AAAAARRRRGGG Me Matey!!!!





This was so much fun to create a cake and cupcakes with a pirate theme. Cap'n Jackson was turning the very big 5 which we all know is a whole hand now so his mum ordered something special for him.  The cake is a 14' x 14' square chocolate cake with buttercream.  My girls had seen me make the fondant map then the next time they saw it it was in pieces.  "what happened", stay calm I actually broke it myself.

Before I iced the cake I burrowed into the centre of it, carefully making a 'secret cave' in which to bury some hidden treasure. I popped the cake into its box and included this special scroll for Cap'n Jackson to read so he'd know to be on the look out when cutting the cake that there is some 'pirate booty' buried for him and his mates.  Can't wait to see the photo's of the inside.

                                       





The fondant toppers I made in keeping with the pirate theme are rather cute.  Fortunately they aren't particularly menacing pirates so I think we'll all be safe for another day.



So a very special happy birthday Cap'n Jackson 

Savannah's Baby Shower



Well it was very fortuitous that the 2 Grandma's held the baby shower when they did.  There was so much speculation on the night about how 'low' the baby was and some reminding that there was still 3 weeks worth of 'cooking' left.  Savannah's Great Grandma wasn't having any of it and firmly told everyone that you could expect her arrival at any time. Sure enough not even 48 hours later Savannah arrived safe and sound and instantly surrounded by an abundance of love.  Congratulations to you all. 




Happy 13th Birthday Jess B.





Young Women's New Beginnings Night


Sunday was an exciting night for all the young women but particularly those who are turing 12 which included my Maddie.  We 'boarded a bus' and went on a safari ride spotting the 8 young women's values 'animals'. It was a fantastic night and the young women did such a fantastic job.

I had the fun job of providing 60 cupcakes for the night.  Each of the 8 values has its own special colour so we had flowers to represent each of those. If you're curious what those values might be click here.



You can't have a safari without some little monkeys.  The cupcakes are medium size chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing.  I've been using the Costco Kirkland butter since Costco opened here.  It's rather novel for us here in Australia to actually have butter in really live 'sticks'.  Apart from been so terribly cute, the butter is white and creamy and requires much less beating time.  Once you add the white icing sugar you have a beautiful white buttercream.  I don't add vanilla when I'm doing white buttercream so as to not 'muddy' the lovely white.
 For the fondant flowers and monkeys I used white Satin Ice Rolled Fondant which was coloured with the Wilton Icing Colours.  The shade of colours created was fabulous.  Made a couple of days earlier you may find that the colour can change overnight and becomes a much richer colour.  
I do love these beautiful fondant flowers.  Check out my next post which has the beautiful photos taken of the cupcakes made for a thirteenths birthday.





Maddie's Mummy / Daughter Date

Today Maddie, who is 11, and I had fun at a basic cupcake class.  Maddie has an amazing talent when it comes to sculpting, flower making and the use of all sorts of art mediums.  So we thought it would make a fun mummy daughter date to go to an actual class together.  It makes it all that more special to make an afternoon of it together.

Julie our instructor who trained at Wilton in Canada, was so much fun.  She took us through the basic of the fondant, using moulds, punches & embossing cupcake toppers. So these are all Maddie's beautiful creations below.  She's already picked out her next class.



Whole-Wheat Lemon & Raspberry Muffins


Whole Wheat Lemon & Raspberry Muffins

Ingredients:

1 lemon

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup non-fat Greek yoghurt

1/3 cup rice bran oil

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups whole wheat flour 

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 salt

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries


Method:

  • Preheat oven to 200C.  Fill your muffin tray with your preferred muffin papers or silicon muffin cups. 
  • Using your microplane remove the zest from 1 lemon.  Combine sugar and zest in a food processor until zest  and sugar are well blended.
  • Add yogurt, oil, egg and vanilla to the sugar/lemon blend and blend again for about 30 seconds.
  • Combine whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Add yoghurt mixture, and fold until almost blended. Don't over beat.  Gently fold in raspberries.  Divide batter among the muffin cups. 
  • Bake the muffins until brown or golden. 


*you can use white whole-wheat flour.  I use freshly ground whole-wheat which gives you a darker looking muffin.

*If you don't have a fresh lemon on hand, add about 1- 2 teaspoon of lemon juice from the refrigerator. 

You can hit the print button below!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Party






This weekend we celebrated the twins first birthday.  It was such a fun day to celebrate not only the twins first birthday but to celebrate the fact that their Mum & Dad survived.  Might I add that not only did they survive but they thrived.  


While we tucked into all the very yummy treats, Miss Ava couldn't wait to get her hands on her very own very own organic whole wheat carrot cake.  Connor on the other hand was a little more apprehensive about the whole cake idea.





SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION

We are so very excited to be underway with our new, very much improved website. I've been so busy in the kitchen but its high time we got this show on the road. Over the next few weeks we'll be adding content to site. This will include all the tasty cupcakes for you to purchase for your next special event plus some of my favourite recipes if you like to spend time in the kitchen as well.
 
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