As the Sun rises

© Hollipops Cakes 2012 - As the Sun rises

As the Sun rises on an Autumn day, I can feel the change in the air. The days are getting shorter, the mornings are cooler, and the leaves are starting to fall.

I love autumn, I always feel that after Summer, autumn brings a slower pace. I put a blanket on the bed last night as the cool air crept around the bedroom. The birds didn’t wake at 4am, because it was still dark until 6.45am. The way the Sun hangs a little lower in the sky, and not forgetting, most importantly – the colours.

The leaves seem to come into their own this time of year, and before they fall to the ground, mother nature puts on her own little show, with the leaves showing a kaleidoscope of colours. I love the warmth of the colours, and how the sunlight shows through the trees and leaves to give a new meaning to brilliance.

The big question is?

How to translate autumn onto a cake?

Any ideas send on a postcard lol.

Today I have a plan, first to make some chocolate cupcakes. Not for any special reasons, I just love to eat chocolate. And lets face it when it comes to design I always find a little chocolate helps me concentrate. That’s the excuse I’m using, and I’m sticking to it 🙂

I will draw some designs, maybe I’ll go for a walk and collect some leaves to get the colour combination right. I’m just waiting for the oak trees to start changing so that I can take some photos. I think I will start doing a pinboard of different images to get the design aspect right. In fact I may start doing that for all my cakes.

So I have a fairly productive afternoon coming up. Not only I have to come up with the autumn designs, I also have jot down some Mothers Day designs as well, which is coming our way –  Sunday 13th May.

In case you’re wondering where I took the photo, it was a very early walk with my husband around Birdsland Reserve Belgrave – VIC.

© Hollipops Cakes 2012 - Rockabilly cake after the party

And finally ……. The Rockabilly cake for my eldest daughters 50’s theme birthday party yesterday, went down very well!

Out of 3 tiers of chocolate truffle torte, this was all that was left after everyone went home.

Nothing like seeing a cake cut up, and lots of empty plates – well apart from the crumbs.

Best get into the kitchen to start the chocolate cupcakes, with a bit of gold sparkle I think.

Rockabilly Birthday Party & Cake

© Hollipops Cakes 2012 - 50's Rockabilly Cake

Well here it is, this my eldest daughters 50’s themed birthday cake.

Under the gorgeous decoration (I know – I’m biased) of fondant icing, is chocolate truffle torte covered and layered with chocolate ganache buttercream.

Last night when I started this cake, I honestly did not know what it would look like. After covering the middle layer with the pink fondant I took a quick break. Not sure how, but in the 2 minutes that I was away I could see a vision of the cake in my head. So from 7pm till 1am I worked to complete that vision.

My daughter had so many ideas for the cake, that if I had done what she asked, it would have looked like a mess. So in the process of decorating I striped it back to basics. I’m glad I did polka dots because, my cake matched most of the young ladies 50’s clothing that they wore today.

© Hollipops Cakes 2012 - Rockabilly Party

Keeping with the theme, the party bags, were red & white polka dot cupcake holders. So all the kids got red and white jelly beans, balloon, a cocktail umbrella (they went down really well!), and they got a cupcake each.

The cupcakes were kept simple – vanilla sponge, vanilla buttercream with the jelly beans made into a little flower pattern. And finished off with red & violet glitter.

We kept with the 50’s theme right down to the food, sandwiches, sausage rolls, jelly and Battenberg cake.

Everyone ate and drank well, the kids had fun and filled the house with laughter, and my daughter got some really nice presents, which she is now going through and playing with.

As for me, I now get to chill out and relax. More importantly I am aiming for an early night, as all that party prep is tiring!

Cortisone Injection + Cake Decorating = No Fun

I don't like needles 😦

I don’t like needles, never have. It’s amazing I have tattoos considering my fear of needles. I literally have to force myself out the door to have a blood test, or immunisation. So I really wasn’t going to enjoy the whole prospect of having a cortisone shot in my shoulder.

I had organised a good friend to take me to the hospital and to make sure that I stayed! The Doctor who did the injection also treats the Hawthorn AFL team, so he comes highly recommended. This still didn’t make me feel any better about an ultrasound guided injection.

I am looking forward to after the procedure, I am looking forward to make/decorating cakes without pain. I use to tread kneading of fondant or chocolate, as the pain afterwards would be that intense, that I couldn’t hold my daughters hand.

