tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46087258890516523412024-03-13T12:13:57.311+08:00Sugary FlowerCookies, cakes, and pretty things...Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.comBlogger206125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-33314453371469748302014-04-20T18:06:00.002+08:002014-04-20T18:06:48.731+08:00Happy Easter!Happy Easter everyone! After a day of family, friends, and waaaaay too much chocolate, I thought I'd share these with you:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb6VikUwIaB3w18VZld5C8b2a4_4tSHsBv3GQDVYKv5V9VIGMQ5v3Ot0Psm5HVwucI0rLGNSpYTCGFjtxFquLwWcbcMXDE_NLlsbVdETWy6ogNt5VkwKpzfBPagFqsxcMq9AZAyWG4InA/s1600/2014-04-20+013A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb6VikUwIaB3w18VZld5C8b2a4_4tSHsBv3GQDVYKv5V9VIGMQ5v3Ot0Psm5HVwucI0rLGNSpYTCGFjtxFquLwWcbcMXDE_NLlsbVdETWy6ogNt5VkwKpzfBPagFqsxcMq9AZAyWG4InA/s1600/2014-04-20+013A.JPG" height="333" width="400" /></a></div>
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I was <s>super lazy</s> super clever this year - The Muffin had a farm-themed birthday party back in February, so I just made extra chicken, duck, lamb, bunny and carrot cookies then, and froze the the ones we didn't use for Easter. Did you know you can freeze cookies decorated with royal icing? It freaked me out the first time I tried it (knowing how royal normally disintegrates when faced with moisture), but if you're careful, it can be done! I even did it with Hallowe'en cookies last year, so I can report success even with black and purple icing!<br />
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First, I bagged the cookies in ziplock bags (similar colours together) in a single layer, then placed all the bags inside a plastic box (at this point you can layer the bags carefully on top one of another). Freeze until the day before they are required (or forget, swear, and get them out a couple of hours before they are required, like I did. Luckily it was warm today here, so they still thawed in time). Remove boxes from the freezer and sit them on the bench or sink (NOT in the fridge!!!) until they are Completely Thawed. Resist the temptation to open the boxes. Seriously, leave them alone until they're not cold anymore. Then you can get your delicious cookies out and serve them! Ours still looked and tasted just as good as they did the day they were made!<br />
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We also had cupcakes, decorated with home-made chocolate bunnies:<br />
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Oh dear. This wasn't the most perfect bunny, but it was the one I got a photo of. Sigh.<br />
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Sadly I have never yet successfully managed to temper chocolate, but these bunnies were still yummy - we just had to fridge them until they were ready to hop onto their cupcakey little homes.<br />
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Hope you and yours had a fantastic Easter! Was the Easter Bunny good to you?<br />
<br />Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-32399622198475738252014-04-14T09:09:00.001+08:002014-04-14T09:10:05.961+08:00Game of Thrones cookiesI'm baaaaaack!<br />
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Yes, life got in the way there for a while! But after quite a long break at my little blog, I've decided I miss it, so I hope there are still one or two of you out there who haven't forgotten me!<br />
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So, on to important business: is everyone excited about the return of Game of Thrones? I am! And it got me thinking about Husband's birthday party last year, which he requested a Game of Thrones theme. It was great fun, and a good time was had by all (even the people who'd never seen or read GoT, thankfully!) We didn't make them dress up (although we did, of course!), but I did theme all the foods etc, and luckily people really got into it, and enjoyed the chance to - quite literally - share meat and mead with us!<br />
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Honestly? I'm not going to go into the savouries in detail - you'll do much better just heading over to<a href="http://www.innatthecrossroads.com/" target="_blank"> The Inn At The Crossroads</a> for that - suffice to say that the Honeyed Chicken is delish! I also made Saladhor Sahn's meatballs and eggplant dip, as well as a couple of salads (one from The Inn, one I just cobbled together based on the description in the book). They were all good. Sansa's lemon cakes also made an appearance.<br />
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But you're here to see cookies, right? Well, here they are:<br />
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Houses Stark, Tully, Targaryen, Frey, Lannister and Martell, respectively. Various versions of each House's sigil may be found via Google if you're interested in recreating these - pick the ones you like best!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHbe2SJwMInzlz6zKdQucwGiRfCuIVlo8O4nehRsmmeiEj8-Ql2v9gJEwhq3G3bQW2jxd-FqGq3zw5BcjZGWyfFBMnJy1B1yZxXWHiAnxGbsgslJAOn5NpVtNAMhOdcwmmDGzZ4s7v4x0/s1600/2013-07-27+018A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHbe2SJwMInzlz6zKdQucwGiRfCuIVlo8O4nehRsmmeiEj8-Ql2v9gJEwhq3G3bQW2jxd-FqGq3zw5BcjZGWyfFBMnJy1B1yZxXWHiAnxGbsgslJAOn5NpVtNAMhOdcwmmDGzZ4s7v4x0/s1600/2013-07-27+018A.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></div>
These cookies were made using royal icing transfer method - that is, I piped the sigil designs onto baking paper, allowed them to dry completely, added any edible marker details, and finally lifted them oh-so-carefully onto dry royal-icing-covered cookies. The watery parts of the Tully and Frey designs were done directly onto the cookies; just the castles and fish were transferred. I found this method of decorating to be excellent for these cookies - not only did it make the designs "pop" (as the sigils stood out slightly from the cookie's surface), but it also allowed for a lot more errors while piping these very intricate designs. I was particularly terrified of moving the Targaryen dragon, and I did break a couple, but in fact the Stark direwolf proved to be more of a problem with its spiky fur and tiny little teeth - I lost more of those than anything else, despite them looking much more sturdy than the dragons! Go figure.<br />
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For those of you who like to have a point of reference, here are a couple of the designs shown on a set of coasters I bought for the party:- <br />
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The coasters can be found (among other places) at <a href="http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/ebde/" target="_blank">ThinkGeek</a>.<br />
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Anyway, must run for now, but I hope you like these cookies, and that they put you in the mood for this week's instalment! (now if only George RR Martin would finish the last book....)Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-30845095816950979322013-06-27T13:39:00.001+08:002013-07-30T07:34:32.093+08:00Chickie Garden BentoThis is a lunch the Muffin had on the weekend. We had been looking at some cute bento boxes online, and she decided she desperately wanted "something cute with chickens in it". So this is what she had:<br />
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<b>Top Container:</b> One whole boiled egg (cut in half) with the yolks scooped out, mixed with a little yoghurt, piped back in and made into chickens. Their wings are kernels of corn, their eyes are black sesame seeds, their beaks and feet are carrot, and they are sitting on a twiggy stick log amongst the (spinach) leaves.<br />
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<b>Left-Hand Side: </b> A garden! Pear leaves, carrot and apple flowers, and cheese and nori bees.<br />
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<b>Right Hand Side:</b> Two bread and butter chicks with cheese wings and nori eyes.<br />
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I am linking this up with <a href="http://www.bentolunch.net/2013/06/whats-for-lunch-wednesday-week-161.html" target="_blank">What's For Lunch Wednesday </a>- go check out the other fun lunches!<br />
<br />Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-86607328653842779752013-06-25T13:59:00.002+08:002013-07-30T07:34:45.676+08:00Muffin Tin Monday - Weather AgainYesterday was Muffin Tin Monday, and this week's set theme is Summer. The Muffin wasn't convinced by the idea of an "I miss Summer" tin, and requested a Weather-themed tin instead. We've<a href="http://sugaryflower.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/muffin-tin-monday-weather.html" target="_blank"> done this theme before </a>- a couple of times, actually - but it must be a favourite, as she wanted it again. So here we are:<br />
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<b>Top Row: </b> Sunny fairy bread; Cheese lightning; Carrot clouds (at sunset, obviously)<br />
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<b>Bottom Row:</b> Yoghurt snow; Macaroni cheese (for Hot); Pear umbrella (for Rainy)<br />
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The Muffin enjoyed this tin (actually she helped choose everything that went into this one, so it wasn't really a challenge for her) - she ate everything. <br />
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Check out the other Muffin Tin Meals this week over at <a href="http://www.anotherlunch.com/2013/06/muffin-tin-monday-summer.html" target="_blank">Another Lunch </a>(the new home of Muffin Tin Monday!)Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-60685170653482090512013-06-13T08:16:00.001+08:002013-06-19T20:18:14.009+08:00Panda Bento<br />
