SPCA Cupcake Day 2017

Kiwicakes made the local newspaper. In support of SPCA Cupcake Day. We are donating $2 from every animal themed sprinkle medley until August 14th 2017

SPCA Cupcake Day 2017

I recently took a trip to the Whangarei SPCA to deliver some cupcakes and chocolate VW cars to Andrea (manager fo SPCA Whangare at right) and the staff/volunteers who work so tirelessly. I felt they deserved a treat.

The cupcakes were decorated with our 4 new sprinkle medleys which have been created in support of SPCA cupcake day 2017.

$2 from the sale of every pack of these 4 animal themed cupcake medleys will go to SPCA Cupcake Day. You can grab a pack here If oyu love the cupcake papers, you'll find these here too 

It's Raining Cats and Dogs - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

This selection of pet themed cupcakes was made for our local Kamo SPCA opportunity shop on SPCA cupcake day recently. We have all the fun tools and equipment here to make a wide selection! Here are some of them...

These spooked kitty cats were shaped with a cutter from the Mini Paws set and black eyes were stuck into indents made with the back of the paintbrush with a little sugar glue. 

Here are the three finished scaredy cats lurking in fields of toadstools.

These butterflies were made with the medium plunger cutter from this this set and they float atop billowy clouds of white easy frost icing in sky blue butterfly cases. Champagne oil was added to the icing for a beautiful flavour.

Here you can see the intricate detail that the plunger cutters gives these butterflies with one simple push. The yellow butterfly has been dusted with a lustre dust for sheen and the entire cupcake is sprinkled with yellow edible glitter. 

We used alphabet cutters to brand these cupcakes with their blue SPCA. A pinch of tylose was added to the blue fondant to stiffen it. Once cut, the letters were indented with the back of a paintbrush for a dotty effect. The easyfrost icing was coloured and flavoured in one easy hit with the addition of lemon flavacol. These also come in other citrus and tropical fruit, and classics like coffee, peppermint, chocolate, caramel and butterscotch. A 1A tip was used to pipe the soft lemon swirls. 

These neon cats were formed with the help of a silicone mould and they look so peaceful! I always rub a tiny bit of finishing creme into moulds before I push the coloured fondant in. This ensures they pop out perfectly. These sleeping cats have been simply dusted with a lustre filled dusting powder pump brush.

These cartoony green grass cupcakes added vibrant colour to the boxes. We added mint green gel colour to our easyfrost icing as well as a couple of drops of mint chocolate chip oil flavouring. Then it was easily piped on through a grass tip #233.

The decorations on top were simply pressed into a dog themed silicone mould set. For the two-tone paw I rolled 4 tiny rounds of soft pink fondant and flattened them into the guide then put a touch of sugar glue on top of each. The ball of brown fondant was eased over gently to complete the shape. I used a sturdy pink foil cupcake case to match the pink touches on the paw.

Chocolate Modelling Paste Digging Doggy - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

We made these cute (and tasty!) little doggies' backsides for SPCA Cupcake Day.

This little guy sits on top a cupcake in a foil cupcake wrapper and is surrounded by candy bones. He's made out of tasty chocolate modelling paste sold individually or in a handy rainbow pack.

The 'dirt' is made from crushed up Oreo-type chocolate biscuits, with any creme filling removed. 

Pop the biscuits into a snaplock bag and let loose with a rolling pin until you have the desired texture. 

The dog's bottoms are hand-shaped with white and black chocolate modelling paste. The magic of working with this medium is that no glue is needed to stick the components together, they just magically hold their shape nicely.

Begin by portioning your modelling paste, so that your figurines will turn out even. Cut white pieces for the bottoms, feet and tails. Roll mini balls of black for the pads.

To assemble, smear a sticky icing-like buttercream or ganache over the entire surface of your cupcake. Sprinkle liberally with the crushed Oreo dirt. Use a teaspoon to clear a spot in the centre for your digging doggy to be pushed into. The dog won't stick to the crumbs, so it's essential you make a hole in the dirt - this also creates a build up of dirt against the dog's body, which makes it more realistic looking.

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SPCA Cupcake Day 2013

Monday 26th August was SPCA Cupcake Day. Here at Kiwicakes Laura and I formed "Team Kiwicakes" as SPCA Cupcake Day bakers. We baked over 100 cupcakes and raised $282.50 for the SPCA. We worked furiously together for most of the day. Thankfully Laura had spent the week before making many of the decorations. Many of the cupcakes missed being photographed, as we had customers calling early than we advertised to collect cupcakes.

