Christmas cake pops

Every year I like to make something for friends and neighbors for Christmas.  This is not really something I have seen here in New Zealand but it is a tradition I love from growing up so its something I want to carry on.  This year I have had a ton of leftover cake from the off-cuts of the 75 Christmas cakes I have had to make so I decided to give cake pops a go again.  I enlisted the help of my daughter and it turned out to be much easier this time.  I read a hint recently that to get the stick to stay on you freeze the cake onto the stick before dipping it in the chocolate.  This works a treat and I had no trouble. 

To make cake pops I took about a cup to two cups of leftover cake and mixed it with a tablespoon of icing.  I then put it in a food processor and mixed it until the mixture comes together and you can form balls.  This is a pretty flexible recipe so just make it as moist as you like.  I don't like my cake too moist so I prefer to use as little icing as possible.  I rolled the cake mixture into little balls and put lollipop sticks into them (you can get these at spotlight in New Zealand).  I then put them in the freezer and let them set for a couple of hours. 

Once the cake pops had set in the freezer I melted chocolate specifically designed for making chocolates (Nestle Melts work great!).   I dipped the cake pops into the chocolate and let the chocolate drip for a couple seconds to get a smooth finish on them.

Quickly before the chocolate had hardened I added pretzels I had split in two to either side of the chocolate ball and a little red nose made out of fondant (you can purchase red candy balls and use this instead).  

For the eyes and mouth I made some royal icing (you can buy ready made icing from spotlight or the supermarket for this very thing) and piped the eyes and mouth on.  You can also purchase an edible pen to draw the face on (in Tauranga you can get this from Culinary Council).  

This is a really fun project to do with your littlies who will love the reindeer!  If you want to give this a go and live in Tauranga I have a ton of leftover cake thats wanting to be used so send me an email.  For those a little braver you can try out this Christmas tree cake pop as well.  I used powdered colouring and added it to white chocolate Nestle melts to get the green colour and I used star sprinkles for the decorations.

Handbag Cake

Several months ago I auctioned my services off at a Cool Bananas auction (http://www.coolbananas.org.nz/).  This is the cake that I made for the woman who won the auction.  This cake was made for her 60th birthday party and was an orange chocolate mudcake covered in chocolate ganache and fondant.  

Cupcakes and Christmas!

I have been baking up a storm this week!  I had the pleasure in making 60 of these cupcakes for a group of lovely ladies who meet each week to study the word of God.  On top of that I have agreed to making 75 cakes for Christmas over the next two weeks.  Am I nuts???  I will let you know next week! 

Lately

It has been quite some time since I have posted anything for this blog.  I turned 30 several weeks ago and I don't think I have touched the ground since!  For my 30th my husband took me to Melbourne and we spent five incredible days just the two of us.  What a treat! The best thing was that we hardly even talked about kids or work.  Amazing.  I did miss my kids terribly though and it is so nice to have something to look forward to coming home to now after being on holiday.  

Upon arriving home my sister and her two children arrived from Western Australia and have spent the last three weeks with us.  The house has been mad with four children under four but it has been a special time spent with my sister.  She was very helpful for planning my 30th party with the theme of 1920s, jazz age lawn party. It was a great night.  Because I had to make my own cake I made a vintage microphone.  I am passionate about jazz and love to sing it so a vintage microphone was perfect.   

A few days after my party, my dear little girl turned 3!  Where does time go?  For her birthday she was very spoiled and got 2 birthday cakes.  For her kindy class I made a large interactive crocodile cake.  I cut out a ton of tiny green circles and the kids helped me to cover the crocodiles back and tail to make his scales.  They loved it and I loved spending time in my daughters class getting to know her teachers and the kids she talks about.  I couldn't just make the crocodile cake though and for her birthday dinner with family and a few friends I made a rainbow cake with sunshine as it sums up my happy outgoing little girl. 

Last night I had a party for a dear friend who has just turned 40.  For her cake her husband asked for her smiling face and curly hair to be on top of the cake.  Her favourite colour is turquoise so this is what I came up with!  The cake was a great opportunity to practice the latest cake trend of ruffles which are so pretty. 

All Blacks Win!!!!!

What a great day to be a New Zealander.  The sun is shining and we are all basking in the glory of a win that has been 24 years coming. I dare anyone who loves sports and has never seen rugby to watch it and not become an instant fan.  The game was intense, keeping you on the edge of your seat to the very end.  Many might say that it was too close of a game and that we only just won, but lets remember the games leading up to this victory.  The All Blacks deserved to win.  They were the better team not only last night but in the entire tournament.  They played their heart out last week against Australia, a pre-final game, only to have to rally back up and play the game of their lives last night.  They were tired, battered and bruised and yet they knew the whole country was counting on them, willing them to win, so they kept going, giving every last breath they had to make the victory.  We are proud of you All Blacks.  Its been a tough last year for New Zealand with so much heart-ache and maybe that makes this win feel all the more sweeter.  We have something to smile about for awhile.

