Sunday, October 10, 2010

Halloween Vampire Cake pops, you'll be team cake pop after this



Vampires and cake pops seem to be big at the moment so I thought as a Halloween treat I'd combine them and I came up with these Vampire bite cake pops.

One bite from these and you'll definitely be team cake pop like me.

Now I'll have to admit here that I don't actually follow Twilight or a lot of the vampire stuff around at the moment, not because I don't like it I just never have a lot of time to read books or watch TV.

But.......I have managed to read the Sookie Stackhouse novels (True Blood) and I'm totally Team Eric, well book Team Eric all the way.

I'm not really sure why I thought y'all might like to know that, but maybe it's an insight into how I came up with these cake pops, they were inspired by the cover of the dvd box set.

I know your thinking that's just not normal. I see food everywhere, what can I say.



These pops are chocolate cake and vanilla buttercream inside and raspberry flavour chocolate outside, the teeth were made by hand.

I shaped the cake mixture into lip shapes, popped them into the fridge to set, inserted the sticks/pops with some melted chocolate, back into the fridge and then dipped them into some red chocolate flavoured with raspberry. After they were set I added the decorations with ready rolled fondant.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Lollipop cookie pop redux


Remember way back when I posted my beautiful Lollipop Cookie pops made from sugar cookie and marshmallow fondant.

No off course you don't........it was my second post and no one but my mum was reading my blog. Well my mum and then amazingly Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella who posted a comment, and then kindly afterwards linked to my post. Thanks Mum and Lorraine - your the best.


Well I made those original cookies almost a year ago and boy have I come a long way since then.

These here are some pics of my latest lot of lollipop cookies for a photoshoot I was involved with for new business A Party Pack.

See what difference a great photographer, party props, pretty decorations and a stylist makes to my treats.

I'm sooo looking for a party stylist to team up with in a few months when I start getting serious with my business because look at this.....

and this.....

and this....

and finally this......
If you love the accessories go check out A Party Pack they send all the essentails for a party to you, as easy as opening up a gift box. The pack above is the Babushka Pack which was one of my favourites.

Photography by Deep Grey Photography

Sweet styling by Sharnel Dollar Designs

Pom Poms by Ah Tissue

Party Packs by....A Party Pack - they send all the party essentials to you in a box.

Oh and if enough people are interested I'll do a tutorial on those Babushka doll cookies.

POST UPDATE - I made the first cookies nearly a year ago but didn't start posting on my blog until April so y'all aren't hallucinating. 

Monday, September 27, 2010

Spring Inspired Bee and Flower cookies - Daring Bakers September 2010




The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

 The cookies could be any shape or decoration, the only guide was September which is pretty broad considering that the Daring Bakers come from all around the world.

I chose Spring as my theme and made some busy bee cookies and daisies.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Marshmallow Ribbon Candy, make your own Faux Ribbon Candy


I adore the look of ribbon candy on a dessert table.

But sadly I have not been able to source it here in Australia, and although I love the look of it, I don't love my kids sticky hands all over everything after they have been eating hard candy. Ick. Or when they hoard spitty candy left overs to be stored for later. Double Ick.



So I have come up with an alternative,marshmallow ribbon candy. It's faux ribbon candy made out of marshmallow fondant, all the prettiness and way less of the Ick.


Now before I go any further I'm just going to confirm that yes marshmallow fondant is fondant that you make out of marshmallow and sugar so it pretty much tastes like sweet marshmallow. You can use it for all sorts of stuff from making faux ribbon candy to covering cookies and cakes. For recipe and instructions click here.


Marshmallow Ribbon Candy is not rock hard, it's easy to bite through but that also means little hands have a tendency to break it into smaller pieces, which may end up mashed all through your carpet. I suggest to save the mess on your floor you break into smaller pieces when handing it out for easy kiddy eating.


and because it's not rock hard you can pop it onto skewers for display. Skewering is best done before the ribbon sets hard.

Instructions after jump....

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Macarons with chocolate ganache and raspberry



Ok just a quick post on the new We Should Cocoa monthly chocolate challenge.

When one of the blogs I read mentioned they were having a monthly chocolate challenge I knew I would be up for it straight away, as though I need another reason to make chocolate treats.


Sunday, September 19, 2010

Bee cake pops (well ok they're Bee Oreo Pops)


I've been busy as a bee in the kitchen lately and one of the things I have whipped up is these bee Oreo cookie truffle pops.

Based on Bakerella's instructions and tweaked a little for those who are piping impaired like me.



Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Lemon Buttercream Macarons



This month’s Mac Attack challenge #11 was to bake a macaron inspired by a childhood summer memory.

I had a really happy childhood and stacks of fond memories, but I found they were either difficult to create (due to my inability to source mulberries at the moment), or already posted by other members and I was scratching my head when this came to mind.

My mother's jewelry box, filled with treasures I used to sneak in to look at and occasionally dare to try them on. Sometimes I would be allowed to legitimately try them on whilst sitting next to my mother on her bed, I used to feel so special.

Now I actually know that mum kept her real treasures elsewhere and the stuff in that box was costume jewelry, but I still remember that box and it's shiny baubles with a smile on my face.


My box here is filled with a different kind of treasure.


and while I was taking these photo's and piling the macarons in a tower I remembered that I also used to love playing with building blocks and lego so I made a couple of little towers

Oooops - after you get to three its a bit unstable.

My macarons were Lemon Buttercream and raspberry white chocolate.

One of the best parts of these Lemon Buttercream filled Macarons is that they used up 3 egg yolks - wahoo my house is always filled with egg yolk leftovers and any chance I get to use them makes me soooo happy.

Recipe follows.