Last week, Husband brought home a packet of those Hello Panda chocolatey-filled cookies. The Muffin was so thrilled with them that I promised her a bento to match:<br />
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In addition to two Hello Panda cookie thingies, The Muffin had a panda face sandwich (with Vegemite for the black fur, and cheese eyes); A pear with a panda face (this time the black fur was bits of prune); string cheese & spinach leaf sticks of bamboo for the pandas to eat; plus extra pear and prunes.<br />
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I am linking this up to <a href="http://www.bentolunch.net/2013/06/whats-for-lunch-wednesday-week-159.html" target="_blank">What's For Lunch Wednesday.</a> Go check out all the other great lunches!Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-78743597300506192562013-06-12T12:36:00.001+08:002013-06-19T20:18:59.966+08:00Muffin Tin Monday - The OceanUnder The Sea is one of our favourite Muffin Tin Monday themes - we've done several variations in the past, but we never get tired of them! So we were very pleased to find that this week's set theme is The Ocean!<br />
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<b>Top Row: </b> Custard apple with a dolphin pick; Pear fish; Pikelet starfish with butter and jam.<br />
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<b>Bottom Row: </b> Tortellini coral with rocket (ie arugula) "seaweed" and carrot crab; Tortilla octopus; Torellini coral with rocket "seaweed" and carrot crab.<br />
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The Muffin was very pleased with this dinner, and ate everything except the custard apple. She ate three very small spoonfuls of that, and then said she'd decided she didn't like it. Can't argue with that, I guess - she did give it a good try! She also asked for (and got) more tortellini.<br />
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To see what other lucky kids ate this week, head over to <a href="http://www.anotherlunch.com/2013/06/muffin-tin-monday-ocean.html" target="_blank">Another Lunch</a> (the new home of Muffin Tin Monday)!Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-51954343160960259752013-06-11T14:57:00.001+08:002013-07-30T07:41:23.668+08:00My 200th Post!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, it's finally here - my 200th blog post! Due to my incredibly erratic posting habits, it has only taken me four years to get here (!), but it has definitely been fun.<br />
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To celebrate, I decided to celebrate with a lovely little Raspberry Red Velvet cupcake, topped with Grand Marnier-laced Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Yum! The cupcake recipe is from a book called <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Sparkle-Cupcakes-Kathryn-Sutton/9781742570723?redirected=true&gclid=CJbS3YSz27cCFctYpQodLxwApA" target="_blank">Sparkle Cupcakes </a>(which, if you so choose, you can purchase by following the link). I've now baked just two of the cupcake recipes from this book, and honestly I find them not quite so light and fluffy as my usual go-to recipe (which is Billy Reece's Vanilla Vanilla recipe). However, there are some wonderfully interesting flavour combinations in this book, and I will make more of them. This RRV cupcake, for example, is delicious - I love red velvet for its beautiful texture and dramatic good looks, but the only criticism I sometimes have is that it doesn't really know what it is, flavour-wise. Is it vanilla? Is it chocolate? What's going on? Well these cupcakes don't dither at all - the beautiful raspberry twang comes through loud and clear, with a subtle chocolatey thing going on in the background... mm-mm!<br />
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Unfortunately I can't share the recipe with you, as it's from a cookbook and I don't like violating people's copyright, but to be honest it would probably be completely possible to replicate this just by adding some raspberry puree (or leftover raspberry coulis) to your regular red velvet recipe... If you try it, let me know how it turns out! Highly recommended as a flavour combination!<br />
<br />Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-32277648719422377072013-06-05T09:41:00.002+08:002013-06-05T09:41:54.247+08:00Shiny Bento Giveaway at Bento, Monsters!Check out all the amazing bento goodies that <a href="http://www.bentomonsters.com/" target="_blank">Bento, Monsters</a> is giving away!<br />
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It's not too late to enter, if you're quick! Click on over there Right Now (or by Thursday 6th of June) for <a href="http://www.bentomonsters.com/2013/05/500th-post-giveaway.html" target="_blank">your chance to win</a>! While you're there, you should totally check out some of the super gorgeous bento lunches that Ming makes for her boys. She is SO creative! My lunches want to be her lunches when they grow up. :o)<br />
<br />Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-16690474916030762482013-06-03T20:32:00.000+08:002013-06-04T10:28:30.316+08:00Muffin Tin Monday - Space x 2It's Muffin Tin Monday! This week's theme is Perfect Picnic, and honestly? I wasn't feeling it. Winter has just kicked in here, so it's not really picnic weather, or even picnic food weather. Plus, for a variety of reasons, we ended up getting takeaways for dinner tonight. So I'll spare you the sight of my daughter's muffin tin filled with chicken nuggets, french fries, and bits of chopped up nashi, and instead I'll share those space-themed ones I promised you!<br />
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This first one is actually Star Wars themed. We did it on May 6th (ie as close to May 4th as possible), as our household was at the time somewhat Star Wars obsessed, what with<a href="http://sugaryflower.blogspot.com.au/2013/05/may-fourth-be-with-you.html" target="_blank"> the party and everything</a>.<br />
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<b>Top Row:</b> Spinach leaf Yoda with string cheese eyes; Grape asteroids; Star cookie.<br />
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<b>Bottom Row:</b> Spanish omelette with Darth Nori; Ugliest Princess Leia Ever (made of spanish omelette); Light sabres (carrot and string cheese).<br />
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The Muffin was thrilled with this tin - and it brought our own Star Wars week to a nice close. <br />
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The following week, The Muffin requested a space-themed tin, as her class is studying Space this term. She particularly requested that Saturn and the Moon be included.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7FTXTR-wGBjGQzLAs0CncjsSX5qnPCrTDo4TRjWqViGy5uwjjx6LC2Ts_wDUyA-hH5x9z1KDBDNq3Xamli4UbbMXwIoEIkafSZMKBvDS6yF0O4Xt18I5Ygy9dJRH3NRD57Yf10QuHiNo/s1600/2013-05-20+001A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7FTXTR-wGBjGQzLAs0CncjsSX5qnPCrTDo4TRjWqViGy5uwjjx6LC2Ts_wDUyA-hH5x9z1KDBDNq3Xamli4UbbMXwIoEIkafSZMKBvDS6yF0O4Xt18I5Ygy9dJRH3NRD57Yf10QuHiNo/s400/2013-05-20+001A.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Top Row:</b> Saturn (one dried apricot stuffed inside another dried apricot, with dried apple rings); Cheese phases of the Moon (The Muffin is very fond of the word "gibbous". I cannot tell you how proud that makes me); Rice pudding Moon (formed with a small icecream scoop).<br />
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<b>Bottom Row: </b> Pear stars; Potato and leek soup with bread and butter rocket; The Milky Way (yoghurt with star sprinkles - this was also The Muffin's idea).<br />
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The Muffin was very pleased with this tin, and ate the lot, apart from the soup, which she didn't like. I didn't really expect her to like it - she doesn't like cream - but this is one reason we like Muffin Tin Monday: it means Husband and I can sometimes have dinners The Muffin doesn't like, without her having to have them, And without it seeming like I'm making her a completely separate dinner (because I refuse to be a short order cook - I don't think it does anyone any favours in the long run). So she gets a little of what we're having, plus whatever else we decide on for her Tin.<br />
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Now go check out what other lucky kids are having this week, over at<a href="http://www.anotherlunch.com/2013/06/muffin-tin-monday-perfect-picnic.html" target="_blank"> </a><a href="http://www.anotherlunch.com/2013/06/muffin-tin-monday-perfect-picnic.html" target="_blank">Another Lunch</a>!Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-21428199022919773792013-05-28T21:34:00.001+08:002013-05-28T21:34:28.148+08:00Muffin Tin Monday - Down On The FarmHappy Muffin Tin Monday! I haven't posted a muffin tin for a while, but we have been doing them most weeks. In fact I had two to share with you today - one space themed, one Star Wars themed - but then I found out that the home of Muffin Tin Monday has changed. The reins have now been handed over to Melissa over at <a href="http://www.anotherlunch.com/" target="_blank">Another Lunch,</a> and the really cool news is, she has reintroduced scheduled themes! Hurrah! This is great news for me as sometimes I <s>am lazy and can't be bothered</s> have trouble thinking of a theme, whereas if one is handed to me, I am often more inspired to be creative. It sounds weird, I know - being <i>more </i>creative when I'm <i>not </i>creating the theme myself - but I guess it's like finding it easier to choose something if you have less choices to choose from!<br />
