Mrs Woolley's Cakes

Lately

2013-08-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

It has been long while since I have written much of anything in this blog. Chances are no one is really following it now and merely looks at my photos on Facebook! I am in the mood for writing today so I guess I'm not too worried if anyone reads this or not.

I'm not going to lie, the reason I haven't written much this year is purely because its been a harder year than normal and I haven't really felt up to writing. I knew that if I sat down to write my words would be deep and heartfelt, too much for a little cake blog.

For the last several months I have been debating whether to get my kitchen certified so that I could take my hobby to the next level. My kids are getting older and it was time to do something. For myself and for the family. I had someone come around and check the house out and even went to the bank to get a loan to start things rolling. For some reason though, I just couldn't push myself to take the step. Its like my feet were stuck in concrete. What was wrong with me??

About six weeks ago I ran into my old boss pre-kids and she asked me if I wanted a job? I didn't say no....maybe? Part time? The thought had never occurred to me and I was doing cakes wasn't I? BUT the more I thought about it, the more the idea appealed to me. While I was deliberating over this all important decision I volunteered my time making the morning teas for the holiday program at my church (which I should say has an AMAZING kitchen). In doing so I discovered one very important thing. I want to do cakes but I don't want to do them full time in my home. I can't do them in my home in fact. I want to go somewhere else, leave the mess and then come home. This was a great revelation to me! The problem is that I am nowhere near the stage of my life where I can start a proper cake business out of a shop. My husband is in the process of taking over a business and I know how hard owning your own business is. Its not fair on him or my kids for me to take it to that next level yet. That is not to say that it won't ever come. Just not right now.

I took the job and 4 weeks ago I started working part time, 20 hours week. The first time really proper working since having my daughter nearly five years ago. I was terrified and excited at the same time. What if my brain was mush and I can't do anything? What if I have nothing to talk about to normal people but my kids? How will I possibly manage my kids and a job? What if they get sick? So many questions.

I had nothing to worry about really. My brain isn't mush and I have remembered more than I thought. I have already had to face sick kids who had been healthy all winter I might add. But we handled it OK. To be honest I maybe should have done it a long time ago.

Going back to work has taught me two very important things. I am a better mother busy then not and I cannot compare myself to other mothers, including my own. My own mother was a stay at home mum of five kids. I had a great upbringing and loved having her around while other kids mums went off to work. I kind of always thought that I wanted that for my life. But I'm not my mum. I am Lisa. When I am not busy I become un-motivated to do much of anything. I get in a fog and am not really sure what to do next. I need a schedule to follow, I need to always know "Whats next?" I've always been a super fast mover in everything I do and do best racing from one thing to the next. Its just how I work. But guess what? When you are a mum at home with your kids, there is no race.....in fact, everything feels like snails pace and nothing gets done fast. So for me, at home, nothing gets done. The house is rarely cleaned. When I have too much time on my hands I get lost in daydream and never think about whats happening in "now" time. In fact, I guarantee all the drawers in my kitchen are open 90% of the time and its not my kids or husband that leave them open. It was no surprise that when I started work that suddenly my house is cleaner, I am more organized and am more patient with my kids. I have come to the reality that I am a better mother for my kids and for my house working then not. Someone saw me a week or two ago and said that I looked the happiest they have seen me in awhile. Its true. I feel more content, more satisfied with myself as a mum and as a wife.

I may not be taking my cakes to the next level but I plan to still make them. I need the creative outlet. I also have come to love teaching the cupcake workshops and plan to expand on that.

Here's some of the cakes I have done since March.

ruffle wedding cake

2013-03-16T17:54:00.001-07:00

I have wanted to make a ruffle wedding cake for quite some time so when a desperate bride contacted me wanting a cake done at short notice, when I saw what she wanted, I couldn't say no! This was my first time making proper roses and I now have an incredible appreciation for cake artists who specialise in flowers.......they are a labor of love. Each one took an hour to make, although it was worth it in the end. Someone even asked if they were real which is the ultimate compliment!

This cake is white chocolate lemon poppyseed mudcake on top and orange chocolate mudcake on the bottom.

Cake Wreck......nearly!

