All change for 2026

Hi everyone,

It's time for change. I made the decision some years ago to retire from caking. 

As I write this, I am downsizing, no, donating, all my equipment to anyone who will put it to good use.

Whilst I am leaving this blog here and keeping the Crafty Welsh Grandma domain name for as long as I can, it's not going to have any new, regular, posts, unless I redirect it to a new project, but that's unlikely any time soon.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all my viewers, readers, recipients and family for all their support over the years.

Crafty Welsh Grandma still remains, but in another guise.

Take care of you! Stay Craftsy.

With love

Niki aka CWG

Wonderful Winter Scene

This cake is a 'tuition' cake and made by my Padawan (apprentice). It was a last minute decision cake, but still needed the time and care like the other ones.

To help him gain confidence, my Padawan was given instruction on his first task, the christmas tree below and then I let him run with it. This is what he came up with. All this will little intervention from me.

Whilst that was drying, the cake was baked and, if I'm honest, I'm completely envious as to how this turned out! Far better than my first ever rich fruit cake!

For the decorating, my Padawan set to decorating this beauty with a green side and snow-draped effect fondant for the top. Nothing like being thrown in at the deep end for this learning experience.

Once the topping was complete, the rope decoration was created for the bottom edge as he didn't want or need to use ribbon on this one.

Next came the addition of snowflakes and then ...

Painstakingly adding little silver candy balls in the blank areas, glued in one-by-one. No doubt, I will be sweeping these up from the floor for days to come! They get everywhere when you drop them and you can never get them all at once.

Due to time constraints, the decorations for the top were purchased ready made, except the tree of course, then added. Additional handcrafted snowballs were made and added to soften the edges of the premade decorations on the top of the cake.

I think my days are numbered here! But "Crafty Welsh Grandad" is not going to be a 'thing' for many, many moons yet. Any why? Well, this wonderful trainee is my son.

The process, with all its trials and tribulations, was a fantastic experience, for me at least. I hope it was for him too.

Christmas Tree

Using about 1/3 of the mixture for the recipe for a rich fruit cake, this little four inch cake was made for my neighbour.

He's been getting a little cake from me for the last few years now, I hope he likes this one.

Sweet Snowman

This is my own cake for my festive table! He is a little six inch cake made with about 3/4 of the recipe for my rich fruit cake. 

As with my previous two cakes today, the DIY Character Faces process was used, only very loosely in this one.  I didn't have use for the whole of the process, just the general idea.

Two, flattened balls for the body and head, cut a little away so the head can fit into the body shape, cut his scarf and wrap it around.

The hat was created by using thinly rolled green fondant, laid on the head and trimmed, the same too for the fur of the bobble hat.

Stunning Santa

The 'trouble', dare I say, with these sculpted cakes is you have to do them on the day. There's no preparing in advance for these little beauties. This can be a daunting thought, especially if you have no back up. You have to be prepared 'mentally' and have confidence in your abilities.

The rich fruit cake was the second (of three) of my eight inch rich fruit cakes this year. The face was created using the same process previously published on the DIY Character Faces.

Happy Gnome

This eight inch rich fruit cake was decorated using the same process as the PJ Masks character faces. I love these little gnomes that you can't quite see.

The beard was hand painted in an edible pearl paint, topped with some festive glitter and awaiting his collection, I hope they like him.

Polar Bear on Ice

Using about 1/3 of the mixture for the recipe for a rich fruit cake, this little four inch cake was made for someone without the passion for fondant as some.

I used a basic buttercream to cover this one in peaks to represent snow or ice, and, to ensure it 'keeps' it will be kept chilled until needed.

I think the little polar bear looks so cute just sitting there on his icing-berg.