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Anyway, The Point Is, this week's theme is Down On The Farm. And since my daughter just loves animals, I decided to go ahead and join in! I'll show you the space ones some other time, if I'm not really inspired by the official theme that week...<br />
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<b>Top Row:</b> Hammer cookie (representing all the hard work the farmer has to do around the farm); Chopped apple and pear with hen and dog picks (although the picks are not terribly visible in this photo); Boiled egg Sheep with bocconcini head and legs.<br />
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<b>Bottom Row:</b> Cheese hens with carrot details; Bread-and-butter cow with Vegemite spots; Carrot sticks for the ponies to eat (three of the muffin cups are paper ones with ponies on them).<br />
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I didn't take an After Shot this time, but she ate almost everything: two carrot sticks and a few small bits of apple were left. I was Very Proud of my sheep. The Muffin pronounced it "too cute to eat". Then she ate it anyway. :o)<br />
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To see what other lucky kids got for dinner/lunch/snack this Monday, check out<a href="http://www.anotherlunch.com/2013/05/muffin-tin-monday-down-on-farm.html" target="_blank"> the new home of Muffin Tin Monday, at Another Lunch.</a> While you're there, have a look at some of her bento lunches; they are super cute!<br />
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I'd also just like to acknowledge & thank Michelle (<a href="http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com.au/" target="_blank">the Muffin Tin Mom</a>) for hosting Muffin Tin Monday over the last few years - I have had a lot of fun joining in! Hopefully Muffin Tin Monday has many happy years still ahead of it with its new host - and hopefully my girl won't decide she's too big for it for a long while yet!Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-42227350833593755582013-05-06T23:03:00.001+08:002013-05-06T23:12:13.574+08:00May The Fourth Be With You...Okay, so I'm a little late.<br />
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But on the fourth, I was kind of busy. See, it's not only Star Wars day, it's also my birthday. And also the birthday of my cousin's teenage daughter. Since it fell on a weekend this year, we decided to share a party - and make it Star Wars themed!<br />
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This was our cake:<br />
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I know, he has no legs. I was originally planning to make legs out of styrofoam and cover them with sugarpaste, etc etc, but time got away from me, and that never quite happened. Nevertheless (and despite the fact that yes, I am aware his panelling is not absolutely 100% accurate), I am very happy with this little guy. And with half of him made of Nutella mud cake, and the other half Margarita madeira cake, he was Most Definitely the droid we were looking for...<br />
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Oh yes, and there were cookies...<br />
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The goodies:<br />
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The baddies: </div>
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Aww, isn't that sweet? A family portrait... <br />
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I should say a quick thank you here to the Completely Amazing Callye of<a href="http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/" target="_blank"> The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle</a>, as my Yoda, Darth Vader and Millenium Falcon cookies are direct copies of hers. The other designs I figured out myself from photos of the various characters/Death Stars/light sabers. <br />
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In case you were wondering, The Muffin helped a little with these - she did Leia's and Han's hair, and also some of the stars. And the other birthday girl helped out too - she filled in Darth Maul's face with red, and also did the red sections on Boba Fett - her first time with a piping bag! We gave her a cake cookbook for her birthday after that (can you tell the children in our family are being steadily dragged into my baking obsession? I Shall Assimilate Them All, mwah ha haaah! Ahem.) <br />
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I wanted to incorporate some of the more iconic characters from the new(er) movies as well as the originals, as I (as the "old") was dressing as Leia, while the Other Birthday Girl (as the "new") was coming as Padme. So Amidala and Darth Maul were the obvious choices. Amidala was a bit of a challenge...<br />
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It was very hard to avoid her resembling a Balinese dancer, I'm afraid, but in context at least she was easily recognisable. Here's the whole gang:<br />
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I must say, the most amusing part of sharing this party with my not-so-little-anymore cousin was that she agreed to this party theme Having Never Seen Star Wars. I am not kidding - I bet most fifteen year old girls are not such good sports! So during the week before the party, we had her over for a sleepover, so she could <s>stay up until half-past one in the morning</s> watch Episodes Four and One (in that order). Then she asked for all the spoilers, so in light of the impending party, we gave her a rundown. She already knew about who Darth Vader is, but was completely (and hilariously) horrified to find out the true identity of Princess Leia...<br />
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"WHAT? NO! But... but... No, that's just wrong! But she and Luke make SUCH a cute couple!!"<br />
Too funny. :o)<br />
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And in case you're wondering where I got my Leia costume, I made it! Who wants to see?Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-79094861653039351982013-04-18T11:04:00.000+08:002013-04-18T11:04:31.265+08:00Snow White Princess CakeI know, I know, I'm sorry. Worst blogger ever. Honestly though, I have been pretty busy with other things lately, and even considered giving up the blog altogether.<br />
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Instead, I have decided I am going to try very hard to post something <i>more </i>often - even if it's just a picture of the latest thing I've been baking (or sewing!). If less wordy = less time consuming, then that's the way those posts will be. At the end of the day, you'd probably rather just see pictures of cake than listen to me ramble anyway, right? :o)<br />
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So anyway, this is a cake I made for a little girl's 6th birthday recently(ish). She wanted a Dolly Varden style Snow White cake. I've never done a Dolly Varden cake before, so it was quite interesting and fun for me to try it out. Here's what I ended up with:<br />
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Snow is wearing her classic outfit, all made from sugarpaste (ie rolled fondant icing), including the bodice and sleeves, which I stuck directly onto the doll. The only things that aren't edible are the doll itself, her hair, and her crown (this is a plastic one that came with the doll, so I figured why make work for myself when the plastic one is just as cute anyway - plus the birthday girl can keep it for her other dolls afterward). You can't really see it very well in the photo, but the little apple next to Snow was completely covered in red cake decorating glitter - it was super sparkly and looked pretty cool, if I do say so myself! :o)<br />
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The cake underneath the skirt was chocolate Madeira cake, and I baked it in two sections - one in a pudding basin (for the shape), and the other in a regular round eight-inch cake tin. I then stacked the pudding basin one on top of the round one and trimmed them to become one cohesive skirt shape. This gave the cake a good amount of height. If I had just used the pudding basin alone, she would have been a very short and stumpy princess! There is of course such a thing as a proper Dolly Varden cake tin, but I don't have one, and I've also heard that they're quite difficult to work with. Anyway, I found this method worked just fine.<br />
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Not sure if the method I chose for covering the skirt was the best one,
as it was a lot harder than I had expected. But I think the end result
was pretty good for my first try - and the birthday girl and her mum
were Thrilled, which is the important thing!Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-78888733569497406862013-02-23T21:06:00.001+08:002013-02-23T21:06:23.511+08:00Rainbow CookiesHere are the cookies I made for The Muffin's birthday party:<br />
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Most of these were very simple. The idea behind the shapes comes, once again, from the Rainbow Magic series of fairy books. Each fairy has her own colour of fairy dust, which changes into a shape in midair. Ruby the Red Fairy's dust turns into little red flowers, Amber's turns to orange bubbles, Saffron's to yellow butterflies, Fern's to green leaves, Sky's to blue stars, Inky's to indigo ink drops, and Heather's to violet blossoms. So most of the cookies are minis, in these shapes and colours. I wanted to keep them quite simple so that they would be more like, for example, a leaf <i>shape </i>rather than an actual leaf.<br />
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The rainbow cookies were made by using a large circular cutter, cutting the circle in half, and adding tiny cloud shapes... like this:<br />
