Heartsong Cakes and Crafts

Mr Men Birthday Cake

2017-01-16T06:40:00.002-08:00

Elegant Cat Cake

2017-01-16T06:31:00.001-08:00

Spider Man Cake

2017-01-16T06:18:00.000-08:00

High Heel Shoe Cake

2016-02-21T06:55:00.000-08:00

Olaf Flower Frozen Cake

2016-01-03T07:09:00.001-08:00

For a little girl who wanted an Olaf (just Olaf) Cake. Her Birthday was Christmas Day and she mentioned wanting a tree. I didn't want to make it Christmasy so decided on the snow covered trees to compliment the design. A beautiful spring flower bursting through the snow completes the look and gives it a girly twist with a burst of colour.

Baby Shower for a Baby Boy

2015-11-16T03:36:00.001-08:00

Hotel Transylvania Red Velvet and Scream Cheese Cupcakes

2015-10-20T02:32:00.000-07:00

The kids are massively into Hotel Transylvania and with Halloween and the new release of Hotel Transylvania 2 this month I decided to theme our school bake sale contribution accordingly.

Red Velvet and Scream Cheese Cupcakes

I used an Ice Cream Cone for the structure and cut it a bit shorter so it would look in proportion to the cupcake. I used a utility knife to carefully cut out the mouth. Then slathered it inside and out with Cream Cheese Icing. Finally use the point of a knife to carefully make the eyes. A very simple but stunningly effective design.

The school does a competition for the kids creations as well so I set my 7 year old daughter to work with some toppers and edible food paints so she could enter the competition.

Looking forward to helping out with the sale this afternoon and seeing all the amazing contributions.

A Ventura Wildlife Animal Encounter Party

2015-09-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

For Ayla's 7th Birthday she decided she "wanted the animals to come to her house." I think she got the idea from watching Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good very bad day. The little boy had a birthday party in the end with an Australian Petting Zoo. I had no intentions of hiring a surfboard simulator or inviting any Kanagaroo's to the house, but luckily we did have a great alternative. Ventura Wildlife brought their animals to our house and Ayla had a group of her classmates around to celebrate the day. I think it turned out to be a lovely day and most importantly the birthday girl had "the best party ever."

Happy 7th Birthday Ayla Jean!

Transformers Bumblebee Cake

2015-03-18T04:14:00.004-07:00

A Frozen Castle Theme Birthday Cake

2015-02-11T13:10:00.001-08:00

Arsenal Theme Cake and Cupcakes with hand painted toppers

2015-01-17T07:39:00.000-08:00

Arsenal Theme Cake and Cupcakes

with hand painted toppers

Somewhere over the Rainbow....

2015-01-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

Somewhere over the Rainbow..... there are Aliens, Rainbows, Roses and Unicorns. This was her brief, what else can I say. Happy 19th Birthday to my sweet Step Daughter.

Doughnuts

2014-09-30T01:58:00.000-07:00

Watching the Great British Bake off last week reminded me I haven't made Doughnuts in a long time. It seems a shame really but true we tend to buy them more often than I make them and I really don't know why. At £10 a dozen to buy them it is definitely worth making them yourself if you have the time. Below is a recipe which is similar to the ones we buy from you know where. Hope you enjoy them.

Ingredients:
1 package yeast
30 ml warm water (approx temp 45C / 110F)
180ml lukewarm milk
50g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
60g trex
400g plain flour
vegetable oil for frying

Glaze:
125g butter
350g icing sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
5 tablespoons water

Chocolate Frosting:
60g butter
175g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons water
100g milk chocolate

Method:

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a mixing bowl.

Add milk, sugar, salt, egg, trex and 200g flour. Beat on low for 30 seconds scraping bowl constantly. Beat on medium for 2 minutes.

Stir in remaining flour and beat until smooth.

Cover and rise until double, about 1 hour.

Turn dough onto floured surface and turn to coat with flour.

Flour your rolling pin and roll the dough to about 1cm to 1.5cm thick.

Cut out doughnuts. You could buy a doughnut cutter but I improvise with a drinking glass and a piping nozzle to cut out my shapes.

Cover your doughnuts and let rise again until double, about 30 minutes.

Heat vegetable oil to 190C. I use a deep fryer but if you don't have one you can fry them in a pan, just keep an eye the oil temperature.

