Red rose wedding cake

This cake was my first cake with fresh flowers on it.  I was a bit nervous about the flowers as I really dislike putting faith into other people for the quality of a cake I am putting my own stamp on (ie. the quality of the flowers) Also I was not quite sure how I was going to keep the flowers looking beautiful for a long period of time.  I decided on wrapping each rose in wet paper towels and foil and stuck them into the cake.  This hopefully would have worked but In the end I didn't need to worry because a close friend of mine was catering the wedding and was able to put the roses in the cake right before the wedding.  Given the fact that it was a hot day this was probably a good thing.  

Chevron Wedding Cake

When yesterdays bride sent me samples and colors of the fabric she was using for her bridesmaid dresses and ribbons for decorations at her wedding I knew that a chevron cake would be perfect for her.  I was pretty excited when she and the groom agreed with me.  This cake is a two 8" tier chocolate mud cake with a 6" white chocolate lemon poppy seed mud cake on top of it.  This cake challenged me in new ways but I was extremely proud of it when I finished.  I hope that it helped to make the bride and grooms day very special. 

 

Vintage Bridal Shower

I had the privilege this week of making some goodies for a bridal shower for a lovely bride to be.  Initially I was going to simply make cake pops with swirls on them as well as pink and brown macaroons, but when I found this lovely vintage rose pattern I was inspired to make an array of cake pops to fit the theme.  These lovely pops are filled with chocolate cake and chocolate ganache mixture.  Yummy chocolaty goodness.

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.