Thursday, July 22, 2010

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.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

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)

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


Friday, July 16, 2010

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)

Monday, July 12, 2010

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

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Little Red Bird Cake Pops

EDIT UPDATE
I now have a quick youtube video on how to make these cute cake pops here:

My gorgeous niece and God daughter Molly is about to turn 3. I just received her invitation with the cutest little red birdie on it and I had a crazy idea to make bird cake pops for her party.

Seemed like a simple enough idea.

So I sat down to channel my inner Bakerella (cake pop queen).......but just so you know not in a creepy Julia and Julia blogging way where I sat around in pearls and made my husband watch endless videos.


I thought I had a pretty good plan, but like everything it seems so much easier when someone else does it. My first one was pretty lumpy. But I quickly worked out a dipping and twirling technique that seemed to make all the difference. These birds required dipping the back/top first, then starting at one side, the front, other side and finally the back in a kind of twirly movement.

But I persevered and I'm not unhappy with my little red bird cake pops,


and also their matching red polka dot partners.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Violet Macarons


I'm not a fan of Masterchef.

I don't get to watch a lot of TV. Not in a TV is so dull and I am so much better than that kind of way, more in a I have 3 kids and if they're not watching it I'm gonna catch up on some sleep type of way.

But I did record the macaron cake tower on Monday's Masterchef to watch when my friend alerted me to the fact that it would be on.

Eeeek - what a crazy show. Although I must admit I had to fast forward a lot of it, from what I could understand they gave the contestants less time to complete this than they knew required and then sat there belittleing their contructions.

I say good work to all those poor contestants, think I would have been in tears in the same situation.


Oh well, I guess that's what the show is about.

Although it has inspired me. I have been looking at some macaron cake towers lately and I think I will put it on my to do list.

In the meantime here are some Violet Macarons.

Take your time, relax, take a big deep breath and enjoy them.

Life unlike Masterchef is not a race.

recipe after jump

Friday, July 2, 2010

Black bottom oreo cupcakes a variation on a delicious favourite


What is it about adding an oreo cookie to the bottom of a cupcake that makes such a difference. I don't even really care for them on their own. Oreo's that is, their Ok but gimme a home baked cookie any time instead and I'm much happier.

But on the bottom of a cupcake, especially a cheesecake type cupcake and it's a different story.

Oreo + Cupcake =  Delicious

This Black Bottom Cupcake is adapted from the More from Magnolia cookbook. It's a chocolate base topped with cheesecake studded with chocolate chips.