Having my friend with me really helped take my mind of the up coming procedure and I am very grateful that I didn’t have to go on my own. The nurse and doctor were fantastic and it was a lot quicker than I had anticipated. The part that made me feel a little yuk, was when the nurse said I could look at the ultrasound, and see the needle – there is some things I don’t need to see.  My arm now aches around the injection site, and it feels a little heavy.

In the words of the nurse “no cutting the lawn,or chopping wood, in a couple of days you should start to feel the benefit of the cortisone.” Which is what I am looking forward to the most – no shoulder pain 🙂

How To Decorate On A Hot Day??

Today is a warm day – it will get to 33C/91F, and this is great if you want to catch a bit of sun to improve those vitamin D levels. However when you  have cakes to decorate this can be a bit of a challenge. Especially when inside the house can get to 30C/86F.

I don’t have the luxury of air conditioning, so we deal with the heat with a small portable air con unit and fans in each room of the house. Again this is fine when it’s just the family, but when I work with chocolate that likes to be kept cool, then this is where problems arise.

I know that at some stage I will have to wake up earlier, so that I can work when the house is cooler, but that isn’t always the case in Australia especially on those 40C/104F days, when the house never seems to cool down.

I also position the fans where I am working to keep the area cool. At Christmas I made a cake that every piece of chocolate I worked with, got shaped and then put back in the fridge, before working on the next bit.

On the ‘Links,’ page I have found 2 recipes from Wilton that are designed for high humidity days.

Of course when I get my bakery I will have AC installed, then the issue won’t be as bad, but what can I do that I’m not already doing at home??

So if you have any tips, drop me a line in the comments. All tips will be greatly received.

Just a quick note on the wedding, I got to take my Mum & daughter to the dress shop this morning, where I got to try my gorgeous dress. What a wonderful way to start the day.

What to do for Valentine’s Day?

It’s no secret who my Valentine is as I’ve been married to him for nearly 9 years. However there won’t be any romance tomorrow night as my husband is currently working away. And with a child who is not feeling her best, I feel tomorrow night will be long for all the wrong reasons and a lot less fun.

So today and tomorrow I will be making a Valentines Cake made for 2 – I’ll just have to force myself to eat his share :

For the most romantic night of the year, the recipe could be either

• Chocolate – as this contains both a sedative which relaxes and lowers inhibitions and a stimulant to increase activity and the desire for physical contact.

OR

• Banana, not only due not only to its shape, but also its creamy, lush texture, some studies show its enzyme bromelain enhances male performance.

If you want a really good night then you could combine both.

I think I will make it chocolate, and then wrap the cake in a thin layer of pure chocolate and a delicate chocolate decoration on top.

So tomorrow night, get a babysitter in and have the night to yourselves, or put the kids to bed early, curl up together, have a glass of champagne – the drink of love, or a glass wine, have some chocolate and not forgetting the bananas, and have a really lovely evening.

What shall I do?? I’ll open my card that my husband posted a week ago, watch a good movie while eating my Valentine’s Day Cake for 2.

Hi World

© Hollipops Cakes 2011 - Learning new techniques

I am a stay at home Mum who loves nothing more than baking and decorating beautiful cakes.

I’ve always baked but it wasn’t until mid way through last year (2011) that I went from the annual birthday cakes, to making some gorgeous cupcakes and 4 tier chocolate masterpieces.

What I really want to achieve is to one day open up my own bakery. From the counter you’d have your choice of cupcakes in flavour as well as decoration. You would see chocolate birthday cakes with the option for them to be personalized. And it would go right up the scale in novelty and bespoke cakes. I don’t see why my dream can’t be made into reality. All I need to do is some hard work and determination and anything is possible.

Many chefs and bakers started at home using recipes that have been passed down through the generations and then made them their own.

Fiona Cairns started her business from her kitchen table. She has been cake-making for 25 years, ever since she made mini-Christmas cakes as presents and her husband, Kishore Patel, suggested that she go into business.

The company now has 75 employees and supplies more than 750,000 cakes (mostly fairy cakes) a year to shops including Fortnum & Mason, M & S and Waitrose – and personal customers, notably Sir Paul McCartney and Keith Richards. And more importantly she designed the 8 tier wedding cake for Prince William and Princess Catherine.

My attitude is this – if Fiona can do it, so can I.

For me – I want my products to do the talking, I want them to taste as good as they look. I have so much to learn and then apply, that I thought I would write about it, and share amongst the other homebakers with a dream…..