Mid Yorkshire Golf Club

Jo's Cakes is a preferred supplier at The Mid Yorkshire Golf Club in Darrington, nr Pontefract. This is a fabulous venue for a wedding with some very reasonable prices for their wedding packages - check out their website at http://www.midyorkshiregolfclub.com/weddings and have a browse through their wedding section. The newly refurbished Fairways suite would be the perfect venue for a wedding reception. 

Zebra Print Wonky 18th Birthday Cake

This is a version of one of the first wonky cakes I ever did, and every time I get asked to make it I love doing it. I'd have loved a cake like this for my 18th (many many moons ago now!). Two tiers of vanilla cake carved into the classic wonky shape with zebra print sugarpaste/fondant icing decoration, finished with ostrich feathers and a sparkly diamante number. 

I had a message from Amie's mum to let me know she loved it, which was lovely  ~ "Thanks so much Jo the cake is beautiful Amie loves it x". I hope Amie had a brilliant 18th birthday, and not too much of a hangover the day after! xx

Jo's Maternity Leave...

Regular followers of Jo's Cakes on Facebook (www.facebook.com/JosCakesHudds) will no doubt know that my maternity leave is creeping up, so as from 26 February 2012 Jo's Cakes will not be able to take on new orders until the week commencing 2 July 2012. Those orders booked in for June will of course be honoured, as that's my "easing myself back into work" month, but we'll be back with a bang (and a new little cupcake helper!) in July. Please note that during my maternity leave my emails will be checked sporadically, and  therefore there will be a delay in responding. 

Thanks for your understanding! 

xx

Vintage Style Butterfly Cupcakes for a Wedding

Over the summer I was asked to create the wedding cupcakes for the fabulous Richard Daniels and his lovely wife Gill. Richard is a swing singer who I've had the pleasure of listening to many times - check out his website http://www.richsingsswing.co.uk/. 


Here are the cupcakes - vanilla sponge topped with vanilla frosting, with a fondant butterfly. Some cupcakes were presented in butterfly themed cupcake wrappers, which added to the overall feel. 

Here is a professionally taken shot of the cupcakes take by Stott and Atkinson Photography of Leeds (www.stottandatkinson.com)

Photo Cakes

Stuck for an idea for a cake, but still want a personalised cake that is unique to you? What about a photo cake? We can create cakes with an edible image on - perhaps a treasured photo, or a child's drawing - if you can print it, we can put it on a cake! 

Sail Boat Themed Cake

I was sent a photo of  a boat and asked to replicate this in cake. This was the first proper boat cake I've done, and it took me a fair old while! Inside was delicious vanilla sponge cake. 

The cake was completed by adding a little edible captain figure.

Thanks for looking! x

Giant Cupcake in Pinks

A birthday cake with a difference, this giant cupcake was created for my client's mum. She loves the colour pink, so my only instruction was to make the cake with pink colours. 

Inside the cake is delicious vanilla sponge cake which is topped with pink frosting and fondant butterflies and blossoms - yum yum! x

Hairdresser Themed Birthday Cake

Here's a cake made for a hairdresser, with edible straighteners, scissors and hair grip. I love the combination of pink and black - it's a very classy look. Sorry about the poor photo for this cake - there is supposed to be a spray of stars in the top left hand corner! 

To enquire about our birthday cakes, please contact us at jos.cakes@ntlworld.com and we'll be glad to assist xx

Corporate Cakes

Jo's Cakes can create cakes and cupcakes for all occasions including corporate cakes. Whether it's a grand opening, product launch or thank you gift for one of your clients, we can create the perfect cake. We can print your logo onto a cake, or create a cake or cupcakes specifically to your requirements. Contact us for a quote - we can deliver for you as well!

80th Birthday Cake

About a month ago I made a very individual wedding cake (http://www.joscakeshuddersfield.blogspot.com/2012/01/80s-themed-wedding-cake.html) and the bride's mum asked if I could make a birthday cake for her next door neighbour who was turning 80. He keeps geese, so she asked if I could make a duck pond style cake but with some white geese on, and here it is. 

The bullrushes were made using raw spaghetti and everything was edible. 


What a lovely neighbour! xx

Rainbow Blocks Christening Cake

Here's a funky christening cake! A square lemon sponge cake iced in fondant with teeny footprints traipsing across the cake. The baby's name is on building block style blocks, and the date has been put on there as well. We can change colours on this - perhaps have the cake iced in white with the rainbow blocks, or have it pink with white blocks - there are loads of possibilities! 

