Batman Boys Party - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

Our eldest recently turned 7 and he requested a superhero party with a batman cake. Decisive children sure make party planning easy! I decided to buy a bat cutter to make my life easier, safe in knowing that I could use it multiple ways for maximum value. You can copy my spider man tablecloth idea with a similar spider web table cover we stock here at Kiwicakes.

On the party morning we pressed bat shapes out of a loaf of fluffy toast slice white bread and put them back in the airtight bread bag. Just before the party we spread them with a thin layer of softened butter and sprinkled with 100s&1000s. These would have looked extra awesome with yellow sprinkles instead. Mind you, the plate was clear in seconds so they must have had kid appeal as they were.

We used the bat bread off cuts to make our kids french toast for breakfast before the party began. I love the looks of pure delight they reward us with for the simplest things!

For his cake I baked two 9" chocolate cakes and sliced off their dome tops. I sandwiched them with a generous layer of orange buttercream made simple using orange flavacol (or you can buy pre-made coloured buttercream to use). Then I crumb coated the cake exterior with the same buttercream using a spatula and covered it in orange pettinice. I trimmed the excess but didnt need to be too picky making the base beautiful as it was to be covered up anyway. I used the bat cutter yet another time for the black logo stuck on top.

I used refill paper to mock up a cityscape and moved them all around until I was happy. I used them as pattern pieces to cut out black fondant buildings, which I stuck around with sugar glue. Little yellow fondant squares (made simple with a square plunger cutter) look like evening lights when placed randomly. Tall black candles completed the look.  

Here is the happy superhero with his birthday cake!

Yet another way I used the same bat cutter was creating iced cookies for take-home gifts. Little superheroes-in-the-making sure need loads of food for sustenance. I used my alphabet cutter set to personalise the cookies with our birthday boys name.

Racing Fever Party - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

Racing Fever hit our house last weekend with a little man turning 4. In the spirit of the party he asked to be called 'Throttle' for the afternoon! Kids had a sausage sizzle and races on trikes before hitting the sweet treats table...

Cupcakes in finish-line themed gingham black & white cases iced with Lightning McQueen and Mater sugar decorations and international racing flag picks went down well.

These racy fruit cars were made by a dedicated Nana. She dipped the cored apple wedges in lemon juice and skewered two toothpick axles with halved grapes as wheels. Brooom brooom!

I made this chocolate brownies ahead of time and froze it until the day before the party. Cut into fingers with a few drops of icing and colour-selective smarties later we had instant tasty traffic light fingers. My kids loved helping to assemble these.

Racing car chocolates were made with melted milkybar chocolate in an 8-piece mould. Racing features were painted on with a red clicktwist brush. An even easier option would be to use bright candy melts in either blue, green, orange, red, lime or yellow to match your party colours. 

These racing teddies are always a hit. This time we used tasty pineapple lumps for the body of the cars and used a little leftover chocolate icing to stick on mini m&m wheels and candy teddies. A nice size for little hands to enjoy!

  

As a take home gift I made towtruck Mater cookies with a cookie cutter and embosser set. Packaged up in favour bags they looked really neat and the kids could all identify this hero character instantly! 

I baked and cooled chocolate cookies, cut and embossed fondant shapes then adhered them to the cookies with sugar glue. Once the fondant had hardened overnight they were detailed with a black click twist brush on the wheels, a green food pen for his eyes, a pearl white click twist brush for his teeth (and importantly) only one headlight, a red click twist brush for his tongue and a dark gold click twist brush for some random rusty spots. 

Lastly here is my skite photo. Could this little man be any cuter!? Watch out for a tutorial on his Race Track cake to be added to the blog shortly.

Princess Elsa's Coronation Frozen Party Menu - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

If you need inspiration for a winter wonderland themed party then check out this balanced mix of fun food ideas from my daughter's party recently. 

I labelled the individual dishes as our party girls are at the school age where they love learning to read and these gave them some giggles. We have stylish tags available online at Kiwicakes too.

