Friday, November 19, 2010

Triple Chocolate Christmas Pudding Cookies


Triple chocolate cookies masquerading as Christmas puddings.That's my kinda cookie!

Also yummy, give me a choice between a decorated cookie and a chocolate cookie and I'll pick the chocolate one nearly everytime. This way I get the best of both, decorated sweetness and chocolate yumminess.

and look you can even make them into pudding pops.



Is there any baked good that doesn't look cute on a stick. I just popped 8 inch sticks into the cookie dough before baking and allowed them to cool on the tray a little longer.

I like this version with the mini red m&m's in the cookies as well, even though it looks a bit like a weird face with a pudding hat.

I didn't come up with this idea, I was inspired by a picture of a little similar one on Flickr and thought it was so cute. The instructions for my version are after the jump.


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Dessert plate on a skewer, macaron, cupcake and cake pops sticks


Found some pics from a couple of months back of some dessert skewers I made for a competition.

I didn't win........I know my mum thought I should have as well, but there are so many talented people around that that's the way the cookie crumbles, and there were some lovely entries with really great styling.

Close up of oreo truffle cookie pop

They did pop my pictures up on the blog so I was happy to see them up there.

These skewers were made from mini cupcakes wrapped in marshmallow ribbon fondant, oreo truffle cookie pops decorated with a fondant daisy and a lemon buttercream macaron.
Cupcake with Vanilla Italian Buttercream wrapped in marshmallow fondant ribbon.

The recipe for the individual portions are mostly already on the blog:

Click here for Macaron with lemon buttercream recipe

Click here for Marshmallow ribbon fondant instructions

Click here for Oreo Truffle Cookie pop recipe

Oh and I did a pink version as well, chocolate buttercake with rose vanilla Italian buttercream topped with a raspberry, raspberry macaron and tim tam truffle cookie pop. Yummo!


and yes I do have some Christmas stuff planned soon, I promise, in fact tomorrow I have the day blocked off for a bit of baking.

Update

here is the link to the contest I entered winner page http://www.pizzazzerie.com/how-tos/cupcake-skewer-contest-winner/

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Hazelnut macaron with white chocolate chai ganache Mactweets 13


MacTweets Challenge # 13 is Falling in Love with Macarons, fall being the key word here.

Living in Sub Tropical Queensland a couple of months into spring I struggled a bit in deciding on a fall themed macaron. Nothing really jumped out at me, I toyed with the idea of a pumpkin filling but noticed a few of the other MacTweeters had already taken on that challenge.Nuts......



No, really, then I thought nuts...hazelnuts I would make a noisette macaron.

I searched around the blogiverse for a recipe but nothing jumped out at me so I decided to modify the recipe I already use. It felt a bit risky, but that's the kinda girl I am.....throwing caution to the winds I replaced some of the almond meal with toasted hazelnut meal.


How cute is this stand I bought from Sharnel Dollar Designs

and I LOVED them, more than almond macarons.

The fragrance of the hazelnuts as they toasted filled my house with a wonderful warmth and the finished macaron seemed a little heartier and less sweet.

I filled most of them with a white chai tea infused ganache which had a lovely taste but was a little bit too soft (I've modified the recipe a little to add more chocolate in the below recipe). The remainder I filled with a raspberry jam mix (just IXL shop bought) and those raspberry jam ones were the BEST.

I'm sorry I keep on using capitals but I'm a bit overexcited with these new macarons I came up with, I'm sure you'll love them too. Recipe after jump.....

Friday, November 12, 2010

Lolli-cake-pops tutorial and cake pop bouquet



By popular vote on my facebook page I am doing a tutorial on the lolli-cake-pops I made up.

But first I'm going to bore you with share the story of how I came up with these pops as Amanda asked how I come up with these ideas.

Saw some cute dagashi inspired marshmallows on the decorated cookie blog and I thought wow - they are super cute might try making some cake pops like this.

Timing was just before Halloween so I tried out some Halloween inspired ones. I considered these a big fail which is why you didn't see the pics. Will be going back to these with a new improved formula/process one day soon.


However while I was covering them in marshmallow fondant I saw a vision of lollipop cookie pops and that's how I got to these.
 

and while I was making these I came up with another great idea which if they work I'll share as well.

Yup that's me...... I see cake in almost everything I look at.

