Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Christmas Cakes with Judy!

Today I made Christmas Cakes with Judy! It was sooo much fun! We made 10 of them all up! I loved it, it was my first time using royal icing, first time piping letters, first time using a crimper, and covering little cakes! I REALLY had so much fun! It was a long day (for me and my abilities), but it was so worth it! I would do it again in a heart beat, in fact tomorrow I will do a bit of something else with another friend, but that's different!

These were Christmas cakes. Fruit cake underneath, covered in almond icing and the in fondant! It was my first time using the embosser and cutter for the boarders as well! Very cool! Some of the boarders I dusted up with lustre dust, but others we just left! Anyhow, stoked with the final outcome! 

Here are the photos:


OK, so we will start from the beginning! I have to say, I am not proud of the writing here, BUT in all fairness it was my FIRST EVER go with using royal icing, using a piping bag, writing on a cake and doing it free hand to boot! So with all that said, I don't think I did too bad of a job eh?


This was my next attempt! With a bit more practise and some guided words, I did a MUCH better job, you think? I was given some stencils in a box from someone (I actually have no idea, it was a brand new box set sitting on our front door step!!) and so put them to use here... It was fun! I didn't get the "P" lined up quite right, but that's no matter... the final result, well you just wait til you see them all finished! 


OK... So this cake we marbled... Actually, Judy did the first one, and I followed cause I liked it so much!! Isn't it neat?? I thought so! She also taught me how to stencil the "Merry Christmas" sign with royal icing!! Its quite effective, I like it! I soo soo enjoyed my day today! More so than anything recently, you know, its SUCH an escape from sickness, from battling pain and illness. I was in pain, but I was able to kind of 'block it out' with being so focused and working on the cake decorating! That's why I enjoy it so much! 


These are all our "cakes in progress", Judy and I were doing them together, so they are joint efforts! Judy actually made all the fruit cakes first out, and I just helped to cover and decorate them all! Shes soo lovely! I really enjoy hanging out doing our bits and chatting!! As you can see, we have quite a number of cakes 'on the go', OK.. Now to show you some of the FINISHED cake photos!! 



This was our first one I bring you! All finished! Judy had pre made all the flowers and leaves a few days before I came so that they were well dried and ready to go! I positioned them on the cake! We did each one different!


Here is a close up of the Christmas flowers for you! Soo cool!


What you couldnt see from the top of the cake, is the cool border we put right round the bottom! It looks awesome with the swirl huh? It took the both of us to place the border as it was quite delicate. The paste was pretty soft, and its quite fine detail, so it did take some work, but success ensued!


This is the finished "Peace and Joy" cake! I thought it came out quite cute, what do you think?


This was the side of it!!! *big smiles* Neato huh? I love the embosser and cutter! Its so cool!


This was the "Peace" cake all finished up! I enjoyed putting the flowers/leaves on in different patterns! They all have the similar toppers, but are all so very different!


This was the side of the "Peace cake! I dusted the side boarder with pearl lustre dust! 


This is an AWESOME cake that Judy made! Isn't the Christmas tree that she designed neat? 


This was the side boarder on the Christmas tree cake! I dusted it up too!


This is another one of Judys cakes! She made it before I came over! I loved her mixed design, and that's why we did more like that! I love the snow flakes, I just think its a real cute as cake for Christmas!


And this was the side of Judys snowflake cake! I just think its so different and funky!! LOVE IT!


Here is another! There certainly were many of them huh? It was a lot of fun to do!


And this was the side of it! Stoked! I learnt soo much today! It was fun, but I have told you all that already havent I? haha! Ahh well, you can hear it again! hehe.


And lucky last one to show you all! Another of the patterned ones! Simple but effective!


And finally! Here is the side boarder to this cake! I think we both did an awesome job on our cakes today!

I am totally keen to do some more too, can you tell I have caught the "cake creating bug"? hehe

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Cookies Galore!!!

Thought I would update with some of my baking! I love to bake cookies and have baked quite a number...
Here is a sample of some of the cookies I have made! YUM!


A batch of peppermint and chocolate swirl cookies! They were really good!


Shortbread! Flowers and Hearts done up nicely!


And presented together in a lovely container... I was quite proud of this! A gift for a friend!


These were yummy peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies! Actually these were healthy cookies made form the healthy food guide! I really like that website, I bake quite a bit from it! The recipe was in the magazine, and its not on the website yet, so I cant show you all! Sorry! You'll just have to trust me! If you want the recipe, just email me or leave a comment and I will get back to you!


These were another kind of double chocolate chip cookies I made! They were quite a soft type of cookie. Actually, to tell you the truth, I wouldn't make them again, but they were OK! 


I wish I had a better photo of these! They are soo super good! They are called "Bo Peep" cookies. I am sure they go by many other names, but these are what we call them and what they are referred to in the "NZ Edmonds Cook Book"... Trusty old cook book to many NZ families! Anyhow, They are my Nanas favourite, and one of the things she CAN eat from the many things she cant so when I am able, or when we go down to see her I always love to make her up a batch of cookies! These were well received! Mission Accomplished!


You'll know what this is right?? YES! Its Biscotti! (Italian Biscuit)!! These are one of my favourite! I love them! Its the first time I baked these, they are quite involved and take many steps. With limited energy resource they do take quite some effort, but I think they are worth it, especially for a special occasion! These were simply for fun because I had been so keen to try making them! WORTH IT! YUM!! We dunked half in chocolate (the favourite pick) and we.....


drizzled the other half!!! We weren't sure what people would like most! Next time I will half dunk them all, and maybe drizzle them with white chocolate on the dipped part, now that sound good doesn't it? Ohh thoughts! I could white dunk them and drizzle them with red and green chocolate and serve them for Christmas!! Now THAT sounds like an awesome idea doesn't it! 


Have you ever heard of these? They are called forgotten cookies and man they are good. Actually you can get the recipe here: http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/recipes/2008/december/forgotten-cookies YUM! They are like a meringue with lots of goodies in them... chocolate bits, nuts, well, anything you really want to add! Perfect Christmas gift, and perfect for something light (literally) and sweet after a meal! So easy too!

I think that'll do for now! haha!