Spring Swirl Cupcakes

Another creation from this weekend, a small celebration of Spring. It was lovely over the weekend but now we have been plunged into winter again, and I have resorted to turning the heater on!

Orange Zest Cupcakes, moisted with orange and rum sugar syrup, topped with a swirl of cream cheese frosting, baby lemon glitter and pink balls.

Chocolate Fudge Cupcakes

Classic Chocolate Cupcakes topped with oh so yummy Dark Chocolate Fudge Frosting or Orange & White Chocolate Fudge Frosting.

Styled wtih edible glitter and coloured metalic balls.

Disco Ball Cake & Cupcakes

What type of cake do you have to celebrate a 30th Birthday when the theme is 70's Disco? Why a Disco Ball Cake of course!

Chocolate & Rum Disco Cake Ball, styled with royal icing and individual tiles of silver fondant encrusted with edible glitter. Displayed on custom made cupcake stand.

Orange & Rum cupcakes frosted with lushious chocolate fudge icing, styled with orange sprinkles and gold glitter.

Chocolate cupcakes frosted with sherbet sweet white chocolate orange fudge icing, styled with grated chocolate and gold glitter.

Kalhua & White chocolate cupcakes frosted with Kalhua buttercream, styled with freshly ground coffee and gold glitter.

60th Birthday Cake

60th Birthday Cake
Originally uploaded by cupcaketastic.

2 layers of Orange Buttercake with 1 layer of Carrot Cake, filled with Maramlade Italian Buttercream. Finished with Vanilla Italian Buttercream, gold edible glitter and white choclate dots. The 60 is made from modelling paste and spikes are the candles.

But Wait there's more . .

3rd - 60th Birthday Cake

2 layers of Orange Buttercake with 1 layer of Carrot Cake, filled with Maramlade Italian Buttercream. Finished with Vanilla Italian Buttercream, gold edible glitter and white choclate dots. 60 is made from modelling paste and spikes are the candles. The colours for this one are not what I had envisaged, but still effective.

OMG What a Weekend

1st - The Rainbow Paddle Pop Cake

In Australia we have stick icecreams called Paddle Pops, one of the flavours is basically a tasteless milky vanilla which looks extactly (maybe a little less pink) like the icing effect on this cake.

This one gave me grief, the Italian Buttercream just wasn't its usual beautiful self, tasted delish, but wasn't behaving. The cake was supposed to have delicate swirls covering in but the buttercream just wouldn't pipe without cracking (you can see a little bit of the problem on the bottom piping). So I got out my trusty balls and went nuts. I love silver balls, they are so effective. If look closely enough you should be able to see me reflected. As for the inside its the Orange Buttercake filled with Marmalade Italian Buttercream.

Topsy Turvy Wedding Cake

Topsy Turvy Wedding Cake
Originally uploaded by cupcaketastic.

Well I am very proud to announce that I have just completed my first wedding cake. Upon reflection, I now realise that I set my standards bar very high. I will not pretend that it was easy in any way, but the techniques that I got to practice and the complications (like heat and humidity) I had to overcome were all a great learning curve.

Red & Yellow Tiers - Rich Chocolate Butter cake, filled with two layers of Espresso Italian Buttercream, oh so delicious.

Blue Tiers - Fresh Orange Butter cake, filled with two layers of Marmalade Italian Buttercream, adds an interesting twist.



Cake covered and styled with White Chocolate Flavoured Fondant, all decorations made from same fondant. There is a touch of edible glitter on the roses and flannel flowers, I love edible glitter.

Topsy Turvy Wedding Cake
Originally uploaded by cupcaketastic.

Does anyone know who developed this cake design, I need to thank them and give them credit for their fab work. The original picture I found is on flickr, thank you to Princes of Ilyr who posted the picture and for providing such a wonderful inspiration.

A big thank you to a lovely friend who watched my kids at various times, unfortunately my kids are as obsessed about cake & cupcakes as I am, and they particularly love to 'help' with what they think is playdoh (fondant).

We'll be getting back to making cupcakes soon (I don't even want to look at the kitchen at the moment), and there are quite a few family & friend birthdays in March, strangely they have all requested big cakes, so keep checking back for them this month. Also does anyone have any requests ie. recipes or decorating techniques etc, ideas for posts. Gotta fly!

Jaffa Cake

Steve's 30th Jaffa Cake
Originally uploaded by cupcaketastic.

The other week I was asked to whip up a 30th birthday cake for a mate. Having very little in the cupboard in the way of ingredients and pretty low in enthusiasm, I created the Jaffa Cake, not an original combination orange & chocolate but it is always a crowd pleaser. I had a baked 12 inch Orange Butter Cake, in the freezer which had sank in the middle, but flipping it over hid that little problem. So I covered in wonderful Chocolate Glaze and encrusted the top with smashed Jaffas, a ring of whole Jaffas around the bottom finished the look (and stopped me from eating too many leftovers). Vola - Happy 30th Birthday!

Orange Butter Cake with Marmalade Buttercream

These recipies have been requested by Alicat3 from Flickr if you have time pop over and check out her photos which are all stunning and truely show a love of food and all things funcky. She claims to have found the Ultimate Brownie Recipe which I MUST try sometime soon. So a request from her is a real boost for me. The following are not my recipies but from The Whimsical Bake House by Kaye & Liv Hansen this book is my fav cookbook at the moment I highly recommend it. All I did was add the Marmalade Twist. Enjoy!

Orange Butter Cake

Trial Buttercream Wedding Cake - Mini
Originally uploaded by cupcaketastic.

Grease two 10 x 3-inch round pans. Preheat the oven to 350oC. Have all ingredients at room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat at high speed until light and fluffy:

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups sugar

Add and beat well:

6 large egg yolks
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

On a piece of wax paper, sift together:

3 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

Add the dry ingredients alternately to the butter and egg mixture with:

3/4 cup milk
3/4 sup strained fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon grated orange zest

Pour 3 1/2 cups of the batter into one prepared pan and the remaining batter into the other. Bake the less full pan for 20 to 25 minutes and the fuller pan for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cakes on a wire rack for 15 to 20 minutes before turning them out of their pans.

Yield: 9 cups of batter


Italian Meringue Buttercream (Kaye's Buttercream)

In a saucepan, bring to boil:

1/2 cup water
2 1/4 cups sugar

Use a clean brush and cold water to wash down any sugar crystals that form on the sides of the pan as the water heats. When the sugar comes to a boil set a timer for 7 minutes, and let boil.

After 5 minutes, in the bowl of an electric mixer, begin to whip at high speed:

1 cup egg whites (about 12 large egg whites)

Whip until stiff. They should be done when the timer goes off.

With the mixer on high speed, slowly beat the sugar syrup into the egg whites, pouring the syrup to the side of the bowl to avoid the whip.

Continue to beat until the bowl is cool to the touch, about 10 minutes. Slowly add:

1 1/2 pounds (6 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces

When the buttercream begins to jump out of the bowl, reduce the speed to low. Mix in at low speed.

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Beat until light and fluffy. At some points the mixture might look curdled. Just keep beating; it will become smooth again.

Yield: 8 cups

Can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. When using chilled beat until smooth and creamy.

Separate the required quantity of buttercream and mix through a good marmalade to taste.


Both recipies taken from The Whimsical Bake House, Kaye & Liv Hansen.