Sunday, November 8, 2009

Danielle's Kitchen Tea




Hi everyone, today was my friend's kitchen tea which i had been organising for the last 3 days. It's been a really nice break from study (or an excellent form of procrastination since i was very busy and didn't even think of my exams). Preparation started on the thursday and continued till today, i ended up making trifle, cake, cupcakes, scones, chocolate tarts, ice cream cake and iced tea! But i think the highlight was definitely the teapot cake. The cake was supplied by mondo and i turned 2 9"round cakes into a teapot cake with chocolate ganache. The night was a success, team Tors and Christine (me) worked so well since Tors made all the savory (sausage rolls, finger sandwiches, quiche and little tartlets) while i made all the sweet!
I must admit i had a lot of help from my trusty friends jenny, gen and emily! i really couldn't have done it without you guys.
There's so much to say since these 3 days have been so busy, so sorry if this post makes no sense since i jump from one thing to another.

Scones
These scones were made based on the recipe from joyofbaking.com, it's a really good recipe for moist scones which i served with whipped cream and Hanks triple berry jam.
Actually i forgot i had clotted cream also which is still in Danielle's fridge.
Here's the recipe

ingredients:
2 cups self raising flour
50 grams caster sugar
pinch of salt
80 grams cold butter (chopped)
1 egg
dash of vanilla extract
120 ml fresh cream
Method:
Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the cold butter and using your hands combine the butter through the flour so that it's a crumb consistency (like making pastry). In a separate bowl mix the egg with the cream and vanilla extract. Add the wet mixture to the dry and mix until just combined. On a floured surface kneed the dough until the dough is even (do not over kneed). Cut into circles with a cookie cutter (about 2-3cm thick). Bake in a 180 degree over for about 15 mins until they are browned and a skewer comes out clean.
Serve with whipped cream and jam
These scones can be reheated in a microwave before serving to make them super moist and warm, a must for high tea!
Chocolate tarts


These tarts are amazing, i think i ate about 10 (they are small). The finishing touch is definitely the raspberry, it cuts through the sweetness with some sourness and it's perfect. The cases were bought from southern cross suppliers in camperdown, however pampas shortcrust pastry makes a perfect tart also. The chocolate filling is so simple:
Heat 150ml cream and 150ml water is a saucepan till boiling. Add to 300g couverture chocolate (use nice chocolate, it does make a big difference) and whisk to combine, the hot cream/water will melt the chocolate and form a glossy ganache.
These tarts were definitely my favourite, if i was on ready steady cook i would make this as my quickie bag! (actually i was on ready steady cook but not as a cook so i didn't get a quickie bag but that's a whole nother story).

The teapot cake

This cake is to date my favourite cake! I love dark blue with brown. I couldn't have done it without emily and jenny, you guys are the best. Everytime i start a cake i always stress, so on thursday i was stressing, however jenny and emily were nearby to remind me it's just a cake. The best thing for me about this cake was the fact that i put a center pole down the middle. I have never done a center pole on my own and was very proud of myself for drilling and glueing! The brown snail trail is piped royal icing, the ribbon is from amazing paper in enmore. The inspiration for this cake came from the invite. I tried to make navy (which is quite difficult to make) since i ended up with teal (really stupidly, because i added all the navy blue colour to jade icing, even a 5 year old could tell you navy and green make teal!) Let me know what you guys think,

So that's enough about cakes, time to move onto clothes. This week's favourite item is my new ebay dress! I got mat to take a picture of me posing like liebemarlene, what do you think? did i get the pose right? I love the hearts on this dress!

My friend bek and i really love this girl's blog, check it out if you haven't read it, even the picture are amazing! Speaking of picture, i am a really bad photographer i can only shoot on auto (you can tell the pictures i took compared to the ones mat took)- he can shoot on manual. Anyways i look to liebemarlene and hope one day my pics will look that good, in the mean time all i can do is copy her poses.
Anyway better go to bed now, tomorrow is back to study day. The fun is over i am dead to the world until after the 1st of december, but then after that all i will be doing is baking, blogging and shopping!
xoxo



Sunday, November 1, 2009

Cath's Tiffany box cake


Hello again, sorry it's been so long since i've posted anything but the jacaranda's are out and that can only mean one thing- exams!
However amongst all the stress of the big barrier, jack, em and i were able to find some time to make a cake for jack's sister Cath. We decided on a tiffany box, which has always been my favourite cake to make and eat! We used a carrot and walnut cake with white chocolate ganache and covered with fondant.



Studying is the perfect time to fill your brain with lots of useless knowledge since google is a great tool for procrastination. I learnt all about new TV shows i'd like to watch, what's new at modcloth, urban outfitters and of course i check liebemarlene's blog religiously. My friend bek and i decided after studying so hard, we should reward ourselves with a modcloth shipping, we love mail (especially from modcloth), i will post pictures when we receive it. So some of my recent purchases have been a lovely dress with velvet hearts against a shear navy, but my most exciting purchase which will soon be complete is my 500 days of summer dress which i'm getting made!

Ophelia Belle in enmore is amazing and she is going to replicate the 500 days of summer dress that Summer wears to Millie's wedding. I was so excited, since i fell in love with this dress at first sight! I have a calico fitting next saturday so i'll be sure to let you know how it goes. I have spent alot of time googling this dress (37 pages of google images on numerous occasions)! I love it!
So another way to procrastinate is to make invites for a kitchen tea! My friend danielle is getting married in december and together with Tors we are going to hold the perfect kitchen tea. Here are the invites i made, with a cute little key ring whisk! The idea actually started when i googled kitchen tea invites and found some really cute ones which were wrapped around a miniature rolling pin, however the crap shop i went to didn't have mini rolling pins so i opted for the whisk option. The paper is from amazing paper in newtown which is another one of my favourite shops which i can spend hours in. This place is truely amazing and a nightmare for indecisive people such as myself! woolworths is also an indecisive person's nightmare (maltersers of peanut m&m's????)


Anyways better run, damn you neuro, i wish i could bake, blog and shop all day, that would really be the perfect life, oh well it just means i get to enjoy it even more in december after the barrier!
xoxo (i also love gossip girl)