Button Cake - a quick and easy celebration cake

This button cake was easy and fun to make. I started with a selection of our buttons moulds and made rainbow coloured buttons using Satin Ice fondant to which I added a little tylose

I made the buttons one morning and used them later that afternoon. I used royal icing to adhere the buttons to the cake. I began by placing 2 large buttons for each colourway on to the cake, to create the wavy line the buttons follow, then filled in each colour from there. This was to ensure I had even graduation between the colours. This cake was displayed last year at the Go Bake Cake expo in Auckland.

This style of cake looks just as stunning with other shapes such as butterflies or flowers instead of buttons.

Completley Mad Cupcake Buffet - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

Crazy themed celebrations at the preschool our two youngest children attend are not a surprise to us anymore. They sure keep learning fun! To mark April Fools day a Mad Hatters tea party was held in a beautifully decorated garden. The high tea was complete with china cups & saucers and of course marvellous cupcake creations. 

The kids cupcake station was a world of colour and fantasy with buttercream to swirl then a buffet of decorations, sprinkles and edible spray paint to choose from. Able parents were on hand to assist but we found that the preschoolers were super capable anyway! Kiwicakes donated some magical topping products for us to use.

The firm icing discs (being pointed to by a cute, chubby finger no less!) are made from coloured fondant hardened with tylose powder and rolled out with impression mats. Ais especially visible on the pink heart, and mini cutters were used to shape the discs. These were made the night before to give them time to firm up. 

The variation achieved was just beautiful and so fitting of Mad Hatter style! 

And finally here is my littlest monster Mitchell being assisted by our good friend Kimmie. Yay for edible fun!!

SPCA Cupcake Day Prep Underway - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

As you know Kiwicakes proudly supports the annual SPCA cupcake day and this year we are baking for the cause, too. 

We will have team Kiwicakes' cupcakes for sale on the day in-store. You can support the SPCA's fine work whilst enjoying a cute cupcake! Here are the details to put in your diary now:

Monday 26th August
Cupcakes available in-store from 11am to 2pm (1c Grant Street, Kamo, Whangarei)
$2.50 each
$20 for 1/2 dozen in a presentation box
$35 for 1 dozen in a presentation box

You can pre-order your cupcakes by emailng sandra@kiwicakes.co.nz . All funds go directly to the SPCA, so please remember to bring cash with you.

You can never prepare for these things too early, so we got cracking on some toppers today. With the addition of a magic little powder called Tylose our shapes made from regular will last for weeks. Here is a sneak peek at some pieces coming together so far...

When making cupcakes in large quantities it's worthwhile having a few tools up your sleeve to produce uniform shapes, and quickly. For the cute little dog houses below I used a cookie cutter from the Precious Paws mini cutter set. It's adorned with a Funny  Bone candy and will look great when some green grass is piped at its base.

I achieved the woodgrain look by marbling warm shades together. To make 20+ dog house shapes you will need:

50g Dark Chocolate fondant (this is yummy!)
50g Pastel Yellow fondant
1/2 teaspoon Tylose hardening powder (mix 1/4t into each colour)

You can learn to marble by visiting an earlier Kiwicakes blogpost here. This is my 'wood grain effect' which I rolled out to 3mm thick. Remember to store pre-made decorations in a breathable cardboard-type box as they will sweat and wilt in an air-tight container. I like to keep them in the hot water cupboard, up and out of little fingers way!

Click here if you are interested in registering as a cupcake cook yourself and using your baking prowess to support the SPCA. Remember there are some great prizes to be won.