To enquire about our christening cakes, please contact Jo on jos.cakes@ntlworld.com and we'll be glad to assist. 

Winnie The Pooh style cake

One of my friends' little boys was turning one, so of course he had to have a cake! He loves Winnie the Pooh so we made him this cake. 

Everything is edible, and the characters are hand modelled. Inside the cake was a delicious chocolate sponge - it's making my mouth water just thinking about it! Happy Birthday Kian! xx

Bingo!

This bingo themed birthday cake was for a bingo fan's 70th birthday and consisted of delicious vanilla sponge covered in fondant and then iced with a message, a bingo card, a couple of bingo balls and a dabber. 

Hope the birthday girl enjoyed her cake and had a brilliant day!

Jo's Cakes has been featured!

Our Marilyn Monroe cupcakes have been featured (albeit a while ago!) on Allthingscupcake.com - click http://www.allthingscupcake.com/2011/05/27/marilyn-monroe-cupcakes/ for a nosy xx

Supermarket versus Homemade...

There have been a lot of posts on that there Facebook recently about the ingredients that go into cakes and what is in your cheapy cakes from the supermarket, so I thought I'd share my experience of supermarket cakes. Last year I was asked to decorate a supermarket bought cake for a lady who was on a super tight budget but wanted a nice looking cake for her mum's 80th. I wasn't too keen, but I agreed. My customer brought me a plain rectangular white iced cake from a well known supermarket to decorate. To say it was shoddily iced was an understatement! The icing was very thinly applied, and had a load of cracks. The edge where it met the cake board wasn't neat (see the piccie where I peeled away the ribbon) - all in all, not good! 

I also took a photo of the ingredients - I've never heard of half of these! This is one of the major differences between a supermarket cake and a home made one. You might end up paying more for a home made cake, but it's got to be worth it knowing what goes into the supermarket ones to give them such a long shelf life! 

Here's what we put into a typical lemon sponge cake at Jo's Cakes - flour, caster sugar, stork, fresh lemons, free range eggs - not 100 different preservatives! 

For our fillings, again we use fresh fruit juices and rinds where appropriate and 2 other ingredients. Bit of a difference, I think you'll agree. With a home baked cake you know your cake has been made with love and care, is much better for you than one with a load of chemicals in and probably tastes a million times nicer as well! 

xx

Teddy Bear's Picnic ~ with a Twist!

I was asked to create a cake for Skye's birthday last week. Skye was having a party with a teddy bear's picnic in an enchanted forest, guided by a fairy and an elf, and asked if we could create a cake along the lines of this theme. Here we have three bears enjoying a picnic while the fairy and elf sit either side of the birthday girl's name. 

Finished cake

Close up of the jam sandwiches for the bear's picnic

One of the teddy bears

I decided to put Skye's name on a wood effect plaque to tie in with the woodland theme, along with some funky toadstools

I hope that despite the freezing cold weather we've been having here in Yorkshire recently, Skye had a fabulous birthday party and that the teddy bears didn't eat all her birthday cake! xx

Happiness is...

I found this picture online on the fabulous Cupcake Bar's wall, and loved it so much I had to share it! 

It's very true, and don't forget Jo's Cakes has gift boxes of 6 delicious freshly baked cupcakes for Valentines Day for just £10, including free local delivery to Huddersfield and a personalised message! Get your orders in now to avoid disappointment xx

Pirate Treasure Chest Birthday Cake

Yarrr, this be a VERY last minute cake this one! Lucas' mum had been let down by someone who was supposed to be making this birthday cake, and she called me to see what I could do 2 days before the party. As soon as I had finalised the order with her, I put the oven on and got baking! 

Lucas was having a pirate themed birthday party, and needed a piratey cake to go with it. We decided on a treasure chest with edible gems spilling out of it. Inside the cake was a delicious chocolate cake and the cake was iced in fondant, sat on a board covered in fondant and dessicated coconut "sand". The message was hand painted onto a piece of fondant which I coloured to look old and a bit like a scrap of treasure map. 

I hope Lucas had a brilliant birthday and party. Shiver me timbers! xx

Purple and Ivory 50th Birthday Cupcakes

These were ordered as a surprise for a lady's 50th birthday. I love being part of surprises! My brief was to make 18 vanilla cupcakes, decorated in purples and ivories. Some were to have a "50" on, and some a butterfly. Job done! 

I like the colours on these - they match the Jo's Cakes' purples! 

