from pretzel bark to the circus coming to town.

Ok it's been way too long and i would love to say that the reason that i haven't written is because i have been curred from my baking addiction. sadly not, i have been VERY busy in my lil' kitchen these last two weeks. i am going to try and not make this too pic heavy or for once not ramble on and on and on lol. So baking wise best bits of the last fortnight??

1) We had my 4 year old's circus themed birthday this Saturday. I stressed and faffed around sooo much with it, as i wanted everything to be perfect. But after a venue change, not being able to get my hands on some "planned" goodies & simply it being next to impossible to get out for any lenght of time & severe sleep deprivation. i was feeling kinda bummed that she would be disappointment or her friends would be bored (i never got around to making the circus games i had planned).

I really need to get down to her level on stuff like this more often and remember that she has yet to be lumbered with the curse of adulthood. Simply seeing the balloon arch i whipped up at the entry way of her play room (at 1 AM lol) on waking up Saturday morning had her exclaiming how it was the "most wonderful thing she had ever seen" and that this was the best birthday ever...so through the eyes of my heart next year this mama is going to keep it simple stupid . who knew that a balloon arch would be all it took.

I also made my own mini corndogs, they went down well. For her birthday cake, Madame had rich (Well mama thinks a bit dry) vanilla/white chocolate cupcakes turned into unscary clowns. And chocolate cupcakes turned into popcorn which is a good thing since i burned the real deal.

I also made cake pops & soft pretzels and if i could have made the cotton candy i would have to lol. Everyone seemed to have a good time even though it was a bit squished, and if the noise level was anything to go by all the kids had as much fun as the birthday girl did, she unfortunately for me is still running of sugar from yesterday, but so so so so worth it!!!!

2) i first fell in love (seriously!) with bakerella when i fell on her cake balls/blog by accident, i have been a avid fan since then. I haven't made them in a wee while, but i had promised baked goods to an organisation i am member of. Due to a freaky, sticky yucky heatwave i chickened out on making the lemon meringue/ tres leche and tiramisu cupcakes i had planned (oh i am so tackling them soon :-p), and opted for cake balls. because i love the added stress i chose to try 3 new flavors i had yet to make ( i am the chocolate fudge cake ball queen). I made coffee cake & coffee Italian buttercream balls, and topped them with a hazelnut coffee bean. the pink ones were apple caramel flavored and the yellow/white ones were vanilla cake & cream cheese frosting rolled in coconut. my home testers weren't keen on the apple caramel,but i included them anyways..still waiting to here if the were edible.So hope they went down well.

3)pretzel bark...ok i forgot to take a picture...but so so simple and so so so yummy!!! i made these for a much needed intervention night for myself . Read catching up with some very dear friends who are good for the soul :-) and did the very bad bad thing of trying them ( i am a closet chocolate covered pretzel addict) and usually NEVER even eat or try my own baking but since this wasn't "technically" baking it doesn't count lol will definitely make again.

4) i had promised baked goods for a bake sale for a meetup group i am a member of, the best bit is it allowed me to use some of my new bakeitpretty liners...it was a long day as i made a booboo with the first batch of strawberry cupcakes, so had to start again, and because i am am glutton for punishment and i was miffed at messing up said cupcakes i added vanilla and chocolate ones to the mix to lol. This was only remotely possibly due to the stand mixer...i seriously don't know how i did so long without one, it makes things soooo much easier and i am quicker which = more baking win win in my books (thanks you once again kitchenaid fairy!! <3 )

ok so i lied about not rambling, but come on it's been two weeks, and these are the highlight that spring to mind right this second so i am being kind lol...i won't admit to just how much baking took place this last fortnight anyways :)

Happy Brachiosaurus Day

I personally think that may 16th is a grand day for such an important celebration. I hope that a very special little boy with an absolutely cracking and vivid imagination likes his celebration cupcakes , warts and all. Happy Brachiosaurus Day !



cupcakes: butter cream cake
icing: white chocolate italian buttercream

♫ 100+ mini cupcakes on the wall 100+ mini cupcakes on the wall, you pick one up and wolf it down 100+ mini cupckaes on the wall ♪♪

these last few days have been BUSY, trying to attempt my mother's day drop offs of a lovely bunch of roses. I am not going to lie, it's taken me a few goes to get to the stage of being ok (just) to actually give these away. Boy was that bit fun. I just need to look into better packaging & am currently working/thinking away on baby showers bouquets that i will hopefully give a whirl once i come down from my sugar high lol.

I don't eat my own baking, but icing is fair game, especially when it's Italian butter cream...seriously you just need to hand me the biggest spoon |:-p. I made 6 "small" bouquets with mocha, vanilla and chocolate mini cupcakes. The purple "roses (well they should be, but coffee butter cream is a pig to re-dye lol) are coffee flavored Italian butter cream, the yellow roses are vanilla Italian butter cream & the pink roses are strawberry Italian butter cream. I have to admit whipping them all up was easy as pie in the kitchen aid (thank you again and again kitchen aid fair <3), and it definitely helps to have a new taste/look tester lol , huge thanks T :)

I can't wait to make these again and again, with any luck i will just get better and better at them :). I am not one to toot my own horn, but i think they look slightly better then ok and i am happy with that. Especially since all 3 kiddies are sick :-((, and there was alot of stop and starting. I just had to see these through :-). so today i am definitely running on sugar fumes.


before i forget i would like to take a moment to remember those (cupcakes) that perish for the greater good. One bouquet never made it to destination as it had a small tipping over incident while in the car (and no this has nothing to do with my driving style). You fought a brave fight bouquet #6.
ok picture overload coming your way.

Happy mother's day to all!!!!

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

my niche?

I have found something that has got me doing a jig. I cannot wait to try it and see how it turns out, this could be the start of something beautiful, and for me it would be mainly error free (huge bonus for the anal Queen). I cannot wait to get stuck in :-), this week is going to be amazing! All will be revealed by Sunday.

4 years already...

today my DD turned 4. I seriously do not know where time has gone, and on days like today i really wish it would slow down. Her first party isn't until the end of the month (must get my act together!!!!) but i was determined to make her a "special" cake anyways, and i can use the practice.

I will class what i ended up with as a "disaster", but all madame wanted to do since getting up was eat said cake. I decided to make the Debbie brown, pony in stalls cake. that was mistake #1.

Mistake #2 was attempting said cake on roughly 4-5 hours sleep total in about 3/4 days.

Mistake #3 was not letting go of my anal tendencies :p, and refusing to just buy premade butter cream to crust the cake, then realising no time to make butter cream thus resulting in someone winging it and choosing to make/use ganache

and what finished it off was not following my gut. the stable is/was meant to be white (ya why did i choose dark ganache again??) and the instructions called for putting on each side of fondant one side at a time.

At this point i raise my hand in shame. i gained the mouth of a well versed sailor, trying to pick up said ganache cake to position it, to the uncovered side Repeat X3. from the get go it would have been easier to just fondant the whole thing in one piece, and add detailing last. instead of the opposite.

a dear friend referred to it as a structural compromised stable LOL...and you know what the shoe fits on that one.

i have been on a roll as of late, and it would have been soooo nice to continue with it, but i will take one for the team, shame it had to be DD's cake though.

At least the innards where edible (chocolate cake with cookies n cream filling)

Happy Birthday Madame, thank you for making the last 4 years the most memorable. I am blessed beyond words to have been chosen to be your mama.

picture to follow, must catch up on sleep zzzz.


still staring...