Poppy's marvellous creations

My daughter poppy recently created her own "Poppy's marvellous creations" chocolate bars in preparation for her Willy Wonka themed birthday party

Poppy started with a simple bar mould, that mimics the shape of a store bought chocolate bar. Along with a mixed pack of wrapping foil.

Poppy raided the Kiwicakes test kitchen for candy, pop rocks, chocolate & other tasty additions. In planning her chocolate bars, she somewhat themed them to her foil colours.  

Pink foil: Strawberry pop rocks, strawberry daquiri jelly beans, freeze dried strawberry slices in white chocolate

Green foil: Watermelon pop rocks, lime jelly beans in milk chocolate

Orange foil: Orange jelly beans, orange marshmallows, cornflakes, chopped peanuts in dark chocolate

Dark pink foil: Raspberry flavoured M&Ms, pink marshmallows, hundreds & thousands  in "Limited edition raspberry flavoured" candy melts by Wilton

Blue foil: "birthday cake" flavour jelly beans, white marshamllows, blue sugar pearls in white chocolate.

The jelly beans we used were all Jelly Belly brand, hence the more unusual flavours

The wrappers were printed on gold paper, left over from her  "Golden ticket" party invites.

Her finished bars were a huge success, they looked great on her party table, and have impressed family and friends after her party (we had quite a few left over, so have been feeding them to visiting family and friends over the last week)

Share-the-Love Hearts - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

These festive hearts are super simple to put together and are a great activity to do with kids in the lead-up to Christmas. You will need:

Candy Canes (2 per heart)

White Chocolate

Glitter / Cachous to decorate

There are many variations of candy canes on the market now, so let them guide your decoration decisions. Fruit flavour candy canes are now available as well as the traditional peppermint. 

Hearts can be full length (pictured in the centre) or snapped shorter for a more balanced shape.

Unwrap the candy canes and ensure all traces of the clear wrap is off. Use a sharp knife to carve candy canes to fit snugly where they meet up.  

Arrange candy cane heart outlines on a baking paper lined tray and gently fill with melted white chocolate. (I used white candy melts to create a truer white than supermarket white chocolate. Whitener powder can also be added to further whiten melted chocolate). Smooth chocolate into place with a teaspoon. Tapping the melted chocolate on a bench is also a good idea to release any air bubbles and smooth the surface. Remember to support the candy canes while tapping so your chocolate doesn't escape!

While the chocolate is still warm, add your festive decorations... 

Chocolate peaks can be highlighted with hologram gold rainbow dust for sparkle. The pictures I took just don't do this glitter justice - it looks magical in real life! 

Crushed candy cane sprinkled over the top looks fun when served up beside cool lemonade in a bottle with a matching red retro paper party straw.

Christmas style sprinkles or red and green cachous complete this heart. You could use Christmas Confetti, Christmas Trees, Candy Canes or Jumbo Snowflake sprinkles. 

You can speed up the setting process by refrigerating the hearts briefly. I found that when kept airtight in a cellophane bag these lasted easily for a few days. When packaged and tied with ribbon they make neat year-end thank you pressies.

Glamour Strawberries - from Kiwicakes test kitchen

This summer has started with strawberries in abundance! Use white candy melts for a really white snow-like coating. These melts are so simple to use they should be a staple ingredient in every pantry!

The 'Jewel Fire Red' colour of rainbow dust glitter matches ripe strawberries perfectly. You use such a tiny dusting each time that your 'little pot of strawberry glamour' will last for years. I dipped a dry paintbrush into the glitter and shook it gently over the drying chocolate.

This platter of strawberries looks festive and jolly with the addition of Christmas coloured pebbles stuck to white marshmallows. I used  a wee dot of the leftover white chocolate as glue. 

Importantly, the fine grains of this food contact glitter mean that they can't be tasted when eaten. 

I had a bunch of keen taste testers for this creation. Strawberries for morning tea at work - it doesn't get much better than this!