Father's Day

   Father's day came and went, amidst the mayhem that was September I even made time for dad cakes. Both were coffee cake with plain butter cream frosting and fondant. I shamelessly used these two cakes to try and figure out how to cover a cake with a single sheet of fondant. I think I did alright, what creases were left I disguised with decorations and no one even noticed.

   First I decorated my future father in law's cake, which is why its a little more thick looking and less delicate. I also went with a more cartoony decoration because he is the father to five kids and I thought it would look fun.

    The second cake was for my own father and I rolled the fondant a bit thinner which is why it has crisper edges. I wanted to have a little fun playing with a more mature design and also practice my piping, so I took inspiration from the classic Wedgwood collection. And yet again I couldn't help putting bling on a cake!

There will be cake...

   What do you make for a guy that loves computer games? A PORTAL cake!

   More specifically an Aperture Corp. Weighted Companion Cube. This particular cake was made from lemon sponge with plain butter cream frosting and fondant in greys and pink.

   As it was my first time trying to carve a cake into shape and cover one with fondant, I think it turned out well indeed. To try to limit travel destruction I made the corners with a foam core covered in fondant, otherwise they would have been to heavy and ripped off the cake at the worst possible moment. In the end I simply had to pull them off to serve the cake, and it was minor damage for the point two of a second it took people to eat it.

Uncle Jeff's B'Day

   Hello again! Been awhile... 

   These are some pictures of the cupcakes I made for my uncle's birthday/house renovation get together. My grandmother (his mother) is gluten intolerant so I made these gluten free chocolate cuppies with ganache frosting and white fondant flowers I made. 

   They're a non-realistic flower obviously, I was going for the look of some of the block print patterns you see on modern fabrics and then I put dragees on 'cause I likes a bit of bling.

Kiri's 21st

   No one can accuse me of not taking enough photos this time! All the effort of learning how to make sugar roses for my own birthday was just the tip of the ice burg. Kiri and her cakes were the real reason I went many a late night in July, but I think the results speak for them selves. And so, I give you the birthday girl!

 

    I was actually afraid that I may have made her cake to girly, but when I got the photo of her with her cake, I thought it was just girly enough. I was told by the birthday girl and her sister (who was the person who initially contacted me) that she likes pink and is a very girly girl. Except for the yellow (I didn't have any whitener for the butter cream so I had to embrace the yellow...) and the peachy tones to some of the roses which gives the top a grandma vibe, I think it turned out really well! Oh! And the cake was Devil's Food Cake with butterscotch schnapps cream filling and vanilla bean butter cream icing.

   The cake was made for a more family orientated crowd of about 15, but she also wanted cupcakes made for a party of 25 for her friends at Cloudland. Boy was I intimidated by the idea that my cuppies were going to as fancy a place as Cloudland! So I knew they needed to be pretty spiffy to not fade into the background. I think I did quite well actually.

 

   I continued the  pink garden theme with a main cuppie that I topped with the most intricate rose I have made to date but gave it black leaves and silver sparkle to give it a little more modern look. I surrounded that with mini cuppies I covered with small plain flowers in varying shades of pink making a hydrangea feel. After that i went a with a less realistic look but totally awesome, fabulous almost tropical space-flower.

 

 

    Do I need to keep going, or do you understand just how much I love these cuppies? They were all the same Devil's Food Cake but with vanilla bean and/or raspberry butter cream frosting. The petals were white chocolate I painstakingly melted, smeared and set in a curl. I'm sure there are easier ways to do it, but I don't know how, so I just made it up as I went along... I love them!

    Still love them...

    There aren't too many pictures, are there? When I was frosting and putting the chocolate petal flowers together I had to keep stopping for dancing fits because I was so proud of how they were turning out, I felt like a cupcake god! They were AWESOME!

P.S.

   Just thought I would share some shots I took of the mayhem created by making this many fancy cuppies...

My birthday... finally

   I know that in the last post I said I would try to do this more often, but the June/July period was such an emotional and physical drain that I kept putting it off- and then my keyboard broke! So, I have plugged a keyboard into my laptop and am getting back on the blogging horse.

    It was my 27th birthday on the24th of June, and I already knew I was going to need to make sugar flowers for another cake project, so I used my own birthday to learn/practice making roses. MANY roses later and I had my beautiful purple/grey buttercream covered devil's food cake with raspberry filling and topped with a small posey of red roses.

    To go with it I also made a dozen cupcakes with mini rose buds.

    I went out to party, ate well, drank lots and all in the company of friends!

So, I've been away awhile...