2013-03-08T21:52:00.000-08:00

In every cake makers journey there will be a cake wreck. That inevitable disaster. I don't care how good you are it will happen at some stage and possibly more than once. Sometimes it may be your own fault or forces outside of your control. I have been pretty lucky up to this stage. That is until yesterday......

I have been apprehensive about this last week for months. I agreed to undertake a vegan wedding cake for an old friend I used to work with. I was nervous about doing it as this was totally out of my depth but at the same time was up for the challenge of working on something new. I had already made a chocolate vegan cake before so I understood the science behind the recipes to make it work. In fact when it came to the baking everything went beautifully. I even discovered that you can make a chocolate ganache out of dark chocolate (Whittakers 72% is vegan) and coconut cream.

What I wasn't prepared for was the fondant. The brand of fondant I usually use is not vegan so I used a different brand that people rave about so I was incredibly confident that it would be super easy. (I should have known better!) I got my cakes beautifully covered in ganache and covered in fondant and attempted to put a central dowel through the bottom two layers as the cake was travelling for an hour and a half (cake supports are incredibly important with wedding cakes). My first attempt at this did not go well and I had to take the middle layer off, peel off the fondant and re-cover it. This put me behind a good hour and a half. I have to say that there were a few choice words coming out of my mouth when I was doing this! When I finally had the whole cake covered and put together with dowel and support in, ready to be decorated, I sat back and looked at it. My heart sank. It wasn't perfect. In fact it was far from perfect. The once beautifully laid fondant was starting to buckle, air bubbles were everywhere and it just didn't look professional. My initial thought was that maybe I was being too critical. I decided to wait until my husband got home from work to get his second opinion. He confirmed my fear. It wasn't good enough.

What went wrong? I have never had this problem before so I knew it had to be the fondant. I would have to start over and it was already 7pm. It was going to be a long night. As soon as I peeled the fondant off of the cakes I realized what went wrong. The heat had caused the fondant to sweat underneath and caused airbubbles and buckling of the fondant. I decided to brush the ganache with a syrup as well as place the cake in the fridge once covered to let set. After painful cleanup of the cakes I finally had all three cakes re-assembled and put back together, ready to decorate by 11pm. My plan had been to wake up early and finish decorating but my husband was a champ and ready to bear with me for the long haul. I carried on and even got a lesson in air brushing from my husband (I did manage to get a new compressor). What I thought would be the most difficult part of the cake (the airbrushing) actually turned out the easiest! Finally at 2pm I had the cake completed and it was much better. It still was not how I usually like my other brand of fondant but it was good.......I was proud of my effort and that I had persevered and had not settled for the minimum. There is something very rewarding in fixing a mistake and making it right.

Here are some photos of the cake (100% vegan - dairy and egg free! the small cake was an additional gluten free one also vegan for a guest) as well another cake worked on this week.

A Lesson Learnt

2013-03-01T17:27:00.000-08:00

This week has been a somewhat disappointing week in my world of cakes. For Christmas this year I was generously given a cake airbrushing kit, complete with compressor, the airbrush and several colors. I had wanted one for some time so was super excited about this BUT was also slightly nervous and daunted about picking up this new skill. What if I was terrible at it? Suddenly I built it up in my head to be a huge thing and so the kit remained in the box looking at me with a sad face every time I went past it. "Please use me!" it would say, but I would rush away, pretend not to see it and ignore it. I was not ready yet.

Finally this week, I built up the courage to take it out of the box and have my first attempt. The kids were in care and so I was a free woman with the day to spend airbrushing. I read the manual and even called my husband to double check the voltage. I plugged it in and she was ready to go. I started my first sprays and so far so good, I might be able to do this I thought to my self. All of a sudden the compressor stopped and the airbrush wouldn't go anymore. I looked up from my work to see the compressor smoking and a sinking feeling hit me. I blew it up. The voltage was wrong. I had read the manual and thought I had read the voltage right but failed to look at the actual compressor and written on it was the voltage 110-115. We have a voltage here of 220-240 (the compressor had been bought from the States). What a disappointment! It was a lesson learned to wait for my husband when using technical machinery for the first time. I did have a good cry and felt a little better when I learned I would have had to buy a transformer to use it which could have cost more than buying a new compressor here. This afternoon we will go hunt for a new compressor so watch this space for cakes coming up with some airbrushing hopefully! In the mean time, have a look at a few of the cakes I did the last few weeks. One was for an off road runner who loves my cakes pops and the other was for a friend of my daughters.

