Where do you get your baking inspiration from?

I realise that this blog is called Bells, Bakes and Bettering Myself and that most of what I write about is predominantly #bellringing or something to do with learning a new technique, learning more about myself and the world I’m in, and there is very little to do with baking. Occasionally I’ll mention the latest BakedIn green box that has landed on the doormat.  I did say a while back that I was going to get in the habit of baking something from series of magazines that I’d invested in and I did make a start but didn’t get very far.  The trouble was some #bellringing activities took over which meant most of the time that I could put aside to bake was taken up with meetings. This is now starting to lessen so regular baking can resume.

I do have a few things in the cupboards that need using up such as flavours icing sugars that make great buttercream icing or you can use them in the cake batter to flavour it.  I have a cinnamon bun kit in the cupboard that needs using up, and quite possible a brownie kit too.  Then I need to get some inspiration and start getting creative again.  I have all these tools and things at my disposal but I just don’t get to use them often enough.  I need to get some practice in, and I do still have a voucher for a session with my friend Sarah, of The Cupcake Oven.  But I need some inspiration.

I follow several cake decorators on Instagram and Facebook.  Many of them are way too advanced for me, or I look at what they’ve created and think that I could actually do that if I had the time.  I’m not very imaginative so I need a plan to follow or use something someone else has done for inspiration.  I used to follow Paul Bradfield and I have used some of his tutorials in creating versions of Star Trek Enterprise, or standing up Santas.  They are really good step by step guides.

In fact it was through following Paul that I met Sarah.  I had been to a different cake making class and one of the other students in the class mentioned Paul.  I googled him and found that he was due to give a demonstration at my local Sugarcraft Guild (never knew they existed).  In order to get a place on the workshop, I joined the Guild for a while.  Sarah was a member, and may have been on the committee at the time too, before she moved further away.  I stopped going to the Guild as I found that a) I was by far the youngest in the room b) they all sat in cliques and c) when one of the committee members came up to me and said “Welcome, is this your first meeting”?  to which I replied “No, I’ve been coming here for over a year”, I realised that this wasn’t the group for me.  And to be honest, I wasn’t really learning much.  The people they had in to do demonstrations where far beyond what I could do, or indeed I had already mastered several techniques and didn’t learn anything new. 

It would be good to see Sarah again for another class, but I’ve done most of hers now and need to find other excuses for a visit.  I need some inspiration for your average hobby baker, who can make a reasonable tasting cake, and can make it look quite good with sugar flowers and bits. 

Any suggestions?