Then after I finished making them I was inspired to make a lollipop cookie pop bouquet by gorgeous photo's I've seen around of lollipop brides wedding bouquets.

Hint - if you are making the pops for a bouquet use real candy melts not just white chocolate like I did in my second batch as the candy melts set harder and will not smudge while your manipulating your pops around in the bouquet.

The bouquets were really cute and they would probably make a perfect little flower girl bouquet if you can stop the kids from eating them for long enough....





Oh and great news I have a cookbook being released in the US December 2011 - here is a link to Amazon, the preorder price is ah-mazing. Stacks more recipes and ideas for pops and other treats on a stick:



Anyway I know you just want the tutorial so here you go. Recipe after jump.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Cupcake pom picks from Ah Tissue Loving them

 
Thought I would share some pictures of these cute new Australian hand made cupcake pom picks from Ah-Tissue,
how gorgeous are they...... look how effortlessly they add height and colour to the cupcakes.

I was lucky enough to be able to make up the cupcakes and fondant toppers to help showcase this new product.

I sooooo love it when someone who actually knows what they are doing with a camera takes photo's of my treats they always look 100% nicer.

Cute Christmas cupcakes


sweet little ladybird topper

 Baby boy and girl perfect for a baby shower.....


and it goes without saying that I love the pink cupcake pom pick, but I think this one below is my favourite


It makes me think of a delicious neapolitan ice-cream.

Cupcake pom picks - Loving them!

Ah Tissue has a wide range of pom pom products available which are perfect for dressing up your party table


Cupcake pom pics from Ah-Tissue

Cupcakes and fondant edible toppers Bubble and Sweet

Cupcake wrappers by The Cupcake Wrapper Co

All images belong to Ah Tissue and used with permission.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Stuff I've been up to

I'm feeling very guilty at the moment and have been being a bad bad blogger.

Although I have been neglecting the blog I have been busy baking and this is a quick post to share some of the things I have been doing.

A couple of weeks back I attended a friends Girls Night in held in honour of her co-hosts late mother Eileen and I really wanted to share a couple of photo's. These ladies raised just under $2,000 to donate to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. It was superbly organised with raffles, a dessert table, auctions and more, many local business were so generous in donating goods and services.  I made some macarons (of course) some decorated sugar cookies and triple choc cookies. I had a great time, met some lovely people and even won the lucky door prize (wahoo), thanks so much to the organisers for such a great night.




As well as the girls night in, this past weekend I made up a couple of batches of cupcakes and decorated cookies for my Aunty who participated in the relay for life in her bid to raise awareness and funding for Lynch Syndrome, she and her supporters did a great job as well.

and you all know it was Halloween, well was baking up a Halloween storm, orange macarons for the neighbors, Halloween cake pops and more. In fact I entered the Little Betsy Baker Halloween pop competition and was lucky enough to win the facebook fan vote with my Betsy Witchy Poo pops pictured above.

Then I made up a batch of rainbow lollipop cookies for Faye at Giggles and Tantrums for a photoshoot, yup their the ones at the top of this post, those cookies always brighten up my day.


And created some new lollipop cake pops pictured below.......tutorial on how to make these will hopefully be up within a week.


oh and some cupcakes and fondant toppers for Ah Tissue fabulous new product shoot which will get their own posting in a couple of days.


Phew, and a bit more in between all of this ....busy busy busy.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Ladybeetle love bug cupcake toppers



OK, I'm totally in love with these little lady beetle love bugs I made today. Ever since I saw them in a new book I bought I've just been itching to try them out.


Now I'm not the best with figurines but the ones in the pics were my first attempt using the easy instructions in Debbie Brown's new Gorgeous and Gruesome cakes for Children.


Who wouldn't love this little fella and his misshapen eye...


and I thought I would try my hand at making the concept into a bee, it needs a bit of work but those lady beetles love, love, love them.

I used the instructions in the new Gorgeous and Gruesome cakes for Children by Debbie Brown...mostly.... just a little tweaking, Debbie's look way cuter of course, but I did replace the little feelers with fondant just because I have little kids and I like everything to be edible where possible.


Gorgeous and Gruesome Cakes for Children
Gorgeous and Gruesome Cakes for Children

Sorry my posts have been a bit sparse lately, I have been a little bit busy with real life. But don't worry soon I promise I'll have a tutorial for these super cute and super sweet Bubble and Sweet original Lollipop Cake Pops I made last week.