2011

I like to take a couple of quick moments each year to reflect on what I've done. I have a tendency to rush through my life, always concentrating on the next goal. It's good to stop and think about everything I've already achieved, how much I crammed into one year. I also tend to concentrate on my last caking mistake, what I need to improve, and forget about the cakes that I finished and loved. So I'm going to use this post to look at my caking & cookieing adventures in 2011.

FYI - In my head this has dramatic remembering type music to go with the photos. You can insert your own dramatic remembering type music as you scroll through.

This year I have decorated 18 cakes........

Not bad, about 1.5 a month.

I've iced at least 100 cookies....... from New Years last year

to Christmas this year!

I think that's a fair bit! I'm going to try to slow down in 2012, do less but do it better :). I'm also going to do more cookies, I received Juila Usher's Ultimate Cookies book for Christmas and it has totally inspired me!

Happy New Year! Here's hoping you have a safe and happy 2012! See you then!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! Hope you had a crackin day! Totally planned to post this on Christmas Eve Eve and then Christmas Eve and then family and alcohol (unusual for me) got in the way.

So now, I'm going to cram all of my Christmas goodies into this post!

First up - this time last week we caught up with some friends at my favourite mexican restaurant. We usually only do small gifts if any and I had been dying to try my new Cactus cookie cutter so I attempted to make Christmas cactus cookies. I'm a huge fan of Cacti but it has occurred to me since receiving this cutter that there's probably not much call for cactus cookies......so I seized this opportunity happily.

That's crushed candy cane on top........

I also wanted to test the new bags and cookie pop sticks I had purchased - great for cookie bouquets!

The restaurant loved them and took a photo of them and us to put on their instagram site - our 10 seconds of fame.

The next cake was for a family friend. Somewhat hastily pulled together but successful none the less I think!

It may surprise you to know that even going flat out, a cake like this still takes me at least 1 1/2 days to complete. Cake decorating is a time consuming thing, there are many elements that take time to dry/set and you can't go on until these are ready. Not to mention that even a small cake like this takes a couple of hours to bake and a few more to cool down.

The final cake was for my family on Christmas day. My mum chooses a new colour scheme each year (yes, she changes her Christmas colour scheme every year) - this year was silver and white. I always try to incorporate the choosen colour scheme into the family cake so it won't clash with everything else in the house. I have been wanting to try a 3D Christmas tree for some time (that's what this is).

Apologies, this is the best photo I have of the cake, unfortunately it was just after I finished it and has all my cake stuff in the background.

Some cakes are so hard to photograph, mostly when there's alot of white or the colours are very similar. Also, I often complete cakes at night after work and don't actually have a chance to photograph them in daylight until the day of the event. There is this nifty invention called a cake tent which is, as it sounds, a tent where cakes can be photographed (you know, to add to their portfolio). I believe there are different backgrounds and you can adjust the lighting as you please. Me thinks further investigation of these tents is needed.

To finish up - a close up of the present pile (all edible)........

And that's my Christmas :)

xxC

A few steps back....

Although it is the christmas season and I have some super cute cookies and cakes to show you (pending their being finished)....I thought I'd take this opportunity to show you a couple of cakes I did in November.

This was my mum's 'birthday party' cake, as opposed to her 'family birthday' cake, which you can find here.

So this is meant to be champagne bottle spilling over with the cake being a pile of bubbles. Not sure if that is obvious to you, it wasn't to some. The cake underneath is caramel cupcakes (that's how I got the bubbly effect) covered in caramel ganache - yummy!

Originally her cake was going to be a mini topsy turvy with the champagne bottle on top and the bubbles flowing down the side. However. The November humidity was not kind to this cake decorator who came home to find the ganached tiers collapsed against the inside of her awesome cake cover. But, small mercies, they were not yet covered in fondant and it was only monday night, so there was still time! That cake is now wrapped up in individual portions in the freezer (caramel cake with Baileys filling and caramel ganache).

I've been wanting to try a cake that looked like a cloud for a while. When the first cake (literally) fell apart I figured I'd make lemonade (figuratively speaking - I was way too exhausted to get through anything other then the cake).

Happy holidays my small but treasured following!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

My advent calendar and the countdown app on my phone tell me there are only 12 more sleeps til Santa comes!

Here are some cookies I whipped up for my work Christmas party. They are plain (but del-ici-ous) sugar cookies with royal icing. Not super great but I am getting better every time and they taste great so they always get eaten :)

Across the Burning Desert Sands....

Moved a lonely caravan,
Men on Camels, two by two
Destination - Timbuktu.

This poem forms part of one of my Dad's all time favourite jokes (google Timbuktu Joke - surprisingly popular). I couldn't get the poem out of my head as I assembled this cake for my mum - the first of two for her birthday a couple of weeks back. This cake was for the family celebration during the week and the second cake was for the party on the weekend - more on that one soon!

My mother is crazy for Camels, not sure why but she always has been, in recent years she has started to acquire more and more Camel ornaments and they now adorn many of the shelves in my parents house. The obsession reached somewhat of a peak on a trip to Egypt a couple of years ago, when she rode one around the Pyramids of Giza. That pretty much sealed it for her. I was pretty sure she would like the cake, but it was the second, lesser cake compared to the effort I had put into the party cake. Imagine my surprise when she squealed with delight at this cake and had to ask me what the second one was the next night (not optimal). She immediately took a photo of this one and sent it to everyone she knows :). *sigh* at least one of the cakes hit the mark!

The cake is chocolate mud with Baileys white chocolate ganache - yum yum yum! As I've mentioned - I like to use my family's cakes to experiment with new flavours and the Baileys ganache was a definite hit. The only problem was the Baileys stopped the ganache from setting firmly, meaning it couldn't be used under fondant (found that out the hard way!).

The Camels and 'K' are made from chocolate using cookie cutters. I find the best way to do this is to pour melted chocolate onto baking paper and smooth over to form a sheet of chocolate, pop it in the fridge and wait until the chocolate is semi set (this takes a bit of watching because once it starts to set to happens fairly fast). Sink the cutter into the chocolate forming an outline of the shape in the chocolate and then put it back into the fridge until it sets firm. Once set, chip the chocolate from around the shape, generally it will come away with a clean break.

If you wait until the chocolate is set before trying to cut it, it can be very difficult to get the cutter into the chocolate, and I've found it often ends in parts of the shape missing (particularly with shapes that have lots of fragile parts like camel legs and tails and noses!). At a pinch you can heat the cutters to get them to cut set chocolate but it gets very messy and there is still a high probability of losing parts of the shape.

Cutting shapes from chocolate is easy as and is a quick way to make any cake, cupcake or dessert look spectacular!

Have a great weekend!