Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Cupcake Hero - Coconut

Head on over to The Sweetest Kitchen, and vote for me in the December Coconut challenge.
Pick your favourite one, and vote on the right hand side. Remember you can only vote once. :)
You can also see everyone elses entries and their amazing creations. They all look amazing, and delicious!!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas!!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful year.
Thankyou for reading my blog, and hopefully I can keep blogging next year!
Merry Christmas :)

Love, Catie (and Rufus)

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

On The Twelth Day of Christmas....

My true love gave to me...

An Angel Cupcake Topper.

Even though I'm not the youngest in my family, I am the only girl.. So every year, I get to put the angel on the top of the Christmas Tree. I made some Angel toppers to go on some Christmas themed cupcakes.

You Will Need...
1 small ball of yellow (this is for her hair, so have whatever colour you want)
1 small ball of skin colour
1 larger ball of white
1 black edible marker
1 triangle cutter
1 heart cutter
1 circle cutter
1 piping nozzle
Roll out the white, and cut out 1 triangle, and 1 heart.
Re roll the left over white, and cut out another triangle. (I did this second because I didn't know if I had enough white left, and it isn't essential that this triangle is a full triangle)
Using a bit of water, attach the triangles together.
Cut the heart in half.
Flip the triangles over, and attach the cut heart with a little water to the back of the 'angel's dress'
Roll out the 'skin colour', and cut out a circle - for her face.
Attach with a little water between the wings.
Using a little left over skin, create little balls for her hands.
Cut out a half circle for her hair, and attach both with a little water.
Then draw on her face.
I used some gold edible paint I found here for her hair, and some silver luster dust for her wings.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

On The Eleventh Day Of Christmas...

My true love gave to me...
A Recipe for Chocolate Crackle
Easy for you to make, easy for children to help make. The Perfect Christmas Treat.
Chocolate Crackles Printable Here
[Makes 12]You Will Need...
Line a 12 -hole muffin tray with cupcake wrappers.(you could use christmas coloured wrappers.. I just couldn't find any other colour but brown in my cupboard!)
Place the rice bubbles, cocoa, icing sugar and coconut into a bowl and mix together.
Place the copha in a saucepan over a low heat and melt until liquid. Don't let it bubble.

When the copha is completely melted, pour into the rice bubble mixture.
Mix the copha and rice bubble mixture together.
Once completely mixed, divide evenly among the 12 muffin holes.
Place in the fridge to set for approximately 20 minutes.

Monday, December 21, 2009

On The Tenth Day of Christmas...

My true love gave to me...
A Recipe for Hazelnut Fruit Mince Pies

This recipe will take a couple of days to make. You need to let the fruit sit, so the flavours can come together for the best results.
However, if you don't have a couple of days to make them, I have made this in one night, and they were still great.

Hazelnut Fruit Mince Pies Printable Here
[Makes 24 mini pies]
For The Fruit Mince....

Peeled, cored and grated
Place all ingredients into a glass bowl, and mix together.
Cover with glad wrap, and sit for 2 days in a cool place. Occasionally stirring the ingredients together.
For the Hazelnut Pastry..Once the two days is up, you can make the pastry!!
Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius
Place the flour, hazelnut meal, icing sugar and butter in your food processor.
(I'm sure you can use your hands too...)
(Obviously NOT while using the food processor)
(Just if you don't have one!)Process ingredients until they resemble breadcrumbs.
Then add the egg yolk.

Process until a dough forms.
Take your dough, and place on a floured surface.
Roll out dough until about 3mm thick, and then cut out circles to put in mini muffin pan. Big enough to come up the sides.
Remember to save enough dough (about 1/4) for the lids of the pies.
If you make the bases to thick, you will run out of dough.
Place your cut out circles into the mini muffin tray.
I sprayed my tray generously with baking spray before putting the pastry in. I didn't want any to stick!!Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the mixture into the pastry.Using your saved pastry, cut out slightly smaller circles, and place them on top of the mixture gently pressing the sides together.
Place in the oven for approximately 20 minutes, or until slightly golden on top.

Once cooked, let cool in tray, and then place on cooling rack to cool completely.
Keep them in an airtight container. (This is how many I had left after several "taste tests")Or eat half of them then and there. It is Christmas after all!
You could place these in a nice Christmas tin, and give them to people as gifts - if you like sharing your treats with others...

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Royal Life Saving WA

I made these for my friend's work last weekend for the Royal Life Saving WA's Honour Award Day.
I did have a cut out logo made for each cupcake but when I was putting them on the cupcakes, they all started breaking. I made them too thin and fragile! So I had to improvise an hour before they were due to be delivered and draw 30 logos onto the discs.
I think they turned out ok. :)