Handbag Cake

Another birthday cake, this time for my sister. It is a caramel mudcake, dark chocolate ganache with homemade marshmallow fondant. This was my first time making a handbag cake. I had a little trouble with the handle but I think it still looks okay. Live and learn. Next time I will know better.

Roses Cake

I made this cake for my Mother's birthday. It is a cherry ripe mud cake with dark chocolate ganache covered in green marzipan. With duff fondant roses and fondant ribbon leaves.

Chocolate Butterflies and Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

I made these chocolate butterflies to go on a cake but didn't end up using them. So to serve them I put them with some chocolate dipped strawberries. All chocolate butterflies, the colours are tinted white chocolate. A little messy, it could have been a lot neater but I was rushing to get it done before Hannah woke up.

Mahjong Cake

Mahjong Tile Cake for my Dad's Birthday. Magnolia vanilla cake filled and frosted with whipped chantilly cream and fresh strawberries. Decorated with handmade marzipan mahjong tiles, fully edible.

Stack of Books Cake

For an 80th birthday. Bottom book is Chocolate Zucchini Cake and the top book is Caramel Mudcake.

Pink and White Scroll Cake

I made this cake for one a friend's birthday. It is a pink and white buttercream frosted three layer cake. Bottom is Chocolate Zucchini and middle is Caramel Mudcake and the top is Red Velvet Cake.

Baked Lemon Cheesecake

This is a recipe that my sister usually makes and is always loved by all. The recipe can be found here http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/8871/step+by+step+cheesecake

Lebkuchen

I made these with my 3 youngest children today. The two eldest children went on a fishing excursion with my husband. Thought this would be a nice and easy activity to do with them. This was a new recipe and it is a keeper. The dough is really easy to handle and cut out. The biscuits were a little too crisp for the kids but I really enjoyed them. I think this dough would be great for Christmas cookies, decorations or even a gingerbread house.

I made some men and hearts. The gingerbread men shapes are free hand cut as I could not find my gingerbread man cutter.

I modified a recipe I found in one of my cookbooks and this is what I came up with.

Lebkuchen

2 1/3 cups plain flour

1/2 cup cornflour

2 teaspooons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

100g butter

3/4 cup golden syrup

2 tablespoons milk

royal icing for decoration

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Place all dry ingredients into a bowl and mix together. Place butter, golden syrup and milk together in the microwave until butter has melted. Add into the dry ingredients. Stir together to form a soft dough. Knead gently for 1 minute on a flour board until dough is smooth. Roll out until 7mm thick and cut into shapes. Bake for 15 mins or until lightly golden. Let them cool completely before decorating.

Cherry Cream Cheese Strudel

I saw this strudel being made on tv the other night and thought that it looked yummy. I had to give it a go. It turned out great. However I did modify the ingredients to low fat ones. The mixture was therefore a little more runnier to work with than the one that was made on tv. Also instead of the breadcrumbs and flaked almonds I used almond meal. This did not effect the end product though. Recipe taken from here http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/133/Nan

Marble Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

I made these for the kids the other day Marble Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes. They are perfect for the kids, parties or to take to a school function. The cake batter is baked into ice cream cones. So the entire thing is edible. I didn't add icing but a nice touch would be to pipe for frosting on top with sprinkles to really look like a soft serve ice cream.

I made a marble cake batter of chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. I was aiming for the neopolitan look.

I doubled this recipe and got 16 cone cupcakes.

Marble Small Cakes

60g butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup self-raising flour

vanilla

1/4 cup milk

Cream butter and sugar.

Add in vanilla.

Beat in egg.

Add flour and milk alternately and mix lightly into a soft dough.

Split equally into three separate bowls. Leave one plain, colour one pink and add cocoa to the third (helps to dissolve cocoa in a little water first before adding to the batter).

Spoon dollops of each batter into cones or papers til 3/4 full. Swirl to form marble effect.Bake in moderate oven for 10-15 mins until cooked.

