These creative ideas can turn even the humblest cake into something special, making for an inspired celebration!

Check out some of the designs in the gallery below, or view them in further detail in the Cake Decorations section of our online store.

Send Large Files or panic attacks

He’s a food photographer who is completely obsessed with anything food and drink related and anything in between. What’s not to love!

I found his blog whilst looking for great Halloween recipes.

These Candied Apples are so striking have such a depth of colour you would think you’d served up the dark heart of Medusa and the blood of a thousand virgins.

Matt has graciously allowed me to use his gorgeous photography and recipe below. Enjoy!!

Red & Black Candy Apples

8-10 medium sized apples
8-10 wooden twigs, twimmed
3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup of water
several drops of cinnamon flavored oil
1/4 teaspoon of red food coloring
1/4 teaspoon of black food coloring

Clean and dry the apples. Try to remove as much of the wax as possible. If you purchase them from your local farmer’s market then chances are they have not been treated with the food grade wax that makes then shine. Remove any stems or leaves and insert a twig into the end of each apple. To facilitate easier twig entry you can carefully sharpen the end of the twig or use a candy stick to create a guide hole. Set apples aside.

Heat and stir sugar, corn syrup and water in a saucepan until sugar has dissolved. Boil until the syrup reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer. Don’t go over 310 degrees or your candy burns and then you’ll be sad.

Remove from heat and stir in flavored oil and food coloring.

Dip one apple completely in the syrup and swirl it so that it becomes coated with the melted sugar candy. Hold the apple above the saucepan to drain off excess. Place apple, with the stick facing up, onto a baking sheet that’s greased or lined with a silpat. Repeat the process with the remaining apples. If your syrup thickens or cools too much, simply reheat briefly before proceeding. Let the apples cool completely before serving.

A note about the black apples: Lighter colored apples (Granny Smith, Golden Delicious) work well in making the red appear bright and glassy; darker apples like red delicious help the black candy appear as dark as possible. Muy spooky!

Also, Adam made one batch with red food coloring and after he had a few red apples he reheated the candy mixture and added black food coloring. Adding black to red will make it darker. He repeated the dipping process. Black food coloring can be found online or at specialty baking stores.

Okay, so we all want to do the right thing for the environment, and some people aren’t so keen on sending Christmas cards anymore – so have you thought of getting out the old video camera and lip-synching a seasonal festive song to send to your friends and family?

No? Well, you should!

Because that’s what Jared Foster and his family did – and it looks like they had a whale of a time making their vintage Christmas movie:

I love the vintage retro style of their Christmas video – it really brings back the spirit of Bing Crosby and old black-and-white movies… just like a true Christmas in fact!

And after all the relatives have stuffed themselves silly with turkey and Christmas pudding on the big day, a video like this might be just the thing to put on the TV. Hey, it would make a change from “The Sound of Music”…

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American readers!

Yes, even though this blog is relatively new, and Fabiola & Sing Sing is mostly selling to customers based in the UK, we do have some readers from the other side of the pond.

So, if you’re visiting us from New Orleans or New York, Oklahoma or Oregon, California or Connecticut, howdy – and I hope you’re having a great Thanksgiving with your friends and family.

I spent part of my childhood in Long Island, New York, and fondly remember the fun our family had at this time of year, and that feeling of excitement at the preparation of the feast and the games that would follow.

So, if you’re reading this and at a loose end as to what to do with your kids this weekend, especially if the weather outside is cold and miserable, here’s an idea that was inspired by the graphic I’ve used to illustrate this blog post.

Make a Lego turkey!

Yes, get your children’s imaginations bubbling by giving them the challenge of creating animals or dinosaurs or even monsters out of Lego. It will make a change from the cars, buildings and space rockets they normally make out of the toy bricks.

And don’t worry if you don’t have Lego. You could get the little rascals to make their animals or space aliens out of cardboard, cutting them carefully out of an old cereal packet and colouring them in with felt tip pens.

I’ve often wished that Thanksgiving was also celebrated here in the UK. Maybe we should petition Gordon Brown to give us a Thanksgiving holiday in that long dark stretch between Bonfire night and Christmas Day? It would certainly make November a lot more fun.

PS. If you weren’t impressed with your Thanksgiving table centerpiece this year, how about doing something like this:

Kicking yourself for not doing it now, aren’t you? Well, don’t worry – there are still a few weeks until Christmas day, so get your lego out and start building for the big day.

Have you got your own ideas on something for the kids to do at Thanksgiving or during other holidays over the course of the year? Leave us a comment and tell us about it! And in the meantime, happy entertaining!

It proved to be such a hit with the grown-ups and kids alike that I was really excited to see another book out by the same dynamic duo.

Custard and Crayons with Polly & Jago contains more fun ideas with clever monthly combinations of recipes, craft and art projects, as well as feeding your children’s mind’s with many of the stories, rituals and traditions behind the holidays, festivals and celebrations throughout the year.

The people behind the book are pretty interesting too. Sarah Rowden is one of London’s best loved “foodies” and owner of St Helen’s Food Store, in Kensington, London – a favourite haunt of the dishy David Cameron.

Meanwhile, Sarah’s collaborator Joanna Vestey is an award-winning photographer who has been on assignment for many charitable organisations such as the Red Cross and World Vision.

I must also mention the truly fantastic drawings by Mark Beech, who has illustrated the delightful ‘History of Warts’ and ‘Troll Trouble’ series of children’s books.

In my experience, great illustrations like this really add to a child’s enjoyment of a book and can help feed the imagination even further.

The Polly & Jago series of books come with a hearty recommendation from me – you need never be at a loss again when it comes to keeping the kids occupied!

Happy entertaining!

Well, if you’re anything like me – you don’t give up!

The first thing I thought of was that there must be cookie cutting kits, which allow you to shape the biscuits you bake into whatever shape you choose. Sure enough there are, in the States at least. But I haven’t so far been able to find an equivalent kit in the UK (if you know differently, please leave a comment).

But no fear – an answer is at hand for us Brits dreaming of a Zen-loving gingerbread man.

The marvellous Peggy Weaver has documented how you can make your very own cookie/biscuit cutters using some basic materials from your local branch of Homebase or B&Q, and that perennial favourite of Blue Peter – sticky-back plastic!

So now there’s no excuse – hop down to the local hardware store, grab hold of some pliers and metal ribbon, and start producing your Yoga-loving gingerbread people!

Of course, if you do live in America you should probably support Patti Paige at Baked Ideas and buy some gingerbread cookies directly from her.. I’m sure they are scrumptious!

The only question now is – once I’ve brought my gingerbread yoga fanatics to life, would I really want to eat one?

Yoga positions demonstrated by the ever-so flexible gingerbread men include the Downward Dog, Triangle, Plough, Wheel, Tree, Warrior, Spinal Twist, Lotus and Savasana (the pose of total relaxation).

They are made by Patti Paige and her team at Baked Ideas in New York City, who think of themselves of artists first, bakers second. In fact, they are such a creative bunch that the the American Craft Museum (now known as the Museum of Arts & Design) decided it was a good idea to include their creations in their Confectioner’s Art exhibition.

Unfortunately, these gingerbread men are not available outside the USA, but we can all feel a little inspired to make our own version at home.

But for now, I’m not going to run, run as fast as I can.. instead I feel a Savasana coming on..