Happy Retirement cake

Following the cake i made for Chrissa, her aunty asked if i could make a cake for someone who is retiring at the school she works at. I was thrilled! I haven't had too much practice with cakes yet but i had done the one for Chrissa only a couple of weeks ago and i figure i wont get better unless i practice!

The only instruction i was given is for the cake to read 'happy retirement laurie' and she also mentioned that he likes planes. I hope Laurie likes the plane, my husband and i made it together and i thought it looked cute - hopefully Laurie wasnt expecting a realistic looking plane!!! This is what i came up with...

Scary cupcakes and cookies for Riley

Work is a great source for orders!! A work colleague was aware that i love baking and she had seen some previous cupcakes i had made for other work colleagues. She is just lovely and asked if i'd like to make some scary cupcakes and cookies for her son's 9th birthday. It really is lovely when people appreciate and like what you do.

It was quite amusing because her son had strict instructions on the design and didn't want anything girly for his female friends. He said that if he has to eat cupcakes with butterflies at their parties then they have to give in and eat boyish cupcakes too. His mum and i were discussing that his opinion will probably change in a year or two :)

I didn't have to do any research for the design of these cupcakes, i was provided with a picture of cupcakes that Riley liked. These were fun to make and a nice change from the very detailed Planet Cake baby cupcakes i have made recently!! Still though, i couldn't have done it without the help of my wonderful apprentice (yes, husband he he)...he did ALL the mummies. I think they look great, definitely my favourite design from the lot.

The cookies were packaged in little cellophane bags and tied with a blue ribbon. What a lovely thought - Riley was going to distribute these to his class mates. The chocolate cupcakes are for the family birthday on the weekend.

Happy birthday Riley!

A cake instead of cupcakes...

A friend's daughters birthday was coming up and she knows how much i love to bake so she asked if i would like to make cupcakes for her daughter's 3rd birthday. Naturally i said yes!

She confirmed that she would have 40 people attending and because cupcakes are quite time consuming we decided on a cake instead. The last time i decorated a cake was in October and that was my first cake on my own (first was actually at Planet Cake but i had help there, so im not counting it! :) ). I was a little nervous as i haven't had that much practice with cakes but i love a challenge and it really helped to build my confidence with cakes. Im looking forward to making more.

After doing this cake i realise that a cake is definitely much less time consuming that cupcakes. Cupcakes can be very fiddly....but they are still my fave!

The cake is chocolate mudcake with chocolate ganache and i decorated as girly as i could....pink, butterflies and flowers! Happy Birthday Chrissa, lots of love xoxo

Birthday cupcakes for my nephew

My nephew is turning 8 today and i couldnt resist, i just HAD to make some cupcakes :) There will probably be a cake, but i still had to do my thing!

Looking through flickr you soon to start to realise that most of the boyish cupcakes are about monsters and other scary creatures! It's hard to come by a really nice looking cupcake that suits a boy. But i found some ideas and came up with this:

I don't actually own number cutters in the same format as the alphabet cutters i used so i decided to spell '8'.

The cupcakes are my favourite recipe - the Planet Cake one. I topped the cupcakes with blue buttercream and some handmade toppers. I also made some brownies to take along tonight, at the request of all the kids :)

Happy birthday Jordan!

My first post and order for 2010 !

It was nice to have a break from baking over Christmas, but it was also a lovely surprise when i received a call last week for an order of baby shower cupcakes! The order was for 6 cupcakes and whilst many people don't take orders for such a small amount i just enjoy making cupcakes so much that i don't mind making half a dozen. I'm not a business so i dont have strict rules. I am just so honoured when someone asks me to make something for them. And plus i was just happy to bake after having a little break but it also meant that i wasnt going to spend forever in the kitchen :)

Nadine decided on the Planet Cake baby design for her friend's baby shower - 3 of the normal one's and 3 screaming babies. I was really looking forward to making the screaming babies as i had never made them before, and i love trying new things.

Thanks for your order Nadine, i hope the girls enjoy them.

Not a cupcake, but so tasty!

The lovely Virginia who i made the Planet Cake baby cupcakes for a couple of weeks ago asked if i could make some rum balls for Christmas. I love to bake no matter what it is so naturally i said yes!

Virignia requested 40, and i made a mixture of traditional Rum(less) Balls, Bailey's Truffles and White Chocolate Coconut Truffles. The truffle recipes are from the December Good Taste magazine and they are divine! I hope Virginia and her family enjoy them, i know we will!

