Ice cream sundae macarons

These neapolitan ice-cream sundae macarons might be some of the funnest looking macarons ever.

I made them for Bubble's 10th birthday party which had an ice-cream bar and they worked in perfectly with the theme. (Ice-Cream Party CLICK HERE)

The red 'cherries' are sixlets which are candy coated chocolate balls (if you're Australian that's like a smaller size jaffa without the orange flavour), the dripping chocolate topping is chocolate royal icing and the white swirl of cream is stiff peak royal icing.

If you don't happen to have any sixlets about you could always just add some extra sprinkles on the top and they still look extra sweet.

I used macarons I made myself but of course you could pick up some from the store and do the decorations yourself

Ingredients and equipment

Macarons *see note below (Click here for recipe)
White Royal Icing (stiff peak consistency)
Chocolate royal icing (add few Tbsp sifted cocoa to 1 cup royal icing or you can just add brown food colour) 20 second consistency#
Red sixlets
pink sprinkles
Round piping tip (eg #2) in piping bag
Star piping tip (eg #18) in piping bag

 *Macarons can be shop purchased and any type you like. However I made mine using the recipe in the link and then coloured them in a neapolitan theme. When making the macarons divide mixture in half and colour part pink and part brown. My filling was raspberry flavour whipped white chocolate ganache with americolor white food color added.
#20 second icing is when you run a knife through the royal icing mixture and the line disappears after 20 seconds :)    

Put the chocolate royal icing in the piping bag with the small round tip. Pipe an uneven splat outline on the top of the macaron, going right to or over the edge in some spots. Fill the splat shape (I left the middle un-iced just to reduce the amount of icing I was using as it gets covered with the white swirl) with chocolate royal icing.

Sprinkle a few pink jimmy sprinkles over the top of the chocolate royal icing shape. Allow to set.

Pop the stiff peak white royal icing into the piping bag with the star tip. Pipe a swirl/ rosette onto the top of each macaron by holding the bag upright and piping a tight circle.

Place a sixlet in the middle of each white rosette and allow to set.

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.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

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

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. 

Sophie's 6th Birthday Sweet Birdie Birthday Party

Sophie (Sweet) turned 6 and to celebrate we had a sweet bird themed birthday party.

No particular reasoning behind the theme, we just found some pretty printables from I Will Invitations that both Sophie and I loved so we decided to just go with it.

Anyway....Birds, who doesn't love birds, well apart from maybe a generation of Hickcock watching fans.....

But me, I love birds and this was a perfect opportunity to make a birdhouse cake with a ruffled roof, craft inspired flowers and pretty pastel layers inside.

Bird Cake pops, flower cookie pops with button detail and cloud in the sky cookies made a great combination for this pink 'garden' display. All these treats are from recipes and instructions included in my book Sweets on a Stick.
  
Book Depository: Sweets on a Stick

Fishpond: Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!

Of course we had some pretty bird cookies.

and some macarons because all the moms love them......Ooops because the kids can't get enough of them.

Plus candy bon bons, marshmallows and sour blue cloud lollies.....Sophie adores how they turn her tongue blue.

and then because I was running out of time I replaced some of the cakes I had planned on making with a selection of berries displayed in pretty Greengate china bowls and latte cups. I think that berries or other fruit are always a great last minute solution for parties, the kids love them and they look just as pretty as any baked treat.

For decorations we used an actual real branch stuck to the wall with some sticky tape and hung  Ah-Tissue paper pom poms from it and the ceiling, then added a couple of gorgeous individually decorated bird houses to the wall behind the cake.

The pink display for the pops was from a discount dollar store with some decorative straw and the risers are stryofoam blocks covered in wrapping paper.

Sophie had seen a face painter at a local store recently who is also an entertainer so we engaged her to help manage the kids. Kozmic the Klown is absolutely fabulous at face painting for both boys and girls and she also has a bunny :)

Bird Cake Pop (removed from pop) instructions from Sweets on a Stick

Sweet Bird Party credits

Cake and other treats - Bubble and Sweet
Paper Pom Poms - Ah-Tissue
Printables - I Will Invitations Lovebird Tweet Printables
Face Painting and Entertainment by Kozmic The Klown
Lollies/ Candy - The Professors
Greengate China - Originated Shop
Cake Stand and Pink Elegant Candles Sharnel Dollar Designs

Super big thank you to Terri Vandermeer who did the background decorations pretty much all by herself as I was a little bit under the weather. Terri also took the photographs, makes those super cute hand decorated birdhouses and sewed up THAT gorgous ruffled tablecloth.

