Irish Dancer Cookies and Surprise Cake

Little Miss Giggleberry turned 9 (yes NINE!!) on Tuesday. Birthdays are always fun and we make a big deal out of them in the Giggleberry household. There is always lots of anticipation and excitement leading up to the day. This year Little Miss Giggleberry didn't have a party so there was no real 'theme' to her birthday. I had her permission to choose what style cake and goodies I would make to share with her schoolmates.
I little ponder a few weeks back and I realised her birthday actually fell on a dance practice day as well as a few of her gifts were Irish dance themed so an Irish Dance theme was picked and I straight away ordered a cookie cutter from Irish Dance Diva that is the shape of a solo dress ready for a baking marathon.

I started with the cookies (mainly because these can be made way ahead of time and frozen). I made 67 cookies!!! As half were to go to school and half were to be shared with Little Miss Giggleberry's dance buddies.
Once the cookies were cut, baked and cooled. I packaged them up and froze them for 24 hrs. It makes decorating them allot easier as they aren't so delicate. Working with 5-10 at a time I rolled out fondant, in the three colours requested by the birthday girl, and attached it to the cookies with a little sugar water. I then had lots of fun imprinting patterns and cachous onto the little dresses for some fun detail. This was my first time playing with fondant on cookies but I was pleased with the result and will absolutely be using it again.

Little Miss Giggleberry was thrilled to take these to school and dancing class to share with all her special friends.

Then onto the cake! I kept this a surprise, for a few reasons. 1) Surprises are fun. 2) The inside of the cake being a surprise would be ruined if she knew before hand and 3) If I completely stuffed it up she would never know any different!
With a basic butter cake mixture all prepared and divided into three. I used the three colours the birthday girl had chosen for her cookies and coloured it. Then one heaped spoonful at a time I scooped it into the prepared loaf tin and baked it as per usual.

Once it was baked and 100% cooled I sliced it up like a loaf of bread then froze the pieces in a sealed container overnight.

The next day I prepared another butter cake mix then set it aside for a moment while I prepare the already sliced cake. While the slices are still frozen cut out the shape (you can honestly use whatever cookie cutter shape you want - think Christmas tree for the festive season, pumpkin for Halloween, blue or pink star or heart for baby gender reveal. the possibilities are endless) from each slice and discard the off cuts. The below photo is of the 'dress slices' all stacked up on each other.

Alrighty, now grab the greased and floured cake tin and scoop in about 1/3 of the butter cake mixture and smooth out. Then one by one place the cut out shapes into the mixture so they are standing up in a row touching one another.

Gently cover the shapes with the rest of the butter cake mixture and tap the tin lightly to try to remove any air bubbles. Bake the cake as usual in the oven.
Now the trickiest thing about this cake, especially when this was the first one I had attempted, is that you kinda have no idea if it has worked until the cake is sliced! So I crossed my fingers and just kept on.
Once completely cooled I iced the cake with some white icing and a heavy sprinkling of cachous. Added some candles and crossed my fingers it had worked.

After our family dinner we sang Happy Birthday, Little Miss Giggleberry blew out the candles and I handed her the knife to slice away.....
IT WORKED!!!

I was so glad and the GASP that came from the birthday girl herself when she saw the dress inside the cake was worth all the extra fuss!!

Maple Bacon Birthday Cake!!

Birthday are kinda a big deal around here! There is early morning wake ups to rip opens gifts in PJs, there are breakfasts of birthday persons choice, there is our birthday chair cover, there are birthday badges to wear all day long and of course there is a birthday cake to suit the birthday boy or girl.
Today is Mister Giggleberry's birthday. Mister Giggleberry is not too much of a 'sweet tooth' and just recently we have started to try a paleo diet at home, stepping up from just clean eating & to match our new love of CrossFit. With all these factors to consider I went cake hunting for inspiration on Pinterest and struck gold with a few ideas rolled into one EPIC cake!
One 3 Layered Paleo Spice Cake with Cashew Maple Frosting wrapped in Candied Bacon!!

The recipe for the cake and frosting can be found HERE thanks to The Paleo Mum. The recipe I followed for the candied bacon is HERE by Recipe Girl

This flavour combo is just like the Candian favourite of pancakes with bacon and maple syrup... something hubby LOVES!!

This is gluten free and dairy free but not strictly paleo due to the sugar on the bacon but it's a birthday cake after all... maybe I need to find a more paleo way to make candied bacon. Any ideas?? If you leave the candied bacon off OR found a paleo way to make it then this recipe would also be refined sugar free!!
Happy birthday hubster!!!

Happy 60th Smurfday Party!

