Forest Tea Party with La Toriana, Naomi V Photography and Ah Tissue

A couple of days ago Bubble and Sweet was lucky enough to be involved in a gorgeous photo shoot involving La Toriana, Naomi V Photography and Ah-Tissue pom poms.

Here is a sneak peak of the tea party table we set up. For more photo's head on over to La Toriana's blog post

or Naomi V Photography.

Will have more pics and details of the food soon........

Now I know this is a baking blog, but I have to mention the children's clothing, I have been a customer of La Toriana for years and they always manage to source the most amazing emerging designers. The dresses above from Little Miss J are so pretty and well made with lovely fabric and they are Australian Made.

Of course all these superb pictures are by Naomi V Photography Brisbane Photographer.

Chocolate Macarons and making a little macaron tower

 
These chocolate macarons were part of the dessert table for my daughters birthday party and have to say I am a bit hooked. I thought these ones were the best I had tried yet, and I have made quite a few.

Although I did have a bit of a macaron disaster and dropped a whole tray on the floor getting them out of the oven. There's no saving a dropped macaron so I did the only thing possible when faced with this kind of situation.

Please don't judge me. Yup I ate them still warm. Macarons are such a funny thing, the ones that fell rounded side up were kinda ok, but the ones that fell 'feet' first stuck to the floor. I was home by myself and that ended up being my dinner - come on I said not to judge me.

Anyway that disaster had nothing to do with the recipe which is wonderful. Once again it's based on a Pierre Herme recipe.

Also have included a couple of pics of how I made the macaron tower. I didn't invent this they've been doing it in Paris for years and Adriano Zumbo recently showcased this dessert on Australian Masterchef.

Brisbane Hilton Materclass 2010 - Adriano Zumbo and a whole lot more

Just a break from my normal postings. I haven't really been baking for a week due to a sinus infection but I did attend the Brisbane Hilton Masterclass, here are a couple of pics.

Brisbane Hilton Masterclass, pre kids I used to attend these every year, so it's been a few years since I attended one but it lived up to my fond memories and didn't disappoint. I had a great time despite being on a blend of antibiotics and other prescription medication for a super sinus infection. Yup that meant no wine tastings for me, so I'll only be sharing the food portion of the day's experiences with you.

Session 1 - Queensland Catch - Nick Holloway, Russell Armstrong and Nick Ryan

Australian seafood and award winning chefs,  9 o'clock in the morning seemed too early to be enjoying these delicious dishes, but no one at our table was complaining, or leaving behind a morsel.

My favorite was the Crayfish and Avocado dish

Chilled Salad of Freshwater Crayfish, Avocado Shiso Cress and Fresh Wasabi, Toasted Sesame and Soy

Seared Hervey Bay Scallops on Skordalia and Gazpacho Gel

Butter Poached Prawn and Spiced Lentil Toasty with yogurt, Cucumber and Curry Leaf

Diamond Scaled Mullet, Creamed Lemon Polenta and Pancetta on a Niciose Styled Salad of Green Beans, Tomato and Olives

Session 2 - Passionate Patissier Adriano Zumbo

Adriano Zumbo - ok you know I was going to be at this session. However we were all a bit surprised when the recipe stated Adriano was making schnitzel and wagyu. But don't fret it was soon revealed that there was no meat in sight and these were indeed sweet dishes.

Adriano was refreshingly down to earth. His satirical take on desserts was visually amazing, inspired  by afternoons watching his father play lawn bowls. The textures and tastes worked together perfectly which was of course not surprising from the current Australian patisserie king.

Moderator Alastair McLeod pried out a number of stories regarding Adriano's rise to fame.

It was interesting to note that Adriano believes that the consumer no longer want's 'just sweet' which was reflected in his demonstration. How can you argue with someone who in 3 years has built a reputation which results in his store closing at lunchtime due to the inability to keep up with demand. But I'm not completely convinced, although these dishes were quite amazing given a choice for a morning snack I would definitely choose a more simple and traditional sweet dish. I assume that Adriano and other pastry chef's palates may become jaded with the daily assault of macarons and other 'sweet' pieces that the rest of us crave.

Despite his appearances on Masterchef Adriano is not a performer he is a pastry chef. This was the session I was most looking forward to and I still feel lucky that I was able to attend.

Dessert 'Schnitzel'

'Wagyu Steak'

and of course what Zumbo experience would be complete without some macarons.

Fairy Wand Cookies

These Fairy Wand Cookies I designed and made for my daughter's 6th birthday were inspired by the Funky Fairy cake I recently made at the Debbie Brown workshop. I thought that a smaller and simplified version would look amazing on some wand cookies.

