Liandra's Christening

It was my youngest daughter's Christening day today, we finally bit the bullet and had her Christened just two months shy of her 2nd birthday. I wanted to make something simple for her Christening cake, I didn't have time to make anything fancier so this is the result. I just made a single tier (double cake)coconut cake, covered in orchard icing, the rocking horse was handcut from petinice and I used some stamps and royal icing to make the flowers and sadle. I also tried writing on my cake for the 1st time, so "wrote" a lovely Christening verse using edible textas around the circumfrence of the cake. It probably would have looked more spectacular had I popped the cake on a fully iced and be-ribboned cakeboard, but alas I had no time for that either. It tasted yummy and the girls loved it, which is what counts the most I suppose.

Happy Easter

Look what I knocked up in a jiffy for Easter, this yummy Raspberry mudcake covered in white fondant and stippled with Royal icing. I made the fondant birdy a week in advance and "painted" some flowers on with red and blue edible colour paste. The tail was just made out of left over ribbons I had in my stash, but you could make that out of fondant too if you like.

Raspberry mudcake

250g butter
1 1/2 cups of caster sugar
1 x 85g packet raspberry jelly
1\2 cup canned raspberry or fresh raspberries pureed
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup self raising flour
2 eggs beaten lightly

METHOD
Preheat oven to 160 degrees and line the bottom and sides of a 18cm round deep (non springform) tin. (I line my tins with brown paper and then baking paper)

Combine butter, caster sugar, raspberry jelly, pureed or canned raspberries and water in a saucepan and stir over low heat till butter has melted, transfer to large mixing bowl and let cool for 15 minutes.

Whisk in flours and eggs and pour into prepared pan

Bake for approx 1 hour, then open oven door and rotate the tin and also place a circle of baking paper on top of the cake (stops it from rising unevenly and splitting) Close oven door and bake for another 30 min, check cake to see if its done. Stand cake in tin untill completely cool and remove and store till needed.



I searched high and low for a nest and stumbled upon Kataifi (ka-ta-i-fee), its a shredded dough the Greeks use for sweets (and savouries) You just shape it into a nest, brush some melted butter on it and pop it in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees celcius. I also sprinkled mine with caster sugar to make it sweet. I was contemplating making bird nest cupcakes but it would have been too much to eat (along with the cake), I've made some extra nests so might use them with choc mouse and spare Easter eggs as a dessert this week. Hope everyone is enjoying their Easter, I know I am ;-)