Viola Odorata

It's a big call but I have to say that I think this next cake is the prettiest cake I've done to date.

I love the simplicity, elegance and colour of this cake. Although the design isn't exactly extravagant like my usual style, theres something about the look of this cake that makes me swoon and so proud to say "yep I did that".

The lovely Nicola of Note to Self approached me to make some "Violet macarons" .. not the colour violet but violet flavoured. She then requested for a cake along the same lines.

As I have never used fresh flowers on a cake before I thought this would be my chance. I decided to incorporate fresh edible 'violets' also called Viola Odorata into the cake. The cake was a light lemon curd and vanilla flavour with a meringue icing topped with these gorgeous violets.

I didn't really know what violets tasted like before this. So after tasting these fresh blossoms it was quite interesting, it was quite tart but floral at the same time and you can taste the smell if that makes sense. It was a lovely subtle floral flavour to add a bit of difference to your sweets. On a side note DO NOT TRY A SINGLE DROP OF CONCENTRATED VIOLET ESSENCE STRAIGHT FROM THE BOTTLE - it will blow your face off (needless to say, I'm speaking from experience).

Perhaps it was just the fact that I love the colour purple, which is why I love this cake. But who wouldn't melt at the sight of these beautiful purple blossoms! They look like beautiful little purple butterflies at a distance... Nature at its finest if you ask me! 

♥

ps. please note that not all violets are edible! Check with your florist, supplier or google before placing them on a cake.

Sunrise & Surprise!

Wow ok so I'm buzzing from this morning's excitement!! If you haven't seen the billon posts on Facebook, let me fill you in on what I'm going on about.

It started yesterday afternoon, it was about 5.30 pm.. I was just leaving work when I got a random phone call. It went something like this...

Agent - "Hi Rhonda, I'm a friend of a friend... just wondering if you would be interested in making a cake for Jessica Rowe's birthday." (For those who dont know, Jessica Rowe is like one of the biggest news presenters in Australia)
Me - " Of course!"
Agent - "Its for tomorrow..... 8 am delivery"
Me - " uh.... "

So, I ended up taking the cake on, all the while thinking omg what have I done!! I still had about an hr's drive from work till I got back home so it was all very nerve racking... but jst to add another hurdle to the mountain I was about to tackle. I got a text from the Agent saying its been changed to a 6 am delivery. O.M.G! ... my deadline was now 12 hrs and ticking.

I had nothing prepared obviously because I make everything custom and from scratch so it was a bit of a challenge. On top of it all I also had a previous cake order for Sat already booked in ... so really I my to do list was :

- Jessica Rowe - hand bag cake
- 60 cupcakes for the tower
- Violet cake
- 30 macarons

Let me tell you, I was a baking machine!! I didn't faff about and managed to get all the baking done in 2 hrs. Then I switched back and forth between all the items till I got it all done!! It was a good 3.30 - 4 am by the time I collapsed in bed... only to get woken up by my 5 am alarm to get ready for delivery.

Traffic was a breeze into the city (I'm guessing it usually is at the crack of dawn on a Sat) ... when we got to Channel 7 it was quite hilarious to see people still out from the night before lol!!

We got into the building and got prepped with what was going to happen. After that it was just a very nervous Rhonda waiting for the cakes to be brought into the news room to surprise Jessica! It was quite funny because so many of the Sunrise crew walking by thought the handbag cake was a real handbag!

7.36 am came and it was crunch time. They brought the cakes into the news room, whilst Wobbles and I watched the live feed on the telly outside. It was awesome to see her reaction ..check it out below for how it all turned out! In case any of you guys cant see the video, here is the link to the Youtube video.

Just when I thought it was all over, Jessica came running out the news room to say Hi and thanks! I was really taken aback that she had made the effort to come out to thank me :) We were invited into the news room where I got some pics with the crew.

I wont take all the credit. My mum was such a sweetie she helped me clean and do the dishes where she could and I couldnt have done it without her. So thanks mum!! Your the best! xxx

That all certainly made my day! and was worth every bit of hard work to pull it off!

Happy Birthday Jess! 

♥ The Dainty Baker

Angry Birds, Champagne & Tennis

Hello!!!

