Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Calendar Cakes July Roundup

I'm a little bit excited as this is my first Calendar Cakes round up...and what a great one to start...the theme for July was the Olympics and it seems the whole nation has now been gripped by Olympic fever.
So diving straight in with the entries, if you'll excuse the pun:

Our first entry this month came from Becky at Mint Custard with her aptly named Andy Murray Mint Slice which has a gorgeous mint fondant filling. Unfortunately, Andy has already been knocked out of the doubles but he could console himself with a slice of this. He is however going strong in the singles having just beaten Stanislas Wawrinka.
Next up a fabulous entry from my co-host Rachel from Dolly Bakes, she recreated the Olympic Stadium in cake. Renowned for her amazing bundts, this one is no exception!
If you've never visited Liv a little Bakery you're missing out on some fantastic treats. These patriotic flag cookies are perfect for supporting Team GB. I've got my flag all ready for my visit to the Olympics next week.
I love this next entry, penguins are cute at the best of times but here they're taking part in Olympic sports. This cake is by Lucy at Vanilla Frost and was designed for a birthday boy who loves penguins. My favourite are the penguins running/waddling around the track!
Next up we have Caroline of Caroline Makes showing some support for Team Russia with these lovely White Russian Cupcakes. Caroline gave these a bit of a kick by using creme de cacao liqueur and a chocolate liqueur that she bought in Rome. These were made for Caroline's birthday party hence the cocktail cupcakes. The party had a shoe theme so these cakes were finished off with cute little pink shoes cut out of Mexican modelling paste.
Becky from Mint Custard was really quick off the mark this month with not one but two entries. These Olympic torch cupcakes are her second. The cones are painted gold and I love the multi-tonal icing which really captures the essence of the Olympic flame. All we need now is David Beckham to carry them!
The award for most enthusiastic supporter of the Olympics definitely goes to the next entrant. Kate from What Kate Baked, Kate has been baking Olympic treats right up to the start of the Olympics and she was also a cloud wrangler in the opening ceremony no less, taking unpaid leave to do so. If you'd like to know a little more about cloud wrangling, you can read all about it here. Kate's entry was this lovely Chocolate and Pisatchio logo cake.
The next entry is my contribution, between myself and co-host Rachel we seem to be attempting to recreate the Olympic park in cake. I created a velodrome coffee cake, complete with cyclists.
Dawn from Mummy's Little Peeps created thse cute little medal cupcakes. They're vanilla cakes with vanilla buttercream finished off with red, white, blue and gold stars and an edible gold medal. Let's hope this bodes well for Team GB and they'll be many gold medals to come.
The next entry is fab, not only is the recipe an Australian classic but the decoration is also supporting Team Australia. Lady Lunchalot produced these Green and Gold Lamingtons with marbled green and gold batters. Then instead of the traditional chocolate coating, these were coated in lime and lemon jelly before being rolled in coconut. This is an inspired recipe and very inventive.
And now for something a little bit different from That Facepainter. A fab Olympic cake drawn with facepaints!!
Caroline Makes has also been busy this month with a second entry. She created this Black Forrest Roulade to support Team Germany. This was made with a Slimming World recipe no less, so it's not only tasty but also healthier...perfect for athletes in training!
These cupcakes from Susie at Fold in the Flour sound delicious, they're choc chip and orange, a great flavour combintation. The frosting is orange coloured and flavoured and to give it that extra flame effect the cupcakes were sprinkled with red glitter.
Our first Olympic ring entry was from Catherine Haslam @cathaslam. She made these lovely cupcakes with each one having a different colour ring. Altogether they look really effective.
Hopefully these muffins from Janice at Farmersgirl Kitchen will herald a gold rush for Team GB. These muffins deserve a medal themselves. The Elizabeth Shaw chocolates are the perfect option for the medals and they're also fabulously patriotic with the little Union Jacks which incidentally are homemade too!
Angela at Garden, Tea, Cakes and Me executed her Olympic cake perfectly. This is a vanilla sponge topped with buttercream and sugarpaste and finished off with fabulous Olympic rings.
Baker extrodinaire Ros from the More than Occasional Baker produced these super cute Olympic Ring Mini Cake Doughnuts. They were made in a mini doughnut pan and Ros actually made 80 of these...that's a lot of doughnuts but perfect if like me you'll turn into a couch potato during the Olympics!!  I love the different colour icings for each Olympic ring too.
This is the second entry from Angela at Garden, Tea, Cakes and Me.This Olympic Torch Tower came about after trying a new sponge recipe which yielded slightly disappointing results. Part of the sponge went into a triffle and the rest produced this fab tower. Circles of sponge were cut out and stacked with buttercream and jam, then the whole thing was finished off with red, white and blue sprinkles and an Olympic torch which was actually made using an ice-cream paste mould!
Nicola at Lazy Cupcakes made these patriotic cupcakes for an Olympic themed party. They're vanilla cupcakes in Union Jack cases on a Union Jack Stand. Go Team GB!
To finish we have these lovely British Cherry and British Strawberry Cupcakes from Maggie at Kitchen Delights. They're delicious chocolate cakes topped with luscious strawberries and cherries sprayed gold. Another tasty treat to support Team GB.
Thanks to everyone who entered Calendar Cakes this month, all the entries were amazing and it's lovely to see so many people getting behind the Olympics. This is a mouth-watering array and I'd love to try each and every one of them!! :-)

16 comments:

  1. Great round up - can't wait to see what your theme is for next month!

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  2. an amazing round-up, well done... sorry I couldn't take part this month just too much to do but I will endeavour in August x

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  3. Wow these all look so good! amazing

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  4. These are all such wonderful recipes. So much creativity!

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  5. Great roundup Laura - some fantastic entries! Looking forward to next month and whatever you and Rachel have planned for us! :)

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  6. So Glad I decided to enter, lovely bunch of food right there!!

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  8. oh too many typos in my last comment, had to delete! Great round up! Sorry I didn't get a chance to enter my falling on the floor cake. Love your velodrome cake too!

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  9. Fabulous round up. Thanks for hosting this challenge and making us pull out the stops for the Olympics

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  10. An amazing roundup - the bar was set very high by your own Calendar Cake!

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  11. Brilliant round up - everything looks fab! I'm swept up in Olympic fever now :) Look forward to next month's theme.

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  12. Wow! Everyone has been so creative. Great round up. Love the olympic flame cupcakes :)

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  13. AMAZING round up! I'm oh so inspired to bake (and eat) some cake right this very second. What very talented bakers you all are!

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  14. What a fabulous round up - some truly inspiring Olympic bakes! I hope Team GB can do just as well! :)

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  15. Fab round up, fantastic bakes and lots of bakers blogs i will now be visiting :)

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  16. Fantastic round up! Some really imaginative entries. I really wanted to enter but unfortunately just didn't manage to get my blog post done in time but it's on my blog now if you fancy a look :)

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