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The rainbow stripes were piped on one colour at a time and given time to dry before the next colour was added. Finally, I piped the clouds on using stiff white icing, to give a nice puffy-textured look to the clouds. The clouds were also sprinkled with lots of white edible glitter. I was really pleased with how these turned out, EXCEPT that as you may be able to see, I had huge cratering problems on the coloured stripes of the rainbows. Oh well, it happens. And none of the six year olds seemed to mind! ;o)<br />
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Hope you're having a great week - I have been busy with some new Lollybright projects this week, including some very cute hair accessories, so I might have to show you some of those soon!Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-39537961976823482232013-02-20T13:57:00.002+08:002013-02-20T14:03:55.176+08:00Rainbow Magic Fairy Cake!Phew, it's been busy around here! Life is settling back to normal now though, with The Muffin back at school (she has just started Grade One - goodness my baby is growing up!) <br />
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The Muffin's latest obsession has, for a while now, been the Rainbow Magic fairy books, by Daisy Meadows. For her birthday, she obviously wanted a Rainbow Magic fairy party. I had plans to make a plain round cake and decorate it, but The Muffin had other ideas. "Mummy can I have a Pot At The End Of The Rainbow? With the fairies all in it?" I warned her there would be a fair bit of black involved, which she was (somewhat surprisingly) fine with, and then we compromised on her four favourite fairies, rather than all seven. In the long run, this was her cake:<br />
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I made a collage so you don't have to scroll through so many photos! You're welcome. :o)<br />
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The cake itself was white chocolate Madeira cake layered with raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream (The Muffin's choice). All the decorations were made from sugarpaste with a bit of CMC mixed in. The fairies were made naked, and then their clothing and hair was painted on with royal icing.<br />
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Amber would have looked better suspended on white florists' wire rather than green, I think, but I didn't have any strong enough. It was less noticeable at the party, as it wasn't against the white background!<br />
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I was very pleased with my Bertram The Frog:<br />
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But in the end, I actually think this was my favourite bit of the whole cake: <br />
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I had racked my brains trying to think how I was going to do the inside of the Pot At The End Of The Rainbow. Obviously it couldn't be hollow (with furniture in it), because then there would be no cake in it. But I didn't want to just do it black, either. This was quite a black cake for a six year old anyway, I thought! And then suddenly I had a great idea: what would you see if you looked into a pot full of Rainbow Fairies? Why, rainbow colours of course! And lots and lots of sparkles, obviously (which once again Do Not show up in photographs). I thought it was quite effective, The Muffin was <i>thrilled </i>- and it was Super Easy. Win-win!<br />
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We also had cookies - I'll show you those tomorrow! Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-14696485071450839992013-01-22T20:00:00.000+08:002013-01-28T09:09:40.262+08:00Ballerina Alice CookiesSo I was a wee bit busy before Christmas, and never quite got around to posting these...<br />
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Last year was The Muffin's first year of ballet classes, and for the end of year concert, all the little ballerinas in her class played the part of the "little Alices" in Wonderland (this was part of a larger "Ballet Wonderland" item which spanned several classes and pieces of music - The Muffin's class did the part where Alice has shrunk after drinking from the little bottle). It was very cute, and we were so proud of The Muffin for going out on that big stage and trying her very best! She actually did a great job too! (because I am not biased At All).<br />
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So anyway, for the dance school's end-of-year party, I baked and decorated these cookies.<br />
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They were gone within about five seconds.<br />
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So it was a good thing that before the party, the White Rabbit and I had a little picnic first... <br />
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We also packaged a few up as a gift for The Muffin's ballet teacher - I thought she was going to cry! The little ballerina cookies were made to look a bit like the costumes the little girls wore in the concert. They were also sparkly, which Never Shows Up In Photos. This is Very Annoying.<br />
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I really enjoyed making these cookies; they were so cute, and (with the exception of the ballerina) they were super easy to make. Most of the icing was 20-second icing, and all the black details were simply drawn on afterward with a food marker.<br />
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Want more Alice goodies? You could check out <a href="http://sugaryflower.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/royal-show-entries-2011.html" target="_blank">my cupcakes from the 2011 Royal Show</a>... Or just type "Alice" into the search field over on the right - we love Wonderland around here! Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-16148315151368164532012-12-24T20:54:00.000+08:002012-12-24T21:55:28.288+08:00Merry Christmas... (& Sweets for Santa!)Here in Australia, it gets pretty hot at Christmas time. Tomorrow is forecast to be 39 degrees Celsius.<br />
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<a href="http://hungryaustralian.com/2012/12/17/fig-raspberry-ginger-ice-cream-cake/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQBswIMF7sR7Zhik_zjPK1KXUMEmzPthyk6MEYQJZqEiZffs5gnQYrfmZqSE8JbWzpgo551JNMqGIQKxuZb5yzOBSrvuzsv4eqfnYY9wdc97z_JqcMPJFd3VQb7CVC66e-pJ_8SkgZLoM/s1600/SABH_12-12-Santa-150.gif" /></a>So when it fell to me this year to make the dessert for Christmas lunch, I thought something made of icecream would be very welcome in the middle of the day!<br />
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Lately I've been a bit obsessed with gingerbread (oh yes, there has been a lot of baking going on. Just not much blogging). So I decided it would be rather nice to make a layered molded dessert of gingerbread and vanilla icecreams - mmm.... Ooh, and I could enter it into the latest <a href="http://sweetadventuresbloghop.com/" target="_blank">Sweet Adventures Blog Hop</a>!<br />
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Didn't it turn out pretty? I was panicking a bit about getting it out of the mold before Christmas Day, but it seems to have gone back into the freezer with no problems...<br />
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If you're not thinking about licking that picture, with its chewy-crunchy gingerbread base, and deliciously frosty layers of vanilla and gingerbread creaminess, you totally should be. Trust me. But wait - it gets cuter. This is what it's going to look like when it hits the table tomorrow:<br />
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Teeny gingerbread men and hearts, with a royal-iced gingerbread star, complete this treat!<br />
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So here's the recipe - and it might be too late to make it for Christmas Day, but you could definitely make either of these icecreams on their own just to eat from a bowl - the vanilla is really good, but I am very proud of the gingerbread - maybe I'm biased in favour of anything gingerbready right now, but personally I think it's sensational...<br />
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<b><span style="color: #783f04;"><span style="font-size: large;">Gingerbread Icecream Tree</span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="color: #783f04;">Vanilla Icecream</span></b><br />
<i>Ingredients</i><br />
400mL cream<br />
100mL whole milk<br />
1 vanilla bean <br />
5 egg yolks <br />
125g caster sugar<br />
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<i>Modus Operandi</i><br />
Place cream, milk and vanilla bean in a medium sized saucepan, and heat slowly just until boiling point, then remove from heat immediately. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until pale and creamy. Gradually add the cream mixture to the egg mixture, and continue to whisk until combined. Transfer the mixture to a clean saucepan, and cook over low heat, stirring all the time, for around 15-20 minutes, until it coats the back of a spoon. Do not allow to boil! Refrigerate the mixture until cold (preferably overnight), before churning in an icecream maker.<br />
Pour churned icecream into your chosed mold, and freeze.<br />
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<b><span style="color: #783f04;">Gingerbread</span></b><br />
<i>Ingredients</i><br />
115g butter<br />
1/2 cup caster sugar<br />
1/2 cup molasses<br />
1 egg yolk<br />
300g sifted plain flour<br />
1/2 tsp salt<br />
1/2 tsp baking soda<br />
1 tsp cinnamon<br />
2 tsp ground ginger<br />
1 tsp grated nutmeg <br />
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<i>MO</i><br />