Happy Valentines Day

2013-02-13T22:17:00.001-08:00

I knew today was going to be a busy day. Every second was planned out and needed to go perfectly or it could be problematic. I woke at 6:45 to find my two angels still fast asleep. Already the day was looking up. Usually they are bouncing out of bed at 6:15. When I finally heard them stir, I went to let them out (because we lock them in) and my daughter had climbed into my sons bed and they were giggling over a book. Such little things give you such joy. Oh happy valentines day to me! It was going to be a good day! And it was. Everything went like clockwork. The kids were superbly behaved, I got everything done that needed to be done and I even fit in a phone conversation with my mum and my sister. Days like these you feel like super mum ready to conquer the world. Days like these give me strength to get through the days that go completely wrong.

Part of my day was to make 40 cupcakes and a small birthday cake for my daughters kindergarten. Because it was started on Valentines Day, hearts play a big part for the centre. I used the logo as part of the cake and love the ombre ruffles up the side. The afternoon was a beautiful high tea for all of the kids and the mums. They even served the kids their own tea in cups and saucers. A wonderful party for a special day. Happy Valentines everyone.

Back to cakes!

2013-02-09T02:02:00.000-08:00

Its been a few months since I have done a cake and what a way to get back to it then with these three fun cakes! The Xtreme cake was so much fun to make as I love wakeboarding and snowboarding. This was made for a 21st. The tuxedo/board shorts cake was also for a 21st and was made to fit the theme casual/formal. Sounds like a fun night! Lastly the super cute truck was for a 1st birthday and I have to say was my most challenging cake to date, BUT I am super proud of how its turned out. Its great to be back.

Holiday Update

2013-01-16T17:27:00.000-08:00

Its been quite some time since I have posted anything. So much has happened and life has been a bit full on since November. Christmas in itself is always busy but this crazy baker undertook making 1500 cake pops in December. I had no idea if this was achievable but I was hoping like mad that I wasn't crazy. When I found out at the end of November that 1000 of the cake pops were needed in one week and not spread over three weeks I initially panicked. How was I going to manage?!? After a moment however I had a sense of peace and knew that there was a reason for this and that I would get it all done.

I don't talk about my faith much here but this was so significant to me. I felt Gods gentle voice of reassurance and knew he had it sorted. He had my back. I took a deep breath, got my wits about me and went to work. Within less than one week (with the help of my mother in law, friends and my amazing husband) I managed to make 1000 cake pops, two cakes and spent several hospital visits with my precious Grandma. At the end of that week on a Sunday night my dear Grandma went to be with her maker. Had I had to make cake pops in those weeks following I would have been a wreck. There were other little things that fell into place as well that I won't go into but I am still emotional over the fact that God showed such great love for me by sorting out the little things for ME?

Its so hard not to focus on the bad things that happen and wonder WHY God?? How could you allow this to happen?? Why did you take my Grandma before we were ready for her to leave, why have 26 young children been shot at a school or why did parents of 10 children and a young vibrant 19 year old lose their lives while serving you?? But bad things do happen and unfortunately no one is exempt. Good can come out of the bad and God can use it and I am so thankful for that but what I am also learning is that God is still showing up and walking amongst the wreckage. He may not be able to erase the horrible things that happen but he cares about each and every one of us and he is taking care of the little things, loving us in the little ways that we don't and may not ever see or understand.

This is a heavy post I know but right now my heart is heavy and that's why I haven't written much lately. I am still sad about my Grandma and have found it difficult facing the idea of making any more cakes since Christmas. I know that in time it will get easier. Eventually my heart wont break every time I hear the word Joy or see a photo of her beautiful face and one day I know I will see her again. I have hope in a Jesus who loves me and is taking care of the little things that are more significant than I will ever realize.

Birthday season!