   So, I've been away awhile... New job takes up most of my time and energy. Between that and barely staying on top of my laundry I have to scrape time together to work on cake planning for someone else's birthday and planning my own birthday this Friday. Throw in a traumatic pet death and you have one hell of a fortnight! Slowly getting there, getting into a rhythm with work and building stamina back up for long days... Anyway, I just put my finished invite up for my birthday and this is what it looks like:

   Not too bad for half an hour at midnight after a full day at work. On a Sunday. Not the best either, but its good enough for me! I'll come back with progress pics of my rose making...

The cake idea...

   The girl who I was putting the "Let Them Eat Cake" idea together for is now having her party at an awesome club that would drawn out any attempt a guest could make to have a theme, so I have embraced the decor of the club as a theme and the birthday girl's love of girly and pink as a guideline to follow.

{the venue, isn't it beautiful?}

   I have spent awhile thinking about what I am personally capable of and what cake I would like to make her and how big a cake 30 people can eat... In the end I decided on two tiers done mad hatter style wonky and it had to have some sort of flowers or plant life with parallel lines and dots and swirls. All in pinks. And gems. And silver...

   To much? I think not! Probably going to have to go with faux flowers though as I don't personally have the time to make a hand full of sugar ones...

P.S.

   Sorry I haven't been posting as of late, I got a job that's leaving me drained most days and I just had a traumatic pet death. Still have to plan my own b'day celebrations, yay me!

My birthday!

   Its my birthday this month and I thought I might have a celebration after all. I had been thinking of a purple theme with red roses and gold flake and this reminded me of a shoot I saw on Save the Date for Cupcakes. It was titled Amore and was apparently loosely based off of a very lush banquet style period in Italian history with lots of over flowing platters of fruits. This shoot really captured the look I was thinking of as well so I've taken inspiration from there and thrown in some purple cakepops and some cupcakes--although mine will have purple frosting with roses in gold liners...

   I put it all in a gold frame because it looks pretty.

Mock up invite!

   I really like this invite mock up for the "Let Them Eat Cake" party, its more fitting to the edgier youthful vibe I was feeling from the B'day girl. The simplicity of the layout leaves it looking mature and classy, while the bright pink curtains hint at a saucy burlesque performance about to go down, and the cursive/calligraphy and fancy swirls add a touch of... well, fancy. Hope she likes it!

Beer tasting blokes birthday

   I came across a beer tasting party on Hostess with the Mostess and think it may be the most awesome party idea for a bloke. Set up your bar or living room as a pub by removing the lounge and replacing it with bar tables and some stools. Get a handful of different types of beers, or even ask people to bring a six pack of their favourite beers and set up specialised stations for the different types; beer, ale, lager and the like. Serve pub food in miniature or in shots to keep everything easy to eat with one hand-- because the beer will be in the other! I could go into it further, but you should probably go look at the Hostess site to read the descriptions in the words of the two ladies who really did through one of these awesome parties!

 {Beer tasting birthday party}

{A pub inspired Brew Bash}

Let Them Eat Cake! Burlesque style...

   OK, I found out that the 21st is going to be held at a burlesque style bar and lounge, so I made some changes and here is the new board for the "let them eat cake" party.

 

   I went to the website for the bar and got my hands on some of their images--that's the top image on the board, one of the private areas. It seemed that she wanted more pink then I had originally planned so I took inspiration from this photo and pulled hot, bold pinks and sumptuous purples straight from it. The rest of the bar is heavily detailed with gold filigree and edges so gold is now the shiny metallic of choice and their needs to be something else to break up the candy floss girlyness, so I threw in some black as a non-pink that doesn't draw away from the chosen colour. Still going with a handfull of cakes, but only one will be full scale, a couple will be small and the others will be faux cakes--icing over foam blocks. I really like the new edgier style, less froo froo, and more funky.

Incredible Hulk Dip

   I just had a brainwave that I have to share, and I know that this is more of a note than a blog post, but my big idea I want to share is still in the works. But first, Incredible Hulk dip!! It came to me when I was pondering the reasons why there aren't more green corn chips out on the market, and it probably has something to do with the fact that people have a thing against food being the wrong colour to that which they perceive is the norm. Anyway, the concept is green corn chips and beetroot dip. Green for his skin and purple for his shorts! Green and purple are the hulks colours because he is a not-so-good-guy good guy, and all true superheros are in solid primary colours. But that was my brainwave, Hulk dip, and I'll get back to putting together tomorrows blog post!

Seven Deadly Sins Cupcakes

   I made these cupcakes for the 2009 Halloween party I had, but I wanted them to be a: based around a sin, and b: based around an alcohol. There was a lot of experimenting and I have to admit the beer/sloth cuppies were not that good, but it was an experience and they looked really cute!

