Pregnant Lady Cake Pops

I made these for my friend who is expecting and won’t have her pregnant belly for much longer at all.  I tried one lot where the body & head were all one piece of cake but I wasn’t really happy with how they ended up looking.  I then tried to make the body & head separate & I think the result is much nicer.  I had to wrap these up and send them in the post to Cobar.  I am happy to say they arrived in perfect condition.

Pregnant Lady Cake Pops

Revistiting In-Edible Glitter

Referring to my previous post "Disco Balls & In-Edible Glitter" on 25 January 2012.

This article surfaced yesterday:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2133336/Storm-cupcake-How-innocent-question-glitter-edible-The-Great-British-Bake-Off-sparked-national-fairy-cake-pandemonium.html

It would appear the debate is still very much alive!

I still stand by my decision to not use "non-toxic" glitter on my cake pops.  I also believe the food standards industry needs to step up and clearly mark anything that is going to be ingested - either it's a *food* or it isn't!

Basic Birthday Cake

The cake topper for this one was purchased by the client *not* made by me.  Originally we were going to put coloured spots all over the cake but because it was only a single layer we decided it would be too much.

Salted Caramel Cheesecake

On an unrelated note, can I just say that I don’t understand “Red Velvet”.  It seems the trend at the moment is to have either red velvet cakes or cupcakes & after attempting my third different recipe.....I....am....done!!  All three attempts were tasteless and the texture of the cake wasn’t even nice.  No more red velvet for me!

Something that is successful and very, very yummy is Donna Hay’s Salted Caramel Cheesecake.  I do hope to add the recipe to this post at some point.  It is so rich that it would easily serve a crowd.  I am a cheesecake lover from way back & I have to say this one is right up at the top of the list.

Easter Cake Pops

Here are some easter samplers, I think the easter eggs need a little more work!

Easter Cake Pops

I also made some brownies this week which were fantastic!  Double Chocolate & Raspberry Brownies which are featured on page 55 of the Women’s Weekly book “Little Squares & Slices”.  They were so yummy that you’ll notice there is no photo to be seen!  I also want to try these again but as Triple Chocolate Brownies......mmmmm!!!

My boy turned 7 and decided on Spiderman for his birthday cake.  There are some really cool layered Spiderman/Batman/Superman cakes but he only wanted Spiderman.  I had a busy week with two other cakes to make for the same day so I used the freezer.  I baked the cakes and wrapped them in cling film and froze them – it worked really well; I even coated one with buttercream first and I also shaped and coated the Spiderman one!

Spiderman Cupcakes

Cupcakes

These were for school and because I already had so much to do I decided to push the limits a little by freezing them fully decorated.  I had done some successful testing and it seemed to work fantastically.  Unfortunately between me freezing them and defrosting them NSW got hit by the worst weather it has seen in a very long time – my decorated cupcakes went soggy L  I tried a couple of different things to bring them back (a fan, icing sugar, tylose powder) but nothing really worked.  Next time I will freeze the undecorated cupcakes as it’s not worth the risk!

Spiderman / Web Cookies

Cookies

I checked with my cookie decorating guru about whether it is possible to freeze these decorated and she had previously done them individually wrapped with success.  Mine were for the party table so I wrapped them in single layers with cling film and put them into an airtight container.  I transferred them to the fridge first and then put them (unwrapped) onto a cooling rack to defrost completely before returning them to an airtight container.  Worked – hooray!!

Spiderman Cake Pops

Cake Pops

I was going to do these ahead and freeze them too but given the state of the weather I decided that wasn’t a good idea.  They were rushed (as you can tell) but the kids devoured them in a matter of seconds!

Spiderman Cake

Spiderman Cake
I used two 20x30cm white chocolate mud cakes with buttercream in the middle.  I cut the oval Spiderman shape for his head from this.  As I was so short on time (or I would be by the time party day rolled around) I froze the cake once it was cut and fully buttercreamed.  I just wrapped it in cling film & I had no problems defrosting it when the time came to cover it with fondant.  It was a pretty easy cake to decorate as I only needed to cover it and then pipe the web detail on top.  I had, what I thought was, a really good idea to write the “Happy Birthday” greeting on the cake board – because we weren’t going to be eating it I decided to use scrapbooking rub-on letters.  It sounded like a great idea and I thought it would save me the time of piping it on.  Note to self:  Rub-ons do NOT stick to fondant!!!!  It was a complete disaster which is why there is a little cardboard printout stuck on top instead!

Turf Cake

I created this turf cake for my Uncle who is a turf farmer.  I’m pleased with the way it turned out as it actually looks the way that I pictured it in my head.  It was a mud cake underneath all that fondant.  “Cobar” is his nickname, not his actual name, just in case you were wondering!

Turf Cake