Fry doughnuts in the hot oil until golden brown, about 1 minute on each side. Remove and drain on a paper towel. Dip them in the Glaze mixture and set on a rack to cool.

Once cooled you can dip them in the chocolate frosting to coat the tops. If your adding sprinkles be sure to add them immediately after you dip the doughnut as the chocolate starts to set quickly and they won't stick if you wait.

To make the Glaze:

Melt butter. Remove from heat and stir in icing sugar and vanilla. Stir in water and mix until smooth.

To make the Chocolate Frosting.

Melt butter and chocolate over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in icing sugar and vanilla. Stir in water until smooth.

Makes 24 doughnuts.

Home Made Funfetti Cake

2014-06-29T02:54:00.001-07:00

My Momma was an amazing cook. As an adult with 2 children of my own now, I marvel at the dedication and time she took to prepare our meals each day. Every day was an elaborate family style spread. A main course with several sides to choose from. Neighborhood kids would linger close to supper time in hopes of an invite to join our table. And it was ready each day at 5:30 like clock work as soon as my Dad got home from work. Yes my Momma was an amazing cook, but she was not a baker. We only had cakes on our Birthdays and then it was a Duncan Hines Chocolate Cake with frosting from the tub. And we loved it.

So maybe that's why even today I'm not totally opposed to the box cake mix. Let's face it, there are a few out there that are actually quite special. And one of my favorites is Funfetti. I set myself the challenge to see if I could come up with a homemade recipe to rival the Funfetti box mix and I think I have.

Ingredients:
480g all purpose flour
460g caster sugar
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
250g unsalted butter room temperature.
4 medium eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
300ml whole milk
Confetti Sprinkles

Sugar Syrup:
50ml water
50g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:
Preheat oven to 175C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 4

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt several times. Add to the bowl of an electric mixer and mix well. Cut butter into chunks and add a little bit at a time. Mix until the mixture resembles coarse sand.

Break the eggs into a small bowl and add the vanilla to the eggs. Whisk together.

Add the egg vanilla mixture a very little bit at a time to the flour mixture, mixing well after each addition.

Add the milk and beat for about 1 to 2 minutes until the mixture is smooth.

Remove from mixer and add the confetti sprinkles, as many as you like. Gently fold into the mixture with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.

Pour into prepared cake tin and bake.

Cupcakes are ready in approximately 20 minutes.

Cakes approximately 30 minutes, but test to make sure it is done before removing.

While baking make the sugar syrup. Combine water, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan and heat stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Once the cake is out of the oven let it cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes. Then take a skewer and poke holes all over the cake. Pour over with the syrup mixture then leave cake to cool completely.

It was such a pretty cake I couldn't bring myself to lash it in Buttercream, so I trimmed the sides and served it naked with a bit of icing on top.

Lemon and Raspberry Cupcakes

2014-06-22T04:35:00.002-07:00

Lemon and Raspberry Cupcakes

Ingredients (Makes 24 cupcakes)

For the frosting

200g full-fat cream cheese

200g unsalted butter, softened

500g icing sugar, sifted

Finely grated zest of 2 unwaxed lemons

For the sponge

200g unsalted butter, softened

200g caster sugar

Pinch of salt

Finely grated zest of 2 lemons

4 medium eggs

200g self-raising flour

Punnet of raspberries, plus extra for decoration

For the sugar syrup

150ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

150g caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 175C / gas mark 4

To make the frosting

Place the cream cheese in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth and creamy. Place the butter, icing sugar and lemon zest in a separate bowl and cream together until very pale and fluffy. Add the cream cheese, a little at a time, to the butter mixture and mix at medium-high speed until the frosting is combined. Chill until set.

To make the cupcakes

Place the butter, sugar, salt and lemon zest in a mixing bowl and cream together until pale and fluffy. Beat the eggs lightly in another bowl and slowly pour into the butter mixture while whisking quickly. If the mixture starts to separate or curdle, stop adding the egg and beat in 2 - 3 tablespoons of the flour. This will rebind the batter. Once all the egg has been incorporated into the butter mixture, sift the flour and stir until the batter is just combined. This ensures the sponges stay light and fluffy.

Using a piping bag or tablespoon, place the batter into the cupcake cases until two-thirds full. Drop 2 or 3 raspberries into each cupcake.

Bake for 12 - 15 minutes, depending on your oven. The cupcakes are cooked when the tops are golden brown and spring back to the touch. If in doubt, insert a clean knife or wooden skewer into the centre of each sponge, it should come out clean.