Im quite happy to say that this is my last lot of 'baking' (although, there was no baking involved with rum balls and truffles!) for the year. I have loved the orders i received from work mates these last few weeks but also happy that Christmas is here and i get to enjoy time with the family.

May you all have a lovely Christmas! Eat lots and enjoy this lovely time of year.

Another order for Christmas Cupcakes!

I have had quite a few orders lately from people at work which i have been thrilled about!! I love the fact that i can make cupcakes for people i know, it takes the pressure off a little and they are usually quite happy for me to choose the design.

These cupcakes are for Jen who is having her family Christmas tomorrow. Her sister is going skiing for Christmas so some of the cupcakes are based on a white Christmas, and the others have a traditional Christmas theme.

The cupcakes are my my favourite vanilla cupcakes - Planet Cake recipe with white chocolate ganache, yum! I brushed white shimmer dust onto the stars which gave them a gorgeous sparkle, if only it would show up well on the photos!

I found a pic of flickr where they used two cupcakes in the middle with HO HO on them and i loved this idea! I designed the snowmen, trees, stars and gingerbread men.

I was really pleased with how these turned out, and hope Jen and her family will be too! :)

An order for christmas cupcakes

It was a good sign when Sonja (who ordered the Planet Cake lady beeltes a few months ago) asked me if i could make some Christmas cupcakes for her son's to give to their teacher's. It's great to know when people are happy with what you produce for them. I really enjoy 'cupcaking' and it's a great feeling when people enjoy and appreciate what you do.

Sonja requested 16 cupcakes, a mix of chocolate and vanilla and was happy for me to design them. I purchased some mini christmas cutters a few weeks ago and used them on the weekend to make the cupcake toppers. I loved making these, they took me a couple of hours, but i was in my zone and everything went well :) I piped a red buttercream swirl on the cupcakes and topped each of them with a christmas topper.

Tonight was going to be a busy night - cupcakes and our puppy's last puppy pre-school class! So, here are the cupcakes, boxed and ready for Sonja tomorrow. And i couldnt resist posting a picture of our gorgeous puppy JoJo!

Baby Shower cupcakes

I mentioned last night was a busy night didn't i? :) Well another work colleague also requested some cupcakes! These were to take as a gift to her nephew's wife who is having a baby shower on Saturday.

I was thrilled to be asked to make cupcakes for a baby shower because i have been wanting to make the Planet Cake baby cupcakes for a while, and this was the perfect opportunity!

I made the bows, dummies, hair quiffs, beanies, eyes and nose on Wednesday night to save time because i knew Thursday would be a busy night. And im so glad i did! Although i only had to make 6, they were very time consuming. BUT i still loved making them and i'm so happy with the final result. It's such a gorgeous design.

I gave them to my colleague today and the people that had a sneak peak loved them too :) After a long night, i'm feeling quite happy :)

A mix of birthday cupcakes!

Last night was a busy night, but im not complaining! A colleague of mine asked if i could make some cupcakes for her niece's 8th birthday. It was lovely being asked and ofcourse i said yes!

Ella, the birthday girl knew exactly what she wanted! A very simple but pretty and girly flower cupcakes. I showed her some pictures i had saved from flickr and she chose a design. I have never met Ella but she seems like a very thoughtful girl because she requested spider cupcakes for the boys, how sweet!

I found a design for the spider cupcakes on flickr and so we based on spider on that but i think ours looks much cooler he he. Danny was wonderful and made the spiders. The legs are strips of licorice and the body is just a big ball of fondant, gosh, the kids are going to be bouncing around tomorrow!!! He even made a red strip down the back to resemble a redback spider :)

And as you can see, the cupcakes for the girls are cute and dainty, to suit Ella's personality i have been told.

I gave the cupcakes to my work colleague and she was thrilled, she really liked them. I have only recently started making cupcakes for people, so it's so nice to see the customer happy :)

More birthday cupcakes!

This week is a busy week for birthdays! My sister in law, brother in law and two work colleagues! I nominated myself (again!) to look after a birthday morning tea for Stef. My team mates are such lovely people who i get along with very well, so i am more than happy to make something special for their birthday.

The cupcakes are vanilla with white chocolate ganache, yum! I used an embossing mat to create the lovely pattern on the base and topped these with fondant flowers using different sized daisy cutters. Very simple, but pretty.

Happy birthday Stef, i hope you have a lovely day!

