Happy Halloween!

I hope you all have a great Halloween, I couldn't resist sharing with you this great eyeball food from Simply Stated check out their post for "how to"

New tutorials at www.cakecentral.com

Over at http://www.cakecentral.com/ they've loaded some great new tutorials - you really should check them out.

How to package & ship cookie bouquets

How to make a 3d tank

How to make gelatine flowers & bows

New chocolate transfers just in

I am very excited today - the new chocolate transfers designs for Christmas are just in (these include Holly, "Merry Christmas", Rudolph. Along with this I've also received a new heart design, a pink awareness ribbon, sheet music and a lovely abstract gold design). I haven't had time to try one yet - but rest assured, I'll be trying the new designs out asap!.

Check out all the new ones here

Books Books Books & more Books

This week I've gone a little crazy introducing new book titles.

There's all the naughty cake books from Debbie Brown, great if you're planning a risque or R18 cake. There's also several great books for the cookie makers by Autumn Carpenter, as well as one on chocolate/candy making. And a beautiful Alan Dunn book on sugar flowers.

Check them out here

Awesome new Autumn Carpenter cookie cutter set

This wonderful sports ball cookie cutter set with matching impression mats has just landed, from the iuncredible range by Autumn carpenter. Click here to buy

Sports Ball Cookies

Tools and Ingredients
sports cookie cutter texture set
white fondant
black fondant
orange fondant
green fondant
brown fondant
white royal icing
black royal icing
parchment cone or a pastry bag with a #1 tip
black food marker
red food marker

Baseball: Lightly spray baseball texture mat from the sports ball cutter texture set. Wipe off excess with a paper towel. Roll white fondant to approximately 1/8" thickness. Place texture mat on fondant. Firmly roll over the mat. Remove mat. Cut textured fondant with cookie cutter from set. Attach to a baked and cool round cookie with piping gel or a thin layer of buttercream. Use red food marker to trace over raised impressions.

Eight ball: Lightly spray eight ball texture mat from the sports ball cutter texture set. Wipe off excess with a paper towel. Roll black fondant to approximately 1/8" thickness. Place texture mat on fondant. Firmly roll over the mat. Remove mat. Cut textured fondant with cookie cutter from set. Use small round cutter to remove small circle. Roll white fondant to approximately 1/8” thickness. Place texture mat on fondant. Firmly roll over the mat. Remove mat and cut out small circle with same round cutter. Attach both pieces to a baked and cool round cookie with piping gel or a thin layer of buttercream. Use black royal icing, thinned with a bit of water, to trace outline of “8”.

Basketball: Lightly spray basketball texture mat from the sports ball cutter texture set. Wipe off excess with a paper towel. Roll orange fondant to approximately 1/8" thickness. Place texture mat on fondant. Firmly roll over the mat. Remove mat. Cut textured fondant with cookie cutter from set. Attach to a baked and cool round cookie with piping gel or a thin layer of buttercream. Use black food marker to draw in recessed lines.

Tennis ball: Lightly spray tennis ball texture mat from the sports ball cutter texture set. Wipe off excess with a paper towel. Roll green fondant to approximately 1/8" thickness. Place texture mat on fondant. Firmly roll over the mat. Remove mat. Cut textured fondant with cookie cutter from set. Attach to a baked and cool round cookie with piping gel or a thin layer of buttercream. Use white royal icing, thinned with a bit of water, to fill in the recessed lines of the ball.

Golf ball: Lightly spray golf ball texture mat from the sports ball cutter texture set. Wipe off excess with a paper towel. Roll white fondant to approximately 1/8" thickness. Place texture mat on fondant. Firmly roll over the mat. Remove mat. Cut textured fondant with cookie cutter from set. Attach to a baked and cool round cookie with piping gel or a thin layer of buttercream.

Volleyball: Lightly spray volleyball texture mat from the sports ball cutter texture set. Wipe off excess with a paper towel. Roll white fondant to approximately 1/8" thickness. Place texture mat on fondant. Firmly roll over the mat. Remove mat. Cut textured fondant with cookie cutter from set. Attach to a baked and cool round cookie with piping gel or a thin layer of buttercream.
Soccer ball: Lightly spray soccer ball texture mat from the sports ball cutter texture set. Wipe off excess with a paper towel. Roll white fondant to approximately 1/8" thickness. Place texture mat on fondant. Firmly roll over the mat. Remove mat. Cut textured fondant with cookie cutter from set. Attach to a baked and cool round cookie with piping gel or a thin layer of buttercream. Use black royal icing, thinned with a bit of water, to fill in each recessed pentagon.

