90th Birthday!

This is the 90th Birthday cake I was telling you about previously! Finally, all done! :) My colleague requested for a fruit cake, which is a great type of cake to cover - as the cake is solid which makes it easier to handle.



I covered it with rolled fondant, which is basically icing in a mouldable form. This can be purchased from specialist cake decorating shops. Rolling and getting the fondant was not at all easy! :)

Each rose petal was handmade with special sugar paste - this was started a few weeks before. This was a little tricky to do because to get this burgurdy colour, I had to use quite a bit of the liquid colouring, which made the paste very soft. So normally, you would cover it with cling wrap so that it doesnt dry up, but this time, I let it "air" a bit before rolling it out. You just have to adjust and be flexible, depending on how your paste feels! :)

The roses... up close and personal. I use three different types of ribbon to provide variety and different textures.

All in all, a great experience! Truly gives you a deeper appreciation of how much work and time goes into making such cakes! :)

I know - I haven't blogged for awhile! Hope you guys are doing well! :) Well, it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago - and it was a lovely one! *smiles* It's amazing how fast birthdays seem to come these days! I had a couple of lovely surprises and these new cookbooks *claps* are part of them! They were from thoughtful friends who gave them to me - I'm touched! :)

For years (and I dont think Im exaggerating!) I have been waiting to get my hands on Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess" book. For some reason or another, I never got around to getting it. So as eager as a child that opens a block of chocolate, so was I with this book! Pages and pages of delicious desserts, treats that will no doubt widen your hips but, provide many many moments of pure delight, lay before me.

Each recipe is written with a lot of enthusiasm and fun! Now, I just need to decide which one to try!

Another sweet friend of mine gave me the above book - it was so thoughtful - it was the perfect addition to my cooking library! Gosh, talk about varieties of cookies, this one will create jars and jars of delicious crispy treats for all ages, tastebuds and moods! I can't wait to try them out!

***Small announcement!!!***
A couple of weeks ago, my colleague enquired if I would bake a Birthday cake for his grandmother who was turning 90. I couldn't believe I was actually getting a proper order!!!

It has been so fun so far - it's going to be a square cake for about 80 serves. They requested for a fruit cake, and I'm going to cover it with fondant and decorate it with roses and ribbon :) I'll post the photos up as soon as it is ready - it won't be for another month - but stay tuned!!! :)

More High Tea Goodies!!!

I have started this post numerous number of times! I am determined to finish it tonight!

Happy Chinese New Year to you all! We are still within the 15 days of the CNY festival - so hopefully you guys all had a great CNY and lots of feasting!!! :)

For the high tea a couple of weekends ago - in addition to the cupcakes, I made pineapple tarts (above) and the durian puffs below. I dont like adding too many spices to the pineapple filling - I just used some clove. Be careful not to go crazy with this spice as a bit goes a long way! :)

Durian is a fruit that some may consider truly offensive. It is a sharp looking fruit that I am sure can do much damage should it drop on you! It is known as King of the Fruits (I think!) - the smell is rather unique - I am sure many have heard the many descriptions of its smell. It's flesh is creamy and yellow with a big brown seed.




To make the filling (outside is just choux pastry - which I made!) - just simply stir the fresh durian flesh through freshly whipped cream - and if you prefer it a little sweeter, you can swirl in some honey. Be careful not to swirl in too much honey as you dont want it to be a noticeable flavour. The star of this dessert is the durian!


Happy Chinese New Year to you all!!!

(p.s. Thanks to G for the photos!!!)

High Tea Cupcakes!

Everytime I read through my cupcake books, I am so inspired. There is something so sweet and cute about a cupcake. It is your mini cake - minus the guilt - well, limited guilt anyway!

Last weekend, I had some friends over for a "High Tea" and everyone brought a plate or two of very yummy goodies to share around. Gosh there was an overload of food! But exactly what a high tea should be like!!!

Our resident photographer, G, took this really nice photo of my cupcakes! He honestly makes food look SO much yummier!!! Before I go into the actual cupcakes as well, we have to look at the cupcake stand.

I first laid my eyes on such a cupcake stand at this cafe at Garden City. I even went up to the lady to ask her where she had bought it from. Some shop in Perth, but I couldnt seem to find such a stand. I figured, perhaps it was not to be. But it was always at the back of my mind.

