Gracie's Frozen birthday party part 2

This is part 2 of Gracies Frozen party. Part 1 with her cake is here. Jenny spent months planning Gracie's party. Collecting party items for months, many of which came from Kiwicakes. The cupcake papers and cupcake stand can be found here 

Jenny piped her cupcakes with our buttercream recipe  using tip 4b

The back drop was some lovely sparkly blue fabric that was going begging from our storeroom and the drapes were made with plastic snowflake tablecovers

The party table made Gracie's day and her friends loved it.

The girls could choose between milk bottles or frozen cups

Frozen snowball cake pops anyone?. They look stunning on our acrylic cake pop stand

The chocolate covered oreos were a hit with the little party goers. Using this mould

They're fun to make with kids in the lead up to the party. Simple melt your chocolate

To create a contrasting colour, add some powdered or candy colour to your white chocolate.

Fill this colour in to the mould first and allow to set

A squeeze bottle makes it easier

Then add some white chocolate. And then place an Oreo cookie down in to the mould.

You can leave the back uncovered, or cover over with some more melted white chocolate. Whichever you prefer.

For take home loot. Gracie's little party goers took home sweets in Olaf cups and a few treasures in snowflake bags 

The bags are a good size, but can be cut down easily if you don't need the extra space.

I think Jenny did an amazing job of Gracie's party. No wonder Gracie declared it "the best party ever!"

Moustache Cake Pops - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

These Moustache or Mustache cake pops were displayed by Kiwicakes last year at the GoBake Cake Expo. We made both a glitter style with top hat and a plainer style with wafer paper ties.

Our cake pop balls were created with the round mould from this set. Dip your cake pop in chocolate or candy melts (if glittering your ball - darker chocolate works better, as it shows of the glitter to greater effect)

Using left over melted chocolate from dipping, adhere the little moustaches to your cake pop. Moustaches can be purchased here 

You can select any design of wafer paper you like. Simply cut out a diamond shape that is in keeping with the size of your cake pop to create a neck tie. This is adhered with a little melted chocolate.

Fun for young and old alike.

Christmas Tree Pops - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

With the festive season just around the corner we thought that these Christmas Tree cake pops might inspire you to get decorating! The basics you need are your cake mixture, cake pop mould, cake pop sticks and melting chocolate (I used a mixture of green and white to get this pastel colour). 

These snowman sprinkles are beautifully moulded and so realistic! 

Our new range of dragees look neat on a stippled chocolate tree. Here I used a triangle and rice shapes. You can also get dragees in a handy assorted pack.

These edible star decorations together with hologram glitter give this tree a classy look.

This look can be acheived with a mix of green and peacock coloured jimmies.

Classic garland decorations are easy to achieve with Christmas sugar pearls and fit-for-purpose tweezers. Stick them on while the chocolate is still drying and they will adhere easily.

Lastly you can use turquoise edible glitter for a quick and easy festive coating.

Frozen Snowflakes & Melted Snowman - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

These winter wonderland treats are right on trend and are particularly fitting for these chilly winter days we are experiencing. So much for living in the winterless north!

To achieve todays yummy crafts I cracked into some modelling chocolate, which tastes divine as well as having great stick-ability and moulding qualities.

This snowflake was handcrafted out of light blue modelling chocolate made with 1 part blue plus 4 parts white. It was rolled 4mm thick and snipped into shape with kitchen scissors then dusted with sapphire edible glitter. 

Although these look like cake pops we actually cheated and used ferrero rocher chocolates for the centres. It's an easy no-bake solution. Just unwrap, stab the ball with a cake pop stick then wrap with a circle of white Chocit. The red round cutter from this cookie cutter circle set is the perfect amount to mould into position. Just use clean dry hands to roll into a smooth ball. It seals the ferrero rocher in and adheres to the stick without any need for edible glue. Then the coated ball can be dusted with white edible glitter for some texture and shine.

Decorations like the blue snowflake stick magically when you press it gently onto the ball and they easily hold their shape! This is also true for the snowman decorations like his arms and all facial features. My snowman's hair is the only part that does not self-support for very long so he might need a quick hair touch up before serving. His nose is made from a wee bit of orange Chocit and it too sits proudly without wilting, I just used the end of a paintbrush to make a divet to press the carrot nose into. His arms, hair and other features are made using a little Brown Chocit rolled thinly and cut into strips. Rainbow packs are a great way to start your modelling chocolate collection. 

To make the melted snowman cookies, roll out your favourite cookie dough and make snowflake cut-outs to bake.This is a really effective shape! When cooled, top each biscuit with a rolled round of chocit, press into place and trim the base. 

Then gather his edible accessories, stack on top and smush into place to resemble the effect of melting!  

A snowflake also looks good in light blue or turquoise with a basic shape etched on top. This is where your flower modelling tools come in handy.

Finally the magic is completed with some edible glitter on the edges...

Cake truffles - the ultimate leftover

Cake ball truffles (or cake pops if they're on a stick) are the ultimate way to use up leftovers. Recently I had some left over red velvet cupcakes and some left over cream cheese icing, I mixed the two together, to form my cake truffle mixture. When mixing the two together, visually you are looking for a mixture that looks like "wet sand"

No matter what you choose to roll them in, they look great. They can even be chocolate dipped. On my cake truffles, I've used Kiwicakes own brand non pareils & jimmies (Kiwicakes brand are lovely to eat, they're not super crunchy when used in this way), and tiny heart sprinkles.

I've used these Wilton mini candy cane cupcake papers just in time for Christmas, but you could use any mini cupcake paper you have.

Next time you have a few left over cupcakes or some cake levellings, why not start a container in your freezer for your next batch of cake truffles, cake flavours can even be mixed together if you keep adding leftovers over a few months (use within 3-6 months of freezing). With cake truffles there are no rules, add chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit or anything else you may fancy to your mixture. You are only limited by your imagination

White Russian Walnut Cake Pops - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

Today I made a dozen dessert cake pops flavoured with Kahlua liquer. These would be scrummy served up with an espresso coffee for an easy dessert treat. Great for a fun dinner party event. 

White Russian Walnut Cake Pops

2 T Kahlua (or your liquer of choice)

100g room temperature traditional sour creme

20g finely chopped walnuts

250g cake crumbs (I used vanilla)

Mix liquer into the sour creme first and then incorporate all 4 ingredients, until you have a malleable mixture. To decorate you will need 200g white chocolate and a handful of roughly chopped walnuts

It was my first time making cake pops. I used our set of 4 cake pop moulds which I found gave me smooth and consistent shapes to decorate. It helped to roll balls of the mixture before placing into the mould. I used a palette knife for easy release .

When all your shapes are made, refrigerate them for half an hour to firm up. Then melt white chocolate and dip your lollipop sticks into the melted chocolate before inserting into the cake shapes. Let this chocolate dry to become a base for your cake pops.

Then coat your pop all over with melted white chocolate and roll in nutty pieces while chocolate is still wet.

Here is the finished product ready to serve.

They can also be packaged in clear cellophane bags for individual takeaway treats.