Halloween Inspiration

It's that time of year again...when everything starts to turn a little spooky... Halloween!

As a kid I used to love watching american movies and shows about kids getting dressed up and going trick or treating - where you get to dress up in a fun costume and you are allowed to take lollies from strangers, you just rock on up to their door and get treats!!  I missed the whole trick or treating thing being an 80's child in New Zealand and growing up in the country, so I just love being able to go a little crazy with it now as big kid.

So where does one go to find inspiration, I turn to my new BFF pinterest.  Now if you don't know about pinterest you need to know!  I just cannot say enough about this site!  It's a virtual pinboard to keep track of all the great things you find online, so if you haven't tried it try it now! 

So below are a few pics that my BFF shared with me...

How glam - a black and glitter pumpkin - LOVE! 

www.mochatini.org/

  www.sweetpaulmag-digital.com

www.bhg.com

Baby Shower

I know I have been a little slack (ok, ok really slack) at posting what I have been up to lately, and to try and win you all back I have gorgeous photos (thanks to my fabulous friend Nicole Jecentho)...not only of cake, but also of a brand new baby!

Yes, it has been so long between posts that the baby shower I made cakes for has been and gone and said baby has arrived!  So I won't delay anymore, here are the pics of the goodies at the shower, and a cute pic of gorgeous little McKenzie Rose.

Mara and Chase, you made one gorgeous little girl, and you both make amazing parents xx

Enjoy!

Sneak Peak: Baby Shower

One of my gorgeous friends is pregnant and expecting a little girl any day now.  I'm just so excited and can't wait to meet this little one! The other weekend I got to spend a fabulous afternoon hanging out with my friends for a rather girly baby shower - think lots of pink!

Here is a sneak peak of what I did for the shower...more pics and stories to follow :-)

Afternoon Tea

I've been rather busy lately putting together cakes for morning and afternoon teas.  There have been many different reasons as to why people order cakes, from birthdays, to leaving parties, any excuse really to eat cake!  So what are you waiting for, find an excuse to eat cake today :-)

Memories of Paris

Happy Bastille Day!  Here are a few pics from my trip to Paris, oh how I wish I was back there...

It's the little things: Coffee

I am fortunate to work with an absolutely gorgeous gal who makes the most fabulous coffees, which is a real blessing when you have to work on saturdays.  Her skills at making flat whites and my new favourite tea-lattes really do fill my saturdays with sunshine.  Oh and the macaron in the pic - she made that too!  Check out her blog for more of her fabulousness.

Recipe: Pastry Cream

Lately I've been cooking and baking with a lot of different fruit, and today when I glanced in to the fridge and spotted some ruby red rhubarb stalks (try saying that 10 times fast), I knew I had to make a tart.

One of the important aspects of a tart is the pastry cream.  This is a form of custard that sets quite firmly, and is used in things like tarts and profiteroles.  

Honestly I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to custard, I just can't stand to use the powder or *gasp* the stuff that comes in a carton!

Custard is something that I think is well worth the effort in making from scratch.  There's nothing like a home made custard using gorgeous free range eggs, full cream milk and real vanilla beans, you really can't beat it.  

So go on - step away from that custard powder, do not buy the yellow goop in a carton - grab a few simple ingredients and head in to the kitchen, you won't be disappointed...  

Pastry Cream

250ml milk

1 vanilla bean split

40g sugar

2 egg yoks

25g flour

Place the milk in a saucepan along with the split vanilla bean - gently heat.

Meanwhile, mix together sugar and eggs until thick and pale.

Gradually add in the flour and mix until combined.

Remove vanilla bean from the heated milk and slowly add half of the milk to the egg mixture while continuously stirring.

Pour the egg mixture back in to the saucepan with the remaining milk and return to heat, constantly stirring until thick.

Remove from heat and place in a bowl to cool, placing cling wrap straight on to the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming.

It's the little things: Date Night

I have a little tradition with my boy, we always make time to have 'Date Night' every week.  Often it's just small things like going to the movies, reliving our childhood playing arcade games, or something a tad more competitive like mini golf - which I won, not often I beat my boy at ANYTHING!

However this past week we've both been sick so we're having a night in, just the two of us, making dinner together.  He's handling the main and luckily he's not doing roast vege's as his last attempt at that didn't go well at a recent family dinner, with the veggies being on the rather crunchy side. 

Of course, I'm doing dessert, I've made some pastry cream (recipe to follow in a future post), so I'm thinking of doing a tart and I've also set the table up to make it more of a 'Date Night' evening, with flowers and candles, as really it is the little things that make a normal evening in something special.

Recipe: Lemon Curd

I just love lemons, from their gorgeous smooth yellow skin, to their versatility, I always make sure I've got some of these gorgeous yellow gems in my kitchen.
As promised here is the lemon curd recipe I use for cakes, tarts, whatever your heart may desire.
Lemon Curd
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped lemon zest
1/4 cup butter

In top of a double boiler whisk sugar and eggs together. With a wooden spoon stir in the lemon juice and zest until well combined. 
Add butter and continue cooking until thickened around about 15-20 minutes.
Once thickened pour the curd into sterile jars and store in the refrigerator.
Enjoy!

