Princess Castle Cake

I'm the possessor of one very strong willed, stubborn daughter. My husband is the possessor of one soft as a marshmallow wife. It's probably not an ideal combination. But we try to do our best and with lots of coaxing that wild little girl, we often get where we need to be.
But to make matters more difficult, she's a self-proclaimed princess. She even tells strangers with a poker face that she is in fact, a princess-as if they should know better.
As if I needed to feed the delusion, I agreed to making her a princess castle cake for her third birthday. We found a castle cake kit by Wilton which my daughter loved-it had a million spires and the price for the kit was a bit over the top too for a third birthday.
So I thought I'd wing it. She was beyond thrilled with the end result, although at one stage I was tearing my hair out trying to mend tearing fondant which was melting as I placed it. You will know why if you live in Brisbane. It's still spring and we've had days of 40C+ weather with tonnes of humidity. Not cake friendly. The back of the cake looks like a dogs breakfast. Thankfully no one's looking there!
I used a double mixture of Mississippi Mud Cake and made the base cake in a 15cm round tin, and three small round cakes in 7cm ramekins for the tall back tower part of the cake. These were covered in fondant and skewered into place. The towers can be made from mini sponge jam rolls but I used cardboard rolls, topped with mini waffle style ice cream cones. I used a texture mat to create the brick pattern on the fondant, and the other decorations were hand rolled vines and roses. I hope you enjoy the photo by photo cake tutorial. Shoot me any questions you might have. It's much easier than it looks and you can even get really clumsy and messy with it like me and easily cover the flaws-and it will make any princess wanna-be totally thrilled for weeks.

STEP BY STEP CASTLE CAKE PHOTO TUTORIAL

 Roll and cover your cake board in fondant.Trim the edges to neaten.

Crumb coat your first cake with a thin layer of buttercream icing and refrigerate for 10 minutes or so to harden.

 Place the rolled fondant on your cake. It doesn't have to be absolute;y perfect, as you can see mine isn't. This will be texturised with the texture mat, so it tends to look okay in the end even if a little bumpy. Measure the cake you're about to stack and place wooden skewers in place to secure the next cake. Make sure the skewers will not pop through the top of the next layer, I made that mistake!

Cover the tall cake with fondant and gently push it onto the skewers on the first cake. Please excuse the hideous lumps, at this stage I was near to tears because my fondant was misbehaving on layer two. We can hide all the nonsense in vines, roses and towers later on.

To make the pointed roofs of the towers you will need a packet of mini cones. These stand about 8-10cm tall. Roll out your contrasting fondant and wrap around the cone. Cut off any unsightly edges and make sure all the fondant sits nicely at the bottom of the cone and slightly overlaps at the final edge. Press gently to secure this edge.

 Before moving on to our cardboard roll towers, I rolled the roofs in a little shimmer dust and set aside. The same sort of method goes for the fondant covered rolls. Once covered in fondant, I gently rolled these babies over a brick texture mat, then trimmed the edges. This is a good time to texturise the main cakes also. Gently press the texture mat all around the sides of the cakes to get the brick or cobble stone pattern.

Stack the towers on the cake and secure them with wooden skewers. These should stick out somewhat, as we use them to hold the roofs in place too. The bottom towers can just sit there or be fixed with some edible glue if you prefer.

Use the skewers to position the roof part to each tower. I found these fine just balanced so, but you could use edible glue to secure them further if you need to move your cake around a bit or take it in the car. I used edible glue to secure the roofs on the bottom two towers, as there are no skewers in these two.

 See, all those huge imperfections are melting away as we add detail! Woop!

 

Add a door, windows and any other details you like. I added twisted braid to the bottoms of the bottom towers, the centre join of the cakes and also the bottom of the top tower to give a bit of fluidity. I matched it with the tower roofs and the door trim. I also added glitter to the spires and topped them with pearl cashous. I added vines and roses that I had made earlier on. (The best way to make the vines is to roll flat some green fondant and cut off thin strips of it.) I added leaves to the vine by cutting little heart shapes from the same green fondant, and squishing the pointy ends into more of a point.

