Eat Me

Over the weekend I got to make one of perennial favourites - my drippy ganache cake! 

I made this as a birthday pressie for a friend's 30th birthday, along with a couple of mini cupcakes, and it really made my day to see people demolish it ;) Nothing makes a baker or a cook happier than seeing people enjoy the fruits of our labour.

 

 Chocolate fudge and cookies and cream buttercream layer cake

with drippy chocolate ganache

I made the medallion out of fondant, stamped it with a stamp I got awhile ago, and sprayed it with gold lustre. Simple but oh-so-effective!

In other news, I'll be showing and selling at the Melbourne Cake Expo in November with Peek Sweets!!

Oh Hello! Market days are here again!

And for dear readers of this blog (and fans of our Facebook page - have you "Liked" us yet?) use the code "BBPROMO" and get a discount off your ticket! And kids already go for FREE!!

The Expo will be on Saturday & Sunday, November 23-24 at the Flemington Showgrounds and doors open at 9.30am. Hope to see you there! There'll be heaps of lovely cakers and cake decorating suppliers, as well as demonstrations and of course sweet treats for sale! Omnomnomnomnom....

Boozy Baileys & Dulce de Leche

Here's a little bit of what I've been up to in the last month or so.

Made some new flavours:

 Boozy Baileys cupcake:

Rich moist espresso-infused cake, topped with Baileys buttercream. 

*WARNING* It's an Adults-only cupcake!!

 And this is my Dulce de Leche cupcake:

Chocolate-fudge cupcake, with Dulce de Leche (an Argentinian caramel) on the inside,

topped with whipped mascarpone, a slice of banana and more Dulce de Leche drizzled on the top!

This went gangbusters at the Southside market where we debuted it.

Speaking of which:

 

Happy 1st Birthday Southside Market!

This was the Boozy Baileys ribbon cake I made for them to celebrate their 1st anniversary.

Surprise!!

(PS. I made the bunting too, real easy, will post a tute on it soon.)

 Our little cupcake stand.

And the setup with Peek! Sweets.

And finally, did a lovely vintage-themed rustic cake for Ben and Jerica. It was held up at Mount Dandenong, so you can imagine my nervousness driving up the windy mountain roads to deliver the cake! But the layers made it all there in one piece, did a quick touch-up, added the flowers from the bride and her cake toppers and voila! Gorgeous cake!

Don't you just LOVE the wood-cut figurines??

Spots and what-nots

I got a call a couple of weeks ago from a friend of a friend who wanted a cake for her daughter's first birthday.

Just as a little glimpse into my process, this is how ordering a bespoke cake with me usually works:

1. I get a call/email from a client.

2. We discuss themes, colours, budgets.

3. She sends me some pictures and ideas that she likes.

4. I do some preliminary sketches.

5. We go back and forth until we finalise a design, flavours and size/quantity.

6. I give a quote, and if she's happy we go ahead!

It does take a small amount of effort, but I love seeing how it comes together in the finished product.

So with this cake P liked the colours pale pink, black and white, and bows and spots. After a little discussion, I drew a sketch and sent it to her, and she liked it :-)

Here's the final outcome:

 

The cake was carrot cake (I make mine with walnuts, sunflower seeds and sultanas, all the yummy goodness!) 

with cream cheese between the layers, and surrounded by white chocolate ganache.

The cake weighed a tonne!

Decorated with spots and balls for the trim

 And an oversized bow. Cute!

She also ordered an assortment of babycups along with the main cake, and I just thought these red velvet ones were just too adorable!

These would be perfect for Mother's Day (in 2 weeks time!) ;-)

On a side note, Celine from Peek! Sweets and I will once again be selling our wares at the North Melbourne Market this Sunday April 29! It's 10am - 3pm at the Lithuanian Club on Errol St. - indoors, so we're sheltered from the freezing cold!

xoxo

Elephants, ruffles and polka dots

Some caking I've been up to over the last couple of weeks:

A gorgeous vanilla bean vintage ruffle cake for a client's 30th birthday...

 

  

The larger one's Red Velvet with Cream Cheese, 

while the smaller one's Choc-fudge and Raspberry with Vanilla Bean frosting.

Elephant and polka-dot cupcakes for a baby shower!

 

The client sent me some photos to work with, which I later found out came

from one of my favourite baking blogs, The Cake Blog.

Such adorableness!!

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Elli from Elle's Kitchen (elliluca.com) at a super secret product "ideation day".

I can't reveal much about it, save to say that it involved a certain food product that's made of pastry, savoury and often conjures up images of grown men screaming at other grown men chucking an oval ball around a large field.

But enough about my weird dreams. ;) The "ideation day" was truly fun! The 20-something people there were made up of people who worked for different arms of the company, plus people they called "bright sparks" -
foodies, bloggers, web designers, function managers, even an architect. All to bring a different perspective from outside the industry. And I reckon the day was quite fulfilling, it really challenged me to think outside the box, and to re-evaluate flavours and methods and recipes I've come across. Even think about new packaging ideas etc.

And it was interesting to see and hear what it took to take a new product range from idea to fruition. Months of research into understanding current consumer tastes and impressions, ideation, product development, getting the final product onto the shelves, and you STILL don't know if it'll take off or not, it the public will embrace it. Quite the long journey from paddock to plate eh?

Anyhoo, I'm pretty excited to see if anything we came up with actually reaches the supermarket shelves. I'll probably be reacting pretty much the same way my son does when he gets a new toy - jumping up and down, pointing and screaming in excitement, while curious onlookers wonder what this nutjob's doing at their local supermarket and if it's safe to look away and ah, THERE are the eggs I'm looking for...

Aside from all this behind-the-scenes look into the food industry, the last couple of weeks since returning involved heaps of baking!

