Hikurangi School has the best kids!

I had the pleasure of taking my daughters year 3 & 4 class for cookie decorating a week or so back. Prior to arriving I was just quietly terrified, I've never thought of myself as teacher material. They were so well behaved, the class is a credit to their teacher Miss Caroline Trevillian or "Miss T" as she is known.

When I offered Miss T the chance to do this with her class, she suggested gingerbread men, as the class is currently working on self portraits and lots of activities surrounding this theme. I baked each child a gingerbread boy & girl, so they could make themselves and one of someone they loved. Their work was amazing. I even learnt a wee tip from a young girl named Trinity - the way she applied her fondant hair to her cookie was something I am going to have to use in future. Miss T even managed to take a photo of every child with their finished cookies.

They surprised me the next day with a handmade card from every child. Each card had their photo with their finished cookie. According to my daughter Poppy the cards took all afternoon. It certainly looks like a lot of effort went in to them. It was funny what each child told me they liked about doing the cookie decorating. I got "you must be the best Mum in the whole world" (Poppy might disagree with that) and many other superlatives. I adore my cards and think I will hang on to them forever.

We even made the school newsletter.

Chablon mats in use

Today I received this photo from Rachel at http://www.cupcake.co.nz/ I was thrilled to see how she made use of the chablon mat for creating round circular discs of chocolate to top her cupcakes. Rachel is based in Auckland and runs a cake & cupcake decorating business there. She also has a great blog

Chocolate transfers on fondant

I received these wonderful photos from Kiwicakes member Rachel Pilcher. She tells me it is her first attempt at a wedding cake. I was thrilled to receive these photos, Rachel did a great job. The middle tier has a chocolate transfer applies to the fondant. Rachel tells me, she iced the middle tier, then placed the chocolate transfer directly on top, covered with a layer of baking paper and then with a very cool iron, ironed the fondant. Taking care not to leave the iron in one place for too long. This is a technique I have been meaning to try for quite some time myself - I even had my eye on the same transfer. Thanks for sending this in Rachel!

I have the best job in the world!

Especially when wonderful customers such as Lisa from Denheath Desserts surprise me with a wonderful box of goodies like these. There are so many scrummy things in this box, I hardly know where to start, 2 delectable custard squares, a wonderful SQUARE chocolate eclair HOW DID THEY DO THAT? asstd cheescakes, oh my oh my I am in heaven. Currently I have scoffed 1 custard square and taste tested the square chocolate eclair (which Grandma Kiwicakes polished off) as well as the triple chocolate cheescake. Not bad for a mornings work. Roll on lunchtime and afternoon tea.

Now wouldn't you like to open a box and find this wee gem inside?

The wonderful carton fits perfectly inside it's polystyrene mini chilli bin - it has been incredibly well thought out, the box when opened folds flat, to allow for easy removal of the tasty goodies.

Such a cute little ice pack and it's partially frozen, even after it's long trip from Timaru.

I am already planning just who I can send one of these wonderful collections too. Rest assured they taste GREAT and the reliable overnight courier service, that ensures your gift arrives in immaculate condition means you can rest easy. Go on get some today! http://www.denheath.co.nz/

The newest friend to join Kiwicakes

I was thrilled today to see the prototype of some Pukeko cookier cutters I comissioned arrive. Handmade right here in NZ, I'm pretty proud of what I've achieved. Priced at $12, I think that's a pretty good deal for a handmade cutter. Here's an example of how you can ice the finished cookies.

Great fun was had by all!

I wanted to share with you all, this cake I completed - from a weekend course at Millys in Parnell with the wonderful Kirsten (our tutor). I have made many many cakes in my time, but I freely admit, I have never really piped flowers and I was keen to learn how to do it properly. The flowers are made in Royal icing, the cake is buttercream. The blue butterfly is there for my daughter Poppy (her favourite colour is blue), whilst it doesn't match the cake AT ALL - it was made solely for her (she is only 6).

I learnt some great tips from Kirsten, things I hadn't ever had to worry about, or didn't think about too much before. I wanted to share some of them with you

1. Royal icing is affected by grease, if you have piped royal icing flowers using tips or bags that have grease from buttercream in them OR, you place in a plastic container (plastic is porous and can absorb grease) that has had greasy things in it - this can cause your flowers to wilt & go mushy - meaning when you try to pick them up they squash.

