Cake It #6 & #7: Halo and Xbox Cake

The two cakes

So this was the most last minute cake ever! My little brother's friend Connor's birthday was New Year's Eve so I spent the day and some of the previous night whipping up some cakes for him.

The white controller was a chocolate cake my Mumma made :) I carved it into the controller shape, butter creamed it then decorated it in fondant (I swear writing that sentence makes it seem like icing is the simplest thing in the world... which it so isn't!).

The Halo cake is in fact a banana cake and was my first attempt at chocolate ganache and it was yum! The Halo writing was done freehand and copied off a picture of the halo logo (however I had to source the "16" out which was a mission in itself) then filled in with Royal Blue coloured butter cream (my first time also using Americolor Royal Blue.

Just a quick post today as I am totally zonked from staying up until midnight (I'm a nana at heart),

Josie.

Cake It #5: Spangley Star Cake

 

The back of the cake 

It was our lovely neighbour's little girl's first birthday today, so as a present I made them a cake :) I've been dying to try putting fondant on florist wire. It worked quite well, because I was low on fondant instead of making the larger stars thicker I made teeny baby stars to stick on the back! It ended up really cute!

This was really a tester cake... I tested a new cake tin (20cm), a new method to get the cake flat (which didn't work), I also tested the stars and new colours of gel paste (Americolor electric pink, and Wilton Rose (which are gorgeous)) and lastly a new chocolate frosting. So it was a big learning curbe but also a lot of fun as it did not deviate from anything too hard!

 The front of the cake

Lastly I had to add sparkle! So I used pink and purple glitter to make the cake uber sparkley! I hope the neighbours enjoyed the cake :) Who knows? (But in truth the top I had to chop off to make the cake flat was deeelicious)

Josie.

Cake It #4: Miniature Banana Cake

 I love my mum!

When I made banana muffins the other day we had some leftover mixture, so i made a mini heart cake <3 Cute yeah? I just made it really so I could test out my new icing nibs, and to use up the leftover icing mix  but still! I'm quite impressed with the handwriting, haha but I accidentally knocked the heart with my hand before I got the photo... whoops! A quick post for a quick cake :)

Josie.

Gingerbread house (Sweetopia Tutorial)

Gingerbread house: Left Whole house with Mama and Papa Gingerbread men. Right (clockwise from top left): Back, Front, Top, Side

Merry Christmas One and all and I hope that you enjoyed time with family and friends. Here in New Zealand we get christmas extra early :) so that's always a bonus.

A post slightly deviated from cakes and to baking in general :) This year I decided to tackle a gingerbread house and BOY O BOY was it a mission! I made it all from scratch and it was totally kit free :) I used Sweetopia's Gingerbread House Tutorial which you can find here.
The video was amazing and ever so useful! But that does not mean that this whole thing went without drama... I put the roof on sideways and because the eaves were so long (I'm going to a claim Frank Lloyd Wright Gingerbread House on this one) they almost snapped off! My Royal icing was waaaay too thick  (You add water... another helpful tutorial on Sweetopia)

It's decorated with Jaffas (a New Zealand lolly : orange candy coated chocolate balls) fruity candy canes, royal icing, giant winegums, red chocolate chips and lastly strawberry jelly mix (the pink bits in the snow) Although it was a bit wonkity (*cough* whimsical) the family loved it which is what is important!  I'm sure glad they did, otheriwse that's a gingerbread house spread across three days labouring in a HOT (it's summer over here) Kitchen wasted as the royalicing you have to leave to harden for periods of twenty-four hours.

I hope you all have enjoyed your Christmas,

Josie.

Cake It #3: Poppy Cupcakes

Close up of the poppies

So today I tried something a bit brave. I tried making full-sized fondant poppies. Big Mistake. Apparently you aren't meant to use fondant to make flowers this big (gum paste is the way to go guys!). The poppies stayed moist at the bottom of the holders I made out of tin foil... then the majority of the poppies snapped. I swear I wanted to cry! Live and learn I guess!

Cupcakes up on the stand

They were to take to a Christmas Barbeque so thank goodness they ended up turning out okay! I was weighing up between orange and green icing and I'm so happy that I went with the orange, because i think the green would have clashed in such an awful way! I brought out the cupcake stand which has been stored away for a while due to my lack of baking.

 Me with one of the pink cupcakes

Overall everyone loved the cupcakes, so that was a success! And no one realised that they were broken... so that was a bonus. Now I am keen to try out making gum paste flowers - bring it on!

Cake it 'til you make it,

Josie.

Cake It #2: Grandma's Butterfly Cupcakes

Close up of the central cupcakes

The Wednesday just been I had a lovely day baking with my grandma. She is the only one of my grandparents left and I really appreciate being able to spend time with her, as she lives in a home and is not very mobile. I made some really quick Jam cupcakes while she made coconut ice, at my. house.

The cupcakes themselves are called "ladybird" cupcakes, but they are known to me as "the jam ones", they were iced with blue butter cream, with pink flowers and purple butterflies as well as pink, blue and purple edible glitter. The cases themselves were purple, so quite a bright colour scheme all and all. The cupcakes themselves weren't half bad but the butter cream was a touch liquidy... I think I added too much vanilla essence! Whoops!

 The whole plate, including make-shift doily

We took her back to the rest home and she gave them to the lovely nurses who look after her to thank them and wish them a Merry Christmas. She was very cute and loudly exclaimed "My granddaughter made these!". I love my grandma :)

Cake it 'til you make it,

Josie.

Cake It #1: Pink Ombre Cake

 The Finished Product

So, this is the first cake that starts the journey of my cake baking goal! This was a mission and a half to ice, as I accidentally made the wrong sized cake (so had to put two together) and it was hard getting the swirls to stick. On top of this it used quadruple the amount of icing it was meant to! (Yum! Whole block of butter and a kilo of icing sugar).

The Visual effect however is quite pleasing, it is the first ombre cake that I have ever attempted and it turned out quite well! It also had clear holographic glitter as well as cerise holographic glitter (I love sparkles!). It also had purple and pink fondant butterflies scattered all over the cake.

The Birthday Girl With Her Cake

Overall not a bad job, considering  my lack of experience. A bit squashed getting it onto the plate (I really must invest in a cake board), and the little oopsies with the swirls aside it ended up quite pretty. I certaintly got lots of comments on it, so the three hours spent icing it wasn't wasted. Hopefully the next cake will be done with better speed as I improve my skills :) The lovely lady who had the cake liked it very much (although perhaps the icing was a touch too thick).  Live and learn, I guess.


Cake it 'til you make it,

Josie.

Introduction

Today I step into the world of blogging for something I love. I have decided to pursue my hobby of cake baking further and I hope you will follow me as I progress and improve throughout the year :) My goal: In just over a year I want to do twenty-five cake projects (whether that be cupcake, cake or whatever else). Enjoy my stress, but also my enjoyment as I discover the magic world of cakes. Although I start off lacking any skill I will Cake it 'til I make it!

~ Josie