My gorgeous dad is about to turn 60!! That's a pretty good milestone and a great excuse to celebrate don't ya think?
What would he LOVE to do for his 60th birthday? hang out with and be surrounded by his family. So just last weekend my parents, sisters, brother and all of our families headed away for a weekend at Bilpin Springs Lodge in the NSW Blue Mountains. It was stunning and the perfect winter escape for us all to catch up, laugh, eat, play and celebrate!
Between petting the horse, pony & alpaca, collecting the eggs from the chooks, bushwalking, paddling in kayaks & playing in the games room we managed to come up with the excuse of no milk left to get my dad to head to the shop so we could set up his little party.
For a little bit of background here, my dad is called Papa by his 11 grandchildren so when mum asked me to "put a little something together for his birthday" I had the idea of a Papa Smurf theme and ran with it....
Quickly we set up one of the rooms at the lodge with balloons, bunting, food, decorations, drinks, cake and games. Then when dad returned from the shop with more milk he was sent to his room with a mysterious bag of clothes and given the instructions to put it on and wait for a knock on his door.

I had put together a Papa Smurf outfit from some red ski pants I found on sale a few weeks ago, a long sleeved blue top and a red Papa Smurf hat I had made from felt. I also made the rest of the family (that's 9 adults, 9 kids and 2 babies) a white Smurf hat and the girls each a Smurfette dress. Everyone else was to wear all blue with white shorts/pants/skirt.

Once everyone was dressed two of the kids went and collected Papa Smurf from his room and bought him to the party to be Smurfprised!!

Party time!! Most of the blue and red party supplies including the balloons, cupcake cases (I used for the popcorn), serviettes, straws, wooden cutlery etc were from Occasion By Design. The striped milk bottles, blue cupcake stand, cake platter stand, table cloth, trays, buckets etc I had in my collection already.

For food I made mushroom shaped butter cookies and some gluten and dairy free snicker doodles, blue jelly, popcorn, strawberries, juice, the birthday boy's fav dessert banana caramel pie and the cake which I had made blue and red to tie in. The little Papa Smurf ontop of the cake I found on eBay and I made the mini bunting.
The amazing macarons need a mention all on their own! I emailed the ever so lovely Sherelyn from Her Macarons to ask if she would maybe, just maybe, attempt some Smurf shaped macarons for me. I thought I was dreaming, but when I popped past to pick up my order I nearly screamed - Sherelyn had created to coolest and most perfect set of Papa Smurf yummies!

Seriously how cool are they?!? I almost didn't want to eat them but not only did they look fantastic on our table they were delicious too!!

Now, what is a party without a few games? (especially with all of Papa Smurf's grandchildren to entertain!) I made a Pin the Tail on Papa game with cardboard and a blue pompom, Pass the parcel with the final gift inside (A Papa Smurf Jibbet) marked so it was given to Papa Smurf himself and we also had a Piñata! The piñata wasn't Smurf themed (who could whack a Smurf until lollies fell out anyway LOL) but the custom made ambulance from The Helium House was perfect none the less as my dad is a Paramedic.

Notice the 'Papa 60' number plate

After we all had a bash of the piñata it was time to sing happy birthday and cut the cake. It's safe to say we all had a laugh and made a few more memories but most importantly celebrated the birthday of one amazing man. Happy birthday Dad xxx

Chocolate Bar Chocolate 'Cake'

Is special someone having a birthday? or has an achievement/milestone been reached? or were you thinking of making/buying someone something 'just because'?
Forget baking them a cake and forget buying them a boring box of chocolates. How about you give them the best of both worlds and make a Chocolate 'Cake'....

This beauty is so simple to make but so much fun to give!!
YOU WILL NEED:
NOTE - this is for a two tiered cake. You can make it 1 teir or as many as you like you will just need to add/minus another tin and more chocolates.
2x biscuit or cake tins in two different sizes.
scissors
hot glue gun
double sided sticky tape
chocolates, chocolates and more chocolates (you just need to make sure they are at least the same height as your tins if not taller)
ribbon
Cake board or piece of sturdy cardboard
Clear cellphone
Number candles if desired

1) Hot glue the largest biscuit tin upside down to the cake board.
2) Hot glue the smaller biscuit tin upside down to the first biscuit tin.
3) Using your double sided tape start to stick your selection of chocolates around the tins. (You can do this in a pattern for symmetry or use all red chocolate bars for example to match a theme etc)
4) Tie a length of ribbon around the entire circle of chocolates tight. This will secure them much stronger than just the double sided tape alone.
5) Place the candle numbers or centrepiece of your choice to the top using the glue gun.
6) Surround the numbers with more chocolates to cover the top of the tin. These can lye there loose or can be stuck with the double sided sticky tape.
7) Wrap the whole thing in clear cellophane and tie with a bow.
8) Give this bad boy to it's recipient and get ready for a huge hug and maaaaaybe they might even share ;)

I can see one of these being a great centre piece for a dessert table, or the perfect thing to take to a girls weekend away and even a wonderful teacher gift!
Enjoy xx

Burger Birthday Cake!

