planet cake lace piping and basics 104

hello everyone, well so much has happened in the world of cake decorating for me in the past few weeks. Firstly i attended planet cake's basics 104 which as always was the best day of my life! We made the 3 tiered cake with orchids and a twist. It was a great class since we learnt so much such as how to set up a centre pole and how to make sugar orchids. Here is my cake...

A few weeks later i was back at PC for specialty lace piping. This was by far the best course i have taken at PC. I learnt so much and definitely left, feeling like i could pipe on a wedding cake! So if anyone needs a wedding cake with piping, please let me know, cause i really really want to make one now!

We worked on many skills in this course such as transferring an image to a cake, brush embroidery, pressure piping, colouring and making royal icing, covering styrofoam (the cake is actually styro), making a monogram but above all the most valuable lesson was confidence in myself that i could do it!

Here are a few things i piped. Let me know which one is your favourite.

All in all i had such a great time, the last photo is of my class, everyone's cake was amazing! It was so much fun and i really love piping. I always thought piping is a skill which only practice can make prefect. I also think it separates good cake decorators from amazing cake decorators. There are so many tricks to avoid piping, but in the end piping makes for such a nice cake. I can definitely do with more practice but maybe in about 30 years (time for loads of practice but before the geriatric shakes come) i can be as good as anna maria (my PC teacher and piping goddess).

More cakes, more clothes and 3 birthday's

Hi everyone, well so much has happened since i am so lazy and update this blog every 2 months! I wish i was like liebe and updated every few days, but med doesn't permit it (oh who am i kidding, it's not like i'm studying, instead i've been baking and shopping!)

So this first cake was a carrot cake with white chocolate ganache, made for my friend annaleise for her 30th birthday. I wanted to make a contemporary but pretty cake, so i opted to attempt hand painted swirls. The effect was nice however i still need to find a way to make it look neater and more like a printed finish rather than clumsy.

These birthday cupcakes were for my cousin and best friend amy. The 50's inspired ice cream parlor cupcakes with fondant cherry's were inspired by hello naomi's designs which are very girly and retro. Hello Naomi is a company out of newcastle who make really cute cupcakes for all occasions, i highly recommend her, her designs are like no other and very cute.

The third birthday is my own! These pictures were taken at high tea at the observatory hotel, kent st sydney. The observatory high tea was the best high tea i've had in sydney. It beats the tea room in QVB and the victoria room in darlinghurst. I loved the atmosphere, the staff but the best thing were the sandwiches, i even asked for more! For $49 per person, high tea was served with 3 finger sandwiches, fruit and plain scones, cupcakes, pannacotta, chocolate layer cake, fruit tart the list goes on. Furthermore i asked for an iced tea (since it was a very hot day) and got the best iced tea ever, the lady made it for me (it wasnt even on the menu) but it was amazing.

Finally there are these 2 dresses which i love. Both are 3.1 phillip lim, i ended up getting them from the LA store since they are ridiculously expensive in sydney. I love the sequins on this dress and the style was very flattering, it actually looks much better on a person than on the rack.

The first one will be worn at my birthday party this weekend, i will post up more pics and cake pics then, since i am doing planet cake 104 this weekend. I am so excited, i feel like i haven't been to PC in ages. The second dress was just for work and weekends, i love the scalloped edging on the sleeves, they remind me of when chloe did scalloped shorts and blouses. I love phillip lim but sorry phil chloe is still my favourite designer. If only i could afford it...

Anyways just a quick post since i have a sticky date pudding in the oven and some butterscotch sauce won't make itself.

Until next time,

xoxo

ps do people read my blog?

Jenny's baby shower cake

hello everyone, yesterday was my cake buddy jenny's baby shower and i had the privilege of making her baby shower cake. We decided to go for a 2 tiered (9" round and 6" round) orange and poppyseed cake with dark chocolate ganache covered in a thin layer of fondant. The design was inspired by my favourite cake decorator- faye cahill (http://www.fayecahill.com.au/Childrens/childrens.htm). If you haven't seen her website yet, i definitely recommend it, she has the most amazing cakes and classes also. I want my wedding cake from faye. Anyways here is my attempt (which is no were near as good as what you can buy from faye cahill), but i was happy with it and i know jenny loved it- which is most important.

I've decided the thing i love most about cake decorating is people's reactions towards the cake. I love making them also but it's the people who i share the cake with, which make me enjoy it the most.

In total the cake took me 7 hours to decorate (not including baking time).

The lesson i learnt from this cake were the polka dots. I always thought polka dots were randomly dotted onto a cake, however even randomness needs planning. To get the polka dot effect i marked where the dots would go with my quilting ruler (which marks out 1 inch squares). It was really important to do this to get the polka dots looking nice and in the right place.

I have 2 more cakes coming up which i am very excited about- one for my cousin's girlfriend which is a tiffany box cake and the other for my friend annaleise's 30th birthday. There is just so much happening in the land of cake decorating!

venetians- possibly better than arnotts

Hello everyone it's been so long since i've posted, sorry if there is anyone out there who follows by blog- please be someone...