The Macaron

I hate fads.  In fact I'm a bit of a fad snob.  What I hate most about them though is no matter how hard you try, they get you every time.  I can't tell you how many times I have seen something become fashionable and think to myself, "I would never wear that" and then it slowly creeps into my wardrobe until all of a sudden I find it appealing.  I am beginning to learn that food is very much the same way.  Like in fashion, food has a very distinct 'style' and things come in and out of fashion. So when I saw french macarons suddenly become the rage I turned my nose up at them.  There was no way I was going to make them.  These fiddly time consuming treats seemed far too posh for me - I mean really, could something possibly taste good without butter??

Well, I have to tell you that all of a sudden I was starting to find all the lovely different colored macarons very appealing and I've decided they must be a feature at my 30th this year.  Crazy, I know.  I don't even like meringues so I most likely would not like macarons but I was inspired.

There has been a lot of fear surrounding macarons.  This delicate little cookie can go wrong very easily so many people shy away from trying them.  Maybe this is what suddenly made them appealing.  I needed a challenge so I went off in search of instructions and found an incredibly handy pdf that I strongly suggest you download if you wish to attempt macarons.  It has wonderful step by step instructions with great pictures to follow.  In fact I found these cookies pretty easy!  I think the key is getting the egg whites firm and if you have made meringues before this is nothing new.  The next trick is then determining the cooking times that suit your oven.  I think this is where all the drama lies as I believe you probably need 3 attempts to get the cooking times just right.  Once you know your oven though it should be a breeze!  My first tray was slightly over cooked and then my second tray was under cooked.  I did a second batch as chocolate and turned the tray after twelve minutes to give more even baking to both sides and found that this was much better.  I think that by the time I have my party these babies will be perfect.

As far as the taste go I have to say that even though I don't like meringues I don't mind these.  I can't say they are my favorite but then again I think a lot has to do with the flavor for me.  I really did enjoy the chocolate ones and I think that maybe I would enjoy lemon ones even more.  As we have far too much sugar in this house I gave the chocolate macarons to my daughters kindy teachers as I am hugely indebted to them for the incredible time and involvement they put into my daughter.  These ladies possess so much patience to work day in and day out with pre-schoolers and their passion for their job really helps me look at my daughter in a different light.

You can find the instructions to mastering the macaron here.

Basic Oatmeal cookies

I fear the stomach flu.  Majorly.  If I hear that a child has had the stomach bug recently I would probably grab my child and run if it were not rude.  The idea of nausea and vomiting and the fact that it seems to visit everyone in the family no matter how vigilant you might be in running around disinfecting everything terrifies me.  The last two weeks were just that.  It all started with my 9 month old vomiting all over dad at the park.  I shouldn't have laughed but I did only to be covered in vomit twice that night.  Oh joy.  Two days later it was the husband and myself to get sick and by the end of the week my 2 year old was ill but hers lasted for a week!  Finally we are free of the nasty bug and I finally feel like I am catching up on the cleaning and the washing not to mention sleep.

Its been awhile since I have done any baking so my daughter and I took out the aprons and made these wonderful basic oatmeal biscuits.  I love these!  They are incredibly addictive so watch out, but not only that, they are a great base for any oatmeal biscuit.  You could add craisins and white chocolate, raisins and walnuts, chocolate chips or toffee bits.  Yumm!  Definitely worth the try.  You can find this recipe here. 

Rugby World Cup 2011

We are well into the Rugby World Cup here in New Zealand with only the semi-finals remaining before the big grand final.  On Sunday my husband and I sat down with our girl to watch two of the quarter final games.  Australia vs South Africa and New Zealand vs Argentina.  In honor of these games I made cupcakes! Our daughter chose Australia to eat (we obviously have not instilled the love of the All Blacks enough into her - or maybe the kangaroo had something to do with it).  It was an intense night as both games were quite close, although the All Blacks did do well in the end (nightmares of the 2007 world cup quarter final were in the back of our head).  

To celebrate the upcoming grand final I will be giving away 12 cupcakes representing the final two teams to a lucky resident of New Zealand (and yes, I can courier).  To win these cupcakes simply leave a comment stating your pick on who will be in the final on here or on Mrs Woolley's Cakes facebook page and you will go in the draw to be selected at random.  

