pastel sprinkle birthday carrot cake

What do you do when you've made a bit of a botched job at smoothing down the icing on the sides of your cake? Cover it in a sugary, pastel rainbow!

Pastel rainbows, however, don't cover up structural problems. I was a bit lazy with levelling my layers so the cake ended up somewhat freeform. Not to matter though, I was fairly confident I was onto a winner flavour wise as the batter tasted good.

The finished cake was very tasty indeed. Hurrah!

I have been wanting to try out the Hummingbird Bakery's carrot cake recipe for years and since my sister in law's only stipulation for her birthday cake this year was "cream cheese icing" I thought now was as good a time as any. 

I'm not sure if I love it quite as much as their Hummingbird layer cake, but that really is just personal preference. It's a very satisfying, well spiced carrot cake and I'd definitely bake it again. My only regret is not having a dusting of cinnamon on top, which is what I usually do with carrot cakes, but I feared it would clash with the sprinkles!

Triple layer carrot cake

Recipe from Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

300g soft light brown sugar

3 large eggs

300ml sunflower oil

300g plain flour

1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

300g carrots, peeled and grated

100g walnuts (I used pecans instead) chopped 

cream cheese icing:

600g icing sugar

100g butter, softened (I use slightly salted)

250g full fat cream cheese

I also added 1/2tsp vanilla bean paste for extra flavour

Preheat the oven to 170C/150C Fan/325F/Gas 3. Grease and line 3 round 20cm (8 inch) cake tins. Beat together the sugar, eggs and oil until well combined. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and ginger and slowly add to the egg mixture until fully combined. Stir in the grated carrots and chopped nuts until evenly dispersed then divide the mixture between the cake tins. Bake for 20-25mins until well risen, firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool for a few minutes before turning out onto a wire cooling rack.

For the icing, combine the butter and icing sugar. I find this easier to start off by hand with a spoon as the mixer just makes massive dust clouds! Once combined, add the cream cheese icing in one go and mix together (by mixer) for 5 minutes until the mixture is light and very fluffy. Use to generously fill and cover the cooled cake. I had enough icing left over to pipe a simple star border around the top of the cake.

For the pastel border I patted the sprinkles into the cake in their colour rows, working from the bottom up. I used my right hand to press them on and held my left hand underneath, with the edge of my palm lightly touching the side of the cake to catch and press in any falling sprinkles. It was quite a messy procedure (and there's probably a better way of doing it!) so I recommend keeping a baking tray underneath where you're working.

the epic emery dress

This has been the Lord of the Rings of dresses. I swear Frodo and Sam could have done two full circuits of Middle Earth and disposed of the ring in the time that it took me to fit and finally sew this Christine Haynes Emery dress. At one stage I was close to throwing the whole thing in the bin. However I am pretty determined in character: if I start something I will bloody finish it!

Now that I'm finished and have had time to cool off and wear the dress I absolutely love it. It fits pretty well across my back and I can lift my arms in the sleeves. What a novelty! (See previous sewing post for details on fitting woes.)

Who would have thought that a couple of small tweaks to the back bodice would correct all my weird shoulder and sleeve fitting issues. A small change can go a long way.

Alterations included:

• lengthening the bodice by 5/8". It looked like I needed the length on my muslins/toiles, but once I attached the skirt to the finished bodice it looked a smidgen too long so I'll probably shorten it by 1/4" on my next version. Yeah, you'd better believe I'm going to milk this pattern now that I've fitted it!

• 1/4" high round back adjustment (or for big shoulder blades?) This curved my centre back seam so I cut down into my neckdart and pivoted out to restore the line.

• increasing each neckdart by 1/2" to fix gaping.

• 5/8" sway/erect back adjustment. No more tilting backwards waistline!

• removing 1/2" from the collar at the back to match the amount I increased my neckdart by.

• shortening the skirt by 2" as the original length looked frumpy on me. Midi lengths do me no favours and this dress was calling to be shorter and cuter.

• adding a skirt lining as I cannot bear tights sticking to my dress. However it is becoming a pain having to add linings to everything so I'm wondering if I should try wearing/making a half slip. I used to have a slip which I wore with a dress in my teens but I really didn't like wearing it. Perhaps I'd feel differently about it now though...?

• invisibly hand tacking the top of my collar down with a few stitches, catching the underneath of the collar, as it refused to lie flat despite grading, clipping and understitching the seams. 

• adding a patch pocket instead of in seam pockets and making my first ever buttonhole! I'm mildly embarrassed that I've owned my sewing machine for 10 years and never used the 4 step buttonhole function. It wasn't scary at all. My button came from my Granny T's old button tin. I have no idea where it originally came from, perhaps a coat, but I like that I've given it a new lease of life.

