An Engagement

These were made for an engagement party..

Vanilla Cupcakes, with Vanilla Buttercream and fondant hearts. Stamped with the couples initials, and hand painted with silver and gold edible paint.

Donna (the bride to be) & Jason (the groom to be) wanted simple hearts with their initials on them. They liked the hearts I made for a wedding last year and wanted something similar, but in gold and silver.

Congratulations Donna & Jason. :)

Recipe of The Week - Date & Walnut Scroll Cookies

Date & Walnut Scroll Cookies. Printable Here

[Makes about 24]

You Will Need....

For the Biscuit

I couldn't find them already ground, so I put them in the food proccessor until they were ground. For the Filling

Place the butter, sugar, egg and mixed spice in a mixer and mix until creamy.
Once mixed, gently stir in the walnut and flour.
Then use your hands to make it a dough.
Break into two batches (it's easier) and roll out a rectangle. (As best you can..)

Place on the baking tray, and put in the fridge for 20 minutes.While the dough is in the fridge, put the dates (roughly chopped) lemon juice, lemon rind, sugar, mixed spice and water in a saucepan over a low heat, until sugar is dissolved.

Turn the heat up and let boil.

Turn the heat down once boiled and let simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

You want it to have a paste like consistency.
Place in a bowl once it has reached paste form, and put in the fridge for 10 minutes to cool down.

Once cool, spread the paste over the dough. Leaving a 1cm border aroung the edges.
Roll up the dough, and wrap in baking paper.
Put back in the fridge for a further 20 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius. Cut 1-2 cm slices of the dough, and place on a cookie tray lined with baking paper.
Put in the oven for about 20 minutes.Once cooked, let cool completely and then place in an airtight container.
I put mine in little cellophane bags, because I was giving them away.

365 Days

I started a new blog... It's all about taking at least one photo a day for an entire year. Mainly so I can practice my photography skills, and also so I remember things that I may forget.
You can check it out by clicking the 365 days link up the top!

There will be baking photos, cooking photos, Rufus photos, family photos, friend photos. All kinds of photos.. Hopefully I can find something new to photograph everyday. It's my challenge for 2010..

Cupcake Hero Throwdown

My Cupcake Got Picked!!!

Jamieanne picked my Coconut Rough Cupcakes to go head to head with the Voters Choice Cupcake. Sugar Plum from Vanillastrawberryspringfields got an amazing 44% of the votes with her Batica.

Congratulations to everyone who entered, all the cupcakes look amazing. I will most definately be making a majority of them soon! (..I like coconut..)

Read more about who won the voter’s choice and how my cupcakes were chosen at The Sweetest Kitchen. Stay tuned to see which one wins!

Happy New Year..

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Here's to a new decade that hopefully won't end in 2012.

Recipe of the Week - Cranberry, Pecan & White Chocolate Cookies

My mum is more of a fan of cookies then she is of cake.. So any excuse to make cookies for her is a good one. At least then I know they will get eaten! After the last cookie recipe I found at Sweet & Simple Bakes turned out to be amazing in her eyes, I thought these would be good to try as well...

Cranberry, Pecan & White Chocolate Cookies
(More of Sweet & Simple Bake's Recipes can be found here)

You Will Need...

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Line a cookie tray with baking paper.

Place the butter, sugars in a bowl.

Beat together until creamy.

Add the egg and vanilla essence.

Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder and oats.

Add the chocolate chips, pecans and cranberries and mix together with a wooden spoon.

When ingredients are combined, place tablespoon sized balls onto your prepared cookie tray, and flatten slightly.Cook for about 15 minutes until lightly golden brown. Leave them on the tray for 5 minutes to cool down, and then place on a cooling rack to cool completely.

You could eat them now if you wanted. It is still technically "the holiday season" mmmmm warm cookies.Place them in a air tight container and keep for about a week. (If you don't eat them all before that)