Fun holly cookies Christmas tutorial

Stamp out and bake holly cookies using the cutter from this set using your favourite non-spread sugar cookie recipe.

Cut out using the same cookie cutter a thin green holly shape from fondant icing. Glue to the cookie by brushing the cookie lightly with edible glue or a sugar syrup. Sugar syrup can be made by microwaving/cooking equal quantities of sugar and water together until melted.

Mark the veins on the leaves as shown using a flute and vein tool  

Using the end of a piping tip 1A or similar  cut three berries to fit. Or you can pipe berries using red royal icing. Make some royal icing to your own recipe or by beating 1 size 6 egg white and approx. 1-1.25 cups of icing sugar together. I beat the egg white until foamy then add the icing sugar in two lots. This used about 1 cup but if you wish to have a stiffer mix to hold piped ruffled shapes you will need to add a little more.

Leave finished cookies as is or arrange in a wreath on a large plate approx. 50-60 cm in diameter. If arranging in a wreath place holly berries after cookies have been arranged. I have glued cookies lightly with small dots of royal icing to hold them in place on both the plate and laying them on each other.

Further decorate with a ribbon bow or a handcut cookie bow. Also add cookie ornaments if required.

Tutorial - Cute Gingerbread Cupcake toppers for Christmas

Today we have the final installment of Christmas cupcake toppers - the gingerbread man. From Lisa at the Whole Cake and Caboodle.

Roll stiffened fondant (with tylo) or gumpaste  out to a depth of around 4-5 mm thick. Overlay with a piece of gladwrap and stamp out required amount of heads using an approx. 4-5 cm round cutter. The gladwrap softens and rounds the edges. You don’t need to do this, its just a nice effect.

Mark mouth low on the face using the end of a scallop/arc/similar tool  and dot the ends of the smiles with a pointed tool to accentuate them.

Dust a circle on the cheeks using a small amount of Rainbow Dust Rose (or pearl blush pink for a lustre effect)

Dot eyes in the centre of the face using some black gel-paste and a toothpick. The toothpick dipped into the gel-paste then poked gently into the face gives even and controlled dots. (see earlier snowman tutorial for picture) Make some royal icing to your own recipe or by beating 1 size 6 egg white and approx. 1-1.25 cups of icing sugar together. I beat the egg white until foamy then add the icing sugar in two lots. This used about 1 cup but if you wish to have a stiffer mix to hold piped ruffled shapes you will need to add a little more. Pipe squiggly lines as shown - I have used a disposable bag with a tiny hole cut at the end. Cut some holly using the smaller of the threeleaf holly ejector plunger cutter set and glue to the face.

Indent the holly with a ball tool or the end of a paintbrush/whatever is handy, this is to help stop the berries rolling off the leaves when it comes to placing them Put a small amount of edible glue in the indent  and drop in a few red non-pareils between pinched fingers. Alternatively roll small balls of fondant for berries and place instead of the sprinkles. Another option is to pipe small red royal icing balls and in this case you don’t need to indent the leaf. If you have placed too many sprinkles use a dry brush to flick off excess or push into better positions.

NOTE : You can use normal fondant for all but fondant stiffened with tylo will make your work so much easier as it will easily keep its shape while working and dry quickly. You need to use enough tylo to get a bluetack feel to the icing.

Christmas drip cake from Kiwicakes

Recently I received a gift of a lovely Kiwicakes Christmas topper from the uber talented Stacey at Design@409 Which of course meant I needed to make a cake for it right away.

I settled on this drip cake design, which uses the Kiwicakes Christmas sprinkle medley  The cake is covered in white Bakels truffle, to which I added Rainbow Dust whitener to make it truly white. The drip is Bakels Chocolate Truffle, which is super easy to apply to a chilled cake

I used Rainbow Dust metallic paints to colour my macarons. I used mine in my airbrush, if you don't have one of these, you can paint or sponge on the colours. There's 22 shades of paint in the range. This was such a fun cake to make.

