Mermaid Party Dresses

I have been getting quite a lot of emails lately about the mermaid dresses that the girls wore to Lilli's birthday party last year.

 So I thought I would do a quick post sharing some more photo's of the dresses and the details of where I picked them up.

The dresses are handmade from a mix of new and vintage fabrics and materials. Both of the girls dresses had a sheer overlay of material, a lining and hand stitched detail on the front bodice.Of course there was a pretty swishy swirly tail area which had shell and pearl details. I just gave instructions on the colors I was looking for and the dressmaker sourced the material and made the dresses up to order. They are not off the rack so they take a while to make and there may be a waiting time.

UPDATE 04/2014 orders for this dress are no longer being taken.

and here is the party the dresses were made for from last year in case you missed it, CLICK HERE for the link.

Pink rose and macaron shabby chic petit fours

Did you know Petit four translates in English to Little Oven.....well I didn't until I started typing this post. I always think of Petit fours as the tiny pretty little cakes, but it really means any tiny little treat including a macaron, biscuit or meringue.

So is it kinda weird calling these shabby chic looking treats - little oven? Plus perhaps these sweet little berry flavored cakes are a tad too big too be considered a petit four. But I'm hoping you won't hold that against me. I'm just gonna go with calling them petit four cause it makes me happy.

These are a very simple mini cake covered in a raspberry flavored ganache, filled with a raspberry and white chocolate butter cream and then decorated with butter cream and a mini raspberry macaron.

I didn't make a big fuss about covering them in marzipan and weighting them down to make perfectly even shapes. The sides look a little bit rough - I'm ok with that.

I wanted them to taste like cake.

I love these cakes just the way they are, deliciously simple and effortlessly pretty.

Alright although they are simple there are a lot of different components to them which could make them a little time consuming, so maybe effortlessly is a bit of a stretch. I think the correct word would be achievably pretty.

If you like a little less effort you could omit the butter cream filling and instead use a store bought raspberry preserve. Use a piece of fresh fruit such as a raspberry or strawberry in place of the macaron, and pop a swirl of cream onto the top to secure your fruit instead of piping the flowers. They would taste almost just as good and they would really be effortlessly pretty.

I served these cakes at the Enjo party I had, (you know the party plan for cleaning products) with cheese, fruit and chocolate macarons. 

Mmmm simply delicious.

Pink rose and macaron shabby chic petit fours

Strawberry cake ( recipe from Sweets on a Stick - although you can use a packet mix if you like)
300g (10 1/2 oz)white chocolate
100g (3 1/2 oz) cream
pink food color
raspberry flavor
raspberry butter cream (variation raspberry preserves)
1 cup piping consistency butter cream (colored pink, white, green and lavender) (CLICK HERE for recipe)
pink mini macarons (CLICK HERE for macaron recipe and make them 2cm)
silver cashous
102, 103, 66 and 32 tips, couplers and piping bags
Piping nail and flower lifter
round cutter 5cm (2")
sharp knife

Remove brown crusts from top and sides of cake. Cut out as many round shapes as you can using the round cutter. Spread a couple of teaspoons of raspberry butter cream or raspberry preserves on one round and press another on the top back and place on a wire rack.

*if your cake is high you may just need 1 round cut in half and filled with butter cream.

This recipe for this strawberry cake in the above picture is from Sweets on a Stick

Make the ganache.  Place the chocolate and cream in a microwave safe dish and heat at medium low heat for 2 minutes, leave for 1 minute and then use a whisk to mix until combined. If necessary heat again at medium low for 1 minute bursts until all the chocolate is melted. Add 1/2 tsp raspberry flavor and then a few drops of pink food color and carefully mix in until combined (do not over mix).

Place a plate or tray underneath the wire rack where the filled round cakes are sitting and then pour a couple of teaspoons of mixture over the top of each cake.

Then go back and spoon around the edges until the tops and sides are completely covered with the raspberry ganache. You can reuse the excess ganache that drips onto the plate underneath to cover the cakes.

Allow the ganache to set.

Fill four piping bags with each of the different colors of piping butter cream. Pop the 103 tip on the pink butter cream, the 102 on the white, the 66 on the green and the 32 on the lavender.

Pipe a butter cream rose using the pink butter cream onto the flower nail. Holding the piping bag in one hand and the flower nail in your other hand touch the larger side of the opening to the top of the flower nail holding the tip upright make a small tight cone shape swirl in the center by holding the tip still, applying light pressure to the piping bag and turning the nail around. Once you have turned around once release the pressure and remove the tip. Make the petals by touching the larger side of the opening to the base of the center swirl you have just made and tipping the smaller end of the tip away at around a 45% angle. Apply light pressure to the piping bag, turn the nail a very short distance and the release the pressure to the bag and lift the tip away. Repeat the process to make 5 petals around the center swirl. Then continue on and pipe another layer of 5 petals around the outside. Use the flower lifter to pick the rose up and move it to the top of the ganache covered cake.