Over the recent holidays, I went over to Melbourne and... yes... it was meant TO BE! :) I found it!!! It was sitting proudly on one of the shelves in the "Let's Cook" shop and it was the last one left. An 18 cupcake holder stand. It was mine. I did not think of how I would have to take it with me to Tasmania, drag it to Hobart and Lauceston and then drag it back to Melbourne and then to Perth. Heart over head. It was honestly one of those purchases where you sigh and smile with relief. It was a great purchase! I know I sound kinda obsessive and a bit over the top, but for those who have purchased something they have been eyeing for, for a long time, you know what I mean! *grin and wink*

Ok, so to the pretty little things on the stand... I made 2 types - a Coffee and Walnut Cupcake and the Butterfly Cupcakes (Vanilla cupcakes) with Margaret River Raspberry Jam and Piped Fresh cream with half a Fresh Strawberry on the top! These were from the Crabapple cupcake book.

I love these cupcakes! The texture was fine. And I mean fine. Not lumpy, not heavy but fine and light! Apparently there was not enough coffee flavour though (probably because I didnt make the coffee icing to go with it!) but other than that, I liked the texture :) This recipe is for keeps!

Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!

(ps. There will be more High Tea entries happening soon....)

Elephant Pancakes anyone???

I thought I would share with you one of the more interesting name places we ate at during our Melb/Tasmanian holiday! This place was called "Mount Elephant Pancakes" (see http://www.mount-elephant-pancakes.com.au/ for more details) - and the restaurant is in this old cottage.

The name of this place is very catchy and makes it sound like you went to a really weird/different place! I was thinking if only they had real elephants in their gardens, now how cool would that be!!! But I checked - no elephants in sight at all!!!

We actually ate pancakes that were more like crepes! Very yummy and fairly big portions. It was a very nice holiday feel to it, as the cottage was surrounded by greenery.



This was their mixed berry (strawberry + raspberry) and banana pancake, with cream and ice cream on the side.


This was their chocolate and banana pancake - this is one of the best combinations when baking cakes or muffins - yummo!



A very homely feel to it - a very comfortable place to have breakfast at! We went to the original one - which was on the east coast of Tasmania - they have another branch in the city of Launceston.


By the time we left the place about 10.30/11am, many more cars were pulling up into the carpark and the place started getting packed out! Visit this place if you're in the area next time! *wink*

The Cupcake Craze has started.....

Yes it has started! I was determined to start this, after studying, analysing and reading and flipping my cupcake book that I received for Christmas! So many lovely cupcakes, so many yummy toppings, so which should I choose?!

Sitting on my kitchen top right now are 12 "Blueberry, Almond and Yoghurt Cupcakes" - but the title of it was "No fuss" cupcakes - which is so true. No mixer needed, just mix. I always have my doubts when recipes seem too easy - I doubt its result. It's cooling in my very cute, pastel coloured cupcake cases at the moment. I went crazy and bought so many cupcake cases - I couldnt decide which ones, so I bought them all, and since it is hard to get hold of pretty cases, I figured it was a "long term investment" :P

These cases are Robert Gordon cases that I bought from "Let's Cook" in Melbourne, the equivalent of the "House" cooking shop in Perth.

I got home at about 10.30pm and started in the kitchen, and it was in the oven by about 11pm. And I used minimal equipment - so it really is "no fuss". Original recipe asked for Raspberry but I used Blueberry instead - raspberries are often too sour!

I'm going to have a quick taste now, so I can let you know what it tastes like!!! :)


Verdict: YUM!!! Super moist and I love the delicate, subtle grainy texture of the almond meal in the mixture. Each cupcake was bursting with blueberries as well, and the yoghurt enhanced it's smooth and moist texture. I am starting to believe in these "no fuss" recipes!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and a Happy & Blessed New Year to you!!! :) Hope you all had a lovely Christmas, feasting and enjoying great family moments and also a great New Year's - with new resolutions or perhaps rolled over resolutions! :)

I was away in Melbourne and Tasmania over the Christmas Break - so didnt get a chance to do a full Christmas Feast but we did have a small one in our serviced apartment which was nice! I love the Christmas period - it's such a happy period and I have to say, I LOVE the decorations, the hundreds of cooking and baking Christmas ideas! I need two christmases in a year!!! I felt Christmas came WAY too fast this year - I still want to do a full roast, pudding and everything!

Anyway, a group of us organised a very nice, civilised and proper Christmas dinner (big thanks to the host and everyone who was there! It was so nice!) - and I brought dessert. After thinking literally for probably a couple of weeks at least, I decided on a Christmas Truffle bouquet. This was inspired by Su Yin from "The Journal of a Girl who loves to cook" - check out her fantastic blog at http://www.cookingismypassion.blogspot.com/.



