Community Markets - Attempt Number Two

We had success!!  Hooray!!  I only came home with two cake pops this time, sooooo much better than my first attempt.

I went armed with very specific signage this time to spell out the fact that they were CAKE pops!!

I made pigs and chickens and then did some Elmo too.  There was supposed to be Cookie Monster to go with him, but circumstances just didn’t allow for him to be done in time.  I am happy with the pigs and chickens but I think next time I will make the mouth and nose for Elmo rather than using pre-made things.

I finished Cookie Monster off on the Monday after the markets & used him for a test postage run out to Cobar to see how he would travel.  It was quite warm and he survived the trip perfectly.  Australia Post managed to get him there the very next day (even though it usually takes two days).  Reports from the recipient were very positive!  I now plan on doing a couple more tests before advertising for postal orders.

Pigs

Chickens

Elmo

Cookie Monster

Christening Cake

I had a call from a friend who wanted to know if I could do a christening cake for the weekend – giving me a total of three days to work with.  I declined as I did not think I could do a reasonable job in that timeframe.  Somehow, after another phone call, I ended up saying that I would give it a shot.  It was a pretty simple cake and, even though it was my first time baking this particular chocolate mud cake recipe in a tin that size, it worked out quite well.  I had trouble with the blocks for the top – why is it that the simplest things always end up being the hardest to actually achieve?  The cake topper and the ribbon were given to me by the customer.

This was my first time using ganache to coat the cake instead of buttercream – I still hoped the finished look would be a lot smoother than it ended up.  I’m hoping more practice will help with that!