Rainbow Cake!!

Rainbow Cake!! 

This was the cake i made for my mums 45th birthday! This doesn't really seem like a 45th birthday cake but i wanted to make it colourful and exciting and seeing though we were going to morning tea at my aunty's with all my little cousins this seemed appropriate. As i am gluten free i wanted to make the cake so i could eat it of course! I just substituted in gluten free flour for usual wheat flour when making the cake. I made 6 separate cakes in all the colours of the rainbow. Unfortunately the yellow cake sunk in the middle for unknown reasons and was too small so go on the cake so i left that out. My mums favourite colour is pink and i didnt have a pink cake so that was the colour of the icing under the fondant. Vanilla is my favourite flavour and i hope that other love it as much as me of both the cake and frosting was vanilla! The fondant was tricky because the cake was so high i was worried it would crack and as one of many i dont eat or like the taste of the fondant so i didnt want it to be really thick. But i made it work and here are the photos:

More Macarons and Meringues!

More Macarons and Meringues!

I know this is one of the most common things that i post but i just love making macarons! They are so small and pretty and colourful, so many different things you can do to change them. These are just blue and pink with vanilla flavour and filling! I made them for my mums dinner party with pink swirl meringues with rose water cream! All 12 people at the party gave great comments on the desserts so i was very pleased! I had never made rosewater cream before but had seen it in a magazine and though i would give it a go. I whipped cream and added rosewater essence, vanilla essence and icing sugar! 

Gluten Free chocolate chip cookies

Chocolate chip cookies!!

These are a favourite of mine and i also hadn't got around to making them in a gluten free version. So as a study break this afternoon i decided it was time. I didn't use my usual recipe because you can just substitute wheat flour for gluten free but its just not the same. Instead of normal wheat flour the recipe had a mix of gluten free baking mix, coconut and ground almonds and i have to admit they were good straight from the oven still warm with gooey chocolate, cant imagine they will last long in my house. Here is a link to the recipe i used http://www.chelsea.co.nz/baking-and-recipes/1812/chocolate-chip-cookies---gluten-free.aspx. Although i only used 1 cup coconut instead of 1 1/2 because we had run out so i topped the ground almonds from 1/2 to 1 cup to make it up. However i think i would prefer them better like this because there was just a nice balance of coconut and i think if there was more it would be to much. I also couldn't be bothered measuring out 230g chocolate chips but it seemed like a lot to me so i used about 3/4 which was plenty!

Ingredients

1¼ cups lightly packed Chelsea Soft Brown Sugar
2 extra large eggs
1½ cups gluten free plain flour
1 tsp gluten free baking powder
1½ cups desiccated coconut
½ cup ground almonds
230g dark chocolate chips
Method
1. Preheat oven to 200°C conventional (180°C fan forced). Line 3 oven trays with baking paper.
2. Beat butter and brown sugar until pale and creamy. Add eggs one at a time beating between each addition.
3. Sift flour and baking powder together. Add sifted flour, coconut, almond meal and choc chips to butter mixture. Mix until well combined.
4. Roll tablespoonsful of cookie dough. Place 5cm apart on prepared trays. Flatten slightly with hand. Bake for 12-15 mins, cool cookies on tray.

185g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

Salted Caramel Macarons!

Salted Caramel Macarons! 

 Decided to make these salted caramel macaroons after watching Adriano Zumbo make them! And here is a link http://nz.lifestyle.yahoo.com/video/watch/2d3df882-cf52-32aa-9e49-df88978f3122/salted-caramel-macarons/.  I used a vanilla macaroon recipe and coloured it with gold gel to make it look like caramely colour and filled it with whipped cream, tin caramel and rock salt!

Raspberry Chocolate Brownie!

Raspberry Chocolate Brownie!

As i am currently gluten free this is my version of chocolate fudge brownies with raspberries! I have tried using gluten free flour with my usual brownie recipe and its sadly just not the same soo i have got around to getting a gluten free cook book and of course these are the first things i have made! Currently cooling in the tin over night ready to be cut in the morning!

Pastel Swirl Cake!

