Oh Dora Dora!

Some very close friends of ours ask if I would create a cake for their daughter's 2nd birthday, of course I would I told them.  There next questions was can it please be a Dora theme cake ...... Ooooooo now that changes things!  You see me and Dora are not very good friends!! We don't seem to get on very well but after much thought how could I say no to my friends!  I took on the challenge and create a pretty Dora cake fit for a ballerina.

Miss Ashton Sky's Dora Cake

Dora took a few attempts to get right but was really happy with how she turned out in the end.  I was also super excited to give a new technique a go!  Watercolour painted effect was just so lovely!! I just love the soft subtle feel it gave to a cake!! I just think it all came together to create a really special cake for a special little girl!

Happy Baking!

Mr BC's Birthday!!

It was Mr BC's birthday over the weekend so I thought I'd better bake him a cake.  This year proved to be abit of challenge for me ... you may be asking why?  Well Mr BC has just been diagnosed as lactose intolerance.  So my mission was to bake him a cake that was super tasty but also something that he could enjoy and not make him feel sick.

Mr BC's Birthday Cake

I ended up baking a chocolate cake which is both lactose and gluten free.  It was absolutely delicious! A very moist decadent cake filled and covered with a vegan chocolate "buttercream".

It was so lovely to bake this for Mr BC!! It may have been a simple decorated cake but it was a cake made with alot of love and Mr BC was very grateful that he could have his cake and eat it too.

I've had people ask on my facebook page about the recipe for the frosting so please see below the recipe for the vegan "buttercream"

I found the recipe on Sweetapolita blog.  She has also included a vegan cupcake recipe you might want to try?  I haven't tried it myself.  You can view her recipe here.

Sweetapolita Chocolate Vegan Frosting:

• 227g/8oz Vegan, non-hydrogented margarine {I used Olivani}
• 125g/4oz Icing sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 145g good quality bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
• 60ml Almond or Soy milk {I used soy milk}
• Pinch of salt     

1. In a bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine icing sugar and margarine and beat on low speed for 1 minute.
2. Add vanilla and beat on low until combined.  Add melted chocolate and beat on medium until smooth, about 2 minutes.  Add soy milk and salt and beat on medium speed for 1 minute.

Ok so I got to this stage and my frosting was looking rather gross!! It was really soupy and look like it had curdled. I was about to throw it away but decided nope! I've got to see if I can save it!  So I kept adding icing sugar and beating it.  In the end it turned into a beautiful frosting and was so happy that I could save it and use it on the cake.  I would say that I probably added at least another 200g or so of icing sugar.  My suggestion is to keep adding small amounts at a time until you get the consistency you are wanting.

Happy Baking!

Creamy Coconut & Mango Rice Pudding

Mr BC has been diagnosed as lactose intolerant, which means I have the fun job of finding new recipes for our sweet fix which is dairy free.  I came across this wonderful blog called Cook Republic.  What a fabulous blog, I absolutely love the photos and I aspire to be able to be a food photographer like her one day.  Anyhow back to the story... On Cook Republic's website I found something which just tickled my taste buds.  A coconut and mango rice pudding.  Doesn't that sound delicious!  Well both I and Mr BC thought so.  I couldn't wait to give the recipe a crack!  Last night I made this wonderful concoction and here are the results.

A rick creamy melt in your mouth rice pudding with lovely coconut flavor topped with the tang of the ripened mango and crispiness of the toasted coconut threads.  This really was a wonderful winter treat.

This recipe is truly made with love as it took over an hour to make and you have to stand over it and stir and love the rice.  As Sneh {Face behind Cook Republic} said "The secret to a good rice pudding is time and love." and I couldn't agree with her more.

The flavours really made me think of my mama's sweet desserts and evoked memories of my childhood of asian sweet puddings.  You can read and view Cook Republic's recipe here.  I've included the recipe below with a few changes that I had made while making my last night.

Creamy Coconut and Mango Rice Pudding | Serves 6

3/4 cup thai jasmine rice {soak rice in water for an hour before hand}
2 cans coconut milk
2 cups water
1/2 cup raw sugar
2 pinches salt
2 tbs vanilla extract
Ripened mango cut into small cubes
Toasted coconut threads

1. In a heavy bottomed pot put in the soaked rice, 1 can coconut milk, 2 cup water, raw sugar, salt and vanilla extract.  Place pot over a medium to low heat and stir continually for 20 minutes until it comes to a boil.
2. Lower the heat and let the rice pudding cook, stirring frequently for the next hour or so.  During this time keep adding the remaining can of coconut milk about 1/4 can at a time to the pudding.  After an hour you should have a rich and creamy pudding.  Remove from heat and let cool.
3. Dry toast your coconut threads in a small fry pan and cube your mango.
4. Spoon generous  amounts of pudding into a bowl top with cubed mango and sprinkled with toasted coconut threads.  

