Party Preparation

Today is another attempt at crafty fantastic-ness. I've put my hand up to throw my sister a sexy grown up 30th birthday dinner party. You know the type classy, elegant, simple, stunning, full of gorgeous beautiful details. Blogland is full of these gorgeous spreads, surely I can pull it off?? Haha. this will be another challenge in my attempts to combine Time and Inclination. I have both at the moment, I just need to fend of their close cousin - Laziness. I have visions of an Amy Atlas style dessert table, but here's where ability might be somewhat challenged.

So anyway..here's what lies before me as I tackle this challenge I'm really excited about.

Back from the Abyss

That's how I feel in regards to my poor neglacted blog. So much has been happening, I've not got around to recording it here. Time or Inclination?? Probably both.

When I started this blog it was my intention to give myself a kick up the butt and get into the crafty jobs I have been prmosing myself to do now for well over 10 years. But, like most things, life has steered me into a direction that has me just a little excited. I've made it clear I love cupcakes. Turns out, alot of other people love MY cupcakes as well. This has been a huge compliment. After making the cupcakes for the fundraiser recently, I recieved so many positive reviews. I've also taken them to work which has always been with great praise.

So can I turn a passion into a career?? I don't know. I spent 10 years working in the food industry, and promised myself I would never work with food again. But here I am, comtemplating the idea of a business with food. Here's teh crazy thing, I don't consider cupcakes food...they're far more incredible to be labelled food. They're little parcels of devine joy! Seriously. Whenever I think of cupcakes it brings a smile to my face. And let's face it, it's hard to feel bad eating a cupcake. Even a crappy day is made better licking the frosting off a gorgeous cupcake, followed by that first great bite. I love seeing the delight of people when given a cupcake. Next time you see people around cupcakes, just watch, people almost always have a smile. That what I love the most about them. Little parcels of devine joy.

So as you can imagine, I love talking about my cupcakes. I'm sure everyone around me is sick of the topic, but I'm ok with that. They're my passion, and I make no apologies. But my passion is certainly being recognised. I've been getting requests for event which has been the most incredible compliment. I've been getting asked how much  charge, which is always the hurdle. The truth is I love making them and I love people eating my cakes. I'd be happy to do them for free! I don't have an answer for that question just yet.

I could go on for hours, but I won't. But I will share some cupcakes I've been designing for an event I've been asked to do. It's an 80th birthday. It's taken me weeks to get these together. I had "writer's block" in coming up with the ideas for these. But I'm really happy with them. I hope they really set off the table they'll be sitting on.

Cakes for a Cause

See my problem?? Neither time or inclination have been in the same too often of late. But that's not to say I haven't been busy. A couple of weeks ago a friend made us all aware of a fundraiser she was putting together to raise money for the Childhood Cancer Association. It's terrible that we even need to be raising money for such causes, but hopefully, with enough effort and research, we can make inroads to erradicating this terrible disease. This was particularly close to home for my friend has her 3 year old godson has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia

Now like many, money has been pretty tight in our home, but I still wanted to be able to help. Knowing this was an event she was creating, and looked to my talents and offered to bake some cupcakes for her to sell. It allowed me to practice decorating, and gave her another way to raise money. I ended up making 8 Dozen cupcakes which she sold for $2 each. I can happily report she sold them all and my small contribution raised her about $190.00

But a huge shout out goes to this incredible woman. Her efforts in a regional town raised just over $1200.00. She had Hot firemen, a sausage sizzle, drinks, coloured hair spray, raffles, and even Darth Vader & Princess Leiya turned up. The raffle baskets were incredible!! The thing that was really special about the event was that EVERYTHING was donated to her. So as well as a special woman putting in hard work for a great cause, an entire community got behind her and offered support. Even her place of work were happy to allow her to use their grounds, and they have the most prominent place in town, right next to the main stop lights!

It's days like this that make you glad you helped, and even though you can have crappy days, and people can be horrible and nasty, by and large, there are still many people trying to do good.

So here are my little creations that did my little bit to help, and I can report I made everything myself, from the cakes, to the icing, to the decorations.

Chocolate Fudge Cakes with Choc Buttercream, topped with Fuchocs

Chocolate Fudge cakes with Peppermint Buttercream

Vanilla Character Cakes

Chocolate Cakes with Vanilla Buttercream and Frangipani's

Vanilla Cakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Cupcake Tuesday

Naughty Corner

That's where I need to be sitting, I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. I can attest it's largely due to time rather than inclination. It's been a crazy month, largely due to work commitments. This is only my second day off in that time. So you can expect some baking to be done later today!