Pastel Swirl Cake:

I made this pastel swirl cake a while ago and never got around to uploading a photo so here we are. Inspiration from this cake was from one of my favourite food blogs http://sweetapolita.com/ Everything she makes looks amazing and this was my attempt! Just a traditional vanilla cake with butter cream frosting but i just love all the colour!

Blue and Yellow Cupcakes!

Blue and Yellow Cupcakes!

To farewell the seniors at school and this years house leaders, as a proud member of Mary Pulling house all my tutor class was to bring blue and yellow cupcakes for the rest of the house to celebrate the year! As yellow and blue are our house colours - not really colours you often see together i just decided you can never go wrong with sprinkles!

My draw is getting full...

My draw is getting full..

As you can see i have dedicated myself to my own rather large draw in the kitchen. It is getting very fill with more of the food items i buy and it seems you can never have enough!

Funfetti Cupcakes!

SPRINKLES & FUNFETTI CUPCAKES!

These are gluten free funfetti cupcakes! I love the idea of biting into a cupcake and seeing hidden colour of sprinkles in the cupcake! I used large heart sprinkles in the batter which ended up as big explosion of colour as shown in the last photo, but you can use any :)

Dinner Party Desserts!

Dinner Party Desserts!

I love to make food for friends i know they will enjoy, As deserts are my favourite i had all the girls over for a cute dinner party with pink swirl meringues, daisy chocolate cupcakes, pink macaroons and mr mellow marshmallows. All my favourite to make and to eat!

Pink Macarons!

Pink Macarons!

From what i have heard people always say that macaroon are hard to make and time consuming etc and you get what i am saying. This was only the 4th time i have ever made macaroon and i must say they have worked for me every time  Not sure if it my great recipe from pink whisk food blog (http://www.thepinkwhisk.co.uk/2011/01/how-to-make-perfect-macaroons.html) or hopefully how i am making them but they are such a gorgeous sweet bite and they really do look nice all together and all went so that's a good sign!

Daisy Chocolate Gluten Free Cupcakes!

Daisy Chocolate Gluten Free Cupcakes! 

These were the first lot of gluten free cupcake i had ever made and i was surprisingly happy at how they tasted very similar to my usual recipe! Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting or really anything chocolate and vanilla i love so these were mini cupcakes with cute daisy's and sprinkles! As you can see the middle one is blue because i ran out of purple and its good to have one unique one :)

Princess Cake!

Princess Cake! For Alice Happy Birthday Gorgeous!!

Happy Birthday Alice my gorgeous girl! This is the cake i made for one of my dearest and best friend Alice for her 17th birthday! Yes i know we may be too old for princess and dolly cake with barbies in them but Alice you are a princess just like Sleeping beauty, Belle or any of your Disney favourite and always will be so this is you as a princess . I hope you loved it and had a wonderful day!

Chocolate and Caramel Whoopie Pies!

Chocolate and Caramel Whoopie Pies!

I had seen these in books many times before but never got around to making them! These are chocolate whoopie pies with vanilla butter cream frosting and caramel in the middle! I had left over caramel from the pecan cheese cake and thought this was a good way to use it up! I made these in my food tech double at school and was really happy with the turn out. I like how they are not a cupcake but something new and there look is sort of like a macaroon or melting moment style with the two parts sandwiched together and then the nice surprise of it being chocolate muffin with caramel hidden inside!

Caramel Pecan Cheesecake!

Caramel Pecan Cheesecake!

Cheesecake is my fathers favourite desert! And its not the most healthy either, using light cream cheese just isn't the same. So every fathers day and my dads birthday (15th Dec) he gets a cheesecake! This fathers day i decided to create something new as i usually go for the baked New York cheese cake, white chocolate or anything like that as that is what he likes. My dad also loves pecan pies so i thought lets put them together and have a pecan pie cheesecake! It had a traditional baked New York cheese cake with a thick and creamy caramel sauce and roasted pecan over the top!

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes:

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes:

These are really quite self explanatory  they are vanilla cupcakes and i scooped out the middle, filled it with lemon curd and meringue on the top! They really are easy to make ans they also look so cute!

All Blacks Cake!