2. The problem described above is actually a bonus when placing on a cake, as you can see from my photo, the flowers are placed on a buttercream cake (which survived a trip back from Auckland just fine), yet they absorb the grease from the buttercream, meaning when you go to cut the cake they are soft and can be cut right through with a knife and are easy to eat.

3. This next tip is nothing to do with the cake in question, but I learnt it this weekend - if you want to mix neon orange icing, use orange food colouring with lemon yellow, it will really make your colour pop.

4. As I haven't done a lot of royal icing work, beyond cornelli on fondant and using royal icing to glue components of a cake together. (i.e - I use it to do the work and then toss out the remaining icing), I was surprised to see royal icing that has been left to sit covered for an afternoon, takes on a marshamallow texture, and needs to be remixed, to be able to use it.

5. I love working with Wilton's colourflow mix, flooding cookies is SO MUCH EASIER than I thought it was.

My good friend Lisa often jokes, I started Kiwicakes, becasue I couldn't find enough of the tools & equipment I wanted to indulge my hobby in NZ and now looking after Kiwicakes I haven't enough time for my hobby - so it was great to get some hands on time actually making cakes, instead of just talking about them in theory and sharing a fun weekend with like minded people.

My 10th Wedding anniversary

Wow it's hard to believe I have been married for ten years. For quite some years, I had always intended to make a miniature version of our wedding cake to celebrate. However I realised a few weeks ago, to do this and keep it a surprise from my husband, simply wasn't going to be possible. So I asked the lovely Lisa from The Whole Cake & Caboodle if she would make it for me. She kindly agreed and this is the result. It is a small cake with a 5 and 3 inch cake inside those gorgeous wraps. It is gin & lemon (my husbands favourite from the 4 flavours we had)

Here is a photo of the orginal From March 4 2000 (Made by the City Cake Company in Mt Eden Auckland). It was 4 tiers. The smallest cake is on the bottom and the largest on the top. It was quite a feat of engineering. Our 4 flavours were chocolate mud, orange & almond, gin & lemon & fruit. what was quite funny, was it tasted so darn good, many of my guests actually ate 4 pieces (1 of each flavour) It's quite funny, I've always been a cake fanatic, this cake cost more than my wedding dress.

Ballet Tutus using the Formal dress impression mat set

I was just thrilled when I received an email from one of my customers, Phaedra Cochrane showing me how she used the Autumn Carpenter formal dress cookie cutter & impression mat set, to create the ballet tutus. I think she did an amazing job and I was happy she granted her permission to show them to you.

Flirty fuschia female flamingoes for my flickr friend Tracy

I was asked to take part in a cookie swap by Lisa from "The Whole Cake & Caboodle" with some of the cake & cookie girls on flickr (within NZ). Lisa made a draw of all our names & I got to swap with the lovely Tracy (Sweet Treacle) from Auckland. I decided to make flamingoes for Tracy, as I'd viewed the flamingo cookies she made, after she had visited Auckland Zoo, (she posted them on flickr). This coincided with a recent trip with the children to Auckland Zoo in the school holidays for my family. I also just got a brand new flamingo cookie cutter in to stock.

The flaminoes are one of my favourite things at the zoo, I'm always still standing there looking at them, long after everyone else has moved on. My daughter Poppy asked me, at the zoo "Mum if you were a zoo animal - what would you be?" I chose the flamingo. Maybe it's the skinny legs that appeal?

One thing that intrigues me, is the intensity of pink, of flamingoes in the wild (owing to the amount of shrimp they eat). I wanted mine, to be REALLY pink too.

The cookies are almond flavoured sugar cookies. The rolled icing on top is a marzipan/fondant blend 70% marzipan/30% fondant. It makes the marzipan a little more pliable and helps stretch this expensive medium a little further. I was struck by how little colour is required to colour marzipan, as opposed to fondant, the black gave a very nice black, and very quickly too.

I love receiving customer photos

I especially like receiving them late on a friday afternoon - it really makes my day. I just received this stunning photo of an orange cake, made in the Nordicware banana bread or "monkey" bread pan my lovely customer Elise kindly agreed I could show it to you all. I think she did a great job. It was made for her sons birthday. It is yet to receive it's orange drizzle icing, which is currently being mixed up. I adore Elise's suggestion of Grand Marnier syrup for an adult version.

How to use Silicone CHABLON moulds

These stunning new silicone chablon mats are a brand new release from Autumn Carpenter. Prices at 59.95, they will take all of the hard work out of creating even sized shapes. Available in square, round and scalloped, they are in stock now!

