Di-licious

Last Friday I dipped my toe into the world of cooking demonstrations. I was invited to demonstrate icing techniques as part of a CWA Cooking Masterclass. Although quite nervous at the thought of talking to a room of strangers, once I got going, it was actually a lot of fun. I was reminded of a public speaking course I'd done back in the day where we were invited to give a five to ten minute talk about any topic we were passionate about. I talked about how to make a true risotto. It was so easy. I actually enjoyed myself explaining to a room of predominantly men the importance of using the correct rice, how to deglaze the pan and why you absolutely MUST stir the pot the whole time. When you know your topic, it's easy to show enthusiasm and exude confidence. So how did the icing demo go? Really well. I received so many lovely comments and learnt so much watching the other presenters over the course of the day. Talking to girlfriends a couple of days later, one of th...

When decorating birthday cakes, I love finding a way to make them a little less ordinary.  My almost mother in law (Mr Di-licious and I haven’t made it down the aisle, yet) loves quilling . I’ve never done quilling myself but I thought it would make an excellent design feature for her 70 th birthday cake. Quilling is essentially rolled up strips of paper, arranged into beautiful patterns. I figured it wouldn’t be too hard to emulate the effect with thin strips of fondant.  A couple of attempts later, I realised I really needed to use gumpaste. The strips need to be rolled out really thin, allowed to dry slightly and then rolled up– quilled. I made a variety of different shapes in different colours as well as a stylised 7-0. The final design didn’t follow an existing pattern – it just sort of happened.  If you look closely you can see flower shapes in there. The tablecloth idea was actually a work around.  Originally I’d planned to ...

Hoot Hoot!! How cute are these adorable owl cupcake toppers? I whipped these up last week for a special surprise birthday delivery for my niece. I've been making cupcakes for Hannah's birthdays for the last three years.  Its always interesting to look back at photos of earlier decorating efforts - I've come a long way.  Last year was sort of the p ièce de résistance   - the famed Golden Snitch cupcakes for her Harry Potter themed party. This year we were getting ready for our epic drive to Byron Bay for my sister's wedding , so we didn't make it to Bendigo.  So no Di-licious cupcakes for Hannah.  At least, that's what she thought! Last week I arranged to come and stay the night with Olive and I brought along half a dozen cute owl cupcakes - SURPRISE! We both agree that the embossed ones make the greatest impact but the plain pink ones are cute too. I re-purposed a scrapbooking card embosser to create the embossing effect (cheaper th...

Yesterday was Mr Di-licious' birthday.  But not any ordinary birthday, the big 4-0. Sadly for him he is in the middle of exams and unable to celebrate in the way he would like.  So last night it was a simple acknowledgement - Beef Bourguinon, a special bottle of Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon (2004 Ladbroke Grove Killian) and cake. Mr Di-licious has some eclectic tastes: country music, two earl grey tea bags per cup and last but not least, chocolate cake and lemon icing. So inspired by Sweetapolita , I produced a chocolate layer cake, filled and covered in lemon buttercream and drizzled over with a puddle of chocolate ganache. Since it was only the three of us I made a tiny six inch cake.  And you know what?  Six inches was plenty!  The cake is very sweet so a small slice is all you really need. I used my favourite chocolate cake recipe (I promise to share it with you one day!) and made a simple buttercream flavoured with ...

You could be forgiven for thinking that the life of a baking blogger is all sugar and spice and all things nice. There is an ugly side. Welcome to “reality baking” in a domestic kitchen where sometimes the cakes just don’t bake pretty. Uneven edges, baking papers coming away from the cake – there’s no rhyme or reason why it happens. But when it happens to an important order, it’s annoying to say the least. The cakes themselves were fine (di-licious in fact) but they just didn’t look great. Even a generous swirl of buttercream couldn’t hide the fact that the papers were distorted. In order to get these cakes to the party on time, I rewrote the rules for cupcakes and tried something a little unorthodox - I gave them a head to toe makeover. Firstly, I removed the offending paper cups. Just like the plain-Jane secretary taking off her glasses and shaking out her hair, all of a sudden my ugly duckling cupcakes turned into swans with serious potential. Next, I neatened up th...

