Vintage Floral Raspberry and Coconut Cake

This was a special cake for a special person, one of the people I love most in the world, my beautiful Grandmother! It was my Grandma's 85th birthday and I wanted to make her a cake that was as pretty inside as it was out.

My Grandma loves going out for coffee and cake, any outing we have ever gone on has been punctuated with a 'cappuccino break'. When I was little it was always exciting getting treated to an iced chocolate and something yummy. Grandma especially likes carrot cake and raspberry muffins, as the last cake I made her was carrot I decided to go with raspberry for this one.

This raspberry coconut cake is a new favourite of mine, I'm a little obsessed with coconut at the moment.  I blame the coconut bread from the coffee shop near work, It might be overpriced but the yummy toasted coconut flavour always brightens my day. 

The coconut in this cake made it yummy and moist and the raspberries dotted throughout are not only pretty but add lovely bursts of flavour. Coconut and raspberry are meant to be together and along with the white chocolate they make this a cake difficult to pass up.

For the Raspberry and Coconut Cake Printable Recipe

220 grams butter (softened)

1 3/4 cups caster sugar

1 teaspoon coconut extract

3 eggs

1 1/3 cup desiccated coconut

360 grams self raising flour

360 mls buttermilk

200 grams frozen or fresh raspberries ( if frozen, do not thaw)

To make the cake- Preheat oven to 180 degrees c. and grease two 8 inch round cake pans. Line the base and sides of the the cake pan with baking paper allowing about about an inch extra out the top of the pan.

In a medium bowl sift the flour and add the coconut, stir to combine.

Add the butter, sugar and coconut extract to a second mixer bowl and beat until light and fluffy.

 Add one egg at a time beating well after each addition. 

Fold in a quarter of the flour coconut mix at a time, alternately with the buttermilk.

Fold through the raspberries. (keeping the raspberries frozen stops them breaking up in the mix)

Divide the cake mixture between the 2 prepared pans and smooth over the tops.

Bake the cakes for about 1 hour, or until a skewer poked into the middle of the cake comes out clean. 

Allow the cakes to cool in the tins for around 10 minutes before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the White Chocolate Ganache

720 grams white chocolate (4 blocks)

220 mls cream

To make the Ganache- finely chop the chocolate and place in a large heat proof bowl.

Pour the cream into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate. 

Stir the ganache mixture with a hand whisk until smooth. Allow to cool and set for a few hours before spreading onto cake. (I find if I make my ganache before work, its the perfect consistency when I get home in the afternoon.)

Sandwich the two cakes with a layer of ganache. Spread the remaining ganache over the top and sides of the cake. Allow the ganache to set. Decorate as you like or just cut a slice and enjoy.

Sports Ball Cupcakes

These cupcakes where a fun way to kick off the year, especially considering some are footballs!

A friend asked if I could make some sports themed cupcakes for her nephews 5th birthday, given the standard shape of cupcakes and the fact most sports are played with a round ball the idea was a natural progression.

I know footballs aren't round but I think they work anyway, but its the basketball cupcakes that I think are my favourites.

The cupcakes were made with my favourite chocolate cupcake recipe and frosted with chocolate buttercream, then covered in fondant to transform them into baseballs, footballs, soccer balls  basketballs, tennis balls and cricket balls.

Gingerbread Cottage 2012

I enjoyed making last years gingerbread house so much that I've decided to make it a yearly tradition, this time going a bit more cottage-y than my pretty in pink house from last Christmas.

 I just thought I'd share a few photos because I've run out of time for a tutorial. If you'd like to know more take a look at last years house, it has the recipe that I used for both this house and the other I've made and also a step by step building guide.

 I decorated my gingerbread cottage using royal icing and little sections of fondant, like the door and shutters. The roof is easily my favourite past of this house, the tiles are white chocolate drops/melts attached with royal icing. I went a little silly with the icing sugar snow, but love how it looks covering the roof tiles.

Adventure Time Birthday Cake

Its decided, this is my favourite cake yet! Really it was an easy choice with a theme so cute. A friends little girl was having an adventure time birthday party and asked if I could do a cake to match. The birthday girl was dressing as Princess Bubblegum, so with that in mind I used the Princess and her Candy Kingdom as the main features of the cake.

Being an Adventure Time cake, I couldn't leave off Finn and Jake so they're on there too.

As well as Peppermint Butler.

And this candy corn person, because it was too cute not to.

The cake was all vegan, adapted from my favorite chocolate cake and buttercream recipe to make it was egg and dairy free. I covered the cake with fondant and also used it to make the characters. It was so much fun using all the pretty colours, I kinda want to make another one just for myself.

Happy Birthday Stella, I hope you had a lovely birthday!!

Candy Corn Cake

Its October again, how exciting!! A few reasons October is so rad, well there's boyfriend's birthday, my birthday, the awesome spring weather, flowers out the wazoo and its almost Halloween!!

This cake is a two birds with one stone kinda deal. It fits with this months Halloween theme, but was actually for boyfriend for his Birthday. Boyfriend is a big fan of candy corn, only true fans can eat candy corn to the point of feeling ill and still go back for more. So between his candy corn crush and October being the only real time we can get candy corn in Australia it was the perfect idea for a birthday cake.

I'm not sure what the actual flavour of candy corn is, to me its a bit buttery a bit caramelly so that's the flavour I went with for the cake. I used my favourite vanilla cake recipe and teamed it with some super sweet caramel buttercream.

This cake is candy corn inside and out. It is shaped and decorated like a giant candy corn outside and the layers of cake inside also match the candy's colours. I really love how the inside of the cake turned out and the best part, it was super yummy.