Football: Lightly spray football texture mat from the sports ball cutter texture set. Wipe off excess with a paper towel. Roll brown fondant to approximately 1/8" thickness. Place texture mat on fondant. Firmly roll over the mat. Remove mat. Cut textured fondant with cookie cutter from set. Attach to a baked and cool football cookie with piping gel or a thin layer of buttercream. Use white royal icing, thinned with a bit of water, to fill in each recessed side and pipe laces. Use black food marker to trace outline around edge of laces.

Butter flavour Crisco shortening in stock now

Today I've added to our product range, butter flavour vegetable shortening by Crisco. This is great for those who've in the past had to add butter flavouring, no need, it's already there.

Clik here to buy $12.50

Carnival baking cups back in stock YAY!

Now I know many of you are waiting for these.

Despite being told by the manufacturer, the demand for carnival stripe papers was too high and we'd have to wait until next year for more, they have swung in to production and YAY! we have them back in stock. Click here to buy

A cake pan to make any letter or any number

This awesome new cake pan can make any letter or any number - what more do you need?. I have been so excited ever since I knew these pans were on the way. Today they have FINALLY arrived. They are very heavy and a nice quality.This wonderful cake pan can be used to create any letter from A to Z or any number from 0-9.
Simply follow the guide included to move the squares to create the outline of the shape required.
Spell out words for events, or a childs name. Can even be used to create no#s such as 2 & 1 to place on top of a large sheet cake for large celebrations.
Can be used with cake, brownie or Jelly. Measures 4x7x1'' deep.

Chocolate 3d Christmas bauble cheescakes

Anyone that knows me knows that I ADORE Christmas. Here at Kiwicakes, the planning starts for Christmas around July/August. I've been thinking about having a play with this 3d Christmas bauble chocolate mould for a while now (it can be used to make completely spherical chocolates). Then it hit me - Christmas cheescakes were begging to be made! And it was so easy.

Here's how: I took my favourite cheescake recipe and mixed in some red & green 100s and 1000s I was worried the colours would bleed excessively. But even after a very good stir, they were still looking great (you can use store bought cheescake also)

I melted milk chocolate moulding melts in a double boiler. I spooned it in to the 3d Christmas bauble mould and left it to set in the freezer for aprx 5minutes. When you take the mould from the freezer. hold it up to the light, if you see any thin spots, cover these with a little more chocolate.

I then spooned in to the cavities aprx 1tbsp of cheescake mixture. I covered this with a biscuit base, I used Malt biscuits, as I felt they were less sweet than many alternatives, given all that extra chocolate (and I had them in the cupboard). I allow 1.5 malt biscuits per mini cheescake. For 9 biscuits, I used 3 tbsp of melted butter. Simply pulse biscuits in food processor until they are crumbs, or place in a bag and smash with a rolling pin. Stir in melted butter. Press biscuit mixture in to cavities. Place entire mould in fridge for an hour or so. The baubles released from the mould very easily and the biscuit stayed right where it was supposed to.

I coloured them using just two colours, from the Rainbow Dust range of edible silk lustres (suitable for vegetarains Rainbow dust is Halal and Kosher certified). The red is Metallic Moroccan Velvet and the gold is Metallic Golden Sands. I was really thrilled with how they turned out.

Tools I can't live without! #5

This tool, is one of those things, once you have it, you never knew how you managed without it. Once you've iced a cake, it seals it, so you don't drag crumbs through your icing, as you're smoothing.

Tips 789 is Wiltons 2'' wide cake icing tip Here is instructions on how to use it, from Wiltons site. They have a wealth of information check it out at http://www.wilton.com/ (photographs copyright Wilton Industries Inc 2004)

Preparing a perfectly smooth iced cake, while keeping crumbs out of the icing can seem like a tricky thing–but over the years we've developed some methods to make it easier. Start by positioning the cake on its serving board on the turntable. Remember to thin the icing with 3-4 Tablespoons of corn syrup so it spreads easier. The trick to keeping crumbs out of your icing is to glide your spatula over the icing, never allowing the spatula to touch the cake surface or to pull already spread icing from the cake surface.

Step 1
Trim a 16 in. Featherweight bag to fit tip 789. Fill bag half full with icing. Hold bag at 45° angle and lightly press tip against cake. Squeeze a ribbon of icing in a continuous spiral motion to cover cake top, with last ribbon forcing icing over edge of cake top.

