A vintage dress inspired wedding cake filled with flowing pockets of salted caramel peanut

My sister in law got married and we have finally officially welcomed her partner of many years into our family.

We always think of my brother in law as the new kid on the block, but he has been a more than welcome part of our family for almost 10 years.

Photo by Ashley Oostdyck

Not one to do things the traditional way, they eloped and got married over in Canada in a pretty low key wedding with the bride wearing a vintage dress that was previously worn by the grooms mother on her own wedding day.

It was so special and reflective of the bride and grooms personalities.

So when Mr Sweet offered up my services to make a cake for their Australian reception I felt that a traditional white wedding cake with bows and lace wouldn't capture the vision of their unique wedding day.

The groom's mother kindly sent me a picture of her own wedding day and I did my best to come up with a cake design to tie in with the color theme of the dress.

I decided to go with a streamlined layered bottom and a handpainted top tier to look like the pattern on the dress. In the end the cake matched the picture I was sent perfectly.....but over the years the photo must have faded and the color was a little lighter than the dress in real life.....and the pattern was a little different than the actual dress as it was difficult to see in the picture.

But I think we were all happy with it.

and because it was family and if it didn't work out I knew nobody would really mind, I created a recipe for a mud cake filled with chocolate ganache and pockets of flowing salted caramel with peanuts.

Yup that's right little surprise pockets with gooey sticky salty caramel and peanuts.

Dan and Michelle's Reception Party Cake

Bottom Tier - 24cm X 15cm (H) Chocolate Mud Cake with Chocolate Ganache and pockets of salted caramel with peanuts. Decorated with streamlined light aqua fondant ruffles.

Top Tier 15cm X 15cm (H) Gluten Free Almond Orange Cake with Chocolate Ganache. Covered with light aqua fondant (not gluten free) and hand painted design to match the wedding dress. I used food color mixed with rose spirits and icing sugar for texture, highlighted with edible gold luster dust.

Cake Stand - Clara Fench
Wedding Dress Photograph by Ashley Oostdyck

Boho Chic Organic Coffee Crumble Blueberry Cupcakes

A while back I received a letter about a fun blog event paying tribute to baking trends throughout the decades called The Great Australian Bakeline....... my mission if I chose to accept it was to bake something reflective of  the 00's.

I did a quick search on food trends for the 00's and among many other things found that Cupcakes, Organic produce, Blueberries (as a flavor) and the rise of the coffee shop were big news.

Which isn't really that surprising to me, 'cause you know - we pretty much just lived it.

In fact I think those couple of things I listed are quite enduring and I am not sure why they ever went out of favor.

Take the cupcake.

I don't know how many times I have read a certain food is the new cupcake, but I've yet to see anything knock them down off their pretty little pedestals.

On the other hand I completely decided to ignore a few of the other big trends such as low or no carbs.

In truth I'm thinking the obsession with the low carb diet could probably also probably explain the extreme popularity of the cupcake. I've never tried a low carb diet, but I'm guessing that while your on one a cupcake has never looked soooo tempting.

Anyhoo back to the Bakeline......I decided to create a delicious recipe that combined the four noughties food trends I liked.

So I give you the organic coffee crumble blueberry cupcake, inspired by the noughties, delicious in any decade. As a nod towards another trend instead of fancy towering frosting I topped them with struesel that is actually made from the cupcake mixture to give them a boho chic relaxed feel.

I used Baker's Secret muffin tins ( which I actually use all the time for cupcakes), and I didn't even line or grease the muffin tin......that's right no cupcake papers I just popped the cupcake batter straight into the tin with no other preparation. Plus they're dishwasher safe - I know -nice! Y'all know with 3 kids that type of stuff is pretty important to me.

Not using the cupcake papers gave the finished cupcakes a nice rustic look so I decided to finish them off with a length of organic jute.

The finished cupcake was not overly sweet with a moist texture which made it more a cupcake than a muffin despite it's appearance. Perfect for morning tea, afternoon tea or a snack it makes a delicious treat for any occasion no matter the decade.

Coffee Crumble Blueberry Cupcake recipe makes 12 cupcakes

I used all organic produce (except the macadamia oil), however if you can not find any of the ingredients I used you can just substitute regular.

1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup strong black coffee (espresso machine or mix instant coffee with hot water)
1/4 cup yogurt
1/4 cup macadamia oil
1 large egg
1 cup blueberries
30 grams unsalted butter softened


Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F). Place a 12 hole non stick muffin tray on the bench ready to use.


Sift the the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. into a large bowl.

Remove 1/2 cup of the flour mixture and reserve for topping.

In another smaller bow mix together the coffee,  yogurt, oil and eggs.

Add the wet mixture to the flour and mix until just combined, gently fold in the blueberries.

Divide the mixture between 12 muffin cases.