Friendly reindeer Christmas fondant icing tutorial

Continuing on with our cool fondant cookie tutorials, brought to you by the lovely Lisa from the Whole Cake and Caboodle here in Whangarei. Today's tutorial is the friendly reindeer

Roll stiffened fondant with tylo or gumpaste  out to a depth of around 4-5 mm thick. Overlay with a piece of gladwrap and stamp out required amount of heads using the reindeer head from the Wilton set of mini Christmas cookie cutters The gladwrap softens and rounds the edges. You don’t need to do this, its just a nice effect. The glad wrap will more than likely distort the antlers but they are to be removed. Using the end of the cutter  as shown remove the antlers and soften cuts if needed.

Using a medium snowflake plunger cutter  cut out some black snowflakes and cut in the positions shown into three pieces each snowflake. You don’t need to emboss the detail on the snowflakes. Glue to the back of the reindeer head as shown.

Using a knife press down in the position shown to accentuate mouth/jaw

Using the knife tip mark ears as shown and mark mouth on the jaw using the end of a scallop/arc/similar tool 

Glue a rolled ball of red for his nose quite low on his face near his jaw (approx. pea sized) . I have slightly squashed mine into a oval shape which isn’t essential – just my preference. Dust cheeks right at their edges using a small amount of Rainbow dust rose (or pearl blush pink for a lustre effect) 

Dot eyes using some black gel-paste and a toothpick. The toothpick dipped into the gel-paste then poked gently into the face gives even and controlled dots. I have dotted mine close to the nose and close together. The closer they are the cuter they are.

Cut some holly using the smaller of the three leaf ejector plunger cutter set and glue to the face and indent the holly with a ball tool or the end of a paintbrush/whatever is handy. This is to help stop the berries rolling off the leaves when it comes to placing them

Put a small amount of edible glue in the indent  and drop in a few red non-pareils between pinched fingers. Alternatively roll small balls of fondant for berries and place instead of the sprinkles. Another option is to pipe small red royal icing balls and in this case you don’t need to indent the leaf. If you have placed too many sprinkles use a dry brush to flick off excess or push into better positions. See snowman friend photo above for how to do this.

NOTE : You can use normal fondant for all toppers, but fondant stiffened with tylo will make your work so much easier as it will easily keep its shape while working and dry quickly. You need to use enough tylo to get a bluetack feel to the icing.

Christmas Holly-day fondant snowman tutorial

Over the next few days, we've got some cool fondant cookie tutorials, brought to you by the lovely Lisa from the Whole Cake and Caboodle here in Whangarei. Today's tutorial is the friendly snowman.

Roll stiffened fondant with tylosese or use gumpaste  to a depth of around 4-5 mm thick. Overlay with a piece of plastic wrap and stamp out required amount of heads using an approx. 4-5 cm round cutter. The wrap softens and rounds the edges. You don’t need to do this, its just a nice effect

Using an approx. 2.5-3 cm round cutter holding it at an angle as shown, press down to mark a half round smile on the faces.

Dot the ends of the smiles with a pointed tool to accentuate them and roll a carrot shape using a pea sized piece of orange fondant. Dust cheeks using a small amount of Rainbow dust rose (or pearl blush pink for a lustre effect)

Glue the carrot nose to the face in a position as shown, about halfway between the smile ends and no more than halfway up the face. Make sure you have left enough room to place eyes, angle the nose outwards then up if needed. Dot eyes using some black gel-paste and a toothpick. The toothpick dipped into the gel-paste then poked gently into the face gives even and controlled dots.

Make some royal icing to your own recipe or by beating 1 size 6 egg white and approx. 1-1.25 cups of icing sugar together. I beat the egg white until foamy then add the icing sugar in two lots. This used about 1 cup but if you wish to have a stiffer mix to hold piped ruffled shapes you will need to add a little more. Pipe eyebrows starting with a heavy dot at the end and then drag to get a thin brow shape. I have used a disposable bag with a tiny cut at the end.

Cut some holly using the smaller of the three leaf holly ejector plunger cutter set  and glue to the face.

Indent the holly with a ball tool or the end of a paintbrush/whatever is handy, this is to help stop the berries rolling off the leaves when it comes to placing them

Put a small amount of edible glue in the indent  and drop in a few red non-pareils between pinched fingers.  . Alternatively roll small balls of fondant for berries and place instead of the sprinkles. Another option is to pipe small red royal icing balls and in this case you don’t need to indent the leaf. If you have placed too many sprinkles use a dry brush to flick off excess or push into better positions.

