sisterly stitches

Recently (like a few months ago...) it was my sister's birthday and I made her a new cowl and fingerless mitts. The mitts are the same ones I've mentioned before called Fetching.

The cowl is from a pattern called 'Infinity Trinity Cowl and Wristers' and it can be found here --> http://bit.ly/nqnHSF

I was going to make the wristers as well but long story short; I had the wrong type of yarn so I just went with one that I knew would work. It's a beautiful pattern cowl pattern and can be made relatively fast because of the 5mm needle size.

For this pattern either purchase the yarn they recommend, use an equivalent in thickness or cheat by doubling up (that's what I did). If it's too thin the pattern won't show properly.

This is probably a good pattern for someone learning to cable, especially because the stitches are fairly large.

Also, above is a picture of my sister sporting her new accessories. I think she likes it!

fondant cake

Yes, I know the title isn't clever. Whatever, it does the job.

My first ever fondant finished cake! It's chocolate cake with chocolate icing and marshmallow fondant; created specifically for my cousin who had just turned five.

It was really good and my cousin was very excited to get a piece. He grabbed his plate eagerly and proceeded to eat all the fondant and discard the remaining cake inside. Oh well, it was a pretty colour I guess.

The cake and icing recipes came from my Magnolia Bakery cookbook (http://amzn.to/o9U2sW). If you are looking to buy a new desserts cookbook I highly recommend this one. Everything is delicious.

The fondant recipe came from somewhere online but I can't find it now. If you search 'how to make marshmallow fondant' you should be able to find a good site easily. It seems that a lot of people are more than happy to share their techniques.

To decorate the cake I had coloured a few smaller portions of fondant in yellow, pink and green. Using a cookie cutter I made stars and stuck them on. I think professionals use alcohol as glue but it seemed to work ok without.

The letters in his name aren't done as well as I would have liked but I was very tired at this point in the cake making process and had never done this sort of thing before. I just cut them out free-hand with a knife. In the future I should either invest in some alphabet cookie cutters or find some other way to make them.

The edging is made by rolling a bit of each colour into a ball and placing it around the bottom of the cake.