Stock take refreshments served up retro style - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

Its all hands on deck this week at KiwiCakes while we do the annual stocktake and keep up with all of your orders. I thought a refreshing Homemade Ginger Beer might go down well with my hardworking colleagues.

I couldn't get my hands on the favourite family recipie as my parents are gallivanting around overseas this month so I settled for a googled version. It was pretty simple with ingredients many of us have at home anyway - water, sugar, lemon juice, ground ginger and yeast. This is the cheats overnight version but if you want a challenge then have a crack at making traditional Ginger Beer! It takes a week to mature but you get a really good crisp fizz. All you need are some empty bottles and a huge mixing bowl (or what i find even better is a 10 litre bucket dedicated to kitchen use).

Jazz it up for parties and picnics by serving your Ginger Beer in these cute Glass Bottles and remember everything tastes better through a Straw. We have more than 20 varieties in stock to suit any occasion.

Back to the boxes for us...

Cheesecake and lemon curd Easter egg dessert

Some months ago when I joined Pinterest - a cheesecake filled Easter egg was the first thing I pinned, I have seen versions of this so often, since then, I really don't know who to credit with coming up with the idea first. These are so simple to make - so easy to impress your friends. I started with a carton of hollow eggs, I was careful to inspect the chocolate these were made from (I'm not a great fan of some of the cheap chocolate on the market).

This is what I purchased from our local supermarket -  German chocolate eggs. If you were taking these to a dinner party already made, the plastic container would be great for carrying them. I have a small guilty secret, I didn't make the cheesecake filling, I used the Tararua ready made filling from the supermarket (because I actually really like it) - the egg yolk is lemon curd, coloured with a little egg yellow colouring. 

Firstly I took a very sharp vege knife and cut in to the eggs, the cracked design provided some good lines to cut on. I removed the little top lids of the egg and filled the egg with cheesecake mix using a piping bag. I also put the curd in to a piping bag, so there would be a little more curd, than just the small amount you see sitting on top, I plunged the nose of the piping bag down in to the cheesecake mix and squirted whilst pulling upwards (kind of like how you fill the centre of a cupcake using a piping nozzle)

I found this gorgeous little egg carton at the supermarket with Cadbury eggs in it, it even came with the little spoons. What a perfect little gift this would be for the person who has everything at Easter. (Keep refrigerated)

Easter Bunny cupcake tutorial

I had so much fun with these Easter Bunny Cupcakes. They are very quick to make. I used Satin Ice fondant without any additives (such as tylose or gum trag). The mini Easter eggs are from the supermarket, I always grab some every year, as undoubtedly I find a use for them. The grass is piped using tip 233. The cupcake papers are our Toadstool papers.

First form a small ball with white fondant and slight elongate it. The make two oval flats for the feet and add pink ovals on top. I popped small lines on, with a vege knife.

I glued the feet in place with edible glue

Then popped on a pink mimosa for the tail. Once you place your bunny on top of the cupcake, it's a good idea to pipe a little more grass around the bunny, this way it looks like he's diving through it, rather than sitting on top of it.

Raspberry & White Choc Guide Biscuit Slice - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

Hello KiwiCakes blog followers,

I am the new girl on the block and am very excited to be a part of this inspiring team. We are fortunate to have access to all the newest and most exciting products available and I look forward to sharing my kitchen adventures with you. No doubt you will love baking and eating sweet treats as much as I do! 

As I am still finding my way around the newly established Test Kitchen I decided to make a no-bake slice first. Coincidentally it is also Guide Biscuit time again this month and as a former Girl Guide myself I couldn't resist supporting our nations young girls by purchasing their biscuits again. They are so versatile and yummy to bake with. I have teamed them up with intensely flavoured Fresh As freeze dried raspberries for a yummy fudgey treat. So here goes my first attempt...

Raspberry & White Choc Guide Biscuit Slice

Melt together:

- 100 grams butter

- 1/3 cup brown sugar

- 1/2 can of condensed milk

While still warm, mix into:

- 1/2 cup white chocolate baking melts

- 1 pack crushed Original Guide Biscuits

- 20 grams Freeze Dried Raspberries

Press into a lined 20cm square tin and sprinkle with coconut if desired. Cool and store in the refrigerator.

This recipie can be cut into any shape you desire - just remember it is really rich! With easter approaching I decided to use a Bunny cookie cutter  from our huge range of Easter Cutters. This makes a cute and delicious snack that you can prepare in advance of Easter Sunday, and it is simple enough to let older kids do alone.

We welcome Laura to Kiwicakes

Today I'd like to introduce you to Laura, the newest member of Kiwicake's. Laura is joining me as a recipe blogger here on this blog and on Monday's you'll find her at Kiwicake's either in the test kitchen or at the drop in counter. For those of you that are local please say hi to Laura if you're ever visiting on a Monday.

Any blog post you see with this smiling face as the writer will have come from the lovely Laura. Together we've been discussing some of her upcoming recipes and I'm quite excited as Laura has some really great ideas.

Planet Spencer cake

This cake was made for a very special little boy named Spencer who is having his birthday party tomorrow. I spent a while mentally planning this cake, I didn't want anything to fall over. It gave me a few heart failure moments along the way, but in the end, I was reasonably happy with how it turned out. It's hard to see in the photo, but the surface had a texture, so as not to be completely smooth.

The cake was made using a Fat Daddios 8 1/4'' hemisphere pann The lettering around circumference of the cake spells out HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY SPENCER REED - it was made mixing shades of Satin Ice fondant (white, red, yellow & orange) with tylose to harden. Each letter is on a toothpick. The little alien is made using green satin ice with yellow mixed to make this particular shade of green, with tylose to harden. The moon rocks are straight satin fondant marbled together (white brown & blue) - the cake also has glitter and glitter shapes stars on the planet & cake board.

The icing that covered the cake I marbled using this technique Before covering with fondant, I covered with a layer of white ganache.

Before placing my 2 halves together, I placed some fondant on the bottom cake card, so when the top half of the sphere was placed on top, it would create a several millimetre gap for the toothpicks to slide in to (so the toothpicks did not go in to the cake (and possibly get lost in cake)

This is what my board looked like with it's central dowel, the bottom hemisphere cake also had 4 dowels in it for strength. I drove this cake down to Spencer's home today and it arrived with no damage. Spencer won't see his cake until this afternoon, I can't wait to hear what he thinks of it (his mum loves it)