It's funny how so much can happen in such a short time. Most of it has been work related, and I won't bore you with those details. But my baking seems to be moving slowly in the direction of taking orders from people who like my work. This to me is the ultimate compliment. After pushing through my fear barrier of "what if people don't like my cakes?" I've embraced baking and I've been making cakes for every occasion. It's been met with such a positive response.

I've had training courses over the past week, these can be long days taking in information, so just to add some spark I took morning tea in on 2 of the days. Cupcakes and Apple Crumble slice. Some might call it sucking up, I don't care, I love baking, and love people enjoying my baking.

Here are a few of my more recent baking creations..

Happy Mother's Day

A big shout out to all the Mum's today. Forget about changing nappies, washing, dishes, dirty faces and a house that never seems to stay clean! Let the kids spoil you, the mess will be there tomorrow ( and the day after that too!)

I love my 4 monsters. I got a sleep in with breakfast in bed. and here are the socks I got to match the new Pj's they gave me.

Witches Shoes

It's been a crazy past week, so you will have to forgive my absence. I've had shifts that start at 6am and I don't do mornings very well, especially when they are 10-12hours long. So my craftiness has been a bit limited lately. Then ofcourse, the few thngs I have done..I forgot to take photos of. What a dill head!

Last Sunday was the Medieval Festival with my best friends. It was a wonderful day. Full of food, fun and friendship. I mentioned we had planned to take a picnic lunch and spend as little a possible there. I can report all I paid for was my entry fee. That wasn't actually on purpose, but we spent so much time enjoying the sights and each other's company, shopping didn't seem to come into it. It was so relaxed. And I must say, we did enjoy not lining up for 10-15mins for cake and coffee.

It's funny what you see just leisurely sitting back. As soon as we arrived, it was a bit chilly, so out came the thermos with hot water, a cappucino sachet and some home made biccies. Morning Tea - devine!
Lunch time we had the biggest spread that I'm sure we were expecting another dozen people or so! Baked potatoes loaded with toppings, Pesto & sundried tomato scrolls and cupcakes for dessert. We were stuffed, and in need of a nanna nap I can tell you.

Since it was a day that we would all be together, I did make up a small Witches Shoe favor for the girls, and I actually remembered to take photos! You can find the instructions for these from Skip to my Lou

Aren't they cute!

It's about Friends, not Funds

I want to make a huge shout out to my gorgeous, wonderful amazing friends. I love them and know I'm incredibly lucky to know them. They are all extremely different, yet together we all just make sense. Why this big out pouring of love?

Well despite the obvious bonds of friendship, I wanted to share another example of why I love each of them. We have been a happy 4 some who all came together about 10 years ago. In that time an annual tradition of attending the Medieval Festival has become apart of our lives. It's had a few different locations over the years from Carrick Hill, McLaren Vale to now at Gumeracha. It's a gorgeous day that we frock up in beautiful dresses, gorge ourselves on Baked Potatoes, Mulled Wine, Coffee and other amazing tasty delights, and have a great day catching up. It also usually in between 2 of their birthday's. There's jousting, weddings, woodwork, knights, jesters and so many amazing stall holders with incredible trinkets. Yes I'm excited and can't wait for the fair this Sunday!

Now this year has hit 3 of us pretty hard financially, all for different reasons. So to all make it to the fair has meant some creating accounting for us. In talking to one of my friends yesterday we decided, why not take finances out of the day. One of the biggest money pits at the festival is the food. And it's almost one of our favourite parts!! We love having this once small indulgence. The Baked Potato lunch is almost as much of the tradition as the dresses. So this year...we're taking our own!! We'll cook and keep them hot in a thermos. Everyone will bring a different topping. Plus we'll bring other little snippets of indulgence from home. We've almost made it a fun part of the day to make it still indulgent, but be as tight as Alberneza Scrooge. Since we're all participating in the devine picnic spread, no one will be left to feel uncomfortable either way.

Here's an example of our previous picnic spreads when we went to Moonlight Cinemas

We're all looking forward to a great day catching up enjoying the spectacle that if the Medieval Festival.

Here are a few pictures from previous years.

Gunna List - Update

Checking in to update today progress...

