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Cooking and Baking Week

Creative baking has been a great outlet for me and it's always fun to serve a friend or loved one a delicious treat with a beloved character on it. Something that'll make them go 'This is so cute, I can't eat it!' (Although seriously: I make delicious treats for a reason: EAT IT! 😋)

As someone who loves to bake I find it very relaxing to map out themes, ideas and baking 'schedules' for myself. I've gotten to a point where I know the steps to creating something elaborate, but also how to keep things simpler when I need to.

If you want to create some themed baked goods: Here's a quick guide to help you on your way!

Quick tip: Mind your skill level! Throughout this article you'll find some tips for simpler and more elaborate baked goods. If you're just starting out try to keep it simple. This'll save you a LOT frustration. Trust me, I've been there. 😅

Step 1: Find your themeWhat do you like? Which characters do you love? Or, if you're baking a gift, what characters, shows, books etc. does your friend/loved one like? I usually start here. If I'm struggling to find a theme for someone, and they keep saying 'anything is fine' or they don't talk yet (because they're a one-year-old), I try to think of some things I know they love. For example my sister LOVES sprinkles and heels, so I once made a chocolate heel COVERED in sprinkles, using a mould. You could use their favourite colour, sports team, hobbies, animals etc.

Tip: Some themes are more popular than others, the more popular the bigger the chance that you'll find a mould or cookie cutter in the right shape. Some examples of popular themes are Mickey Mouse, flowers, butterflies, sports etc.

Side note: Whether you're making a birthday cake or a cream puff doesn't matter yet at this point, unless you've got your mind set on a certain baked good. If so don't worry: you can swap step 1 and 2 around.

Step 2: What are you baking?Do you love a fluffy vanilla cake? Or do you prefer cookies? Whatever you, or the person you're baking for, enjoys is probably your best bet. Make sure you write down what you want to make and what ingredients you'll need. If you're making a cake you also need to think of which flavour(s) for the filling, buttercream etc. you want to use. Make sure you keep in mind how much time you have for a project, or how much time you want to spend on a project. 😉

Tip: You can find a lot of recipes, for basics like brownies and vanilla cake as well, on my website . But as I am someone who loves to adjust and never follows anyone else's recipes: I could understand if you'd want to write down your own. Usually I research by looking up a LOT of recipes and comparing them, reading reviews and just testing out whatever adjustments I've come up with.

You could, for instance, make: cookies, cake, macarons, brownies, cupcakes, chocolate mousse, cheesecake, roll cakes, cream puffs and more!

Tip: Are you new to baking? Keep it simple, some brownies, cookies or cupcakes can be a great base to work with regardless of your theme. Or you could buy and decorate baked goods from the store instead.

Step 3: Define your ideaThis is usually when I start using search engines, to find cute images of whatever theme I've decided on. Sometimes I search for pictures of baked goods with the same theme, other times I just search the theme.

For example, a while ago I made a PomPomPurin Christmas cake, I was set on the theme and on making a cake. After searching for a while I found a coaster from the PomPomPurin Cafe, which I turned into a (simplified) template and then into a chocolate disk to put on top of the cake.

Another example of something you could do is to take a logo or design and make that into a cake just on its own, or into a (cup)cake topper.

Tip: If you find a design or idea you love, but it doesn't fit what you wanted to bake: just adjust, since you're still creating your idea at this point.

Step 4: Create a (rough) sketchIf you're making something simpler you could skip this step, or only do it in your mind, but with bigger projects you definitely should create a visual for yourself. The sketch will help give you a more complete visual of what you're trying to create and how to achieve it.

As you sketch you might notice you have to adjust something or you didn't think something out completely yet, which is exactly what the sketch is for: to give you an idea what you're going to do. Often my sketches change a little over time, here's some examples of sketches I've made.

This is also the point at which I usually create a template if I need to. I usually use templates for chocolates, but have also used them for my Team Skull cakes, my Mickey Mouse edible shape sorter and my Dragon Age cake. Templates can be used for tracing, cutting out pieces, brushing on a pattern etc.