OK this picture is not perfect but do you get the idea? 

If not do a you tube search on piping butter cream roses

Make white roses using the same technique explained above and using the flower nail lift onto the cake next to the larger pink flower.

They're not right....must keep on practicing :)

Use the green butter cream to pipe leaves, practice on a piece of parchment paper first by touching the tip to the paper and the slowly lifting away and moving slightly up and down to make the little ruffles, keep applying a little bit of pressure as you pull the tip away to make a pointed tip to the leaf.  Note - If your tip is new you may need to use a thin knife to open up the four pronges in the tip otherwise they might cut through the butter cream too much.(You'll be able to see when you do your practice if you need to do this). Once you are happy with your leaf piping effect pipe 3 leaves onto the cake.

Take the lavender butter cream and pipe 2 ruffled dots onto the top of the cake next to each other by holding the piping bag straight up from the cake and applying a little pressure, releasing the pressure and lifting the tip away from the cake. Place a silver cashous onto one of the dots and a macaron on the other.

Cakes covered with ganache and butter cream can be kept in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the fridge, remove from fridge before serving and allow to come to room temperature and then add the macarons.

The strawberry cake shown in the pictures is from Sweets on a Stick. but instead of crumbling it into cake pops I have baked it in a rectangle tray and used it for these petit fours, of course I did use the left overs to make cake pops.

Sweets on a Stick is available from most online book stores including:

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

These are a few of my favorite things Cheesecakes - Mini Chocolate Cheesecakes with Nutella

Sometimes in baking things don't work out exactly as you plan them.

These mini cheesecakes are one of those things.

The plan was pretty good as plans go Nutella, Cheesecake, Chocolate and Oreo's, combining a few of my favorite things had to work out well.

So I made up a recipe, mixed, baked, swirled on some topping, took some pictures, tasted them.......

......and not quite what I was hoping for, the chocolate overpowers the Nutella resulting in a finished treat that is deliciously chocolatey but lacks a strong hazelnut component.

But they were pretty yummy, so although they were not what I was expecting I think they are still worth sharing.

I'm back to the drawing board on my Nutella cheesecakes, but in the meantime at least I had these not quite nutella ones to console myself with.

Chocolate Mini Baked Cheesecakes made with Nutella makes 18 large muffin sized cheesecakes. If you are making smaller sized cakes you will need more Oreos

625g (21oz) cream cheese at room temperature
1 X 395g (14oz) tin sweetened condensed milk
3 large eggs at room temperature
300g (10 1/2 oz) nutella
1/4 cup cocoa
18 Oreos

Preheat oven to 140C (285 F)

Line the muffin tins with the muffin/cupcake papers. Place one single oreo in the bottom of each muffin paper.

In a small bowl mix the cocoa with about 1/4 cup of the nutella to make a smooth paste.

In a large bowl beat the cream cheese using an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. If the cream cheese is still lumpy it will show up later when you mix in the chocolate, so take the time now to make sure it is mixed well. Add the condensed milk and mix until well combined. Reduce speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition until just combined.

Add the Nutella and cocoa paste and continue to mix at low speed until combined.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin papers dividing mixture evenly between the papers.

Bake until the mixture is just setting in the center, around 15- 20 minutes. The center will stop looking wet and will no longer wobble when you gently shake the tray when ready.

Allow to cool in the trays for 10-15min and then pop in an airtight container in the fridge until chilled.

Once chilled top with a swirl of the dark chocolate topping recipe below.

 Keep in airtight container up to 3 days in fridge.

Dark Chocolate Topping

200g (7 oz)Dark Chocolate
60g  (2oz) cream*
100 g (3 1/2 oz) Nutella
50 g (1 3/4 oz) Nutella extra
50g (1 3/4oz) unsalted butter *

In a microwave safe bowl melt the chocolate and cream at medium low heat at bursts of 60-90 seconds, mixing with a whisk in between bursts until just melted. Do not overheat the chocolate. Gently whisk in the 100 g Nutella without over mixing or the mixture may separate.

Cool to room temperature and place in a large bowl, mix at high speed for a couple of minutes until the mixture lightens a little in color. Add the extra 50g Nutella and room temperature butter and continue to mix until the mixture is smooth and light.

*If the weather is quite cold you may wish to increase the cream and butter ingredients to make the topping a little softer and easier to pipe.