Author Archives: cakecrumbs

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Cupcakes

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This Saturday is the big day!

Fans of the series will probably know already, but this Saturday The Hunger Games comes out in DVD. I am so excited. Beyond excited. Now we can all stop watching the crappy cinema cam version we've all been clinging to after emptying our pockets at the cinema. We can relive the experience without people walking past the screen or laughing or whooping at inappropriate times. So good.

The DVD release coincides with my very first weekend off in a long time, so I will be spending it sobbing into my popcorn over The Hunger Games and the loss of favourite characters.

I was so excited I decided to celebrate – with cupcakes!

I wasn't really happy with how the mockingjay pin cupcake come out on my first attempt when I made the Hunger Games cupcakes, so any excuse to give this another go was a welcome one. 

This post is gonna be really pic heavy, you guys. I spent so long making these that I can't resist showing you all every little detail.

They just want a good show, that's all they want…

Jye’s Christening Cake

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My cousin Jessica is one of my most supportive family members when it comes to my baking adventures, as well as my most regular commissioner. A few of them have been for her son. You may remember the Baby Shower Cupcakes I made as a gift for her, or the Pirate Dreams cake for his first birthday. So when his Christening rolled around, she again asked me to make a cake for the occasion. I was more than happy to oblige. 

But before we launch into the final product, there is a story of drama and tears. This cake almost didn't happen.

My tale of multiple fails of epicness…

Shortbread Buttons

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Over on deviantART, a group called Artisan Craft was hosting a challenge this month for buttons. My philosophy in life is that everything can be made edible, so I decided to make some edible buttons for the challenge. I had thoughts of make fondant buttons on a cake or cupcakes, but I didn't have time for anything too fancy. But there's always time for shortbread.

Low on functionality, but big on noms…

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

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There are some things you never get too old to enjoy. The Cookie Monster is definitely pretty high up on that list. Be it nostalgia or just a love for the kooky blue guy, everyone seems to love him.

These cupcakes were a commission from my sister for her friend's birthday. My sister had been almost begging me for months to make these for her friend, but I kept saying it would depend on my research commitments as to whether I would have time. When my trapping schedule got delayed by a week, I found the time to fill the order, much to my sister's excitement.

There are a thousand versions of this guy in cupcake form. This is mine. 

C is for Cookie…

Cook Book Challenge: Week 28

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I'm a week late in posting this challenge. I've just started a new round of field work for my research project that has me up at 5am and home way after the sun has set. Ahh, the joys of working with a nocturnal species. But if you're as much of a fan of squid as I am, you'll agree that this one is definitely worth the wait.

This week's book is Tobie Puttock's "Daily Italian". Tobie is a local Melbourne boy who cheffed his way across Europe, working 18-hour days in Italian-speaking kitchens. He worked with many a high profile chef before bringing all this knowledge back to Melbourne. In 2006 he opened his restaurant, Fifteen — a Jamie Oliver founded chain many of you will know of, that gives opportunities to disadvantaged youths. The restaurant fell victim to arson a few years ago, but recently reopened as The Kitchen Cat.

Tobie is a fantastic foodie, and his book was full of recipes I wanted to try, and will do so soon. But I couldn't go past the squid recipe. Not only do I love it, I've never cooked squid myself before, and so it was perfect for the cook book challenge.

Recipe after the jump…

Truffle Box Mudcake

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A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Zoopa (the social club in our Zoology Department) committee about a cake. They were hosting a fundraising auction and, because I won both judges and people's choice award at this years and last years Bake Off, they wanted me to bake a cake for it.

Whenever I get an unrestrained chance to bake a cake for the masses, the thought of, "Yay! I can do something I've been wanting to for ages," quickly turns to, "Holy crap. What am I going to do?" The choice is overwhelming. Especially given that it needed to appeal to all genders and a range of demographics with a single thing in common: Zoology. I toyed with several novelty cake ideas that were either animal or science based. In the end, I went with something that was just going to taste nice.

What’s in the box…

Daring Bakers Challenge: Crazy For Crackers

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Our July 2012 Daring Bakers’ Host was Dana McFarland and she challenged us to make homemade crackers! Dana showed us some techniques for making crackers and encouraged to use our creativity to make each cracker our own by using ingredients we love.

The challenge required us to bake two crackers using two of three methods: hand rolled, pasta machine rolled, or the icebox method. I don't own a pasta machine, so the choice was immediately made for me.

Unlike the last two challenges, these are something I've baked before. I've never blogged any of my recipes, however, so it was a good excuse to return to two of my favourite recipes and share them with you guys.

Let’s crack some open…

Majora’s Mask: Mask Cupcake Set [Masks #1-3]

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I mentioned when I posted the Majora's Mask Cake that I really wanted to do the entire set of masks from the game. Though these will be in cupcake form rather than whole cakes because whoa time and whoa wastage of cake.

I got some time last week to churn out a few of them, so here are the first three.

I figured it was only natural to begin with the three transformation masks. These are the three main transformation masks acquired throughout the game (there's one more final mask, but it's at the end of the game and optional): the Deku mask, Goron mask and Zora mask. Link acquires these in various ways, but the end game is that you get to transform into these races at will. It's amazing fun. And I guess useful, too, if you can stop swimming around as a Zora and shouting "Look, ma! I can leap like a dolphin!" for long enough to actually do some quests and save the world.

The face under the mask… Is that… your true face?

Cook Book Challenge: Week 27

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Maggie Beer is one of my all time favourite cooks. Not only are her recipes intelligent, perfectly balanced wonders of deliciousness — she also has the most infectious personality. I still remember watching the Twitter feed exploding with adoration when she appeared on MasterChef for the first time. She's impossible not to fall in love with.

So are her cook books.

While her recipes are intelligent, they are also accessible to most everyone. Some require a bit more skill or practise than the next, but they're not recipes you'll feel too intimidated by to try. Her chatty style of writing talks you through the complicated steps and explains why you are doing what you are doing.

There were so many recipes in this book I wanted to try, but I simply couldn't go past the Olive Tart. Not just because I have an obsessive love for puff pastry…

Pastry, om nom nom…

Home-made Pretzels: Cinnamon and Choc Chip varieties

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The inspiration for making pretzels came from the oddest of places. I was reading the beautiful story of a young kid called Anthony Smith. He suffers from Mosaic trisomy 22 and as such has no hearing in his left ear, and only minimal hearing in his right. At 4 years of age, he refused to wear his hearing device, a blue ear, because superheroes didn't have to.

His mother contacted Marvel comics asking for help. Not only did they reply, they sent Anthony comics of Hawkeye from the 80s when he lost his hearing and had to wear a hearing aid. They then sent him a drawing of a superhero they created just for him, called Blue Ear, who uses a listening device to hear trouble. Amazing. He took the pictures to school and his school threw a superhero week for him. Anthony now uses his Blue Ear and is improving rapidly in school with its use.

I loved the story so much I started looking for videos. In one, there were a few feel-good shots of Anthony and his mother were making pretzels together. They looked so delicious instantly I had the overwhelming urge to go make some.

I'm a little weird like that.

Twisty goodness after the jump…