Once upon a time, there was a girl who wanted to make some Lemon Cheat’scakes - the easiest lemon cheesecakes the world had ever seen. So she went to her kitchen and prepared to make them. But alas, she had no lemons. Nor, as it turns out, did she have any plain biscuits… or white chocolate... An so it seemed she was not destined to have Lemon Cheat’scakes. But wait! There in her pantry she had chocolate biscuits! And caramel sauce! And dark chocolate! And thus, Chocolate Caramel Cheat’scakes were born. Believe it or not, that person with the sadly lacking pantry I’m referring to isn’t me, it’s my friend Loralee. She is the queen of ... continue reading...
Choc Caramel Cheat’scakes ~ Simple Chocolate Caramel Cheesecakes
Lightly Salted Caramel Sauce
Remember a couple of months back when I told you I had found "The One"? If you missed it, I'm not talking about a person (if my "One" guy is out there, he's so well hidden he must be wearing camouflage) but rather I found the one lemon curd recipe for me. Which led me to realise there's another soulmate recipe that I haven't shared with you yet. The One Caramel Sauce. And I already had plans for a dessert recipe using it so I thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and make them both so I could share them with you. So here it is! Lightly Salted Caramel Sauce. "Why is it a 'lightly salted' caramel recipe?" I hear you ask. (Or maybe ... continue reading...
Hand-Painted Cake Tutorial ~ Boho Inspired Cake
I'm going to make a little assumption here. You're probably reading this post because you fancy the thought of (or have been talked into) making a cake with a hand-painted design on it. And possibly you're thinking "Oh, ain't no way I can do that!". Well you know what, I reckon you can. Really. I have that faith in you. And also, I'm about to give you some Cake Painting for Dummies instructions on how to do it. Not that I think you're a dummy, because clearly you had the initiative to find a tutorial to help you on the road to a fabulously painted cake, and dummies wouldn't think of that. So instead of Cake Painting for Dummies, I'll call ... continue reading...
Lemon Cheat’scakes – Super Simple Lemon Cheesecakes
Ok, I have something to confess. It’s something I’m quite ashamed of, and I hope you don’t think any less of me. Here it is: I used to think cheesecake was gross. *and… breathe* I should add a disclaimer here, when I thought that, I had never actually tried cheesecake. The name was what made me think it must be terrible. Who would put cheese in a cake? Cheese! Then I tried it. Ohmagawd that was the end of my cheesecake hate. Now I’m all about that cheesecake (‘bout that cheesecake, no treble). The only downside of cheesecake is that it can be a pain to prepare. Baked cheesecakes can crack (and make you cry) or get ... continue reading...
Festive Almond and Honey Nougat
So this Christmas thing is nearly here. It’s a pretty popular holiday, although I’m not gonna lie, I’m really only in it for the people, the presents, the food, and the Christmas cake. (Which is food, but it’s special food so I’m counting it on its own.) Speaking of special food, I’m also pretty partial to nougat at this time of year. My best friend asked me to describe it to her the other day, and I couldn’t really come up with anything better that “it’s kind of a nutty chewy honey thing”. Maybe it’s something that’s better tasted than it is described? I jazzed up this festive almond and honey nougat with printed edible wafer paper in a ... continue reading...
Barbara’s Easy Lemon Curd
You know those recipes that you try once, and you know that they’re so good that you’ll never need to try another recipe for it ever again? You’ve found “The One”. This lemon curd is definitely The One for me. I hadn’t intended to share this recipe just yet, I was saving it up to share alongside another of my favourite recipes this summer. But the lovely lady who gave me the recipe passed away last week, and I decided now would be the perfect time to share it in honour of her. I’m not sure I can write too much without bursting into tears, but suffice to say Barbara was kind of like a Great Aunt to me, she was a very good friend of my ... continue reading...
How to Make the Shiniest Edible Metallic Paint
If there are two things I love in this world (aside from cats, and pyjamas, preferably cuddling a cat while in my pyjamas) it's cakes and shiny things. Even better when those last two things come together, shiny things on cakes. Which is why I wanted to tell you about this little trick - how to make the shiniest edible metallic paint. I discovered this way of making extra shiny metallic paint quite by accident, while making a gum paste drum kit for my honorary Grandad’s birthday. His drum kit is kind of a deep red metallic colour with a high shine finish and I knew I wanted to match it as closely as possible and get it as shiny as ... continue reading...
How to Make a Mini Drip Cake
You know the saying “bigger is better”? Well, as a rather short and generally small person, I prefer this one: “good things come in small packages”. Because small is cute and fun and, you know, bite sized. A couple of years ago, one of my best cake friends tricked me and a few others into thinking a tiny cake she had made from play dough with her kids was a regular full sized cake. In the picture it really looked as though it was. I felt silly for being tricked, but it was of course, hilarious. That gave her the idea to create a Mini Cake Challenge competition on the Facebook page that we run for New Zealand cake decorators, challenging ... continue reading...
Ganache FAQ
Once upon a time, actually not that long ago, I had no idea how to cover a cake in ganache. More accurately, I had no idea how to even make proper ganache let alone apply it neatly to a cake, let alone get sharp edges on the cake. It took me what felt like forever a lot of time soaking up how other people worked with ganache, a lot of trial and error and a lot of time before I figured out how to make all of that information work for me. It never occurred to me during that time that one day I might actually kind of know what I was talking about, let alone know enough to tell other people how to do it. (Although I am a bossy only child, so ... continue reading...
How To Wrap A Cake With Fondant
If you’d asked me when I started this blog, “what is the one thing you will never do a cake decorating tutorial on?” I wouldn’t have hesitated - my answer would be “covering a cake in fondant!” Fondant and I have issues. Like serious, personal issues. Fondant hates me. Hates me. I don’t know what I ever did to it to make it feel that way, but it does. So there it is. For years, every time I would try and put fondant on a cake, something would go wrong. The fondant would be too dry. It would be too soft and sticky. There would be air bubbles. Holes. It would stretch. It would tear. There would be tears (my tears, because of the tears). ... continue reading...
Fancy New Look!
If you’re a regular visitor to the blog, you may have noticed that I’ve just had a bit of a facelift! Ok, not me exactly, I don’t think I’m quite at the facelift stage of my life (nose job, maybe, if I’m honest, but not facelift yet). It’s the blog that is looking a little snazzier, so I just wanted to write a little post to tell you about the changes, the new look and a couple of other little things that I’m excited about. I’ll start at the top, with my gorgeous new logo, designed by Nicole at Pretty and Print. I asked for something with sprinkles, and not an average-bakery-logo look, in ice cream/gelato type colours. Apart from those ... continue reading...
Can You Ganache A Fruit Cake?
The question "Can you ganache a fruit cake?" is a bit of a loaded one. There's really three answers to that. There's the old-school, traditional fruit cake decorator answer of: "Of course not! Blasphemy! Fruit cakes are covered in marzipan, then fondant. The end." Then there is the semi-traditional answer of: "Of course not, fruit cakes are covered in almond icing (almond flavoured fondant) and then fondant. The end." Then there is my answer/personal opinion: "Sure, if you want. It's not traditional, but it's your cake. As long as you don't need to keep it for months once it's covered, then if you wanna ganache it, ganache it. Ain't no ... continue reading...
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