Valentines Day // Mini Honey Yogurt Cakes

 

So, tomorrow is Valentines Day! I plan on painting my nails tonight with red glitter nail polish in celebration. Apart from that, I don't have too many exciting plans. I have pulled a mini lamb roast out of the freezer though & I think these mini honey yoghurt cakes will be a nice accompaniment for pudding.

 

I got the idea for these from my Mum - I went to visit my family in Dunedin last weekend & Mum had made this amazing lemon yoghurt cake for afternoon tea - it was so tasty!

 

I changed the lemon juice to honey, added some vanilla paste & baked these in baking paper lined ramekins. They came out as cute little moist cakes which I dressed up with rose syrup & chopped pistachios with some yoghurt on the side (middle eastern inspiration is my favourite!)

 

The recipe is so easy, so I hope you give these a go!

 

 

Mini Honey Yogurt Cakes

3/4 C White Sugar

1 Egg

1/2 C Oil (I used extra virgin olive oil but canola is good too)

1/4 t Salt

1/2 C Yoghurt (Greek or plain unsweetened)

1 1/2 T Liquid Honey

1/2 t Vanilla Paste (or 1 t vanilla)

1 C Self Raising Flour

 

Heat oven to 180 degrees celsius & grease & line the sides & bases of 6 small ramekins (or a cheesecake tray with removable bases)

Mix sugar, eggs, oil & salt with an electric beater or whisk until thick.

Mix in yoghurt, honey & vanilla paste.

Fold n flour until just mixed.

Scoop into tins (the mixture is quite runny - I used an ice cream scoop)

Bake for 10 minutes at 180 degrees, then drop the oven temperature to 150 degrees & continue cooking the cakes for approximately 15-20 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean.

Cool for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cake rack to cool completely.

Serve with rose syrup poured over (or more honey) plain yoghurt & chopped pistachios.

 

Serves 6

 

**To make a lemon version, omit the honey & vanilla paste & add 1 1/2 T lemon juice & the grated rind of 1 lemon. Serve with yoghurt & blueberries.

 

These are so yummy & stay good for 2-3 days (if they last that long!) I really want to go out & find a cheesecake tray now so I can make a whole heap of them...

 

What do you have planned for Valentines Day?

 

Kc



The Cupcake Files // Candy Floss Cupcakes

Since I moved to Invercargill I had been thinking about having a cupcake stall at a local market. At least once a week for the last few months I've been coming up with & trialling new cupcake flavours. I thought I would share some of them on my blog, because it is a big part of my life now and this blog is a little slice of my life, right?

I have decided not to share my exact cupcake recipe. I know that seems kind of mean, but I have adapted one I found & turned it into my own recipe which produces the type of cupcake I want to be known for. I've learnt some tips though that I'll share;

1. Don't over mix! It's the same idea as muffins, if you over mix they will be dry & tough.

2. You don't have to bake a filling into the cupcake. Cook it, scoop out the centre & fill with jam, frosting, curd or cream - yum!

3. An ice cream scoop is your friend - you will end up with evenly sized cupcakes - uniform is good!

So these are my candy floss cupcakes. All you have to do is...

a) Make up a basic vanilla cupcake mix. 

b) Before baking add approx 2 cups of candy floss - pulled into small tufts. Gently fold through -  don't mix until whole batter is pink, just until you have swirls of pink through it.

c) Bake cupcakes as per recipe.

d) Frost with candy floss frosting detailed below.

Candy Floss Frosting

115g Butter, softened

1 t Vanilla

60ml Milk

500g Icing Sugar
1 C Candy Floss

Add butter, vanilla & half of icing sugar to a bowl. Place candy floss in a separate bowl & pour milk over - this will melt it. Add candy floss milk to other frosting ingredients & beat until fluffy. Add remaining icing sugar & beat through. Fill a piping bag with frosting & pipe onto cupcakes. I used a 2D tip for these cupcakes.

I recently made some of these for a 7 year olds birthday party! I sprinkled them with a little edible glitter to give them some sparkle. What do you think?