   The sins are as follows, with their alcoholic partner:

• Gluttony--Creme de Cocao
• Lust--Chambord
• Wrath--Grand Marnier
• Pride--?*
• Greed--Butterscotch Schnapps
• Envy--Tequila
• Sloth--Honey Beer

   It was a real laugh asking everybody who would listen to me, what flavour or alcohol they thought best represented a sin and also the looks on peoples faces when I told them I had every intention of making beer flavoured cuppies. In the end I went with the following.

   Gluttony had a chocolate brownie base, moist chocolate cake spiked with Creme de Cocao, filled with rich chocolate fudge, frosted with chocolate mouse style cream and topped with dark chocolate shavings.

   Lust was red velvet cake with a raspberry and chambord filling, frosted with red tinted butter cream and topped with a Chambord soaked raspberry.

   Wrath was an orange and chili cake filled with Grand Marnier cream, topped with burnt meringue frosting, and sprinkled with orange zest sugar.

   Greed was caramel mud cake drizzled with Butterscotch Schnapps, a caramel center, frosted with triple gooey caramel layers and butter cream frosting with large gold dragees.

   Envy was a margarita cake with zesty lime and Tequila cream filling, frosted with a lime flavoured green butter cream and rimmed with sugar.

   And lastly, Sloth was a Honey Beer butter cake with beer spiked butter cream frosting and sprinkled with grey tinted sugar pearls. This would probably have been better if it was the only one I had to make, and I could put all my effort into them. Maybe next time I'll do a reduction with the beer and make the cake beer-y and the frosting honey-y...

   As I mentioned, they didn't all work out, but they were fun to come up with and try to execute, but I will never make a that many cuppies again! A dozen at least of each flavour and then I also did regular and mini cuppies. When I put them all on the table for photographing, they looked like small armies about to go to war...

     *Unfortunately, while writing this I have come to realise that I have completely forgotten what pride was. Once I do remember, I will update this post asap.

Bacon anyone?

   I really want to do a bacon menu for a guy's birthday party, so I scoured the interwebs and came up with a pretty comprehensive cocktail nibbles menu.

Appetizers
Bacon and Garlic Dip
Bacon Party Bread Sticks
Bacon Popcorn
Bacon and Cheddar Stuffed Mushrooms
Bacon Deviled Spinach Eggs

Entrees
Bacon Chili
Cheese and Bacon Cornbread
Bacon and Tomato Potato Skin Cups
Bacon Bowl BLT
Bacon-Cauliflower and Broccoli Salad
Bacon-Spinach Salad with Warm Dressing

Desserts
Maple Bacon Cupcakes w/ Maple Frosting
Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies w/ Maple Cinnamon Glaze
Chocolate Bacon
Bacon Candy
Candied Bacon Fudge
 
   I think that by the end of frying all that bacon, you wouldn't even want to go to the party let alone eat any of it! But I still think it would be a cool idea...




P.S.
   Apparently this beer is perfect with bacon: Schlenkerla Smokebeer.

Let Them Eat Cake!

   Yes, I know Marie Antoinette never said it, but it is one of the most famous historical non-quotes, and it has "cake" in it. Chloe of the enchanted forest rose cupcakes has a sister, and she is turning 21, and Chloe asked me to make a cake, but who really thinks my imagination is going to let go at just a cake... She seems to be a real girly girl, into pink, big sunnies, friends, and parties. Apparently she really likes Ilana's 13th Birthday I put together, so I started thinking of lots of pink but in a more grown up, less princess, more queen diva--in a good way! Originally thought of doing a whole crowns and gold with a more hot pink pink and black instead of brown, almost royal nightclub. But then I kept finding the most beautiful cake inspiration but couldn't not choose any. So I chose them all, and the "Let Them Eat Cake!" idea was born.

   I love the OTT lux Parisian girly theme of Marie Antoinette parties, but never had a chance to try to put one together. The colour pallet for this party had to be tweaked to suit the pink loving birthday girl, so I dropped the eggshell blue to the background and brought rose pink to the foreground as the main colour with blush pink, hot pink, buff cream, plum and a choice of antique gold or brushed silver as accent metal. Think layers of assorted fabrics in these colours with vases overflowing with feathers and flowers like roses, peonies, and hydrangea; candles in votives and on candelabrum; cakes on stands at different heights in different styles and colours; gold leaf; platters of desserts like assorted parfaits in 2.5 ounce shooters, mini tarts, mini cupcakes, mini brownies, cakepops, macaroons, triple dipped chocolate covered pretzel sticks, extravagantly iced sugar cookies, donuts, and a whopping pile of pink fairy floss; and, of course, pink Chambord spiked champagne.