Many of our customers took away 6 packs of mixed designs. We used the SPCA vanilla cupcake recipe created by Chelsea Winters (winner of Masterchef). We also had red velvet with cream cheese icing. What didn't sell over the counter by the time we closed, my team sold around the Kamo businesses - they were all gone in 10 minutes! Since Monday I've received some lovely compliments on them. We also received some extra donations from our generous Kamo business friends.

Laura used our dog & cat face stencils, to make these fondant discs ahead of time. The fondant had tylose added to harden them. They were stencilled using royal icing.

The SPCA letters were cut using the alphabet fondant cut-outs

Our edible wafer butterflies were great to create quick yet stunning cupcakes, which was awesome as some of our other designs were labour intensive.

Our Bunnies have a pink mimosa for a tail. The bunnies were cut using the larger of the two PME rabbit cutters. The grass was green buttercream icing piped with tip 233

This little doggy digging for bones was made using chocolate modelling paste. The little candy bones were from our range of sprinkles.

The little dog house and our yellow scaredy cats were both cut using cutters from our miniature precious paws cutter set. The blue paw print was made in just seconds by pressing fondant into our paws & bones silicone mould

I've been a part of SPCA Cupcake Day since its inception, both as a baker and as a sponsor of prizes. I looked forward to SPCA Cupcake Day 2014.

SPCA Cupcake Day Prep Underway - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

As you know Kiwicakes proudly supports the annual SPCA cupcake day and this year we are baking for the cause, too. 

We will have team Kiwicakes' cupcakes for sale on the day in-store. You can support the SPCA's fine work whilst enjoying a cute cupcake! Here are the details to put in your diary now:

Monday 26th August
Cupcakes available in-store from 11am to 2pm (1c Grant Street, Kamo, Whangarei)
$2.50 each
$20 for 1/2 dozen in a presentation box
$35 for 1 dozen in a presentation box

You can pre-order your cupcakes by emailng sandra@kiwicakes.co.nz . All funds go directly to the SPCA, so please remember to bring cash with you.

You can never prepare for these things too early, so we got cracking on some toppers today. With the addition of a magic little powder called Tylose our shapes made from regular will last for weeks. Here is a sneak peek at some pieces coming together so far...

When making cupcakes in large quantities it's worthwhile having a few tools up your sleeve to produce uniform shapes, and quickly. For the cute little dog houses below I used a cookie cutter from the Precious Paws mini cutter set. It's adorned with a Funny  Bone candy and will look great when some green grass is piped at its base.

I achieved the woodgrain look by marbling warm shades together. To make 20+ dog house shapes you will need:

50g Dark Chocolate fondant (this is yummy!)
50g Pastel Yellow fondant
1/2 teaspoon Tylose hardening powder (mix 1/4t into each colour)

You can learn to marble by visiting an earlier Kiwicakes blogpost here. This is my 'wood grain effect' which I rolled out to 3mm thick. Remember to store pre-made decorations in a breathable cardboard-type box as they will sweat and wilt in an air-tight container. I like to keep them in the hot water cupboard, up and out of little fingers way!

Click here if you are interested in registering as a cupcake cook yourself and using your baking prowess to support the SPCA. Remember there are some great prizes to be won.

Team Kiwicake's - for SPCA Cucpake Day

Today I've registered "Kiwicakes" in the team category for the SPCA Cupcake Day. Laura and I will be baking up a storm in Kiwicakes' test kitchen Monday 26 August (more details to come on the cupcakes that will be available)

Kiwicakes is the official cake supplies sponsor for Cupcake Day - as we've been since its inception - so today I sent an enormous parcel of goodies off to the SPCA. The SPCA is a cause close to my heart and I've had fun baking for the SPCA each year. This year we intend to outdo ourselves!

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The SPCA has some pretty cool merchandise to support SPCA Cupcake Day. Last year Minette Hanekom from Red Cherry Design (who designed the Kiwicakes Trixie kiwi logo) designed these awesome tea towels (above). This year Beck Wheeler has made these funky designs (below). You can check out all their cool merchandise here I've just finished placing an order for tea towels, stickers and cupcake cases.

