MAJOR Kiwicakes upgrade

Tuesday 30 June from 10am to 3pm Kiwicakes online site will be CLOSED for a major upgrade. We'll come back to you, with all of the exciting details that made this upgrade necessary. Trust me, it will be worth it.

Wiltons blast from the past

Take a look at Wiltons collection of birthday cake designs from the last generations - the 70's, 80's, and 90's, all the way up to 2009. Even today, these funky and fun retro birthday cake designs continue to inspire decorators everywhere

http://www.wilton.com/celebrations/1st-Birthday/the1970s.cfm?EMC-ewi62209&link=blastfrompast

Cool new book!

A stunning new book from Autumn carpenter. Priced at $25

Creative Cupcakes (Authors Vi Whittington and Autumn Carpenter). This book offers over 120 cupcake decorating ideas for decorators of all skills. Guided by simple-to follow instructions, decorators will find just how easy it is to create adorable and fun cupcakes. Projects are conveniently arranged by seasons and themes to inspire you whatever the occasion. Many cupcakes shown in this book use standard pans. Other cupcakes use standard pans creatively. This book also includes several icing recipes. Choose from glazes to pour over the cupcakes or fluffy icings to pipe or spread on the cupcakes. Learn how to create cupcakes with luscious filling inside. Melt-in-your mouth filling recipes include caramel, fudge and fruit fillings. You'll never want a plain cupcake again! This book also goes beyond basic cupcakes with delicious ideas for mini cake treats such as molten chocolate cupcakes, lemon meringue pie cupcakes and pineapple upside-down cake.8 1/2" x 11" 32 pages, full colour.

Stunning new impression mats just arrived

These 4 stunning new impression mats have just arrived. The latest from the oh-so-talented Autumn carpenter. priced at $29 each. They are simply HUGE! - perfect for many uses.

Generous size clear, plastic texture sheet to create edible projects with outstanding details. 21" x 23" - 53.4 cms x 58.4 cms.

TO USE WITH FONDANTRoll fondant to desired thickness. Flip smooth rolled side on top of mat. Roll over the mat, one time. Lift mat and cover cake.
TO USE WITH CHOCOLATE Spread melted candy coating or melted and tempered chocolate on sheet. (It is easiest if mat is cut height desired). Allow chocolate to "just set" and form sheet around cake. Place in refrigerator to set.

TO USE WITH BUTTERCREAM Ice cake with buttercream and allow to set for several minutes. Place sheet on crusted buttercream and impress design.

This weeks attempt at a cake

So many of you ask me what sort of cakes I do. To be totally honest, the work I do here at Kiwicakes, until very late most evenings, means I have made less cakes in the last year, than ever before. But here is a cake I made on Friday night for my daughters best friend Renee, who was turning 6. Renee was having a Dora princess party and requested a Strawberry cake (EEK that was a new one on me) it turned out great and tasted even better. Let me know what you all think.

The dress is covered in yellow glitter, which doesn't show up in the photo. I haven't taken too close a shot of the face, as my 2 year old stuck his finger in it.

Kiwicakes in construction period - bear with us!

This is just a quick update to let you all know the Kiwicakes website is under major construction. What does this mean? well...... for ease of navigation, we have split the Party Supplies & Cake decorating supplies in two 2 seperate categories. So if you visit the Kiwicakes catalog page, you'll only now see 2 categories at the left hand side (where you used to see a long string). Make your selection between "Cake decorating supplies" and "Party Supplies" and follow through to the selections for that category.
The current format described above is only for the short term. My wonderful web designers Carla & Donna, will be shutting down Kiwicakes completely for one day, very soon, to upgrade the system. This new upgrade should hopefully make everything easier to use. Including the two categories described above being able to be accessed from a drop down menu.
These changes became necessary as the Kiwicakes catalogue has grown to over 2000 products. The more products we add, the harder it becomes to find things. During this last month, we've placed orders around the world, for large quantities of new products, this will see our product range rise to over 3000 products in the coming months. So please bear with us, as we move to implement the changes. If you have difficulty finding anything, or need help with anything at all, please feel free to email me sandra@kiwicakes.co.nz

Wilton Discussion forums

For those of you that enjoy Wilton products and have questions on "how to" chat with like minded people in the Wilton forums.
http://www.wilton.com/forums/

Beginners cake decorating workshop in Whangarei

A workshop covering basic cake decorating will be held on 11 July at St Stephens Church Hall (the far side of the airport at Onerahi) in Whangarei from 10am - 4pm at a cost of $30 per person, provide own lunch. Please phone Dorothy Rowlands 4361825 or Anne Meades 4339962 if you are interested in attending this day.

Fondant, gumpaste and icing recipes galore

Fancy making your own fondant, marzipan, gumpaste & more. The lovely people at Hawkesbaysugarcraft have published all their recipes, ont heir website. Check them out.

http://sugarcrafthawkesbay.co.nz/recipes.htm

Cake decorating classes in NZ

I've added a list for cake decorating classes around NZ to the right hand side of this blog. If you know of anymore, please leave them in the comments section of this post, so I can add them to the list. THANKS!