Cream the butter and sugar just until smooth. Stir in the molasses and egg yolk.<br />
Combine the dry ingredients and stir into the molasses mixture until smooth. The mixture will be very soft and sticky - that's okay. Wrap it in plastic, and chill for at least one hour.<br />
Meanwhile, take a piece of baking paper and draw around the shape of the mold you have used for your icecream. Cut the shape out, and put it aside. <br />
Preheat the oven to 175C (350F). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 8mm thickness. Using your baking paper template, cut the shape you will need for your base out of your gingerbread dough (in my case, a large Christmas tree). Transfer the shaped gingerbread onto a lined baking tray (note: you will make your life much easier if you keep the paper shape on the gingerbread tree shape until you have transferred it to the tray. It will inevitably warp a little in the process, and having the paper template still there means you can smooth it back into shape before baking). Remove the template and keep it for later.<br />
Bake the large gingerbread in the oven until firm, and the edges are golden brown (the actual time will vary depending on the size and shape of your mold. Mine took around 15 minutes).<br />
Bake your small cookies for around 8-10 minutes. Cool on trays.<br />
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When it is completely cool, move your large gingerbread shape to a board, and trim it back to the desired shape using your paper template. Theoretically I imagine this would be easier while the gingerbread was still warm, but I wasn't game enough to move it at that stage. Please yourself. :o) <br />
<br />
<span style="color: #783f04;"><b>Gingerbread Icecream</b></span><br />
<i>Ingredients</i><br />
600mL cream<br />
Some of your Gingerbread cookies - I used about 90g of them (although I had some left over from my last batch, so depending on the size of your mold's base, you might need to make two batches of gingerbread if you want to decorate with them too. Not sure... sorry. But hey, who minds extra gingerbread around the house, am I right?)<br />
6 egg yolks <br />
150g light brown sugar<br />
2 Tbsp molasses<br />
1 tsp cinnamon<br />
1 tsp ground ginger<br />
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg<br />
<br />
<i>MO</i><br />
Exactly the same as for the vanilla icecream, but add your gingerbread cookies to your cream mixture right at the beginning. When you remove it from the heat, strain it through a sieve. The cookies will have turned to mush - stir it a bit to help the liquid through the sieve, but don't force it all through. Most of the cookie mush will go through the sieve easily - any that doesn't, discard.<br />
Add the spices and molasses to the egg/sugar mixture just before adding the cream mixture.<br />
When the icecream is churned, pour it into the mold on top of the vanilla, and freeze.<br />
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<span style="color: #783f04;"><b>To construct:</b></span><br />
Take your icecream out of the freezer, and whilst it is still in the
mold, press the gingerbread base firmly onto it. Return to the freezer
until it is time to serve.<br />
<br />
At serving time, flip the
icecream tree out onto your desired serving plate (it's a good idea to
freeze that, too, to stop the icecream from starting to melt quite so
quickly!) Decorate as desired.<br />
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Wow, that was kind of long. But trust me, it's totally worth it! And after all, we all deserve to be a bit indulgent at Christmas, right?<br />
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I really hope that you and yours have a wonderful, fun, peaceful holiday season - and do check out the other Sweets For Santa at the blog hop below - this month it's being hosted by Christina over at <a href="http://hungryaustralian.com/" target="_blank">The Hungry Australian</a> - she did an icecream dessert too, and it looks amazing!<br />
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<!-- start LinkyTools script --><script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=154322" type="text/javascript"></script><!-- end LinkyTools script -->Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-38560701359038909322012-12-20T20:48:00.001+08:002012-12-20T20:48:01.450+08:00Bad Blogger. Bad, Bad Blogger.Wow... So it's been a while, huh? I mean, I know my blogging "schedule" is fairly erratic at the best of times, but I can't believe I haven't posted anything here since Hallowe'en!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSwqyZ-74gtsCDOtmgUVyTvqWmHYE3PfRnSLXq8HXJl2nKKa-IkOVg3lL2XzXq6sMWONaewl_2l9-8ZdkzGeeMalTVz9FBE_FflsvKQK_gklAq0qPIDVe9hHTKWNswobJ_NgNn9ihfll4/s1600/2012-10-19+004A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSwqyZ-74gtsCDOtmgUVyTvqWmHYE3PfRnSLXq8HXJl2nKKa-IkOVg3lL2XzXq6sMWONaewl_2l9-8ZdkzGeeMalTVz9FBE_FflsvKQK_gklAq0qPIDVe9hHTKWNswobJ_NgNn9ihfll4/s320/2012-10-19+004A.JPG" width="238" /></a>So I'm not going to bore you with seven weeks' worth of Muffin Tin Mondays. We've totally been doing them, but I just seem to have been incredibly busy lately, what with sewing, prepping for The Muffin's first ever ballet concert, baking for her end-of-school parties. And at the end of any given day, when it's been a choice of: a) blog latest Muffin Tin and/or cookie; b) relax with husband in front of the TV; or c) fold washing / sew something in front of the TV... well, let's just say that blogging never managed to win that fight.<br />
<br />
Wait a minute... did I say "sew something"? Why, yes. Yes I did. Truth is, I've been spending a fair bit of my free time on my new(ish) hobby, which is sewing - not clothes, but toys, ornaments, and cute things. And guess what - I've even opened an Etsy shop! And people who are not my relatives have bought things from me! You can probably guess I'm pretty excited about that. If you're interested in checking out my Etsy shop, it's <a href="http://www.etsy.com/shop/LollybrightToys" target="_blank">here: Lollybright Toys!</a> I'd really love it if you'd stop by and tell me what you think...<br />
<br />
Now, I do have a couple of Muffin Tins to show you - just this week and last week's. We decided to do a "Twelve Days of Christmas" theme. We split the twelve days over two weeks, and it was such fun!<br />
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So here goes: On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...<br />
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<b>Bottom Row </b>(right to left): Twelve Drummers Drumming (drumsticks made from cherry bocconcini impaled on pretzel sticks); Eleven Pipers Piping (strips of hash brown, with music note picks); Ten Lords Leaping (or apple frogs, actually).</div>
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<b>Top Row </b>(right to left): Nine Ladies Dancing (ballerina fairy bread); Eight Maids a-Milking (milk); Seven Swans a-Swimming (swan carved out of a pfeffernusse, with pale blue M&M water).</div>
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<b>Bottom Row </b>(right to left): Six Geese a-Laying (hard-boiled egg); Five Gold Rings (made of cheese); Four Calling Birds (chopped up mango with music note picks).<br />
<br />
<b>Top Row</b> (right to left): Three French Hens (cut out of carrot, with cheese wings & beaks, black sesame eyes and heart-sprinkle combs); Two Turtle Doves (dove shaped pikelets with butter); and a Partridge in a Pear Tree (dried pear)!<br />
<br />
She ate the lot out of the second tin (days 7-12), and all but one gold ring and one French Hen out of the first tin (days 1-6). She had a huge amount of fun with this - the way she ate it was hilarious. She sang the song, and ate a bit of each thing with Every Single Line. She even managed to ration each thing out so that she had a little of each left for the last line of the song. The fact that this meant she was eating sweet then savoury then sweet then savoury the whole time did not faze her at all. Too funny.<br />
<br />
If you want to check out some more Muffin Tin Goodness, click on over to the <a href="http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/muffin-tin-monday-and-break.html" target="_blank">Muffin Tin Mom's blog</a> - she's on a break right now, but people can still link up.<br />
<br />
I promise I'll be back here again before Christmas, to share some yummy treats - 'tis the season to be on a Massive Sugar High, after all! Until then, I hope you and your families are safe and well, and enjoying the festive season.Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-52472761735307956882012-10-31T11:52:00.002+08:002012-10-31T11:53:17.665+08:00Muffin Tin Monday and... Boo! Bonus Bentos!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hallowe'en is one of the most fun times for Muffin Tin Monday! Here's what The Muffin had in her tin this Monday:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrVnOtQC1LXRZklGiXjMFYOftYMmi7aIyGN5rZ5UxZh0fsu6p6UnFfiPoSBIUmeyN3qGXtGjhg8eGlk5wBJAkeeF5Nz_-x1uAEt75rNsrhTC7RxgOPJnHveCkiMKcfvO33ibRehpNQmRs/s1600/2012-10-29+003A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrVnOtQC1LXRZklGiXjMFYOftYMmi7aIyGN5rZ5UxZh0fsu6p6UnFfiPoSBIUmeyN3qGXtGjhg8eGlk5wBJAkeeF5Nz_-x1uAEt75rNsrhTC7RxgOPJnHveCkiMKcfvO33ibRehpNQmRs/s400/2012-10-29+003A.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Top Row</b>: Bat cookie eating chopped Papaya; Witches Brew (green sauce - basically a pureed cucumber raita with added spinach for vitamins and green-ness); Naan bread Witch Hat with string cheese and purple carrot detail.<br />
<br />
<b>Bottom Row</b>: Rice tinted green; Star-shaped Egg; Witch Broom (piece of banana dipped in yoghurt, sprinkled with shredded coconut, with a pretzel stick handle).<br />