I hope you enjoy!!

Happy Pudding!

How to make a blossom flower

Hello Lovelies,

I thought it was about time I got around to posting another tutorial for you all.  One of my favourite flowers I just love to make are my large blossom flowers which I use for my cupcakes. I just think they are the sweetest and most pretty flower and are so easy to make. 

So lets get started ...

How to make a fondant blossom flower {By Bella Cupcakes}

1. Rolling pin
2. Balling tool
3. Small paintbrush
4. Petal dust
5. Fondant with added CMC
6. FMM flower veiner
7. 5 petal cutter
8. Drying palette
9. Foam pad
10. Flower center mold

Roll your fondant out and use the 5 petal cutter to cut out your blossom.  Run your fingers along the edges of the cutter to ensure a smooth fondant edge to the blossom.

Place your fondant blossom onto your flower veiner, making sure it is centered.  Place the top bit of the flower veiner and apply even pressure.  Once done carefully remove blossom from veiner.  

Place blossom onto your foam pad and using your balling tool, gently thin out the edges of the petal.

Transfer your blossom to a drying palette.   Dust the center and inner petal with petal dust.  Colours I have used are a dusting pink mixed with a violet.  

Roll a pea size piece of yellow fondant and using your flower center mold make a center for your blossom.  A handy tip if you can't get your fondant mold out is to use either a toothpick or pin and gently remove the flower center.  Dab a tiny bit of water or sugar glue into the center of your blossom and then place your flower center to your blossom.  Leave to dry overnight.

And there you have it! A sweet and pretty blossom waiting to pretty up your cupcake.  

All you need now is some buttercream and naked cupcakes!

I hope you have find this tutorial useful and have lots of fun creating these blossoms for your cupcakes.

Notes:

I have been asked where I purchased the FMM veiner and center mold from so please click on the links below to see where you can get yours.

FMM flower veiner

Flower center maker mold

Happy Baking!

Vintage Cupcake Anyone?

I was asked to create a series of vintage cupcakes which would be display at the Grand Wedding Show 2013.   I came up with 2 themes with 3 cupcakes in each series.  The first theme was inspired by a vintage china plate I have in my studio.  I just love the gorgeous teal/blue with the simple white painted floral pattern and really wanted to capture this in the cupcakes.

Series One | Vintage China

I love love love the white against the teal/blue!! 

My next series of cupcakes I decided to feature lace and really loved using my sugarveil to get the gorgeous lace imprint.  I decided on a mixture roses and blossoms in a very soft mint with soft pinks and lavender. 

Series Two | I Dream of Cupcake

When I dream of cupcakes I dream of cupcakes like these :)

A Long Time Coming!

I meet with the lovely Stacey way back in June 2011 to discuss her wedding cake for March the following year.  We had decided on a cupcake tower and all was going well!  Then I heard from her that she would need to postpone her wedding till April 2013.  I told her not to worry that we'd pencil in  April and we'll get back in touch and reconfirm everything.  Fast forward to 2013 and the cupcake tower was out and a 2 tier wedding cake was in!  Stacey wanted something that was elegant and very soft.  She had alot of pinks in her wedding and wanted to incorporate that into the cake.  She absolutely love my birthday cake I made last year and wanted me to use that design for inspiration.

Introducing Stacey & Norman's Romantic Wedding Cake

Stacey love the idea of adding a peony to the design.  I love all the floral elements with the peony and mini roses and gorgeous peach colour hydrangeas.  Placed all together with the soft pink tones and the stencil pattern on the bottom tier gave an overall feel of a very soft and romantic cake.

This cake was a long time coming and I'm so happy for Stacey & Norman that they finally got to have their special day!

Congratulations to you both!! I sure the wedding was worth the wait and I hope you both had a absolutely fabulous day!

Ruffle Rosette Heaven!