To make the sugar syrup

While the cupcakes are baking, prepare the sugar syrup for soaking. Place the lemon juice and caster sugar into a saucepan and bring to boil. Simmer until all the sugar crystals have dissolved. Set aside to cool down slightly.

Once the cupcakes are baked, let them rest for about 10 minutes outside of the oven. Using a pastry brush, soak the tops of the cupcakes with sugar syrup while they are still warm; this allows the syrup to be absorbed faster. Remove the cupcakes from the trays and leave to cool on a wire cooling rack.

To decorate

Prepare a plastic piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle. Fill with the chilled frosting. Pipe a swirl of frosting on to each cupcake, and top with a raspberry.

Under the Sea Mermaid Cake

2014-05-20T05:48:00.001-07:00

My Cousins sweet little girl turned 5 this week and she wanted a mermaid cake. I found this idea on Cake Central and I just fell in love with it. If you follow any of my posts you probably know I hate sugar modeling though. There was a little bit involved but for 2 of the main figures I reverted to hand painting. I just feel it gives me a medium to make more realistic figures and in a way that I enjoy. I was very happy with my interpretation of this cake. And more importantly, so was the Birthday Girl. Happy Birthday Deniz:)

Alice in Wonderland Cake

2014-01-16T02:01:00.000-08:00

I have decided this is my absolute favorite way to decorate a cake. I love hand painting characters. I think in the future I will experiment more with this technique. This cake, though I loved making it, was a problem for me. I don't normally like to make excuses, but I had a migrane while making it. It was for my step daughter's 18th and I didn't want to let her down so I perservered. Suffice to say, I could have done better if I where well, but over all I'm pleased with the way it turned out.

Holiday Focaccia

2013-12-24T08:14:00.003-08:00

Ingredients:
500g strong white bread flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds
1 package active dry yeast
8 ounces warm water (about 50 degrees celcius)
2 tablespoons vegtable oil

125g glace cherries
75g flaked or chopped almonds
75g dried currants or raisins

Topping:
1 tablespoon melted butter
2 tablespoons sugar

Method:
In a large bowl of an electric mixer, combine 225g flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, salt, lemon zest, cardamom and yeast. Add water and oil and beat for 2 minutes at medium speed.

By hand fold in cherries, almonds and currants and 225g flour. Mix until dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead dough 5 to 10 times. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat top of dough. Cover with cling film and a towel and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled (about 1 hour).

Grease a baking tray. Turn raised dough out onto greased tray and form into a ball. With greased hands, stretch and press dough to form a 12 inch round. Brush with melted butter. Prick dough several times with a fork. Cover with cling film and a towel and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled (about 45 minutes).

Heat oven to 200C/ 400F/ Gas Mark 6. Uncover dough and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Immediately remove from baking tray and place on serving tray to cool. Cut into wedges with a pizza knife or serrated knife. Lovely served warm :)

Enjoy!

Smilings my favourite.... and other Elf goodies

2013-12-12T03:27:00.002-08:00

Thanksgiving is sort of a sore subject in my house. It's one of my FAVOURITE Holidays. I have so many fond memories of Thanksgiving with my Family in the States. But I've lived in the UK for 9 years now and, lets face it, no one understands it here. Which is understandable. I mean until I lived here I never knew the joy of Fireworks Day and had never heard of Easter Monday. An extra day off in the Spring, thank you very much. But I still can't fight the little bit of sadness every year as Thanksgiving rolls around and I see all of my Friends and Family getting ready to celebrate.

I have tried over the years to incorporate a little festive cheer into my household so that the day doesn't pass unnoticed. We had a Roast Dinner, baked some cookies with the kids, decorated the Christmas Tree and watch a favourite Holiday movie. This year I choose Elf. I remember the first time I saw it, my little niece wanted to sleep over at my flat so we went to Blockbuster and I let her choose a movie. I could have never anticipated the pure joy and laughter that movie would bring to our evening. It has remained one of my all time favorites. So this year we curled up to watch Elf on Thanksgiving night.

It was my Daughters school Christmas Fete the following weekend and her class was sponsoring the baking stall so I decided to make some Elf inspired Cupcakes. I found this amazing little tutorial by Victorious Cupcakes with step by step instructions. I love that even though I followed the same steps for each cupcake, the subtle differences gave each Elf his own little personality and character. They where a hit at the fete and so easy to do. If you fancy having a go you can find the tutorial here.

