Sunday 19 April 2015

A Celebratory Meringue

With all the lead-up to our wedding (in less than a month!), it almost felt like we were better off ignoring our birthdays this year. Truth be told I kept forgetting about them. Still, I wanted to make a little treat for Patrick when we had a few friend over to celebrate.

I stayed away from the well-sampled vanilla, chocolate, and red velvet and instead made something completely new for me. Using a tool my Mother got me for Christmas this past year, I made filled lemon meringue cupcakes. These were lemon cupcakes, filled with a lemon curd (home made!) and topped with a meringue swirl. Apart from the curd being a tad on the salty side (which I will adjust for next time), I quite enjoyed them. They were fresh, and looked great on the cake plate. Definitely one to keep in mind for future birthdays.

The little wells were made using the tool Mum got for me. The perfect little receptacle for the lemony-goodness of the curd. 

With the home made curd, I dolloped a small amount in each well.

 And topped off with a swirl of meringue, which I then browned in the oven for a few minutes. Just like little individual cakey-pies!
 
 

Sunday 12 April 2015

Cake for a Tea Party Shower

I've already posted about one of my showers (there will be three total when all is done), the first being the shower at the church with all the church ladies, and now we have had the second at my Mother's house with her group of friends (known as "The Group of 7," because they are seven women). Mum threw me a tea-party shower, with a heaving table of delights, fine china everywhere, elderflower mocktails, tea (of course), and an enormous showering of love and encouragement from all who attended. I have known most of these ladies since I was very wee and played with most of their daughters as I grew up. They know me.

As Mum was taking care of every little detail to prepare for the shower, I offered to make the cake. I kept the design similar to the previous shower cake, but altered it slightly. Same type of cake, and again with the trees. Also, as with the church shower, every little thank you bag that was sent home with the guests had a slice of the cake in it to take home and enjoy.





 The wonderful woman herself! All of her hard work paid off, we all had a fantastic time, thank you Mummy!
I feel very showered with love.

Saturday 11 April 2015

Ice Skating Fundraiser

You never know who the next person to ask you to make cakes will be. In this case, sitting at my day job I had one of my regulars ask me if I would donate cupcakes for her ice skating competition in exchange for a page of advertising in her pamphlet. I grew up with parents who gave their time very generously so I very happily said yes. These cupcakes would be for the little skaters to snack on during their breaks in between performances, so I wanted them to be crowd-pleasers. As soon as I saw the advertising leaflet for the event, I already had an idea for the decoration.

I went with chocolate cupcakes, and decorated them to match the skating associations' colours. The cupcakes were then sent off in boxes, with business cards tucked in, to feed the skating masses.




 
I heard they didn't last long....
The skaters worked very hard, so I'm sure they deserved a little treat!
 

Sunday 5 April 2015

Easter Angels

Every year at Easter, whether it be here at our house, or at with Patrick's parents, we always have food to last for a week and feel most satisfied after a wonderful meal. Therefore when it comes to dessert, most people cannot imagine the idea of eating anything else at that point. As such, I thought that I would try a lighter approach to the sweeter half of the meal. I made an angel food cake and served it with macerated strawberries. This cake is wonderfully light and gave a good rounding off of to an excellent family meal. (And as anyone who is perhaps trying to watch their waist lines knows, this cake is an excellent dessert as it has no fat and is only egg whites.)



Quite angelic!