Pretty Coloured Cake Pops

Oh, I have been such a naughty blogger: I have yet to implement any of the features and things I had envisioned starting this month! Slapped wrists for me. I did, however, take lots of pictures for a technique feature I want to start. To cut a long (boring) story short, I have decided to put it off for a while until I can get myself organised.

In the meantime, I have been busy making things. 

 

 

Cake pops! I feel like I am getting a lot more comfortable with cake pops, and practicing definitely helps. It’s all about making sure the cake pops are the right size and aren’t too big, and that candy melts are deep enough in your bowl for easy coverage.

I made these a little while ago. I wanted them to be seen as Valentine ones but, like my whoopie pies, that didn’t turn out. 

But I was still pleased with the final ones – I really like the turquoise with the fuchsia pink. So bright but still sweet and pretty.

And it turns out that someone else liked them too because I got asked to do an order for a birthday…in Cheshire. I don’t live in Cheshire. And I definitely can’t personally deliver there. So next week I will be facing my first delivery challenge and posting cake pops! Eeeek! I will keep you posted about that!

But for now, let’s stay calm and look at another pretty picture…

Vicky x

World Nutella Day

Happy World Nutella day! 

Oh yes, that little jar of chocolate hazelnut spread has its own day! Do I think it deserves to have its own day? Well… Why not? Good for Nutella! I’m not an eat-it-out-of-the-jar-with-a-spoon kinda gal but I do enjoy it on my pancakes or the occasional crumpet (it oozes into the holes and gets all melty and yummy.)

But in the spirit of being up for celebrating anything sweet and baking related, I decided I’d take part. 

I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to bake my little heart out so I decided to bake one, simple thing. That ended up being Nutella truffles. When searching for Nutella inspiration, truffles seemed to pop up a lot. I thought they would be quite faffy but, after finding this recipe by Muddling Along Mummy, I realised they were exactly what I was looking for.

Muddling Along does justice to her own recipe on her blog so I won’t pretend I know about the ins-outs of it, all I know is that the recipe was easy and quick to put together and the end result tasted delicious. 

The middle was creamy and smooth and the hazelnut flavours from the Nutella really came through. This perfectly balanced the bitter dark chocolate that also made up the inside, and both these flavours were in turn balanced by the sweetness of the white chocolate coating. You could probably use milk or dark chocolate to cover the truffle but I don’t think this would have worked as well, although if the richness of dark chocolate is to your taste, maybe it would work.

I think I would definitely make these again; they’d make a great gift on their own or even part of a hamper. And they took next to no time, apart from the chilling but that just gives you chance to tidy up...or do something else more interesting! I may have made them slightly too big; truffles are such a decadent thing and don't need to be huge. I also think I will make use for Nutella more in the future – I do actually really like the taste and I think it could add a smooth and creamy element to baking.

So my first World Nutella Day was a success! I’m thinking Nutella brownies for next year…

Vicky x

Hello February!

So here we are – February. Did everyone have a good January? I think my January has been pretty successful: I crossed a few things off my ‘to do’ list, my business ‘to do’ list is progressing, my Filofax has become my best friend, I have yet to miss anyone’s birthday, and I managed to get my new tax disc before it ran out! Hurrah!

February is looking to be a busy month for me, and I am excited to get stuck in to the baking I have been asked to do. One task this month is to make a batch of cake pops and send them off to Cheshire as a birthday present! I will be sure to let you know how that one goes…! (Wish me luck! :/)

I have also decided that February is the month I get sorted with my blog and add a bit of structure to it. I’ve got a few ideas in mind, so I need to continue with my super organisational skills and make sure I get things done. As well as adding a bit of variety to my blog, they’ll also help me develop my baking and decorating skills, and push me to try new things. Here’s hoping anyway!

Vicky x

Birthday Cake - The Perfect Children's Tea Party

I love doing children's birthday cakes! They are so bright and colourful and always have such fun characters on top. 

As you can see from above, this one, made for Theo, the son of a family friend, was no exception.

