One of my all time favourite books, when I was starting out, and still even today is the Women’s Weekly Kid’s Party Cakes Book. It has great instructions, it includes templates, but most of all if you are just starting out, doing cakes for kids or just want to do something fun, the combination of cake and lolly designs is assured to make many a kid happy!

Here are some of my earlier attempts straight from the book when I was simply starting out.

Recently my new purchases included the newest Women’s Weekly book Women’s Weekly Kids’ little party cakes, which is a similar book but based around cupcakes! With some very cool ideas.

See you don’t have to be an artist, just a knife, a paper template and some mint leaves, smarties or licorice and you can still create a kid’s or big adult kid delight!

Different people have different ideas about what they want out of decorating cakes, for some they just want to be able to something a little special for their kids party cakes, some try it and decide they just don’t have the patience, some just become the baker amongst family and friends and other’s go on to have business, teach, enter competitions and so on. Some people love the baking as much as the decorating and some just want to decorate, the beauty of cake decorating is that you can have or be any of these things. You can take it as far as you want to go, be creative as you want to be, learn as many techniques as you want to learn. It’s all about taking the information in and then deciding what is best for you!

Have you made a cake from one of these books, send me the picture and I’ll add it to this post so other people can see the fun other people have had with it too!  Or as always feel free to leave a comment!

This recipe comes from cake friend Christine, who was one of our Couture Cupcake Wrapper winners, courtesy of Cupcake Savvy! The photos illustrating the recipe are courtesy of Christine, they also show her gorgeous wrappers she won!

Out-of-this-World Banana, Carrot and Pineapple Cupcakes.

An excellent, delicious and (slightly) healthy cupcake recipe.
Sourced from “Bakin’ without Eggs” by Rosemarie Emro.

Est Prep Time:

Est Cooking Time: Approx 20 mins

Oven Temp: 180C

Serves: Makes approx 30

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups plain flour
1 x 100g pack vanilla instant pudding
2 ripe mashed bananas
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup soda water
1 cup grated carrot
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 x 225g can crushed pineapple with juice
1/2 cup walnuts, pecans or almonds, chopped

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Line cup cake tin with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until smooth and completely blended.
3. Spoon into the paper liners and bake for approx. 20 minutes or until done. Cool completely and then frost with cream cheese icing.

Additional Info/Comments:

Try it with yummy, Cream Cheese Icing

Ingredients:

1 x 250g pack cream cheese
2 cups icing sugar
2 tblspn milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:
Using a electric mixer beat cream cheese until creamy. Slowly mix in icing sugar, then milk and vanilla and beat until smooth.

Christine says to everyone, “I hope you love it as much as my son does!!“

Have you tried this recipe? Let us know how it worked out for you!

Photos courtesy of Christine, she also adds the only thing not in the recipe is the caramel ball on top for decoration, which she bought from Big W (called Carmel Kisses by Aussie Sweets).  They look like a great easy topper to me and suit the whole cupcake and wrapper perfectly!

Did you check out the new Couture Cupcake Wrappers now available here in Australia from Cupcake Savvy?

Would you like to win a set to try out?

Due to a delay in receiving the Planet Cake book (so there’s still loads of time to enter that competition too make sure you do that here – “Win the New Planet Cake Book Competition”), we are running a new competition to keep your busy in the meantime!

We have one set each of Cupcake Savvy’s new Couture Cupcake Wrappers.

One set is being set aside to be included with the Planet Cake book when it arrives, so make sure you enter that competition too!

So now how to go about entering to win one of the other three sets?

I’m looking for your favourite cupcake recipe!  Leave a comment with a link to your favourite recipe online or use the contact form to send me your favourite cupcake recipe.  I’ll be picking the 3 most interesting looking ones, and they will each receive a set of Couture Cupcake Wrappers to try out!  In addition each recipe will be featured on the blog.

While the Planet Cake Book Competition is open to international and local cake friends and continues to be.  This competition to win a set of Couture Cupcake Wrappers is only open to local cake friends.  International cake friends should check out their local suppliers for wrappers like this as particularly in the US they are more readily available (in the USA, ShopBakersNook is a good one).