Anyways last night i decided i really wanted to try this recipe from the womens weekly called vanilla and current cookies with a frosting. I then realised they were my favourite biscuit in the world (well favourite packet biscuit which are arnotts venetians). The other reason i decided to make them was because they remind me of broken hill (especially of min who also has a love for venetians). So here is my recipe (actually stolen from the womens weekly and since it was so perfect- i didn't modify them). The only thing i would have done differently was to make then thinner so they are cruncher rather than a soft cookie (which is what happened to mine).

Christines (stolen from the womens weekly) venetians:

Ingredients:

Cookie:

125g butter softened

splash vanilla essence

165g castor sugar

1 egg

300g self raising flour

40g desiccated coconut

40g dried currents

Icing:

240g pure icing sugar

splash vanilla essence

1.5 teaspoons butter softened

splash of milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius fan forced, line a cookie tray with gladbake.

Cream butter, sugar, egg and vanilla essence till light and fluffy in a mixer.

Add flour and mix with a wooden spoon till incorporated- it will look like a cookie dough.

Add coconut and currents and mix to combine.

Roll into small balls (about a tablespoon) and flatten onto tray (make then quite thin if you want them crispy and thicker if you want a chewy cookie).

Bake for about 12 minutes or until lightly brown.

Prepare icing:

Add the butter and vanilla to the icing and mix with a fork till it looks crumbly. Add milk until a very thick paste forms.

Using a double boiler technique (like melting chocolate), melt the icing till its spreadable.

Spread over cookies and let the icing set and the cookie cool.

Enjoy them with a cup of tea or coffee or on its own as i did!

Anyways i plan on posting a lot more since i am making a baby shower cake this weekend for my cake buddy jenny (pressure's on since she is an amazing cake decorator also). So stay tuned for me baby shower cake which i am very excited about.

I also thought i'd post pics from christmas of the gingerbread house i made and the christmas cupcakes which were a red velvet cupcake with white chocolate ganache covered in thin fondant. It was so much fun making the gingerbread house but for next time i will remember to make it shorter (since it almost toppled over- the first thing i said on christmas morning was 'is it still standing'). The recipe for the gingerbread was perfect for the house since it was a firm cookie from bourke st bakery's cookbook. Oh how i loved christmas...

The aftermath- once kids see sweets...

The cupcakes-

The Lava Cake Challenge

Hello everyone, i'm back from holidays and already back at uni. So as you know i am very good at blogging when uni is back since blogging is a great form of procrastination. So instead of reading up on medical things i decided it would be my (and my friend lauren's) mission to perfect the lava cake (aka fondant cake, chocolate souffle etc). It all started not so long ago (last night) when lauren told me about the most delicious dessert ever called the Lava Cake. She has been trying to perfect this recipe also with the main problems being:

1) over or under cooking the cake

2) the cake being stuck to the ramekin

3) it being so delicious the baker would eat the batter raw hence there would be nothing to bake

So i warn you, bake this recipe a few time before presenting it at a dinner party since everyone's oven is different and the times can definitely vary. For example we tried this recipe last night in jacki's oven and after 10 mins it was too runny it oozed all over the board, so we ended up scrapping it up and rebaking it (which worked surprisingly). We baked it for another 10 mins to have it overcooked. The other reason i take this challenge is- even if the cake is under or over baked it is still delicious, therefore it is never a let down.

So tonight i tried again and after 2 attempts i think i am closer to the perfect lava cake.

Attempt number 1 was foiled because i bought milk instead of dark chocolate (really silly mistake), then to add salt to the wound i overbaked it (again). The second attempt was much better, my lovely boyfriend went to woolworths to buy me the right chocolate (dark) and so begins attempt number 2. Here is the recipe for attempt number 2...

Ingredients:

200g dark chocolate

120g butter (unsalted) at room temp and diced

3 eggs

70g castor sugar

60g plain flour

Method:

Preheat over to 190 degrees fan forced. Over a double boiler melt the chocolate. Add the butter to the chocolate and stir until it is mixed in and smooth.

Beat 3 eggs and the sugar in a mixer until the mixture is light in colour and texture. Add the plain flour to the egg and sugar mixture. Ensure the chocolate mix is cooled and add it to the egg mix.

Stir with a spatula to combine and pour into moulds. I used silicon molds and i found they were great (once you go silicon you can't go back), however lauren's dad and lauren both use ramekins and they swear by ramekins, so i guess it's personal preference. I baked 6 at a time for 10 minutes then i let it stand till it was cool, before removing from the moulds. Cut and watch the oozing lava flow then enjoy.

This is what they looked like when i took them out of the oven, they seem very undercooked but if you let them cool in the moulds they continue to cook to perfection (hopefully).

This was the one perfect lava cake (1 out of 6) (lauren this ones for you)

So this recipe is really easy the hardest part is the baking, you want the cake to be cooked on the outside but raw on the inside (to be the sauce). It's tricky since if it's overcooked it's just a cake (no lava) but if it's undercooked it won't come out of the moulds in one piece. It might be easier to make it a big cake (as in bake it in a cake tin) since it's harder to overbake it (kind of like a raw cake which we've all done). Anyways mine are still far from perfect, i only had one perfect one out of 6 so there is still plenty of work to be done!