Chelsea Winter, New Zealand's Masterchef 2012 winner, has supplied her cupcake recipe for the SPCA Cupcake Day. The SPCA has granted permission for us to share this with you (click on our photo to print a copy).

Vanilla cupcakes with white chocolate ganache icing (Chelsea Winter)

Makes about 24

Cupcakes

225g butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

3 free range eggs, at room temperature

1 ½ teaspoons pure natural vanilla essence

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

Icing

200ml cream

200g good quality white chocolate

 5 cups icing sugar

Freeze-dried raspberries or strawberries (or powder)

Method

Cupcakes

Preheat oven to 180°c. Line 2 x standard 12 pan muffin tins with cupcake liners (24 total – you may need to do in two batches).

Sift the flour and baking powder into a small bowl, stir to combine and set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar with an electric beater or mixer until very pale and fluffy (or you can do it by hand, it will just take longer). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides with a spatula. Beat in the vanilla essence.

In three parts each, alternate adding the dry ingredients and milk. With each addition, beat only until the ingredients are just incorporated, but at the end the mixture should be smooth. Again, scrape down the sides as you go.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners about ¾ full, and bake in middle of the oven for about 15 minutes until they just start to turn golden on top.  Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 10 minutes, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Icing

Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler. Add the cream and mix to combine. Cool, then chill in the fridge for an hour. Beat the mixture until it goes thick and creamy, then beat in the icing sugar until thick and smooth. Pipe or spread the icing on to cupcakes and sprinkle with the raspberries/powder.

Exciting SPCA cupcake day update

Today I received a darling letter from the SPCA cupcake day crew, thanking Kiwicakes for its involvement (Kiwicakes supplied prizes, advertised the event and baked for the day). The SPCA made a whopping $201,262 nationwide. This is a 51% increase over the results from 2009. For those interested, the tallies of funds for different regions will be on the Cupcake Day website in a week or so.

The winners of the SPCA competitions for a variety of categories can be viewed here

Pink Champagne Cupcakes

Finally the recipe I promised you all for Pink Champagne cupcakes. It is the recipe I used for the SPCA cupcake day cupcakes I made. I've had many people that ate the cupcakes ask for the recipe and everyone says they never knew it started with a cake mix SHHH! don't tell.

Pink Champagne Doctored Cake Mix

Ingredients

1 box Betty Crocker vanilla cake mix

3 eggs

115g butter, softened

1 1/4 c. Pink champagne (let the bubbles go flat, stir it if you have to, to accelerate this)

4 drops Lorann Champagne Flavouring oil

Pink food colour

Instructions

Place butter into mixer and beat until smooth with paddle attachment.

Add remaining ingredients, and food colour to desired shade of pink. I did a light pink

Mix according to directions on box, scraping bowl at least twice.

Bake according to directions, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

 

For the icing, I used the standard Wilton buttercream icing recipe (double batch), I substituted pink champagne for the liquid and added about 6 drops of lorann flavouring oil.

SPCA CUCPAKE DAY Today

Yesterday I baked up a storm,over 4 dozen cupcakes. I chose 2 flavours - pink champagne, with pink champagne buttercream (recipe to follow shortly) and German chocolate with chocolate cream cheese icing. 

I had my cruelty free eggs at the ready (just the way I like them), purchased from the Whangarei Growers market on Saturday morning from Cackleberry Farms

Now the blue eggs in the back row are chicken eggs as well. Not duck as I first assumed. Such a pretty colour shell.

 I first turned my hand to two dozen chocolate lego cupcakes. 

Now you might be wondering what lego blocks have to do with animals..........................Well take a look at this little fellow. 

In our house, Bilbo has been known to munch on many piece of lego in his time, if it isn’t put away, he is likely to give it a good ole chew!  

Next up was pink champagne, this flavour is my new favourite. As the flavour was completely new for me, I did a test run 2 weeks ago and was thrilled with the results. I used my Cricut Cake machine and the Paper Pups cartridge, to create these.

I used white icing, which I painted with glycerine, to act as glue for the glitter (Glacier violet by Rainbow Dust). The cupcakes in my opinion don't photograph too well,,the subtle pink actually looked quite nice against the white- but in the photo the difference is not as noticeable.

I loved the poodles.

I'd love to hear what you made for the SPCA today.