You have until March 28 to get your entries in, winners will be announced on April 1st.

Photos courtesy of Cupcake Savvy

So cake decorating isn’t only limited to cakes, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, chocolates, all of these mediums can used as a decorating medium or in decorating! Cupcakes are big business these days with popular cupcake towers replacing a traditional cake or being used in addition to a smaller cake!

One new popular feature is the laser cupcake wrapper, these pretty cases aren’t what you bake the cupcake in, they are what you display it in, adding to the design you create or to pretty up simply done delicious cupcakes.

They are more difficult to find in Australia and with the current down turn in the market they become very expensive to purchase from overseas.

One of our favourite suppliers Cupcake Savvy, who sell perspex cupcake stands that screw together, and thus can be stored flat packed, are proud to introduce their new Couture Cupcake Wrapper Line.

The currently have four pretty designs Victorian, Hearts, Floral and Baby.

There are 12 in a pack for $11.95, which is just under $1 each.

Keep an eye out for the range to expand in design and colours.

Once you’ve bought them and tried them, make sure you email Cupcake Savvy with the pictures, she loves to display customer pictures on her site so new customers can see all the exciting things you can do with them!

Would you like to win a set to try out?  Check out the new Couture Cupcake Wrapper Competition.

Photos courtesy of Cupcake Savvy

Inspired by a recent discussion on a toblerone mud cake (yes I have one in the cupboard ready to go – OK I ate it and need to buy a new one ) I decided to play with one of my white chocolate recipes, by adding flake mmmm chocolate.

I took the easy route with the frosting and used solite. Next time I would probably use the Decorator’s Buttercream mixed with White Chocolate Ganache and some Bailey’s of course, because I am a Bailey’s girl! My taste testers loved the cake but a couple did say after a while the frosting was too much, so feel free to play! Just remember to let me know what you did!

White Chocolate Flake Muffins

Est Prep Time: 10-15 mins
Est Cooking Time: 30 mins
Oven Temp: 150C approx

Serves: 16-30 dependent on how deep you fill the case

Ingredients:

250g butter

4 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla or a splosh whatever works for you!

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup white chocolate

1 x 12 mini flake bag

Instructions:

In a bowl soften/melt the butter, add the eggs and vanilla, whisk together.

Melt the white chocolate.

In a separate bowl sift the dry ingredients together.

Mix in the butter/egg/vanilla mixture and when nearly combined add the white chocolate in and mix till just combined. (I do this all by hand not in a mixer).

Add 8-10 of the flakes, crumbled up and just fold gently through 4 or 5 folds and that’s it.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop (or spoon) into cases.

Bake for approx 30 minutes on 150C. Everyone’s oven’s vary so check regularly, I don’t test them I just pull them out when they look cooked, you may like to try a batch and alter cooking times according to your own tastes.

They looked like little creme brulee’s before they were baked!

A chance to practice my swirl… more practice required!

A chance to eat something yummy! I tried one almost straight out of the oven and it tasted a bit like warm yummy cookie dough. Cooler it was just as yummy without the icing as it was with the icing….

Taste testers reported still nice up to 4 days after baking.

Additional Info/Comments:

I filled the cases quite full and got 16, so filling half full is likely to get you 24-30.

White Chocolate Bailey’s Flake Frosting

Est Prep Time: 10-15 mins

Serves: Will be enough to cover 16-20 muffins, if you make more you may need to double the recipe

Ingredients:

100g solite

100mls water

750g icing sugar (approx)

1 cap full of baileys or a splosh whatever works for you!

1/2 cup or so of white chocolate

flake to decorate

Instructions:

Put the solite in a mixer and start alternating icing sugar with water, keep adding icing sugar until you are happy with the consistency, I didn’t actually measure and probably could have added more for a better swirl. Add in the baileys and more icing sugar if needed, mix for a couple of minutes. Pipe and sprinkle with flake…. mmmmm

If you try this recipe let me know what you thought…. were you inspired to alter something (changing the flake or Bailey’s for your own favourite chocolate or alcohol?) let me know how it worked out for you.