The cookies were loved by all, and because all the little girls had already had enough to eat at the high tea, I wrapped them in plastic cello bags with a ribbon to take home. They looked sooo cute.

For display at the dessert table I  popped them into these mini tin planter like things I got from The Reject Shop (local thift store) for $3, stuck a couple of weights in the bottom (the type you tie balloons to for center pieces), some floral foam and some shredded wood. Viola stylish cookie pop stands.

Special cookie sticks which are food safe and ok for baking in ovens are available through specialty baking stores and cake decorating shops.

Not just cookies, fairy wand cookies are for playing make believe games with as well.

Instructions after jump.

Lilli's 6th Birthday - Fairy High Tea Party

Lilli and Sophie in front of the dessert table

My daughter Lilli is turning 6 next week and because we are such girly girls we had a Fairy High Tea Party to celebrate.

We had it at home and I prepared all the food (of course) well, mum made the finger sandwiches

I had a bit of help in the form of my lovely sister in law Terri who not only took most of these photos but she also made the cute food labels, wonderful party hats and gorgeous pom poms and set them up for me, thankfully as I don't think I could have reached that high.

Dessert table styled by Terri and I

I also had Tickle Pink Tea Party who brought along the beautiful tables, chairs, china and other high tea table decorations for the cute kids tables pictured below. They also kept the kids entertained with fairy dress ups, fairy craft, fun party games and set up and supervised the fairy high tea. Oh and best of all they stayed and cleaned up, wahoo!

Kids high tea tables by Tickle Pink Tea Party

Lilli's turning 6 Fairy High Tea Party Menu

Fairy Wand Cookies

Pink Macaron Tower

Butterfly Cake Pops

Fairy Dust Marshmallows

Strawberry and Cream Layer Birthday Cake CLICK HERE for recipe

Fairy Bite Biscuits

Chocolate Macarons

Fairy Chocolates 

Lollies
Finger sandwiches
and of course Fairy Bread.

Served with Rosey Tea click here for the recipe for Rose Cordial

Bargain Party Decorating

I had a lot of fun finding things for the party. I bought these cute tin mini planters from the local thift store (reject shop) for $3 each and stuck floral foam in to hold the fairy cookies. The paper straw is recycled packing from a delicious fruit box of cherries I had delivered  last week from Snowgoose.

The glass jars were a steal also from the reject shop for $2.50.

I made these cake boxes from scrap book card I got from Riot (craft store) using a template from a plain cardboard cake twin cupcake box I already had.

Look they're even cute on the inside.....

Oh and what the heck, furry friends chocolates are not wrapped in silver paper anymore (well apparently have not been for many years I now know) but I think they look cute anyway. Just some pink paper I had lying around, ribbon, $2 worth of stickers from another discount store and the pictures are offcuts left over from the boxes cut into cute shapes with a scalloped shape cutter.

Shhh.... the pink spot tablecloth is a couple of meters of pink polka dot fabric from Spotlight that I haven't even hemmed. I was soooo going to do it the night before but opted for sleep instead. I'm hoping the food was a distraction and no one noticed.

Tutorials and recipes will be posted soon for the Fairy Wand Cookies, Chocolate Macarons (yum these were really good), Fairy Bite Biscuits and how to make the cute little flowers that were on the cake.

Thanks Terri, Tickle Pink and Mum, and all the gorgeous girls and their mums for coming along and helping to celebrate Lilli's birthday, we love you all.

Phew, wish I could relax but it's Sophie's Birthday in a couple of weeks. Can't decide between a super hero party or a Wizard of Oz. What do you think?


Finally here are some shots of the girly party fun. Lilli had a great time and so did I.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Coffee buttercream Cupcakes

Dreamy creamy coffee buttercream topped cupcakes.

So completely delicious.

These ones are topped with modeling chocolate roses and butterflies.

Based on the More from Magnolia cookbook recipe for vanilla cupcakes and vanilla frosting, modified to vanilla bean cupcakes and coffee frosting.

Just for me.

(frosting recipe after jump)

Molly's 3rd Birthday party Dessert Buffet

Hip Hip Hooray Molly's turning 3, and what a wonderful party she had. Terri from Charlie and Mildred styled and made the decorations for this gorgeous red and pink polka dot dessert buffet party.

Cake, Cookies and Cake pops by Bubble and Sweet of course. See previous post for cake pop instructions.

There were party hats....

More fabulous party pics after jump