More of My Cakes

This is the first cake I ever did, can't you tell??  It's pretty awful design wise but the fondant icing was really smooth.  Not bad for a first timer.

These were some mini cupcakes that I did for a friend for her 50th birthday party.

This was another birthday cake that I did for a friend for her birthday.  This was probably the 2nd or 3rd cake I had done.  I thought this one came out really well, I was very proud.

This was a birthday cake I did for my friends fiance.  Can you tell that he might of been a Carlton supporter.  My only disappointment with this cake is that I could not get the fondant the navy blue colour that I wanted, but overall a good effort.

Morning tea mini choc mud cupcakes

And of course my nephews first birthday cake that was my first post in this blog.

Wedding cake for a friend, I was bridesmaid as well.  Inspired by Sarah-Jane Wicks from Cake That!

I haven't been doing any baking lately.  Not sure when I will get back into it.  Have other things on my mind and other things to do.

Hope you all have a great weekend, and yet again full of yummy cake!!!

Birthday Cake

Just wanted to share with you the birthday cake that my brother made for me.  It's pretty impressive and tasted delicious, just wish I could have fit in more than one piece.  Lucky he gave me a piece to take home.

It was a 3 layer flourless chocolate cake layered with a strawberry chocolate mouse with fresh strawberries.  Just divine!!

Thanks Brett, much appreciated.

  I look forward to next years cake ;-)

Cake Love

Now you all know my love of cake.  Here are some cakes that I have found in my travels on the net.  Mmmm feel like making a cake today.

Hope you have a great week full of cake!!

My Cakes

Just wanted to share with you another one of my cakes that I have done.  This cake was done for the lovely Cara and her husband Nick.  They were married last November up at Noosa North Shore.  It was a great weekend and we had a ball.

I had the pleasure of meeting Cara through her mum Colleen who I used to work with.  I had only done a couple of cakes prior to this one and this was my first paid cake job, so I was very excited and nervous at the same time. 

 I am a bit of a perfectionist and I didn't want to stuff this up for Cara, especially on her wedding day and plus, I was getting paid for it.  She was going for a pink and brown theme.  She had sent me a picture of something that she liked but unfortunately it was a bit to much for me to do plus I didn't have some of the tools required for the job. 

 I went on a bit of a search and found some that I thought she might like and sent them to her.  We came up with one that both of us were happy with and this is the finished product.  I am quite proud of it but, boy it was a battle.  I hadn't worked with the particular icing before and I found it quite difficult.  During the process there was a fair bit of swearing and maybe a couple of tears.

Progress shot.  You can see some marks on it but luckily for me they were going to be covered.

The finished product at home before taking it up to Noosa.

This finished product and set up.  I think it looks pretty good for an amateur.  I was a bit worried about it because it was a really hot day and it was outdoors.  No air conditioning which is not recommended for RTR icing.

The inspiration for our cake was this lovely cake by Sarah-Jane Wicks of Cake That.  An amazing talented cake decorator in Brisbane.  Hopefully next year I will be contacting her for my 40th birthday cake.  I am definitely not making my own.

The lovely Cara and Nick xx00

These are a few of my favourite things

Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens.....  When I was a kid I loved this song and I LOVED this movie.  The Sound of Music was one of my favourite's.  I remember going over to my Auntie Joy's and Uncle Johns (not really related, that's just what they were called) and watching this movie over and over.

Now that I have grown up, these are a few of my favourite things.  Don't get me wrong, I still love whiskers on kittens.....

I have a total love affair with images of Paris.  I have been there, I was about 19 years old and was too concerned at the time about drinking and having fun to appreciate it's beauty and culture.  I hope to make it back there one day with my husband.

image heart of light

Flowers and cakes....I love both, not any particular type or flavour....Love them all.

Mmmmm champagne...my drink of choice.

And of course my puppie DJ, he's probably my most favourite thing along with MR S.

