Domestic Goddess

Bake up a batch of ellen kharade's teatime treats – not from cake mix, but polymer clay!

Ellen Kharade, MJ Designer

Mince pies and christmas puddings could be constructed in the same way and would be just right for the festive season

Our scrumptious cupcake trinket boxes look good enough to eat, but are made entirely from polymer clay. The domed shape of the cake has been cleverly achieved by using a Christmas bauble as a former, while silicone cupcake cases made great moulds for the bases and they all hold their shape once baked in an oven. At this time of the year, when gift making is on all of our minds, these delights combined with the little cupcake bracelet or earrings would make a wonderful present for any little (or big!) girl and you could also try other styles of cakes for the trinket boxes.

Butterfly Cupcake

1. Mix up white clay with a little purple violet to create a pale pink colour. Roll into a flattened circle and press into the base of a silicone cupcake case. Keep pushing the clay in with your fingers until you have a good shape. Using a scalpel, carefully trim away the excess from the edges of the case and place onto a baking tray.
2. Roll out a sheet of purple violet to 2mm thick. Press a country squares textured mat into the surface until you get a good impression, then gently lift away. Stamp out a circle with a 5cm fluted cookie cutter and decorate with balls of peppermint clay. Roll out a flat sheet of peppermint clay and make another circle with a 6cm fluted cookie cutter. Place one round on top of the other to form the lid.
3. Mix up a little more pale pink clay as in Step 1 and roll into a flat sheet. Cut out a butterfly shape and decorate with balls of peppermint and purple. Make a small body shape and add to the centre of the motif. Place the butterfly onto the lid of the box and arrange so that the wings are facing upwards. Bake in an oven for 30 minutes at 110°C.

Heart Cupcake

1. Mix a block of white clay with a little purple violet to create a pale pink colour and roll it into a flattened circle. Press the sheet into the base of a silicone cupcake case with your fingers until it is smooth and a good shape. Trim the top with a scalpel and place onto a baking tray.
2. Place a mediumsized glass bauble onto a jam jar to support it. Knead and roll out a sheet of peppermint clay and cut out a circle using a 6cm cookie cutter. Make up some pale pink clay and roll out flat, then press a scrolls textured mat onto the surface. Cut out a circle with a 5cm fluted cutter.
3. Lay the pink circle on top of the peppermint round and place both pieces on top of the bauble, gently pressing on the clay to get a good dome shape. Roll out a long sausage of white and starting at one end, roll up to resemble piped cream and place on top of the cupcake lid. Decorate with thin pieces cut from purple and pink clay to look like sugar strands.
4. Roll out a sheet of purple clay and lay a small square of gold leaf metal onto the surface. Press the scrolls mat down onto the metal leaf and clay until you get a good impression, then gently lift away and cut out a 13mm heart. Stamp out a 6mm heart from a sheet of purple textured clay and assemble them both on top of the piped cream.
5. Decorate the cupcake with pink flat back crystals and impressions made with the tip of a pencil. Bake in the oven on the glass bauble for 30 minutes at 110°C. Once cool, gently ease the clay off the bauble and assemble the trinket box.

Bracelet

1. Mix up a little pale pink clay and form into a 1cm curved cube with your fingers. Roll out a thin sheet of cognac clay and cut out a small circle, then place on top of the pink cube. Roll out a thin sheet of apple green clay, cut out a small blossom and place on top of the cupcake bead.
2. Push a long needle through the base of the cupcake and out through the top to create a hole for the head pin. Roll out a sausage of white clay and roll up to look like cream, push the needle through the centre and place it on top of the cupcake, matching up the holes. Remove the needle and push the head pin through, then slip on a red seed bead.
3. Make a few ridges with a scalpel along the cupcake base and sprinkle with glitter. Make another cupcake, decorating it in the same way with apple clay, and another two of each using purple and turquoise clay to embellish. Roll out a ball of purple clay, 6mm in diameter and gently push a head pin through the centre. Repeat to make another six.
4. Bake all of the cupcake charms and round clay beads for 10 minutes at 110°C. Once cool, trim the end of the pin on each one, and turn over with round-nosed pliers to form a neat hook. Thread a pink pearl and an amethyst crystal onto a head pin, trim the end to size and loop with round-nosed pliers. Repeat to make another six.
5. Fasten jump rings to either end of a 20cm belcher chain, plus a lobster clasp. Attach the cupcake charms and round beads to the bracelet with jump rings on every fourth link. Add the crystal drops to the same jump rings as the round clay beads to make a double cluster.

Earrings

1. Form two 1cm curved cubes of pale pink clay in the same way as the bracelet. Cut out two small circles of cognac clay rolled out thinly, and place one onto each pink cube. Roll out a thin sheet of apple green clay, cut out a small blossom and lay on top of the bead. Push a long needle right through from the base of each to create a hole for the head pin.
2. Roll a sausage of white clay and roll up to look like cream. Push the needle through the centre and place on top of the cupcake, matching up the holes. Push the head pin through and slip on a red seed bead. Repeat for the second cupcake.
3. Make a few ridges with a scalpel along the cupcake base. Sprinkle with glitter and bake for 10 minutes at 110°C. Once cool, trim the end of the pin and turn over with roundnosed pliers to form a neat hook, then attach to earwires.