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!