Slices like this can be made up to a week in advance, covered in coconut 'snow' and stored in the fridge until party day. 

I love the crunch and vibrancy these bought to the table.

  

Yum yum hot from the oven. The 5 & 6 year old party girls thought this sign was hilarious! In the background you can spot the easiest table decoration ever - a tall glass vase filled with sparkly blue and silver christmas baubles.

These lemonade tasting 'clouds' were soft and billowy. Thank goodness for nanas who bake and help with food prep.

I was careful to avoid peanuts in the party food so these are almonds.

I normally endorse buying New Zealand made but in winter I feel lucky that Australia exports these summery fruit here and surprisingly at a really reasonable price. We bought 3 punnets and this was the first dish to run out!

We served creaming soda drinks (similar to lemonade) in these cool clear retro bottles. Check out the range of various designs we have in stock. Alternatively you could fill them with water, blue fanta or milk and all would still pass as 'melted snow'.

These cookies can be made a day ahead and are a fun project for kids to assist with. You will need shortbread cookies, white marshmallows, white chocolate, licorice, dried apricots and blue sugar pearls on your shopping list. The more inconsistent and 'melted' they look the better!

I think this jelly shortcake slice beats jelly cups which never seem to get finished. And leftovers make great lunchbox surprises for days to come. This was made with 50:50 blueberry and lemonade packet jelly mixes to get the mid-aqua colour.

Plump raisins were offered as 'snowman eyes' but you could even use chocolate drops or other confectionery.

A party is not a party in my house until there are cocktail sausages. Enough said.

These store-bought pretzel sticks made nice woody-looking 'arms'. Eskimo lollies are another easy supermarket item to pick up that is in keeping with the theme.

Lastly we sent the kids home with a signature handcrafted cookie. Its easy to do.

This snowflake cookie is topped with fondant which is gently ice coloured, with the same snowflake  cookie cutter, stuck on with sugar glue, finished with a dash of glacier glitter and presented in a favour bag. 

Big smiles all around!

Sparkly Tiara Treats - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

Today in the kitchen I used our tiara cookie cutter to showcase our new silver dragee range and produced these adorable crowns fit for a princess.

There are a dozen new shapes in our range including the tear drop, marquis and rice dragees pictured above.

To make these treats I used the same cutter for both the cookie dough and the pink fondant. Once my cookies were baked and cooled, I brushed a little sugar glue on and eased fondant tiara shapes over.

To stick the bigger dragees securely to the iced cookies I used a fondant cement. To make one is simple! Inside a disposable piping bag add a small lump of the coloured fondant you are using and a few drips of water. Microwave it for 5 seconds then massage the liquid into the fondant to create a paste. Snip off the end and pipe blobs where the big dragees will sit. If this  hardens inside the piping bag while you are working then pop it back in to heat up for a couple of seconds again. Smaller decorations can be stuck on using the tiniest dab of sugar glue.

Let the peaks of the crown determine the placement of your decorations or freestyle it like I did. Lastly highlight the cookies with a shimmery lustre dust to give them some magic!

Hairy Maclary is 30!

Hairy Maclary has been entertaining children all over the world for 30 years. To celebrate this, Oh Baby! magazine has created this wonderful birthday party. I was pleased to help with supplies for this wonderful party. (Currently if you buy this issue of Oh Baby! magazine at the supermarket, it comes with a free Hairy Maclary book).

I wish my kids were tiny again - they loved Hairy Maclary books and after seeing this photo shoot, I wish I could have a Hairy Maclary party too. I adore the dog bowl cake - what an awesome idea.

Our dog bone cookie cutter was used for the cookies, I love how they put different names on each bone. And our stainless steel ice cream cone holder looks awesome on the party table

Our dog bone cookie cutter was also used for the sandwiches and take home party favours.

(article copied with permission from Oh Baby!)