Team Skull template | Dragon Age template

To create a template I sketch using a drawing tablet, sketch first and then make a neater version. You can put down your template on a cutting board and cover it with some acetate foil. This'll make it easy to trace with chocolate or candy melts.

Another way to use a template is to trace it. For the Team Skull cakes I cut out the template, placed it on top of a cake covered in black fondant and traced the template with a fondant tool. Then coloured it in with edible food colouring powder mixed with a little lemon juice.

For the Dragon Age cake I used the template to cut out pieces of chocolate jelly, to create the top bit of the cake. Once attached to the cake I filled that with coloured jelly as well.

Step 5: Start planningEspecially with big projects, or a small time-frame, planning is essential. I often only have 3 or 4 hours a week to spend on baking, so with bigger projects I do them a little at a time. When making a cake you can make the cake layers in advance and freeze them. Decorative chocolates can also be kept for quite a while.

Keep in mind to write out all the steps you'll have to follow, so it's clear and you can estimate how much time it'll take. Try to add some wiggle room and plan realistically.

Some projects just take up a LOT of time, for instance my Rowlet cake which took me about three days total. Other projects could be completed and frozen when done, to serve whenever you want. I did this with my Ombre Heart cake push pops and for part of my Cake In Glass cakes, I added the butterflies and pocky after defrosting the cakes.

Step 6: Start baking!Finally you get to bake. If you made a planning that allows you some wiggle room this should be a fun step, since you can take your time.

Tip: If something doesn't work out the way you planned take a step back and think of what you could do to fix it or what you could do instead. Don't worry, it happens to everyone! You can always crumble up your cake and make cake pops or create a fun layered dessert with cookie crumbs, fresh fruit and whipped cream, for example. There are also some videos online on how to salvage a cake that's fallen apart or that can help you figure out why your choux pastry isn't looking as it should.

Don't forget to take a lot of pictures or videos of your creations, because they'll be gone before you know it. This is one of the reasons I started making recipe videos, so I could show others how I made the treats but also to have some footage of what it looked like completed.

I hope this article helps inspire you to create your own themed baked goods. Happy baking! 🍰
- SweetMissCreation

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube

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body div#devskin0 hr { }

Cooking and Baking Week

Creative baking has been a great outlet for me and it's always fun to serve a friend or loved one a delicious treat with a beloved character on it. Something that'll make them go 'This is so cute, I can't eat it!' (Although seriously: I make delicious treats for a reason: EAT IT! 😋)

As someone who loves to bake I find it very relaxing to map out themes, ideas and baking 'schedules' for myself. I've gotten to a point where I know the steps to creating something elaborate, but also how to keep things simpler when I need to.

If you want to create some themed baked goods: Here's a quick guide to help you on your way!

Quick tip: Mind your skill level! Throughout this article you'll find some tips for simpler and more elaborate baked goods. If you're just starting out try to keep it simple. This'll save you a LOT frustration. Trust me, I've been there. 😅

Step 1: Find your themeWhat do you like? Which characters do you love? Or, if you're baking a gift, what characters, shows, books etc. does your friend/loved one like? I usually start here. If I'm struggling to find a theme for someone, and they keep saying 'anything is fine' or they don't talk yet (because they're a one-year-old), I try to think of some things I know they love. For example my sister LOVES sprinkles and heels, so I once made a chocolate heel COVERED in sprinkles, using a mould. You could use their favourite colour, sports team, hobbies, animals etc.

Tip: Some themes are more popular than others, the more popular the bigger the chance that you'll find a mould or cookie cutter in the right shape. Some examples of popular themes are Mickey Mouse, flowers, butterflies, sports etc.

Side note: Whether you're making a birthday cake or a cream puff doesn't matter yet at this point, unless you've got your mind set on a certain baked good. If so don't worry: you can swap step 1 and 2 around.

Step 2: What are you baking?Do you love a fluffy vanilla cake? Or do you prefer cookies? Whatever you, or the person you're baking for, enjoys is probably your best bet. Make sure you write down what you want to make and what ingredients you'll need. If you're making a cake you also need to think of which flavour(s) for the filling, buttercream etc. you want to use. Make sure you keep in mind how much time you have for a project, or how much time you want to spend on a project. 😉

Tip: You can find a lot of recipes, for basics like brownies and vanilla cake as well, on my website . But as I am someone who loves to adjust and never follows anyone else's recipes: I could understand if you'd want to write down your own. Usually I research by looking up a LOT of recipes and comparing them, reading reviews and just testing out whatever adjustments I've come up with.