I must admit I find it hilarious that I basically made no adjustments to the front bodice. All my fitting issues were with my back. I was so convinced I'd need to do a full bust adjustment but it turned out to be unnecessary. One less fitting alteration, score!

 Check out my back and invisible zip. I feel both deserve a high five.

I'm not sure whether my adjustments are 100% perfect, but I'm pretty happy with the overall fit of the dress. It's the best I can achieve for my current level of skill and knowledge and a vast improvement from the original fit. Other than shortening the bodice slightly I think the only other change I might make will be to nip in the side seams or increase my waist darts as the bodice is a bit roomy around my waist. Better a bit roomy than too tight though. I need space for my cake stomach.

 I love putting in a contrast bodice lining. It's a dressmaker's perk.

This dress will definitely get a lot of wear. I'm so glad I persevered as I love having a dress with a collar and I finally got to use the fabric I bought almost two years ago when I decided I wanted to start sewing again. It's cute without being totally ridiculous, it's casual and practical (pocket for my phone or tissues, yay!) and has so many colours in it that I have endless cardigan possibilities. So far I'm favouring it paired with my green one.

I've already cut out my next sewing project, a Tilly Walnes Coco top. Knit fabric is unchartered territory for me and I'm jumping straight in as I don't have suitable muslin fabric. Fingers crossed I end up with something presentable!

apple and cinnamon cake

Spring has arrived! The sun has finally appeared, the daffodils are out.... so I've baked an Autumnal flavoured cake. I'm nothing if not contrary.

This is another one of my classic "use the almost out of date/leftover food" bakes. The fruit basket contained a large pile of wrinkled, questionable looking apples as I've been neglecting to snack on them lately, favouring mini KitKats instead. Oops. Nevermind, I made a cake from my sad fruit. Hurray for unhealthy eating habits. Although I could claim this is healthy as it contains apples, sultanas and dried cranberries. That's 3 of my 5 a day.

Speaking of eating sweet stuff and being healthy, last week the dentist told me that my teeth are in very good condition. YAY! Although she did say that my lower set of wisdom teeth have decided to grow in horizontally. It seems even my teeth are contrary buggers.

The only way to celebrate having healthy teeth is to eat more sweet stuff and this cake is a good way to start. I first baked this cake 3 years ago and I'm horrified that it has taken me so long to bake again.

It truly is a beauty of a cake. The squidgy, spiced apple filling is a real treat, as is the crisp, sugary crust. There's a really satisfying balance of textures and flavours so I definitely won't leave it 3 years before I bake it again.

Apple and Cinnamon cake

Recipe slightly adapted from Mary Berry's Baking Bible.

225g (8oz) margarine

225g (8oz) light muscovado sugar

3 large eggs

100g (4oz) chopped pecans

50g (2oz) sultanas

50g (2oz) dried cranberries

225g (8oz) self-raising flour

2 level teaspoons baking powder

400g (14oz) apples, peeled, cored and grated

1 level teaspoon ground cinnamon

To finish:

light muscovado sugar, for sprinkling

chopped walnuts, for sprinkling

icing sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160/Gas 4. Grease and line a 23cm (9in) deep round cake tin with baking parchment. Measure the margarine, sugar, eggs, chopped pecans, sultanas, dried cranberries, flour and baking powder into a large bowl and beat for about 2 minutes until thoroughly blended. Spoon half the mixture into the prepared tin then spread the grated apple and ground cinnamon in an even layer on top. Spoon the remaining cake mixture on top, level the surface then sprinkle generously with light muscovado sugar and walnuts.

Bake in the oven for 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours until the cake is well risen, golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

my endless spiral of Emery doom

Perhaps my title is a touch over dramatic, but you start losing your marbles when you're still trying to fit a basic darted bodice after 6 months. What you see before you are 5 failed bodice muslins/toiles and various oddly fitting sleeves. It's a depressing sight.

It all started with my bearded dudes dress back in October which has a darted bodice. Although I happily wear it I'm aware it doesn't fit that well across my back and shoulders. Thankfully nobody sees that under my cardigan. After failing to make a successful second version I decided to purchase Christine Haynes' Emery pattern after seeing so many lovely versions online. I cut a size 8 as my measurements matched fairly well but yet again I was cursed with the mysterious baggy back which pulled the whole bodice backwards and awkward fitting sleeves where I couldn't lift my arms.

Please note this is *not* a dig at Christine Haynes' pattern. It's unrealistic to expect a pattern to fit everybody perfectly straight from the packet as we're all born with different shaped/sized bodies. I'm just frustrated by my lack of fitting knowledge and how to adjust for my own body quirks.