Vintage Boat Cake

I had a big project last week.  I was asked to make a 30th birthday cake for a close family friend.  The cake was largely based on a painting of a vintage style boat with rolling waves and seagulls.  I immensely enjoyed creating this cake and was pretty pleased with how it turned out.  The biggest challenge of this cake was not in the making of it but in the transporting it.  The cake was to be shipped to Auckland and then get on a small pencil plane and fly to Great Barrier Island.  As you can imagine I was a little bit nervous about this! To package the cake I made sure the cake was on a board the same size as the box. I then taped a non-slip mat under the box and taped cellophane over the box so that the courier driver could clearly see that it was a cake.  When I sent it the cake was pretty solid and didn't seem to be going anywhere so I am hoping that it made it there safely.  I am yet to hear so when I find out I will let you know! 

Topsy Turvy Birdhouse Cake

My mother-in-law is an incredibly generous selfless woman so I knew I wanted to make her a special cake for her birthday.  She loves to garden and loves to feed the birds so I knew I wanted a birdhouse.  When my sister-in-law suggested a topsy turvy cake I decided to give it a try as I have always wanted to make one and have not gotten the chance. This cake has a bit of trick to it.  The top part looks as though it is sitting on top of the cake at an angle but it is actually sitting level on the bottom base which has been cut out to fit the top cake into it.  Once the cake was completed I went to bed stressing that the whole thing was going to collapse even though I knew that it was solid!  This cake was a strawberry mud cake and a banana mud cake with a chocolate butter cream and fresh strawberry filling.  The night was a fantastic night sharing a lovely roast dinner cooked by my father and sister-in-law, eating cake and watching the All-Blacks defeat France in a pool game of the rugby world cup.

Caramel Sundae Cupcakes

It's been awhile since I've done a post, not to mention one on cupcakes!  Spring is here and suddenly I have felt the need to tackle much needed chores around the house.  The mess just became too much for me and I threw my hands up and said 'Thats it! Everything is going!'  I didn't really mean that but I have had enough of all the stuff that we accumulate.  I am starting to live under the philosophy that less is more so anything not being used is going.  My husband was a little bit nervous but I assured him that he was still useful.  After all, there is a rather large deck being built that I need finished for my 30th.  By the end of last week my manic clean came to a slow halt and by Saturday I was ready to put my baking hat on again.

I have been eying up for awhile salted caramel cupcakes.  I love the combination of salt and sweet so the idea of these cupcakes sounds divine.  I got stuck in and made the caramel sauce and as soon as I tried it I started thinking peanuts (because I love peanuts) and then I started to think bananas, and then I thought how wonderful all of these would be in a cupcake.  And so became Caramel Sundae Cupcakes. I guess the salted caramel cupcakes will have to wait.

For the cupcake itself I made the one bowl chocolate cake into cupcakes.  You can find this recipe here.  This recipe makes approximately 30 cupcakes.  I made the mistake of filling them too much and only got 24.  Quite a few of the cupcakes spilled over looking much like mushroom tops.  I suggest only filling the cases 2/3 full.  Personally I would halve the recipe for these cupcakes as 30 is quite a lot and these babies are rich.

I then made the caramel sauce.  I found this recipe here.  I don't own a candy thermometer so I really had to guess on the colour of the caramel.  I think I slightly overcooked it but only just as the caramel really did come out super yummy.  If you don't want to make your own caramel you can now buy it already made from sweetened condensed milk.  Once the caramel was made and the cupcakes were cooled I used a round cutter and cut out a hole from the centre of the cupcake and then spooned a teaspoon of the carmel into it.  On top of the cupcake I cut up two bananas and put 2 slices on each cupcake.  I then spooned a dollop of buttercream icing and drizzled caramel sauce and crushed up peanuts on top.  As said previously these are ridiculously rich but crazy good.  They are really more of a eat with a fork cupcake.

Pirate Cake

This week I was sitting with my daughter while she was eating lunch.  "Don't play with your food please" I said as I watched her dipping her fingers in her yoghurt to eat it.  As I thought about it I started to laugh.  I play with food all the time! I had great fun playing with this pirate ship and especially loved my little pirate man.  This cake was for one of my daughters friends who had his party this week at McDonalds.  

Remember having birthday parties at McDonalds?  I had my fifth birthday there and remember playing games and feeling very important wearing a special birthday hat.  The birthday party was not quite what I remembered McDonalds parties to be but maybe it was crazy then too!  My daughter will certainly remember it and had a great day.  

Cupcake Boards

This week I finally came up with a fun and unique way to transport cupcakes.  Boxes and inserts for cupcakes in New Zealand are crazy expensive so I have been trying to think of a way to transport them like I do the cupcake bouquets.  So to test out my transporting method I made cupcakes this week for my cousin who is laid up with a badly broken leg.  He is at that really busy stage of high school and with summer just around the corner I can appreciate how frustrated he is to be sitting at home.  If it had been me in high school I would have been feeling incredibly sorry for myself!

I also had a request from my friend to make cupcakes for her Dad who loves fishing and loves Holdens.  I did a small replica of a Holden Manaro and a fishing lure as well as the letters D A D.