 

Recipe Post // Cupcakes in a Jar

Next Tuesday evening I’m going to the Winery Tour concert being held in Cromwell – my favourite place in Central Otago. I’m so excited! Gin Wigmore is performing, I’ve liked her music for quite a while so I’m keen to see what she’s like live.

You aren’t able to take alcohol or drinks (except sealed water bottles I think) into the grounds, but you can take food. So I thought it would be a cool idea to take along a picnic! I’ve been wanting to try out the “cupcake in a jar” thing for a while and this is the perfect excuse.

I had an order of cupcakes due today for a customer (my business is Sequin Corner – come visit my Facebook page!) and I had some leftover, so I made a trial run. My favourite flavour is coffee and I just so happened to have a bottle of Kahlua lying around in the cupboard so I thought I’d make a yummy sauce to go with my cupcakes.

You will need;

A cupcake sized jar

Frosting of your choice

Baked cupcakes of your choice

Sauce of your choice

Coffee Frosting

115g Butter, softened

500g Icing Sugar

1 t Vanilla

60ml Instant Coffee (1/2 t coffee mixed with a dash of hot water, then made up to 60ml with cold water)

2 t Ground Coffee

Using an electric mixer – combine the butter, vanilla, coffee & half the icing sugar until creamy. Add the remaining icing sugar & beat until combined. Use a spatula to transfer the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a piping nozzle.

**I found this recipe somewhere on the internet, but I can’t remember where sorry!

Kahula Sauce

125g Butter

1 C Castor Sugar

1 Egg

1/2 C Kahlua

1 t Cream

Melt the butter in a saucepan on low heat. Add the sugar & egg & whisk to combine. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is smooth & creamy and all the sugar is melted. Add in the Kahlua & cream & whisk to combine. Pour into a jug or bowl until ready for serving.

**Recipe from Simply Recipes – I altered the amount of Kahlua. 

1.    Take cupcake paper off, trim to fit in jar, & chop in 1/2. Place the cupcake 1/2 in the jar & pipe a layer of frosting over.

2.    Drizzle over a layer of the sauce. Repeat from the start – cake, frosting, sauce.

3.    I added 1 more cupcake half (my jar is tall) a layer of frosting & a final drizzle of sauce.

4.    The finished “Cupcake in a Jar”

These are so yummy! (and quite sweet!) Next time I might try layering one with custard and fruit, possibly to take to the concert. You could easily swap out the frosting and sauce I used and replace them with something else – ganache & caramel sauce, custard & pureed apples with cinnamon, raspberry puree & cream...the opportunities are endless! 

I made mine pretty by covering the tops with a paper doily tied on with string & threading a cake fork through the bit where you open the jar (I love my little fork with the piggy on it above!) you could just as easily attach a little plastic spoon or fork with some string or ribbon.  

Have you tried making cupcakes in a jar before? Or pies? I think it's a great picnic idea! Hope you all have a great weekend. 

6th Day of Christmas // DIY Dog Pull Toy

You can’t forget the family dog at Christmas!! I have a Chocolate Labrador called Hershey, she was born on the 4^th of July (cool huh?) last year so she’s about 16 months old. While I love her to bits, I don’t love her amazing ability to destroy any toy we give her!! (Or shoe, or cushion, or sock...)

When we took her to obedience training a while ago one of the women there had a plaited bunch of sheets as a reward toy for her collie. So instead of wasting money on a toy from a store, I’m going to make her these from now on. 

While I could have kept it for Christmas, I love her reaction when I give her a new toy so I couldn’t help giving it to her straight away. She galloped around the house with it, slobbered all over it and dropped it in my lap for me to throw for her. Too cute! (Also, it’s still in one piece so far!)

Just follow this tutorial to make your dog a special pull toy for Christmas out of old sheets or material you have lying around!