By the end of January I purchased Fit For Real People after seeing various recommendations online. I poured over it for days, gleaning every piece of fitting advice. THERE ARE SO MANY POSSIBLE ALTERATIONS IT IS MIND BOGGLING!

Failed alteration attempts. I used washi tape at one point to stabilise my curves for tissue fitting as I couldn't find scotch tape. Hipster bodice fitting.

Armed with the knowledge that I should cut according to my high bust measurement, not my full bust, and tissue fit myself as much as possible before cutting into fabric I cut a size 6 and tried the following adjustments:

• 2" (overall) full bust adjustment - this created massive darts which looked oddly pouchy. I considered splitting the bust dart but it made my brain hurt.

• curved the vertical bust darts to minimise the odd bagginess below the bust.

• lengthened the bodice by 5/8" -  I've done this on all my dresses so far. Standard alteration.

• 1/2" erect back/sway back adjustment - this stopped my side seams from swinging forward.

• 1/2" narrow back adjustment - this seemed to cure some of the weird back wrinkling but caused new problems...

• now the shoulder area was far too small for my massive man shoulders. I spent most of March pondering whether I had a narrow back yet large shoulders (WTF?!) and made various attempts at redrawing and widening the armholes.... which in turn created new problems with the sleeves as they no longer matched the size or shape of the armhole.

• widened my sleeve cap significantly to accommodate upper arm chub and match my new armhole curve. Annoyingly, Fit For Real People doesn't appear to address how to alter sleeve caps to match the new curve of an armhole after widening the shoulders on a bodice. It was all a bit trial and error. Mostly error.

• 1/4" high round back adjustment - this helped massively with the "pulling backwards" feeling. I don't know whether I have a larger than average upper back curve due to excessive close work (which is entirely plausible) or whether I just have overly prominent shoulder blades as I tend to naturally stand with my shoulders pushed back, creating a substantial back bump. When I hunch my shoulders forward on a bodice without this alteration, it seems to fit.... weird.

• deepened each back neck dart by 1/4" to fix neckline gaping. Neckdarts are awesome for weird upper backs. Good thinking, Christine Haynes.

• the armhole fitting was still totally weird with a lot of wrinkling/stress at the armpit so I cut across the bodice in the middle of the armhole, both on the front and back, and opened it up by 1/4" in case I needed more space due to being slightly taller than average. This did not work and only made the pouchiness on the bodice front even weirder.

Last week I came to the conclusion that the size 6 bodice was not working at all. It was a horrific combination of too baggy and too tight (although on the whole the back was fitting better than beard dress) so I scrapped it and went back to a size 8. I have applied the adjustments which were successful on previous muslins (erect back, high round back, deepened neck darts) and miraculously I have a bodice which fits reasonably well.

 Doris modelling the latest one armed bodice.

I could probably still tweak the sleeve cap for better arm movement, but I think there's only so much I can do to aid arm movement as I'm working with a woven fabric with zero stretch.

 IT FITS MY BACK!!!! WOOP! I'm good to go.

I know Fit For Real People says to fit according to your back/high bust and adjust according, but this really didn't seem to work for me, not on this pattern anyway. I'd rather have something which roughly fits my shoulders and bust and adjust the rest accordingly. I halved my alterations by cutting a size bigger.

Well done if you got to the end of all that. I wasn't sure whether to post my Emery fitting issues, but if it helps somebody else in a similar situation then I'll be delighted.

So, sewing peeps, have you ever been completely stumped by a fitting issue? Let's share fitting woes!

treats

When someone has upset you with their mistrustful and difficult behaviour, there are two ways to deal with the anxiety and frustration:

Bake cakes and buy fabric.

...and eat most of the cake before the camera gets near it.

My brother handed me 6 incredibly brown bananas last week so I went on a banana baking bonanza, making two Mary Berry carrot and banana cakes (one for me one for him) and a banana fruit loaf for my aunty. Cake makes everything better, especially if it has a thick, luscious layer of cream cheese icing.

By last weekend I felt I deserved some retail therapy and went a bit fabric happy online at Plush Addict and The Village Haberdashery. As luck would have it I ordered my interlock knits (the stripey green and dusky purple) during The Village Haberdashery's "free fat quarter" week and received four fat quarters with my order. What a lovely surprise!

I thought ordering fabric for my next project, some Tilly Walnes Coco tops, would spur me on to conquer my current/never ending project, the Christine Haynes Emery dress. It has been a b*tch to fit and I'm starting to think I have a mutant upper body. More on that in another blog post coming soon. For now let's just go "Yaaaay pretty fabric!"