I have some very personal cakes to share with you guys! Each cake was made especially with the birthday boy/girl in mind and each is so different and versatile! Think this is exactly what I love about the cake decorating/making scene. No 2 cakes are really ever the same and each has so much personalisation which makes it so special :)

Tennis Cake
This cake was for a father and son birthday. Both are big lovers of tennis so I decided to make a completely edible tennis racquet for them :)

Angry Birds!
I remember when these little guys first came out, awesome game. I was pretty hooked!! lol So when one of my clients asked me to make a cake based off the red angry bird, I was genuinely excited to replicate these cute little angsty suckers! lol! The thing that made me laugh was that it was for a little 1 year old girl. hahaha I can just imagine her slinging this one back into those little green pigs and giggling when all the bricks fell.

Champagne Showers
This has got to be one of the heaviest cakes I've done lately. The bottom was a big double 12 inch mamma and the top a double barrel 8 inch carved into an ice bucket.

What I love so much about this cake was that there was alot of detail all surrounding the birthday girl. She loves to party and there was so much fun and energy from her personality that I wanted to capture in the cake. I had a little Louis Vuitton bag that she always wears, heels for fashion, her basketball jersey and a Bulldogs flag. I even put a little glass of champagne in her hands to go with the Dom Perignon! hehehe

I have to say when I saw these candles in the store I just had to incorporate them into the cake because they were just sooo cute!! ... instead of "Moet and Chandon" .. it said "Mao and Chandon" Hahahhaha ... yes yes I'm easily amused! lol

If only this was a real DP... I remember I bought one once for a farewell gift for work... never got to try it tho... guess I'll just have to stick with my sugary edible one for now ;)

On a side note....

brr its cold in Sydney lately huh?! Hope everyone is keeping warm and pumping up those Vit C's to keep from getting ill! xx

Also, Ive got a reallly reallllly exciting cake coming up soon... so make sure you "keep tuned" to see what the next sugary creation is that I'm so excited about ;)

x

Black Star Pastry

I'm having a really bad day. Like you know one of those days where one shit thing after another after another just happens and you can feel your blood pressure getting higher and higher? Well thats me right now. I don't really know how to settle myself down so I'm going to try and distract myself by writing a review post. Something I haven't done in ages!

A pastry shop I've been dying to try is Black Star Pastry. I've heard so much about their watermelon cake, it both intrigued and astonished me that someone could use watermelon in pastry! And boy am I glad that they did!!

It happened on a sunny but wintery Saturday when Wobbles and I decided to make the journey into Newtown to grab some brunch. I haven't been there before so didn't really know what to expect, except that traffic would be bad! lol When we finally got there (might have missed some turns) we found that it was more a walk in bakery with no real sit down seating. There was a giant bench outside but it was kinda crowded so we decided to get take away and settle down in North Sydney oval for an impromptu picnic.

I was like a kid in a candy store when I got inside.. which lead to me pretty much buying everything they had to offer.

Savouries

Serrano Ham Sandwich on Olive Rustic Bread - this was Wobbles but I managed to get a bite before he devoured the whole thing! The Olive bread was wowsers!! loved the subtle saltiness that came through which paired very well with the ham

Chicken, Spinach, avo and aioli on fresh bread (can't remember the actual name lol!) - Again wowsers to the bread. I think im a bit of a sucker for fresh bread and this really hit the spot as I didn't want anything too filling or would make me feel too bloated. The aioli was super yummy making the whole thing a hit combo!

Sweets

Short bread with lemon curd - I could eat a whole box of these! The tartness of the curd paired with the buttery melt in your mouth texture of the shortbread was really orgasmic. Its perfect for a small pick me up!

From top left going clockwise: Strawberry watermelon cake with rose cream, Lemon meringue with basil jelly, Bread and butter pudding with anglaise & Raspberry creme brulee tart

The basil jelly inside the meringue was such a refreshing surprise! It was a little awkward to eat though because the meringue kept touching the tip of my nose! haha

Unfortunately, the strawberry watermelon cake didn't really make the journey. As you can see half of it slipped off onto the creme brulee :( We ended up saving this along with the bread and butter and creme brulee for later. When we finally had the strawberry and watermelon cake... omg God Damn! it was sooo good!! the refreshingness of the watermelon followed by subtle floral rose flavours made me giddy and took me to Spring!! :D

We heated up the bread and butter pudding before we poured the anglaise over it. It had bits of chocolate laced through the pudding which was yummy but I thought the pudding a little dry for my taste.

I didn't get to try the creme brulee as I gave it to my sister but from her mmmss and ahhs I'm guessing it was pretty good.

Now I've just gotta go back and try the rest of their collection.. hopefully they'll have that lamb shank pie available too!!