You will need;

Old Sheets or material scraps

Fabric Scissors

1. Make a snip in your material about 2.5cm (1 inch) from the edge. (I made the snips in the long edge of my sheet, meaning the short edge was the length of my strips)

2. Rip material strip off main piece of material.

3. Cut the strip in half.

4. Repeat process until you’ve ripped 9 long strips, making 18 half-strips

5. Divide the strips into 3 groups of 6. (I had one all pink, one all patterned and 1 a mixture)

6. Place all strips together and tie a knot at one end and pull it tight.

7. Plait the 3 groups of strips together.

8. Tie another knot at the other end, pull it tight and trim ends to make them even. 

Easy as! You could make one with less strips for a smaller dog, or keep the pieces the full length to make one for a big dog. Hershey is pretty small for a Labrador so this was a perfect size for her. She certainly enjoys playing with it!

Like all of my '12 Days of Christmas' DIY tutorials, there is a PDF version of this blog post here. Simpy click on the link, print out the tutorial and get to work. Easy as that. Feedback appreciated!

Make sure to check out the rest of my “12Days of Christmas” posts for more awesome decorating ideas, recipes, and gift ideas!

5th Day of Christmas // Christmas Light Cookies

I’ve always loved the look of stained glass windows and what could be better than a cookie version you can eat?

I used a basic biscuit dough from the Edmonds Cookbook for these cookies. (with a couple of changes) You could use the gingerbread recipe from my earlier post here, or your own favourite rolled cookie recipe. Just follow the steps to get your pretty stained glass cookies!

Cookie Dough

2 C Plain Flour

1 t Baking Powder

125g Butter

½ C Sugar

1 t Cinnamon

1 t Vanilla Essence

1 Egg

Assorted boiled lollies for stained glass effect.

Light template – available as a PDF here.

Preheat oven to 150°C bake. 

1. Sift flour, cinnamon and baking powder into a bowl.

2. Rub in butter until it resembles bread crumbs.

3. Add sugar and vanilla, lightly beat egg and add.

4. Mix to form a stiff dough. (Add a couple of drops of water if your dough is a bit dry)

5. Roll out dough on a floured bench to about 5mm thick.

6. Cut out the outside shape of the cookies and place on a baking tray

7. Cut out the inside piece of the cookie.

8. Place chosen colour of lollies in a plastic bag and smash with a rolling pin until crushed.

9. Sprinkle lolly dust into cut out window areas. Make sure there are no gaps.

10. Use a drinking straw to make 2 holes at base of cookie (will thread ribbon through these later)

11. Bake in oven for approx 10-15 minutes, until they begin to colour. Keep an eye on the lolly windows – you don’t want them to bubble up or burn, just melt.

12. Leave for a few minutes on the tray, then gently remove (be careful of windows!) to a cooling rack.

When the cookies are fully cooled, thread some ribbon through the holes at the top of the cookie and they are ready to hang on your tree/over your door in a garland. Of course you could just eat them up straight away – they look so pretty!

These aren’t just a Christmas treat too; you could use heart or star cutters and make them for a kid’s party in a bunch of pretty colours, or pull out a batch at Easter or another fun holiday.

Like all of my '12 Days of Christmas' DIY tutorials, there is a PDF version of this blog post here. Simpy click on the link, print out the tutorial and get to work. Easy as that. Feedback appreciated!

Make sure to check out the rest of my “12Days of Christmas” posts for more awesome decorating ideas, recipes, and gift ideas!

4th Day of Christmas // Tissue Paper Pom Poms

I have seen quite a few pictures of these awesome tissue paper pom poms floating around the internet of late. I think they would make some pretty cute Christmas decorations too! You could make big ones to dot over a feature wall or little ones to hang on your Christmas tree or make them into garlands to hang over doorways. After searching around for a tutorial I figured out how they were made and whipped up my own pom poms in no time!

Here is a great little tutorial I found on Martha Stewart Weddings. Below you can see my own little photo tutorial to make these cool decorations!