Organise the Laundry Cupboard - DONE!
Washing - 5 loads - DONE!!
Cook a Roast - Cooking and smelling devine!
Bake some goodies for lunch boxes - Apple & Cinnamon Slice and Fruit Buns - DONE!!

Still to do

My friend's homemade present
Create a mock up of some cupcake designs


Also completed...

Cleaned the shower
Cleaned 2 toilets
Cooked a pot of Spicy Lentil Soup
Decorated cupcakes with my daughter


So I can feel comfortable I've been productive today and there will be absolutely no guilt if I don't get the whole list checked off. In getting through today, it occurred to me how many tools we have to get things done, I wonder if we use them all as often and efficently as we should?

For instance, baking with yeast. I know alot of people are afraid of cooking with yeast, and are of the opinion it's very time consuming. I beg to differ. My experience has been that yeast is very forgiving as long as you follow the principles and allow the process to complete fully. Now that did make it sound like a long process, which it is, but you don't have to stand around watching the time! I would suggest your total "hands on" time for most yeast products is no more than 5 -10mins! Who doesn't have that available??

Ofcourse I am referring to being able to use a bread maker for the task, however, I do also enjoy kneading by hand if I want to make a triple batch of dough. I love my breadmaker, but must admit, it took me a few years before I catually started to use it. And here's the thing...I never cook a loaf of bread in it. Or anything for that matter. Embracing the dough setting has changed the offerings in the kitchen!

An example from today is making fruit buns. Pop everything into the machine, go off, put a load of washing on, scrub the shower, have a cuppa , quickly catch a few pages of a book..then beep dough is ready! I just divide it up into balls and then while it was enjoying it's second rising, I quickly threw the ingredients together for the Apple Slice. Once done, they both went into the oven. 15 mins later the buns are done, and another 15mins the slice was done. The hardest part was working out which smelt better coming from the oven.

Here is the finished Apple Cinnamon Slice..

You've got to be quick around here, I didn't even get to take a picture before one of the kids tucked into it!

As for the breadmaker, here as some ideas to get you started..

 From Top - Apple Scrolls, Pizza Scrolls, Pizza, Fruit Loaf and Hot Cross Buns

So what equipement have you got lying around you haven't used in a while?

Just before I head off, I mentioned decorating cupcake with my daughter. Here is her proudly displaying some of her work

Today's Gunna List

Today is one of those rare and glorious days we term "Day Off". I've got plenty I'm hoping I'm "gunna" do, let's see how much of that is still on the list by tonight.
The List...

Re arrange the laundry cupboard
Trial 2 new cupcake recipes - I'm still looking for the prefect recipe
Create some decorated mock ups for an upcoming cupcake set
Make a dent in a friend's homemade birthday gift (I've only got til next Sunday)
Washing..blah
Cook a Roast with all the trimmings for tea
Make a few goodies for the kids lunch boxes.

Wish me luck! Ambition doesn't always meet ability around here, but hey, close is still better than never trying.

Making things easier

The other day I mentioned heading out to grab some tools to learn how to make sugar flowers. I'm still busy practising.

 In doing so, a few things have been highlighted.

The right tools for the job.

I don't always give this little snippet the attention it deserves. I'm a "make do" kinda girl. Often having trouble parting with my money if I can think of a cheaper way to get around it. But the other day, I discovered how important having the right tool can really be. Not just for completing the task. It goes further than that. Having the right tool can make the job so much more fun, less time consuming and give you a better result. I'll share my recent example (I will apologise in advance...it's cupcake related..lol)

When it comes to rolling out fondant I've always just used my regular wooden rolling pin. Sounds pretty logical to me! That was until I bought a small plastic fondant rolling pin. How on earth can these 2 things offer such different results? I've discovered the new rolling pin can roll the fondant thinner, faster and used little to no cornflour to prevent sticking, making my fondant looking so much better, and the final product on the cake amazing. I don't like cakes with thick layers of fondant. If you can make it thinner, you don't overcome the flavour of the cake.

Since this has made using fondant so much easier, I've found I've been more inclined to use it. My family are now "Icing Snobs". If my cakes aren't iced, they won't touch them. They're the same with muffins, if they've lost the "out of the oven warmth" they don't eat them. Spoilt! The idea of using the fondant isn't filled with the dread of being a hard task, it's quick, easy and looks great.