As a mere amateur cake decorator, I am still navigating the highs and lows of rolled fondant. A few weeks ago I completed my second-ever fondant covered cake. It was an order and I wanted it to be perfect with a capital P. The occasion was little Alice Rose’s first birthday party. I made her christening cupcakes and knew the crowd would be expecting something di-licious. The cake itself was simple enough – vanilla butter cake filled with raspberry buttercream. I’d made the fondant roses, leaves, letters and heart ahead of time. I just had to cover the cake (cue imminent danger music). Fondant is finicky and it can sense your fear. But sometimes you have to face near catastrophe in order to get the job done. Here’s what I learnt the hard way: Less really is more. Colour more fondant than you think you’ll really need but once rolled out, estimate the size of your cake and sides and trim away the excess before lifting up to cover your cake – fondant, even when ro...

I guess it happens in every social circle but we’ve re-entered the zone of milestone birthdays – this time it’s the big 4-0. In February three close friends were turning forty within a week of one another. I remember them negotiating dates for parties months before. Invitations were issued, RSVPs sent and before I knew it I had three cake orders, three weeks in a row – all for big celebration cakes. I have this memory of my Dad’s fortieth birthday cake back in 1981. Mum ordered it from a bakery – it was a huge square cake, possibly chocolate, filled with mock cream and coated in chocolate sprinkles. Happy 40th Birthday Dennis was piped on top by a practiced hand. Whilst the fashion of cake decoration has evolved mostly for the better, a big square layer cake remains a classic for big celebrations. My interpretation of the ultimate milestone birthday cake is a triple chocolate layer cake. Three 11inch square layers of di-licious chocolate cake, sandwiched with chocolate butter...

I had a lot of fun planning my daughter's 3rd birthday cake.  However even the best laid plans can go awry. Initially I'd planned to make a two-tiered white chocolate mud cake, covered in fondant and decorated with fondant strawberries, leaves and flowers in a homage to Cath Kidston .  I wanted my first fondant covered cake to be stunning. Sometimes though, you have to let the cakes (or lack of cake) decide what your design will be. The 9inch cake worked out perfectly - it was tall and even and cooked through. At the time I thought I was on fire!  Then I cooked the 6inch cake. The worst thing a baker can do is start to feel cocky before the cake is finished.  I must have invoked a curse because my 6inch cake had a big crack on the surface.  I tested it with the skewer (in multiple spots) and came out clean.  Fantastic!  I let it rest on the bench and got busy with cleaning up. Fifteen min...

I just love spring.  Days begin to feel warmer, new growth appears in the garden (where my one year old pup hasn't already demolished the plants) and if you're in Melbourne, it has rained, and rained, and rained. My daughter Olive has loved it - lots of muddy puddles to jump in.  Clearly its time to whip up a bunch of mudcakes! Mud cakes are the modern wedding cake decorator's salvation.  They can be baked a couple of days in advance, allowing plenty of time for elaborate decoration.  Mud cakes tolerate fridge and freezer storage and being particularly dense, can be reliably stacked on top of one another or carved into fun shapes like teapots. Mudcakes are also ridiculously easy to make - melt and mix. Gently heat your chocolate, butter and milk together and allow to cool.  Whisk up your eggs and combine with the cooled chocolate mix and then pour into sifted dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly, pour into cupcake papers and...

One of the joys of cake making and motherhood are impromptu tea parties. My almost three year old daughter Olive is well versed in the custom and loves it when I test recipes or decoration techniques. This time around I was experimenting with cake chemistry, a la Cake Journal .  The lovely Miss Louise from Cake Journal has a theory of how to make the perfect domed cupcake - perfect for dipping in poured fondant.  She changes the traditional method of creaming butter and sugar together and instead whisks the  eggs and sugar together and melts the butter with the milk.  I used my favourite vanilla cupcake recipe to see how different (and puffed) my cupcakes could be.  Method-wise, I would go so far as to say Cake Journal's method was simpler and faster.  It was supposed to yield a runny batter which would benefit from using a jug to pour the batter into the cups but mine was still thick.  I ended up using my trusty ice cream scoo...