  I am so excited about this theme idea, I even mocked up an invitation...

   I really hope the birthday girl likes this idea, because I want to put this together like I want to breath. I also hope the guest list will be more than a hand full of people because I think this idea's food lends itself to excess, the more piles of sugary treats the better!

Greyskull's 21st idea...

   July seems to be the big month for birthdays, lucky I was a June baby then... To bad here in the southern hemisphere its the middle of winter in July, because I found really good BBQ party ideas that would have been perfect for a guy. So, instead, I started thinking along the lines of a hunting lodge or cigar lounge type of theme to get that cozy--yet manly-- indoor feel with lots of warm appetizers and liquor. In the end, I came across a party on Hostess put together by Shannon of Boutilier Design for a guy named Jack for his 40th. It was a Jack Daniels party!

   I'm pretty sure the birthday boy's favourite liquor is Southern Comfort, so I would personally change it up, starting with going from black and bronze base colours to brown and gold with hints of black and cream. All the details are there and can be adjusted for most brands of alcohol pretty easily. The level of detail put into this party is spectacular starting from invites to their envelopes to luminaries and posters.

   For this party they set up a simple photo booth with a couple of props for guests to take comical shots. A frame from the op shop, some faux mustaches, and a black board speech bubble or two with chalk for the subjects to write their messages on, is a fun way to add childish humour to these special photographic mementos.

   This style of party would be perfect in a club lounge or in a cellar, but really, you could do it anywhere. I am completely in love with the rich masculine theme, and can't wait to try it out. I'm thinking a bacon theme for the food? Maple bacon cupcakes...?

 {want the recipe?}

Spiderman to the rescue!

   Lets get cracking, shall we? Spiderman. Going into this I would have sworn that throwing a Spiderman party would have been easier than a Superhero party. Shockingly, it is very much harder, what with the abundance of Spiderman merchandising. It all ends up being very commercial and not at all as appealing as the classic colours and iconic figure should be to a party theme...

 {spiderman decal}

   Starting with cakes of course, preferably cupcakes. The simple style of the Spiderman lends itself to the cupcake in one way. There is one basic cupcake/Spiderman formula and it works. Cake--what ever flavour you like, I wonder if red velvet would work?--blue frosting, red spidey mask topper. Its perfect, and all the other options are either limp or require a spidey/Venom standoff, and I have to say, villains don't go on the cute cupcakes unless its that kinda party. I did find an incredibly simple cupcake design which was white frosting with a black--maybe chocolate--web piped, set and then placed on top. Very classy, but bordering on Halloween so there needs to be something Spiderman close by. Try red and blue frosting with white chocolate webs?

{these web slinging cuppies are from Clever Cupcakes, Cupcake DD, and Jennyvier}

   For a candle cake I would personally love the mad hatter style cake with red, turquoise, white and black but that would definitely require marzipan. I like the simplicity of just the face, and it could be done with good ol' butter cream frosting smoothed out with a knife and then black lines piped on. The eyes could be more piped icing smoothed out or royal icing piped onto a baking sheet, left to harden and then placed on top. Or somewhere in between with a possible marzipan or smoothed frosting option surrounded by buildings. The buildings could be made out of marzipan again or they could be piped from royal icing or cut from died chocolate. There is an option for any skill set!

{snazzy spidercakes from here, Cupcake Sisters, and Decaf Please}

   Food for a Spiderman theme is similar to the superhero theme, with Peter Parker delivered mini pizzas from "Joe's Pizza", "Doc Ock Dogs" made by splitting the ends into eight sections--when they're boiled the ends curl up like tentacles--, "Green Goblin Pumpkin Balls" made by colouring popcorn orange, and "Sandman Power Mix" which is just trail mix in sandy colours. For drinks I found two fun and easy options of "Super Power Punch" made by mixing fruit punch with sprite for fizz, and "Green Goblin Juice" made from lemonade and ginger ale with Pop Rocks.


   Sugar? Why yes sir, I do believe I shall. Sugar cookies are a good start for any party and ovals can easily be turned into spidey faces, while circles can be spider webs or plain colour with a spider. "Spidey Webs" can be made of shoestring liquorice in red and black. Marshmallows dipped in red and blue candy melts with a corresponding mnm on top. Cakepops can be coated in the classic spidey colour scheme and even piped with white webbing. Any other store bought candy in red and blue on mass will add instant drama when put into glass vases and apothecary jars.