Spiderman Party Cupcakes - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

I have seen this effect in photographs before but never had a try myself - until today. With such bright colours it really is a simple and effective way of impressing Spiderman fans! I made a yummy golden cupcake for the design to sit on top of...

Cream 125 grams butter, 1 cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla essence. Slowly add two large eggs, beating well throughout. Add 1/2 cup milk and a pinch of salt. Sift over 1+1/3 cups flour and 1+1/2 teaspoons baking powder. Mix again for 1-2 minutes until all combined and mixture is light and creamy. Spoon into black Foil Cases and bake at 175 degrees for about 15 minutes. Makes 12+ cupcakes. And our taste testers agree they are tops so you might be best to double everything and make 2 dozen!

When they have completely cooled, cut off the top dome so it is level with the top of the cupcake papers.

Mix up a simple butter icing to colour and spread over the cut surface...

Mix together with a bread and butter knife - 25 grams of butter melted, 3 tablespoons of boiling water, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence and 2 cups of icing sugar. This will achieve a runny consistency that will be easy to spread and pipe.

Colour 1/4 of the icing mixture black with a squirt of food grade colour and colour the remaining 3/4 with a good squirt of bright red. Spiderman fans will know if your colours end up pinkish or greyish (and guaranteed they will tell you!!) so its worth getting the right bright colourant.

Pop your black into a piping bag with a size 3 tip so you are ready to pipe. Its best to just work on one cupcake at a time so your icing is wet and the two colours blend nicely. Take a blob of red icing on your knife or spatula and cover the entire cut surface. Then work quickly with the black to pipe a generous dot in the middle of the red, as well as free handing three rough circles about 5mm apart as pictured above. It will look somewhat like a bulls eye. Then use a toothpick (or similar) to drag 8 equidistant lines from the middle of the cupcake to the outside.

If your icing firms up a little just give the red a few seconds in the microwave to bring it back to a nice runny consistency. By holding the black filled piping bag with the warmth of your hand for a minute it will do the same job.

And just like magic you have created a spider web effect. These can be made in any colour - and would also be good for halloween parties with a candy spider perched on top!

Another growing trend is to top cupcakes with icing decs We have them available in many of our different licensed ranges. Certainly a quick and easy way to echo your party's theme! Check out our party supplies page for over 50 differerent ranges of licensed party ware - everything from Strawberry Shortcake to John Deere Tractor!

Chocolate Potato Chips - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

We were recently introduced to this ultimate indulgence. Potato chips and chocolate together - what could be better?

Sandra's good friend Leisa from Hong Kong needs a special mention for visiting and bringing a pack. Its a Japanese Company called Royce who make and distribute them professionally.

We took up the challenge to recreate the delicacy with local kiwi products and it worked surprisingly well. They even stayed crisp! You could use milk or dark chocolate to paint the potato chips of your choice.  I used milk melting chocolate brushed on both ripples and kettle chips from the supermarket with a wide paintbrush. Salt and vinegar and ready salted were popular but you could go crazy.

Lastly I used cupcake papers for fun presentation (and portion control!) This is so easy I encourage you to have a go next time you have friends over to watch a sports game. You will be popular!

Today was party central

At our house, for Poppy's 7th birthday.

The popcorn containers I made for Poppy's party today, using Robert Gordon straight sided cupcake papers, to which I attached a POPCORN sticker, which I made. They were quite popular with the kids, and vanished quickly.
Most of my china is vintage, so I didn't have anything plain & flat - so I picked up this white platter for 16.99 at the Warehouse (thanks Republic at Home), whilst I was there, I got the two hurricane lamps standing behind for 9.99 each, which I stood the Strawberry wafers up in (2.99 jar at the 4 Square, photo represents 2 jars in total).
I couldn't decide whether I liked the platter vertically or horizontally for display, in end I opted for horizontal.

I was ecstatic to find heart shaped 2 tone marshmallows at New world supermarket - I had never seen those before - the foil picks I've had in the cupboard for a long time, waiting for "one day" when I might need them.