Rub together the 30 grams butter with the reserved 1/2 cup of flour mixture until it comes together in a coarse mixture then sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of mixture over the top of each muffin. Don't worry if you have a little left over.

Bake for 18 - 20 minutes.

Puple Carrot and Blueberry cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Why does purple taste so good.

When I asked my friends on facebook to guess what flavor this cake was (mentioning that the sprinkles were a clue) I don't think there was one guess that was not delicious.

Lavender, Violet, Mulberry, Grape, Cherry, Blueberry, Purple Carrot.

Yup Purple Carrot.

Mr Sweet went grocery shopping the other day and brought home some purple carrots which I cooked up for dinner and the water turned so purple I thought it would make a fabulous cake.

However as you can see from the sliced cake, that purpleness did not translate into the cake batter.

But the experiment was not a total loss in the end......'cause carrot cake with cream cheese frosting :)

I decorated the cake using a Wilton 2C tip and CK purple sprinkles.

It was so pretty.

Sometimes I forget how simple frosted cakes can look so good.

If you would like more info about Purple Carrots check out this site

Also must mention that there is a lovely interview with ME over on the Alison Lawson Cake Blog, check it out to find out what my favorite recipe is, my all time favorite party and other mildly interesting information about me ;)

Alison Lawson Cakes is also running a marshmallow decorating competition and the prize is a copy of Sweets on a Stick so you must pop on over and make sure you enter.

Purple Carrot and Blueberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I used 2 X 15cm (6") tins to bake my cake but it tastes just as lovely made in 1 large 23cm (9") tin an you will only need half as much frosting.

1 cup  self-raising flour
1 cup plain wholemeal flour (whole wheat flour)
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 cup macadamia oil
1 cup brown sugar lightly packed
1/2 cup golden syrup (or dark corn syrup)
4 eggs
2 cups grated purple carrot
1/2 cup mushed blueberries

Preheat oven to 160C (315 F). Grease and line a 23 cm (9")round cake tin or 2 X 15cm (6") tins.

Sift together the flours, cinnamon and bicarbonate soda (baking soda), making sure you retain all the wholemeal husks and tip them back on top of the sifted dry ingredients.

Whisk together the oil, sugar, syrup and eggs and stir into the dry ingredients until smooth.

Stir in the carrots and blueberries and mix until just smooth.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tins and bake for 1 1/2 hours or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in tin for 10 minutes and then turn out on a rack to cool.

Once cool cover with cream cheese frosting (recipe below).

If you would like your cake to look like mine use the 2 X 15cm (6") tins and then make up a double batch of frosting. Trim the tops of the cakes until they are flat and even and cover them with a crumb coat and chill. Add a generous amount of frosting to the top of one cake and place the other cake on the top, then chill.

Cover both cakes generously with frosting and then smooth sides and top.

Pipe swirls of frosting around the top and bottom using a 2C tip. Decorate with purple sprinkles.


Cream Cheese Frosting - I doubled this recipe for the highly frosted and decorated cake in the picture. If you are just making one cake layer a single batch of this frosting will be ample.

125g (4 1/2 oz) cream cheese  (not low fat or spreadable)
50g (1 3/4 oz ) unsalted butter
2 cups sifted icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Add all ingredients to a large bowl of an electric mixer and mix on low speed until combined. Increase speed to high and mix for 3 - 6 minutes until very light and fluffy.

Macaron Marshmallows and a chance to win Sweets on a Stick

Yup - I'm just sticking macarons on everything now :)

While I was whipping up my macaron cake pops earlier in the week I thought that macarons on marshmallows would be just as cute.

Macaron Cake Pops from earlier in the week CLICK HERE for post and instructions

Of course I was right......really everything looks cute on a marshmallow and even cuter when you pop it onto a stick. It's so cute you just have to smile.

Which brings me to another thing I wanted to mention.

Alison Lawson Cake's is running a competition over on her blog for decorated marshmallows, with a theme of make us smile and the prize is a copy of Sweets on a Stick.

Amazon link to Sweets on a Stick

Or Fishpond (Aus/NZ)

So take these little macaron marshmallow pops as a bit of inspiration and whip up your own fantastic marshmallow on a stick to delight us.

and make us smile of course, well specifically me as Allison has kindly asked me to help her judge the competition.

Competition details are over at the Alison Lawson Cake's Blog HERE.

Looking forward to seeing all your fabulous marshmallowy creations, entries close Friday 20th July.

Marshmallow Macaron Pops

12 marshmallows

12 mini macarons - CLICK HERE for a macaron recipe, just pipe them a bit smaller

100g (3 1/2 oz)white chocolate melted (or wilton candy melts)* mixed with copha or paramount crystals in a shallow bowl

12 lollipop sticks

Holding one end of a lollipop stick, dip about 1cm (1/2") of the end into the melted chocolate and then push it into the center of a marshmallow (see picture for example), repeat for remaining marshmallows.