 I had some left over Red Velvet cake after making the Wine Bottle cake (see below), 

so I made a mini stacked version for a mum at my son's kinder.

First up, a ruffle fondant cake for a child's Christening.

(The final version had bunting on it, waiting for the client to send the pic it to me!)

The layers of ruffles took longer than I thought!

I reckon it took me about 2 hours to get them ruffled and stuck on.

Last minute heart attack: the ruffles, having dried overnight, broke off as 

I was putting the cake into the box! Had to quickly roll out more ruffles to replace!

My Wine Bottle cake for a friend's 30th.

Since I couldn't afford a Grange, may as well make him one. Out of cake!

It was a terrifically HOT day to use cream cheese frosting as an underlay for the fondant instead of ganache.

The "bottom" of the bottle kept bulging out...

I was pretty glad the cake board I made to look like an oak barrel turned out well.

(Marbled the fondant, then scored it to look like wood.)

 And made the "label" with edible ink (sigh, my hand just couldn't mimic the Grange font properly...)

Hand-stamped words below though!

I reckon I should have coloured the "label" so it truly looked vintage, with the cracks in it.

 And finally, a beautiful rustic buttercream cake for a friend's wedding!

 

Chocolate fudge cake with raspberries and Vanilla Bean buttercream

It was a GORGEOUS grazing lunch reception at the groom's family farm.

Fresh flowers provided by the bride's mum! Beautifully simple...

See you THIS SUNDAY, March 11 at the North Melbourne Market!!

Tips for getting the BEST FLAVOUR out of your cake!

1. Ingredients:

Needless to say, a quality cake calls for quality ingredients.

Rich, fat, butter (sorry to the health-conscious!), great dark chocolate, eggs from happy chickens, Madagascan vanilla beans plucked from the ta...(ok, going a bit overboard there, but you get my drift!) all contribute to the flavour of your cake. You can really taste the difference!


2. Baking:

FOLLOW THE RECIPE. Baking, I've found, is more of a science than it is an art. Humidity, oven temperature, a teaspoon vs. a tablespoon, even how high you fill the cake tin, all contribute to how your cake turns out! It could mean the difference between a light, moist, angel-food cake, or something largely resembling Jabba the Hut...(trust me, I've made the latter many times!)

Once, I was baking with a friend who came from the Jamie Oliver school of culinary thought (ie. "a bit o' this an' a splash o' that and Bob's your uncle!")

So when it came to adding a pinch of salt (salt actually inhibits bitterness, and also balances the sweetness of the sugar in your cake), he scooped, oh, about a HANDFUL of it and tossed it into the batter before I could stop him! "It doesn't really matter, does it?" he said.

Result? Really REALLY salty chocolate chip cookies!

FOLLOW THE RECIPE!


3. Storage:

One of the most common questions I get when it comes to baking is, "Do I need to fridge my cake?"

The answer I'd plainly say is, No.

Cakes are always best enjoyed at room temperature - they're moist and melt in your mouth. You get to taste the full spectrum of its flavour in your palate. Suddenly your food has...dimension. Kinda like watching a movie in 3D!

This is especially so for fondant-covered cakes - popping it into the fridge, then taking it out after would cause the fondant to "sweat" and sometimes peel off from the cake itself. Not a pretty sight!

Of course there are exceptions to the rule, especially during hot summer days! With buttercream being prone to melting in the heat, I'd say it's fine to store a buttercream-covered cake or cupcake in the fridge, then allow it to come up to room temperature before eating.

Pop it in an airtight container, put it in the fridge till you need it, then give it an hour or two (depending on your ambient temperature) before devouring it.


Happy Baking!

Cupcake tower & Fire trucks galore!

Here're a look at some cakeing I've been up to lately.
(Tip: Click on any image to bring up the gallery for easy viewing)

My first proper cupcake tower for a wedding:

 

The bride's bouquets were made of peonies, so I made this large loose Peony for her.

Her theme colours were cream, baby pink and hot pink!

And here's a birthday cake for a little boy's second birthday - a vroomy red car and who doesn't love a fire truck?!

Partle educational as well - remember the emergency number!

The dessert table at the party set up by the birthday boy's mum!

The Cake School Open Day

Sunday was perfect weather for making the great trek across the city to Ringwood. (I live out West...it takes awhile, even on a Sunday!)

After months of waiting, The Cake School has finally launched! And this was their Open Day where I got to see their talented team, led by Fran McGregor run a demo class.

Obviously, I was in full gushy mode, who can help it, surrounded by such talent? (There I go again!)

Here're some pics of the day:

 I walk through the door, and the first thing that greets me?

CHOCOLATE MUD CAKE.

omnomnomnomnonomnomnomnomn....

 With dark couverture chocolate ganache. Of course.

 Here's Fran and Yvette (Baking Addict).

 

Fran demonstrating how to cover a cake board with white fondant.

 Yvette teaching students how to trim the edges off the cake board with... X-ray film!

Who woulda thunk it?

 TA-DAH!

Incidentally I've been a fan (read: stalking) Baking Addict on Facebook for a short while now, and I was just SO pleased to finally meet her. She's just as nice a person as I'd imagined. Nicer even!

 

Smoothing the chocolate ganache on the top.

 

 

Final product - Naked Cake!

 

OMG how perfect does this look? 

I exclaimed (out loud) "Doesn't it make you want to jump in and swim in it?!"

I think what I probably meant was that "I wanted to dive right in."

This mix-up could probably explain why the lady next to me gave me a strange look.

Styro-balls, bases for roses.

 

 Me and Fran!

 

Yvette, moi, Effie (Designer Cakes by Effie, another Cake Artist I've been following) 

 More pics of their lovely cakes and front lounge can be viewed here on The Cake School Facebook page.

I'm just so super excited to take some classes next year!