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The After Shot:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqib3eLw8GaIIa6BvSDsyZeiikkiqnj1eE0VWK5hUDW6GYnsMdJqciYOyWzPOEJdPGWY_tidJUEaozpdojEeL5uec_ZUvFM0C4EFl9pRCkXKgDg8avI0elEmaQvF4hyrh-Bk6DQi3R07Y/s1600/2012-10-29+004A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqib3eLw8GaIIa6BvSDsyZeiikkiqnj1eE0VWK5hUDW6GYnsMdJqciYOyWzPOEJdPGWY_tidJUEaozpdojEeL5uec_ZUvFM0C4EFl9pRCkXKgDg8avI0elEmaQvF4hyrh-Bk6DQi3R07Y/s400/2012-10-29+004A.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The Muffin loved her Banana Broomstick! She was very pleased with this dinner all round, really, although she didn't love the papaya (this was her first time trying it). She ate some, and said she quite liked it, but wouldn't like a lot of it. Fair enough (I felt a bit the same way about it, actually).<br />
<br />
To see what other spooky treats were dished up this Monday, check out <a href="http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/muffin-tin-monday_28.html" target="_blank">The Muffin Tin Mom's blog</a>.<br />
<br />
But Wait - There's More! Bonus Bento!<br />
<br />
The Muffin wanted Hallowe'en-themed bentos on Monday and Tuesday this week, as well as on Hallowe'en itself, so here's what she had yesterday:<br />
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Spook Bento! The Muffin has four ghost-shaped tortilla sandwiches (stacked - one cheese, one ham, one Promite, and one thick home-made applesauce) - I got eight ghost shapes from a total of two regular sized tortillas. She also has a ghost pear (I am so in love with these - you should totally try this, it's really easy. Pears seem to be a naturally perfect shape for slicing a ghost-shape from!) The eyes of both ghosts are black sesame seeds; the mouths of both were made from one chocolate chip - the flat part for the tortilla sandwich ghost, and the tip for the pear ghost. Her snacks are a "Boo" marshmallow, three prunes (with a ghost sticker pick), and vanilla yoghurt.<br />
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On Monday, The Muffin had this for lunch:<br />
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This is not as neat as the spooks, but I really like the idea of slicing the top few millimetres of crust off the top of a bread roll, to make a flat surface for decorating (desperation being the mother of invention - I had run out of sliced bread!) She also had chopped pineapple, and a little gummy heart lolly as a Hallowe'en treat (yes, an anatomical heart-shape, not a love heart).<br />
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<br />
My poor little vampire honestly looked WONDERFUL when I first made him,
but this photo was taken after he'd spent the night in the fridge, and
he looked a little washed out. The sprinkle bow tie seemed to have bled
its colour into the cheese a bit, and the eyes aren't quite right
either... Still, The Muffin was amused by him, and liked that there were raspberries "bleeding" into her yoghurt!<br />
<br />
I'm linking this up with<a href="http://www.bentoblognetwork.com/2012/10/botw-halloween.html" target="_blank"> Halloween Bento of the Week over at Bento Blog Network</a> - check out all the Hallowe'en Shininess!<br />
<br />
I'll be back in a little while with The Muffin's actual Hallowe'en lunch, so I hope to see you back here soon!Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-67296434672701107662012-10-22T21:57:00.002+08:002012-10-23T09:17:19.895+08:00Muffin Tin Monday - Waiting For Hallowe'en...The Muffin is very much looking forward to Hallowe'en. As it's on a weekday this year, we're not having a party or anything (and trick-or-treating is not much of a thing here in Australia), but we still like to have a bit of fun, even if it's just a spooky cupcake or something. :o)<br />
<br />
Anyway, the point is, we decided one Hallowe'en-themed Muffin Tin wasn't enough - so we started this week:<br />
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<b>Top Row</b>: Half a pear, with a ghost-shaped piece of skin cut away (and a "boo" pick made with a toothpick and a sticker); Cauldron full of popcorn; Spinach leaves.<br />
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<b>Bottom Row</b>: Ghost bread and butter (with choc chip mouth); Eyeball lolly; Pea and prosciutto frittata.<br />
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The pea and prosciutto frittata was a recipe we found in the newspaper over the weekend, and The Muffin wanted to try it. So I made them for dinner tonight, and they were yummy. The prosciutto slices are pressed into a muffin tin as a sort of casing for the frittata filling. So some of this meal was <i>cooked </i>in a muffin tin, too! The recipe can be found <a href="http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/18880/pea+feta+and+prosciutto+frittatas" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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The After Shot:<br />
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The frittata was met with unqualified approval - she didn't even pick any peas out! Hurrah!<br />
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For next week's tin we're planning something witchy... Until then, why not check out T<a href="http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/muffin-tin-monday-breakfast.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+HerCupOverfloweth+%28Muffin+Tin+Mom%29" target="_blank">he Muffin Tin Mom's blog</a>, and see what other people did this week?Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-44171086496446244032012-10-15T10:22:00.000+08:002012-10-15T10:22:17.793+08:002012 Royal Show EntriesOnce again, The Muffin and I both entered some of our baking efforts into The Perth Royal Show this year. Here's what we entered...<br />
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Cinderella Cupcakes: I entered these into the "Decorated Patty Cakes" (ie cupcakes) section - and I won! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVUnqeuK_n4VwxU4aoKBKov6KGQETRVt2OEUU8z9V-yStqy-57oRdmtxv0DQ1WwSBphr80d17wUrcRFAxjWWdeMubySTClUHonmiyUeNsuvvW_jLPXaLA42cvy7c0Fqq0cDV5TlGLzvHM/s1600/2012-10-09+001A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="393" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVUnqeuK_n4VwxU4aoKBKov6KGQETRVt2OEUU8z9V-yStqy-57oRdmtxv0DQ1WwSBphr80d17wUrcRFAxjWWdeMubySTClUHonmiyUeNsuvvW_jLPXaLA42cvy7c0Fqq0cDV5TlGLzvHM/s400/2012-10-09+001A.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The cupcakes themselves were my usual vanilla recipe (ie Billy Reece's Vanilla Vanilla recipe), frosted with my own vanilla buttercream. The decorations are almost all sugarpaste (with a little CMC added). There's a little royal icing to stick everything on, and also a tiny bit of piping on the "glass slipper" - oh, and the wheels of the carriage were lovely piped swirls of royal icing, painted with silver lustre. But I took these photos after the Royal Show, and sadly the wheels were smashed to tiny pieces by the time I got them home! So you'll just have to imagine them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdBbkgzQNJZGrKK8uolhMBCpqTnWA6LdHISa0FuMpxyIk8jjy8nZLwCvpq8wSXzm9vP-YcplsP05d6Nyz9uCHjU8LKWH2b1WfIgox9UQlUdM2icZrC2Oj0BslK0klB4X2IPE7YY__-6xA/s1600/2012-10-09+011A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdBbkgzQNJZGrKK8uolhMBCpqTnWA6LdHISa0FuMpxyIk8jjy8nZLwCvpq8wSXzm9vP-YcplsP05d6Nyz9uCHjU8LKWH2b1WfIgox9UQlUdM2icZrC2Oj0BslK0klB4X2IPE7YY__-6xA/s320/2012-10-09+011A.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I was quite pleased with my little pumpkin - and it was very easy to do, too - I think with a different colour icing for the base, it would make a lovely Hallowe'en cupcake, too! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgohwhyCwjsFNsCib1620euBjdUvE9x4lYVjqQi4TM_faYMzXMN0P_tyfhyphenhyphentwmn1bkzAeOmmUnEMUBBN3_5FwCU6z7SFlKlO5cYpfXaLHxBqhUreCHLuIITstaff3AqTjlnx55ZFVKdW7k/s1600/2012-10-09+013A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgohwhyCwjsFNsCib1620euBjdUvE9x4lYVjqQi4TM_faYMzXMN0P_tyfhyphenhyphentwmn1bkzAeOmmUnEMUBBN3_5FwCU6z7SFlKlO5cYpfXaLHxBqhUreCHLuIITstaff3AqTjlnx55ZFVKdW7k/s320/2012-10-09+013A.JPG" width="236" /></a></div>
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And here's a closeup of Cinders herself - she was the most time-consuming to make (unsurprisingly perhaps, although honestly I was expecting to have a lot more grief than I did with the glass slipper, having never made an icing shoe before. It was easier than I thought it would be). Cinderella's head and torso (with arms attached) were skewered with a piece of uncooked linguine (I thought spaghetti would not be strong enough to hold this, as it was quite a heavy decoration for a cupcake. The linguine was a bit thicker and stronger), and left to dry overnight. Then when it came time to decorate the cupcake, I simply draped a biggish circle of blue sugarpaste over the cupcake for the skirt, added the poofy bits of the skirt on in a slightly lighter blue (please feel free to admire my superior knowledge of dressmaking terms), and added Cinders to the top, pushing the linguine down into the cupcake to support her.<br />
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It was a bit of a rush job getting these cupcakes done this year - I just couldn't get inspired, so I ended up leaving it until the day before the delivery day to start making the decorations! Luckily everything dried sufficiently, and I was happy with them in the end.<br />