It's no secret around here that I like a good excuse to make a fun cake. So with hubby's birthday last wednesday I let the kids choose what type of cake he should have and was thrilled with their choice... a Cheeseburger Cake!!

This cake is rather simple to put together for such a funky finished product.
You will need:
1 round butter cake
1 brownie mixture made into one large round brownie (NOTE use the same round tin as you did for the butter cake)
1 packet of Jolly Rancher lollies (you need the red and green ones)
1 packet of Starburst Fruit Chews (you need the yellow ones)
Pine nuts
Butter icing coloured light brown (mix red and blue colouring until desired colour is achevied OR use a tiny amount of Wiltons brown gel colouring)

Slice the butter cake right through the middle with a serrated knife top create the burger buns. Place the bottom 'bun' on your cake plate with a tiny bit of icing between the cake and plate so it doesn't slip around. Place the large round brownie 'meat pattie' ontop of the bottom 'bun'. Then on goes the top of the butter cake as the top burger bun - you should now have one pretty basic looking 'burger'.
With your icing coat the top cake and try to smooth it as much as possible to look like a burger bun. Next up is the fun part - the tomato, lettuce and cheese! With the red and green Jolly Ranchers and the yellow Starburst chews you need to roll them flat with a rolling pin or squish them out with your fingers (warning this can become sticky!). Once they are rolled out flat-ish you will need to shape them a little. With the red ones make them a little round like a slice of tomato. The yellow ones can be cut into triangles to create slices of cheese and the green ones just need to be wrinkled up a bit to look like lettuce leaves. Now have fun just poking the little bits and pieces into the cake between the 'meat' and the top burger 'bun' like in my pictures.
Last, but not least, sprinkle a handful of the pine nuts ontop of the cake to create sesame seeds on your bun - simple!

Now pop it in the fridge and have a little giggle about the size of the 'Burger' next to the rest of your groceries!

This was lots of fun to make and Master Giggleberry loved helping me (and snacking on the left over Starburst chews). We poked a few sparklers in the top & sang happy birthday for hubby after dinner that night and couldn't help snapping a few fun pics after we had all had a slice.

Add this one to your cake 'To Do List' - you won't regret it... too much fun!

Rainbow Jelly Cake!

October rolls around so fast every year. It's the month of the year which my step-daughter, Felicity, celebrates her birthday and being on a gluten and dairy free diet I spend most of September every year trying to think of a yummy, festive and diet friendly birthday cake to make. This year was no different but I scored (thanks to Pinterest yet again) when I found the idea of a jelly cake!

I needed a jelly mould (I have also seen these cakes done in a bundt tin) and found one at a local kitchenwares store for $15ish and of course jelly.... Areoplane Jelly is gluten free and is loved in our home for treats so I headed straight to the supermarket and grabbed 5 packs: red, yellow, green, blue and purple... yep, a rainbow!
You will need a day that you are at home for a while without too much distraction as it is a little time consuming but oh so worth it for the result.

With my jelly colours, in order of how I wanted the layers to be in the cake, I made up the jelly mixtures and used 150ml LESS water than the packet asks for - this will help the jelly set a little stiffer but still have a true jelly 'wobble'. It also then made up the perfect amount to have all the liquid fit into my size jelly mould.
Pour 1/2 of the first colour (red in my case) into a lightly greased jelly mould and put it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes (you can use the fridge but it will take longer to set and with so many layers to go will make it a looooong process). You want each layer to be just set but still slightly 'tacky' to touch so the next layer will 'stick' to it.
While the first layer is setting mix a small amount - approx 1 tablespoon - of greek or natural yoghurt (I used a dairy free yoghurt) into the second half of the mixture until combined. Once the first red layer was set to the consistency I needed it I GENTLY poured the red yoghurt/jelly mixture onto the first and put it back in the freezer for another 10-15 minutes.

Continue just like this for each colour until the whole rainbow is done and the jelly mould is full. Then put it in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours or overnight in my case to really set well.
15 mins before serving take it out of the fridge and leave at room temp. When you are ready to serve find a plate large enough to take the cake and place it onto of the mould then flip the whole thing (plate and jelly in the mould). You might need to give it a little gentle wriggle but it should slid straight out of the mould and onto your plate.

Pop in a few sparklers and wow your birthday girl and guests - This 'cake' was a HUGE hit here and I can see it being made many times over... maybe a different colour combo next time??