The second thing I've realised is

Make things easy to access

I have alot of baking bits and pieces which I keep in plastic containers - almost organised! But I had them in the back corner of the pantry, making it an effort to get to them with out dropping bit and pieces off the shelf. I've committed to using these more often, so I've bought even more containers to sort things even more, and rearranged the pantry so I can quickly grab the right container without creating a new mess.

You don't need to spend alot of money on containers if you look after them. The big containers were $3 from Cheap as Chips and the smaller ones were $2. I've got mine seperated into the following.

Liners and Sprinkles

Cutters and Fondant Tools

Icing Tips, Colours, Ingredients

Flower forming Pieces.

The pink box at the bottom is my daughter's. She has a small collection of her own personal cupcake decorating bits and pieces. Cupcake decorating has become a bit of a Mummy/Daughter activity for us. I'll talk more about that box soon.

Daffodils

Ok..sorry I've been both lazy and time poor this week. So all virtual kicks up the butt are welcome!

In my last post I mentioned my thoughts on overcoming fear very briefly. I also mentioned the story of an old work collegue asking about my cakes. Crazy but true...I've had an old family friend also send me a message on Facebook asking if I could give her a price for doing cupcakes for her parent's 80th birthday party. I was incredibly flattered and found it incredibly well timed.

The theme is daffodils. I have no experience with sugar flowers, so that's my next challenge. I could just buy them from a cake decorating place, but why not learn a new skill? So I've used google for a tutorial, and found what I needed. Armed with my list, I've gathered my supplies and this morning I created these...

I'm pretty happy with my first attempt. Ask me how I feel about them after I've made 100 of them! I'm working on putting together a few different cupcake designs for the event. I'll keep you all posted.

Now I promise this was not meant to become a cupcake blog, despite the direction it has taken. So in other crafty news, I've almost finished a project I promised Kiltsnquilts I would blog about. Here's a very quick sneak peak

Please excuse the rubbish photograhy.

F.E.A.R

False Evidence Appearing Real

This is how Anthony Robbins describes fear, and I'm inclined to agree. Friday morning, that's exactly what I was experiencing. My stomach was doing flip flops, I was feeling on edge and inside going into panic free fall. I was full of self doubt and fear.

In reality, it was ridiculous. I've made easily over 1000 cupcakes in my time. What were my fears? Everything! What if they didn't cook properly, and in all my batches I run out of time or ingredients. What if I run out of liners due to crap cooking? What if I can't get the right colour? What if I run out of icing and my beaters break down so I can't make anymore ( I know...crazy talk!)

 Most of my fears stemmed from the fact I really was going to be pressed for time to get these done. I worked an 11 hour shift at work that day, so couldn't start them until 10pm, then I had to get them to the reception at 9am. So if something went wrong, I had no way of rushing to the shops to get more supplies.

So don't laugh, to ease my fears, Friday morning, before I started work, I actually baked 20 cupcakes, just to reassure myself that, yes, I can cook cupcakes. Plus that night, while baking the actual wedding cupcakes I actually baked 75 of them, just to ensure I could use the absolute best looking ones!

Strangely enough, while actually making the proper wedding cakes, I was loving it. It was fun making them. Instead of being fearful, and stressed, I was relaxed and enjoying what I was doing. I had such a sense of acheivement when I'd finished.

Here's the really cool bit about this experience. I have said no in the past to people who have asked if I can make cakes for big events, claiming, I don't have time, or I'm not good enough. But you know what, I may not be the best, but I certainly give it my best. To add to this new resolve of being open to saying yes, not half an hour after posting my pictures to my Facebook page, I got asked how much I would charge to make a different cupcake from my collection of pictures from a girl I use to work with. How amazing is the world?!?! - if you take a risk, with pure intention, you will be rewarded for your efforts.

So who knows what will come of all this. What I can say is I love cooking cupcakes. And the evidence is in that in my world, I'm never too busy. To take that a step further, maybe that adds weight to my thoughts, if something is just always on you to do list, but never completed, it more about inclination than time.

I thought I'd leave with a few more pictures from my epic cake making night.

Tired Elation

It's been a huge 24 hours..and I'm delirously happy to be on the side! I'm bursting with happy relief. I will write more later as I have so much to say, but a VERY tall, strong coffee is in order. I  have just got back from the wedding reception where I have just finished setting up my very first wedding cupcake tower. Yippeeee!!!