My Birthday Wish List

I have a birthday coming up in a couple of months and these are some of things I would like. I suppose I should actually tell someone so that I do have some chance of getting something. Who knows, someone may just be reading this and pass the information on to the right people..... ;-)

image and purchase from Etsy

The above one I would like it either Aqua or powder blue for my bedroom. The frame I would get for it would be from ikea in black or very dark chocolate brown.

image and purchase from Etsy

The cupcake one I would get in the cardinal red colour with a dark frame and hang this in my dining/kitchen/family room. Mmmm cupcakes!!

image and purchase from made by girl

And this one I would put in a white frame (same kind from ikea) and hang in my study. Blogs and coffee, 2 of my favourite things.

There are some other things that I would like, for example Jean Paul Gaultier Classique Perfume. I just discovered this while in Melbourne and loved the smell of it.

Ooh would love it if someone made me a birthday cake for a change. I always seem to make other peoples cakes.

And flowers, what girl wouldn't love flowers and balloons for that matter.

image via a creative mint

ooh and The Carrie Diaries

Chocolate Fudge Cake

I have had a bit of an issue with my computer over the last few weeks. Freezing, extremely slow, errors with the antivirus software etc. My thoughts were that I had picked up a virus of some sort. Luckily for me my brother is a techno geek and fixes computers for a living.

So I packed it up and took it over to his house for some TLC. For the payment he was willing to accept cake.

When reading the May 2010 issue of Real Living Magazine I noticed a rather delicious looking cake so decided to give that a go.





Choc Fudge Cake
Serves 8 to 12

Cake
100g butter, chopped roughly
150g good-quality dark chocolate chopped into small pieces (no more than 72% cocoa)
3/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup almond meal
3 eggs
1/2 cup good quality dark cocoa powder, sieved
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup plain flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
Ganache
250g good quality dark chocolate chopped into small pieces
300ml cream

Make cake Preheat oven to 170C (150C for fan forced). Line tin with baking paper. In microwave, melt butter and 150g chocolate for 2 mins on medium, stirring after every minute.
Put cake ingredients and melted chocolate into processor. Blitz until well combined.
Pour cake mix into tin and back for 90 mins until just cooked. Remove cake from oven and leave in tin to cool at room temperature.
Make ganache While cake is baking, place remaining chocolate, cream and vanilla extract in saucepan over medium heat. Heat until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth, stirring continuously to prevent chocolate burning on bottom of pan and becoming grainy. Transfer mix to bowl and let cool. Place in fridge until thick enough to ice cake.
Serve with raspberries and cream or ice-cream or both!! (I didn't have any reaspberries)

The cake was pretty good if I do say so myself. Rich, moist and quite dense. Really needed the cream with it. It went very well with a nice cup of merlo coffee.

The Beginning & Tylers Birthday.

Well, where to begin. Never thought I would start my own blog but here you go. I am normally the kind of person that would just read others and not do my own. My sister in law sort of talked me into it yesterday saying to me, " I am sure there are people out there that are interested in what you have to say". We will see about that Cinde.

Not really sure what kind of things I will post here, probably just the things that interest me. Maybe even share some recipes with you from time to time.

I may as well start with my beautiful nephew Tyler's first birthday that we celebrated yesterday. I like to think that I am an OK baker. I have taken 2 cake decorating courses so dabble a little in cake decorating, mainly for friends. I have, however been paid for two jobs now. Might even post one of those later on.

Being a first birthday I thought something special was needed to be done. I had thought about asking my sister in law if I could do the cake and had even discussed this with my hubby Mr S. I had not mentioned this to my sister in law when an email popped up in my inbox with her asking if I would make something for him. Well, I jumped at the chance. The last cake I had done was back in September.

The search on the Internet began for some inspiration on what to do for little Tyler. And he is little. Bit of a rough start in life being born 10 weeks early. He is doing great now and has a beautiful cheeky grin.

So here is the finished product for our little star.

And here is a picture of me with the birthday boy....

You will have to excuse my photo's, I am by no means a photographer or very technical with making them look good. I don't even have photoshop.

Oh & ps...so excited that Masterchef is starting tonight....woo hoo!!!!