Pretty Cupcakes Test 1.

I have probably said before (at least in person if you have met me) that I am not creative or artistic. I have never been good at drawing, painting and all of my clay things at school just looked like lumps with holes prodded into it. I am trying however, to make my cakes look pretty and I think cupcakes are probably the best starting point for me because they don't have to have lots of intricate icing work to look great. 

Previous attempts at decorating my cupcakes have always ended pretty poorly and for this I have always blamed not having a wide enough nozzle to pipe with. 

You can see here that the lines are not defined and it's all a red splodgy mess. 

Today I tried once again to make my cupcakes look pretty and this time with my 1M star tipped piping nozzle. From what I could find out it seems to be the best one for getting the big swirly swirls to top delicious sponginess. This is what mine ended up like. 

I don't think they are a terrible first attempt, they certainly taste good. But I have learnt a few things. 

1. My butter cream was too wet. This led to gloopy peaks. 
2. I piped at an angle, I think you are supposed to hold the bag completely upright. 
3. Cake glitter needs to be in some kind of shaking device. It stains your fingers and does not give an even sparkle if you just pinch and scatter with your finger. 
4. Make double the amount of butter cream you usually would. What normally covers 12+ cupcakes only did 7 today. 
5. I started from the outside and worked my way in. I should of just watched this lady first. 

Urrrr, why are you blogging?

Hello, I'm Mel and I'm probably the least creative person you will ever meet. Most of my free time is currently spent on the sofa, watching the telly, drinking tea, napping or cleaning my two up-two down like a mad woman. This blog is to give my some motivation to do more with my free time, be it documenting my new baking ventures, experimenting with cooking the boyfriend's tea, sewing something or even just my thoughts on a good book or film (ok, I know that's not very creative, but I really like films).

Feel free to comment and suggest new things to try out. Ta-ra.