Oh my giddy Aunt!

Here's something that made me laugh and grimace at the same time!
My niece Hana Owen has made a few cakes for family occasions (she made a brilliant one for her Dad's 60th which was all the lads from The Young Ones sitting on a couch watching the tv. - note if you were born after 1982 google "The Young Ones"). 

She has done a few now and for someone who hasn't done any classes, she's pretty good.

However...

These I thought were definitely not up to her usual standard (I think they are supposed to be those angry bird thingies)

Then...
I saw this and I thought "Oh my giddy Aunt, Hana's lost the plot!" (or words to that effect):

and then...

it got worse:

However all was revealed when I read what she had to say about the cake and the "helpers" she had (note that Lincoln is Hana's nephew and is 3 years old. I haven't a clue who "Jhyyyve Turkey" is and only hope that it really isn't the real name of a child!")

Hana wrote: 

"What started out as innocent activity time became an angry bird massacre. It was chaos & it was freakin awesome - With my new little minion/apprentice/accomplices Stinkin' Lincoln & Jhyyyve Turkey."

My sister-in-law Beth, has nicely topped it off with these words (my maiden name is Owen):

"And every Owen perfectionist is having a meltdown just looking at it! But what fun!"

Individual cake toppers.

Classic Cakes from Brisbane have some very classy cakes on their website, however what caught my eye was their cake toppers. This couple look like they are made from fondant but I'm not sure about the one on the 21st birthday cake (it looks like Audrey Hepburn).

On further investigation, I've found their facebook page and whilst it has only been going a short time, there's some good stuff on here including very cute cake toppers of an Indian couple. I love this neat suitcase for a 30th birthday gal who loves to travel.

I do like their fondant people - follow this link to see more of them and some of the other cakes from Classic Cakes. 

Still remembering

I know it's not Anzac Day today, however as I was coming out of the driveway this morning, I noticed a distinct lack of traffic (it's usually so busy around 6.45 that it takes ages to get onto the road), so obviously lots of people have taken today as a holiday so they get a 4 -day "weekend".

So, I thought I'd continue on with an Anzac theme.
The first cake is from Half Baked Cakery in Queensland.
A lovely cake and based on traditional ANZAC biscuits, made with rolled oats, golden syrup and coconut with white chocolate ganache. Yummo. 

This Aussie slouch hat is from Kaza's Kookie Kreations, NSW. I love the addition of the wattle flower.

The word ‘slouch’ refers to the sloping brim. The brim is made from rabbit-fur felt or wool felt and is always worn with a puggaree (that's the band).

History has it that the origins of the Slouch Hat began with the Victorian Mounted Rifles; a hat of similar design had been worn in South Africa by the Cape Mounted Rifles for many years before 1885. 

The Victorian hat was an ordinary bush felt hat turned up on the right side. The intention of turning up the right side of the hat was to ensure it would not be caught during the drill movement of “shoulder arms” from “order arms”. 

And this slouch hat from Cake Central (don't know who the maker is, but it looks quite real).

By 1890, State military commandants had agreed that all Australian forces, except the artillery corps, should wear a looped-up hat of uniform pattern that was turned up on the right side in Victoria and Tasmania, and on the left side in all other States to allow for different drill movements. 

The Slouch Hat became standard issue headdress in 1903 and its brim position was mostly standardised. The slouch hat became a famous symbol of the Australian fighting man during World War One and continued to be worn throughout World War Two. Its use since that time has made it a national symbol.

Honouring the Anzacs

Today as all Australians know, is ANZAC Day. 
Being born in England and coming here when I was 10, it took a few years for the significance of Anzac Day to sink in.

Cake Artistry by Julie from Ulverstone in Tasmania has this slouch hat which she made for an old gentleman's 90th birthday last year - Ernie had been in the Light Horse Brigade when he was younger.

Sugar and Spice is the blog of two sisters, Celine and Mary, who love to make cakes. 

They don't sell them but like to post piccies of their work. Here's the Anzac Day cake they made 5 years ago. 

I do a lot of family history research and whilst my ancestors were not Australian, several of them served in the armed forces in WW1 and WW2. I think that we can celebrate the lives of all men and women who have served their country and in many cases sacrificed their life for what we have today.

just so awesome!

There's so much I wanted to show you from Sweet Ruby Cakes in Queensland. Their cakes are so flaming awesome it's hard to know where to begin!

Take for example this tea caddy... 

which was the inspiration for this pretty cake:

This drawing...

 which became this awesome cake:

Inspiration comes from all sorts of places.

I'll leave some for you to discover for yourself on their website and on their facebook page.

Good looking cakes

I like cakes that are very well made (don't we all!) and have a lovely finish to them. 
Looking at the pictures of cakes made by Cakes by Jane from Canberra certainly fits the bill.
Look at this gorgeous Noah's Ark:

and these lovely little cakes: 

You can see more of her work on her website here.

Cake the emag

Really late with my posting today. The phone hasn't stopped ringing this morning (note to self - make lots of money and hire a secretary).

Anyway on with today:
I thought I'd do a bit of promotion for the free yes FREE online magazine from the Australian Cake Decorating Network called "Cake" (what else!).
You can learn how to make these cute figures in a tutorial from Rouvelee's Cakes

There's also a tutorial for pineapple loving people in the shape of a pineapple cake by The Cupcake Lady - this one puts the "Big Pineapple" in Queensland to shame!

Lots of Mothers Day cake ideas including some lovely cupcakes from Carina's Cupcakes in the UK.