Until next time xoxo

bourke st bakery sausage rolls

Hi everyone, hope everyone is well. Holidays have been great, my life has consisted of friends, gossip girl and baking. Having said that christmas shopping has sent me broke and a japan trip is fast approaching. So after trying the bourke st bakery in marrickville (i think it's quite new, it opened on mitchell st) i decided to attempt this recipe from the bourke st bakery baking bible. This cookbook has changed my life, i love everything about it from the delicious recipes to the handy hints, even the pics are mouthwatering. This recipe is for pork and fennel sausage rolls and the first time i ever had them was at danielle's kitchen tea (my partner in crime Tors made them). They were amazing so i then went to the actual bakery and the rest is history (ie i made them). Here is the recipe i used (i am ashamed to say i did not make the puff pastry- i know, i feel guilty but pampas is good and puff pastry is a nightmare).

Pork and fennel sausage rolls

Ingredients

6 garlic cloves through a garlic crusher

40g fennel seeds chopped

4 thyme sprigs

150g onion chopped finely

150g celery chopped finely (boiled till soft)

150g carrots chopped finely (boiled till soft)

1.2kg pork mince

40g bread crumbs

20g salt

15g white pepper

puff pastry

egg wash for brushing- 1 egg and milk

Method

Heat some oil in a frying pan and brown the garlic, onion, thyme and fennel seeds. Add the cooked celery and carrots to the frying pan. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

In a large bowl add the mince, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and cooled vegetables.

Cut the pastry in half and put the meat into a log in the middle, fold the pastry over and secure tightly (you can use some egg wash to secure it). Cut the log into smaller pieces and egg wash the top (this ensure it will turn a lovely brown colour). Line a baking tray with foil (or baking paper) and bake in a 190 degree oven for 20 mins (or until the tops are brown and "oozing with goodness")

The dress i am wearing is by Florent. I bought this dress in kyoto japan last year and i still love it. I know every dress i write about is "my favourite" and "i love it" but this one has been my favourite for the longest time and i really do love it! There is a Florent store in tokyo, we tried to go last time but they were closed over new years, so this trip will definitely involve a post about florent.

Other things that have happened this week include a wedding- my friend danielle's. It was the first time i was a bridesmaid and i had such a lovely day- tiring but lovely. Danielle looked amazing and Ian was so proud. Danielle's dress was by Steven Khalil in Paddington sydney. The dress was made of fine tulle with polka dots. The cake was made by sweet art and was amazing- i hope to be that good one day. The bridesmaid dresses were created by Leonie Grace. It was a perfect day for danielle and i think the wedding was completely her- elegant and contemporary.

Congratulations danielle and ian, xoxo

Halfway to an Alannah Hill catalogue

Hi everyone sorry it's been so long since my last post, silly exams took over my life but now they are over and i am ready for a summer of blogging, shopping and baking. To finish stage 2 there was a halfway dinner which i helped organise with my trusty friend Sam. The night was a complete success with 170 guests at the tea room QVB.

We celebrated the end of an era since we've all split up now into our allocated clinical schools. The best thing about stage 2 for me was my study group (which are the girls featured in these photo's). I really couldn't have passed osce (and hopefully barrier) without them. My biggest piece of advice to anyone starting med at sydney university is to find a good study group, they will become your best friends and remind you, you're not alone even when you feel like you're the only one who has given up life for med. So here are the pictures, i hope you enjoy them, all 3 girls are dressed in Alannah Hill and i am dressed in my 500 days of summer dress.

The 500 days of summer dress was in the wedding scene when summer attend's Millie's wedding. In the movie it was made by western costume, but i had it made by Ophelia Belle in Enmore. She did and amazing job i was so happy with it, it's my own perfect summer dress!

My 3 greatest friends are wearing Alannah Hill dresses, Bek and Jac also have on alannah hill shoes while Lauren is wearing mollini. We all got our hair done at elevation hair in Glebe, on Glebe point road.

Picture of the high ceiling in the tea room QVB. They are such a wonderful company, so professional and everything ran so smoothly. The food was also amazing, would be a great venue for a wedding.

So the plan for this summer is to bake and shop, bake and shop! I have the Bourke St bakery cookbook at hand and i will be attempting croissants next week, so make sure you stay turned to see how they turn out! Furthermore japan and china is coming up (we leave on the 1/1/10) so i will be sure to post all my purchases (modeled hopefully like liebemarlene).

I would also like to thanks Topshop and Incu since i won 2 tickets to london for shopping at Topshop about Incu on oxford st sydney. Topshop is a UK brand which has finally reached our shores thanks to Incu (my other favourite shop). So i'll have alot of fashion to talk about in the coming year!

Yay i feel so free, it's finally hit me that exams are over and i have just under 2 months to do other things i really enjoy- like blog, bake and shop.

merry christmas, i love it when they start putting up trees and christmas lights

xoxo

Me and Matty