Isn't this one of the prettiest things you ever laid eyes on? I made these beautiful (di-licious) hydrangea cupcakes for my friend's daughter's baptism. The vanilla cupcakes with vanilla and raspberry buttercream were all the more special thanks to Neilsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract. I splurged on a bottle at Simon Johnson a few weeks ago after talking for half an hour with one of their sales team about how important a great tasting cake was. She assured me that my cakes would reach another dimension with this amazing vanilla. Well, she was right. These were by far the most amazing vanilla cupcakes I have ever made. The perfume, the taste - just di-licious! I hope I can continue to produce cakes to this standard when I one day put up my own shingle. I have been consistently underwhelmed by the offerings of cupcake shops and wonder if the so-so cake is a product of the production process that making bulk cakes requires. Its something I'll need...

Last night I was feeling playful. I'm in the midst of creating Golden Snitch cupcakes for my niece's party this weekend and I wanted to take a break from wings and gold paint. I showed you my first fondant roses recently and pledged to turn them into something pretty - and so here it is. Very simple, but very pretty! I also got myself a new cake decorating toy - an embossing plate. In truth, its actually an embossing plate for making impressions on cards, but its also perfect for creating pretty cupcake size designs on fondant. To see some really pretty cupcakes, take a look at Small Things Iced - a gorgeous bespoke cake maker and decorator in the UK. One of these days I'll catalogue some of my favourite sites and blogs.....another project AFTER the Golden Snitches!

My couture cherry blossom cupcakes made their grand entrance on Saturday night to rapturous applause and lots of 'oohhhhh' and 'aahhhhhhs'. The birthday girl was happy. I was even approached by one guest about possibly doing her wedding cupcakes in January - a wonderful compliment! The proof is always in the tasting and this time I achieved what I had set out to do - a very grown up Jaffa cake - Grand Marnier and Chocolate that was both flavoursome and moreish. It was fantastic to receive such postive feedback on my work. It also confirmed for me that no matter how pretty the cake looks, its the taste that will always have the bigger impact. Another original Di-licious recipe to add to the master file!

One of my dearest friends is having a party to celebrate her birthday so I thought a great gift would be to make her some very special couture cupcakes. I use the term couture a little tongue in cheek - I don't think they're a one off design, but the distinction sets it way above a basic buttercream swirl. First thing to consider is flavour - a couture cupcake has to taste amazing. My friend's favourite cake flavour is jaffa so I wanted to make a very special chocolate and orange cake. And orange doesn't get more special than Grand Marnier, that oh so beautiful french liquor. I did a test batch of cuppies using Lindt Intense Orange chocolate. They were nice but the dried orange and almond pieces kind of spoilt the texture a bit. So I'm modifying the recipe by using unsweetened cocoa instead and appling a coat of dark chocolate ganache under the icing. Now we get to the fun bit - the design. I like to ask people what colours they'd like and any specif...

What's a birthday without gifts and cake? So why not kill two birds with one stone and present your lucky friend with a gift-cake? Inspired by Sugarbloom's Tall Cupcake Tutorial , I thought I'd try my hand at covering a cupcake with fondant to make a birthday gift for a special friend. Never mind the fact that I had never covered an entire cake with fondant before.... Well, 9 cupcakes later I think I nailed it: The mini cake is actually one of my lemon delicious cupcakes, coated in white chocolate ganache and pale pink fondant. I didn't make the pink and white flowers myself, but I did pipe the monogram (another first with Royal Icing mix). The cake was packaged in a matching gift box with gorgeous Cristina Re vellum paper and brown grosgrain ribbon. I sacrificed a lot of cupcakes along the way, but I did learn some things in the procees: ganache is better than buttercream under fondant you really do need to let the ganache set before you try to smooth fo...

I have been making cupcakes for my niece Hannah's birthday for the last couple of years. This year she wanted a Harry Potter theme. I have a small confession to make here - I have never read or watched Harry Potter anything. There is a back story to this but lets just say I can't. Harry Potter cupcakes, OK cool, I thought. Then she announced that she wanted Golden Snitches - what??? Anyway, brief lesson in Harry Potter folklore (there are university courses in the UK for this stuff now!) - Golden Snitches are a golden, walnut-sized ball with wings used in a semi-contact sport called Quidditch , apparently very popular with witches. Ok - so she wants round balls with wings, coloured gold on top of cupcakes. I can do this. One of the things I love best about cake decorating are the toys, I mean tools. This project allowed me to add a few more things to my arsenal. I tracked down a wing cutter and veiner to pattern the wings online at Iced Affair (arrived within 2 days...