Debbie Brown Brisbane Australia Workshop, Amazing cakes and making new friends

On Sunday the 27th of June I was lucky enough to secure a place at the Brisbane Workshop held by the famous and fabulous UK cake decorator, author and teacher Debbie Brown.

Debbie has a stack of wonderful cake decorating books published, and these books have long been a favorite of mine. The books are beautiful and  easy to follow and I do have a number of them but I still found it so worthwhile to see Debbie in action. Goodness the ease and perfection when she models arms and hands is a sight to behold.

Gorgeous and Gruesome Cakes for Children

Debbie Brown's new book available 25th July 2010. I've preordered my copy

Debbie held 4 workshops here in Brisbane and the session I managed to secure was a 'Funky Fairy' cake.

Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Marscapone Mousse - June 2010 Daring Bakers

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

I'll start this by saying yum, it was a very delicious challenge. I'm not always one for creamy sauces or mousses but these ingredients all worked together so well that I was happy to eat the various versions I put together.


I started with a layered parfait topped with raspberries, then used some of the leftovers for a mini version in shot glasses,

and finally tried out a deconstructed plated version, decorated with some gorgeous chocolate modeling paste butterflies.

Raspberry and Dark Chocolate macarons

This picture reminds me of the nursery rhyme build them up build them up build them higher, build it up, up, up into the sky. Think it's the clouds in the background.


A batch of macrons with Raspberry Dark Chocolate ganache filling, using the same recipe as the rose macarons, Click Here for recipe link.

Just omit sprinkling crystallised rose on the tops and fill with Dark Chocolate Raspberry ganache. I actually made it with raspberry chocolate oil instead of real raspberries to make the ganache a little more stable.

Recipe after jump