Kiwicakes new custom edible image printing as film strips

This cake I made last week for my gorgeous friend Vanessa who celebrated her 40th birthday on Saturday night. On top is a kettle bell (weight) for those who don't know what it is. This cake was paired with red colorflame candles that burn red when lit. I used our newedible image film strip service to create this cake. The cake is covered with Satin Ice fondant and has gumpaste roses added

Sugar free cupcakes and buttercream icing with Natvia

The good folks at Natvia again sent me some of their product to try out and give away to you my readers (see competition at bottom of page). Whilst you could make the sweeping statement my life at Kiwicakes revolves around sugar, many of our cake decorators are having to deal with allergies & intolerances for their family, friends or customers special diets Just this past week, I've been asked about vegan baking, gluten free baking, lactose free icings and sugar free baking for a diabetic. As well as ingredients for a lady with Crone's disease. I don't claim to be any expert on any of these things, however I endeavour to do my best to help out.

So I was intrigued to try the new Natvia icing mix - opening the pack, it looks just like icing sugar. When the icing is mixed up, it looks and behaves just like a pipeable buttercream, so for cake decorators it's very easy to use.

I made two different cupcakes. The first "Black Walnut" and the second "Bavarian Cream". Both used the two recipes below for the buttercream icing and the basic chocolate cupcake recipe below.

For the Black Walnut

Add 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts to the cake batter, along with 1/4 tsp of Lorann oil Black Walnut flavour. For the buttercream icing add 4-6 drops (to your taste) to the buttercream icing and stir until well combined. Garnish cupcakes with chopped walnuts.

For the Bavarian cream

Let me first describe Bavarian cream for those who don't know the flavour, it's a wonderful toffee-ish, caramelly super yummy flavour. I add 1/2 tsp Lorann oil Bavarian cream flavour to the cake batter recipe below and 4-6 drops of Bavarian cream flavour to the buttercream icing recipe. My cupcakes in the photo are garnished with a fondant flower, which is not sugar free, but for the most part, they are removed prior to eating by most people, as the taste is not great.

I made a chocolate buttercream using

125g butter whipped in the stand mixer until light and fluffy

To which I added the Natvia icing mix, 3 Tbsp milk 1/2 cup sifted cocoa. Whip until smooth.

To make the cupcakes, I altered my chocolate cupcake recipe swapping out the sugar for the Natvia

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (use baking cocoa, not drinking cocoa)

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter, softened

1 cup Natvia

2 eggs

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

Method

1 Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.

2 In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.

3 Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Cupcakes iced and baked with Natvia certainly taste different to those baked with sugar, it's a little hard to describe the flavour, there's almost a cooling quality to the icing - I think it's something you need to try for yourself.

Competition: Enter to win one of 5 boxes of Natvia icing mix delivered anywhere in NZ. You receive one entry for commenting here and one entry for commenting on our facebook post. Tell me have you ever tried sugar free baking was it a success?. 5 winners will be drawn at random Tuesday 28th April

New edible image printing service at Kiwicakes

Now available at Kiwicakes. Custom edible image icing printing for cakes. Choose from a4 rectangle 19cm diameter circle or 12 cupcake circles. We can print your own logo, photo or picture directly on to our edible icing sheets Click here for more details 

Adding Value at Cake Stalls - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

Our school has a gala day that that the community looks forward to all year. Families bake to fill cake boxes, which is no mean feat given the busyness of daily life! Often beautiful cakes come in covered in plain chocolate icing. Adding a few edible decorations brightens up a cakes appearance and injects some fun!

As cake decorators we can easily increase cake stall sales by dipping into our cake tool kit and shaping cute edible decorations with silicone moulds. Here are some bright daisy, roses and viola. There's no reason you can't marble colours together to create fantasy flowers.

Assorted colour buttons, bright yellow rubber ducks and native brown kiwi would all appeal to different customers. You can add a hardening agent (like tylose) to the fondant in these decorations but they hold their shape fine just stored single-layer in a breathable box.

This set of four different crucifix can look even more jewellery-like when brushed with some edible metallic ginger glow or mocha shimmer lustre dust. The farm animals mould of sheep, pig and cow easily pops out great cartoon faces.

Other decorations like a floppy bunny, an underwater seahorse or a keen gardeners gumboot will all appeal to somebody and bring joy to customers faces!

Bronchiectasis Foundation launch here in Northland 7th April 2015

Yesterday was a very special day here in Northland with the launch of the Bronchiectasis Foundation the Culmination of a dream of Esther Jordan-Muriwai. Yesterday would have been Esther's 25 birthday. Sadly she passed away 10 months earlier. Family, friends, health professionals, dignitaries and the Governor General, Lieutenant General Sir Jerry Mateparae acknowledged her courage and determination during the launch event.

Katie pictured above also has Bronchiectasis. You may remember Katie from December 2013 when I made her 10th birthday cake for Operation Sugar. (you may also have seen her in Countdown supermarket ads, the local paper and other Bronchiectasis awareness campaigns)

Earlier this year the Whangarei Cake Guild had the pleasure of meeting Esther's parents Camron and Ana. They came along to one of our monthly meetings and told us Esther's story of bravery and perseverance living with this terrible illness. I had tears in my eyes listening to Esther's story and immediately my mind went to my young friend Katie, as she battles with Bronchiectasis every day. Esther's parents asked if as a club we'd be prepared to create a cake for the launch of Esther's dream the Bronchiectasis Foundation. Of course as a club we all wanted to help. The stunning cake you see is a group effort from many members. I was proud to get involved, in fact I was bursting at the seams to help. Kiwicakes donated the cake supplies needed to make this cake. Every member had a different job. Mine was to cover and emboss the cake board (using an impression mat). The Whangarei Cake guild was represented at the event yesterday by Anne & Megan, who both contributed to making the wonderful cake (Megan baking & covering, Anne was one of the rose makers and cake transporter - many other members helped to produce this stunning cake).

You can read more about this wonderful event and Esther's dream here in a Northern advocate newspaper story
You can watch the story on Seven Sharp TV Show here and see the lovely Katie being interviewed and on Maori TV here
If you want to know more about Bronchiectasis you can check out the Northland support group facebook page here 
Photos used with permission - Lisa Reed.

Chocolate Melting moments

If you follow this blog regularly you'll know I've been on a mission to teach my youngest to bake & cook. After trying these melting moments we decided to try chocolate ones. This recipe was given to me by my friend Steph over 20 years ago - I was shocked to realise it's been that long since I made them.

They are just as easy as the original type to make

Ingredients

250g butter

1/3 Cup icing sugar

1 1/4 Cups flour

1/2 Cup Cornflour

These can be sandwiched together with chocolate ganache or a simple chocolate butter icing.

Beat together butter and icing sugar until pale & fluffy. Stir in sifted dry ingredients. Line a tray with baking paper. Roll in to small balls and flatten with the back of a fork. Bake at 180C for 10-12 mins. Cool on tray before sandwiching together with your choice of icing.

Bring a Plate Minis - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

This bright offering always goes down well at parties. They are the perfect bite size so never any waste! Your favourite cake recipe will make dozens in mini cupcake papers.

Simply top with a little swirl of easy frost icing and place a special lolly on top to hide the peak. I used gumballs this time but we have all sorts of old fashioned lollies to suit your theme. Think snails, coins, strawberries, pigs, aliens, hearts, bats, teeth, leaves etc...

Another easy way to lift a standard cupcake is to give it a light spray of colour mist. No need for an airbrush here! I used yellow and it gently highlights the peaks of the easy frost swirl. Great to have on hand for a little pop of fun!