Cake, Decor and Cairns!

Happy Mother's Day lovelies! I have been ridiculously busy as usual (the life of a mother is never a dull one!) But I managed to find time today to bake these cute little love heart chocolate and strawberry cupcakes with the help of Lil Miss 5! Because they are so quick and easy they are perfect for kids in the kitchen. Quality time with my little princess - sharing the love of baking - what a perfect mother's day! I know right?! (And yes it was!)  An adult cuts the "top" off the cupcake with a bread knife. The kids then cut out heart shapes (or any shape really) carefully in the removed top. Kids can then dollop some coloured buttercream on their cupcake. Place  top back on. Now the pretty heart shows through!  Bake, cut, frost and eat!   Do you bake with your kids? What do you guys make? Let me know in the comments section below! (I love comments!) Share  heart emoticon  Inspire  heart emoticon  Motivate...

I get asked often how do I pipe such big Swirls or simple full cover Roses on my cupcakes.  Most of the time the people who ask,  have tried and tried to no avail. Their piping is small or flat or just not right! 9 times out of 10 the reason why is usually the same... they are using the wrong size tip. When piping for big showy effects on cupcakes size really does matter. You will not get a big swirl with a little tip. Once you have bought your self some large tips you can also try making a rose on each cupcake. For the roses pictured here I used a Wilton 1M tip. (This is very important and my favourite tip) Usually people who have been unsuccessful in this technique have been starting incorrectly on the outside of the cupcake.  But as you can see in the picture steps below,  you must start from the centre. Excuse the blur, it's very hard to pipe and take a photo at the same time! And just because I was having fun with all this pink...

If you live in the  tropics or have warm summers,  you've probably experienced Buttercream fail!  You pipe these beautiful cupcakes with your large star tip, they look awesome... fast forward a couple of hours, you might be having a bbq or a party of some sort,  that is either outdoors or not in air conditioning... Buttercream Fail occurs!! Melted, lop sided and just doesn't look right anym ore!    What's the secret? So how do my cupcakes still look perfectly piped even after 2 hours sitting on the dessert table?  How do I make buttercream covered cakes that keep their shape and colours don't run at outdoor summer birthday parties? The secret is a type of vegetable shortening available in Australian supermarkets called "Copha" Now this stuff is awesome but you just need to learn a few tips to make it work as a substitute to American vegetable shortening known as "Crisco" in their recipes. What is Copha? It's basically p...

One of the very first mysteries I like to unlock in my beginners workshops is Fondant. It's known in various parts of the world by many names depending on additives, including Gumpaste, Sugar paste, and Petal Paste. But over here in Far North Queensland Australia, I like to use the general name Fondant. I believe knowing what fondant is, where to buy it, and what to do with it are the 3 biggest mysteries to the average home baker and why it is my most popular workshop. There are several options from making your own, to supermarket  and baking supply stores and of course online. I usually cover the most common brands seen locally but if you have different brands in your local area feel free to add your comments below. After explaining where to buy fondant, I move on to Gel colours (brands names Wilton and Americolor) and what CMC/Tylose is used for. I will create another post on the different brands in the near future, but today we'll get back to reviewing that fondant. ...

Attaching decorations with edible glue. In cake decorating there are so many different definitions,  products and methods.  It can all get a bit confusing at times! Depending on what country/ city you live in the terminology will be different.  For example sugar paste, gumpaste and fondant can mean the same thing depending on your culture!  Gum  Tragacanth:  Tragacanth is a natural gum obtained from the dried sap of several species of Middle Eastern legumes. It's a natural edible gum. When added to fondant makes it more pliable and stretchy, improves structure and a better dried end result. Expensive.  CMC :  Carboxymethyl Cellulose is pretty much the man made cheap version of gum tragacanth and does the same thing but is easier to find. Tylose Powder:  Is the same as CMC but a different chemistry name... I am not a scientist so I don't really know exactly how they are different but you will o...

Mother's Day Edible Gifts : Raspberry Buttercream I always love an opportunity to home bake gifts for my lovely friends and family,  and what better excuse is there to try Nutrafresh  Raspberry fruit powder than on Mother's Day? I made a normal batch of butter cream and at the end added a packet of Raspberry fruit powder and omg what can I say except YUM! The raspberry flavour was an explosion of yumminess in my mouth!  In true fresh raspberry fashion it had that distinct flavour and tang you would expect when eating fresh off the bush. Pair it with a moist chocolate cake and they marry perfectly on your palate!   Go on, order some and try it yourself. Keep in mind that it is a dry powder so once you add it to your icing it may need a little warm water added to it to bring it back to a silky consistency.  Here's a few photos of how I put it all together... 

Read this first before you jump into your first tiered cake! Wooden Doweling   is actually really important and I must admit until very recently I had no idea why! When Stacking cakes  it's important that each layer will be supported - not sink in or crush the tiers below. How do Cake decorators do this? With Doweling! Depending on the height and layers you may need a tall centre dowel as well as smaller dowel rods. Wooden Dowel rods are really versatile as you can trim to the exact size /height of your cake using garden secateurs. Approximately  five to six dowels are often needed for each layer.  N.B. Make sure the rods you buy are non toxic! Here in Cairns I got a bit excited today as I found some cheap non -toxic dowels suitable for mt next cake project! The aim of Cake Decor Cairns is to bring you the local deals so, this weeks find is:  Overflow FNQ  Stores have these non - ...