Author Archives: cakecrumbs

Sunken Ship Cake

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This is the first cake I’ve done that someone has actually asked me to do for someone else, from them.

I mean, lots of people have gone all, “Oh wow. Could make such-and-such for me?” But when it comes to the crunch, most people don’t really want to pay for it. Most people don’t understand the days of work behind a cake. But this for friend-turned-housemate, I was happy to make one for free of charge, despite the offer of money being there. This one was gonna be lots of fun.

This one was for her dad. She told me he has somewhat of a Peter Pan complex. So we thought this sunken pirate ship cake would be lots of fun as far as reliving ones childhood goes.

You are without a doubt the worst pirate I’ve ever heard of…

Australia Day Koala Truffle Pops

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For those of you playing at home, this Wednesday just gone was Australia Day. Now, I’m not particularly patriotic. I have a love for the land, for the wildlife, but I wouldn’t consider myself to be in love with my country. Not to the point I really celebrate Australia day, anyway. Though, do any of us really celebrate it? When we celebrate, it tends to be out of the love for a celebration, more than for some inherent patriotism.

Nevertheless, an excuse to bake is an excuse to bake. And since my heart lies with the wildlife, it was typical of me to do a dessert so themed. Hence, the koala truffles were born.

Aussie Aussie Aussie, nom nom nom…

Farewell Cupcakes

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After making the Spotlight cake, I got the reputation at work as being “The Cake Decorator”. This amuses me, because most have only seen that one cake, a cake I don’t consider to be especially good.

One of the girls there said I would have to make her a cake one day. After she announced she was leaving, I later had the realisation that I’d never done as I promised.

Time was uber short, so total fondant cake was out of the question. I decided to play with cake picks for the first time.

More under the cut…

Christmas Bakerage Part 4: Cookie Tree

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Here’s for the final instalment of my Christmas bakerage 2010: the cookie tree.

This tree marks a pretty important milestone for me. See, this time last year I was failing with fondant. I couldn’t even get holy leaves to work for the cookie tree. So it had red berries and that was it. While this tree involves minimal fondant work, it reminds me of how much I have learned in a year. It also reminds me that I have so much more to learn, and so much more time in which to learn it. I’m forever getting frustrated at my ‘failures’, never happy unless it’s perfect (which it invariably never is). This reminds me that I haven’t been at this long; so here’s to a chin up and hopefully many more successes (or should it be less failures?) for 2011.

But enough of that and more of the tree, hey?

Christmas Bakerage Part 3: Truffle Tree and Truffle Puddings

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Here’s one that’s slowly becoming an annual tradition. The Truffle Tree. This usually involves a week-long one -[wo]man truffle creating extravaganza that leaves my fridge full of containers hosting hundreds of truffles.

This year, I decided to downsize the effort a little bit. One tree instead of two. Which basically meant a few hundred less truffles than usual. Oops.

Peek under the tree…

Christmas Bakerage Part 2: Stained-Glass Cookies

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Stained-glass cookies are something I have been wanting to do for an age. I was never quite sure what theme I would go for, however. The one time I had seen them done was as targets. Covered in hundreds and thousands, which, I felt, completely cheapened the whole thing. No, my theme would be better.

…

Cue mind blank.

Sometimes, the best thing to do is just store the idea away and wait for inspiration to hit.

Or just a massive excuse to bake. Like Christmas.

Much more under the tree… I mean, cut…

Christmas Bakerage Part 1: Poinsettia Christmas Cake

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Traditionally made as a log cake, I abandoned this idea a little over a year ago for the sake of aesthetics. I wanted the awesomeness of the ripple cake, but I also wanted it to look like an actual cake. Ever since I figured out how to make this as a round cake, I have never gone back.

Here’s a cake that requires more assemblage than baking itself, but the theme atop the cake can be applied to any cake. You can even skip the baking step altogether and just buy biscuits, but home made is always so much nicer. I will skip the cookie-baking step as the best thing really is to simply use your favourite chocolate cookie recipe. Choc chip cookies work really well. ANZAC biscuits are also great to use if you want the resultant cake to be on the more fruity/nutty side – in which case you would omit the peppermint and ganache. You want your cookies to be relatively flat and even, or else you will find it difficult to assemble the finished product. The choices are endless. Which is why the ‘recipe’ will be more of a general guideline. Quantities will differ based on your personal choices, and exactly how tall and wide you want your cake to be.

More photos and the recipe…

Baby Shower Cupcakes

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My cousin is pregnant with her very first baby. On the weekend just gone, she had a baby shower for him. This was also my very first baby shower. I wanted to do a little something special for her as a gift, as I wanted to give her something more than just the Baby Bunting voucher my Aunt said she wanted. Of course, any excuse to bake is a good excuse. Hence, these little ones were born:

Ready for more?

Marshmallow Fondant Tutorial

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After posting my Spotlight cake, commented saying saying she'd had trouble with the MMF. I'd heard a lot of people say the same thing in the past. So here's a blow by blow account how I do it, with pictures included.

Disclaimer: I always cook by feel, rather than exact quantities. Fondant especially cannot be measured accurately. Hence, I cannot give you exact amounts, but I can give you a rough ratio from which to go by.

Here we go!