Arsenal Cake

Charlie's favourite football club is Arsenal. So it was only fitting that I make an Arsenal related cake for his birthday.

After some research I decided upon recreating the club's badge in cake form - with a little fondant mascot for the side.

I made his favourite cake - banana, but also made it into a white chocolate mud cake at the same time. Yum.

This is the recipe I used - but per the reviews I only used 2 bananas. I also cooked it a bit longer than the 45 minutes that recipe stated - turning it down to about 150 degrees.



Using a printout as a guide, I coloured and cut out fondant in the right shapes. And painted some pieces with the edible gold.

Gunnersaurus! He is my first ever attempt at making a fondant creature. It's very fiddly work! I didn't quite master the tylo powder ratio - so I shall do some more research for future critter making.

I think he likes you.

I was happy to find little football candles for the cake.

Charlie loved it!

As you can see I cut the cake in half before icing and put a dark chocolate ganche in the middle. 

All in all it was a success - however I had trouble with the fondant cracking a bit. I will have to find some pros to ask me thinks!

Because I'm obsessed with cake decorating at the moment, I have set up a dedicated pinboard and I'm pinning like crazy. It's strange to think people have even more time and patience to make cakes than I. It's probably that they are just much faster I imagine. 

Also I must remember to take photos on my good camera not just my phone. What a bad blogger I am - apologies! 

Fondant Roses

My friend Hannah had a birthday this week - and I know she loves cooking and baking, so I decided to make her some fondant roses that she can put on her cakes!

I hand coloured and painted them using colour gels and edible rainbow dust!

Here are the results - I think she really liked them!

Cake class 101

The decorating begins.

Last week my fab sister-in-law and I went to a cake decorating class at the new Make Cafe in Christchurch. It was great fun and now I'm pretty much obsessed with decorating cakes etc. which is funny, because I'm on a strict diet and can't eat any of it. But that's okay! I just imagine it is molding clay, paint and stuff - all inedible. It's amazing how your brain can adjust for these things.

We learnt how to pipe a ruffle onto cakes with the 104 petal tip. We also got taught how to make fondant flowers and we played with colour gels - my new fav.

Here are the results!

Crumb coat

Mixing up the colours - ombre styles

The final result 

I am now obsessed and I've been watching all sorts of videos on youtube - I wanna be a pro now. 

I think I will join this class next. Chch people are more than welcome to join me :)

Watch this space for more of my decorating progress!

Marble cakes

Marble cupcakes that I made for CRAFTNOON-TEA (which only 2&1/2 people turned up to, awesome people nonetheless!)
Everybody else MISSED OUT





Amelia's CAKEFACE

Purple Cake Day

On the 1st of March it was Purple Cake Day. I had never heard about this until I was in Nelson for a wedding a couple of weeks back and saw posters and displays advertising it everywhere! It is pretty much a day about celebrating children and rising funds for children in need around the world. This year they focused on the children of Haiti and also Christchurch post quake. Read more about it here.

I decided to make a cake I've alway wanted to make: Red Velvet Cake. But with a twist, a purple twist.

Recipe-
CAKE:
2&1/2C Flour
1/2C Cocoa
1t Baking Powder
1t Baking Soda

225gr Butter - room temp/softened
2C Castor Sugar
5 Large Eggs

1C Buttermilk (If you don't have this, use one T of Lemon Juice or White Vinger and fill the milk up to 1C. Leave for 5mins to curdle)
1t Vanilla
Red & Blue food colouring

ICING:
100g Butter
4C Icing Sugar
1/4C Milk
1T Vanilla

Sift dry ingredients together 2/3 times.


Cream butter for 2 mins. Then add the sugar in 3 separate lots. Creaming for 2 mins after each.


Add eggs one at a time, beating for 1min after each.

Add 1/4 of the dry ingr to the butter mixture, mixing well. Then add 1/4 of the buttermilk and mix well. Repeat this process.


Now add vanilla and as much colour as needed to make mixture turn purple. (If doing red velvet, leave out the blue!)
Mix well.



Pour into cases


and cook for 20 minutes on 180c


Cool them for 10mins+ before icing.


Make the butter cream icing by creaming butter for 2mins and then slowly adding other ingr, mixing well.


Now I will show you a simple icing-bag-free way to ice the cupcakes. (My icing bags are still in my flat in the cordon)


Put a large dollop of icing in the middle of the cake


Flatten it down to the edge of the cake with a knife


Next, starting from the outside of the cake, slowly, with the tip of the knife, push the icing back towards the middle as you spin the cake. (I find it easier to spin the cake if it's sitting on the bench). Spiral in towards the middle.


It may take a few tries practice, but you should get it in the end!

Then decorate the cupcake straightaway, before the icing starts to dry.


I decorated with pearl dust and purple nerds!


With a little luck, the cake should be purple-ish on the inside...


And there you have it!

