Changing the face of birthday cakes at Kiwicakes

New licensed character cake kits

We have a great new range of birthday cake kits, as well as candle sets available separately.

We've got creative with what we can offer customers, as we no longer sell edible images of licensed characters (there's no license available in NZ
to print them anymore). We were disappointed to lose them, but we hope our new alternatives will prove just as popular. It's an opportunity to try something new. We have over 50 popular
kids themes to choose from click here to view (Popular themes to name just a few are Paw Patrol, Frozen, Disney Cars, Spiderman, Avengers, Disney Princess, Tinkerbell etc)

We still have a great range of edible icing images available in classic themes such as unicorn, pirates, animals and more. And of course we can print your own photos, adding text if required. We can print photos of your child dressed as their favourite superhero or princess. Think outside the square, like reading their Harry Potter book or playing with their favourite toy. See our website here 

New range of edible images from Kat at ibicci

What happens when Sandra from Kiwicakes teams up with stencil guru Kat Rutledge from ibicci? A new range of edible images is born.

Using Kat's amazing stencil designs and awesome graphic design skills, Kiwicakes is now offering a range of edible icing images that feature graphics used in Kat's stencils.

We have 4 inch cake strips available that are printed on A3 icing sheets. Simply cut the two panels using scissors and they are ready to wrap around your covered cake. They can be applied directly to Buttercream, fondant or ganache (an instruction sheet accompanies your purchase).

You'll also find on our website fun designs for cake tops, cookies and cupcakes. More new designs are on the way.  Check them out here

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.

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.

New maori word wedding and cake toppers now available

At Kiwicakes we love all things Kiwi. So we've had these wonderful new acrylic cake toppers made suitable for wedding, birthday, baby shower, christening or 21st cakes. Aroha, Kia Ora and Kia Kaha. Proudly made right here in NZ. Click here to view on the Kiwicakes website.

New mini kiwi cutter designed and produced for Kiwicakes

I am thrilled to announce the release of a new mini cookie cutter we've had made exclusively for Kiwicakes. It's stainless steel and you can purchase here for just $5. So cute as mini cookies, but I think they'd also make cute cut outs for cupcakes.

Seashells cake by Karina at Kiwicakes

This lovely cake was made by Karina here at Kiwicakes for her younger sisters 30th birthday. Rachael had asked for a fondant cake and said "chocolate", but other than this we were left to choose the design. I helped Karina start the shells, then she was off like a rocket, making trays and trays of lustred seashells using many of the seashell moulds we have here at Kiwicakes.

The cake is covered in ruffled Satin Ice chocolate fondant, this was applied to the cake in small sections, but as each one is overlaid over the last, you cannot see where one ends and another one begins. The shells were attached to the cake with royal icing. You can see a tutorial on how to colour our paua shells here.

Here's our gorgeous Rachael celebrating with her cake.

New Kiwiana moulds in stock at Kiwicakes

Today I'm thrilled to be sharing with your three new silicone moulds joining the Kiwicakes kiwiana range The Pohutukawa sure to be popular for Christmas as well as weddings.

Both the caravan and the pukeko are kiwi classics.

These have been right manufactured right here in NZ, to our specifications.

Feijoa cake

Feijoas are plentiful at the moment. We've had some great feijoa recipes on the Kiwicakes blog in the past (use the search function at right to find). This recipe comes from our friends at Chelsea.

Ingredients

4 Feijoas

1 cup Chelsea white sugar

125g butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup sultanas

2 Tbsp sliced crystalised ginger

Method

Heat oven to 180°C. Scoop feijoa flesh out in small chunks and mix with sugar in a bowl. In a separate bowl, blend the melted butter and beaten egg together. Add this to the feijoa mixture along with the dry ingredients,a adding the ginger and sultanas last.

Bake in a well greased tin for 50 minutes.