Step 2
To ice the sides, squeeze icing as you turn the cake slowly. Repeat the process until the entire cake side is covered.

Step 3
Rotate the cake slightly and repeat the procedure, starting from a new point on the rim until you have covered the entire top surface. Smooth the center of the cake by leveling the icing with the edge of your spatula. For easier smoothing, it may help to dip the spatula into hot water, wipe dry and glide it across the entire surface. Set the cake aside and allow the icing to crust over for at least 15 minutes before decorating. At that point you may also lay Non-Stick Parchment Paper on the iced cake top and gently smooth with the palm of your hand.

Tools I can't live without! #4

Following on, from the last "tools I can't live without" post is #4 the offset spatula, it makes life so much easier. Smoothing cupcake tops, smoothing cake sides, spreading chocolate on transfers sheets or lifting up fondant cut outs from the bench, you name it - it just makes life easier!

A Night of Christmas December 4th Whangarei

My good friend Kathryn (Whangarei Cake tin hire) holds an event each year called "A Night of Christmas". I'm posting details of it here, so that if any of you are in Whangarei on December 4th you can come along. This is one of my favourite Christmas events. Kathryn runs this evening, with her good friend Sasha. Together they make the most amazing crafts, as well as the best truffles I've ever tasted in my life - no exaggeration. Everything is displayed so beautifully - I always go home with an empty wallet. There are plenty of tastings. What more can I say?. You simply must come!.

I'll be there, of course - and so will some of Kiwicakes Christmas products. I look forward to seeing you there. The snowflake cookies were made by Kathryn, as invitations for friends family and colleagues that came last year (for those interested she used the Autumn Carpenter snowflake cookie cutter & impression mat set). Rest assured, you don't need a cookie to turn up.

A Night of Christmas 14 King Street Kensington, Whangarei. 5pm onwards 'Merry Everything'

More on Polystyrene cake dummies

Great news everyone, the polystyrene cake dummies have landed!. Thanks for all the great feedback you've given me, on finally being able to bring these to you at a reasonable price.

Some great ideas have been shared with us, on the uses of cake dummies. One in particular that interested me, was using round or square dummies, with matching shaped cake boards to create cupcake stands, at a fraction of the cost of buying a large one. The polystyrene dummy can be dressed with a fabric sleeve, to match the party decor, or even the bridesmaids dress material. I've been so inspired, I think I might try my hand at one.

We'll have more great cake dummy shapes coming soon.

Kiwicakes is proud to be a trend setter for new products and prices, whilst we strive to lead - we find others often follow with price matching, so we're happy to be bringing you these great new prices. Whether you choose to buy from us, or those that have chosen to match us in price. We are proud to be cutting the price of your large cake dummies in half.

Special cake decorating class October 31st

Jane from Sweet ideas emailed me today, with the info below, to let me know about a special cake decorating class she is running. She asked me to share it with you all.

SPECIAL DEMONSTRATION CLASS!

Saturday 31st October 11-2pm

Come and see this special demonstration class where I will be showing you how to use all the Wilton products, their tools for cake making and all the different tips that make your flowers and borders. See how you can make roses to perfection, ice and decorate a cake in such a short time using the techniques the professionals use, and profit making ideas for the home decorator. Ask questions and they will be answered.....Sit, have coffee and light refreshments and enjoy !You will receive recipe sheets and heaps of ideas in this class, plus giveaways.... This is a one off class and bookings are essential, you can reserve your place by phoning Jane: 07 3085 308 Cost: $35.00 30 Fishermans Drive COASTLANDS - WHAKATANE.

Your instructor, Master Cake Decorator, Jane Hunt was taught by Wesley Wilton, co founder of the Wilton Cake Decorating School for Professionals in Chicago, U.S.A. and has been decorating and teaching her skills in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, China and Hong Kong for the past 25 years.

Drawing with chocolate

I just loved this article from JustJennrecipes on how to draw with chocolate. Check out her full blog post here This technique could be so useful, for all those tricky requests we get for obscure characters, or even the everyday characters.

Polystyrene cake dummies at the best price in NZ

I always endeavour to seek out the best price, first time for my customers here at Kiwicakes. In the past, I have been horrified, with the cost of polystyrene cake dummies, and have ordered them in, on an as required basis. However this week, I am thrilled to announce, Kiwicakes now offers the best price on the web, within NZ for cake dummies, we have round & square shapes, due in to stock next week, and if other shapes prove popular, we'll add them in to stock too.

