Adam retired last week and Melanie asked me to make a chocolate layer drip cake topped with his favourite Toblerone and Cadbury’s fruit and nut. A few Maltesers sprayed gold to add a bit of bling and here we are, a chocolate lovers paradise!

This is a cake that I made to commemorate the long and happy life of a very special lady who passed away earlier this year. Her family gathered from far and wide to remember her together. She had a wealth of interests but especially golf, bridge, her garden, embroidery and jigsaws. She was well known for her intolerance of squirrels, so I sneaked one on as the picture on the puzzle. Every last bit edible of course.
Gill asked me to make a cake for her daughter Jo’s 50th birthday celebrations. She saw pictures on this page of my old book cake and liked the idea so we have gone with something similar. The family are split in their cake tastes so underneath the sugar pages, I made one side of this book chocolate cake with squidgy chocolate ganache filling and the other side a vanilla sponge with jam and buttercream. Jo’s family is the centre of her universe so a little picture of them (plus the dog and cat of course) went on the frontispiece.