ALL BLACKS CAKE! Happy birthday George

This was the rugby and All Black cake i made for my brother 14th birthday! As he loves rugby this really suited him! The bottom layer was chocolate and the top vanilla which he likes and all of his friends finished it so thats a good sign!

Vanilla Buttercream Cupcakes

Vanilla Buttercream

I actually made these cupcakes ages ago! They were the first ever cupcakes i made with a piping and tip. I love the colour pink in sweet food and i still love these pictures even if i did make them in 2009 when i was only 14. I have also always loved sprinkles which i think just makes these mini cupcakes!

Blue and White Cupcakes with Petunias!

Blue and White Cupcakes with Petunias!

This was the first time i had ever made gumpaste flowers. I bought a couple of veiner sets like petunia, blossom etc and these were my fav! They were for someone's birthday and she wanted blue, white and orange so this is what i came up with!

Cookie Dough Cupcakes!

Cookie Dough Cupcakes!

I had always wanted to try something like this and after googling many recipes and looking at many food blogs i didn't like any of the methods people had used like freezing the cookie dough in a ball and them cooking it in the cupcake as i wanted it uncooked and as cookie dough in the middle. So i cooked the chocolate cupcake, scooped out the middle and pressed in the cookie dough which i personally think is must nicer than if it was cooked in the cupcakes. Frosted with vanilla butter cream and sprinkled with the left over cookie dough on top!

Mochachino Cupcakes!

Mochachino Cupcakes:

I am not really a coffee person but i do like a good mochachino so here is my version of it in a cupcake! The cupcakes was just chocolate and i put a couple of the instant mocha sachets in with the hot water to get the coffee taste. To make it look more like i coffee top i piped meringue and browned it in the oven then drizzled chocolate!

High Tea Cupcakes!

High Tea Cupcakes:

These were for a high tea i was going to! I had bits and bobs left in my draw from icing flowers to butterflies so i mixed them all together to make it look a bit like a garden on top of pale pink icing!

Red Velvet Mini Cupcake!

Red Velvet Mini Cupcake:

I always get asked.. what does red velvet taste like? I never know how to answer because it not chocolatey or had a distinct taste it just is that 'red velvet'. These are one of my favourite just because they are different from plain old vanilla or chocolate and they always look nice with their bright colour. Cream cheese icing is one of my favourite i would eat it with a spoon if i could so with that on top you can never go wrong!

Coconut Clouds!

Coconut Clouds:

I really liked these cupcakes as they have a really nice flavour. Im not a huge fan of strong coconut which was good as the recipe had coconut cream instead of milk which gave them a really good texture and taste not too strong but you could still taste it. The marshmallow frosting was very sticky but exciting to make! Both the cupcake and the frosting were very light as they are called coconut 'clouds' and suit there name!

Caramel Cupcake!

Caramel Cupcake:

Yuuum who dosn't like caramel! The recipe had a caramel sauce that was in the cupcake, frosting and drizzled on top! I was worried they were going to be too sweet but they weren't although if they were any bigger they may have been! These didn't last long in my house :p

Cookies n Cream Cupcakes!

Cookies n Cream Cupcakes:

Cookies and cream need i say any more! Vanilla cupcakes with oreos crushed in them mmm! And them with cream cheese frosting (one of my favourites) with oreos on top! You can never go wrong with these, everyone loves cookie and cream! 

Macarons!

Macaroons!

This was the first batch of macaroons i have ever made! I was so pleased as i was really worried they weren't going to work but they did. I made these as part of my food tech high tea project. The recipe i used said put sprinkles and glitter on the top which i don't think i will do next time as i would have like them to be a bit more pettie but i was still happy with them!

Wishing It Was Summer Cupcakes!

Wishing It Was Summer Cupcakes:

I made these in the middle of winter on one of the most miserable days! I was really wishing it was summer so i made coconut and pineapple base with cream cheese icing and jandals (flip flops) and daisys on the top as that seemed to me as a wishing it was summer cupcake!

Rugby Cake!

Rugby Cake: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD
I made this cake for my dad 2 years ago for his birthday! If you cant tell already its a rugby field and the cake underneath was a chocolate mud cake!