 You will need;

Tissue paper – 9 layers cut to the width you want your pom pom

Florists wire – 24 gage (Try somewhere like Spotlight or a Cake Decorators Shop)

Pliers

Scissors

 1. Lay tissue paper on top of each other. Mine came in a pack of 3 sheets, so I cut them into 1/4’s and laid 3 of them on top of each other.

2. Fold tissue paper into a fan.

3. Fold a piece of florists wire over the centre and twist the ends to secure it.

4. Cut of both ends of rectangle – either into a point or a curve depending on the effect you want. 

5. Begin releasing each layer of tissue paper and pull up towards the centre.

6. Lift top 5 layers, then turn over and repeat with bottom 4.

7. Do all of one side of the pom pom, then switch and do the other side.

8. Your finished pom pom!!

See, I told you they were easy! Of course they would make great decorations for a Wedding, Bridal Shower, Baby Shower or Birthday too. Something to keep in mind!

Like all of my '12 Days of Christmas' DIY tutorials, there is a PDF version of this blog post here. Simpy click on the link, print out the tutorial and get to work. Easy as that. Feedback appreciated!

Make sure to check out the rest of my “12Days of Christmas” posts for more awesome decorating ideas, recipes, and gift ideas!

3rd Day of Christmas // Gingerbread House

While Christmas in New Zealand arrives smack-bang in the middle of summer you can’t escape the cool-weather themed goodies, including a gingerbread house covered in snow!

I personally love gingerbread. I have great memories of making jube-covered gingerbread men at my Grandma’s house over the holidays. 

I drew up this pattern myself (it comes in handy drawing houses for a living sometimes!) which you can find an A3 PDF copy of here. Just print it out, cut out the pieces (laminate them if you want to) and trim out your gingerbread dough! Easy! In this little tutorial I’ll take you through making and baking the gingerbread, putting the house together and decorating it with lollies and royal icing. Yum!! I made my gingerbread house over a couple of days, baking the gingerbread one day and putting it together the next. 

This recipe will well and truely be enough for all you gingerbread house pieces. I made some little gingerbread men with the leftovers and froze some too for another day!

Gingerbread Dough

300g Butter, softened

1/2 C Soft Brown Sugar (packed)

6 T Golden Syrup

2 t Baking Soda

3 t Boiling Water

4 1/2 C Plain Flour

6 t Ground Ginger

1 t Cinnamon

1 t Allspice

Assorted boiled lollies for windows.

Preheat oven to 150°C fan bake. 

1. Beat together butter, sugar and golden syrup.

2. The mixture should be pale and creamy like this.

3. Sift flour, ginger, cinnamon and allspice into bowl.

4. Add baking soda to boiling water and add to mixture. 

5. Mix to a dough. I like using plastic gloves; you could use bare (clean) hands or a spatula.

6. Roll dough out on a floured surface to about 5mm thick.

7. Lay pattern pieces on top of dough and cut out with a butter knife/roller.

8. Place pieces on a lined baking tray using a spatula. Have it close by so none break!

9. Place chosen colour of lollies in a plastic bag and smash with a rolling pin until crushed.

10. Sprinkle lolly dust into cut out window areas. Make sure there are no gaps.

11. Bake in oven for approx 15 minutes, until they begin to colour. Keep an eye on the lolly windows – you don’t want them to bubble up, just melt.

12. Leave for a few minutes on the tray, then gently remove (be careful of windows!) to a cooling rack.

Royal Icing

2 Egg Whites

500g Icing Sugar approx, sifted

Couple of drops of lemon juice

1. Separate egg white into a clean glass bowl.

2. Whisk egg white with a fork to break it up.

3. Add icing sugar a couple of tablespoons at a time, whisk through & add lemon juice.

4. Continue adding icing sugar until you have a fairly stiff royal icing. (It stays on fork when you lift it)

Putting it Together

1. Place the royal icing in a piping bag with a small round tip using a spatula.

2. Stick base of house to a cake board with a smear of royal icing.

3. Run icing along long edge of base and add long walls. Hold for a bit and then lean a glass against them to hold them up.