Afghan biscuits - A kiwi kids favourite

My youngest is just starting to get interested in cooking and baking. He's always been keen to jump in to any decorating though. Today we made afghan biscuits together. The recipe comes from our friends at Chelsea.

Ingredients

200g butter, softened
½ cup Chelsea Caster or Organic Sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 ¼ cups plain flour
¼ cup cocoa
1 ½ cups cornflakes, lightly crushed
Icing:
1 ½ cups Chelsea Rich Chocolate Icing
1 Tbsp butter (softened)
1-2 Tbsp boiling water

Method 

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease or line a baking tray with baking paper.

In a large bowl beat butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Sift in flour and cocoa stir thoroughly with the butter mixture until combined before stirring in the cornflakes.

Place heaped teaspoonfuls on a baking tray, squeeze mixture together gently if necessary then press lightly with a fork.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before icing. 

Icing: Mix chocolate icing sugar, butter and 1 Tbsp boiling water at a time until combined, adding more hot water if necessary until icing is a spreadable consistency. Ice biscuits and top with half a walnut.

Mini Pavlovas for Grandma Kiwicakes

I have a shocking secret to reveal, I had never made pavlova before this week, it's one of those things Grandma Kiwicakes is famous for, so I've never felt the need. My recipe is Grandma Kiwicakes own recipe scaled up to make 8 mini pavlovas (and altered just a wee bit). When served they fit perfectly on a bread and butter plate

Ingredients

6 egg whites

2 cups caster sugar (I like Chelsea)

1 heaped tablespoon of cornflour

1 Tbsp of vinegar, I use white, but malt works well too.

Vanilla essence (or other flavour you may refer)

4 Tablespoons cold water

Preheat oven to 180C degrees. Place all ingredients in your stand cake mixer, turn on medium speed and leave to mix for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, the mixture should have lovely stiff peaks, if your turn the mixer whisk upside down, the peaks should hold in place.

To make pavlovas of a similar size, I draw 8x 10cm circles on the back side of baking paper (you don't want pen transferring on to your pavlovas). Using a large piping bag without a nozzle fitted pipe your meringue mixture so that your circles are as tall as they are wide (they will flatten and widen as they bake). Don't put them too close together, or they will spread and join together when baking.

When you place your pavlovas in the oven, be careful not to slam the door, immediately drop your temperature down to 120C degrees. Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes. Once time is up, turn the oven off, but leave pavlovas in the oven until cool. (If you want to bake as one large pavlova, bake for 3 hours, then leave in oven switched off until cool)

These can be baked ahead of time, as once stored in an airtight container they will keep for at least 3 days.

I served with whipped cream and an edible pineapple flower. See how to make edible pineapple flowers here

How I colour my paua shells

I frequently get asked how I colour my paua shells (made using the paua shell moulds specially commissioned by Kiwicakes), after having explained it at length many times, I thought a photo tutorial might be quicker. If you need to know how to use a silicone mould see here

--> . The photos above have white hologram glitter on top of brown sugar, to look like twinkling sand on a hot sunny day.

My paua shells above I made using Dark Chocolate Satin Ice Fondant (you can use any colour, although colours don't show up well on white, or you can use melted chocolate and wait for it to set.) I greased my moulds with crsico, so I wouldn't have cornflour to dust off the dark colour fondant, this gives them a nice shine too.

I start with at least 5 colours of lustre, 1 blue, 1 green, 1 pink, 1 purple and the essential secret to making them come alive 1 gold (I often use more colours, but 5 is the minimum)

I line my paua up, open any colour of lustre and cover all of the pauas in random splats of that colour.

I repeat this process until of the paua are completely covered in splats of colour. At this stage, they look ridiculous.

Taking a large brush, sweep all of the dust off in one direction only, this blends the paua colours in one quick swift motion. I find the paper towel works well to stop excess floating around.