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Bring on the cookies! My cookies I was very happy with - no dramas here, I had a clear vision of how I wanted them to turn out, and they did...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOQqBO4MTONk2aVMPwC3zmukHKZhDWyKq3ow0iHsNul-ihw9Lka00SIzeFIAeRRXZ7UHBxBDoUoCUxLebM0Yjbp2ALSjr-Z_TealG2yf895lq5MV3F2e-coyj9h-OcM8kbHkjsPfhyNBo/s1600/2012-10-10+007A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOQqBO4MTONk2aVMPwC3zmukHKZhDWyKq3ow0iHsNul-ihw9Lka00SIzeFIAeRRXZ7UHBxBDoUoCUxLebM0Yjbp2ALSjr-Z_TealG2yf895lq5MV3F2e-coyj9h-OcM8kbHkjsPfhyNBo/s400/2012-10-10+007A.JPG" width="312" /></a></div>
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Some of you may recognise the Dragon Claw Cookie (top right), and you'd be right - I originally made this cookie design to enter <a href="http://www.lilaloa.com/2012/03/cookie-contest-with-big-fun-prizes.html" target="_blank">LilaLoa's Creative Cookie Competition</a> way back in March. It didn't win then, but guess what? My cookies DID win at the Show! Woo hoo!<br />
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I also got Second Prize in the "Cake Using Honey" class, but I didn't take a photo of that, because it was pretty boring looking (no icing allowed, etc). It's a really yummy cake though, and it was based on my <a href="http://sugaryflower.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/bit-of-springtime-sunshine.html" target="_blank">Sunny Honey Cupcakes</a> recipe. If you haven't tried lavender and honey cupcakes yet, then you should totally go and make these immediately - they are really yummy!<br />
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As pleased as I am about my Show wins, funnily enough the prizes I was most excited about were two little "Highly Commended" certificates - and they weren't even mine. Because The Muffin entered two classes this year, and she got Highly Commended for both! Happy Mummy Dance! I was SO happy she got this bit of recognition, because she works so hard on her Show cookies, and she's always been so good about saying "I don't mind if I don't win, Mummy - it's fun just entering". But you know that deep down in her little five-year-old heart, she'd love to win something.<br />
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Here are her Decorated Cookies:<br />
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I didn't help her at all with these, she did the lot herself, including making the little sugarpaste heart and flower (I did help bake the cookies obviously, but the kids' cookies are not judged on taste, only on appearance - they are even allowed to use store-bought cookies - so the baking part doesn't count in this class).<br />
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2012 is Year Of The Farmer, so there were special "Scarecrow" classes this year in every category. I didn't enter any of these, but The Muffin did enter the kids' special class, which was "Scarecrow Biscuit". What they had to do was use commercial cookies and lollies to make a picture of a scarecrow, glued down with icing onto a paper plate. Here is The Muffin's entry:<br />
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Congratulations, Muffin! Your Daddy and I are both so proud of you!Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-11650480935188315552012-09-26T09:47:00.000+08:002012-09-26T09:47:22.314+08:00Mexican Party Cake This is a cake I made for my friend's Mexican-themed 40th birthday party a few weeks ago:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnSJevvJaD4GXdFNzBAaTNodyET9mmbsYcgtKVJ6kl8ky-NRUWjlb_jKBLdHFI6hJevM4islkaSRuLepdM0XFNe8RCEIDsTt7-1F8Djkk_MISB9pNN-IxUhSwXNvVLN1qPzHNvpHWFeVs/s1600/2012-09-08+008A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnSJevvJaD4GXdFNzBAaTNodyET9mmbsYcgtKVJ6kl8ky-NRUWjlb_jKBLdHFI6hJevM4islkaSRuLepdM0XFNe8RCEIDsTt7-1F8Djkk_MISB9pNN-IxUhSwXNvVLN1qPzHNvpHWFeVs/s400/2012-09-08+008A.JPG" width="298" /></a></div>
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Here's a closeup of the figure on top:<br />
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My friend is known for her big sunnies, bright red lippie, curly hair and obsession with Doctor Who...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSZu45rF_s9qoXSr7Ob2cgvP3nE3vkWfGRhf_CuvptZTGbkuhq48iNeYlvLCUAD709OY3-IGLpDJ02NiQCVGFv3mRrVA-rnlbfoHZ-IRsGht3vELbuV6GI7gMcn8FigFXB2fLqEngX8B0/s1600/2012-09-08+021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSZu45rF_s9qoXSr7Ob2cgvP3nE3vkWfGRhf_CuvptZTGbkuhq48iNeYlvLCUAD709OY3-IGLpDJ02NiQCVGFv3mRrVA-rnlbfoHZ-IRsGht3vELbuV6GI7gMcn8FigFXB2fLqEngX8B0/s320/2012-09-08+021.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Inside, the bottom layer was chocolate mud cake, and the top layer was Margarita Madeira cake. The Margarita Madeira was SO good - I will definitely be making it again! I used my regular Madeira cake recipe, and added lime zest and a little lime juice to the batter, then layered it with Tequila lime syrup and Cointreau-laced French buttercream. <i>Yum</i>.... <br />
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Hope you're all having a good week - there'll be lots more sugar around here very soon, as I am currently in the process of making my goodies for the Royal Show - wish me luck!Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-53129994733398427302012-09-18T23:35:00.001+08:002012-09-18T23:42:48.312+08:00Muffin Tin Monday - Rainbow MagicThe Muffin is a great reader for her age, and recently she has fallen madly in love with the <a href="http://www.rainbowmagiconline.com/uk/meet/meet_rainbow.html" target="_blank">Rainbow Magic fairy books</a>. These are short novel-style books (or "chapter books", as she calls them).<br />
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This week she wanted a Rainbow Magic Fairies theme tin, but she specified that it must only contain references to the fairies she has so far read. So here goes:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV_f2AKa4SOB7le6KxNKg88nGM9JLet0DK34NiVQbjXHGtwbsHezeSo-QS35G3ykONMM4hGVmhnbXhjvZWeBZk-uIQrnDnNXaPWkkfPBF1fmxbN_Gj37FnxSh697AJEq6ZXRGCYQI5Atc/s1600/2012-09-17+002A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV_f2AKa4SOB7le6KxNKg88nGM9JLet0DK34NiVQbjXHGtwbsHezeSo-QS35G3ykONMM4hGVmhnbXhjvZWeBZk-uIQrnDnNXaPWkkfPBF1fmxbN_Gj37FnxSh697AJEq6ZXRGCYQI5Atc/s400/2012-09-17+002A.JPG" width="346" /></a></div>
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<b>Top Row</b>: The Pot At The End Of The Rainbow (here represented by a black silicon muffin liner, containing sausages); Ruby The Red Fairy (strawberries, one of which is cut into a flower shape, even though you can't really see it in the photo. In the books, each fairy's magic fairy dust turns into something as it falls to the ground. Ruby's turns into flowers).<br />
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<b>Middle Row</b>: Amber The Orange Fairy (carrot circles - Amber's dust turns into orange bubbles); Bertram The Frog (bread and butter frog with mini M&M eyes. There is carrot and apple salad underneath him, too).<br />
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<b>Bottom Row</b>: Saffron The Yellow Fairy (potato casserole with a little cheese butterfly on top - again, you can't really see this very well as it had begun to melt! Saffron's dust turns into butterflies); Fern The Green Fairy (spinach leaves. Fern's dust turns into little leaves).<br />
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<b>Plus</b>: Two sets of rainbow chocolate chips.<br />
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The Muffin helped a lot with this tin, as she was very excited about it. She decided where everything went (ie in strict order of when we discover each thing in the series), and she loaded most of the food into the cups. <br />
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The After Shot:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh29RxbUX6RajDPIr_1-KEWPHL3KCrmzLzCB3Nu3Vpxrg5Wzt4s8EhbK9X3OdDvunFc0E8bGcvi6uiW2IH_fpG7d_3xmy4Kjq1omvCrkAyvxJ2GSUzKfOBGZQboLQKPfW1Ykx14IRcFIe8/s1600/2012-09-17+007A.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh29RxbUX6RajDPIr_1-KEWPHL3KCrmzLzCB3Nu3Vpxrg5Wzt4s8EhbK9X3OdDvunFc0E8bGcvi6uiW2IH_fpG7d_3xmy4Kjq1omvCrkAyvxJ2GSUzKfOBGZQboLQKPfW1Ykx14IRcFIe8/s400/2012-09-17+007A.JPG" width="353" /></a></div>
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'Nuff said. To see what other mums did for MTM this week, check out <a href="http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/muffin-tin-monday-day-17-of-30-days-of.html" target="_blank">The Muffin Tin Mom's blog</a>. Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-7758653474741647432012-09-10T20:29:00.000+08:002012-09-10T20:29:30.171+08:00Muffin Tin Monday - JamboreeMy daughter's latest musical obsession is The Muppets. When I was a kid, my best friend had The Muppet Show Musical Album on vinyl, and we loved it. Now, The Muffin is loving it too.<br />
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So for this week's muffin tin, we decided to use one of the songs for our theme: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNcM25UsOpI" target="_blank"> Jamboree,</a> sung by Gonzo (go check it out, it's so cool!) The Muffin likes this song because of all the fun, nonsensical things Gonzo "sees", but there's a nice message here too, about making the best of what life gives you, and the importance of imagination.<br />
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Here's our tin:<br />
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<b>Top Row: </b> "Cows playing cellos, with bananas where their horns should be" (represented here by a piece of banana); "Flags being waved by ducks in buckets"(Pasta in cream sauce, bacon duck, red capsicum flag); "Pigs drinking lemon tea" (water with lemon juice and a little apricot juice mixed in - with an egg cup pig).<br />