What started as a cake featuring Peppa & George Pig, and the Gruffalos, soon had the addition of a mini Speedway racer and the last minute addition of a dinosaur!

It was so much fun to make and I felt I was able to ease into modelling the characters a lot better, probably because I had already made a Gruffalo and Peppa Pig before. It was definitely proof that practice does make perfect! Not that I am saying that they're perfect...They're really not!

 

 

 

The family are big fans of speedway racing so when they asked for a speedway racer, I thought it would be cute to model Theo in his own speedway leathers.

The painting of his leathers wasn't great and is definitely something I need to work on; keeping a steady hand and maneuvering a paint brush about is currently not my strong point!

And finally came the dinosaur! The dinosaur was added last minute after his Nanna phoned us to inform us that he had been telling everyone that he was having a dinosaur cake! 

Theo came with his Mum and Nanna on the morning of his party to collect the cake. His first thoughts on seeing it? 

"That T-Rex doesn't have any scales on its tail!"

Brilliant. I am very sorry I upset him by ruining his dinosaur but I'm also very happy that he knew what it was! Other than that, he loved it, which is the most important thing! :)

Vicky x

Magical Macarons

I am so happy! Like, seriously!

If you’ve read any of my posts from when I started this blog, you may remember that I made the dramatic decision to cut macarons out of my life FOREVER!!  Yes, I was no longer going to have sleepless nights over footless bases or cracked shells, and I was very dramatic about the whole thing.

Well, I changed my mind.

This change of mind was a prompted a little by my stubborn nature and my need to win at everything, a little by my Mum’s colleagues love for macarons, but mostly by the pretty, shiny Kitchen Aid that Santa brought me!

Look at her…. *sigh*

I was convinced that the Kitchen Aid would be the key to successful macarons and I may have been right...

After trying my hardest with Hisako Ogita’s recipe for macarons and not having much luck, I decided to put my Kitchen Aid to use on a different one. This one was in a book I got for Christmas which took all the fear out of making macarons. Much like the posts by http://bravetart.com/ (that I also tried,) it treats the macaron recipe like any other, and, it sounds strange, but it really helped me relax into the process. I still used some of the other tips I have picked up along the way, namely bashing the tray after piping the macarons to knock the air out, as I think this seems to be such a fundamental part of the process I couldn’t not do it. This recipe also called for the macarons to rest for 30 minutes before putting them in the oven; this allows the macarons to form a skin, and helps make the crispy outer shell when baking.

It hurts me a little to think that the key to my macaron success is solely based on my mixer so I am going to sy that my recipe and less faffing also played a role. It cannot be denied, however, that the mixer helped whisk my egg whites like never before! Oh they were beautiful! Beautifully stiff and glossy, and full of lovely air. Wonderful.

But even after all of this I was still doubtful. But then something amazing happened...!

I opened the oven door to turn my trays midway through baking and I couldn’t believe my eyes: there they were all raised with that beautiful foot right round the bottom! I could have cried! It was a beautiful moment.

They weren’t, however, totally perfect. In my fear of not wanting to knock out the air provided to my egg whites by my beautiful Kitchen Aid, I was a bit too gentle when mixing in my almond/icing sugar mix. This meant that my end batter was still quite stiff and when I piped out my circles, I was left with little blobbies on the top that didn’t quite settle in, and remained even after baking. But after my pied success, I wasn’t going to let this bother me!

I may have mentioned previously that my Mum’s work friends love macarons: they fight over them at work. So after giving them macaron cast-offs for a while now, I was so excited to be able to give them something that actually looked AND tasted like a macaron! :D They had a crispy outer shell and a chewy centre, with a sweet vanilla flavor. This was complimented by the sweet and buttery vanilla buttercream filling.

As a result of this, I am back on with my mission of making great (note I did not say ‘perfect’) macarons. I will give the basic vanilla recipe another try first, being sure to give my batter a few more folds next time and hopefully judging when I’ve got the right consistency.

Then it’s onwards and upwards to different colours and *gulp* flavours!

Vicky