Chocolate Sour Cream Fudge Cake

I had some sour cream in the fridge that had to be used up before going off so I decided to make cake of course. This is a Chocolate Sour Cream Fudge Cake with Cookies and Cream filling and frosted with Vanilla Buttercream. I used buttercream on the outside because I ran out of cream. I think next time cream on the outside would have tasted better.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

This cake was moist, light and delicious. Topped off with the perfect cream cheese icing. The bonus is it has 3 grated carrots in it for the kids. Would definately make this recipe again. I used this one. http://www.taste.com.au/recipe/view-recipe.php?id=15406&page=&mc=1#c

Yummy Doggies

I saw these cute little doggies on this blog http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.com/2007/01/horlicks-doggie-cookies.html and just had to make them for the kids. I modified the recipe a bit. The kids loved them and thought they were cute. They are not very sweet but that is a good thing. The sweetness only comes from the chocolate chips and the Milo cereal.

Here is my version

Malt Doggies Biscuits (makes 45 biscuits)

180g soft butter

80g malt powder

200g plain flour

25g corn flour

25g milk powder

100g chocolate chips

some chocolate hail

some Milo cereal

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 140deg C. Line baking tray with baking paper and set aside.

Sieve plain flour, corn flour and milk powder.

Cream butter and malt powder.

Put in plain flour, cornflour and milk powder and beat for about one minute to form dough.

Divide dough into 10g each. Put three chocolate chips into each piece of dough and roll into balls.
Insert two pieces of Milo cereal to form the 'ears', chocolate hail for the "eyes", and a chocolate chip in the centre for the 'nose'.

Bake at 140 deg C for about 25 minutes. Depending on your oven, it may take another 5 to 10 minutes more for the cookies to be ready.

Leave to cool on wire rack before storing in an airtight container.

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

I found this recipe on this blog http://simplyannes.blogspot.com/search/label/Cake and thought that it sounded yummy. She has some beautiful cakes. I have always loved condensed milk but had not used it in a cake before. I made it for afternoon tea and the kids couldn't resist it. They were asking for more. Needless to say there was only a quarter of the cake left after the frenzy.

It was moist, buttery and delicious. It also cut well into clean slices, not too crumbly. The outside of the cake formed a nice golden crust which was crisp and crunchy. This was the best part, the kids were all calling for 'crunchy cake'. I would make this cake again.

Zebra Cake - Take 2

I thought I would try the zebra cake out again in the attempt to get the layers thicker. I still did not get it the way I would like. I tried out a new recipe http://ovenhaven.wordpress.com/2008/05/11/all-grown-up/, I should have stuck with the one I tried first. I found that the batter for the chocolate layer was too heavy and therefore when baking wants to sink to the bottom and not form nice stripes. I tried to add more flour to the plain batter to compensate but did not add enough. So the product was more of a marble cake effect. This time round I added in pink to the colours.

I will get this zebra cake right! Try try again...

Zebra Cake

I have been looking at these cakes for awhile on other sites and thought it was time to give it a go. It was really easy and effective but I think my layers were too thin. I think it would be more dramatic with thicker layers. Mental note to self for next time. Also I only used plain mineral water in it for the fizzy drink, I think the lemonade flavour would be better next time as it would add a little more sweetness. We did eat it unfrosted though, so it would have been sweeter with frosting on. I love the look and will definately make it again. I think it would look especially good as a birthday cake.

There are many recipes out there, this is the one I ended up using.http://www.realepicurean.com/zebra-cake/

Magnolia Vanilla Cake with Chantilly Cream and Strawberries

I made this last year for my Grandfather's Birthday. It is three layers of vanilla cake, filled with chantilly whipped cream and diced strawberries. Finished off with chantilly cream and a continuous sprial of strawberries. I love this cake and the look of it. I would make this again definately.

I used this recipe for the Magnolia Vanilla Cake and changed the filling to chantilly cream and strawberries. http://www.recipezaar.com/139518