Elf funniest moments :)

Lemon and Currant Cookies

2013-09-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

Soft, delicious, delicate and bursting with lemon flavour, these beauties go perfectly with a cup of tea.

Ingredients:
125g unsalted butter
200g caster sugar
60ml sour cream
1 large egg
265g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
75g dried currants
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Method:
Preheat oven to 160C / 325F / Gas Mark 3. Generously grease 2 baking sheets or line them with baking paper.

Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and fluffy.

Beat in sour cream and egg.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat until well combined.

Stir in currants and lemon zest.

Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls of dough about 4cm apart onto prepared baking sheets. Bake until puffed and golden, about 20 minutes.

Rapunzel and her Magic Golden Flower Cake

2013-09-01T03:53:00.002-07:00

I planned for the first time for Ayla to invite her whole class to her Birthday Party. I'm a complete social phobic so I was surpressing my anxiety big time in order for her to have a nice party. And in the midst of it I forgot to take a picture of the CAKE! I'm so annoyed with myself. I have one pic taken the night before so it'll have to do.

This year Ayla wanted Rapunzel "outside of her tower". I've said before I'm not a fan of doll cakes but here we are, the second year in a row and I'm making another doll cake. But like before I've put my twist on it. I wanted it to be frilly and girly like Ayla. Anyone that knows her knows her fondness of tutu skirts. That girl will try to make a tutu work with anything.

Rocking the Tutu

So I decided to decorate around the cake with a tutu. I did this by hand stiching some tulle to gather it and then taping it to the board so that it would sit slightly under the cake. My cake was a 10 inch round on a 14 inch board. It took 2 meters of tulle to go around it. I decorated my cake on a 10 inch card so that it would not sit directly on the tape.

For the Rapunzel plaque I printed off a picture of Rapunzel in the size I wanted. I then placed the picture under a piece of edible Rice Paper and painted (traced) the picture onto the edible paper using edibe lustre dust and confectioners glaze. Then used a scalpel tool to cut out the picture from the rice paper and fixed to the icing on the cake.

For Rapunzel I used a mini version of the Disney Store doll. I baked the cake in a small oven safe serving bowl and carved it into the shape I needed.

The thing that makes this cake for me is the Magic Golden Flower. It was so simple to make and so effective.

To make the Magic Golden Flower: Instructions are very much like making a star gazer lily. My lily tutorial can be found here. The main difference is the centre.

For the Centre instead of making the pistol and the stamen make the twirly bits in the centre of the Rapunzel Flower. I did this by wrapping white floral tape around 22 guage wire and bending it into the shape I needed. I made 3 twirly shapes and then taped the 3 twirls to a 18 guage wire using white floral tape. I then used radient gold luster dust and confectioners glaze to paint the twirls gold. Then once the paint was dry I went over it again with dry lustre dust to make the colour really pop.

The petals are normal stargazer lily petals but dusted in shades of yellow, orange, gold and purple.

So here she is, Rapunzel and the Magic Golden Flower. Happy 5th Birthday Ayla!

Stawberry Raspberry Jam

2013-07-30T06:03:00.001-07:00

Aren't cousins the best :) Ayla just adores her cousin Alana and was driving me crazy to see her this weekend. So I phoned my sister in law and they dropped by with a beautiful basket of fresh picked Strawberrys and Raspberries from the local farm on Sunday. To return the favour I (and keep my kids busy) I decided to make a batch of Jam we could give them from the lovely berries. If you've never made jam you should try it. You just can't beat homemade.

You'll need some clean glass jars. I like to recycle used jars and keep a few lying around for occasions like these. I remove the labels and run them through the dishwasher. When I'm ready to use them I wash the jars and lids with very hot soapy water then place them on a baking tray in the oven at 140C for 15 minutes to sterilize them.

While my jars where in the oven I measured out 500g of mixed strawberrys and raspberries.

Then I poured them in a saucepan and added 500g Jam Sugar (that's sugar with pectin already added)

Then I scraped in the seeds from a vanilla bean pod

Then mix it all up. I use a fork and mush the berries. The kids will enjoy helping with this part.

Once the berries are all mushed put the saucepan on medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved and mixture starts to boil. Let mixture continue to boil for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. (Your jars should be ready to come out of the oven by now as well).