I was so excited about creating this cake for the gorgeous Thalia & her husband Jamie and couldn't wait till the week of their wedding!! I initially came up 3 designs for Thalia and was so thrilled when she decided on the ruffle rosette design.  Thalia really wanted to have peonies featured in her wedding but because the wedding was in February peony season was well and truly gone! But not to worry .... I told her I could make some sugar peonies for her wedding cake.  Thalia also wanted to have lace featured in the cake design.  Well with peonies, lace and rose ruffles I knew the cake was going to look stunning!! 

Introducing Thalia & Jamie's Rosette Ruffle Wedding Cake

I had so much create those rosette ruffles! They do take forever to do but I think the final result is so worth it!! I love having the stand as a separator for the top tier.  This just gives it a elegant feel and also provides more height which gives abit more drama to the over all look!

Congratulations Thalia and Jamie!!

Wishing you a life time of happiness together!

Miss Bella Cupcake's new addition!

A child's room is always changing and a sign that they are growing up way to fast!! We decided we needed to add a new addition to Miss BC's room.  She started primary school this year and now has homework so I really wanted to create a space for her where she can do homework and other crafty things.

I wanted to create a space that was pretty and represented Miss BC.  My munchkin is a girly girl so a space that would inspire her would have to be girly!

This is her new workspace! She absolutely LOVES its and will spend most afternoon in her room now! Either doing her homework or drawing something for either myself of Mr BC.

Everything I brought I got for a bargain!! Always working with a budget in mind!  I absolutely love her desk which I found on Trademe!! The best buy though would have to be her very cool desk lamp which I scored for $50 and they retail for $245 in stores!

Love this little wall shelf which I got for $10 at the Takapuna markets last year!  This was meant to be for her playhouse but there wasn't any room for it.  I think it works perfectly in her room!! I give it a coat of paint and I love the finished look!

I also love the small cabinet that sits on the desk! It was gorgeous in it's natural state but really wanted some colour in Miss BC's space so decided to give it coat of pastel teal/green paint.  The paper used for the back wall of the cabinet I just LOVE and a great find at my local Spotlight store!

Crayons, felt tip pens, color pencils and scissors now all have their place in vintage agee jars! I am a perfectionist so love that everything now has its place and I think this perfectionist trait is rubbing off on Miss BC!! Hmmmm .... :)

It really is lovely to see Miss BC enjoying using her new space!! It brings me a warm and fuzzy feeling!

Have a wonderful day lovelies!!

Pretty Colours!

And back to our currently wedding season.  We made this cake for Victoria's wedding.  I love the colours we used for this wedding cake. Pink, lilac and ivory with a little bit of mint green thrown in for good measure.  Lace and stripes with roses and hydrangea blossoms, all the things I love in a cake.

Introducing Victoria's Lace & Stripe Wedding Cake!

For Miss Emilia!

I loved creating this cake for Miss Emilia who celebrated turning two!  I just love the sweet simple style of this cake with the cute toppers and name plaque with the ribbon roses.

Introducing Miss Emilia's Birthday Cake.

A sweet saying that I think is so true!

Afternoon tea at ours!

Ok, I haven't been blogging for a while and I have some much to share.  This was an afternoon tea I put together last year for some friends of ours who visited us from Canada.  I wanted to put on something a little special for Sonya and Kelly.  We don't get to see them very offer because they live so far away.  I've know Sonya since we were in kindergarden and we're been friends ever since.

Welcome to Sonya & Kelly's Afternoon Tea!

I wanted to create something that was a little classy but simple as well.  

On the menu we had the following:

Mini trifle pots

American fudge brownies with chocolate ganache & raspberries

Passionfruit tartlets with strawberries

Chocolate macarons

White chocolate & raspberry mini cupcakes

Date scones with cream & jam {not shown}

Finger sandwiches {not shown}

Love these little trifle pots!

I decided on a black and white cake with handcrafted flowers.  The cake was a coconut cake filled with chocolate ganache.  Pretty much like a bounty bar!! YUUMMOOO!

Mini cupcakes with large blooms

The selection of sweets.  I decided to match the serving boards with the patten of the cake just so everything tied in together.

We had such a fabulous afternoon!! Nothing beats great company with some yummy food!!

Peach & gold with large blooms!

This cake was a last minute order for a wedding.  We decided on peach, pink and gold for the colors and the bride loved our ruffle cakes so we incorporated that into the design as well. We decided on large floral blooms to add the finishing look to the cake.  The cake was covered in a very pale peach colour fondant which probably doesn't really show in the photo.  Jus loved all the colors, a soft and romantic cake!

Introducing Mandy's Romantic Ruffle Cake.