Sunday, January 25, 2009

No Saturday Pudding - again...

Sorry I've been away for so long, but life has been busy here at The Stash Basket. Having had months of cake free knitting time, the orders are starting to trickle back in.

I used to work for a firm of Ship Brokers in London. I was their cook. It was great fun, working for a bunch of men who were always hungry and who were always appreciative of whatever I made for them.

I have kept in touch with the cook who took over from me (a wonderful lady called Carol who has the most amazing Scouse accent and who drinks like a fish!). Occasionally I get a call from her to make them a cake. This one is for a 65th birthday party tomorrow and I thought you might like to see it being made.

So expect lots of photos today. I have tried to take pictures of each stage.

I normally hate making shaped cakes - so much faffing about and hideous amounts of wasted cake trimmings, but this time it's been different. A tanker is basically a rectangle, so cutting, shaping and icing has not been too bad.

And by some strange fluke, the cake rose fairly evenly without that big dome in the middle that I normally get with square cakes. So there aren't many trimmings (just enough to make a trifle for tea perhaps!)

The board is 20" long just to give you an idea of size.

When Mr Stressy saw these grey wiggly bits he was a little worried that they looked like worms. When I explained that they were waves, he was even more worried. 'They still look like worms to me'.

But when I covered them with icing, he got a better idea of the effect I was after.

Just a few more hours to finish it all off and here is the cake, all done and ready to be delivered.

But then there was a problem with delivery. It had to be in Central London by midday on Monday. So Mr Stressy volunteered to drive it down there himself. On Sunday. Left the house at 7am and is hoping to be back in time to watch eldest son playing football at 1.30 this afternoon.

So today I will be nice to my husband and not call him Stressy. Even though he will be by tonight!

10 comments:

Kitty said...

I just commented, and either Blogger or my poota gobbled it up :-O It went before my very eyes. Where is it? Have you seen it?

I was just saying - before I was so rudely robbed - that that is a really interesting post, to see the cake gradually being made. What do you put on the cake and under the icing to make it 'stick'?

I'm sure they loved the cake. x

wonderwoman said...

wow, that is an amazing cake and just brilliant to see how its done! you are a genius!
you are also a winner too!!!

xx

Locket Pocket said...

That cake is fab! It was good to see the process but rather scary too - soooo much work!

Enjoy your trifle!

Locket xxx

Anonymous said...

What do you mean No Saturday Pudding - again?? What the hell were you doing yesterday??!

.... oh no, wiat .... I guess that rather fabulous cake would have taken a few minutes, so I guess you can be forgiven - this once.

I hope Mr S has a stress-free trip in and out of London, and is Mr Happy when he gets home.

:)

Rhiannon said...

Wow oh wow! That is amazing - and its so cool to see how these cakes come together!

Have fun eating trifle, I'm sure it will be delish
x

Quinn said...

So interesting to see the step-by-step! And a lovely finished product :)

Mama said...

You.
Are.
AMAZING!!!

ps: very cool to see a tutorial - great idea.

Off to a knitting class!

Gina said...

Fabulous cake... hope Mr Stressy wasn't too stressy when he got home.

Pink Sky said...

You are so talented! The cake is simply amazing. :)

Handmade in Israel said...

Amazing cake!!! Thanks for showing us how you made it. I've also been cake making recently - though not in your league! Please pop over to my blog and have a look at the post called 'Six'.
Good ol' hubbie! Hope he got back in time.