I hope you enjoy and I hope you are all safe after the earthquake. Take care, and look out for more posts up soon. I've been making something new everyday during the post-quake blues, since I can't go to my flat or Uni!

x

A beachy number... PASSIONUT

So I had been invited to a hen's party, baywatch themed, and was asked to bring a sweet treat... So thus these Passionfruit and Coconut Cupcakes were born... I call 'em Passionut.






And what you all want... the recipe!
YOU NEED:
3/4c Dried Coconut, very finely processed
2 & 3/4c High Grade Flour
2t Baking powder
6 Eggs (only use 3 of the yolks though)
200g Butter slightly softened
1 & 3/4c Castor sugar
4T Passionfruit pulp (you can buy this in the baking isle at the supermarket, or use fresh stuff)
3/4c Milk

Oven:170c

In a bowl, add coconut to the sifted flour and baking powder. Mix until combined.

In another bowl, mix eggs together with a fork (don't beat yet)

In a BIG bowl, cream butter 1-2mins
Add a third of the sugar then cream for 2mins. Do twice this again (for the last 2/3rds)
Beat until light and fluffy.

Slowly add eggs, a quarter at a time, beat for 1min after each time.

Mix the coconut milk with the passionfruit pulp.

Add a third of the flour to the creamed mixture, beat it in slowly.
Add half the coconut milk mixture and combine.
Repeat.
On adding the last lot of flour, make sure it is well combined, but don't over mix it.

Spoon into cute cupcake cases. (Approx 24)

Cook for 15/20 mins

When cool, it's time to ice them!

YOU NEED:
100g Soft Butter
1/4c Milk or coconut milk
2T (or more) Passionfruit pulp
4c Icing sugar (or more, if you are adding more pulp.)

Cream butter for 2mins.

Add milk, Passionfruit and half of the icing sugar, any colouring you may want and then beat for 3mins.

Add the rest of the icing sugar beat for another 3mins.

Ice cupcakes, and sprinkle big flakes of coconut on top.

I made little Life-Saver rings out of fondant for the decoration on the top of mine too.
-Simply pick up pre-made fondant from your supermarket and roll into rings. Colour some of the fondant with red food colouring (adding icing sugar too keep it solid) and add strips around the white rings to complete the look!

YUM



I made wee nautical pennant flags in Illustrator, which I put the Bride and Groom's names on too.
Here is a free printable download!

At the party...




Good luck!
Might get onto some rabbit-related crafts now...

Christmas cupcakes

Almost time to put your feet up...with some good food.


Heat oven to 200c!



Here are most of the things you need to make these yummy cupcakes


Sift 3 cups of flour into a bowl


add baking soda (1t)..


and baking powder (2t)


I'm showing off my new measuring spoons...


Add to this some mixed spice (2t) and a pinch of salt (I didn't cause I'm using salted butter)


Mix it all together! Leave it to one side.


Next in a mediumish pot add the following:

dark choc (150g) (I used ghana dark choc, yum)...


then add Instant coffee (1/4c) and boiling water (1c) to the pot too.
Keep stirring on a low heat until it has combined, then take off element to cool.

Next we do the buttery stuff.

Soften butter (200g) DO NOT OVER SOFTEN. It will ruin it. The butter should be on the firmer side of soft, not the nearing melted side. This is important, so the cupcakes are the right consistency. (I freq muck up my softening butter and have to refrigerate/start over it again.) Cream the butter for a good 2 mins.


Next measure out the brown sugar (1 & 1/2c)


Add half to the butter, cream it for 2mins then add the other half creaming for another 2 mins.


Now we add the eggs one at a time... beating for 1min after each addition.


Add 4 eggs in total.

(Why all this mixing? Well we must think of baking as a science. The mixing is important to add the air into the cupcake mix, making sure that the will cook properly and end up light and fluffy. Cupcakes aren't meant to be dense. You may not care, but I do, I'm a perfectionist!)


Now add the vanilla (1t) the mix it in.


Now mix in a 1/3rd of the flour mixture, and beat until combined.


Measure out sour cream (1/2c) and add half of this to the mixture, beating it in.


Repeat these last two steps. Then add the last of the flour, combine it, but don't over mix!


Next pour in the cooled choc mix... fold it in gently. Combine it all, but once again, don't over mix it!


Mmmm yummy.


Put cool cupcake cases in the trays. Depending on the size of your cases it will make varying amounts of cupcakes. Mine filled 36. The cook time will vary slightly as well.


Fill the cases about 2/3rds full.


Cook for 15ish mins. Keep an eye on them, cause they may be ready sooner. The aim is to have them a bit gooey inside still. Take them out of the baking tray as soon as pos, transferring them to a cooling rack.


Once cool, ice them! I made a red butter cream icing and piped it onto the middle of the cakes. (Too much icing can be sickly)
I made some fondant too and cut out wee flower shapes, putting them on top.


Then I dotted some glitter gel in the middle


and added a silver ball to each.


All finished!


I took them around to a christmas party. They tasted sooo good... a perfect mix of christmasy flavours.


You really should try making them!

x