Cupcakes for a colleague's 50th

A work colleague turned 50 on the weekend and a few team mates have planned a simple morning tea for Tuesday to celebrate. I put my hand up and was also nominated to make cupcakes :)

I have a bunch of cupcake pictures saved from the internet which i use for inspiration, but going through them i realised that they are mostly all girly cupcakes! It's actually quite difficult to come up with a manly looking cupcake. But i did have one design which i liked, so i used that and changed the colour scheme.

The cupcakes are vanilla with white chocolate buttercream. I havent baked cupcakes since halloween so I was looking forward to tonight! On Thursday another work colleague is celebrating her birthday so i get to bake and decorate again on Wednesday night :)

An order for Halloween Cupcakes

I think sharing my cupcakes with work mates has finally paid off! :) One of my work mates asked me if i could make some halloween cupcakes for the weekend, she has a 19 month old son and they are having a little halloween party at home. I can just picture a bunch of little kids dressed up as monsters munching on cupcakes, so cute!

She left the design of the cupcakes up to me which was nice but requested a vanilla cupcake base as it is what most kids will eat. I decided to go with ghosts and pumpkins after finding a couple of tutorials on the internet. People are so kind and generous to share their ideas, i love the cake decorating world :) I made the pumpkins and ghosts on Wednesday night and let them dry over night, and used the following tutorials:

Pumpkins http://thefrostedcakencookie.blogspot.com/2009/10/tuesday-toppers-pumpkin-jack-o-lantern.html

Ghosts http://www.abakedcreation.com/2009/10/ghosts-of-cupcakes-past.html

Husband had a wonderful idea of using fishing wire for the pumpkins and it worked alot better than using a knife, what a man :) So i will let him take credit for the pumpkins. And i just love the idea of using lollies under the ghosts, the kids will love the surprise I'm sure!

It was quite warm tonight and the swirl wasn't working as well as it should so im not 100% happy with them. It wasnt holding properly, especially compared to the swirl on the pink ribbon cupcakes i made recently. I just hope they dont all droop over night or i will be taking the morning off from work to re-do them!!!

I wanted to use black for the icing, as when i think of halloween i think black! but as these were for little kids i didnt want to make them too scary :)

Happy trick or treating everyone!!

Pink Ribbon fundraiser

One of the offices in our building is holding a Pink Ribbon Breakfast on Wednesday 21st October, but as i will be away from the office that day, i wanted to do my bit to contribute so i decided i would make some cupcakes and cookies, sell them to my team mates tomorrow and donate the money to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

The cupcakes are my fave, yummy vanilla, topped with a pink (ofcourse!) buttercream swirl and then a disc of white fondant with a pink ribbon. I actually bought a ribbon 'mould' but the fondant just kept sticking to it, so i made the ribbons myself by cutting a thin strip of fondant and folding over. I haven't used buttercream on cupcakes in quite a while and i must say i missed using my 1M tip! I love the swirl!!

I had lots of fun making the cupcakes and cookies and can't wait to sell them off tomorrow!

Butterfly Effect

I was having troubles coming up with an interesting title for these cookies, and then with very good timing, i remembered the movie 'butterfly effect'!

I have a 'butterfly cookie' folder saved on my computer with a bunch of gorgeous designs which i have collected from the net so i decided it was time to christen the butterfly cutter i bought about 2 months ago!!

The net is just fantastic, it provides so much inspiration for people like me who arent very creative! My favourite design is this one http://www.cakejournal.com/archives/how-to-decorate-cookies-with-rolled-fondant/ Just gorgeous and not hard to make at all! I will actually be doing these for someone in December :)

Since these were for the joy of my nieces, i had to do them in pink! I copied a couple of the butterflies (i hope this is allowed!) from a very talented person on flickr, but i still added my own personal touch to them.

I used the embossing mat which i purchased at the high tea cupcakes course, and i just love using it! It gives such a lovely finish, especially when dusted with shimmer dust...it really accentuates the swirls.

My nieces loved them, especially the 9yr old. Her bedroom wall is covered with butterflies! They were both very impressed with how i got the 'swirly design' on the fondant....i had them going for a little while but finally confessed that i used the embossing mat :)

High Tea Cupcakes

This morning i headed over to Cake Decorating Central in Castle Hill for the High Tea Cupcakes class. I had lots of fun and learnt so much at their basics cupcake class a few months ago so decided to give these a go too.