Remember, a gift box of 12 cupcakes like these costs only £18 - email us on jos.cakes@ntlworld.com to book your orders in xx

Baby Shower Cake

This is so cute! This little baby shower cake was created for Nicole for her friend's baby shower. 

This cake is a delicious moist chocolate cake with vanilla filling, decorated in pretty pink and white fondant. with fondant bow on top. The little baby is all handmade from fondant and is possibly the cutest thing I have ever made! 

This cake is based on an image she found online. If you know who I need to credit for the inspiration cake, please let me know. I've had a look through Google Images and can't find it! 

Update! I found it! It's here www.piece-a-cake.com/ 

Valentines Day is coming... :-)

... and Jo's Cakes is ready! This year we're offering something a bit different as a gift for your loved one as opposed to the usual flowers and chocolates. How about a gift box of 6 delicious freshly baked vanilla or chocolate cupcakes? We can ice them with a personalised message if you like (perfect for a proposal maybe?!). For just £10, six cupcakes will be delivered to the person of your choice on Valentines Day itself (which is a Tuesday, if you're not sure gents ;-) ) meaning you're sure to be in the good! Get your orders in fast,  as this offer won't last long! 

Please note: Orders must be paid for in full at the time of booking, and delivery is local to the Huddersfield area only. Thanks! 

New York Skyline Wedding Cake

Here we have a 3 tier wedding cake decorated in fabulous hot pink icing and trimmed with a cityscape scene to reflect Katie and David's love of all things New York. The cake is topped with an edible version of the bride and groom. 

Unfortunately I couldn't set the cake up when we delivered it to Bagden Hall Hotel, so couldn't get a photo of it with the other toppers on which were a fabulous Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building. 

Best cakey wishes to Katie and David on their special day, and all the best for the future! xx

80s Themed Wedding Cake

It seems that every wedding cake I have this week is a bit out of the ordinary, which is brilliant! This cake is no exception. Vicki and Martin were having a 80s themed wedding, and wanted a cake to tie in with their theme. We looked through various wedding cake magazines for some inspiration but nothing fit the bill, and I suggested why not really go to town with the 80s theme! So we did - an edible bride and groom topper sat on top of their favourite videos, on top of a Rubix cube, on top of a cake tier themed with Pacman! 

Delivery to The Huntsman Inn at Holmfirth was a nerve racking experience - I sat with the cake on my knee while my (some may say long-suffering) hubby drove at a snails pace to get us all there in one piece!! Very best wishes to Martin and Vicki x

The price of cake...

I get asked to quote for baking and decorating a cake a lot, and sometimes I'm told my price is too expensive! I thought I'd explain the elements involved in the price. 

From the initial enquiry, there can be email after email going back and forth which can involve working out prices, finding examples of previous work and examples of cakes and calculating ingredients and costs (especially for more decorated and intricate cakes). These emails all take time, and although I used to be a typist in my previous job I can spend a lot of time emailing people. When the order is placed, the order form needs typing up and the boards and other equipment all need ordering in, which again takes time. 

When it comes to baking the cakes, Jo's Cakes only uses quality ingredients which don't come cheap, including free range eggs and fresh fruit. I could use a packet mix as some other cake companies do, but I believe a cake should be baked properly from scratch. 

When the cake has baked, it needs a day to cool and rest and is then decorated - which obviously takes sugarpaste and a lot of skill and technique! If the cake is a fruit cake, it will have taken a lot more ingredients including brandy and mixed fruit, have taken longer to bake, require a layer of marzipan and take an extra day as the marzipan needs to dry before the sugarpaste can be applied. This is all for a simple cake. For an intricate cake design, with figures or models to make and more decoration, there can be many hours work involved. The minimum wage is £6.08 an hour, so even before the cost of the ingredients and materials are taken into account, baking and decorating a cake which costs £40 only allows for 6 hours of work including baking which can take 2 hours alone, and there can be many more hours of work that go decorating into a cake! 

There's a saying I read somewhere - "good cake isn't cheap, and cheap cake isn't good", and it's certainly true! 

Gardening Themed 90th Birthday Cake

I was asked to make a cake for a gentleman who loved his garden, and here it is! Inside was a rich luxury fruit cake laced with plenty of brandy (a fruit cake isn't a fruit cake without alcohol in it!). 

Complete with edible handmade figure relaxing in his chair, and vegetable patch. I had a message from the lady who ordered it to say "Hi Jo, Just wanted to say thanks 4 the cake, it was great and everyone enjoyed it!". x