Bachelorette Party Cake

A lot of the orders I receive go without photo uploads or blog posts, for the simple reason that it's either something very similar to a cake that I've made before, or they're just regular cupcakes or other treats. This past week however, I made my first cake that I'd rather not upload for an entirely different reason - for the purpose of keeping this blog PG rated.

It is worth a mention though so the above photo is an up close 'teaser' of the cake, which was ordered for a bachelorette party and is just a fun (albeit explicit) cake of a man's waist. If anyone is interest in ordering something similar please feel free to send me an email and I can send through a full photo.

Spiderman Cake

This cake was made for one of my son Elliott's little friends who turned three this week. Since they opted for a little get together for this year's celebration it only needed to be a small cake, and going with the design of just having Spiderman's iconic mask was a great choice because it's something simple but also so easily recognisable. Elliott was so fascinated by the cake when I was making it that I had to go to extra measures to keep the cake away from the reach of his little hands. I can only imagine what it will be like when I make his 2nd birthday cake next week!

Acoustic Guitar Cake

I was so eager when I was asked to make a guitar cake as it's something that I have always wanted to make, although when I found out that it needed to be an acoustic guitar I realised it was going to be a lot more challenging! 

The first thing I had to do was find wire long and straight enough to use as strings, since it just looks messy and unrealistic if you try and use anything else. Once I hunted down some extra long floral wire, I was able to figure out the dimensions of the cake. I carved the chocolate mud cake into the shape of the guitar's body, and then covered it in brown marbled fondant to make it look like wood similar to the original guitar. Finally, the hardest part was making the neck of the guitar and having it elevated from the cake board. It needed quite a bit of structural support but I'm so glad I went to the trouble because it wouldn't have been nearly as good without it done properly.

Pink Cakes

It's funny the way similar orders come about sometimes, such as the three baby showers in one weekend that I catered for last month (despite never having made any before) or all of the wedding and engagement cakes that will be coming up in the next couple of months. Last weekend all three of my cake orders were for pink cakes, and the first order was for a pink version of this christening cake, which was the first commissioned cake that I had ever made.

I also made a giant cupcake in a way that I had never tried before. I was asked to make it the same way I would a regular cupcake, with buttercream icing instead of fondant. Which lead to the issue of how to make the cupcake 'wrapper' in a way that was neat without using fondant (as it shouldn't be refrigerated). I solved the problem by layering strips of light blue candy melts around the base and tying them with a pink ribbon to make sure they were held securely. I also added small light purple candy balls to look like proportionate sprinkles on the cupcake.

Last but not least I made another ladybug cake, but in a slightly different style. Instead of the large ladybug on top, I was asked to make lots of little lady bugs and have them walking around all over the cake - the finished result was so cute!

Passion Fruit Vanilla Cupcakes

I had some left over vanilla bean cupcakes when I made these Wedding Themed Cupcakes last weekend and so I decided to make use of some passion fruits that I had in my fridge. Passion fruit and vanilla is another one of those combinations that is simple but amazing. The fruit is the tastiest addition for vanilla ice cream, and passion fruit and vanilla slice (made in cupcake form here) is one of my very favourite desserts. It was as simple as adding a few tablespoons of passion fruit pulp to some cream cheese icing and then adding some more to the top - an easy way to dress up a vanilla cupcake and make a great treat for this warm weather!

Wedding Themed Cupcakes

When I was asked to make 48 of these custom wedding themed cupcakes I was initially a little worried about how they could be done in a cohesive way. After brainstorming ideas, we decided less was more and that it would be better to stick to just six different decorations, in the wedding's traditional red, white and black colour scheme. 

The decorations we agreed were the best were a bouquet, heart and groom for the natural strawberry cupcakes with white icing, and a bride, cake and silver wedding bands for the vanilla bean cupcakes with red icing. I loved the finished product of these cupcakes and couldn't have hoped for a better result. In my opinion the time and effort that goes into making cakes is always reflected in the quality and, especially when it comes to fondant decorations, something handmade with care will always look better than something just cut from a stencil.

Chocolate Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Every time I think of a new cupcake flavour that I would like to make, I add it to an ever-growing list saved to my laptop. This chocolate variation of Cookie Dough Cupcakes lasted on the list for maybe a fortnight before I knew I had to make them, and a picnic in the park with friends this weekend was the perfect excuse. 

I first topped chocolate cupcakes with cookie dough icing, then rolled them in mini dark chocolate chips and was tempted to stop there because they looked just like they had big choc chip cookies on top. I had already prepared a lovely dark chocolate ganache though and I knew it would pair so nicely with the subtle saltiness of the cookie dough, so I added a layer on top, and then finally the mini choc chip cookies - yum!

White Chocolate Macadamia Cupcakes

There are so many tasty cookie variations, such as your classic choc chip, sugar cookies, macarons or store bought Oreos. But if someone were to ask what my very favourite cookie was I'd have to go with white chocolate and macadamia. So it was about time I made a white chocolate macadamia cupcake! I started with white chocolate cupcakes which has a generous amount of roughly chopped macadamias and white chocolate chips, then topped it with white chocolate buttercream icing and some extra macadamias. There was no way I could have gone wrong with these flavours but the result was even better than I'd hoped!

Quattro Cakes

Here are four cakes that I have made recently, the first of which is a chocolate AS Roma jersey birthday cake. In order to increase the number of serves, we decided the best way to go about this was to make it a two tiered cake, with the jersey sitting on top of a single layered navy slab, which also make the jersey stand out even more.

Now from a 21st birthday cake, to a first birthday cake. This three tiered chocolate cake was made for a little girl's ladybug themed birthday party and was so much fun to make. I couldn't stop looking at this cake - the ladybug was so cute!

Logo cakes are always very popular with the guys and this was my first Arsenal cake. Unfortunately I didn't think to actually take a photo of it during the day though so excuse the awful photo! Logo cakes are always so rewarding when made from fondant, and it's a great feeling when you look from your cake to the picture and it looks spot on.

Last but not least is a cake that I made for a 'rude and crude' themed party. It was very different to any cake that I've made before and it was a really fun experience. I felt so silly carving out a limbless torso and my fella thought the concept of the crumpled satin sheets would just look messy, but I think the finished product looks fantastic! 

Happy (Belated) Fathers Day!

On behalf of our son Elliott, I secretly made my fella this Fathers Day cake when he was at work one day. I would have posted the photo yesterday, but we were too busy enjoying a big Fathers Day breakfast and then going to the rainforest for some family photos.

Since it's just the three of us in our little family and I needed to be fast and sneaky, I made a single layered 16cm chocolate mud cake, and kept the design of the cake clean and simple. At the moment Elliott is loving super heroes, especially Batman, but I figured a Superman inspired 'Super Dad' cake would be more appropriate for the occasion. So I cut the corner off of the square cake, covered it in blue fondant and added the fondant logo - done!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Fathers Day!