loved by all young children and important enough to sit on the top of my cake. I'll be honest, I had never heard of her before I had to make this cake and it took a fair bit of research to understand just what I was getting myself in for. Even working at a school with young children I hadn't got a clue who she was. Bring back the days of Rosie and Jim I say!

Anyway, awful children's characters aside I finished the cake and I think it was a great success. I am delivering the cake tomorrow ahead of the party on Sunday so fingers crossed it goes down well. I have also made some little tickets for the birthday girl to give out to anyone interested in the cake and potentially having one made. I went all out and even thought up of a name for my 'business' and made a logo and everything. I had far too much fun doing all of this...

I also gave the little girl the spare icing (there was piles of it left) so she can make little characters and cakes and wrote her a little note to say thank you.

All that's left now is the after party of the cake making. Anyone want to help clear up all the mess in the kitchen...?