2012-11-23T16:49:00.000-08:00

I love birthdays. Especially my kids birthdays. Its the one day a year that you can really celebrate who they are as people. So often as a mum I am focusing on how I can help my child grow and improve upon the things that they may not be doing well (listening, sharing, etc). Birthdays are the one time I put aside all of that stuff and just celebrate them for who they are and who they are becoming. They are a wonderful reminder and to be honest I should be doing it all of the time. It is so easy to criticize your own kids when you see things that you don't like in them and not just let them figure it out on their own sometimes. I so often have to stop and remind myself to just "be" and just enjoy watching them and enjoy them. I also think that sometimes I am so worried about sounding like I am boasting about my child that I forget to lift them up and talk about what they do so well at.

My daughter turned four this week and I will stop and tell you what I love most about her. Maybe as a reminder for myself and also for her to know as well. She is my bright spark, incredibly enthusiastic and encouraging with an incredibly thankful spirit. Just on her birthday morning she looked at me and said "thank you for my birthday mum". It melted my heart. She is one of the boys most of the time, loving to run around and get dirty and willing to give most things a go. She is a little artist and loves building with blocks, especially LEGO. I love watching her concentration when she undertakes what she loves to do. She shares so well because she just wants people to be with her and have fun with her. My dear girl is an incredible older sister. She adores her younger brother and they are the best of mates. She loves to teach and to help other kids. She fills my heart with so much joy just being with her. Happy Birthday to my little buddy! Mummy loves you dearly. xx

What do you love most about your kids?? Stop for a minute and think about it and maybe write it down. They love to hear it and will love to read it one day.

Here are some photos of the birthday party (a joint one for her brother and her) as well as the cake made for kindy! Enjoy. :)

Homesick blues

2012-11-02T11:47:00.000-07:00

Homesickness has a way of sneaking up on you out of no where. For me it always happens in a public place which makes it somewhat worse. Years ago it was the supermarket. All I wanted was a specific ingredient to make a special recipe my mum always makes for Christmas and when I found New Zealand didn't carry it I was a mess. A couple years later it was the post office when I was told I couldn't mail peanut slabs to my mum for her birthday. Yesterday, it happened to be the post office again. I wonder if the post office has many cases of the homesick blues but somehow I think I'm probably the only one that's broken down over not being able to send cookies. I am pretty sure the lady thought I was crazy. I mean cookies? But these were very special cookies. Time and love went into these cookies and I was SURE I was able to send them. I had done my research and was sure it was OK A lesson very much learnt as next time I will phone before I get so excited. What I have figured out is that its OK to bring baked goods into the country but not to send them. Next time I will have to hop on a plane to personally deliver them.

After my breakdown I decided I had to give these cookies away. They were making me too sad. I was almost very tempted to give them to the ladies in the post office to show them the love that went into them, BUT they delivered me my very bad news so decided it wasn't in me to make their day. In the end I decided to deliver them to one of my aunties (the next best thing, or third best thing after Grandma). This particular auntie had had a birthday in the weekend and was burgled twice in the last two weeks so thought she could use some extra love in her day. It made me feel much better visiting her and I am now only tearing up mildly as I write this (I might have been a blubbering mess).

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mum. I was sending you these cookies but some mean people at the post office said I couldn't. Something else is on its way but no where near as exciting. Love you heaps!

Parties with Mrs Woolleys Cakes!

2012-10-16T17:44:00.000-07:00

My daughter enjoyed cupcake decorating so much with the kids in the street that I had another group of people over to decorate. What fun we had! I love sharing tips of cake decorating because I find it so much fun myself and a cupcake class is where it all started for me. Even more so, I am passionate about sharing my skills with the younger generation. When you find something that you know you want to do for the rest of your life you want to be able to share that "aha" moment with everyone. Part of me would have loved to have learned this skill at a young age. I might have gone to pastry school and have taken art classes.

In light of all of this, Mrs Woolley has decided to start doing cupcake decorating birthday parties! One day I will have a studio for this, but for now, I will come to your house, bring all of the supplies and take the mess with me! The kids will spend anywhere from 45 mins to an hour and a half depending on their age decorating cupcakes to fit in with the theme of the party. They get an incredible amount of pride decorating their own cake and whats even better is they make their own birthday cake which saves you a job!

