My first attempt at making fondant Gerberas

Yesterday I tried making fondant Gerberas for the first time.

I probably should have practised them before I made this cake, but my mum came to me a week beforehand asking for a wedding cake for a short notice wedding (her best friend was going to get married at a registry! But they convinced her to have a nice simple wedding in Raglan, right next to the beach)

The cake I made is a bit smaller than the other couple of wedding cakes I have made, each tier was about 5cm high.

I think the chocolate fondant really brought out the colour of the flowers and apparently I even got the shades of the pink and orange to match the bouquet!... Pure chance really, as my mum had just said to me "Just make a two tier chocolate cake with chocolate icing and pink/orange flowers on the sides and a big bunch on the top".

The ribbon is made from fondant and the "bouquet" of flowers on the top got wired into a floral-tape covered half polystyrene ball.

Easy peasy and tastes delicious!

Dion & Natasha's Wedding cake

Today was quite a day! I had to deliver a wedding cake and cupcakes and I had some wicked cake disasters! To the point where I had to go back home and give my partner Kerry a five minute lesson on how to make buttercream. Poor guy! But at least he wont be wondering 'what does Anna-Lee do all day when he gets home to see the house a disaster and I have icing in my hair.

This is the second wedding cake that I have made now, and I think my rose cake looks so pretty :)

The cake was lemon with lemon curd filling, and the cupcakes were lemon and chocolate.

I'll share my new favourite lemon cake recipe, I used the same one for my cupcakes (It makes about 12-14 and cook for 15-17 minutes)

Baby Rump cake

I love baby showers. It's great being able to make a pregnant lady feel good and have some fun before the baby arrives. The one thing I wish I had at my baby shower now, is a great cake. I only started baking once Eva was born, but means I know for next time... And by next time I mean a few years away haha I'm quite happy with my one and only destructo-master who is turning one in a week! 

This cake means a lot to me. I looked at it today and was so proud of my progress, as it was only five months ago that I started getting into decorating with fondant. And my first ever fondant cake was a baby rump cake!

This is the one I made last night...

There's a few tutorials out on how to make these cakes, I personally like to make the babies bum out of cake instead of RKT. The legs and feet are just made with fondant as I found it easier to mould the shapes. So pretty much all edible!

If you are curious to see how my work has improved, make sure you check out this blog post...

http://evascupcakes.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/baby-rump-cake.html

I am proud of my cakes, and lots of love and time goes into them... However I'm liking the cleaner line of the fondant base compared to the buttercream. What do you think?

Baby bump cake

I made a baby bump cake for today and I think it looks ultra cute! Was surprisingly not too hard to make - I just used one of the regular sized 3D ball tins and 2 mini ball tins. It didn't use up a full cake mix so I made some cupcakes with the leftovers.

Churro Cupcakes with Cinnamon Mascarpone Icing

I'm a MKR (My Kitchen Rules) fan. Without a doubt I watch it every night as the contestants can make some pretty inspiring stuff! A few weeks back one team made Churro's and I'd also been on the hunt for an excuse to use my Mascarpone cheese that's sitting in the fridge. I haven't had mascarpone cheese before, so this is exciting for me!
I found the recipe off The Sweet Chick blog and feel I should share it! :)

Ingredients (18 cupcakes)

FOR THE CUPCAKES

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 (1 stick) cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature

FOR THE CINNAMON SUGAR

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

FOR THE FROSTING

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Instructions

To make the cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners; set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, until just combined then stir in the vanilla. Sprinkle 1/3 of the flour mixture over the butter mixture and gently stir in until barely combined. Add half of the milk, mixing until just combined. Repeat these steps with the remaining flour mixture and milk, ending with the flour. Do not over mix.

Fill each muffin cup with 2 tablespoons of batter. I used a measuring spoon. Bake the cupcakes for 14 to 16 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool for 2 to 3 minutes, then dip the top of each cupcake into the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat it. You really have to smush them in there to get it to stick. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before filling.

To make the frosting

With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk heavy cream until stiff peaks form (be careful not to overbeat, or cream will be grainy). In another bowl, whisk together mascarpone, cinnamon and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until completely incorporated. Use immediately. After frosting the cupcakes, sprinkle a little bit of the left over cinnamon-sugar onto the frosting.

The original recipe had dulce de leche filling but I wanted to go to bed. Wishing I put chocolate sauce on it though! Yummy!

There was also heaps of cinnamon sugar. I managed to do two batches with 1/2 cup of sugar and still have lots left over.

The icing was delicious too! I ate way too much of it!

Neil & Angie's Wedding cake

I made my first ever wedding cake this weekend! Was excited and nervous at the same time as everything had to be perfect. If I didn't do one tier perfectly I had to start again, and it was all buttercream!
Never thought I'd say this, but fondant is so much easier to deal with. Buttercream is not my friend.
I find it hard to do anything in a straight line. Kind of like writing without lined paper. Piping is just as hard! so with the top tier, if I started going on a slight angle I had to start again! In the end I just figured that I'd do a couple of dots, stop and look at it from a distance, then continue on.

The bride and groom wanted the cake in a purple theme. So much purple! Ombre top tier, plain middle and roses on the bottom. We found the inspiration off one of my favourite internet places in the world!... PINTEREST! http://pinterest.com/pin/419045940297840948/

It was a mudcake lovers dream with the tiers being white chocolate, caramel and dark chocolate!
I even managed to get the company - MotionCAM Design to replicate the same cake topper but in white.

I really loved making it, even though I had to work through the public holiday. Blessing really, because at least my partner and my mum were off work and they could look after Eva. And the newly weds loved it too :)

Sarah-Lee's 21st Birthday Cake

My friend Sarah-Lee turned 21 this week and she asked me to make a present cake for her party, with the colours pink white and gold.
Firstly, I made my first successful fondant bow that could stand up without cracking (yay!)

Hand painted 10 fondant roses in edible gold paint

And spent many many hours in the kitchen! This is the end result!

The scariest bit was having to transport it 126km to the party! But lucky I have this cool car magnet to warn road ragers about my nana driving :)

My best cake yet? I think yes!

Beach themed cupcakes

These cupcakes are the last reminder of summer that has gone by far too quickly... 9 months to go until next summer! 

Baby shower cake

This gender neutral baby shower cake was made for Paula. A cute little stork on the top with "welcome little one" and a 'baby' clothes line across the side of the cake. Topped with buttercream ruffle edges, I think it's just the cutest thing ever!

Outer Space cake

Jack had his 5th Birthday party on Saturday and he got a space themed cake and 24 chocolate cupcakes for the party! Yummy!!!