Raspberry and meringues

ITALIAN MERINGUE AND RASPBERRY LEMON SPONGE...

Love this scalloped design that you can achieve with the rounded handle of a piece cutlery!  Easypeasy and very effective! 

This cake was a little thank you gift for all Sophie's teachers at her little school: KIDZ ON BOARD.

Thank you ladies for all the amazing things you do and love you share with our children!! 

Red Velvet Christening cake for Nicola

victorian vanilla sponge cake dressed in pink buttericing

Three layered victorian sponge cake, all in pink, snapped quickly as I ran out the door to deliver. 

But the most fun was had after, with the left over cake (minus one slice..... martin's grubby paws) and icing, as Liv and Ariana smeared and sprinkled every sprinkle they could find, to their heart's delight. And then an impromptu tea party around the kitchen table!

bunting party cake

wow. I am a lucky, lucky girl! (as olivia would say..)  Nicky van Eck and Romi Stern decided to collaborate with me and do a party decor and kid's fashion shoot, for fun and portofolio work.  It was manic.  It was fun.  It was exciting.  It was a little eye bulging.  And I need to remember to eat.  Kids, ours and models, models' moms, Melissa on hair and make up, Romi the incredible photographer, Shane assisting Romi (& carrying tables and holding ladders for me), inspiring Nicky the Fashion Stylist and me, Decor and Event Stylist (hee hee)...  We were tripping over each other and chasing after the best light for every magical & dreamy shot.

These are just two shots of the cake I took myself with my handy iphone..   and to Nicky... thank you! thank you! thank you! for making a dream come true.

the rainbow party cake

This cake did take some blood (seriously), yoga breathing and a bit of cursing, to complete.  But complete it we did!  This cake is so worth the reaction.  Yes there were literally gasps... Lauren (Lucy's mom) uttered that thank goodness there was champagne, else she would have run home.  I fear that Mariota's (a mom whose kids parties I used to organise way before husbands, children and myprodols) premonition may be coming true:  "One day when you have kids, you are going to be one of those mothers, that other mothers love to hate."  I took it as a compliment at the time, but now I see it as a bit of an omen. Thank goodness I am terrible at a lot of other mommy things: never on time for school, sometimes forget to brush teeth, couldn't find the ballet venue, forget playdates, cereal for dinner... the list goes on..

There were some bumps and bruises, but otherwise we nailed the cake.  I am new to fondant icing... not too mad about the taste, but i wanted a clean finish, and I nearly got it. (This is where the cursing and yoga breathing came into play).   

Otherwise I think this is my most favourite cake that I have ever made.  It was happy & fun.  Livi could help make it, and seeing her smiling with her little fists clenched up in front of her chest in excitement was magical.  

I hope it made up for last years cake.. when I was working 12 hour days and had a 4 month old Sophie.  Pretty much just scribbled her name on a plain sponge and butter icing cake.  I am too embarrassed to even put a pic up.

If you want to make your own rainbow cake, you have to use gel colouring.  A couple of years ago, this was an unimaginable product in South Africa, and I would not have been able to get the colours of the cake even nearly so vibrant, never mind all the shades.  A great tip I also learnt after researching some rainbow cakes came from One Charming Party.  They suggested that you clingwrap each layer of cake seperately and then freeze them.  This makes stacking the layers incredibly easy, and as you can see even liv could do it.

also check out rainbow party:

food & drinks

activities & party favours

invite & decorations

happy birthday hilda!

Vanilla cupcake cake, butter icing and white chocolate glaze... for Hilda's birthday cake...

It was lovely celebrating this dreamy day with Hilda and friends in her magical land of baby trees

chocolate cake & white chocolate ganache

This is a mini dark chocolate cake smothered it white chocolate ganache (the same quantity meant for a large cake), tinted a little bit (much) turquoise.

To make your own ganache, get 250g good quality chocolate, 1/3 cup cream and 2 Tbs butter.
Chop the chocolate into little pieces, and melt in a glass or ceramic dish balanced in a pot.  Boil a bit of water, say about 2cm deep, in the pot, so the dish with the chocolate does not lie in the water. As the chocolate melts, add the cream and butter, and stir slowly, until well combined.  Remove bowl, allow to cool a bit, stirring occasionally and then clingwrap and place in the fridge for about an hour.  If your white chocolate is looking a bit yellow, don't worry, you will soon beat that into submission.
When the time is up, whisk up your ganache till it is light and fluffy.  And very yummy.  First time I made this I made everyone I saw eat some off a spoon.  Even my friend Tasha's boss, who I had only just met.  I think it made a good, though rather strange impression.

PS Another way to make your ganache: heat the cream and the butter, till just as it is about to boil, and then pour it over your chocolate pieces which are in a heatproof bowl, stirring until the chocolate begins to melt and the ganache thicken... if you don't feel like double boiling the chocolate.  And then place in the fridge, and whisk when cooled.

You can store your ganache in the fridge, and whisk it up when you need it.

angry bird cake

When my friend Tash asked me to bake her son, Noah, an angry bird cake, I was a little confused.  Why? And what kind of bird is angry? What makes birds angry? I think I've seen an angry ostrich.. it's all a little bit weird.  But then I didn't even really know what an app was.  I know. I live in Africa?  Weak excuse.  But I did some research and this is the result!  This is pic she post on her blog, 'dear me'.  Take a peek.
ps i have a lot of APPS now.

apple and pecan nut cake

 Olivia had a play date this afternoon, so we decided to bake a cake for mom and me (& Sophie -Lou and her sweet tooth). It is so easy and there is not a lot that can go wrong, so it is an ideal recipe for Olivia to help with.  This can be baked in either a cake tin, or loaf tin.  But we decided on the cake version today.. we baked the loaf for granny yesterday..

A slice of this loaf was very popular at Cupcake, and would sell out still warm from the oven..

To start off with put the oven on to 180 degrees celsius and butter your baking tin of choice.
Cream together 150g butter with 150g sugar till light and fluffy.  Add 2 eggs and beat up a storm.

 Sift in: 120g flour. 1/2 tsp cinnamon. 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda. 1 tsp baking powder. Mix till combined

add: 50g lightly toasted and roughly chopped pecan nuts.  400g peeled and grated apples. 1tsp vanilla extract. Mix. 

Pour into your baking tin, sprinkle with about 2 Tbsp brown sugar and 50g roughly chopped pecan nut.

Slide into your oven and 45 minutes later you have a cake!  Make sure though if you stick a knife into the centre of the cake, it doesn't come out gooey. 

 All you need now is a sprinkle of icing sugar.  Serve plain, or with a bit of cream or ice cream.

Chocolate tier cake

today we baked... a 7 marble cake

Pretty in pink

pink meringue cheese cake...

lemon poppyseed cake

lemon poppyseed cake topped with lemon curd icing

chocolate almond cake

chocolate & almond tart (wheat free)

made with lindt dark chocolate, crunchy on the outside and just the right amount of gooey in the inside...

the cupcake cake....

the deluxe cupcake, comes in all colours and flavours... and a surprise in the centre!

Toy story cake for Daniel

Banana & chocolate bread

Hello kitty!

The tea cosy cake

possibly the kitchest cake ever?   whopper with three layers of vanilla, chocolate and red velvet! From us you... See you later?