You could, for instance, make: cookies, cake, macarons, brownies, cupcakes, chocolate mousse, cheesecake, roll cakes, cream puffs and more!

Tip: Are you new to baking? Keep it simple, some brownies, cookies or cupcakes can be a great base to work with regardless of your theme. Or you could buy and decorate baked goods from the store instead.

Step 3: Define your ideaThis is usually when I start using search engines, to find cute images of whatever theme I've decided on. Sometimes I search for pictures of baked goods with the same theme, other times I just search the theme.

For example, a while ago I made a PomPomPurin Christmas cake, I was set on the theme and on making a cake. After searching for a while I found a coaster from the PomPomPurin Cafe, which I turned into a (simplified) template and then into a chocolate disk to put on top of the cake.

Another example of something you could do is to take a logo or design and make that into a cake just on its own, or into a (cup)cake topper.

Tip: If you find a design or idea you love, but it doesn't fit what you wanted to bake: just adjust, since you're still creating your idea at this point.

Step 4: Create a (rough) sketchIf you're making something simpler you could skip this step, or only do it in your mind, but with bigger projects you definitely should create a visual for yourself. The sketch will help give you a more complete visual of what you're trying to create and how to achieve it.

As you sketch you might notice you have to adjust something or you didn't think something out completely yet, which is exactly what the sketch is for: to give you an idea what you're going to do. Often my sketches change a little over time, here's some examples of sketches I've made.

This is also the point at which I usually create a template if I need to. I usually use templates for chocolates, but have also used them for my Team Skull cakes, my Mickey Mouse edible shape sorter and my Dragon Age cake. Templates can be used for tracing, cutting out pieces, brushing on a pattern etc.

Team Skull template | Dragon Age template

To create a template I sketch using a drawing tablet, sketch first and then make a neater version. You can put down your template on a cutting board and cover it with some acetate foil. This'll make it easy to trace with chocolate or candy melts.

Another way to use a template is to trace it. For the Team Skull cakes I cut out the template, placed it on top of a cake covered in black fondant and traced the template with a fondant tool. Then coloured it in with edible food colouring powder mixed with a little lemon juice.

For the Dragon Age cake I used the template to cut out pieces of chocolate jelly, to create the top bit of the cake. Once attached to the cake I filled that with coloured jelly as well.

Step 5: Start planningEspecially with big projects, or a small time-frame, planning is essential. I often only have 3 or 4 hours a week to spend on baking, so with bigger projects I do them a little at a time. When making a cake you can make the cake layers in advance and freeze them. Decorative chocolates can also be kept for quite a while.

Keep in mind to write out all the steps you'll have to follow, so it's clear and you can estimate how much time it'll take. Try to add some wiggle room and plan realistically.

Some projects just take up a LOT of time, for instance my Rowlet cake which took me about three days total. Other projects could be completed and frozen when done, to serve whenever you want. I did this with my Ombre Heart cake push pops and for part of my Cake In Glass cakes, I added the butterflies and pocky after defrosting the cakes.

Step 6: Start baking!Finally you get to bake. If you made a planning that allows you some wiggle room this should be a fun step, since you can take your time.

Tip: If something doesn't work out the way you planned take a step back and think of what you could do to fix it or what you could do instead. Don't worry, it happens to everyone! You can always crumble up your cake and make cake pops or create a fun layered dessert with cookie crumbs, fresh fruit and whipped cream, for example. There are also some videos online on how to salvage a cake that's fallen apart or that can help you figure out why your choux pastry isn't looking as it should.

Don't forget to take a lot of pictures or videos of your creations, because they'll be gone before you know it. This is one of the reasons I started making recipe videos, so I could show others how I made the treats but also to have some footage of what it looked like completed.

I hope this article helps inspire you to create your own themed baked goods. Happy baking! 🍰
- SweetMissCreation

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Youtube