Sinfully chocolate

I made this chocolate cake for our New Year's party. I didn't have enough raspberries to cover the cake so I used a stencil to improvise. The chocolate cake is made with cocoa powder melted in boiling water which totally takes out the raw cocoa taste and gives you a sinfully rich chocolate cake when made with pure butter. The ganache is 1 part cream and 2 parts 70% dark chocolate

Bees and Roses

I just got back from my hometown and it was my friend's birthday and she was over for tea. This was the best I could do in a few hours! Turned out nice and clean all thanks to Satin Ice fondant and gumpaste.  Very nice texture but good price at the same time. I have always been a Wilton fan but I am now sold on Satin Ice.

Pistachio Lime Carrot Cake

I have never liked carrot cakes as they are usually quite dense. I like the flavour profile of the carrot cake though,  a hint of cinnamon with cream cheese. The solution was to modify a standard carrot cake recipe. The recipe I used called for bread flour and 45 minutes of baking, things that created the dense texture.  I replaced the bread flour with plain flour and instead of 45 minutes, I divided the cake batter into 3 equal portions and poured into 7 inches baking tins. I then baked them for exactly 12 minutes in a moderate oven.  I also omitted the walnuts called for in most carrot cake recipes and opted for pistachios instead but not in the cake batter. The results - 3 fluffy layers of carrot cake. Now comes the all important cream cheese frosting.  Equal amounts of cream cheese to icing sugar beaten together.  For the zesty flavour I opted for the citrus fruit that is very uncommonly used in baking - Lime.  Most recipes would call for orange or lemon.  Well, I love lime.  It's one of my favourite acid source when I  cook. It is bold and distinct. One lime zest into the frosting. Assembling the cake is to layer the 3 fluffy layers with the frosting and then cover the cake as well and pat the chopped roasted pistachios around the cake. Top with more lime zest.  The final product is a fluffy carrot cake with a zesty sweet frosting and a crunchy outer layer of nuts. My carrot cake is definitely one of my most requested flavour amongst friends and family.

Bubble bath cake

I made this for my sister's birthday.  She loves her bath and homespa!

Message Bees

I made this for a friend who wanted to get a special looking cake for her best friend who had just announced she was getting married. They were having a small dinner with a group of six friends so I thought this was a great way to represent the 6 girls -Bees carrying a congratulatory message!

Christmas Everywhere

I made this for my sister so that she could take it to a Christmas Potluck at her office. Everyone loved the cute figurines and actually ate them!



Safari

I made this for someones birthday. This cake was a bit tricky as the request was for it to be a veegetarian cake which are usually much more crumbly than the usual cake. I made layers of vegetarian orange cake - no eggs, just butter, flour, sugar and freeshly squeezed orange juice and zest. I then layered it with butter cream before icing it and covering it with fondant. This turned out not as difficult as I thought it would be!