My Daughter Vienna Rose, the happiest little princess with her castle.

3D "Me to You" Teddy Bear Cake

Yesterday at the Woolie's self serve checkout, I was alerted to staff members with flashing red lights and was unable to pay without assistance. After 5 minutes of waiting, I found out it was because I was buying plastic knives for a catering job I had. They presumably had to check how unhinged I looked I suppose...just in case I was about to go on a plastic cutlery stabbing spree through Oxley. Mustn't look as crazy as I am, because they let me buy them after all. 
The following day I was out with my husband couch shopping, and on finding a glorious leather looking Chesterfield, I inquired to the assistant concerning its material. "It's sympathetic leather" She replied. I looked at her incredulously. Sympathetic?
Not synthetic, sympathetic. Turns out there's such a thing. Oh my. Good for the cow though, some one took heart and it didn't get the chop to make that couch. 
It appears I have been living under a rock. During this time of hermit like behaviour, the world has stopped selling plastic knives freely, and has turned plastic into faux leather with emotions. Who would have known!
And just what have I been doing with my time? Not blogging, obviously.
In fact, I hardly have been cooking anything imaginative or exciting at all. The year has gone in a heartbeat, and my baby girl has just turned one. Was that not the fastest year in the history of mankind? 
Anyway, without further ado, here is my daughter's first birthday cake, modelled on the famous "Me to You" teddy bear. (my husband gave me one of these when we were dating, so it holds a very special place in my heart.)
I had never made a 3d cake before but took the plunge, and it was simpler than I expected...except for the icing. I thought that would be the easy bit, then I discovered, in that moment when I was ready to ice, that I did not possess the required piping nozzle...the grass nozzle. I turned the house upside down in a cake-induced frenzy. My husband and my kids hate when I make special cakes, it sort of makes a mad woman out of me and the house goes to seed. It takes a week to recover from the havoc wreaked on the kitchen. (At this moment visualise a scene from the epicentre of world war three).
So the cat ate my homework, or more to the point (no pun intended) my piping nozzle. So I went shopping, and found that piping sets from cheap shops and regular supermarkets come with everything BUT the grass nozzle.
I came home with a garlic crusher, determined to pipe that darned fur!
Necessity is the mother of invention. It was not pretty. The icing bag burst every 3 minutes. I couldn't pipe in the crevices and joints. It was the stuff nightmares are made of. But standing back, once eyes and patches and the nose was on, I totally loved the outcome. It was shabby but cute, and perfect for a 1st birthday party. As long as no one looked too closely! So I highly recommend, not going the garlic crusher route. Buy a good, metal grass nozzle, you will have greater control over where that fur is going and how shaggy your teddy becomes.
The cake it self was a Mississippi Mud cake-This is a great recipe for working with with cakes like this. It's special enough to be used as a wedding cake, and keeps moist and delicious for at least a week. Best of all, other than the flavour, it is very easy to carve and shape after a rest in the refrigerator. I used a double mix of this recipe and had a bit of cake left over. The teddy was made up of two 5"x3" cakes for the body and a 4"x2" cake  (approximately) for the head. I also made a few more cakes with that double batter, most of which got used in the modeling of the arms, ears, nose and the legs. (The cake was crushed into crumbs, and then mixed with a generous amount of butter cream icing to make a moldable cake mixture.) The head and the nose were secured with the help of some wooden skewers. The nose and smooth accessories on this 3D teddy cake were made from rolled fondant.
I hope these pictures help you on your cake journey! I apologise for not taking pictures when I was in the thick of piping that icing, everything was so sticky and frustrating, I didn't even think of it. Shoot me any questions you may have, I am always more than happy to help where I can! Good luck!

Mississippi Mud Cake Recipe can be found here. I doubled this recipe for this cake.


3D TEDDY CAKE TUTORIAL:

 There are five cakes involved here (only a double of the recipe) The two taller ones are for the bady, and the top small one was the head. The other two (sorry one cut out of picture a bit) were for limb molding.