How to use - To Create Shaped Pieces

Step 1. Lay chablon on chocolate transfer sheet.

Step 2. Pour approximately 2/3 pound melted candy coating or melted and tempered real chocolate over the chablon, fillling the first row on two sides.


Step 3. Smooth with a confectionery blade or other straight edge, spreading at an angle.

Step 4. Slide transfer sheet with chablon onto a cookie sheet and place in refrigerator for 5 minutes.

Step 5. Invert and remove transfer sheet.

Step 6. With gloved finger press gently to remove chocolate pieces.



Truffle Sandwiches

Step 1. Create shaped pieces following directions above.


Step 2. Mix truffle recipe below.


Step 3. Pack truffle mixture in pastry bag fitted with a #21 tip.


Step 4. Pipe truffle mixture on top of one shaped piece.


Step 5. Place a shaped piece on the piped truffle mixture.

Truffle Recipe
•2½ cups (¾ pound) finely chopped real chocolate
•1 cup heavy cream
•¼ teaspoon salt
•¼ teaspoon vanilla
•Melt chocolate. Cool at least 98°. Whip cream until it holds a soft peak. Add chocolate, a little at a time, to whipped cream, stirring with a spoon. When all chocolate is added, stir in salt and vanilla. Chill in refrigerator until mixture is firm but not stiff (5-20 minutes). Beat with a spoon until fluffy. Do not overbeat

Stunning Easter chocolate moulds in stock

Following on from the fantastic Christmas moulds range, we have the latest release Easter moulds in stock NOW. Each mould in the range features an "I can do this!" instruction card.

These moulds make a great gift for the beginning chocolatier on your life. And yes, we have the check cupcake papers featured on the front of one of the moulds too. Priced at just $6 each, these are a great buy.

Have you tried the taste of yellow?

Have you tried the taste of yellow chocolate bar yet?. It was released for sale today, at Foodtown, Woolworths & Countdown supermarkets. I've been following the taste of yellow. I sampled the taste of yellow quite some time back. I've been dying to taste the finished bar. It was surprising in that the actual bar was yellow. I had expected creme filled dark chocolate, simply because, this is what the samples were. The bar has a groovy wrapper. It reminds me a lot of Josh from Telecom.

Inside the gold foil, is a little card, with the story of Josh's journey to create the taste of yellow chocolate, mine was stained bright yellow from the chocolate. The bar is moulded using an elaborate design. The bar in my photo has lots of popped air bubbles on the surface, which probably doesn't bother a huge proportion of the chocolate eaters out there. But as I've moulded chocolates myself, I immediately thought "look at all those bubbles"

Whilst I can 100% say "it tastes like yellow". I'm still not sure I like it. I bought 4, so I've still got time to decide. I really loved the french toast sample, I was desperately hoping it would make the final cut for the taste of yellow, so this may have biased my opinion.

Overall I think Josh did a great job, getting it in to the stores in such a short time frame with no background in chocolate making. I feel sorry for all those people that fall in love with the taste of yellow, as it's a limited time release, once it's gone, you won't be able to get it again EVER. But that's life I guess.

Have you bought a taste of yellow bar?. Do you like it?

A wedding cake to knock your socks off

This stunning wedding cake was created by Alice St. Agathe from Antigua. This wonderful lady requested the coral silicone mould be manufactured specifically for this cake. I'm so glad she did, I just love the mould and it's a welcome addition to the kiwicakes range.

Photo reprinted with permission.

WOW 18 new silicone moulds!

The manufacturer of these silicone moulds, for which Kiwicakes is the sole NZ distributor has outdone themselves. 18 new moulds! Too many to show you all here, but here are some of my favourites coral, claddagh, jandals & butterflies, do check the full range out here.

Kiwicakes 4th birthday cake competition

Following on from last years highly successful competition. I am pleased to announce the launch of the Kiwicakes 4th birthday cake competition. Click here for last years winning cake Or click here for last years entries

1st prize is a $500 goody box of cake decorating supplies for the winner.

How to enter
I'm asking anyone interested to design a birthday cake for Kiwicakes 4th birthday party. Your cake should echo what you feel epitomises Kiwicakes. Your design ideas can be sent to me in any form, for example, a sketch or even a photo of a previous cake you've made, feel free to add written notes describing how you might alter the cake from your photo, or what elements in your sketch represent. The winner will be required to bake & decorate the winning design.