 NOTE : you can use normal fondant for all but fondant stiffened with tylo will make your work so much easier as it will easily keep its shape while working and dry quickly. You need to use enough tylo to get a bluetack feel to the icing.

Kiwicakes blog mentioned in NZ House and Garden Magazine December 2016

It's great to know all of the time spent preparing blog posts is worth it. When something like this happens!. Kiwicakes blog got a mention in Small Bites by Sally Butters in the Christmas issue of NZ House & Garden magazine for our Chocolate transfers tutorial.

Here's a link to the tutorial Sally Mentions (shown above)

Here's a link to a tutorial using chocolate transfers with strawberries - I find these perfect for the CHristmas dessert table, as they're a light alternative when you're feeling full, yet still fulfill my sweet requirement whilst looking amazing.

Here's a link to a tutorial for those wanting to put chocolate transfers on moulded chocolate shapes

And last but not least here's a link to a tutorial showing how you can make shapes using a chablon mat and chocolate transfers

Bendable Flexible icing that behaves just like fabric

I am so excited with the new flexible bendable icing we've just received here at Kiwicakes. It doesn't rip or tear, despite being all srunched up.We can custom print your own design  or you can purchase our paua design. Check out the video, it really shows you everything you need to know - much better than I could type in words.

How to use Bakels truffle for chocolate drip cake effect

This video shows you just how easy it is to use Bakels Truffle to create drip cake effects. 

Bakels chocolate truffle can be used instead of ganache, it's also great for dipping strawberries and other fancy treats. Simply microwave in the bottle or rest the bottle in a pot of water to soften. Also makes a great filling for between layers, or as a complete cake covering, even under fondant.

To create the white "naked" cake look, I simply used a spatula to apply warmed white chocolate truffle to my stacked cake. I then spun it on a turntable using my scraper to flatten & remove some, leaving the "naked" look.

The video shows warmed chocolate truffle poured straight from the bottle (on to a chilled cake), the truffle sets very quickly.

A Kiwicakes cake mix makes 48 cupcakes - here's how I did it

Testing the Kiwicakes cake mix I found 1 cake mix made 48 standard cupcakes. This is pretty good value from a 12.95 975g mix. I used the "Classic Cake Mix" in my trial. They also make a 4 inch high 8 inch diameter cake, and a pretty decent aprx 3 inch high 9/10 inch diameter cake.

Mini Passionfruit Cheesecakes

Recently the lovely Jenny who works at Kiwicakes made mini passionfruit cheesecakes, which were a huge hit at her party. I'll admit I think these are so much prettier than 1 large cheesecake. And her super easy way of making them has inspired me to make them this weekend.

Using any plain biscuit crush a 250g pack in the food processor with 150g melted butter. This wonderful cheesecake pan has loose bottoms making it super easy to get the finished chilled cheesecakes out.

Press your crushed biscuit down in to the pan

Top with cheesecake mix

For the topping use one box of lemon jelly and one jar of passionfruit pulp. Adjust the water amount for the jelly, to allow for the passionfruit pulp. (e.g remove 300ml of water to allow for 300ml of passionfruit pulp)

Voila! the finished cheesecakes so simple, yet they make you look like a dessert chef superstar.

Kiwicakes in "Kiwi As" sugar art collaboration

Recently I was involved in the "Kiwi-As" sugar art collaboration. I decided on an Andy Warhol inspired Tiki piece. I had the privilege of my piece being chosen for the banner of the facebook page. You can check that page out here and see all of the other great works by NZ decorators.

To create these little tiki faces I used this mould. I coloured gumpaste with progel colouring from Rainbow Dust.

How to pack cupcakes for shipping

This short video shows you how it is possible to pack cupcakes ready for shipping so they arrive at their destination intact. At Kiwicakes we have the Cupcake boxes, lollipop sticks and dowel cutting scissors needed.

How to stamp directly on to fondant using Stamp a Cake

Whilst I was at the Cake Bake & Sweets Show in Sydney in June I made this video with Anna Maria Roche

all about stamping on to icing with Stamp a Cake. The lovely lady asking questions is Lizzo Marek from Artisan Cake Company.

