Tag Archives: chocolate

White Chocolate Cream Gateaux

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Once upon a time, I used to bake every week for my Uni friends. These days, I’m lucky if I get the chance to bake once a month. The funny thing is, you’d think the less you bake the more ideas you would have, no?

Well. When the final presentation for my Communicating Science and Technology session came around, I thought I should bring along some cake to out end-of-class pizza party.

Aaand that’s about where the thought ended. I have been completely uninspired lately.

Hence, this last-minute rush job:

Pictures and moar…

Easter Basket Cake

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I love Easter. It’s a time where my love for chocolate in baking can be justified. This Easter I decided to host a party at my place. It was a lovely time to get together. But more than that, it was also an excuse to make lots of my favourite things: finger food. I love making all those small and fiddly things, finding new ways to miniaturise classics. Everything from mini tandoori pizzas to tiny burgers, lamb korma on mini papadums and gow gees… the list went on. But my favourite is and always will be the desserts. I shall do a follow up post later of all the mini desserts, but for now I will turn to the sole item that was not mini: the cake.

This is one I had been wanting to do for a while. I was just waiting for the right time of year to do it. A cake that looks like a basket. Hopefully. In fact, I would be wrapped if you looked at it and thought it was just a basket.

Buona pasqua!

Chocolate Cake Box Tier

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I’ve been much to busy to bake, let alone post about it lately. Though, when my 23rd birthday approached I just had to make time to. My problem? My muse had totally abandoned me. I had no idea what to do. Then I randomly saw a picture of a round brown box with green trimming around the lid. I dislike green as a colour generally. There are precious few shades of it I like. Something stuck me about this colour scheme that I absolutely fell in love with. The whole theme for the party ended up following suit.

With the billion assignments I have, as well as working, my research project, general house duties and all the finger food I had to make for the party, I needed something simple, classy and not fiddly. This is an idea I had been sitting on for a while. Though I imagined it in white, as a wedding cake tier. I never imagined how ridiculously long it would take to make the boxes.

What’s in the box, in the box, what’s in the box today?

Peach and Orange Mousse Cake

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Another cake for my boyfriend, this one for his 28th birthday. Again I wanted to stay away from fondant, and again I decided to tackle my arch nemesis: gelatine.

So many firsts in this cake. So the fact that it a) set, and b) was edible, was a HUGE relief. Especially since I was taking it to his place to be demolished by a bunch of people who, unlike my family, love cheesecake!

Happy Birthday to you, you’re a hundred and two…

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…

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 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…

Spotlight Grand Opening Neapolitan Cake…

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The reason for my prolonged absence from the kitchen, as previously mentioned, is my new job. After 3 weeks of non stop work to get the new store up and running, the end of set up approached and we got a day off before the grand opening. I seized the opportunity to bake a celebratory cake for the occasion:

This was a cake for firsts for me.

First layer cake.
First neapolitan cake.
First time making marshmallow fondant.
First time piping words.
First time not refrigerating a cake (I know I know, but I have some weird compulsion to refrigerate them, so I was wrought with panic over not doing so. You don’t need to tell me how irrational I am)

I could go on. But the main point is, I was a bit of a nervous wreck brining it in. Presentation wise, to be honest, I didn’t like it. I’m not even sure why. But it wasn’t like the picture of perfection I had in my head.

You be the judge.

It’s what’s inside that counts, right?

Big cat themed birthday cakes…

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When it came to the cake for my 22nd birthday party, no one else in my family was going to be able to make me a custom cake. So I set about doing my own. I’m a Zoology student with big plans to spend my life doing conservation work. My dream has always been to work in big cat conservation in the long run (though meantime I’m happy doing conservation work here in Australia) and I’m known for my love of big cats. So really, it was the obvious choice.

Lions and tigers and cheetahs, oh my!