Sweet-Sixteen, Korean style? Help.

I feel like making a really elegant, chic, minimalist wedding cake. Simple yet precise royal icing work, smooth outlines, maybe some detailed floral lace effect. A project that would take at least two days to make. That's what I feel like working on. That's what I want to focus on.

Instead, I get asked to make cake for a sweet-sixteen birthday - with a korean theme! Oh the joy. I'm intrigued by the idea nevertheless, I have no idea where I'm going to start (suggestions are more than welcome). All I know is that the birthday girl likes all things korean, the language, the entertainment, korean movie stars etc... Let's see where this takes me. It needs to be ready for Tuesday, so I will update soon after.

I'll leave with a bright & cheerful photo of one of my latest creations.

Things to do in Amman before you leave...

Make a Hawaiian themed engagement cake! What else?

I had a lot of fun making this cake for a whole host of reasons. Firstly, I haven't drawn anything in ages and this gave me the opportunity to draw Hawaiian hibiscus flowers along with pretty leaves n things. Two, I got to play around with slightly exotic flavours - lemon zest with coconut cream cheese frosting (exotic compared to the basic vanilla and chocolate cakes I make). And thirdly, it was surprisingly straightforward to make, yet seemed to produce quite a stunning result!

Oh and for the record, I said I would blog within two weeks - and I have managed to blog within two days! So all is good...

Oh yes...I have a blog!

I think the last time I blogged was nearly 2 months ago! Not very bloggy am I? Oh well.
I haven't yet turned my house into a bakery (which is probably a blessing), however I have been making cakes here n there. Here is an update:

This I made as a personal cake for someone who had passed some exams. Three layers of chocolate cake, filled with ganache, covered with chocolate fingers and fresh strawberries!

Then there was this funky thing for a colleague who was into hip hop, heading off to India on a new contract and has a rather trendy shoe collection!

  

And more recently I made a pony themed cake for some children. I googled this idea and although I don't think the ponies are overly pony like - they are still cute!

I leave with a promise to blog within the next 2 weeks - rather than 2 months!

First Display

I've been working on making four different dummy cakes (which will hopefully end up in a local shop tomorrow!). I figured that I ought to produce a few different styles, appealing to different folk so I went for:

Elegant

Believe it or not, I've made a hole in the centre and added florists' foam inside the hollowed cake shell! All in an attempt to keep the flowers fresh for as long as possible whilst on display. Who would have thought?

 

Silly

I'm not sure if I'm overly keen on this - but hey it's certainly something different from my usuals.

Serious (Royalty)

If I could only present this to the man himself - King Abdullah :-)

and..

Oh So Pretty!

I'll be eagerly waiting to see what passers by have to say!

Strawberries & Chocolate

Strawberries are in season and my local fruit & veg shop owner claims he has the best in town - and I believe him, they are really good. I bought a punnet or so last night, dipped them in chocolate and used them to dress a chocolate fudge cake I was making for a friend's BBQ.

And what to do with left over frosting? Vanilla cupcakes, swirls of buttercream with chocolate covered strawberries to complement. Mmmm!

Pretty Dummies

So I've been working on producing cake dummies (fake cakes). These are useful for the image bank I'm slowly but surely creating, they can also go in shop windows and plus they allow me to explore different designs.

This is the first show: one cake dummy, different outfits.













Melt-In-Your-Mouth Chocolate Cupcakes

Can I follow a recipe? No.
I found a recipe for moist chocolate cupcakes online and along with my own ideas and a bit of this and that, made these lovely delicate cupcakes this evening. Absolutely scrumptious! I ate the first one and it was so light, so melt-in-your-mouth, so quick to disappear - that I honestly thought well what was the point of that? Until I realised that I just 'had' to have another. And another....
They are luxurious but I assure you, one per person is just cruel. I'd recommend at least two cupcakes per serving. And considering they are so quick and easy to make, why not?

Recipe -  Melt-In-Your-Mouth Chocolate Cupcakes

100g Flour (Self-Raising or All-purpose+Baking Powder)
20g Cocoa Powder (Good quality makes all the difference)
130g Soft Brown Sugar ; 40g Butter/Marge

Pinch of Salt; 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

100ml milk; 1 egg; 20ml Double Cream

1/4 tsp vanilla

1. Beat the butter and sugar together. Then add the remaining dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder) and combine.

2. Whisk wet ingredients together in a separate bowl (milk, egg, cream and vanilla).

3. Gradually pour the wet ingredients into the dry mixture beating slowly and then on high, until the batter is light and glossy.

4. Spoon batter into cupcake tin. Bake for 20-25 mins at 170C/340F (or lower for flat top cupcakes).

I frosted these with a basic ganache (unwhipped) frosting, however any sort of frosting which isn't too heavy would work well.