Parties are for kids ages 6-14 (I am happy to do younger but if younger, children will each need a helper to decorate). I charge $60 for up to 6 kids for a 45 minute session. For every additional child the price is $10. For older children, you may wish to increase the time of decorating to an hour and a half as they may not wish to stop after 45 minutes. The price for this is $85. If you are interested in more information regarding these parties you can contact me on 0211613072 or email me at mrswoolleyscakes@gmail.com.

Here is a sample of the cake decorating done in the weekend and what the kids may come away with.

Baby Sativa

2012-10-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

Today thousands of people around the world paid tribute by letting off balloons to precious little Sativa who lost her 20 month battle to Leukemia this week. Sativa won the hearts of nearly 6000 people around the world on facebook with her gorgeous smile and heartbreaking story.
http://www.facebook.com/HelpSativa

Diagnosed with cancer at just four months old she was in the hospital much of her small life. Her story is a reminder to us of how fragile life can be and to make the most of every moment, especially with our dear children. Today when you are with your children, cuddle them as much as you can, laugh with them, spend time with them. All over the world there are mums like Sheree who are longing to do just that and cannot. Don't worry about the mess or their cheeky behavior. Just stop what you are doing and LOVE your babies and remember Sativa.

These cake pops were made for the family for the funeral to celebrate the life of Sativa.

Cupcake decorating with kids

2012-10-04T00:09:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those fabulously memorable days. A day I will look back on with fond memories. Six of the neighborhood kids came over and we decorated cupcakes.

It all started a few weeks ago when I suggested to my seven year old neighbor girl that we should have a cupcake decorating afternoon during the school holidays. She promptly sat down with my 3 year old and they constructed invitations and brought them to all of the kids in the street. My daughter was incredibly excited and has talked about this coming event ever since.

Last night I was still slightly unclear about what to have the kids make as I had a range of ages from 3 to 11 and half boys and girls. In the end I decided on monsters(cute ones of course) and butterflies.

The afternoon went far better than I imagined! When the kids arrived I had the older ones decorate their cupcakes first so that they could help the younger ones. The girls got right into it, surprising me by coming up with their own monster designs. They then went on to create their own cupcakes without my supervision. I loved to see this creativity flourish! How I wish I had this as a kid. All of the kids stayed well until the afternoon, a few of them I had to kick out when it was dinner time (nicely of course). The sound of the kids playing in my yard and in my house brought fond memories as a kid playing late in the street with all of the kids, in and out of each others houses. A few of them sat and chatted to me for awhile. My house was always an open house to kids growing up and I loved that and want the same for my kids.

Have a look at the kids creations and see what you think!

Time for a catch up

2012-09-12T18:28:00.004-07:00

Its been awhile since I have posted anything. Things have been a little bit crazy as of late. Between having a ton of family visiting, sick kiddies, a broken dishwasher(I have been doing alot of dishes!) and starting part time work for the first time in nearly four years, cakes have been put on the back burner.

I have loved the new challenge of work and will guiltily admit that the 12 hours away from my children a week is somewhat bliss. It could have something to do with the fact that I have the sexiest boss ever or the 12 hours of order I feel when most of the time I am terribly disordered. Sometimes I don't think that its the kids I need a break from, but me to get my head into gear a bit better.

Last week I did get to make some cake pops for a friend which I loved making and to top it off the party was in the country with lots of animals! My kids loved it. My daughter said it was the best party ever.

I will admit that I have tried a few other hobbies to fulfill my need to be creative while cakes have been missing. My husband thinks that I am turning into a little old lady and laughs at me while I am sitting on the couch crocheting little booties. Personally I think I am just practicing to be a nana so that by the time I am one I will be the BEST nana ever. Sadly my own Grandma jokingly asked me to teach her to crochet. I really do enjoy it though and was pretty happy with my first attempts.

Nothing quite beats cakes though. I was feeling particularly out of sorts this week and sat down last night to work on a cupcake project for my daughters kindy. While I worked, everything just fell off my shoulders and I felt refreshed again. Sometimes a girl just needs to get her cake on. For my daughters kindy I helped 24 2-4 year olds decorate these cupcakes. They are learning about flowers at the moment so it was perfect! They did such a great job! Happy spring!