<b>Bottom Row:</b> "Penguins throwing popcorn" (that pick is a penguin - unfortunately I didn't notice it wasn't cooperating when I took the photo); "Chickens on a well-dressed moose" (apple moose, chicken pick); "Well you go run from thunder, and you stay away from rain - but I'll be lookin' for the colours in the puddles, to see my jamboree!" (pale blue yoghurt puddle, with rainbow sprinkles and a few mini M&Ms).<br />
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The Muffin was THRILLED, and she ate the lot, apart from the capsicum flag. She hates capsicum - but she did take a tiny bite out of the corner of it, so I consider that a success! I was really pleased she ate all the pasta, too, as she's usually not a fan of cream, and this was a full-on cream sauce.<br />
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To see what other lucky kids got in their tins this week, check out <a href="http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/muffintinmealsforkids.html" target="_blank">The Muffin Tin Mom's blog</a>!Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-53658410152094063742012-09-09T22:57:00.000+08:002012-09-09T22:57:40.013+08:00Doctor WHO?Okay, so are we all excited that Doctor Who is back? Yes? Good.<br />
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I wasn't going to bother about the whole Doctor-Who-bento thing, considering that my daughter has never seen Doctor Who. Now before you sci-fi geeks out there get all judgy, she's really really girly, and she's really really sensitive to scary television, and oh yeah - <i>She's Five</i>. So give us a couple of years, hmmm? I did think about a fairly neutral-looking one with a "Hello Sweetie" built in, but honestly? It didn't seem worth it.<br />
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But then we actually saw the first episode of the new series, and I was feeling all inspired. And then I remembered: I Have A Husband! And He Eats Lunch!<br />
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So here's my quick little homage to the episode that got even the Daleks asking the eternal question...<br />
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(yes, that's a question mark hiding there).<br />
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I was quite proud of my Banana Dalek. The fairy bread Dalek is kind of hilarious, I know, particularly in the lunchbox of a grown man, but there was already kind of a lot of cheese in there, and frankly it was midnight before I started making this lunch, so I ditched the painting-on-cheese idea. He also has strawberries, and a piece of chocolate brownie.<br />
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Luckily Husband is almost as childish as me, so whilst I suspect he found his lunch slightly embarrassing, I think that deep down he also kinda liked it. :o)<br />
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I'm linking this up to<a href="http://www.bentoblognetwork.com/2012/09/botw-dr-who.html" target="_blank"> Bento Blog Network's Doctor Who theme</a>, so go check it out - there are some awesome entries!Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4608725889051652341.post-70194255074524163332012-08-23T21:41:00.000+08:002012-08-23T21:41:19.380+08:00Raspberry Cheesecake<br />
Okay, so first of all: I'm Sorry. I know, I know. These are the Worst Photos Ever. But here's the thing. I would like nothing better than to spend all my time making beautiful, photogenic desserts, and taking photos of them with various gorgeous props, from several angles, under ideal light conditions. While sipping a glass of Dom Perignon, and laughing gaily at the incredibly witty remarks being made by the terribly efficient person who is cleaning my house. For free.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5yN1yDMpFjtuskMZOonqbgQJYJnMtB5jFAi30m7dIpWbx7nFBtsbXCsiE7RPPYJegte4BFkABRrraCQx2quj9D8HgqS9FMJ6HDwfnhuhOTTy8-Aa2aEQ7Zan90cpYNxHq9NFMyrxufWE/s1600/2012-08-18+021A.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5yN1yDMpFjtuskMZOonqbgQJYJnMtB5jFAi30m7dIpWbx7nFBtsbXCsiE7RPPYJegte4BFkABRrraCQx2quj9D8HgqS9FMJ6HDwfnhuhOTTy8-Aa2aEQ7Zan90cpYNxHq9NFMyrxufWE/s400/2012-08-18+021A.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Meanwhile, back in the real world, I actually put the finishing touches on this cheesecake five minutes before leaving the house to take it to a friend's house for dinner, <i>after </i>having spent all afternoon at my daughter's friend's sixth birthday party, <i>after </i>having spent all morning making a stuffed elephant for said daughter's friend's present. Yeah.... Gorgeous, well-thought-out photography is not something I often get a chance to do, especially for what I like to call "right-now" desserts. Cookies I can keep for a few days until I have a chance to take a few snaps of them. Cheesecakes not so much.<br />
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<a href="http://hungryaustralian.com/2012/08/20/strawberry-soup/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8xzi_OtfLvvE9shyetg2lgEkvTmWcm60Puz9CxzLKQc1v-VL9fmRGdRVqnsMOd1NnDuP4APB9Y4_3EAej19y8QW7MEDzeEJ4abckD_1CJ1RfrOcivLHJoPTeHneEEwRm5vikYobkXiPw/s1600/SABH_12-8_Berry-150x150-1.gif" /></a>So anyway. When<a href="http://hungryaustralian.com/" target="_blank"> </a><a href="http://hungryaustralian.com/" target="_blank">The Hungry Australian</a> announced the theme of this month's<a href="http://sweetadventuresbloghop.com/" target="_blank"> Sweet Adventures Blog Hop</a> - "Berry Nice To Meet You!" - I was thrilled. I love berries, and I especially love raspberries. Plus I'd been wanting to make a cheesecake for ages. There are an awful lot of raspberry cheesecake recipes about, but strangely enough, I find that most of them are actually plain cheesecake recipes with a raspberry puree swirl. And there's nothing at all wrong with that, but it just wasn't what I had envisioned. I wanted my cheesecake to have a dark chocolate base, a contrasting pretty pink filling, and a sweet raspberry tang all the way through. And it did!<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: large;">Raspberry Cheesecake</span></i></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg53kWfeeCSpERQKKauc56Xc71yClZk7RVc4Lc9Iy31zqPGIXemLx8LhXdxk720gVzZTolHyn5meBVG4cmT_RYiQJJjghMSkJsxoHOaL0zmOF_jMijLlH_2xzW0I_CQogGdmd9o0xrgX5Y/s1600/2012-08-18+024B.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg53kWfeeCSpERQKKauc56Xc71yClZk7RVc4Lc9Iy31zqPGIXemLx8LhXdxk720gVzZTolHyn5meBVG4cmT_RYiQJJjghMSkJsxoHOaL0zmOF_jMijLlH_2xzW0I_CQogGdmd9o0xrgX5Y/s400/2012-08-18+024B.jpg" width="330" /></a><b>Ingredients</b></div>
<i><span style="color: #990000;">Base </span></i><br />
370g plain chocolate-flavoured biscuits (eg Chocolate Ripple)<br />
120g butter, melted<br />
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<i>Filling</i></div>
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries<br />
3 teaspoons powdered gelatine<br />
60mL water<br />
500g cream cheese<br />
1/3 cup caster sugar<br />
300mL cream<br />
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<i>Topping </i></div>
1 cup extra raspberries<br />
1 tsp icing sugar<br />
1 Tbsp water <br />
1 tsp powdered gelatine<br />
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<b>Modus Operandi</b></div>
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First, line a 20cm diameter springform cake tin with plastic wrap (this makes it easier to get out later).<br />
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<b>To make the base:</b> Process the biscuits in a food processor until fine crumbs. Add the melted butter and blitz again briefly until combined. Press the mixture onto the base and sides of the prepared tin, and refrigerate one hour.<br />
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<b>To make the filling:</b> Heat the 2 cups of raspberries in a saucepan until they boil, then press them through a sieve to remove all the seeds. Set aside. Mix the gelatine into the water in a heatproof cup or bowl. Stir over a small saucepan over simmering water until the gelatine has dissolved. Let it cool for a minute or two and then stir in 3/4 cup of the raspberry puree.<br />
Beat the cream cheese and caster sugar in an electric mixer until soft and smooth. Beat in the cream, then stir in the raspberry mixture. Pour filling into the crumb base and refrigerate overnight.<br />
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<b>To make the topping:</b> Pick over your raspberries, and set the best ones aside (about half of them). Heat the remaining raspberries with the icing sugar, then sieve them to remove the seeds. Mix the water and gelatine as was done for the filling. When dissolved, cool slightly and mix into the raspberry puree (you will probably only get about 1/4 cup). Pile the photogenic raspberries onto the top of your cheesecake, and pour the gelatine-y puree over the top. This step may be done just before serving (in which case the puree will behave a bit like a sauce), or ahead of time (in which case you will pop the cheesecake back in the fridge and the raspberry puree will set into a jelly. This also "glues" the pretty raspberries to the top, which is useful if you are transporting it to someone's house for dessert).<br />
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<b>To serve:</b> Simply open the springform tin, peel the plastic away, and lift/slide the cheesecake off the base onto a serving plate.<br />
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Be sure to check out everyone else's Berry Nice Desserts, too - just check out the links below!<br />
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<!-- start LinkyTools script --><script src="http://www.linkytools.com/thumbnail_linky_include.aspx?id=154318" type="text/javascript"></script><!-- end LinkyTools script -->Sugary Flowerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09802638859174215505noreply@blogger.com6