Cookies for a Cat Lover

A friend who is a great cat lover was having a birthday what better than cat cookies. Here at Kiwicakes we have a great range of items for animal lovers including lots of cat cookie cutters

 A dilemma which one to choose  I finally settled on this one a Sitting Cat

I used this biscuit mix we stock, it keeps its shape very well and doesn't spread during baking.

All directions are on the packet and it is very easy to use.

I used half a packet and that made a full oven tray of biscuits . I cut the biscuits out as instructions and thought I knew better and shifted some of my biscuits to fit more on the tray which distorted my shape slightly.I would not recommend this, I would use two trays next time .

The biscuits are baked at a low temperature and hold their shape well. Instead of Icing I used Renshaws Marzipan. I put this on while the biscuits were still warm to help it stick.

I chose this cat wafer paper. We have an extensive range of wafer paper printed designs at Kiwicakes

I  traced round the cutter and stuck the wafer paper down using Sugar Glue

All bagged up and ready to go with the cutter tied round the neck of the bag as an extra gift should the birthday girl like to make more cookies for herself.

I think they got the seal of approval from the birthday girl's cat Phoebe, here she is keeping warm on this cold Winter day.

I hope this inspires you to try your own cookies We have over 600 cutters etc click here  for our full range

Frozen Olaf - no sign of letting go

At the recent Cake and Craft show in Napier, I was joined by Stacey Johnson from Design at 409​ Stacey made some amazing display cakes for the Kiwicakes stand using a combination of Kiwicakes products and her special cake toppers. For those of you who were unable to attend in person and see these cakes up close, over the next few days I'll be sharing the photos with you here.

Stacey used our lovely snowflake wafer paper for the bottom tier of this cake and topped it with one of her custom topper.

With the release of our Old Master wafer paper prints, I couldn't wait to marry them up with our picture frames mould. The moulds are made with yellow fondant, to which I added a little tylose to harden. The wafer paper pictures are attached with edible glue and painted with Rainbow Dust edible metallic paint light gold & dark gold. (I did 2 coats)

Wafer paper flower using the new steam boss steamer

Here's a short little video I made today using the steam boss steamer we sell at Kiwicakes. You can either hold the steamer in your hand or leave sitting on the table as I have done. You can find the steamer here for 50.95, we also sell the wafer paper sheets for 5.95 each including patterned sheets and the wafer paper flower template

Woodland Chocolate Log - Tutorial Tuesday

This cute chocolate log would make a fun addition to your Christmas table. It's made much easier by the use of wafer paper log ends

To start you need to bake your chocolate log in a swiss roll (or you can cheat and buy from from the supermarket)

Mix 400g buttercream with 200g of mixed fruits such as glace cherries, raisins etc. You can buy the Christmas cake mix from Bin Inn or the likes.

Spread over your swiss roll and roll up tight

We covered our log with Bakels chocolate truffle, it's quick and easy to use and tastes great.

Then we rolled a layer of Chocolate Satin Ice fondant around the log, placing a circle of fondant on each end to cover the buttercream swirl

Using a PME veining tool  I freehanded a woodgrain effect in to the surface of the fondant.

A small log branch extension was created by hand using a piece of fondant. This extension and the wafer paper log ends were adhered to the cake using edible sugar glue.

To add a festive touch I added some of these ready made fairy toadstools, these hold a special place in my heart. My grandad used to go outside and pick these for me from the garden when I was a little girl. However I couldn't go with him to pick them, as they only grew for him - he must have been right, I checked that garden 100's of  times and never found any myself.

The ivy leaves are created with green fondant dusted with edible dusts. They are cut using ivy plunger cutters, so only take a few minutes to make. These are again adhered with edible glue.

Wafer paper bow cake tutorial - Tutorial Tuesday

Our tutorial Tuesday is Too-Hoo cute! - this lovely wafer paper bow with owl cake was created for Kiwicakes by Lisa from the Whole Cake & Caboodle. The owl tutorial can be found here. The star tutorial can be found here.

Decorate your cake as required. I have used a variety of stars on wires and the small owl from the last two Tutorial Tuesday tutorials.

Cut strips of edible wafer paper to the width that you require. Make sure the pattern at the ends matches as close as possible

Paint some water onto the cake around the base to stick the wafer paper to. Just a very light coating is fine and adhere the strips to the cake making the final join at the front. This way if the pattern doesn’t match very well it will get covered by the bow. If you are just having ribbon then make the join at the back of the cake.

Cut some triangles to the size you require for the ribbon tails making sure they are approximately the same size. Placing them together cut a notch out, this makes them both even. Then using a touch of water stick the ribbon tails to the cake - you may have to hold it in place if you wish to add some movement until it sticks but be careful your fingers don't stick to the ribbon while its slightly damp.

Cut similar shapes to make into bow loops. You will need two. I have made these around 18cm long by 7 cm wide with a slight curved edge. This isn't overly necessary it just cuts down on paper when its gathered. Spray lightly (or brush) all over on the back with a small spray bottle, the bow will lightly curl. These bottles are great to control how much water you use and to do it quickly. They can be bought at variety shops in small travel packs for a couple of dollars.   

Pinch the short edge together like so.of each end of each bow piece. You will have two pieces that look like small boats 

If needed brush a small amount of water to the gathered ends and press together. 

Place bow pieces on the cake leaving a small gap in between pieces and stick to the cake where needed with a small amount of water.

Using a small piece of fondant icing make a centre part to cover any joins. Check the fit against the gap.

Spraying or brushing the back of a small piece of wafer paper place gently over fondant piece ensuring it is well stuck and covered. It should just tear off but you can use a craft knife or scissors if it doesn’t Smooth down any ragged edges being careful the damp part doesn’t stick to your hands. Glue in place to the centre of the bow.

 I decided that the stars I had made needed some paper on some to carry the print through. Stick the paper to the star and trim using a sharp craft knife. You can use small scissors but they don't cut as well…and voila!

NOTES:

1       Wafer paper gets very gluey when damp so it will stick to the bench or your fingers. You may find it easier to work over glad wrap, wax paper, computer paper etc

2       You will need 2 sheets for this project for an 8 to 10 inch cake. There will be some spare but make sure you keep any small bits as they can be used for another project

3       If you dot feel confident pinching the bow ends practice on a small scrap piece first

4       changing the colours can make this a cake for all ages and sexes. Adding numerals to the stars on the wires will personalise it more

Eiffel Tower Cookies - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

These perfectly Parisian cookies can now be made in the comfort of your own home! Your two secret weapons are the delicate Eiffel Tower cookie cutter and the striking wafer paper edible sheet of eiffel towers, which specifically fit our cookie cutter.

Use the cutter to shape your favourite rolled out cookie dough and bake. When cool, paint with a little sugar glue to make the top surface tacky. Use the cutter again, this time on 2-3mm thick rolled white fondant (with a pinch of tylose worked in) and transfer a shape to the top of each biscuit. I used the middle notches as a placement guide and then eased the fondant on gently.

Cut around the wafer paper prints with fine kitchen scissors. This step can be done in advance and remember that care taken with cutting will show in your final product. Use your sugar glue again (really sparingly) to moisten the top of the white fondant and lay the print on top, pressing to adhere.

These cookies just fit into a favour bag and look great with our styling tags which also come in green, red, pink and blue. Use them to personalise cookies with the theme or individual names.

These cookies can also be showcased vertically for impact! The golden cookie dough we used looks great on this gold cake board. 

The four sides of the tower are cemented together with a touch of royal icing (recipe available in an earlier blog here). I love how you can see through this tower like you can through the real thing!

This structure would also work as an impressive cake topper for french themed occasion.