60th birthday cake

2012-08-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

This cake was a special cake for a a friends father of mine. There are specific elements in this cake that represent him. I was very pleased with how it all came together.

70th birthday cake

2012-08-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

This is a cake I made a few weeks back for a special ladies 70th birthday. It was chocolate cake iced in chocolate butter cream and covered in fondant.

Under Construction

2012-08-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

Its been a few weeks since I have done any cake making so my friends sons 3 year old birthday party was a welcome chance to get my creative juices going again. We had a fabulous day spending it with special friends, at long last outside and out of the rain! This winter has been a rough one and I know my friends and I are looking forward to warm days, sunshine and bug free kids!

Skiier cake topper

2012-07-20T14:37:00.000-07:00

More and more I realize how much I love the sculpting side of cakes. This weeks skiier cake topper I enjoyed immensely. I tend to go into a zone and everything slows down around me as I lose myself in my work.

Stilettos

2012-06-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

Last night I contributed a spot prize for a girls evening at our church. Initially I was going to make cupcake bouquets but several months ago a friend of mine sent me a link to cupcakes that looked like shoes. I thought it would be a great opportunity to make them!

If I was crazy rich I would probably own a lot of shoes. I love my feet and how they look in shoes! I think as women we have to have one favorite part of ourselves because we are certainly hard on ourselves on so many other levels. Because I love shoes, I loved making these cupcakes!

I ended up doing two separate spot prizes because of how I presented the cupcakes. Each cupcake is completely edible. I did a cupcake for the toe, a biscuit for the sole and a licorice log for the heel. For the little bags I made them out of two cupcakes. Cupcakes are a chocolate mud.

Mainly Music Birthday

2012-06-17T01:58:00.001-07:00

Each week I take my son to a music session that is put on by a group called Mainly Music. It is a fantastic effort put on by several volunteers who each week put together songs for mums and their children as well as a great morning tea and play time. Mainly Music runs all over the country so visit this website if you wish to find one locally near you: http://www.mainlymusic.org.nz/

The particular Mainly Music I go to was hosting its 15th year running this week so to celebrate they held a birthday party for the two sessions. I was asked to make the cakes and was more than honored to do so. I made a cake for each session but was able to re-use most of the decorations. It was a great time singing all our favorite songs and catching up with familiar faces.

Baby blue sneakers

2012-06-13T02:01:00.000-07:00

This week has been a little bit crazy. Somehow, I managed to wind up doing 4 cakes this week all due before Thursday which is strange because most cakes are required for a Saturday. Call it lack of planning maybe. Surprisingly I haven't had any late nights which is not really normal either. My brother is here visiting so I plan to take a little break after this week. One of the cakes for yesterday was a baby shower cake for one of my daughters kindy teachers. It was a surprise baby shower at her school so I did not tell my daughter because I know she would have told the teacher who the surprise was for.

When I arrived at school with the cake my daughters face was one of pure delight. When her teacher walked out and all of the kids yelled surprise she stood up very proudly and pointed to me, saying "My mummy made your cake." When the cake had been cut up and the kids were all starting to dig in, she stood up and launched herself at me giving me a huge hug saying "Thank you for making the cake Mummy." I nearly cried. I had been feeling guilty being so busy but this moment of seeing my daughter proud of me, although so little, is something worth far more than money or approval from others. I will never forget that moment.

