Hamburger cake and biscuit fries

Well another week has been gone by, time goes so quickly……

This week it was my youngest son Alex’s 9th birthday, I can’t believe my baby has turned 9. So exciting to watch them grow, but I wish I could slow it down just a little!!!!!! I remember when I had my first son Aden and so many people said to me, enjoy every second because it will be gone before you know it, man they weren’t kidding……………..

So of course birthday means, birthday cake. I love making the kids birthday cakes some years they pick what they want and other years I surprise them. This year it was a surprise for Alex, one of Alex’s favourite foods is hamburgers, and I have seen some great hamburger cakes on the internet, So it was a hamburger cake and biscuit fries for Alex this year.

The look on his face when he saw his cake was priceless, that look alone was enough for all the hours I spent baking and decorating. Big eyes, a big smile and a big hug what else could a mum possibly ask for.

I didn’t really follow a recipe to create this cake, I basically made two butter cakes and one chocolate cake, the chocolate cake being for the meat patty. I used plastic icing, red for the tomatoes cut into circles and yellow for the cheese, cut into squares. For the lettuce I used butter cream coloured green, which I piped on. I then covered the butter cake in a light brown icing to make the burger roll I had two shades of the brown butter cream to add some depth. once iced I sprinkled with sesame seeds.

To make the biscuit fries, I made a simple short bread which I rolled out into squares and then scored in some straight lines the width I wanted my fries to be. I brushed with egg white and sprinkled with raw sugar, then baked. Once cooled I cut along the score lines to create my fries.

Espresso cupcakes with Mocha cream cheese icing

Have you ever had one of those days? well yesterday was one of those days for me!!!!!!!!!

We were invited up to my sisters for dinner, and since we were away on her birthday I decided to take up some cupcakes for a belated Happy Birthday. Well the cupcake making went along fine, I was really happy with these espresso cupcakes, if you love coffee then you will definitely like these coffee flavoured cupcakes. The icing also went along smoothly, cream cheese mocha icing yum yum yum. I swear I could just sit up and eat a bowl of it on it’s own, sure I would probably feel sick and blah but my gosh this is a yummy icing.

Photograph time, now here is where it all begins to go to S#*#. The weather is pretty ordinary, the sky is grey the wind is blowing and all in all it’s pretty crap for an outside photo shoot, and I really wanted to take photos of these babies as they really are delish……..So I just had to suck it up and manage with the ordinary lighting situation inside. I set up inside to take my photos, I wasn’t very happy with them so I may or may not of started to get a little GRUMPY ( just a little). My oldest son Aden came over to give me a hand and started moving the cakes around saying you should photograph them like this mum and then SPLAT!!!!! two cakes take a dive from the table and land upside down S#*#!!!!! (I may have started yelling……). Then as I am picking up my SPLATTED cakes my backing board falls forward, falls where you might ask well of course it falls straight on top of my remaining cupcakes. I may or may not of swore?

Now you might think oh well thats not too bad, but the story doesn’t end there. Driving up to my sisters I’m carefully nursing the cupcakes on my knee, when hubby brakes it’s like a slow motion scene from the Matrix, cupcakes go catapulting everywhere…. there is now mocha cream cheese icing all over the dash board the gear stick, my jeans and of course upside down cupcakes sitting on my beautiful lime green handmade handbag. Laugh or cry????? I resurrected the cupcakes as best I could and continued holding them for the remainder of the trip.

But wait there is more, yes more…………. standing on the front porch at my sisters house I begin to tell her why her cupcakes are looking rather mangled and sad:-( when SPLAT another cupcake falls from the cake plate and lands upside down on her front porch…………I scrape up the cake, walk inside dump the cake plate which is holding what can only be explained as a cake massacre onto the kitchen bench, I then proceed to pour myself a generous glass of red wine. Now let us never speak of this again….

RECIPE: Cupcakes

• 100g butter, softened
• 1 cup (220g)caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 11/4 cups (190g) plain flour, sifted
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup (30g) hazelnut meal
• 11/2 tsp instant coffee, dissolved in 1 Tsp boiling water

METHOD:

1. preheat oven to 160ºC
2. place butter, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, hazelnut meal, and coffee mixture into a bowl
3. combine using an electric mixer on low speed, then increase speed to high until just smooth
4. spoon into muffin tray and bake for 25 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

RECIPE Cream cheese mocha icing

• 250g block cream cheese, softened
• 100g unsalted butter, softened
• 150g icing sugar
• 1 Tsp instant coffee
• 2 Tsp cocoa powder
• 100g melted dark chocolate

METHOD:

1. combine butter and cream cheese in electric mixer until smooth and combined
2. add icing sugar,cocoa and coffee, mix to combine
3. stir in melted chocolate, then refrigerate until ready to use

Espresso cakes are a Donna Hay recipe from the cookbook, Donna Hay simple essentials chocolate

Mocha cream cheese icing is a In Proscuitto of perfection original recipe

Rainbow layered birthday cake

This week it was my beautiful daughter Kiara’s 12th birthday, my how time flies. Every year on my kids birthdays I always think back to the day that they were born, I regularly look at the time and think now I was going to the hospital, or now I was in heavy labour, or now I was holding you for the very first time.

That very first time, the moment you never forgot, meeting your baby seeing their tiny little hands, touching their soft skin, breathing in their sweet smell, you fall in love in an instant a love that lasts forever that unconditional love where you will do anything to protect them. I love being a mother hands down it’s the greatest thing I have ever done. Now there are tough days, sometimes I feel like I’m in a boat without any paddles, but with all the difficulties and hard decisions that come along with motherhood it’s all worth it. They are a joy and as I said before my greatest accomplishment.

So cake, what birthday would be complete without a birthday cake. This year for Kiara I went for bright fun colours in a rainbow layered cake. I have seen a few of these cakes floating around on the internet and face book and thought one would be perfect for Kiara’s birthday, those bright colours certainly match her bright happy personality…

• To make cake I just used my favourite trusted butter cake recipe (handed down to me from my mum) and adding food colouring for each of the layers.
• The icing is a vanilla cream cheese icing I used cream cheese icing as it’s Kiaras favourite, butter cream would also been fine
• To decorate I brought Satin Ice coloured fondant, I have tried a few different brands of fondant and Satin Ice is my favourite it is so easy to work with and comes in a great range of colours. Using a small flower cutter I cut out flowers then using a small plain nozzle piping tip I pushed a hole through the centre of each flower, then used my decorating tool to add definition to the flowers.
• I randomly  placed onto cake leaving the heart shapes plain. I then added couhons to the centre of each flower and around the heart to define.

Related articles

• My First Rainbow Layer Cake (abakersview.wordpress.com)