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Cupcakes2Scare!

Feb27

Scary Party Cupcakes

Scary Party Cupcakes

These cupcakes were a hit at  Halloween last year and they were Dom’s choice a week ago for her Scary themed birthday party.  Thanks Dom and Sarah for taking the time to visit my blog and have a look at all my cupcakes.  When you chose these for the party I sourced the sweet fangs – an oxymoron in itself – from Sunrise Sweets and then added red food colouring to some icing to complete the sweet blood droplets down the side of the cupcakes.  When I delivered these cupcakes Dom had decorated the table brilliantly for her party and the bottom right hand picture shows her cupcakes with scary spider and web as a final scary garnish. Glad your friends enjoyed these cupcakes and happy 14th birthday Dom!

Here’s to a Young Chef in Training…

Feb27

Meringues

An interesting young man found his way back into our lives this past week after 7 years and a post about him is appropriate because of his passions in life and his enthusiasm for all that is wonderful about food.  Jason was a school friend of Teigh’s up until grade 4 when he left for Adelaide.  I have fond memories of him and Teigh traipsing across the Trinity school field nearly every other day claiming an urgent need to spend the afternoon together and enthusing about how little homework they had been given on those particular days.  His mom Nicole and I remember these 2 young friends spending countless hours together and it was a sad loss for Teigh when Jason moved to Oz with his family, leaving behind a stubborn cat to remember him by.  Jason was given a trip to South Africa for his 18th birthday and he visited us for a week during his amazing trip.  He made us these delectable meringues one evening when I mentioned that pavlova was Teigh’s favourite dessert.  Not sure if you can claim to have met an 18 year old who travels from Oz to Africa with a full size version of the chef’s bible, Larousse Gastronimique but I certainly can now!  Imagine my surprise and delight when out came this beautiful book and Jason produced a recipe for these gorgeous meringues.  I added some caramel vodka to the strawberries and raspberries and we had a desert to remember that night.

I got to spend some time with Jason while the kids were at school and it was a different experience shopping with an 18 year old with a passion for Wusthof knives and culinary delights.  Where Jason was dashing into different shops I had been used to the normal ‘do we have to come in with you’ or ‘how long are you going to be in here’?  It was refreshing to see a young person with so much enthusiasm for where he was going in his life with his career and I am sure he is going to make a brilliant chef in the next few years.  Have a squiz at his blog for beautiful food photography http://itscookery.tumblr.com/

Teigh & Jason Biking

Jason has an amazing sense of adventure, I am sure that is what makes these 2 boys so compatible and Teigh took him for a days riding at Dirt Bronco where the 2 of them spent time riding their KTMs and doing what boys do best, being really noisy, boisterous and getting dirty!

Cupcakes for Jason

Of course no one ventures through our home without being bombarded by cupcake stories, flavours and a cupcake or 2 to taste.  Jason even practised working with sugar paste while I was making cupcakes for a 21st and tried his hand at making a sugar paste rose. He has a yearning to learn and experiment and experience new things in life and this will take him extremely far on his culinary journey.  He tried both the Pink Pepper and Citrus chocolate cupcake here and also the Passionfruit and White Chocolate cupcake.

Jason Airport

Teigh is going to miss you madly as a friend and biking buddy and I will miss having you around as I love your enthusiasm and passion for life and the way you bring out the best in those around you.  Wishing you all the best for the training that lies ahead of you!

Candyland Cupcakes

Feb25
Candyland Cupcake Decorations

Candyland Cupcake Decorations

After a trip to the sweet shop I arrived back with probably more than I needed to make Candyland Cupcakes.  Marshmallow twirls for candycanes, caramel coated popcorn for candy clouds, marshmallow ice-cream cones for ice-creams and tangy orange sugar strips for candy bridges and sour sugar domes were my inspiration for cupcakes for a Candyland themed birthday party. Of course there is no candyland without colourful sugar lollies so I made these from sugar paste that I rolled into strips of combined colours and then twirled into cirles to look like lollies.  I love the tip I picked up in the week about using a piece of pasta instead of a toothpick for the stick of the lolly, much safer and really effective.

Candyland Cupcake Decorations

Candyland Cupcake Decorations

The marshmallow cones I cut down to size and placed directly into the iced cupcake and the sugar strip was easily folded into a candy bridge on each cupcake.  The sugar paste lollies added a dollop of colour and shine to the cupcakes.  It almost felt that little munchkins would pop out at any moment and dash across the candy bridges and dance among the sweets and I have no doubt that once these cupcakes were served at the party there were many happy faces as the guests were transported into a sugary candyland.