Allow to set.

Once the marshmallow pops are set, pick up the end of the lollipop stick and dip the top half of the marshmallow into the chocolate. Lift it out carefully and allow any excess chocolate to drip off before turning the whole pop upright so the marshmallow is at the top and setting the stick into a styrofoam block (or cake pop stand).

When the chocolate is nearly set pop a macaron on the top (see picture for example) and hold until is it secure. Repeat for remaining pops.

*I used nestle white chocolate melts mixed with a ratio of 10 (chocolate) to 1 (copha) and then mixed in flo-coat and violet americolor with a ratio of 5 (flo-coat) to 1 (food color). When I use Wilton candy melts I use a ratio of approx 7 (melts) to 1( copha).

Macaron Cake Pops - Bite sized Best of Both

Oh!

Hello there Mr Macaron, that's mighty handy you found your way up onto that cake pop.

'Cause sometimes I just can't decide.

Cake pop or Macaron.....Macaron or Cake pop. Certain people might think it's not polite to take both.

Why you sweet little thing. You've solved all my problems and you come on a handy stick as well.

A bite sized best of both worlds. An insy tasty cake macpop....hmmm that name doesn't sound right, it might need a little work..

But you my little capopoon don't need any work at all.

Macaron Cake pops were made using the Strawberry cake recipe from Sweets on a Stick by Linda Vandermeer (yes that is me). But you can use which ever cake pop recipe you like.

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

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Macaron recipe can be found by clicking HERE from the Bubble and Sweet Blog. I made them pink, small and filled with raspberry flavored ganache.

For the chocolate coating you can buy ready colored Wilton type candy Melts but for these ones in the pictures I colored my own Nestle White Chocolate Melts using gel food color and flo-coat. You MUST use flo-coat or a similar product if you are using water based food color otherwise the chocolate will become thick and you will not be able to dip properly or achieve pretty smooth pops. I mixed a ratio of 1 part food color to 5 parts flo-coat, mixed together and then added to the already melted chocolate. Note that oil based food color that is suitable for coloring chocolate does not need any flo-coat.

I always add copha to my nestle white chocolate melts at a ratio of approx 1:10 (1 part copha to 10 parts chocolate) when I use Wilton candy melts I use a ratio of 1:7 (1 part copha or paramount crystal to 7 parts candy melts).

To assemble pops roll cake pop mixture into balls. Melt chocolate, insert sticks, chill, dip whole pop into chocolate, pop into a stand to set upright and before the chocolate has a chance to set attach the macaron holding in place until it is secure.

Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days.
 

Ant picnic in the park cake and cookies and a little secret

This fun ant picnic cake was for a friend's picnic in the park party for her son's birthday.

Shh don't tell everyone but I'm going to share a secret.......although the bottom cake is super delicious chocolate buttercake covered with butter cream frosting the top 6" cake is actually a styro foam (fake) covered with fondant and then topped with hand made ant picnic figurines and decorations.

Sometimes I do that with the cakes and make a fake cake for the top tier.....although it's pretty much just as much work (well apart from making the cake and frosting) you don't end up with all that left over cake and you can make it a little bit in advance. It's a neat trick if you know you'll be a little rushed for time before the party.

When Daneve from Ah-Tissue mentioned she was throwing together this super fun filled party, I offered to help out with the cake, so she kindly directed me to her pintrest inspiration board.

and I totally did not spend hours looking at perfect white kitchens, fabulous shoes and hairstyles that I could never actually do, let alone wear.

Ok maybe I did just for a little bit :) Afterwards I had a peek at Daneve's party inspiration board, and noticed a bit of red gingham and quite a few ants......

Anyway so ants.....I'm not a huge fan of ants on food so I thought I would try a kinda cute cartoonish ant look for the treats, in the hope the kids would like them and so that it wouldn't completely freak me out.

To match the cake I made these square cookies with hand cut details for the ants, fondant red gingham and ant track drawn on with edible black pen.

and a plate piled with red macarons with filled with white chocolate raspberry ganache finished off my contribution.

Seriously Bubble and Sweet are having a totally awesome time

I'm not quite sure what's going on with the pose in this photo ???

WOW the actual party was so fun, with little picnic blankets, kids meal packs, and a great selection of sandwiches and salads to make your own picnic lunch.

As mentioned above Daneve from Ah-Tissue styled the party with a cute gingham theme. And I think quite a few of the party table pieces were from Creatively Bespoke Weddings & Events.

I truly loved all the little food packs it was such a great idea, and the suitcase of park friendly toys like frisbees and balls was a great touch.

 Make your own ice-cream stand - YES please

It was a fabulous fun filled morning.

 YUM!

 The Birthday Boy - awe he was such a sweet little host (photo by Darren Frankish)

Head on over to the Ah-Tissue blog if you want to see more photo's of the super cute picnic in the park party.

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.