 {sorry, this image is AWOL and a Blissfull nest}

   Red and blue balloons are a great way to add a heap of colour to a room without much effort, but to make sure, use red or blue tablecloths with a large plate in one colour--not the same as the tablecloth--and then a smaller plate on top to match the table. White napkins are easy to find, but if your party is around Halloween it should be easy to find spiderweb napkins to use instead. Webs from Halloween are a cheap way to make it look like Spideys been by, just scatter plastic spiders everywhere for a finishing touch--also works with one of the games I found. If you have any Spiderman toys they can be utilized for decorations on the buffet, candy, cake, or sit down tables.

{direct from a Blissfull nest}

   Activities! Boy did I come up with the mother load... I'll put it in a list to make it a little more legible. But first start the party by having each kid get their face painted into a spidey mask!

• Spiderman Pinata--Venom's head is a nice balloon like shape... 

• Super Hero Lungs--This is an easy one. The kids get the balloons and when you say "go" they start blowing them up. The player/s who pop they're balloons loose, and the kid with the biggest balloon by the time you say "stop" wins!

•  Pin the Spider on the Web--Paint a web onto a large board and print out Spiderman spiders onto sticker sheets. Cut out the spider stickers and hand them out to the kids at the party and proceed as if it were pin the tail on the donkey.

• Venom Tag--Any villain is good for this game. A great way to burn off all that sugar and hyper happiness. Select a villain from unsuspecting family members or from the kids. Once a kid is tagged, they become it and so on. Remember to section off a safe zone for kids to rest when they get pooped, this could be named "Aunt May's House".

• Sandman Dig--This only works if you have a sandbox. Bury prizes in the sand and hand out shovels or let them use their hands to dig for treasures.

• Spiderman Winner. Get the kids to choose a "pumpkin ball" and on the count of three they sit on them until they pop. The kids with a winning ticket get a prize!

• Spider Web Walk--Kind of like musical chairs. Cut circles out of cardboard and paint them with spidey webs. In the center of each circle write a big number. Place them around in a circle. Play the Spiderman theme song and have the kids step from web to web. When the music stops, draw a number out of a hat and the child standing on that number wins.

• Peter Parker's Mad Science Lab--Use the below recipes to make "Goop" or "Flubber" in the kitchen. This activity relies heavily on acceptance of mess.

Goop
1 cup of corn starch
1/4 to 1/3 cup of water
paper cups

Flubber
1 1/2 C. Warm Water
2 c. Elmer's Glue & Food Coloring Solution
4 tsp. Borax
1 1/3 C. Warm water Mix
Mix the first two ingredients then the second two separately.
Then pour them together - do not stir.

• Spider Catch--The scattered spiders come into play here. Hide a few around the house for this game to be a little trickier. Explain to the kids that some spiders have gotten loose from the research lab. Instruct the party guests to hunt them down and collect the spiders.

• Spider Wed Escape--Have all the guests assemble in a circle. Have each of them extend their right hand into the circle and grab the hand of another guest. Have them extend their left hand into the circle and grab the hand of someone else. Explain to them that they are now apart of a human spider web and must escape the web without letting go!

• A crafty table is a good way to keep the quieter kids amused with printouts of a "Web Maze" and colouring sheets.

{maze and colouring in}

 

{face painting}

 {party favours}

   The idea for invitations is similar to the superhero invites, just more red and blue, spiders and webs. Again, most of them can be mocked up on the computer and printed out at home, but some enterprising mothers have gone all out with their scrap booking/stamping and done multi-layered card invites with webbing stamped on and string threaded through a picture of the man himself. I still prefer the newspaper invite though...

 {courtesy of Paper and Thread Studio, Spiderman Invitations, Hand Stamped, and Leslie Designs Stuff}



   Well, that's all for Spidey, I hope you enjoy the rivalry of Superhero vs Spiderman, and don't forget to leave a comment to say which you like better! Remember, there's a mum out there who will have to make the final choice and I do not envy her that decision...


P.S.
   The words to the theme song? Oh yeah:


Spider-man, Spider-man
Does whatever a spider can
Spins a web, any size
Catches thieves, just like flies
Look out! Here comes the Spider-man!

Is he strong? Listen, Bud!
He's got radioactive blood.
Can he swing from a thread?
Take a look overhead.
Hey there, there goes the Spider-man!

In the chill of night,
At the scene of the crime
Like a streak of light
He arrives just in time

Spider-man, Spider-man
Friendly neighborhood Spider-man
Wealth and fame, he's ignored
Action is his reward

To him, life is a great big bang-up
Wherever there's a hang-up
You'll find the Spider-man!