Sky high salted caramel and chocolate ombre cake for a last minute birthday order! Asked to make it look pretty so a little flower, some strawberries and crushed nuts helped with this one. Would have loved a piece of this one... delectable. 

Next up, a kids chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream roses. I was anxious with the piping buttercream roses as I have always felt that mine weren't good enough to look good but decided to try it out and I think I like it! The trick is to have the buttercream consistency correct. Not too runny and a cooler room temperature helps with the buttercream holding shape. And huge hint... don't ever try and pipe whipped ganache like buttercream! It makes for one melting mess...

And another 4-layer chocolate caramel ombre cake. It is proving to be very very popular...

I've never had much luck with yeast. Ever.

Until these croissants. It started off as a challenge and I was intrigued.

Day 1: Create dough and rest.

Day 2: Laminate dough and rest.

Day 3: Roll, shape, proof and bake!

They are the pinnacle of a labour of love ... patience and a gentle hand required here. And the result is so worth it and they are infinitely better than those bought from any bakery. Makes the 4 a.m. wake up so worth it. I even dabbled with ham & cheese for a few.

It is Bastille Day on Monday so I've decided to make another batch for work. Perhaps this is the beginning of a new partnership with yeast, starter and dare I say... BREAD!?!? 

Flowers, frangipanes and chocolate for Cath's retirement. She is travelling with her husband to Europe indefinitely. Buying a motor-home and doing as they please. I only wish that one day, I will do what I say I want to do, not just dream about it. . .

And to finish the week (cake-wise), whipped up a frosted raspberry and vanilla cake for a birthday in the Hunter Valley. Wine, country roads, scenery, open fires and good company. My kind of weekend!

I'll admit that making cheesecakes with fruit as opposed to chocolate or liquor or cookies etc etc is indefinitely more popular and perhaps more refreshing and lighter than other cheesecakes. Baked cheesecakes are known for being dense (try Japanese or unbaked for a lighter texture). I do love experimenting with other flavours though and its been awhile since trying green tea, black sesame, etc etc. Will have to find an occasion. 

I'm quite fond of piling fruit on top and leaving it rustic looking. It sets it apart from the cakes in the shops and it personalizes each cake. It also shows that the produce is 100% fresh :)

Haven't made a custom-cake in a few weeks so it is very exciting to get back into it! ;)

I had eagerly done my research on gummy bears and more specifically the little mascot. Apparently, there is a song and TV show decided to it??? Not sure if that's available in Australia but we have the Haribo Gummy Bears in the shops everywhere. Yummy. Got a bunch of them left over and if I was younger, I would totally make vodka bears out of them!

Made a 1.5 batch of vanilla cake today. Decided to be clever and used two baking tins to bake the bigger cake so that they baked and cooled much quicker. It worked! And it just so happened that I put all three cakes in the oven at the same time and they all took the same amount of time to bake - so was perfect. Happy with the result. Even happier with the thin perfect layers that I cut from them. There is just something about thin layers of cake.. more delicate, elegant and refined.

Not long into the cake prep, I realised that what i was most looking forward to was actually just to stick the gummy bears onto the cake (duh... the easiest part!). And as I hadn't really planned ahead, I had to make Mr Gummy Bear as the cakes were cooling. Luckily, it's cool and dry today so the fondant held its shape quite well. And thanks to toothpicks, Mr Gummy Bear is sturdy and intact. And he was quite easy to make too. Chucked in butter, icing sugar, passionfruit and homemade lemon curd for some tartness into the kitchenaid and out came some delicious buttercream... :) Easy peasy!

I amaze myself sometimes... all up, this cake didn't take long at all. I fluffed around a bit this morning and took my time baking the cake but it was only probably another 90 minutes or so to assemble the cake and make Mr Gummy Bear. Efficiency makes me happy.