4. Run icing along short end of base and end of walls. Stick on end walls and repeat bracing in step 3. Fan long walls out slightly so they match up with the slope of the end walls. Run an extra line of icing in inside corner of walls to help stick everything. Leave to dry for 10 minutes or so at this stage.

**To keep icing in piping bag from clogging tip in-between times, wrap it in a damp paper towel. If it does harden, insert a pin up tip to release the icing.

5. Run icing along top of walls.

6. Stick on roof pieces. My glasses happened to be the right height for the roof to lean on and not slide off. Otherwise, hold in place for a minute or so to make sure the roof sticks.

7. Run another line of icing down center of roof in a zig zag to fill in the gap.

8. Run icing down side of door and stick in opening, ajar. Leave to dry at this stage.

9. Pipe a line of icing and begin adding chocolate buttons to the roof like shingles.

10. Cover the whole roof with chocolate buttons. Pipe a wiggly snow line over the top of the roof where the two sections join.  

11. Decorate roof edges with royal icing ‘icicles’         

12. Decorate window sills and door with more royal icing. 

All done!! You could set a battery powered tea light inside your gingerbread house so it glows from the inside. I would suggest wrapping it in clear cellophane if you want to keep it and not devour it immediately!

This would make a gorgeous table-top decoration at Christmas, or you could put the basic house together and then let the kids go wild decorating it with assorted lollies!

Like all of my '12 Days of Christmas' DIY tutorials, there is a PDF version of this blog post here. Simpy click on the link, print out the tutorial and get to work. Easy as that. Feedback appreciated!

Make sure to check out the rest of my “12Days of Christmas” posts for more awesome decorating ideas, recipes, and gift ideas!

2nd Day of Christmas // Floral Fairy Headbands

I have two little Second Cousins who are only 1 and 3 so I wanted to make them something easy and sweet for Christmas. They are such cute little girls!! While my Cousins and I don’t really exchange presents anymore now we are all grown ups it’s nice to still give something to their children.

I came up with this idea after eying up my cake decorating supplies while I was trying to think of gift ideas. Hence the florists wire and tape! (indispensible for making flowers in cake decorating!)

They are pretty cheap to make and look so much cooler than the ones I have seen for sale in the shops. I reckon I could have got another one out of my leftover hydrangea flowers plus one more stem of mini roses.

 You will need;

Assorted fabric flowers of your choice (Try for ones with a little stem attached to flower)

Florists wire – 4 pieces. I used 22 gage. My headband was still quite flexible, so you could use  18 or 20 gage for a firmer headband. (Try somewhere like Spotlight or a Cake Decorators Shop)

Green florists tape (same as above)

Ribbon for extra decoration

Pliers

Scissors

1. Select which flowers you will be using and trim at base of stems (near stalk not petals!) using pliers or scissors.

2. Take 2 pieces of florists wire and tape together to form one thick piece. Repeat. (So you have 2) Pull the florists tape tight, it will become sticky and stick to itself!

3. Tape the two thickened wires together to form a circle – I guessed the size of a little girls head for mine.

4. Begin taping flowers and leaves to the wires using florists tape. Face them all the same direction on the first half of the headband. 

5. Once you have done one side, begin on the other. Start from the front of the headband and point the two middle flowers towards each other, then work your way towards the back.

6. Tie some ribbons in a bow at the back of the headband.

7. A better view of the ribbons at the back.

8. The finished headband!! All done!!

I can imagine lots little girls own a fairy dress and wouldn’t this make a nice change from a plastic fairy crown? They would also be a perfect birthday party favour!

I think I might go make one for myself now too...there’s nothing wrong with capturing your inner child is there?

Like all of my '12 Days of Christmas' DIY tutorials, there is a PDF version of this blog post here. Simpy click on the link, print out the tutorial and get to work. Easy as that. Feedback appreciated!

Make sure to check out the rest of my “12Days of Christmas” posts for more awesome decorating ideas, recipes, and gift ideas!