Just a quick one!!

Again, sorry for the shite quality - from my iPhone!! Cupcakes my boss requested for some friends of hers that got engaged - vanilla with vanilla buttercream, sanding sugar sparklies (which you can't really see from this pic) and cherry flavoured love hearts.

xx

The Wedding Cake

At the end of January, my lovely brother and his equally lovely now wife got married.

It was SUCH a nice wedding - we couldn't have asked for better weather, we were infact very lucky as the wedding was down the south coast, and the day before and after the wedding were STINKING HOT. The day OF the wedding was slightly overcast and cool in the morning, and then the sun came out for the afternoon (it was an outside wedding so this was greatly appreciated).

The theme for the wedding was hydrangeas, and this is what I came up with for their cake:

The cake was caramel mudcake, and there were 3 different kinds of cupcakes - red velvet with cream cheese icing, vanilla with vanilla icing and chocolate with vanilla icing.

I'm very, very happy with the way it turned out - I was feeling a bit stressed in the lead up to it because I was working out of a kitchen that wasn't my own and I was concerned about the heat/weather conditions, but it all turned out great in the end.

Here's some pics from the wedding:

Just call me Mary Poppins!! 

Me and my beautiful nieces. 

 

And the wedding party :) 

V-Day cookies

I realise it's been well over 2 months since I've updated, and I apologise for that.

Things have been very insane - I moved house just before Christmas, to a place where I don't have internet. I also went overseas to Thailand and then came back to Sydney for my brother's wedding, where I was a bridesmaid, AND made their wedding cake (photos of which I shall post next time).

I've never particularly been one to celebrate valentines day in a big way - if you love someone, shouldn't you show it every day of the year, rather than on a specific date?? Why should Feb 14th be the day you bring roses to your loved when?? Why can't you do it just when you feel like it, just because?? I think it would be nicer to received a bunch of roses "just because" rather than because someone dictates that it's the thing to do, and that you should.

Or maybe, just maybe, I'm bitter I didn't receive any roses myself?? Nah, kidding, I couldn't care less.

ANYWAY here are some cookies I made to give to the people I love - so pretty much, I shared them with myself, and the girls I work with.

 

Sorry about the shite quality, it's an iphone picture. 

The cookies were ridiculously easy to make, and taste AMAZING. 

Vanilla sugar cookies:

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

3 cups flour

pinch of salt

Beat the butter & sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg. Sift the flour and salt, and add to the butter mixture a cup at a time. 

Turn on to a flour surface and knead until it's just come together. Put it in the fridge for about 30 mins, and then roll out between 2 pieces of baking paper (I love this, less mess, no dough getting stuck to your counter or your rolling pin!!). Cut out and bake in a preheated oven (160 degrees) for 10 - 12 mins. 

Let cool and ice with icing of your choice (I went with royal icing and sprinkles.....too easy!!)

Neglectful.

Dearest blog. I'm so sorry I've been so neglectful over the past almost 2 months.

My life feels like it's been turned upside down - lots of stuff has been happening, I'm moving house in to a completely new area close to the centre of Sydney with a complete stranger almost, the silly season has been in full swing with many a party to go to and many a vodka to be consumed......infact, TOO many a vodka being consumed I think. I manage to get myself in to all sorts of crazy situations without even trying......my life is interesting to say the least.

But it's not about to slow down.

I hope I have time to post a couple of things before Christmas, but that might not happen. I'm going to Thailand on boxing day and am not back until 10th January......so maybe the next post will be about my darling brother and his fiancees wedding cake which I am making (and just quietly, shitting myself about!!).

Love to you all my darling readers and lurkers x

Josh & Nadia's Engagement!!

A couple of weekends ago, 2 very good friends of mine had their engagement party.

It was suuuuch a windy day, and it was held outdoors, but it was SO nice in the sun.......summer is slowly but surely on its way!!

So Nadia & Josh asked me to make their engagement cupcakes/cake. I immediately said yes - I felt quite chuffed that they'd even asked me to do it!! 120 cupcakes and a small cutting cake later........:

By all accounts they were delicious - I didn't eat one, I've been doing quite well resisting most kinds of temptation, I keep reminding myself about a) impending trip to Thailand where I'll have to be on the beach wearing little clothings and b) my brothers wedding in January!! ARGH!!

Oreo Cheesecake.....nom.

Oh my goshhhh I love cheesecake.

This hasn't always been the story though.

I remember when I was little, probably about......actually, it was so long ago I can't remember how old I was, anyway that's irrelevant, I just remember staying at my sisters house one time (she's almost 18 years older than me!!) and her asking me if I wanted some cheesecake - my little brain just couldn't comprehend that. A cake. Made of CHEESE?! Eww, no thanks. Of course, I thought it was made from cheddar cheese........she failed to tell me that it was actually made from the delightfully delicious cream cheese!!

Anyway, I la la loooove cheesecake now, and what could make an already awesome dessert even better??

Oreos of course!!

YUM!! I WANT I WANT I WANT!! Can't have.

Adapted from the oreo cheesecake recipe from the Philidelphia Website.

• 1 cup cream
• 1 cup crushed oreo cookies (I bought a packet of normal sized cookies and took the cream out of the middle and crushed the biscuit bit)
• 100g oreo cookies crushed (I used 1/2 a pack of normal oreos (with the cream in the middle) and also some mini oreos)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 teaspoons gelatine, dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 500g block Philidelphia Cream Cheese, softened (I used about 350g)
• 50g butter, melted

Combine the melted butter & crushed oreos and press in to the base of a lined springform tin. Chill the base.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese & sugar until smooth. Add the gelatine mixture and fold through. Add lemon juice & cream and beat until fluffy. Mix in the normal & mini oreos and pour in to the chilled base. Put it in the fridge and let it set for about 2 hours. I piped some cream on and put mini oreos on top of it after it was chilled. YUM!!

Ginger sponge cake with strawberries & cream

Today I went to a bbq at a friends house and I wanted to take something with me. Something pretty. I remembered seeing a cake in the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook that I thought was stunning, so I flipped it open and found what it was - a ginger sponge cake (it was meant to be filled with apple sauce, but I decided cream and strawberries was the way to go.)

Oooh so puuuurrrrdy!! So it's 2 layers of sponge, with strawberries and cream in the middle, cream and strawberries on top and sprinkled with ginger nut biscuit crumbs and then surrouneded with sponge finger biscuits. It's SO easy to make, and looks good too!!

Ginger Sponge Cake (from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook):

1/3 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup cornflour
3 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cocoa
5 eggs, separated
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup

Preheat oven to 190. Grease two 20cm round cake tins (although I only used one and then cut the cake in half cause I only have one).

Combinthe flour, spices and coca and sift together three times.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, beating after each addition until the sugar is dissolved. Add the egg yolks and golden syrup and beat until well combined.

Using a slotted metal spoon, fold the sifted flour mixture in to the egg mixure until just combined. Be careful not to overbeat otherwise all the lovely air will go out of the mixture!!

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the sponge has come away from the side of the tin.

Decorate it however you like!! I loved the pink ribbon around it, and I loved the strawberries and cream instead of the apple sauce filling, it worked deliciously!!