Raspberry Macarons

Printables from I Will Invitations

Selection of treats on sticks...recipes and instructions from the book Sweets on a Stick

Awwww Bunny :)

Yup we did a bit of glitterizing on the printables.....just can't help ourselves :)

I shared this party over on Tip me Tuesday at the Tip Junkie :)

   

Oh Sweet Mum - A rustic pie buffet party table

I love my mum.

Without a doubt she has been the hugest female influence in my life. She taught me to cook, to love and to be the best I can be, she made me who I am and if my own children end up loving and respecting me as much as I do my own mother...then I'll be pretty happy and call my time here a success.

So when Jacki from Blissfully Sweet asked if I would like to be involved in an E-vent being organised in memory of her own mother I was honored to participate.

When I signed on I had no idea how gorgeous the Oh-Sweet Mum E-vent would be. Jacki co-ordinated a group of super talented stylists, artists, florists, florists, cake decorators and more from within Australia and around the world to come up with a day of amazing events.

I would highly recommend that you CLICK HERE to read the E-Magazine that was created to showcase the E-vent. It includes so many beautiful images, information about the contributors, recipes and diy ideas including my recipe for Caramel Slice.

Want caramel slice to rival these babies

....click over to the E-zine it includes my recipe

Anyway......my mission (if I chose to accept it) was to create a Pie, Tart and Slice E-vent and I decided the best way would be a dessert buffet.

That little Mission Impossible pun is due to the fact that Pies are not really my thing.

But I think I met the challenge and came up with a rustic inspired pie and slice table with my own Bubble and Sweet spin. Although there are a couple of traditional pies on display I have included 'Pie' Macarons, Whoopie Pies, Pie Pops and pretty little Chiffon Pumpkin verrines with mini macarons and pecan pie crust bites.

I'm pretty happy with the end result which I'm going to admit is only this good due to the contributions of Naomi V Photography and Ah-Tissue.

With the original concept of the Oh Sweet Mum E-vent in mind and in the interests of women's health, I am going to donate a dollar for every comment on this pie table post up to $100 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  (I know that there are many other important aspects of women's health and other great organisations I have just chosen this one this time).

Also as a mother to 3 young children myself I know that sometimes my own health takes a back seat to everything else going on. But regardless of what is happening I do make sure I always keep any of my regular doctor's check up appointments and I try to remember to keep up my own self-examination routine. Please if you take anything from this post today I hope that it how important you are to your friends and family and that you should look after your health.... and the same applies to all you men out there as well :)

OK now that I've got off my soap-box, back to the yummy treats:



Rustic Pie and Party Table menu included:

Sky High Apple Pie
Rustic Cherry Pie

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie with mini chocolate macarons and pecan piecrust bites

Pie Pops (recipes from Sweets on a Stick)
Peanut Butter Boston Cream Pie

Rustic Chocolate Pecan Pie

 Chocolate Cream Mousse Pie with mini chocolate macarons and Hazelnut Tart Shell

Whoopie Pies

Assorted Slices (Rocky Road (recipe from Sweets on a Stick), Mum's Sweet Caramel Slice and Cheesecake Slice)

 Chocolate chunk fudge brownie Slab; and

 Apple Pie macarons

The table theme was inspired by the chocolates and caramels in the treats with some gold and teal highlights.

Ah-Tissue created an amazing display of paper and hessian wall pom poms which I can only describe as wall art.

The gorgeous photography is by Naomi V Photography. and the photo's are taken at her studio

(This was my favorite photo of the day - apart from the girls of course - 

I think because they were my favorite treat - super yum)

Printables are by Style Me Gorgeous.

The dresses and hair pieces that Bubble and Sweet are wearing are Tea Princess purchased from Tea Princess and Vintage Ladybird.

Recipes for the Pie Pops, Boston Cream Pies and the Rocky Road are from Sweets on a Stick

Sweets on a Stick 0ver 150 Kid Friendly Recipes available from Amazon and Fishpond 

(and lots of other places too)