Fill your jars and allow to cool completely. You can put the kids to work making labels :)

Lemon Meringue Pie

2013-07-29T03:23:00.001-07:00

Lemon Pie seems to be in fashion at the moment. I was actually thinking of making one last week but put it off. But in the last week I've seen post after post on FB, etc of Lemon and Key Lime pies so I have given in and whipped up my favorite version....

Ingredients:

For the crust:
1 packet digestive biscuits crushed
3 tablespoons butter melted

For the filling:
2 14oz cans sweetend condensed milk
200ml fresh lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
8 egg yolks

For the topping:
8 egg whites
100 grams caster sugar
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Method:

Crust:
Crush the digestive biscuits into a fine crumb. You can use a food processor, but I just poured mine into a bowl and crushed with a heavy drinking glass until I had a fine crumb. Melt 3 tablespoons butter and pour into the biscuit. Mix well and press into a 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 180C /350F/ Gas Mark 4 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and prepare your filling.

Filling:
Combine the condensed milk, egg yolks, lemon juice and zest in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour filling into prepared pie crust. Bake at 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 4 for 10 minutes. While your filling is in the oven prepare the meringue topping.

Topping:
Place eggwhites, sugar and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Whisk on high speed until stiff peaks form.

Remove pie from oven after first 10 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 150C/ 300F/ Gas Mark 2. Spoon meringue onto the top of pie spreading all the way to the ends. Use as much as you like, you may not need to use all of the meringue. Use the back of a spoon to form peaks on the meringue. Place pie back in oven and bake for approx 20 minues. Keep an eye on it and remove when meringue is golden.

Cool completely then refridgerate over night (or at least 4 hours) before serving.

Probably the most delicious Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream recipe ever ...............

2013-07-08T11:16:00.001-07:00

and its sooooo simple to make!

What you'll need:
225ml whole milk
160g sugar
a big hand full of fresh mint, washed
5 egg yolks
600ml double cream
chocolate chips

In a saucepan, heat the milk and sugar while stirring until the sugar is dissolved, do not boil.

Remove from heat, set aside a couple of mint sprigs and add the rest of the mint to the milk mixture. Let sit covered for 1 hour.

Seperate the eggs and place the egg yolks in a small bowl.

Return mixture to medium heat and stir for 1 minute. Add a bit of the milk mixture (about 60ml) to the eggs a little at a time. This is to slowly raise the temperature of the eggs so they won't cook when you add them to the milk. Add egg mixture to the milk stirring constantly until the mixture thickens into a custard that coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat.

Pour the double cream into a medium bowl. Put a fine sieve on top and pour the milk mixture into the cream through the sieve. Discard any bits that do not go through the sieve.

Give it a stir and add the reserved mint sprigs to the mixure. Refridgerate over night.

Remove the fresh mint and add a bit of green food colouring, if desired,
before freezing in an ice cream maker. Mix in chocolate chips and pour into a freezer container. Freeze for 4 hours before serving.

Don't have an Ice Cream Maker? Don't worry! You can still have yummy home made ice cream, it just requires a bit more elbow grease. Pour the Ice Cream mixture into a freezer container. Remove after 30 minutes and give it a good stir making sure the break up any frozen bits. Continue this process every 30 minutes for 3 hours. Then let the mixture freeze for 4 hours before serving.

Mommy I want Dora Cake...

2013-07-06T14:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I thought I could talk him out of it. My Son LOVES Dora. And truthfully, it doesn't bother me that he is a bit obsessed with the cartoon. I could think of worse things. But all the party stuff looks so girly. So I tried for over a month to convince him he wanted something else. A conversation would typically go something like this.

Me browsing at pics on the computer: Ohhh Evren, look at these cakes. Do you like Spiderman?
Evren walking over to the computer: I like cake.
Me while showing him pics of various cakes on the computer: What kind of cake do you want for your Birthday? Do you want a Spiderman Cake
Evren: Nooo
Me: Do you want a Super Hero Cake
Evren: Noooo
Me: How about a Monster Cake?
Evren: No Mommy, I want Dora Cake!

I might manage to distract him for a brief moment, but he would always come back to it. So I gave in. It had to be Dora. So here is my attempt at a hopefully not too girly Dora Cake.

And just look at that grin :) Priceless!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my sweet little Man.