Dummies are 3''/75mm deep and priced from 5''/125mm diameter @$5 to 14''/350mm diameter @$12. Compare our prices. In most cases, I've found them to be 50% cheaper. Click here to buy

More of my little cakes from this weekend

I found these groovy blackberry & raspberry lollies, from the trademe seller tozzies, and couldn't resist piping the top of a small cake, in round balls, using pink buttercream. I baked a big batch of red velvet small cakes, using the straight sided cupcake papers. I just love these, as no cupcake pan is required.

Then I piped using a no#12 wilton nozzle, blobs of icing and one blackberry and one raspberry atop each, and they were done.

I think the raspberries, could easily represent a strawberry, these would be nice for a Strawberry Shortcake party. Oh dear, you'd have to eat all the blackberries yourself. Unless of course, there is a character named after blackberries.

I've been having a play with little cakes over the weekend.

Last weekend, when I visited the food show, I bought an awesome roll of licorice from Rosalie at New Generation Licorice (where was this when I had train tracks to make. This stunning huge long roll, is wrapped with plastic film between, so when unrolled it doesn't stick to itself. I could tell you how long it was, but you might not fathom just how big, so I've taken a photo for you. NGL has sellers around the country - this huge roll only cost $10.

I had fun making these sushi mini cakes using the licorice.

Firstly I baked a batch of red velvet shallow cakes in straight sided cupcake papers. I removed the papers and cut them all to a matching height.

Then I crumb coated them all with white buttercream. I cut licorice strips to fit around the circumference. I turned the iced side face down in to a plate of coconut, and placed random pieces of cut lolly on top. I thought they looked pretty cool in a container, that just fitted them perfectly.

Gorgeous new cupcake wrappers in stock today

I'm pretty thrilled with the latest arrival today of cupcake wrappers Romantic Lace, with gold accent suitable for weddings or any celebration really & Happy Birthday - just perfect for that special someone. The delicate metallic silver, means they can be themed beautifully - anything from pastel pink, through to bright lime green, your imagination is your only limitation. Both are packed by the 10. Definitely a new favourite thing.

For all you lovers of RED out there, I've also been pleased to welcome to Kiwicakes 2 cupcake stands, both take 18 cupcakes, with one taking Minis, the other standard size.

You can now keep up with Kiwicakes on facebook

Well I've joined the ranks of facebook. You can now keep up with us there too by clicking here I've only just signed up today, so don't expect to find too much there today. However if you're a facebook user join me as a fan. Go on be the first!

Do you bake from scratch?

Do you have a baking blog, website or published literature and bake from scratch? You might be interested to join the "Baked from Scratch" movement. Started by Jess from Sugadeaux Cupcakes out of sheer disbelief that professional high end bakeries would use packet mix as the basis for their goods. As a consumer, you can be sure those who are listed here are baking your treats from scratch. There are several members from New Zealand already.

Go to http://bakedfromscratch.blogspot.com/ to join and you too can use the "baked from scratch logo"

We are drowning in 3 pallets of stock!

Last week I had three pallets - yes THREE pallet loads of stock arrive, as a special clearance offer from one of my suppliers. Much of it I agreed to without even knowing what I was getting. Needless to say I have stock coming out my ears. Those of you that have been with me for years, know as I operate online only, our base in Whangarei is Mums house. POOR Mum! - before we could get it packed off to the storage areas and stockroom, it had to be sorted. For 48 hours, her house has looked like a warehouse.

It took three full loads in Mums van to clear most of it up to our storage unit. And we're not finished yet!

Well I know you're all dying to know what I received. There is more candles than I'll ever need in a lifetime, party ware, bride & grooms, balloons and licensed character items.

There's good news for all the KiwicakesNZ blog readers, to help me make some room, I've decided what better way to clear it quickly than to GIVE IT AWAY TO YOU. Simply place any order at http://www.kiwicakes.co.nz/ mention this blog post in the comments section at time of ordering and we'll include a free gift with your order. Where possible, we will theme your free gift to match your order.

How to carve a spiral cake

You'll have heard me say it before Cake Central is THE BEST. Newly loaded instructions today on how to carve a spiral cake. In New Zealand with all our outdoor activities, this would have an endless array of possibilities for decorating. Go to Cake central for instructions by clicking here