Be sure to include what flavour(s) the cake will be and the approximate size of finished cake.

Where to send it
You can email your ideas to me at sandra@kiwicakes.co.nz or post to me snail mail at Kiwicakes, Po Box 4441, Kamo, Whangarei. Entries close March 31st 2010. Please include your telephone number with your entry.


The details
There are no design limitations for your cake, you can make it as big or as small as you like. However there is a limit of $50 for cake ingredients. I felt by limiting the cost of ingredients, this would allow design talent to shine through, rather than lots of expensive ingredients. The winner will be reimbursed for ingredients, to the value of $50


The winner will be required to make bake & decorate the winning design, during the month of April, at a time to suit them. I will then arrange for the cake to be collected from their home town for delivery to Kiwicakes.

I'll be loading the entries to the Kiwicakes blog (without the entrants names - so you can all remain anonymous) so that anyone interested can check them out.

Terms & Conditions - Kiwicakes 4th birthday competition
Prize is $500 worth of cake decorating supplies, chosen by Kiwicakes - delivered to the winner, at a destination within NZ. Prize is not exchangeable for cash.
Winner is required to bake and decorate the winning design during the month of April 2010 to receive their prize.
Cost of ingredients up to the value of $50 will be reimbursed by Kiwicakes.
Competition is open to all residents of New Zealand (pick up address for cake must be within New Zealand).
The winner agrees to their name & photo of cake being used for publicity purposes.
Entrants designs will be loaded to the KiwicakesNZ blog.
Winner will be posted to Kiwicakes blog and will feature in a future edition of the Kiwicakes newsletter.
Entries close March 31st 2010

A quick cake for Christine

This is a quick cake I whipped up for the birthday of my friend Christine last week. I only had less than 24 hours notice. I baked the cake after my cake guild committee meeting on Wednesday night at 10pm. Its a chocolate mud cake. Then when I got home with the children at 2pm on Thursday afternoon, I asked if they could be extra good for a couple of hours while I made some shells and decorated it. Thankfully, they were little angels and I was able to make finish it, in 2 hours. This style of cake that relies totally on moulds, lustre & trickery is my fall back plan, when I haven't got time to mould or create something from scratch. This seashell cake is a variation on one I tried once before, it worked so well the first time, I wanted to have a play again and changes things just a little.

How to make a chocolate transfer collar for a cake

This method although shown with a chocolate transfer, works equally well with a chocolate wrap.

Thanks goes to Amanda at Roberts confectionery for allowing me to re-post this here for you all to benefit from. The transfer shown in photo, is retro green dots
Step 1. Measure the cakes circumference and height


Step 2. Cut the Transfer Sheet to size. You can use sharp scissors or a Stanley knife. You can join two cut strips together on the using sticky tape. Join on the smooth side of the transfer sheet (ie. not on the chocolate)

Step 3. Lay the strip on a flat surface with the rough side facing upwards. If you place some baking paper underneath it makes cleaning up a lot easier and the chocolate that goes over the edges can be re-melted and used. Step 4. Pour the melted chocolate over the transfer sheet. The black strips in the photo are the “Perfection Strips”. They help you achieve a smooth even thickness of chocolate.

Step 5. Using an offset spatula, spread the chocolate out evenly over the transfer sheet. Try to get a smooth even consistency that is not too thick – approximately 3mm.

Step 6. Gently pick up the chocolate transfer sheet with two hands and transfer to the cake. Place one end on the cake then smooth the remainder of the sheet around the cake smoothing with your fingers as you go around.

Step 7. Once the collar is fully wrapped around, continue to smooth the collar onto the cake to ensure the chocolate adheres to the transfer sheet well and there are no air bubbles.

Step 8. Allow the chocolate to set for a good half hour until it is hard. Then peel away the plastic to reveal your chocolate masterpiece.

Transfer sheets are a sturdy but flexible plastic sheet coated with a mixture of cocoa butter and FSANZ approved food colouring, which has been etched with a repetitive design. They come in a wide variety of designs and colours.

You can use the transfer sheets on any flat chocolate surface or to decorate biscuits, cakes and deserts. Just apply the same basic application method to whatever you wish to decorate - you can achieve amazing and impressive results with ease.

Transfer sheets can be used with any type of chocolate. Milk or dark chocolate will show gold designs to their best advantage, white chocolate will highlight pastel or lighter colours with great effect. Each sheet is for one application only. You can cut sheets to the specific size you require and tape them together on the underside to make longer strips.