Little Lemon Meringue Pots

So I was making Lemon Meringue Pie the other day and had a little bit of lemon curd and meringue left...so it got me thinking, hmmm what to do with these oh-so-yummy remnants.

So I decided it'd be nice to have a little bit of a "chef's treat", you know after working so hard in the kitchen, I completely deserved it...so I popped the curd in the bottom of some cute little egg cups and filled it up with meringue and gave it a little blast with my torch and...simply divine!

Mango Passionfruit Sponge

I love sponge cakes - they're so versatile and simple to whip up.  This is the cake I turn to when I need to get something fabulous together in a short time.  I've been asked to make this cake for simple afternoon teas and elegant dinner parties alike and with just a few adjustments it can work for any occasion.

Below is the recipe, give it a try and I'm sure it will become one of your favourites too...

Mango Passionfruit Sponge

Ingredients:

• 50g cornflour
• 100g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 4 x 60g eggs (at room temperature)
• 150g caster sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C.  Grease 2 x 20cm round cake tins and line with baking paper. 
2. Sift the cornflour, flour, baking powder and salt together.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl for around 6 minutes or until mixture is thick, pale and tripled in volume.
4. Gradually sift flour mixture over egg mixture while simultaneously folding in with a large metal spoon until just combined. Divide mixture between prepared tins.  
5. Bake for around 20 minutes or until cakes have shrunk away from the sides slightly and spring back when lightly pressed.
6. Turn out on to a baking paper lined cooling rack, peel away baking paper and leave to cool.

Filling:

250ml cream lightly whipped

1 x can Mango halves (sliced and reserve the juice/syrup)

100ml Passionfruit pulp

Spoon several spoonfuls of the reserved mango juice/syrup on to each cooled cake.

Place cream in to a piping bag with a star tip. Pipe a border around the inside of the bottom layer of sponge.  Then fill in border with cream (this can be piped or spooned straight on top), gently arrange mango slices on top of the cream, and then spoon passionfruit pulp on top.

Place second sponge on top of the first sponge layer and pipe a border of cream around the outside, then fill in with cream as per the first layer.  Then spoon remaining passionfruit pulp on top.

Simple, elegant and delicious!

More Cake Pops

So I was back in the kitchen today and made a few cake pops...enjoy!

Chocolate Mousse Cake

As you know by now chocolate is my real weakness, and something that I just can't say no to is Chocolate Mousse Cake...so delish!!  

Strawberries taste like summer...

If there's one thing that I absolutely love about summer, it's the fruit, and strawberries have to be one of my favourites.  Just the smell of them reminds me of my childhood summers where I'd be running around outside in the sun helping my Poppa pick his strawberries.

There are so many things to do with strawberries, eat them warm when they've just been picked, dust them with icing sugar and eat them with sweet vanilla ice cream, or make a tart and place them lovingly on top - the star of the show.

Cake Pop Crazy

The cake pop craze hasn't really hit New Zealand yet, and whenever I make them they just disappear!  People always ask me - what exactly are cake pops?  Well quite simply they're cake on a stick, covered in chocolate and decorated.  


As you can see I've gone a little cake pop crazy lately...

What started it all...

I have always had a passion for baking which my mother can attest to - nearly every weekend as a child I would pester her to let me bake.  I would spend hours upon hours searching through her cook books thinking hard about what delectable treats I would make, however my love of chocolate would normally mean I'd make a chocolate cake.


Fast forward a couple of decades and it was a friends birthday and I decided to make her a cake.  Once again my love of chocolate won out and I made a white chocolate mud cake.  Unsure whether it was even worth giving it to her I packaged it up in a little white box and a bright pink bow and delivered it to her work.

Her reaction was completely unexpected - she actually thought I had purchased it and when I told her I had made it she was really excited and blown away.  This is when I started to think...hmmm maybe I am good at this.  What really convinced me was that it took her several days before she ate it as she didn't want to ruin it by cutting in to it.


This is the cake that started it all, that planted the seed of an idea, that maybe, just maybe I should pursue my passion for baking. 

Down on the Farm

Hello everyone! Today I thought I would share with you some fun behind the scenes pictures of a photo shoot I recently did with my amazingly talented friend Nicole who is a fabulous photographer!
I'm currently in the process of launching my website, and I wanted to capture some photos of a few of the treats that I make - so after a few brainstorming sessions and searches for suitable locations this is what we came up with...

Now you're probably wondering about the cows right...like shouldn't people be eating cake?  Well you see, that's me making lemonade.  Life threw me a couple of lemons that day, and nothing was working out.  I managed to bundle all my things in to my car, drive to the location, and whatdayaknow one of my cakes didn't survive the ride out.  

So as the saying goes "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade," well these photos are my lemonade.  There were actually two tiers to this cake, and this is the bottom tier, I was quite pleased with how it turned out - and I think the cows enjoyed it too!  

I just love cupcakes, especially when you add cute details like flowers, I think it just lifts them from just being a great afternoon snack to a gorgeous little dessert.
This is just a sneak peak, you'll have to wait until my website is up and running to see more gorgeous treats.


Until next time...