Christmas Dessert Table

Merry Christmas everyone! Here are photos from my Christmas themed dessert table. I made cookies, cupcakes, cakes, rice bubble treats and chocolates.

Christmas Dessert Table

I used Royal Icing for my cookies and followed a fantastic tutorial from Cake Journal to make the wreath cookies. I'm really pleased with how these turned out! The candy cane cookies were a last minute decision as I had so much cookie dough left over. I piped the out line and flooded the white the day before I was displaying them and flooded with red Royal on the morning of (lucky they dried in time!) I also made Christmas trees, a last minute decision also, which I flooded with royal and made cute white polka dots as decorations. Unfortunately I was in such a hurry in the end I forgot to take photos of them!

Wreath Cookies

Candy Cane Cookies

Once all cookies were dry and ready I popped three of each into a cellophane bag (bought from Spotlight) and tied a cute festive ribbon around. These were so popular, I even saw people sneaking a couple of bags into their purses for later!

GRACE CAKES TIP OF THE DAY: When doing a dessert table it's not wise to try a recipe for the first time...I know this NOW.

I made a batch of Gingerbread Cupcakes which uses Molasses in the recipe. Now, I'd never tried, let alone, smelled Molasses and when I went to add this new ingredient to my cupcakes I almost threw up! Turns out me + Molasses = disaster! I thought maybe it was just me so I threw them into the oven and tried a bit off the side once cooled. Again, me + Molasses = disaster! I got hubby to try some to see if it really was just me. His response was "they're not THAT bad..." -not a good sign! I actually didn't give up at this point (I know, crazy right?) I thought I'd have a go at this crazy icing recipe that went with these little wonders...this was also a massive disaster. Needless to say, I threw out the cupcakes. But never fear! I was still going to have cupcakes at my Christmas dessert table if it killed me!

Chocolate Chip Peppermint Cupcakes

Chocolate Chip Peppermint Cupcakes

I whipped up a batch of my usual vanilla cupcakes and threw in some cocoa, chocolate chips and pepperment. I topped them off with some plain vanilla buttercream frosting (which I added red colouring gel to in the piping bag to get the cool effect) and topped with some previously made Poinsettia flowers and some Jaffa chocolate candies. The looked perfect!

Jaffa on Top!

Poinsettia on Top!

The verdict? Well, next time I make Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes I'm going to make the batter with cocoa and chocolate chips but add the peppermint only to the frosting. This should be the perfect balance. I was told they tasted absolutely fabulous though! -There were none left for me to sample so I guess that's a good sign!

Rice Crispy Treats

Home Made Chocolates

Christmas Cake (Chocolate flavoured)

So Merry Christmas! Remember the reason for the season and have fun with family and friends eating, drinking and being merry!

Mini Cupcakes for a Big Church!

Well, okay so my church isn't THAT big I was told 150-200 people attend...I was also told "don't try to bake one cupcake each!" Haha! I went with 50! 50 Mini's that is!

My church was celebrating getting a new building, what better way to celebrate than with a shared morning tea!

I made vanilla mini cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting (piped with my favourite tip, 1M Wonder!) and topped them off with some fondant letters (ABC, which is my churches name: Auckland Bible Church) and fondant hearts. We recently got new branding which is lime green so this tied in perfectly!
On the way to the church my hubby accidentally dropped one of my containers, not a biggie but did mean we had to "dispose"...yes eat... of a couple of dud cuppies!

The cupcakes were a huge success, everyone at ABC loved them (especially the kids) but I have to say it was kind of weird to look around a room and see almost everyone with a little green cupcake that I made in their hands - THE PRESSURE IS ON!!



The best part about it was I finally got to use my new three tiered cake stand! You like? I think it looks a little busy with these cupcakes but I can't resist anything with a Damask pattern!
All in all the mini's went down a treat! Can't wait till the next time we have a shared morning tea at church!

Ben 10 Cake and Cupcakes

I made a Ben 10 cake and cupcakes for a little Ben 10 fan turning five....


Surprisingly this is probably my favourite cake I've made recently and one of the easiest! Ha! Who would've thought?

I also made matching cupcakes, the colour on these were awesome! I made two tone green and yellow vanilla buttercream....

Christening Cake and Cupcakes

I made a Christening cake for my workmates Grandson today.

It's a chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting, fondant covered and decorated with baby booties and polka dots.

I also made cute matching cupcakes.

These are vanilla with vanilla buttercream, half are fondant covered but because I know not everyone likes the taste of fondant (like me!) I made some with two tone white and blue buttercream frosting swirls.