Loving This Pretty Pink Cake!

I absolutely LOVE this simple yet stunning little cake. I am hoping the birthday girl will be as happy as I am with the result. Hiding beneath the icing is a rich chocolate cake layered with dark chocolate ganache. 

Spots!

Designing a cake for a teenager was a lot harder than I had anticipated! I was so worried about finding the right balance between not being too mature, or young and girly.  I think I got it right with these bold bright spots arranged in a geometric pattern. This is just a fun, bright and modern cake!

Thermomix Hot Cross Buns!

A few years ago I began the quest for the perfect homemade Hot Cross Buns. I finally found a recipe that produced amazing results posted on http://cookalmostanything.blogspot.com/2006/04/weekend-cookbook-challenge-4.html.

For Christmas I received a Thermomix- so I adapted the original recipe to work in the thermomix and produce easy effortless and delicious Hot cross Buns for Easter. Enjoy!

Thermomix Hot Cross Buns (Makes 9) 

60g Sugar

25g Butter (cold)

180g milk

350g Plain Flour

2 tsp yeast

1 small egg (50g)

1 tsp (heaped) mixed spice

1tsp (heaped) cinnamon

120g Sultanas

Place sugar in Thermomix bowl and mix for 3 sec on speed 9

Add butter and mix for 5 sec on speed 7

Add milk set temperature to 50°C and mix for 1 min on speed 3

Add flour, yeast, egg, mixed spice, cinnamon in order listed.

Kneed for 2 mins on interval speed

Add sultanas and mix on reverse for 10 seconds at speed 5

At this stage you will have a fairly stick dough

Place dough into oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 30 mins-1 hr in a warm place or until doubled in size.

Line a square tin (20cm) with baking paper

When doubled in size place dough onto a lightly floured bench top and lightly kneed to form a ball

Divide dough into 9 equal portions (you can use scales if you want) and roll into balls (I divide dough into 3 portions, then divide them into 3 again).

Place balls lined neatly in 3 rows of 3 into square tin

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for approx. 30 mins or until doubled in size

Preheat oven to 180°C fan forced

Once risen pipe crosses on top (optional)

Paste for crosses- 2 tblsp plain flour mixed with 1.5 tblsp water to form a sticky paste- you don’t want it too runny- so add extra flour if needed. Use piping bag to make crosses (I do it in 3 lines x 3 lines) or use a small plastic bag and snip end off.

Place buns in oven and cook for 20-30 mins or until golden brown and well risen

Once cooked make the glaze.

Glaze- combine 2 tblsp sugar and 2 tblsp water in a small pot. Bring to a gentle boil until sugar has dissolved and mixture slightly thickened.

Brush hot syrup generously over the top of buns.

Try and wait till they are cool enough to eat

TIP: If its really cold put your oven on the defrost function and let dough rise in there! Or even set it to 50°C- but if you do this cover with a tea towel and not plastic wrap.

Dinosaur Dig Site- Keep Out

The Dinosaur theme continued yesterday with this great Dinosaur fossil cake. It was nice to make a cake that didn't require precision- the messier the better! The 'dirt' was created with the help of a play-doh tool and some brown coloured fondant, which was then mixed with cake crumbs. My husband thought the cake was a little morbid however the birthday boy loved it. Cakes for my kids done and dusted for the year- time to exhale! 

Stomp Stomp!

Tomorrow my big boy turns 6! Dinosaurs are the theme this year! I made these vanilla and white chocolate cupcakes to share with his school friends. Pretty sure they will be  a hit with the boys- I don't imagine the girls will be impressed!

My Baby turned 2!

Last week my baby turned 2! We celebrated with this cute little 15 cm "ishy cake" as Joshua called it.

He is obsessed with the fish in his older brothers classrooms so the cake theme started with that idea. I then decided to create a little bit of a sea theme, hence the whale and the little sailing boat on top. This is the last year I get to make a 'little boys' cake for my kids- and yes I am a little sad at that! Im guessing in the future it will be Superhero's, skulls and scary creatures!

Spiderman Cake!

My 3 little boys will celebrate their birthdays over the next 3 weeks. Today it was Noahs turn, the BIG 4 yr old finally decided on a spiderman cake (after first telling me he wanted a transformer cake, then a dinosaur cake and then a how to train your dragon cake). After searching the web for ideas I came up with this cake- a mesh of a few different cool ideas- we shared it with his preschool friends this afternoon.