They are so quick and easy to make for cupcakes or cakes

They look good placed among other seashells & corals

And when required, even look good in paler tones, to match other colourways

A quick and easy fern leaf using the FMM cutter

This quick how to make a fern leaf, using the FMM fern leaf cutter came about, because a customer is having trouble with the fern cutter. I thought some of my other beginners might enjoy it too. I am not an overly experienced flower & leaf maker. In fact there are many in NZ that specialise in teaching this art and I'm not one of them. This "how to" is merely meant to convey the steps required to create a leaf for those who aren't familiar with how it is done.

I coloured some Satin Ice Gumpaste

-->  using  green gel paste I rolled it out very thin and created a thicker vein up the middle of the paste. This can be done using a grooved rolling board, or by simply rolling from the centre outwards, first from one side, then the other, leaving a vein in the centre, that you never roll over.

If your paste is thin enough, the item you've cut should stay right there on the board. My first cut left a little paste in the gaps, I just flicked it out with my scribe. If you're worried your paste will stick to the cutter, you can over hang the bottom end of the cutters fern stem 2mm past the bottom edge of the paste, this allows you to pop your scribe in to the gap and flick your stem out of the cutter, this works well as it is the thickest part. In my case, this was not necessary, but can often be helpful if your paste is a bit hot or sticky.

Using a ball or dog bone tool on a foam pad, soften the cut edge of the fronds, to take away the sharpness of the cut.

I heated my wire in a flame and inserted it in to the thicker stem of the fern at this stage, as I wanted the wire to adhere immediately, so I could move forward with photographing the steps.

Once your fern has dried you can dust it with dusting powders or lustre, to give it's finished colour. And wire in to your finished floral spray.

How to use a silicone mould

This short tutorial shows how to use a silicone mould. I am using a silver fern mould, but the principles are the same, no matter what shape your mould.

The first step is to make a size guide for your fondant icing, that you will use to fill the mould. After some practice you can skip this step, as with time, you begin to be able to eyeball the amount of fondant required. It is much quicker to use the correct amount of fondant to fill the mould, than to try to trim it afterwards.

Quickly press down in to mould, to see if the amount you have is too little or too much.

Once you have the correct amount of fondant for your mould, roughly shape it in your fingers to the shape of the mould

Then dust the fondant (not the mould) with a little corn starch, potato flour or icing sugar.

Press to fill the mould, you only need press gently. If your icing if very soft & squishy, it may stick. If it does, it is far quicker to start again, thean to mess about trying to unstick it. knead a little corn starch or icing sugar in to your fondant if it is very hot & sticky.

To release the shape from the mould, turn over on to a work surface or the palm of your hand, and peel from one end, moving along the length of the fern. The finished shape may show some cornflour on it, this can be brushed off when the shape is dry, or you can use a little clear alcohol on a brush (NOT WATER!)

However if you wish to cover in lustre, such as I have here (I've used starlight comet white) there's no need to even worry about brushing the cornflour off, as you'll never see it.

Our full range of silcione moulds can be used with fondant icing, melted chocolate or gumpaste. I mostly use fondant, as it's works best on cupcakes & cakes. If oyu need the item to stand up and set hard, then you need to use gumpaste or add a hardener such as tylose or gum trag to your fondant.

If you use chocolate, it will have a matte finish, as the interior of the silicone moulds is not polished. However for items such as the paua shell this doesn't matter, as the entire surface is covered with lustre.

Paua wedding cake

I was sent this photo by Rebekah Davis, of a wedding cake that her partner made, using paua edible icing image sheets from Kiwicakes
-->  What an amazing cake. Just so you all know, I love receiving your cake photos by email.

Great new Kiwiana Cakes book

This awesome new book is just perfect for all those Kiwi mums, dads & grandmas priced at only 24.99 it's a must have for your cake library.

The newest friend to join Kiwicakes

I was thrilled today to see the prototype of some Pukeko cookier cutters I comissioned arrive. Handmade right here in NZ, I'm pretty proud of what I've achieved. Priced at $12, I think that's a pretty good deal for a handmade cutter. Here's an example of how you can ice the finished cookies.