I know you wanna look ;-)

Fear vs Time and Inclination

I've been missing in action over the past couple of days. Time has been getting the better of me. It often happens when I start work at 6am. I come home exhusted, but still have the whole tea, bath, bed night routine going on.

Anyway, an opportunity presented itself to me earlier in the week that initally had me explaining I didn't have the time. Which for the most part is true. But my main objection was around fear. Clearly you've worked out I love baking cakes. And from all reports, I'm pretty good and they taste good. I'd love, love, love to make cakes for weddings, special occasions, etc. I've been asked a couple of times before but have declined. I'm so scared of people thinking they're no good and the ruining their event, I've not even tried. The pressure of getting it right paralyises me.

I pushed through that fear this week. After initally mentioning I was so pressed for time and would be unable to help this poor bride, I reconsidered. So, with so many other tasks on my to do list, I took on the challenge of accepting making a wedding cupcake tower, 3 days BEFORE the actual wedding! Yes, my head is spinning. I'm also very excited the nervous energy. I really want the bride to be thrilled with my work. Mind you, she is already. Before I took it on, she was planning to bake and ice the whole thing herself. That was the part that made me reconsider.

So I have the time? Probably not. Since they're cupcakes, they need to be made as close to the event time to be fresh. I work from 10am to 9pm on the Friday night and the wedding is at 11am Sat morning, and have to get the cakes to the reception to be set up at 9am. So you all know what I'll be doing at about midnight Friday night..haha. Do I have the inclination...you bet! Do I have the fear...you bet! But, if I never try, I'll always wonder.

After I got home from work last night ( about 10pm) I made a very quick trial so I could show the bride a mock-up over facebook. How good is technology that I can create something, and allow someone far away to see it instantly!

Here's a sneak peek, just envisage about another 50!

Chocolate Fudge

Remember the condensed milk I made early last week? It got put to use today as I made a trial run of the chocolate fudge I plan to make for my friend's birthdays. My sister and my dad popped up in the afternoon who made the perfect guinea pigs. I've made fudge before, but never with home made condensed milk. I was worried it might go a bit grainy. Well worry not! Turned out great!

Chocolate Fudge

125gm Butter

375gm Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 tbsp Golden Syrup

1 cup Brown Sugar

85 gm Dark Chocolate.

Line a square cake tin with greaseproof paper.  Melt butter in a medium saucepan over low heat, then add condensed milk, sugar and syrup. Stir continuously until the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture up to the boil, then reduce the heat and allow the mix to gentley boil until it reaches soft ball stage. I stirred the mix continuously at this stage for about 20 mins. The mixture will turn a beautiful golden colour at this stage and look like boiling mud. Remove from heat and then add the chocolate, stirring til smooth. Moving quickly, pour into your tin and leave to set in the fridge. Slice into squares and serve.

This is extremely rich, so you will only need a small square. Next time I make this I will add a couple of tbsp of Kaluha or Bailey's for a truely wicked indulgence.

Why wait for the party to have cake?

It's a gorgeous Sunday morning. Started with a well recieved sleep in, followed by a hot cup of coffee. My parents will be up at some stage later today, so i'll be in a whizz trying to get the house looking a bit presentable ( yes, at 30+ I still feel the need to look organised for my parents). If I manage to get that done with time to spare I hope to get some cooking done in preparation for the rest of the week. Let's hope the time and inclination meet for that!

While I have a couple of moments spare, I thought I'd share a little idea from last year. My son was having a sleep over birthday with just a couple of his mates. Since he was turning 12, he was "too cool" for all the potential bells and whistles that come with the birthday parties of the younger kids. But I still wanted to add something a little special for him and his friends, so created these invitations that went down a treat.

How are these party invitations?? I'll explain.

Firstly I made some cupcakes and decorated them using edible images of my son, but you can obviously decorate in any way you choose.

Then I made up the invitations using the pictures of the kids to be invited. I printed then out and stuck them on to cupcake size cake boards. On the back of the cakeboards I stuck magnets so they could be stuck on the fridge at home and a reminder of the party.

Then I just placed the cake on top of the cake board and tied up using some clear cellophane paper.

Lazy Saturday

I'm indulging in a complete lack of inclination today. It's one of those gorgeous gloomy days, designed for snuggling up and doing very little. So after mopping the floors, cleaning out the fridge and doing the grocery shopping, that's about all I did! None of those tasks require a photo, and I'm certainly not showing you the before shots! So here are some photos of my kids birthday cakes, when moments of inclination were in more abundance.