Magical Wizard Mad Hatter Cake

 

I have been absent for a while, baking and decorating a number of cakes and treats so far this year. The first I would love to share with you is this magical wizard  mad hatter cake I made in January for a birthday celebration.

I just love the wizard, he is a happy magical wizard and certainly not a nasty evil one. The birthday girl is into many magical things like rune stones, tarot cards and angels wings and loves purple, so this was the perfect crazy cake for her.

For the wizard I had a bit of help from Debbie Brown's enchanting magical cakes, and for the mad hatter I had help from Lindy Smith's cakes to inspire and desire. The lovely purple was achieved by mixing red and blue paste colours into white fondant, though it is a big effort and I would suggest at least starting with a premade purple and tweaking the colour from there. At least my biceps had a workout!

The angels wings I made by printing out a wing template to an appropriate size, cutting in half into the 2 wings and curving florist wire to the shapes with excess to insert into straws in the cake. I then rolled out gumpaste very thinly and cut out 4 wings with the template to cover both sides of the 2 wires. These are glued together onto the wire. The entire surface is covered with "feathers" which I made using a leaf cutter and veiner, then once dry are dusted with super pearl dust to give a lovely shimmer.

Christmas Snowman Cupcakes

Do you have room for a little more Christmas Cheer?

I hope so...

Our bellies are overfull, the gifts are unwrapped and we've spent so much time with our family that frankly we're getting a little sick of them. Hehe just joking!

I just couldn't help making one more last minute Christmas fun item, and after seeing a couple of versions of snowmen on Pinterest, I thought that would be just the thing. With some white and coloured fondant, a tooth pick through the middle and some sprinkles, these little snowmen were created in no time.

Merry Christmas everyone and thanks to all who have read my blog throughout 2012...Here's to 2013!

Enchanted Fantasy Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

I just want to begin by saying that these are the best vanilla cupcakes (taste and texture) I have made by far. After testing three recipes over the past week, this is the clear winner. I made these to celebrate a young lady's 18th birthday and was given free reign with design, so I went for some enchanted fantasy flowers in bright colours. Who said vanilla cupcakes are plain and boring?

The recipes tested include: 

Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes by Glorious Treats - great texture and moist, however lacked that delicious vanilla cupcake flavour even though I used real vanilla beans. If I tried this recipe again I would substitute the oil with melted butter.

A Better Vanilla Cake by Beyond Buttercream - not bad however taste and texture was not my favourite for the classic vanilla cupcake flavour.

Over the years I have also baked many of the traditional creaming method vanilla cupcakes (cream butter and sugar, add flour and milk alternately) - this results in great flavour but the texture can be a little dry.

The winning recipe for me is Billy's Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcakes. It uses the reverse creaming method(mix dry ingredients, then add butter) which helps keep the texture soft, and real butter for great flavour. The changes I have made are to substitute the milk with buttermilk to ensure moist cupcakes, and to use real vanilla beans or vanilla bean paste instead of extract. Oh and I always use Western Star Original butter which is salted, so I omit the salt.

Boozy Margarita Cupcakes

Who wants some boozy cupcakes?

Well, I certainly do.

I am a fan of cocktails, and these cakes contain the same ingredients that any good margarita has - tequila and fresh lime. They're mild enough for a morning or afternoon tea, but an adults only one mind you. Moist cake with delicious frosting, they certainly pack a flavour punch so sit back, squeeze the lime wedge and munch on a Margarita cupcake.

Magnetic Island Wedding Extravaganza

Holidays are a concept that I wholeheartedly agree with. Whether they be to relax, explore, try new things or see new places...I'm in. After a three week holiday involving a trip to the beautiful New Zealand South Island you would think I would be done for a while, however how could one pass up the opportunity for a weekend escape to an island off the North Queensland coast. Certainly not me haha.

I was asked to make the wedding cake for a friends sister who was having a destination wedding at Magnetic Island. Her vision was of roses and lace and pearls and all things nice. Mostly white with splashes of pink, peach, cream and purple.

Scrumptious marble mud cake filled with white chocolate ganache and covered in dark chocolate ganache made up all three 6, 8 and 10 inch cakes. Perched atop the gorgeous white iron and glass stand featuring crystal bead decorations which gave perfect height to the cake.

The Family Recipe Banana Cake

This is the one and only banana cake recipe I use. Bear in mind this is NOT banana bread - it is most definitely cake. This is after all Cravin Cake!

The recipe was gifted to my mum via a letter long long ago by a friend, and it was her family banana cake recipe. My Mum has used it frequently ever since. So whilst it has only been used in my family for 2 generations, it is the banana cake I grew up with. My recipe folder still contains a photocopy of the letter complete with weight in ounces, and mum's notes off to the side. This is fair time to finally type it up into an electronic form.

Perfect as is (especially warm just out of the oven), with a smear of butter or frosted with a lemon glacé icing or cream cheese frosting. My mum used to make a double recipe and we would eat one warm or with butter, and one was iced to devour later. With 5 kids in the house, this was a good way to keep us quiet and none was ever wasted. I have recently used this recipe for the top tier of a fondant covered cake and have also started using this recipe to make cupcakes. Soft, moist, tender and so so tasty, banana cupcakes are the perfect ending to a lovely picnic in the park.

Tea Party Bridal Shower Cake

Cup of tea anyone?

Well, no tea in this cake...but a cup of tea would go nicely with a slice.

I have wanted to do a crazy tea party cake for a while, and this was the result of a request for a bridal shower last weekend.

Not knowing where to start, I did what I always do and made a list. Then I drew a rough sketch of what I was envisaging in my mind. That part really helps. The picture was beside me for most of the decorating!

Turquoise, lilac, pink and a big splash of gold finished off the colour scheme that whimsical and pretty thoughts inspired. Then what better flavour for an elegant tea party than my yummy white chocolate and raspberry mud cake. With cake in the teapot and cake in the two teacups covered in "tea" coloured ganache, there is enough to share around at a party.

Owls are a Hoot Cake

Two little boys, born on the same day

Celebrate with delight, their baptism and first birthday!

When I arrived to deliver this cake, family and friends were happily bustling around helping out to setup for the double celebration party. Such a fun atmosphere!

Elegant chocolate and pink ribbon and roses cake

Made my first dummy cake last weekend. The top tier is styrofoam, not cake. Don't worry, the bottom tier is delish banana cake. It was just for fun. Not really any different from covering a real cake. Just buy a styrofoam dummy cake from your local decorating store, brush with sugar syrup to make the surface damp, or water -  whatever. Then cover with rolled fondant and decorate as usual.

Moist and Delicious Vanilla Layer Cake

The smell of freshly baked vanilla cake is simply divine. Over the last week I have baked 3 different vanilla cake recipes and this is the clear winner in my books. Sourced from the amazing Bakerella, it has fantastic flavour, tender crumb and is still just as moist 2 days after baking, which is great for a scratch cake.

Paired with a sweet American buttercream it makes for a yummy birthday cake, perfect for my sister's cocktail celebration this weekend. And after all the cake I've had over the last 7 days, I most certainly still had a slice at the party. I have a cake addiction with no intention of quitting just yet!