Please vote in the sweet confection poll!.

At right, you will find a poll for the type of sweet confection you make most. Please take the time to vote & we'll have the results for you next month.

Wilton 2010 yearbook is ALMOST here!

Wilton's 2010 yearbook was released on Friday from Wilton headquarters int he USA. This means mine are on an air freight shipment from the USA. As soon as the shipment clears lands & customs. They will be on the way out to you!. Priced at $35.00 for the yearbook and $22 for the pattern book, it's great value for money.

This is what the good folks at Wilton had to say about the book;
A great cake makes any celebration more fun! There’s no better place to find that unforgettable decorated cake or dessert than this new edition of the 2010 Wilton Yearbook.
It’s the biggest Wilton Yearbook ever, with more than 220 designs for cakes, cookies, candies and more. You’ll find a look perfect for your event, from exciting theme birthday cakes and colourful holiday treats to dramatic tiered wedding designs that capture the moment beautifully.
In the 1st Birthday Bash special section of the 2010 Wilton Yearbook, they'll help you make the day a smashing success with the ideal theme ideas. Discover an amazing Noah’s Ark cake with captivating animals, delightful 3-D rubber ducky tiers and a rollicking pirate ship with fun fondant details from stem to stern.
It’s all here in the 2010 Wilton Yearbook, along with step-by-step instructions, technique resource guide, complete product section and a website link to more great designs.
Soft cover; 248 pages.

Sandra has never been so excited!

Now you all would have heard me say before, that I love something!. However I have NEVER been so excited as when I heard about these chocolate transfer moulds (priced from $25-$28ea).

It was an anxious wait, from the time I ordered until they landed on my doorstep.

Now most of you will have used a chocolate mould before and many of you will have used a chocolate transfer sheet. However this product combines both. The cocoa butter design is printed down in to the mould. Simply pour in melted chocolate and once cooled, unmould to reveal stylish chocolates that look like handpainted masterpieces.

Although the transfer is a single use application, these moulds can be washed and reused with plain chocolate or coloured & marbled chocolate, to make co-ordinating pieces to match.

In the case of the green circles mould shown below on top of cupcakes, you could make 1 batch of green transfer, one batch of green chocolate and 1 batch of brown chocolate. Then mix and match your circles/rings to extend the number of cupcakes you can create from 1 mould.

I would love to hear what you all think of them. I've been so busy adding new products, I've yet to try them out. I've searched the internet and as yet can find no one using them in their work. So I'm proud to be bringing you something new & exciting.

There are currently 10 styles of moulds in the range.

Kiwicakes in the news

Here's a lovely article from the "Savvy" magazine where my passion for Kiwiana was highlighted. When I first started Kiwicakes, I was amazed at the lack of New Zealand themed products on the market. My solution, to get it made myself!. Unfortunately my scanner bed is only a4, so I've had to load it in two parts - I just love what the magazine did with the photos. I made the cupcakes myself for the photo shoot. This article appeared in 2007.

My new favourite thing! KORU

How stylish is this? I was ecstatic when my mould maker sent through the finished photo of this Koru silicone mould. This is the latest mould I will be adding to the Kiwiana range at Kiwicakes. This mould will be available from Kiwicakes only, as we are the sole NZ distributor of these moulds and this was made JUST FOR ME. It's only just come off the mould machine, but I could not wait until the stock arrived to share this photo with you. Stock of this mould should arrive in aprx 10 days. I was particulalry impressed with the ability to form a heart using 1 left & 1 right facing Koru for a wedding cake or celebration

Home again - home again!

Yesterday was Waitakere cake decorating guilds' BIG DAY OUT. And what fun it was!. The ladies from the guild put on a fabulous event, that ran like clockwork. 6 demonstrators, rotating around three groups, in 45 minute intervals. It was great to catch up, with many of you. I hope you all enjoyed visiting the Kiwicakes shop!. Compliments to the many guild memebrs that supplies the fabulous morning & afternoon teas. I had a lovely time - it's always great tp put a face to a name and hear how I can help you better with your cake decorating supplies.

How to ice a cake without crumbs!

Well the crumbs won't ever go away, but everyone needs a Wilton tip #789 in my opinion.

It completely seals the cake, before you smooth the icing. Check out this link to the tip in use at Wilton. The best thing is, its priced at just 10.50
http://www.wilton.com/decorating/icing/using-decorating-tip-789.cfm

How to bake cupcakes without domed tops

* To prevent domed tops on your cupcakes, tap your muffin tray, filled with batter lightly on your benchtop several times, prior to placing the tray in the oven. Alternatively stir each cupcake patty with a cocktail stick prior to placing in the oven, this helps release the air, prior to baking, thus preventing the domed top as it is cooking.
* To fill your cupcake papers, place 1 paper in each cavity of your muffin tray, fill a large piping bag with batter and pipe your batter in to the cases. It's very quick and mess free.