A Sweet Pastel Baby Sprinkle

My friend Daneve from Ah-Tissue is having a baby and we helped celebrate with a baby sprinkle.

Yup a sprinkle, 'cause after the first baby is showered with gifts the parents really only need a 'sprinkle' of help.

Our mutual friend the lovely Carol from Creatively Bespoke Weddings and Events pulled the whole thing together organising and decorating the venue and pretty much everything else. She arranged the backdrop and printables from Emma Smith Stationery and the pretty sequin tablecloth from Memories are Sweet for the table, plus those lovely mirrored white trays the cookies are sitting on are all hers.

Carol set up the drinks station, center table, pastel parasols hanging overhead, and many other gorgeous little details including the sweet bouquets of flowers from Angie's Floral Designs. If you pop over to her facebook page they have lots more photo's of the lovely details - Creatively Bespoke Weddings and Events facebook.

Daneve's of course made the pretty tissue pom poms and paper flower decorations and her friend Mel organised the crafty activities, music and savory foods :)

and I did what I do, the sweets for the table. We had a rainbow macaron stand, stacked cookie towers, decorated square cookies, pastel meringues, strawberry cake pops and a swirly butter cream rainbow cake.

Oh and these sweet parasol cookies as take home favours.

Although I was in love with the parasol cookies, I did have a soft spot for the stacked cinnamon buttercream cookies in soft pink and green.

Oh and the shabby chic type decorated cookies in rainbow hues. I guess we all know I do love cookies.

It was all so very pretty and a great afternoon for friends to catch up, chat and share our joy with the mother to be.

Credits

Event Styling Creatively Bespoke Weddings and Events
Paper pom poms and flowers - Ah Tissue
Sweets - Bubble and Sweet
Printables - Emma Smith Stationery
Tablecloth - Memories Are Sweet
Floral Arrangements - Angie's Floral Designs
Venue - The Carriage Room

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.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer unless otherwise stated do not reuse without permission. 

Lemon cream and macaron stuffed strawberries

Are these even a thing?  I'm not sure but they did taste really good. I guess they're a thing now.

Delicious strawberries stuffed with lemon cream and then topped with a mini macaron. 

If you don't have mini macarons on hand of course you can just stuff with the lemon cream and top with some sprinkles or chopped pistachios.

I've made these up with leftovers I had on hand, the recipe links to the macaron and lemon cream are in the instructions below.

Macaron Stuffed Strawberries
As mentioned above if you do not have macarons handy you can top with sprinkles or chopped pistachio, and I guess then they would be Lemon Cream Stuffed Strawberries and still delicious :)

Strawberries
Mini macarons (CLICK HERE for recipe, but make the macarons smaller)*
Lemon cream curd (CLICK HERE for recipe)^

Using a sharp knife hull the strawberries. If you would like to stand the strawberries upright, cut a little of the pointed rounded tip off as in the picture.

Place the lemon cream in a piping bag with a ruffle tip (eg Wilton #32 or #199) and pipe a small swirl of cream starting in the hulled hole and working your way around in one swirl.

Push a macaron into the top of each lemon cream filled strawberry sideways as shown in picture.

Best served within a few hours of making.

*When I am making a batch of regular macarons I often pipe half a tray of smaller ones for other decorations. You can wrap in plastic wrap, place in an airtight container and freeze, then defrost still enclosed in the airtight container and plastic wrap in the fridge when you are ready to use them. Wrapping them well as described minimizes the risk of condensation forming on the macaron.

^The lemon cream recipe in the link will make quite a big batch for strawberries, you can half the recipe.

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.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission. 

Adorable Cakes for All Occasions by Sharon Wee review and Win a signed copy

When I heard that Sharon Wee of Sharon Wee Creations was releasing a book on cake decorating I had a feeling I would like it and of course once it arrived I was not disappointed.

In case your not in the cake world, I'll just give you a heads up, Sharon is well known for her beautiful and often whimsically adorable cake designs, cake decorating demonstrations and courses.

Adorable Cakes for All Occasions delivers all that you would expect with a lovely variety of cakes ranging from simple to a little bit more complex, with detailed instructions which make creating your own cake totally achievable.

In particular, I loved the sweet Zebra cake with cute floral wreath and monogram, but there are a number of cakes that are pure Sharon Wee with a delightful Super Miss Sunshine cake with a city skyline, sun a balancing superhero and the Fly Away Bunny Cake with a sweet stripe cake and bunny holding a balloon.

You'll love learning the little tricks of the trade that Sharon shares as she shows how to make these cakes.

Adorable Cakes for All Occasions contains a fantastic basics section on covering cakes, cake structure, a number of recipes and of course the actual cake designs with easy to follow picture instructions (see example below).

Plus there are a number of smaller cake and treat recipe and instructions included as well

One of the things I really liked about the book, well apart from that super cute Zebra cake, was how many of the creations did not require the purchase of special equipment. Sharon shows how to decorate many of the cakes using basic cake decorating tools which will probably have many of us (and our credit cards) sighing in relief.

The book can be purchased on line from Sharon Wee Creations in hard copy or PDF form CLICK HERE.

UPDATE 20 June 2014  - Giveaway closed winner JESS has been emailed

Plus one lucky Bubble and Sweet reader has the chance to win a signed copy or Adorable Cakes for All Occasions - Yay.

Entry via rafflecopter, no purchase necessary.Giveaway open internationally for 1 signed copy of Adorable Cakes for All Occasions by Sharon Wee creations. Terms and conditions are detailed in the rafflecopter.

UPDATE 20 June 2014  - Giveaway closed winner JESS has been emailed

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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.

I received a copy of the book Adorable Cakes for All Occasions for the purpose of this review, however the post is not sponored. Pictures property of Sharon Wee Creations please do not reuse without permission. 

One bowl easy mix Raspberry Cinnmon Banana muffins

I do a lot of baking for the kids school treats. No big reveal there I guess. It's generally healthier, I know what it contains and our school is a nut free zone so I am always sure that those muffins or cookies I make myself are ok.

These muffins are one bowl easy mix which I love 'cause less washing and cleaning is always a big tick for me. Plus I know the kids will eat them and the won't come home crushed and all smushed which is an extra big tick in my books.

I can whip up these muffins in a few minutes pop them in the oven and have them ready for a school snack, after school treat or ready to go picnic pack in no time.

Which is pretty much what we did with this batch in the photo's. A tray of muffins, a bottle of pink lemonade a throw and some cushions and we had a picture perfect picnic in under 30 minutes including baking time at our local park.

Quilt and cushions all Greengate purchased at Mollegaarden

This muffin recipe is based on the Bitty Banana Cakes on page 60 of Sweets on a Stick.

Raspberry Cinnamon Banana Muffins makes 12 regular muffins
Replace the raspberries with blueberries or chocolate chips for a delicious variation.

3 very ripe bananas
1 egg
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup oil
1 cup raspberry (fresh or frozen)

Preheat oven to 160C (325F) and line a 12 hole muffin tin with baking papers.

In a large bowl mash the bananas well.

Add all remaining ingredients except the raspberries and mix until just combined.

Gently fold in the raspberries and spoon mixture evenly between the 12 paper cases.

Bake until the top is golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean (around 20 minutes).

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.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission.