Masquerade cake: Tutorial

Today we're going to learn how to make a gumpaste mask. But first, a more pressing matter. Check out this wicked apron I got for Christmas..

Tehaha Love it. Ok. Now onto more important things.. lets learn how to make this. 



You will need;
Gumpaste – any chosen colour
Cornflour
Rolling pin
Scissors
Knife
Baking paper
Cling wrap
Led pencil
Plastic Mask
Royal icing
Piping bag plus tips
Sparkles!!! Or any decorations you want to use, like peacock feathers.

First off, design your mask. It’s always a good idea to have a design idea before going in. I always sketch my designs while surrounded by inspiration. But be flexible, sometimes the best laid plans can go awry. I made two masks, because my first design sucked. Seriously. It sucked hard, kids!

You also need to make a template for your mask. I found a few I liked and made a variation of them.

Trace your template onto some baking paper and cut out. Next you will need to cut your template out of gumpaste, so prepare your bench top with a sprinkling of corn flour and roll your gumpaste to approximately 5mm thick. We want it to be thick and sturdy. 

Lay your template over the gumpaste and using a small, sharp knife cut out the mask, leaving the eye holes til last.

You may find that the gumpaste will shift as you are cutting it. No problem, just used your index finger to smooth out and shape the gumpaste so it’s all even. Then proceed to cutting out the eye holes. Now, be patient. Once you put this on the actual mask to dry, you’ll probably have to trim the eyes again to get them even.

Now that you have your mask, you'll want to get that realistic shape. Enter the creepy plastic face mask! So, to stop the gumpaste from sliding off, place a layer or two of cling wrap on the plastic mask. You will also want to raise the plastic mask so the gumpaste mask doesn’t dry with its tips sticking out like a pair of tiny wings. I stuck an upside down bowl under mine, which worked a treat!

Once dry, we start the fun bit.. Decorating! I also took the extra step of trimming my dry mask with a small knife, just to round off the corners and even the whole thing out. You may also want to redo the eye holes.

Assuming that the actual mask won’t be consumed, we’re going to use a bit of led pencil to trace our design on the mask (and honestly, who of us didn’t suck on or chew the living daylights out of some led pencils in primary school? Didn’t hurt me).


Ok so, grab some baking paper and trace the outline of your mask, including the eye hole (don’t use your original template because the shape of the mask will have changed).

Use this to draw your design onto. Once you have finalised it, flip the baking paper over and trace the outline of the design. Then, lay the baking paper over the mask (right side up) and rub over the outline again. This will transfer the led on the back of the baking paper onto your gumpaste. Use this technique to ensure all your design is even and consistent.

Now we have a lovely stencil to pipe over. Fill your piping bag with royal icing, coloured to your choice. I was using very dark green/almost back edible sparkles so I tinted my royal icing black. I also used a round #1 size tip, but use your discretion based on your design. Work in sections so the royal icing doesn’t dry before you sprinkle your decorations on top. If it does dry quickly, just grab a fine paint brush and paint with a little bit of water, then sprinkle your decorations on.

To finish I grabbed some peacock feather which I glued to the back with royal icing. Attach to the cake with more royal icing and voila! One beautiful masquerade birthday cake for a beautiful girl.. Happy Birthday Ashleigh!

Frisky Friday - Punk Rock is not dead

Today I had a sudden realisation. You may recall that my Mac died a few weeks ago and I lost everything (promise this is the last time I will harp on about the bloody mac!). Well, today I realised that I'd lost all my music from years past, music that I firmly believe helped shape me into the person that I am today.

Music has always been a big part of my life. In high school I was a total punk rock kid, listening to Blink 182, New Found Glory, The Starting Line, etc. I'm also a contemporary and classically trained singer/teacher. Fo realz. My brother is a bad ass drummer who also plays guitar, bass, violin and probably many other instruments I am not aware of. And my father taught me everything I know about rock and roll.

I also realised today that no one has ever made me a cake. I've made a bucket load for my friends and families, but have never had a big pretty, fondant covered monstrosity to call my own. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about this fact. If you're going to give someone a cake, I believe it needs to be a work of art and truly represent that person to a T!

Which again, got me thinking (big effin day for KayB!). If I ever got a special cake, what would it be? What would best represent me? Well, I found it. I WANT THIS BABY!!!

(photo by emptysound on Flickr)

Seriously, I am obsessed with The Beatles. Beyond the music and movies, I have numerous books and artworks devoted to the legendary four. They revolutionised rock and roll for the entire industry, and I don't think I've ever heard any artist say 'nah, I wasn't influenced by The Beatles'. I always have music playing while baking and I promise you, I've made some of my best cakes listening to The Beatles.

So, if you could have any type of cake, what would it be?

Just to get you in the mood, here are the rocking and rolling bips and bops;

This is one bad-ass 6 year old birthday cake.. rock on little dude!
Nothing says old school rock like a jukebox cake. Oh how I'd love a jukebox to call my own!
You can't deny that Gene Simmons' face on a cake is kind sexy.. what, just me? I love KISS!
Seriously, this 5 year old either has some wicked advanced design skills or the coolest parents ever. What kind of child gets a three tier, topsy turvy, punk rock, skull encrusted cake?

Frisky Friday - Kiss me, I'm Irish!

But seriously, show me some lovin'! St Patrick's Day is just around the corner and every year I celebrate at the local Irish pub near my work, eating Guinness Pie with mash and drinking several pints of Guinness. Oh and also avoiding all serious work by devoting myself to making countless origami clovers. Good day! My Mother's ancestors came out from Ireland some many years ago, but if you need any more proof of my Irish blood then check this out..

AHHH IT'S MY LITTLE BRO AND HE HAS RED HAIR! (Oh, hay there JayB! You're on my blog! It's cause you're attractive, like me). 

"Tee Har Tee Har Tee Har, Don't touch me lucky charms!" That's the sound a leprechaun makes, right? Ok. Enough with the red hair/leprechaun racism. 

So, do you celebrate St Pat's Day by eating and drinking yourself stupid? Or do you have another holiday that is all consuming of your energy (and Christmas doesn't count, cause I'm pretty sure it's actually law in most states now to eat heaps of food on Chrissy!). 

You've probably figured out by now that this week's Frisky Friday is going to comprise solely of Irish treats. And you would be correct. Congratulations. Please have this pot of gold as a prize. And by pot of gold I actually mean awesome links to rad food. Enjoy!

Rainbow cookies on a stick  = #WINNING

Pretty sure we need to make more pies, especially the variety with booze in them. Like this Irish Cream Pie

I HEART WHOOPIE PIES, particularly pretty coloured ones. 

Again, booze in baked treats. Guinness in cupcakes. I'm sold.

Ahhh more leprechaun jokes. And gold cake balls. Told you there'd be a prize pot full of gold!

The perfect St Pat's Day milkshake. It's also on the healthy side of the spectrum. You're gonna need that after all of the above!

Green Pancakes! But no more artificial colouring cause my head is actually about to explode. These have spinach, instead! Nom nom nom nom.

Happy St Patrick's day, y'all! x 

Masquerade cake and pretty peacock feathers

 I couldn’t wait any longer to show you what I’ve been working on for the last week. Tah-Dah! It’s so puuuuurrrrtttttyyyy!  I was asked to make this cake for a masquerade themed 21^st birthday party; however the birthday girl had no idea about it up until cake time. SURPRISE!

I’m really happy with how it turned out. I would have liked the colour to have been a bit more ‘teal’, but there were some serious last minute fondant issues which meant having to start over all again *sigh*. Full tutorial on how to design and make this beauty will be up next week. For now I’m off to RADelaide for work. Catch ya’ll on the flip side!

Frisky Friday - The McGriddle is coming!!

Have you ever seen the movie ‘Super Size Me’ by Morgan Spurlock? It’s actually one of my favourite movies, I even used it for my HSC Drama studies. You may or may not remember Morgan discussing how “a pancake-wrapped creation..won my heart in Texas”. Well guess what. After much anticipation (and protesting by all of the 35 facebook fans who support ‘Bring the McGriddle to Australia') the McGriddle is coming late 2011!!! (according to Wikipedia).

Apologies if I’m way behind the times and you all knew that this was happening, but I only just found out today that McGriddle was on its way to our shores. And I’m excited. Let me paint you a picture. Image heading to McDonalds and not knowing what to get for breakfast. You’re torn between a Sausage and Egg McMuffin and the Hotcakes (perhaps you like your hot cakes decked out with ice cream and apple pies, I ain’t judging!). McMuffin, hotcakes, McMuffin, hotcakes. Now you can have them both, rolled into one!!!!! It’s frickin genius. Sausage, egg, cheese smooched together with two maple flavoured pancakes. Get ready, people. Get ready.

And now to bring myself down from this sugar/fat induced high, here are this week’s bips and bops;

• Blondes DO have more fun. I should know, last 12 months of my life have been blonde. Now I have Blonde Rocky Road to go with my super cute pixie blonde do.

• Last week I went to a music festival and I DIDN’T have a corndog. So now I’m making my own! Mwahahahaha deep fried goodness.

• Need some lunch time inspiration? Scanwich is my new fav site, dissecting the almighty sandwich from the inside out.

• Following on the Micky D’s theme, you gotta have the real thing French Fries.

Catch ya'll next week!

Frisky Friday - Our first ever! And the Angry Birds Playable Cake.

G’day Chooks.

As I have mentioned in my recent posts, I have been without a working camera for some time. I am (not so) secretly longing for an SLR to call my own, but as someone who knows nothing about giant, high powered cameras I am yet to delve in that deep (help please?).

Last week was my birthday. I turned 19.. again.. for the 5th time! ;) I got spoilt, most notably by my boyfriend, Michael with the gifting of a brand new digital cannon. Hip hip hurray! Finally, I can blog properly without feeling like I’m looking at photos through a haze or without my glasses on!

It’s also interesting to note that a mere 4 days after I received this teeny, tiny camera, my beloved one year old MacBook died. Her hard drive just stopped driving and decided to take the graphics card with it. I was absoultly gutted! The wonderful Sneh and Sugarpuffi sent hugs and support my way, but unfortunately a few personal things such as photos were not backed up and hence lost into the ether. I felt like Carrie Bradshaw but with less expensive and fashionable shoes.

All my sob stories aside, I am now back online and ready for action! To celebrate, I thought I would introduce a new weekly post. My personal mantra for this blog is to focus in on, and spread the love of pretty food (..because we all like to eat food that looks good!). And being included as part of the fabulous Sydney food blogging community, I’ve been readily exposed to the most amazing, gorgeous, fun, sexy, adventurous foods that you could ever imagine. Now I plan on spreading these amazing finds onto you all.

Without further adu, I welcome you all to ‘Frisky Friday!’ Where I will gather up all the beautiful, luxurious, sexy foodie finds I have come across during the week.To kick us off I present to you 'Angry Birds The Cake' - possibly the most addictive game out there? Besides paper toss, obviously. Well, may I present possibly the most addictive cake out there. I have so many things I want to say about this cake, but I think I should just leave you all to watch the video and enjoy. Ahhhh, to be six again...

 

And here is the rest of the fun stuff, the extras, the bips and bops of it all;


Flaming fruit on alcoholic drinks!

A cookie, stuffed with.. ANOTHER cookie.

World Nutella Day means you can eat nutella and bacon. Together. Seriously.


Now I'd like to wash down that nutella/bacon goodness with a cocktail. Lucky I got me a bottle of Bacon Bourbon handy.


Oh, Don Draper. I could just eat you up. Literally. Mad Men Cupcakes!!

Be still, my beating heart.. Cake batter pancakes. 

'Cheat Sheet' Mini Pecan Pies

Recently, MummyB had a birthday. Exciting times. We went out and ate Chinese food. It was yum. I made dessert. Being a week night it was a bit hard to find time for a big, fondant covered monstrosity of a cake. Lucky for me, MummyB loves pecan pies. I’m pretty sure she’d eat pecan pies everyday for the rest of her life, if she could without the threat of obesity or heart failure. Being the fabulous daughter that I am, I used my very minimal time to create what I now call ‘Cheat sheet mini pecan pies’.


You will need;
4 sheets of frozen short crust pastry
1/2 cup golden syrup (you may prefer less syrup, this amount makes them very caramel-y)
1/3 brown sugar
½ cup melted butter (no salt)

100 - 120g pecans, roughly chopped

2 eggs
Good glug of vanilla essence!
1 big ol’ can of dairy whip! Or real cream if you prefer. My family like the Dairy Whip cause you can shoot it right into your mouth. Or each other’s face, depending on our mood.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Let your pastry thaw out on the bench before cutting your circles. You will need a 12 hole muffin tray and a circle cutter ( I think I used about a 10cm cutter, but have a play and you’ll find the right size. Keep in mind that the pastry will shrink a bit when cooking, so you should have a little bit of overhang).

Spray your muffin tray with cooking oil then gently mould your circles of pastry to the pan. I loathe under cooked pastry, but even though these are small pies, I still gave them a quick blind bake in the oven before filling. Because I am lazy and dread the idea of rice or baking weights going everywhere in my kitchen (I am possibly the messiest cook ever), I used scrunched up balls of aluminium foil to weight the pastry while baking. Much, much easier. Whack em’ in the oven for 5 minutes or until the pastry starts to flake slightly.

Next up, the filling. In a bowl place the golden syrup, brown sugar, melted butter, eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined. Once your pie cases are out of the oven and cooled slightly, fill with pecan bits (I used quite a lot. Use your own personal discretion). Then top off with the filling mixture.

Pop them back in the oven for half an hour or until set... Grab a small plate and place the not-so-pretty-looking pies on it. Put the plate right at the front of the fridge, in plain sight, so your boyfriend is distracted by these and does not eat the nice looking pies that you will be giving to your Mumma for her birthday. Makes 12. Super dooper easy, and super dooper tasty.

*yes, I know the photos are shitty. Still no camera.
**yes, I know there were no decent photos of the finished product worth posting
***yes, I know I am a ridiculously messy cook.
**** yes, I know all this makes me a terrible food blogger. I promise to rectify this with the purchase of a new camera once I find myself with a spare weekend, void of any weddings, birthdays, family gatherings, etc.