Candyland Cupcakes

Candyland Cupcakes

Candyland Cupcakes

Candyland Cupcakes

 

Dev’s Garden Cupcakes

Feb21

Garden Theme Cupcakes

Garden Theme Cupcakes

Devon and his love of gardening!! (as told by his mom, Alison)

When Devon turned 8 years old he received his first lawnmower.  Granted it was just a roller mower, but there were lots of eyebrows raised and questions asked about the suitability of this gift for an eight year old, given that most other boys his age were into Ben 10 and the like. When he turned 9, Devon used some of his birthday money to buy himself a leaf blower and a rake.  And for this past Christmas we succumbed to upgrading his roller mower with a replacement electric powered lawnmower and weed-eater, after much begging and pleading from our avid gardener.

Devon has an undiagnosed syndrome, and is developmentally delayed as a result.  His ability to speak is severely challenged, but this does not stop him from using his love of gardening as a means of crossing these barriers to “communicate” with others.  Devon has befriended gardeners everywhere – at his school, in our local park, at his brother’s golf club – in fact anywhere that there is a patch of garden that needs to be cared for, Devon makes a buddy and gets stuck into the gardening task at hand.

Garden Theme Cupcakes

Devon is absolutely passionate about gardening, and has been from a very early age.  Where there’s a wheelbarrow or a spade….that’s where you’ll find Dev! So it’s not surprising that that was the theme chosen for the cupcakes Lisa was asked to bake to celebrate Devon’s 10th birthday.

Garden Theme Cupcakes

It was great to do these garden themed cupcakes for Devon’s 10th birthday as Alison was so enthusiastic and trusting about what I could do with this theme. Sun hats off to you Alison for nurturing such a wonderful passion in your son.  The sugar paste wellington boots, spades, wheelbarrows, flower pots and flowers are perfect for any garden enthusiast and I added the small trucks carrying stones to some of Devon’s cupcakes as Devon also has a passion for trucks and diggers.  The stones are candy-coated chocolate that I sourced from Sunrise Sweets  and I used grass-green vermicelli for the grass on the cupcakes.  Photographed here on a gorgeous sunny day these cupcakes completely lifted my spirit and I am sure that is why Devon finds such peace in nature’s gardens everywhere.  I haven’t met Devon yet but was so pleased when Alison sent me a picture of him holding his box of cupcakes ready to take to his school friends as I knew I had another delighted customer. Needless to say Devon’s 4 gardening buddies at his school were the first to receive a garden cupcake from him on his birthday.  Happy Gardening Devon and   may the force of nature be with you!

Paige’s Valentine’s Cake

Feb20
Paige's Valentine Cake

Paige's Valentine Cake

Before we say goodbye to a brilliant Valentine’s week I have to post this exquisite cake that Paige made for Teigh.  The sponge cake is an eggless chocolate sponge which had a rich chocolatey taste.  Paige whipped up fresh cream to sandwich the 2 heart-shaped sponges together and added lovely red raspberries in the middle and on the sides of the cake.  True to her brilliant artistic skills she finished off the cake by placing it on a white dish and then decorating the plate with cocoa hearts and velvety rose petals.  Just in case she hadn’t quite expressed her love for Teigh through this cake, she drizzled chocolate ganache over the cake and then liberally sprinkled miniature sugar paste hearts to create a gorgeous contrast on the rich chocolate topping.  Thank you Paige this cake was a wonderful way of saying I love you to Teigh and he savoured every slice until every last crumb was eaten.

Paige's Valentine Cake

Paige's Valentine Cake

Coral Valentine Beauty!

Feb20

Valentine's Ball

After a madly busy Valentine’s Tuesday, Cupid took a few days off before the Valentine’s Ball on Friday night when he was back at his antics amidst the young girls and guys at the Trinityhouse Valentine’s Ball.  I am not sure what shananigans he got up to with other couples that night but his arrow certainly hit its mark with this terrific couple.  Teigh arrived looking rather dashing in his coral red and white striped shirt and suit to fetch his gorgeous valentine, Paige, who was a picture of beauty in a delicate coral and black dress.

The “cupcake cupid” was not going to be left out of the equation on this special night so she rustled up a beautiful coral rose cupcake for Teigh to give to his Valentine. Luckily she had been entranced in the week by one of Rolkem’s, rainbow spectrum food colourings, Watermelon. This colour produces a rich coral or watermelon colour when mixed into sugar paste and it was the perfect colour for the rose.  As this cupcake cupid knows that colour is the way to many any artist’s heart she dusted the edges of the rose with the Rolkem Watermelon colouring and then dusted the entire rose with a satin finish before placing it on the cupcake with black beads to match Paige’s coral and black dress.

Coral and Black Cupcake

As cupid puts his feet up and concocts his plans for lovers everywhere next year, the cupcake cupid remains busy in a sweet aromatic kitchen in order to delight many more hearts in the days and months to come!