Aside from making the cute fancy hat, i didn't really learn any new techniques, i guess because i learnt quite a bit at the first course and i have also been doing lots of cupcakes lately, but it was still fun and we all left with very pretty and girly cupcakes.

Oh, i should mention that i could have learnt how to make a particular type of large rose (pictured in the bottom centre) but after failing many times i gave up and decided roses arent for me he he.

We have a family birthday tonight so i will take them to share, but the birthday boy is turning 50-something so i don't know what he'll think of these girly cupcakes :)

I brushed some shimmer dust on the cupcakes, and it gave them a gorgeous sparkle...i hope it shows up in the photos!

Mum's Birthday Cake

Tomorrow 7th October is my mum's birthday. My mum has always been the most sweetest, honest, caring and loving mum one could hope for and i love her to bits. I love her birthday because it means we get to spoil her a little more, but she is so amazing that she really deserves to be spoilt every day.

Seeing as though cake decorating has become my new hobby, i thought that this year part of my present to her would be a cake. I knew it would take me quite some time and it just feels more special giving her something which has required time and patience.

This was my first cake on my own!!!! I was relying on what i had learnt at Planet Cake's Basics 101 to get me through! I decided on the Giant Cupcake cake from the Planet Cake book. I was a little nervous to begin with and asked myself many times why i didn't pick a simple round cake!

It was almost impossible to get a perfectly smooth dome but i did the best i could and the fact that the dome had 2 layers of fondant (the brown and the white) meant that a few little bumps miraculously disappeared :) I had heaps of fun and really enjoyed the whole process from baking the cake, ganaching and covering with fondant.

I was really pleased with how the cake turned out. Im so excited and cant wait to bring it to the table tomorrow night when we'll be having a small family birthday dinner.

I feel much more confident having done a whole cake on my own and am ready to tackle some more designs. A round cake should now be a breeze right??? Let's hope so!

Happy Birthday mum, i love you xox

Happy Birthday Renee

My lovely friend Renee turned 28 on Friday and decided that she would have a small outing with close friends on Saturday night. Renee has always been so greatful of the little treats i have made for her and being her birthday i decided to make her some pretty cupcakes. I decided on my favourite vanilla cupcakes with white chocolate ganache...such a yummy combo!

I had alot of fun making these cupcakes, and really loved the design, which i dont take full credit for by the way! I had found something similar on the web recently, but i gave these a personal touch :)

We had a lovely dinner at Chinta Ria followed by some yummy cupcakes. Happy Birthday Renee, may you always be happy xo

I had 3 cupcakes left over and seeing as though we were having family over today i decided that rather than eat them all my myself (he he) i would decorate them as the dragonfly cupcakes from the Planet Cake book. My youngest niece was flicking through the book on Thursday and pointed out that the dragonfly's were her favourite. She was so surprised and happy and almost sneaked one out before lunch! :)

My first order!

When I started my blog I sent it out to a few people at work who were interested and supportive. A couple of weeks ago the wife of a work colleague asked me if i could make some lady beetle cupcakes for their son's upcoming 3rd birthday. I was so excited but also a little nervous - my first order and my first time baking for someone outside my family!

Once I got started on the cupcakes with the help of my wonderful assistant (yep, husband!) I remembered how much I enjoy baking and decorating and the nerves were gone. I was so pleased with how the cupcakes turned out and how they tasted too - I couldn't do an order without doing a taste test to make sure they were perfect!

So here they are, packaged in their box, ready to go. I hope to get more enquiries from people at work, friends of friends etc because this is truly what i love to do :)

New Gadgets!

On a couple of the blogs I visit I had been reading about a new product called BeaterBlade+ a new beating attachment for the KitchenAid.

The standard KitchenAid attachment does a standard job - it mixes well but you have to stop the machine quite often to scrape down the sides...can get annoying and is quite time consuming! The BeaterBlade has rubber scrapers along the edge of the plastic attachment which are supposed to mix and scrape down the sides of the bowl at the same time. Could this be possible?!

YES! I used the beaterblade to make the father's day cupcakes an cookies on the weekend and i didnt have to stop the machine to scrape down the bowl once! It really is wonderful. I highly recommend it.

I ordered the BeaterBlade+ through Kim from FullyBaked. BeaterBlade+ retails for $55.95 and i received free postage with my order. Please feel free to contact Kim: fullybaked@bigpond.com

I also found an online site that had cream Robert Gordon cupcake stands, yay! I'm sure i will find an excuse to use it soon :) Please visit http://www.isaacandmai.com.au/ if you are interested.