This video will tell almost everything you could ever want to know about stamping on to icing, cookies & more.

We have the full Stamp a Cake range available at Kiwicakes here

Pacific Pearl Food & Wine cruise Part 2

During our Food & Wine Cruise with P&O on Pacific Pearl, there were some great cooking shows in the Marquee theatre. Bridget Davis The Internet Chef was highly entertaining. This first show was aimed at no bake desserts.

The first poor lady up on stage faced seized chocolate

So when my daughter Poppy went up on stage, she was determined to not seize her chocolate

And she didn't. Bridget made with her a cranberry and pistachio white chocolate bark.

Poppy was given it on an enormous catering tray to take back to her seat while it set (everything int he kitchen is enormous, as they make things on such a large scale)

The audience was never short on volunteers.

At the end of the show Poppy took the bark up on stage. Sadly for everyone else in the audience it hadn't set yet, so the whole piece had to come back to our room to go int he fridge. Lucky us!

And it was mighty tasty 

Sachie Nomura from Sachie's Kitchen was up next. She had some simple yet wonderful techniques on how to cut cabbage finely, how to butterfly chicken pieces for teriyaki and so much more. I was thrilled to be able to purchase a signed copy of her cookbook on board.

As always audience participation played a huge part

Sachie made one of my absolute favourites - dumplings. I could eat these until I pop!

At the end of her demonstration everyone was invited up to taste. Since returning home from our cruise I have devoured Sachie's book, reading from cover to cover and attempting quite a few recipes.

Sunday morning Bridget was back on stage for "pan frying". First up she showed us how to make a cheese sandwich - now I guess everyone was thinking I don't need to know how to fry a cheese sandwich, but that's where you're wrong. Bridget's cheese sandwich was amazing. She used an Emmental type sweet nutty cheese along with a cheddar. AND she placed cheese inside & outside of the sandwich.

Poppy was sitting in her seat saying "I'd love to try that" - so when bridget called out who wants to try this, and no one did (must have all been a little shy). I called out yes. As Poppy had been up on stage the day before Bridget recognised her and called out "come on up Poppy"

Then it was my turn to salivate. Bridget made a Cubano, made even more famous on the movie "Chef"

So when Bridget called out for a helper, I had to say yes And of course I got one of the chefs hats too - don't I look snazzy.

I layered the sandwich with tasty cheese, ham, pork and pickle.

LOTS of cheese - I love cheese!

Then it was a matter of  frying the lavishly buttered )on the outside) sandwich.

Apparently I was a natural - and this is the result

As we'd just shared Poppy's cheese sandwich with those around us. We also shared this sandwich too. After all breakfast aboard the cruise had left us somewhat full already. Lastly Bridget showed us a salted chocolate sandwich, which was truly decadent. A young boy near us bought a piece over to us int he audience (as we'd shared our sandwiches with him). Just as well it was still a few hours till lunch!

Another fun event was the Pacific cook off. With the Pacific Pearl's executive chef Marc - a very tongue in cheek funny French chef and Bridget Davis the Internet Chef. Hosted by one of P&Os entertainment staff, who kept the jokes coming and attempted to fluster the chefs.

The chefs each had a audience member helper, a mystery bag of ingredients and access to the ingredients on the bench in front of them. Chef Marc decided bananas were useless and tossed them to the stage floor. It was at this point memories of the Muppet's Swedish chef came flooding back and I laughed even harder.

The Pacific cook off was won by Internet Chef Bridget Davis and her cooking partner. It was decided by audience vote, Grandma Kiwicakes had said to me, we're sitting in the front row, Bridget can see us, we'll have to vote for her. However we didn't have to worry, Bridget won us over with her dish. Sorry chef Marc! The prize aside from the glory was a culinary bag of goodies for the audience member helping.

If you love food and you love holidays, I can highly recommend the 3 night short break P&O cruise leaving from and returning to Auckland. For the price of your fare, you receive your room and all meals (unless you opt to eat at Salt Grill - see part 1 of my post). All shows, gym, pool, kids club and many activities are included. Optional extras can include things like wine tasting and cocktail classes, but these are reasonably priced in the $16-25 range