I cut off the top off one of the 5x3 cakes and stacked it with the other 5x3. Using the electric knife I carved the top layer to make it rounded. These cakes had been in the refrigerator, and that makes it much easier to carve.

Using wooden skewers, the head cake was placed on top of the two 5x3 cakes. I trimmed a little off the head cake because it had a few rough edges.

The cake board was prepared with a covering of rolled fondant, and the uniced cake placed upon it. The remaining cake and the cut-offs were combined with butter cream icing to make a moist mixture which is able to be molded into the arms, the legs and feet, as well as the ears and nose.

The arms and legs and feet as well as the ears have been attached. Only the ears needed skewers, the rest just sat there and looked stable, but feel free to use more skewers. I then did a generous crumb coat, before piping the fur like butter cream icing all over the bear. (use the grass piping nozzle) The snout was covered in fondant and skewered into place after icing, as well as the patches, eyes and insides of the ears.

The unglamourous innards of my kitchen after the job was done! Told you it was like a bomb had hit the kitchen.

The infamous garlic crusher-turned-grass-nozzle. Yes that's a hair tie. Never again. Do yourself a favour and buy a real one!

A few pictures of the birthday and the cake cutting. Yep, that's me and my loves!

Savoiardi and Roses Engagement Cake

My weekend rocked. I got to spend the whole day with a lovely young pastry chef who showed me and some other women the art of croissant making. When she started talking about how the weather affects baking, I knew she was a cook after my own heart. Yes...someone to lament with me!
She talked about melting ingredients and things like the humidity of Queensland making it impossible to get the macaron's shine on, and how butter bursting from between the layers of croissant pastry dough while rolling was not uncommon.
Melting!
If you know about Queensland, It happens to have at least 6 months of summer weather, and it's quite a tropical climate. Think hot and sticky. It's great holiday weather, but when it comes to baking, it can definitely mean struggle street.
So when my long time friend asked me to make a cake for his soon to be wife and his engagement party, I had flashbacks of oozing rolled fondant, sticky figurines and chocolate panels that melted in on cakes, sliding layers and butter cream icing that just wouldn't hold and all such nightmares. But my mouth said yes. Every time I make a fancy cake I swear I'm never going to do it again. The time and stress that goes into it, plus the unsatisfying results, which I like to blame on the weather, are part of this swearing.
So I was determined to think up a cake that could not melt, would not melt, and was simple, elegant and fancy enough to be an engagement cake--one that was doable with little people present and swinging from my legs.
It ended up being a two tier cake, the sides lined in sugar crusted savoiardi sponge fingers and tied with ribbon, topped with a gorgeous array of salmon coloured roses and green ferns (that did all the hard decorating work for me.)

SAVOIARDI AND ROSES ENGAGEMENT CAKE DIRECTIONS

2x 20cm round cake tins
2x 15cm cm round cake tins
3 cake mixes
A good quantity of thick butter icing (I used about 1 kg of icing sugar)
3-4 packets mini savoiardi fingers or sponge fingers (I bought 4 and used 3 but they do break easily so its good to have spares)
1.5 metres ribbon
2 dozen roses
small green florist island
a small flat dish 

According to the instructions of your recipe or cake mix box, bake two 20cm cakes using two of the cake mixes. Divide the third cake mix evenly between the two smaller cake tins and bake.
When all the cakes have cooled and are ready for assembly, arrange the first of the 20cm cake on a cake board or cake stand. Lather the top with icing and proceed to place the second 20cm cake on top of this. Lather this layer with icing also. Continue with the remaining smaller cakes, ensuring that they are positioned directly in the centre of the larger cakes. Ice the top of the final layer. Ice the sides of the bottom layer of the cake, and carefully stick the savoiardi fingers neatly around the edges. Ice the second layer and repeat this process. The sponge fingers should hold together by themselves with the help of the icing, but you can tie both layers with ribbon for a pretty effect, and to ensure their stability.
On the day of serving, take the small flat dish and fill it with water. This dish should be small enough so that it is hidden by the roses once they are arranged. Cut the florist island to fit inside the dish. Allow the water to soak into the island. Cut the stems of the roses short and arrange over the top and the sides of the island. Hide any tell-tale green foam island popping through the edges with foliage from the rose stems, or some delicate ferns or gyp. Position the bouquet and dish on the top of the cake and refrigerate until serving time if your climate is a hot one. (The roses stay fresher in the refrigerator.)