After lots of curling of ribbon, twirling of chocolate, rolling of truffle balls, drizzling of chocolate to make designs, rolling in crushed hazelnut... this was the result...!!!



To my surprise, if you actually google truffles, there are lots of recipes out there but basically this one was biscuits of your choice + cream cheese - and basically blend. Su actually demonstrates it very well in her blog, so do check it out there! I made the following flavours:

• Mint Slice
• Double chocolate Tim Tam with a hint of Rum
  
• Hazelnut biscuits with a whole hazelnut in the truffle

I had so much fun doing this eatible bouquet arrangement!!! Thanks so much to Adrian who helped me out lots with this! My friends loved it, which made it all worth it!!! :)

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year and may your year be extra special and blessed!!! :)

Stay tuned for more yummy photos - I am SO inspired to bake and cook and decorate even more this year!!! :)

Cake anyone?

Finally... this is the result of my 7 week cake decorating course! So, what do you think??? :) Underneath the fondant is a rich fruit cake - which we are eagerly waiting to try but that means cutting the cake - which means have to take this cake apart! This cake is still sitting on my dining table - not sure for how much longer though! :)


I have to say I was very pleased with it and to my delight and definitely I felt very encouraged, I had friends placing advance "orders" for their future wedding cakes!!! :) Hahaha! Not sure if I'm ready for that huge step - especially imagine doing your friends' cakes - the pressure you would put on yourself!!! :)


These sugar roses are definitely the star of the cake - the end result of the cake definitely made all the hard work of moulding each and every petal so worthwhile! :)



This is likely to be my entry for 2007 - so just wanted to say thank you to all those who have read my blog this year - and I hope to entertain your tastebuds more in the New Year! (I am also intending to go for Level 2 cake class - stay tuned for more amazing sights... I have been promised...)


Have a blessed Christmas everyone and a fantastic and joy filled New Year!!!

Love, Elizabeth

Cake decorating classes!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been eagerly waiting for the time and opportunity to enrol in a cake decorating class! and the time has finally come! Now that CA has been completed and done (praise God!!!), I can start these cake classes :)

This week will actually be Week 5 of the course - there are 7 weeks per level (I just havet got round to blogging earlier!) This is Level 1.

Above is a bear that we made out of icing :))) Cute huh!!! :)


It has been really fun - we have been taught to make sugar roses - made out of fondant and let me tell you - it is hard work!!! No wonder wedding cakes can cost thousands of dollars! I will never look at a wedding cake in the same way again. I love the end result though - at the moment, our class is struggling to find the motivation to make these roses as they are so delicate and time consuming. But they are so pretty!!!


Last week, we were taught to ice kids' birthday cakes! So here is Elmo. Apparently there was something not quite right with the texture of the cream (to do with the manufacturer) so the cream was a little softer than usual (hence the white parts appear a little "wobbley"!) and didnt seem to absorb the colours as it normally does! But here is Elmo - a mud cake Elmo cake :)

There's 5 levels to these classes, and I'm already thinking of signing up for Level 2 in 2008 :) The classes are fun and the teacher is fantastic!!! Whilst it is definitely hard work and I dont think I will go into this full time, it is nice to have a new hobby and learn an extra skill!!! :)

Breakfast in Leederville!

Good morning all!!!

There is something exciting about breakfasts.... I don't deny it is a pain to roll out of bed in the morning, and you may even question yourself why you promised your friend to meet for breakfast on a Saturday morning when all you want to do right now is sleep in!!! This is usually what goes on in my head in the morning, but I never ever regret rolling out of bed and getting ready for a proper breakfast (out of the house).

A few weekends ago, we went to Cafe Villa for breakfast. This is quite THE place to be for breakfast - it was pretty crowded, the aroma of coffee was in the air, and attractive breakfast food was being served to tables.

What's also great about this place is that it serves breakfast all day - so if you wanna have a bit of a sleep in and still grab breakfast, you've got it! :)



I had their famous Eggs hollandaise, yep pretty nice... the muffin was toasted to perfection, had a bit of a crunch yet still soft. Recommended (although have you tried the eggs hollandaise at Dome? Now, that's really nice too). I can't remember how much it was... I think $15-$16.



Adrian had the omelette with duck :) Interesting hey!!! I think we thought the egg was a little on the dry side, but it was definitely something different! I can't remember the exact price but it was probably around about the same price as the eggs.

And... an added bonus... if you have the entertainment card, it is 25% off!

Hope you had a great breakfast this Saturday morning - or made up for it by having a good sleep in.... I did! :))