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.

Stencilled Heart Cookies - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

This classy cookie was achieved with a Cookie Cutter and Stencil Set. Our range includes an arrow heart, a lace and a lace heart for all of your valentines, anniversary or romantic occasions.

On top of my baked vanilla cookies I stuck baby pink fondant heart shapes rolled to 3mm thick. 

A couple of drops of fluorescent pink mixed into a small amount of royal icing gave me this vibrant highlighting colour. This food colouring even fluoresces under black light!

I used an angled spatula to spread a thin layer of the pink royal icing over the stencil placed on top of the fondant surface. They don't take long to dry then you can package them in a cellophane bag and tie with a matching ribbon. Pretty!

Sport Shirt Cookies - from Kiwicakes Test Kitchen

Our eldest just turned 6 and he is excited about his ripper rugby starting up again for the winter. We let the kids choose a theme for their birthdays and his was obvious (though at one stage there was discussion around a nuddy cake, go figure 6 year olds humour!)

Knowing it was going to be a busy time leading up to his little party, I chose to make the party favours 3 days in advance. I always try to give something homemade as a leaving gift and history has proven they are continually well-received!

I remembered Sandra making sleepover pyjama cookies (visit that blog post here) in the past and that inspired these rugby shirts.

To make these cookies you will need to mix up a batch of regular chocolate cookie dough, some homemade royal icing and have a sports jersey cookie cutter, sugar glue, black fondant, a piping bag and cellophane bags on hand.

I rolled out my cookie dough, cut rugby jersey shapes and baked them as normal. When cooled I brushed on some sugar glue to make the top surface tacky. I left a 2-3mm border around the sides un-glued as the fondant doesn't quite reach the cookie edge.

For my fondant I actually used a 50:50 mix of black fondant and chocolate brown fondant. I love the chocolate taste and the brown is deep enough to carry the colour from the black fondant and still create an overall jet black appearance. Just knead them together til combined. I rolled the fondant 3mm thick on a cornflour sprinkled board and used the same cutter to cut another 10 jersey shapes, which are simply placed on top of the tacky biscuits.

Then I made a quick royal icing by whisking together 1 egg white with 200g icing sugar and 1/2t lemon juice. I transferred the mix to a piping bag with a coupler inserted in it. ALBIE was using a tip#3 and the numeral 6 was using a tip #10. Alternatively you could snip 1mm off the end of the piping bag to write the name then snip the end off another 2mm higher up to pipe a fatter numeral.

The royal icing will need time to set and harden at room temperature before the bikkies can be packaged up and sealed for freshness. 

Then enjoy the looks of pure delight when these macho chocolatey delights are distributed!

Gingerbread Gals - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

Here's a good activity for the school holidays. Kids love to help with all the steps in the process and the mixture makes 40, so you fill the weeks baking tin! 

First, prepare your cookie mix so it can relax in the fridge for half an hour before you start rolling.

Gingerbread Gal Mixture

Cream together:

125g softened butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

Mix in:

1/2 cup treacle/molasses/golden syrup

1 egg yolk

Add the following to make a firm dough:

2&1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
2 Tablespoons ground ginger
1 Tablespoons mixed spice

Wrap dough in gladwrap, rest in the fridge and then you're ready to roll. Knead mixture for a minute until it's completely combined and glossy.

Roll out with your heaviest cake decorating rolling pin  until mixture is 3-4mm thick. Use a gingerbread cutter (set) to press out shapes. These 4 cutters have options of man, lady, boy and girl. I find an angled spatula is perfect to slip under the shapes and transfer them to your baking sheet without distortion. 

Bake at 175' for 6 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool. The cooking smells will make your mouth water.

Meanwhile, prepare your royal icing for decoration. Always keep the top surface covered with gladwrap until ready to use. Fill your reusable piping bag with coupler fitted so you can readily change the piping tip width for finer facial type detail.

I opted to use a royal icing mix that I just had to whip up with water. A great item to have on standby in the cupboard and leftover royal icing keeps fine in the fridge for a month.

Then let your creativity take over and create features for these gingerbread gals with the royal icing. While it's still wet you can add sugar pearls and sprinkles or cupcake candy bling for individuality.

These farmer gals have googly eyes and green grassy feet.

Have you ever tried brush embroidery?

This video from Wilton has inspired me to give it a go. Have you ever tried it?

On the 16th day of Christmas - Royal icing bauble ornaments

On the 16th day of Christmas my true gave to me.................. Royal icing Christmas ornaments

Full credit for the idea for these royal icing ornaments, goes to Dorothy White who is our club secretary at the Whangarei cake decorators guild. She demonstrated them one club night last year. I didn't write down her instructions at the time, so the method used, is what I did.

These lovely ornaments have a myriad of uses for Christmas cakes, but also make great balloons on a childs cake. Teh royal icing can be coloured if you wish or left white as I've done.

To make these neat little ornaments, blow up tiny water bombs with air to make tiny balloons (they are around $2 per pack of 100 and can be found easily at many stores). I used a balloon pump as they are difficult to blow up without. I blew up more than I needed in case of any disasters, they have a tendency to fly about, so I popped them under a cake dome.

Grease your balloon with a fine layer of oil/shortening. (I tested what happens when you don't grease your balloon - the icing breaks in some places as the balloon deflates)

I used instant royal icing mix to create these baubles. I always have a packet in the cupboard. I find as I use only a little royal icing at a time, it is more economic for me, than making it from scratch. I piped a version of cornelli all over the balloon (I say version, as true cornelli doesn't touch or crossover - but as this shape has to hold once the balloon is removed, the design needs to touch in some places for the shape to be sturdy)

Be sure to leave room at the very top for the deflated balloon to be removed - once you have piped your design all over the balloon hang it up to dry. I used paper clips to make hangers - as I don't have a drying rack, I used a shelf in my pantry. I let them dry overnight. To deflate the balloon make a very small cut or prick in the balloon. Don't pop the balloon, the shock is too much for the icing and it shatters. Keep hold of the top of the balloon as it deflates, as you don't want the balloon to drop inside your bauble.

How to make a royal icing tiara

http://www.cakecentral.com/ is the font of all knowledge, I urge you all to sign up (it's free!). Check out this great tutorial for how to make an icing tiara.

http://cakecentral.com/articles/129/how-to-make-a-royal-icing-tiara