Here's an example of the sort of things they do:

Paul Bradford is a cake teacher in England and he has a tutorial for the yummiest looking chocolate cake I've seen in a while - I'm going to give this one a go.

So for all these things and so much more - lots and lots of piccies of fabulous cakes - make sure you have a look at "Cake".

occupational cakes

It's Friday and I'm looking forward to the weekend. 

This got me thinking about the jobs we do and if anyone makes cakes that are job-related.

Well, you know what, there aren't very many.

I'd posted yesterday on the Cakeriffic facebook page about a guy who resigned from his job and instead of giving them a letter he write his resignation on a cake.

Here's the piccie:

How good is that! I love the bit at the end where he says "if you enjoy this cake, you can order more..." 

You can read the story here.

I found this neat cake for a couple of people who were joining the Police force. It's from Caketrix in Sydney.

They also have this simple but effective celebration cake on their facebook page:

In fact Caketrix have lots of cakes of all sorts on their facebook page - well worth a look.

Have a great weekend everyone.

so this is what I made...

...and it's not up to my usual standards. Excuse being that I had to go out and do some work-related stuff and by the time I got back, well, time was limited.
So I had defrosted two 20cm round mudcakes and I didn't have any ganache so I just threw in a bit of condensed milk which made it pretty sticky.
I lined a bowl with some clingwrap and pressed in the mixture.

Popped it in the fridge while I peeled the potatoes for dinner.

Got the bowl out of the fridge and pulled out the mudcake mixture base for the igloo. Added an entrance from a bit of mixture that I saved.

Made up some buttercream and slathered it on.

I have to say that I admire those people who can make buttercream go on smoothly 'cause it was a bugger of a job!

And I didn't do it very well at all.

 I used a toothpick to make the lines for the bricks.

Then I discovered that I didn't have any fondant so googled it and came up with a recipe using condensed milk - heck I had a tin of that open and ready to go.

Unfortunately I didn't have much icing sugar so what started as a large amount of fondant mixture ended up being a large amount of sticky mess and one small ball of tacky fondant. 

Popped the small ball in the fridge while I made the Yorkshire pudding mixture for dinner.

When it had firmed up a bit I made a polar bear cub with licorice for the nose and the claws (yes it's a cub because my dh pointed out to me that the ears were wrong and the snout was too short and ...).

So there it was.

Family was too full of roast dinner to eat any of it (so they claim!). Having it tonight! Oh yes we are!

Polar Birthday

Today is my dh's birthday and he's 54. Not seen him this morning as I was out walking when he went to work. I've taken a couple of mudcakes out of the freezer and I'm hoping to have a bit of time today to whip up something special in the way of cake or cakepops or biscuits.
Not sure what as yet, but I do know that it has to be polar bear related.
So digressing somewhat today from my usual focus on one cake artist I bring you (and me) a whole lot of polar bear stuff:

This first one is by Deanne Watson who is the daughter of a friend of mine. As far as I know Deanne doesn't have a website and I don't think I'll be tackling this cake!

This cake I found on a site called Coolest Birthday Cakes:

I reckon I might be able to do that - the person who made it tells how she did it too.

These biscuits are from The Queen of Tarts:

Here's some cake pops from Celebrate Creativity and woohoo they have a tutorial here too!

These little cupcakes are from Celebrate With Cake:

I'll let you know tomorrow how I get on and I'll try to remember and photograph it as I go - whatever it is that I decide to make.

Oh heck, just remembered it's my old mum's birthday tomorrow (she's turning 89 - any ideas?)

sunny colours

It's still chilly, however I'm looking at a blue sky day out there in front of my computer. Not a cloud to be seen.
So I'm in the mood for bright happy colours and these cakes from My Little Cakehouse fit the bill.

 

How darn cute are those piggies in that little red car!

There's lots more on her facebook page including a beautiful sleeping baby in a pram. 

My Little Cakehouse are based in Sydney, Australia.

Elegance unlimited

The House of Elegant Cakes certainly lives up to it's name with these stunning wedding cakes.

They have lots of pictures in their gallery and looking through their facebook page and reading the comments from others, they consistently pass the taste test as well as achieving a high standard of decoration.

Beautiful work.

Biscuit or cookie?

Having started my life in Old Blighty (what the poms affectionately call their "green and pleasant land") - heck now I've burst into my personal rendition of "Land of Hope and Glory"...sorry I digress.
Where was I?...oh yes having been born in England, the term "cookie" is a bit foreign to me.
We baked and ate BISCUITS and I will do so forever. 

I was therefore happy to find The Iced Biscuit (rather than "the iced cookie" - there's likely a business out there somewhere called the frosted cookie).

Despite the size of the picture these teapot biscuits are a big 11 x 12cm in size.

I like the bold designs of these.

And here's some for the little girls too:

Have just looked at Jacqui's facebook page and she does really lovely cakes too. You need to look in her "cake album".

Have a great weekend everyone!

vroom vroom...

Today I've decided to feature some of Verusca Walker's cakes. And more specifically, her "car cakes".
Verusca is obviously a dab hand at airbrushing on cakes as the following pictures can testify. Did I mention, Verusca is a special guest at the Cakeriffic show in August (sorry couldn't resist the plug!).

You can do one of these cars in classes with Verusca and here's a "pictorial tutorial" from her Deviant Art site: 

This isn't the same as taking a class of course - the tips you pick up in a class are invaluable (and not just tips from the teacher - the other students often have good ideas and tips to share). If you have the time, income and desire, I reckon classes are a great way to get you started.

Hmm this could be a topic for another day...