Wild West Saloon

2012-06-02T15:02:00.001-07:00

What a night. Last night was my husbands 30th birthday party with a wild west theme. Talk about a boys dream to dress up as a cowboy! Five hours before the party started my husband and brother were running around the house practicing shoot outs and were dreaming up their outfits weeks before the party. I was really impressed with the turnout of cowboys, saloon girls and Native Americans. Everyone got really into it. The food was yummy, the music was great, the people were fun and the cake was a hit. I have included recipe links of the food I made for the party (sorry there are no photos of the food, I tend to not take photos at a party and I just enjoy myself). On the menu was chili, beer bread and wings - a cowboys feed. All went down really well.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/the-ultimate-chili/detail.aspx
This is the link for the chili recipe. It was a huge hit! I used one less tablespoon of chili and I also added two tablespoons of garlic powder, one tablespoon of salt, three tablespoons of brown sugar and two tablespoons of honey. I forgot the red wine in the end which I think it probably didn't need and I also thickened it up with some cornflour. Normally I would have used the full amount of chili powder but was a bit concerned about my guests not liking spicy so I stuck with using less. I served it with corn chips and grated cheese.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-buffalo-wings/detail.aspx
This is the recipe I used for the buffalo wings. They turned out super yummy and went incredibly fast. I highly recommend this.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/sticky-honey-soy-chicken-wings-recipe/index.html
This is the recipe for the honey and soy wings I used. I didn't have cilantro so I left it out. Also, I didn't fry them I just baked them with the above buffalo wings (200 degree C for 40 min - or until juices run clear, turning once) and then melted butter and honey together and brushed them with it at the end. These were also a hit!

http://www.food.com/recipe/beer-bread-73440
This is the super easy recipe for the beer bread. Anyone can make this, it is so easy. I use self rising flour as you only have four ingredients to use then. Make sure you do sift the flour as it does make a difference.

As for the cake, I was pretty excited to make this cake once I decided I knew what I was doing. My favourite part is definitely the saloon girl in the window and the passed out cowboy on the side of the saloon. It is a Mississippi mud cake and went much faster then it took to make. Someone asked if I was sad to cut into my cakes but I am just as proud of the taste of my cakes as I am in how they look so I love people to eat them!

Just for the girls

2012-05-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

I am not the most girly girl you have ever met. In fact far from it. I actually went out of my way not to put my daughter in pink when she was first born. So I was really surprised with myself that I LOVED doing this weeks cakes. I think there might be some femininity hiding deep down that I was not aware of. These cakes are for all the girls that dreamed of being ballerinas and princesses as kids or maybe still dream of that.

Recent Projects

2012-05-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

I thought I would share with you some projects over the last week.

For my facebook page I ran a competition for mothers day to win a cake pop bouquet. The winning mum had several nominations from her family who are very blessed to have her in their life by the sounds of it. You can visit my facebook page to see the nomination. I was sick over mothers day with a tummy bug (a little unfair if you ask me!) so wasn't able to make the cake pops so I had to post-pone until this past weekend.

This adorable heart shaped biscuits were made for a lovely little girls 1st birthday party. Each one was packaged individually with a cute little label made by my husband.

This cake was made for a First Holy Communion. I was asked just to do the wording on the cake and was provided with the bible to go on top. I am quite pleased in the end with how it turned out. It is a vanilla pound cake with a vanilla buttercream icing.

Happy Birthday to my husband!

2012-05-19T18:16:00.000-07:00

It was my husbands 30th birthday on Friday. I had a lot to live up to - he took me to Melbourne for 5 days for my 30th last year. I couldn't really take him anywhere BUT I could certainly spoil him with food because that's what I do! So, I woke up early and cooked him breakfast, the kids made him cookies, I sent him to work with cupcakes to share and I made him a cake! The cake and cupcakes are white chocolate banana mudcake and were super yummy. The cake is really only one of two cakes for him. He's having a party in a few weeks where I have great plans for a much grander cake. He has a recent love of mountain biking so I had to make it the theme of the cake.

Happy Birthday babe!

Grandads birthday

2012-05-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made a cake for my Grandad who had to celebrate his birthday at home with his wife (my Grandma) in the hospital. Not a nice way to spend your birthday so I wanted to brighten his day a little. My Grandad has always been an incredibly hard working man, a farmer then orchardist, he has always provided well for his family. I did this scene of him in a garden because he still likes to spend time these days gardening or out on an orchard despite the fact that he is 81 and retired. He has "grown" an incredible family as well (6 kids!) who have had many kids themselves and now those kids are having kids (and I will say, although biased, I think my family is pretty fantastic) . So far he has six great grandchildren with two on the way! And its only just beginning. Half of my cousins aren't even in their twenties yet! What a legacy! Happy Birthday Grandad!