Love cake - with silver dragees

This LOVE cake was displayed by Kiwicakes last year at the GoBake Cake Expo and we've had it on display here at Kiwicakes for some time. I've often been asked how it was made....... SO here's how!. It's a 3 tier cake, covered in black Satin Ice fondant. The centre tier and the cake board edge are covered with diamante wrap (which you cut to required width with scissors). The love topper can be found here, we've quite a selection of different words in our diamante topper range here at Kiwicakes.

The edges where the two tiers meet were spread with black royal icing (just do a small section at a time, or the icing will set before you make it around the circumference) Over the top of the royal icing, a selection of our Greek dragees were applied. Over the top of this I sprinkled 2mm silver cachous to fill the little gaps. I used the Wilton Decorator Favourites pattern press set, to press in the patterns on the top & bottom tier, which I then piped with black royal icing and adhered dragees to. The black fondant drop tier border around the base of the cake was created with this mould.

This cake was very well received at the expo, it looks super complicated, but actually was very easy to produce.

Share-the-Love Hearts - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

These festive hearts are super simple to put together and are a great activity to do with kids in the lead-up to Christmas. You will need:

Candy Canes (2 per heart)

White Chocolate

Glitter / Cachous to decorate

There are many variations of candy canes on the market now, so let them guide your decoration decisions. Fruit flavour candy canes are now available as well as the traditional peppermint. 

Hearts can be full length (pictured in the centre) or snapped shorter for a more balanced shape.

Unwrap the candy canes and ensure all traces of the clear wrap is off. Use a sharp knife to carve candy canes to fit snugly where they meet up.  

Arrange candy cane heart outlines on a baking paper lined tray and gently fill with melted white chocolate. (I used white candy melts to create a truer white than supermarket white chocolate. Whitener powder can also be added to further whiten melted chocolate). Smooth chocolate into place with a teaspoon. Tapping the melted chocolate on a bench is also a good idea to release any air bubbles and smooth the surface. Remember to support the candy canes while tapping so your chocolate doesn't escape!

While the chocolate is still warm, add your festive decorations... 

Chocolate peaks can be highlighted with hologram gold rainbow dust for sparkle. The pictures I took just don't do this glitter justice - it looks magical in real life! 

Crushed candy cane sprinkled over the top looks fun when served up beside cool lemonade in a bottle with a matching red retro paper party straw.

Christmas style sprinkles or red and green cachous complete this heart. You could use Christmas Confetti, Christmas Trees, Candy Canes or Jumbo Snowflake sprinkles. 

You can speed up the setting process by refrigerating the hearts briefly. I found that when kept airtight in a cellophane bag these lasted easily for a few days. When packaged and tied with ribbon they make neat year-end thank you pressies.

Black lace, skulls and pearls cupcakes

Lately, I've notice an upward trend in the use of skulls for bridal showers & weddings (till death do us part). I think they'd also be great for birthdays and Halloween too.

The Black 3D skulls were very easy to make using this Wilton 3d skull chocolate mould and black candy melts. You mould them in two halves, but with a little melted chocolate they glue together seamlessly.

The cupcakes are baked in Black lace cupcake papers. They're great to bake with, as no muffin pan is needed to support them, they sit flat on a baking sheet, which means I can get two dozen on one shelf of the oven at a time.

I've finished the tops with a 1m swirl of buttercream icing and a few Kiwicakes own brand sugar pearls. The long strands of pearls were made with fondant, that has a little tylose added, which was moulded in these bead moulds (6mm & 3mm).