For a Candy Corn cake you'll need-
3 layers vanilla cake
caramel buttercream
1 kg ready made fondant
orange and yellow food colour gels

To make the Candy Corn Cake- 

Trace a candy corn triangle shape on a piece of paper making sure its not bigger than your cakes, cut out and use as a cutting template.

Trim the raised tops off the cake to get nice flat layers. Using your prepared template cut each layer of cake to shape. I saved the off-cuts for another project, but feel free to eat them.

Starting with the yellow layer of cake cut side up, spread with an even layer of buttercream. Sandwich on the orange layer of cake followed by another layer of buttercream. Lastly top with the white layer of cake with the cut side facing down.

Now that you have the coloured layers assembled cover the entire cake with a layer of buttercream and smooth out. Transfer the cake to a board or plate.

1 kg of ready made fondant roughly into thirds, colour one third yellow, one third orange and leave the last third white. Wrap the fondant with cling wrap when you are not using it to avoid it drying out.

Begin with the white fondant. Lightly dust your surface with icing sugar and roll the fondant out to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut a straight line down one side of your rolled fondant, this is where the colours will match up.

Drape the white fondant over the front of the cake about a third of the way up, smooth the top and then the sides. Try to keep the line roughly straight across the top and sides of the cake. Trim the excess fondant from the base.

Next step, the orange fondant. Roll the fondant to 1/4 inch thick and cut a straight line down 2 parallel sides.

Brush the straight edge of the white fondant with a small amount of  water.

Lay the orange fondant over the middle of the cake lining it up against the white fondant, smooth out the top and then the sides. While you are smoothing out the fondant, gently use your smoother to push together any gaps between the fondant colours. Trim of the excess fondant around the base.

Repeat again with the yellow fondant.

Smooth over the entire cake and neatly trim around the base.

Last of all attach candy corns randomly around the base of the cake with a little piped on excess buttercream.

There you have it a really cute Candy Corn Cake!!

For the Vanilla Cake (makes 3 8-inch cakes)

3/4  plus 1/3 cup milk 

7 egg whites 

3 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

4 cups cake flour

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 1/2 cup sugar

250 grams salted butter (softened)
yellow and orange food colour gels

To make the cake- Grease and flour three 8 inch square cake pans and preheat oven to 180 degrees c.

In a medium bowl combine the remaining 1/3 cup of milk, egg whites, vanilla extract and paste and set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the softened butter and the 3/4 cup of milk and mix on low to prevent flour going everywhere. When the ingredients come together increase speed to medium and mix until smooth, about a minute and a half.

Add the egg and milk mixture one third at a time, beating on medium for about 20 seconds between each addition. The mixture should be smooth and fluffy.

Divide the mixture evenly between 3 mixing bowls. Leave one bowl of cake mix uncoloured, colour the second bowl of cake mix yellow and the third bowl of cake mix orange.

Divide the cake mix between three prepared pans and smooth over the tops.

Place the cakes in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes keeping an eye on them toward the end to make sure they don't over cook. Test the middle of the cake with a metal skewer, if it comes out clean the cake is ready.

Allow cakes to cool in pans for about 10 minutes before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely. Cool top side up. While the cakes are cooling prepare the frosting.

Caramel Buttercream

2 3/4 cups icing sugar
115 grams softened butter (1/2 cup)

1/4 cup caramel sauce (I used store bought)

Place butter and syrup into stand mixer, mixing until pale and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating on low until combined. If the buttercream is to thick add a little more caramel sauce or if not thick enough a little more icing sugar.

Mario Kart Birthday Cake

Its been one fun cake after another lately and this one was no exception. This is the second time I've got to do a Mario inspired cake and had such a great time making it.

The cake was my favourite chocolate cake sandwiched with chocolate buttercream. I covered the outside of the cake with green vanilla buttercream and used the same again to pipe on the grass. The  kart track and characters are all made of fondant. 

The Mario topper makes me laugh each time I see him.

The track was shaped into an X for Xavier the birthday boy.

I was told Xavier is saving the Mario topper 'until he cant wait any more and then will eat his head off''.

Cute!!

Happy 5th Birthday Xavier!!!

Its been awhile since I've shared any recipes on here and I'm really sorry. Its October now though and that means Halloween!! I'll have lots of yummy Halloween ideas coming very soon, wait and see.

Giant Cupcake Cake and Cupcakes

I was so excited when I finally bought a giant cupcake pan almost two years ago, sad to say this is the first time I've ever used it. For my first giant cupcake though I am so happy with how this cake turned out. 

 I was asked to make a giant cupcake and 80 matching regular sized cupcakes for a 21st birthday party. The birthday girl only really asked one thing, that it all be in super bright colours, no pastels in sight. 

For the cake I used my favourite vanilla cake layered and frosted with cookies and cream buttercream, the outside of the cake was covered with rolled fondant and more fondant for the decorations. The cupcakes were vanilla with vanilla buttercream, topped with fondant cut-outs and maraschino cherries.

Pink Black and Leopard Print Masquerade Cakes

A few weekends ago I got to make not one but two super awesome fun Birthday cakes. The cakes were for mother and daughter who were having a joint Masquerade themed birthday party.

The colours for the party were pink, black and silver, with some leopard print thrown in on the 21st cake.

I tried to match the shape and size of the cakes, tying them together using the same numbers and bows.

The masks were a great find from spotlight, with a few added feathers they matched the cake perfectly.

The 21st leopard print cake was my favourite vanilla cake with yummy vanilla buttercream.

To give guests more than one option the 50th pink and black cake was my go to chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream.

I loved having another reason to use my favourite new quilting tool.

Happy Birthday to both Birthday girls!

Glad to hear the party was great and everyone loved the cakes.