christmas wrap up

i hope you all had a wondeful christmas! with a party to plan for the day after boxing day i didnt get much of a break but i squeezed in some last minute shopping, baking and wrapping and it all turned out quite nice! oh and i got a record player off my sweet boyfriend and a cat rabbit toy off my lovely sister (its lucky she reads my blog)- so i am one happy girl at the moment!

thanks so much for reading my blog and for all the lovely comments, it has been a lot of fun this year and i am looking forward to 2011!

cupcake couture- dolce & gabanna cupcakes

i was so excited when i was asked to make these cupcakes for dolce & gabannas online magazine- swide.com. the design is based on their exclusive jungle design and you can read the lovely article here!

baked christmas goodness

 

i just thought that i would quickly share some baked christmas goodness before christmas is over and it becomes old news! merry christmas everyone- i hope you have a good one!!

humpty dumpty cookies!

 

 i made these humpty dumpty cookies for a little boys first birthday- what a sweet theme!

christmas finds!

some christmas cuteness from little beehive!

cute holiday tags

cute FREE downloadable gift tags from eat drink chic!

recipe: white chocolate rocky road cake!

 

i made this very pretty rocky road cake yesterday in preparation for christmas and thought that i would share the recipe! oh it also makes a very sweet gift!

recipe: white chocolate rocky road cake

ingredients:

350g premium belgian white chocolate

200g marshmallows

200g turkish delight

80g glace cherries

10g chopped peanuts

10g desiccated coconut

edible glitter (optional)

method:

• greese and line a 5'' cake tin with baking paper
• gently melt chocolate in the microwave
• meanwhile, combine all other ingredients in a large bowl
• stir through melted chocolate and pour into tin
• gently squash mixture down to fill gaps
• use a pallete knife to smooth the top
• refigerate overnight and then remove from tin
• sprinkle with edible glitter
• decorate with a pretty ribbon and wrap in clear celophane until christmas!

dylan's 2nd birthday featured in little one baby

the latest issue of little one baby is out now with a lovely feature on dylan's 2nd birthday that we helped mum, amy, put together. these are some of the sweets that i designed to match nathalies gorgeous invitation and it was all packaged up and sent to melbourne for the shoot.

tutorial: cute doily snowflake garland!

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here is a tutorial for a super easy and super cute snowflake garland!

1. materials:

• small paper doilies (at least 6)
• string
• scissors

2. fold each doily into 8ths, draw a snowflake pattern on one side and cut out

3. unfold the doily to see the cute snowflake!

4. for each snowflake, thread string through 2 holes in the doily pattern. then hang!

its beginning to look a lot like christmas!

i am so excited about christmas!! i think making these sweet christmas cookies helped kick off my festive season! anyway, i have lots of christmas baking planned this year and lots of christmas blogging planned too!

found and kept

 

these are some of the cute little things i found at the finders keepers market on friday night by frankie, able and game and lox + savvy. i also found heaps of lovely new brands to admire! my FAVOURITE was cat rabbit, who makes the CUTEST plush toys i have ever seen- i have regretted not buying myself one the whole time since! just how cute is this guy?! *sigh* oh well lucky she has an etsy store! 

pink peony cake

i made this cute peony cake a little while ago for a fashion shoot in the latest Shop 4 Kids magazine- i think it all looks really sweet!

Shop 4 Kids out now!

 

 

 

i recently worked on a new years eve party feature for Shop 4 Kids and it came out yesterday! i put together the party table and helped source products for the shoot, these are a few pics of some of my favourite products from some of my favourite suppliers!

cakes by hello naomi

invitation by imprintables

happy new year glarland by paperklip

sugar hearts and twist ties from little betsy baker

napkins and cups from party parlour

food flags and ice cream cookie cutter from details details

heart garland by little jane st

soda sign by imprintables

soda from sweet traditions

more little red car cookies!

 

another cute version of my little red car design!

vineyard wedding

i delivered this cute spring themed tiered cupcake stand to the hunter valley vineyards today- i love going out there it is so so pretty and i can see why it is such a popular weddding destination!

enchanted woodlands decoration set

i made this cute little decoration set to send to adelaide, it will look perfectly sweet on a simple buttercream covered cake!

recipe- super cute pink meringues!

i thought i would share one of my favourite recipes for one of my favourite sweets! the most important part of this recipe is to cook it very slowly on a low heat- this keeps the colour of the meringue, it makes the outside crusty and the inside chewy- and so so so delicous. The other really really important thing is to use real vanilla, the alcohol in extract changes the texture of the meringue and nothing compares to the flavour of a real vanilla bean.

recipe: super cute pink meringues

makes approx 16

prep time 15 min

cooking time 1hr

ingredients:

4 large free range egg whites

1 cup of castor sugar

1 vanilla bean

rose pink food colouring (few drops)

rose water (approx 1 tsp) optional

icing sugar for dusting

method:

• pre heat oven to 90 deg C fan forced
• line 2 trays with baking paper
• in electric mixer beat egg whites on high until frothy
• still on high gradually add all of the sugar 
• keep beating until stiff peaks form 
• mix in seeds from vanilla bean, colouring and rose water(optional)
• spoon large dollops of the meringue onto the baking tray
• use a palette knife to shape
• bake at a low temp until they are have thick crust and are light to pick up (approx 1 hr) 
• let them cool in the oven with temp off and door ajar 

to decorate- dust with icing sugar or to make mini pavlovas serve with cream, strawberries and passionfruit- yum! 

a cute little package from little jane st

i was so excited when my order from little jane st came last week- how sweet is all this stuff?!

more bubblegum pics!

 

here are a few more pics from the bubblegum party i helped nathalie put together for her sons 7th birthday- she has just posted a full write up on her blog with heaps more cute pics!