Hundreds and Thousands Freckle Cake

As a busy mum, I know how stressful organising birthday food can be. My little daughter Vienna turned one yesterday, and pintrest has filled me with the urge to have one of those incredibly gorgeous arrangements on the table for her party come Sunday. But the truth is, pintrest party mums have got to be super mums. I know it can probably be done in a simple manner, but still, most families have to budget and a beautiful, pastel spread can be a little out of people's price range for a babies birthday. Don't get me wrong, I am going to attempt doing something lovely, but there will be no fretting about it. Whatever happens, happens.
I may end up going to Woolies and buying one of their sponge cakes after all.
But I know I dont have to, even when it comes to the last minutes before people arrive and I havnt prepared anything I had planned.
Sometimes simple is best. Easy is sometimes best too. You want to make the day special and memorable, but you dont have to have everything super fancy.
Here's an alternative to rushing down to the store for a last minute Woolies cake. It's a very simple way of making a child's birthday cake memorable without the fuss and without spending a lot of money, and you don't need much time either. To simplify this cake even further, I have used my favorite boxed cake mix. Don't be afraid of the boxed cake mix! These days even some of the cheap ones are delicious and moist.
Well, enjoy! I'm off to clean my very sticky, icing covered camera.

HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS FRECKLE CAKE

1 cake mix of your choice
2 cups of icing sugar
1 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp strawberry essence (or any other flavouring of your choice, such as vanilla)
a dash of cream (no more than 1/4 cup)
1-2 cups coloured hundreds and thousands decorations

Bake the cake as directed on the box. While cooling, combine the icing sugar, melted butter and flavouring in a medium sized bowl with the electric beaters. Add a little cream at a time, mixing between additions until you reach a desired consistency and thickness. The icing should be quite thick, yet easy to smooth on the cake without any sort of dripping. (see below picture for a guideline)
Place the cake on a wire cooling rack.
Ice the cake, ensuring the entire visible surface is covered.
Pour the hundreds and thousands onto a dinner plate. Remove the cake from the wire rack and turn it on its side, holding the top and the bottom of the cake with each hand. Roll the cake along through the hundreds and thousands to coat the sides. You may have to pause half way through to rearrange the hundreds and thousands on the plate, or add some more depending on the size of the surface of your cake. When the sides are coated, place the cake back on the wire rack. Put the plate beneath the cake to catch any falling hundreds and thousands, as you sprinkle the top with the remainder. If you have any gaps where there are no hundreds and thousands, the icing in this place may have dried out a little. Just dab a tiny amount of icing from the sides of the bowl on those bald spots and touch up with a few sprinkles.
You can top the cake with a figurine or a nice candle if preferred. To learn how to make the easy fondant roses I used for this cake, I have a tutorial here.

It's as simple as rolling around in hundreds and thousands...

Crocodile or Alligator Cake

Crikey! I know Queensland has been known to have crocodiles up north, but I never thought I'd have one in my kitchen. In fact, at this very moment it's in my pantry.
Did you know that homeless people have to sleep on the roofs of parked cars so they won't get eaten during the night? Where's Steve Irwin when you need him?
Now even home owners have to be on their guard. Where do I sleep when that thing is looking at me with its glistening yellow eyes and its white teeth flashing?
When I asked my son Ben what he wanted as a birthday cake, he told me he wanted a Croc (but you know toddlers, he can't say the R)
I thought it would be challenging, but with low self expectations I managed to create something he was thrilled with.Well, I figured that even if it turned out as a big blob of green with sharp teeth and called it a crocodile, he'd be thrilled. He's only two, after all.
But to my joy it turned out much better than anticipated, and was relatively easy! If someone else can do it, why can't you?
That's what I kept telling myself.
So you can make this beastly cake too. I decided this time to take photos as I went, and ended up with a camera covered in sticky fondant residue. As I was creating this at night, I apologise for the terrible quality of the photos. They were taken in very poor light, while I was in the middle of the creation (so now you can see how messy I get when I'm cooking!) The night is the only time I could whip this up without hands ploughing through the cake and icing! When I had finished, I left it on the kitchen bench and turned off the light. All I could see were glistening eyes and white teeth starring at me as I walked away. And yes, I had nightmares. But my son loved it.

CROCODILE CAKE

4 buttercake mixes
1 cup rice bubbles
200g spearmint leaves lollies
2 quantities of prepared rolled Fondant (get the recipe here)
4 cups icing sugar
1/3 cup milk (approximately)
green, red and yellow food colouring/dye

Draw out a plan. I ended up going for a square 20x20cm cake for the head (instead of a round one as drawn in picture above). 33x22.5 rectangular dish for the body and a 20x20 round tin for the tail (a bundt tin would be great here too). 

Bake the cakes, using one cake mix for the head, one for the tail and a combined two for the rectangular cake that will make the body of the crocodile. Cut out a pattern with baking paper as to the basic outline of the body. Place the cakes on a flat surface in the freezer for about 2 hours until semi frozen but still malleable.

When the cakes are firm enough to cut without having all that crumbly-business, place the paper patterns on your cake and cut off the superfluous pieces.

When all the main body parts are cut to the pattern, you can start using the cake scraps to build up areas on the cake, such as the face of the crocodile. It doesn't have to look neat, remember this is "stuffing" and crocodiles have a rough bumpy look to them anyway.

Don't forget side views matter too! Doesn't look pretty though, does it?

Carve all the desired details on the body and tail before the cakes completely thaw. Piece together to make sure everything looks in proportion, and is positioned where you want it on the cake board. I ended up cutting a chunk off the tail after this photo, it was too long and wavy.

Start mixing up food dye colours, until you get the right shade.

I arrived at this colour by mixing 4ml of green dye with 1 ml red, and 10 drops of yellow. Make sure you note your quantities! I ended up making about three batches of colour to paint the whole crocodile.

Combine the icing sugar and milk to make a thin icing (hubby bought chocolate icing sugar but it doesn't matter what the flavour is). This acts as a glue to hold down the rolled fondant. Smear over the crocodiles head and clean up any pooling residue. Roll out the fondant and gently lay over the cake. Press gently around the stuffing in the face for more definition. Cut off the excess fondant. (In hind-site I would have texturised the crocodile's face also as shown in the next step, with rice bubbles)

For the body and the tail, add texture with the Spearmint leaves lollies and rice bubbles. You can add as many or as few as you desire. Press the lollies firmly in position before laying the fondant layer on top, as they may fall over if not well secured. When the fondant is laid over the rice bubbles and lollies, gently press around them to add definition. The texture will really come through when you paint the fondant.

Repeat this process for the tail. (as you can see I got impatient and started painting the head and body already!)

If you're as impatient as I am, you will want to see the crocodile in green as soon as you can. You can start painting it as soon as the fondant is in place, if desired. I used a flat pastry brush to liberally apply the food colouring to the whole body. It sits in all the little cracks and crevices that come with the fondant stretching and adds to the texture. So amazing.

Check out that body! Ewww...who would want to be a slimy crocodile? Just loving the way the dye is sitting on this creature and pooling in the crevices.

Add the eyes from yellowed fondant cut out to desired shape and size. Add teeth and any final touches that are desired (I thought the coloured nostril holes were a nice finishing touch)

Do you think he was pleased to see this in the morning? I told you I get my kicks out of other people's pleasure in what I bake!

Sadly the lighting detracts from the creature and takes out a bit of the texture.