Spring Time

Even though Spring officially started a week ago already, it was only yesterday that i really felt Spring, all the way through to my bones.  We celebrated the lovely weather with our first braai in absolute ages (i will abstain from mentioning how long so as to maintain my status of Proudly South African).  Speaking of which, yay!!! RWC 2011 starting soon and we (the royal 'we', 'cos i'm not at all involved actually) will be playing our first RWC match in Wellington, NZ on Sunday morning.  To celebrate this, in true Proudly SA style, we've invited some friends over for a potjie!  Am i redeemed?  


Anyway, i digress... back to Spring.  While sitting in my almost beautiful garden, regretting that i have to be sitting with my laptop in front of me and not getting my hands dirty, i feel like inspiring you with some beautiful Spring-themed goodies.  So here you are... enjoy :)


The baking trend that has hit the US hard - Cake pops, and the lady who does them the best (my opinion) - Bakerella, made these very lovely daisy-inspired cake pops

And these delightful little bees too

Beautiful Kath Kidston-inspired flower cookies by the incredibly talented Roxanne Floquet


S'more pretty flowers, this time by SweetSugarBelle

I think that these pretty blossom trees are my favourite

These au natural edible sugar biscuits from the Martha Stewart's Wedding site are such a lovely idea and so easy to make - no skill required, just a few pansies flowering in your garden!

And, what a blog by me be without a few pretty petits fours!  

HAPPY SPRING everyone :)

Mad Hatter's Tea Party!

On Thursday last week, i catered for a Mad Hatter's Tea Party for 70 ladies.  Needless to say, i had so much fun with the theme!  I made a big "Hatter's" hat, lots of fun sugar biscuits in the theme - teapots, red painted roses, white rabbits, red hearts...  Some fabulous macaroons, delicious petits fours and a bunch of yummy savoury goodies too.  Here are the not-so-fab pics that i took.  Unfortunately the light was bad and my hands were super shaky due to lack of breakfast - BAD idea!


The creative Sylvia from Special Events by Cindy did the decor: each table was decorated according to a different Alice in Wonderland character!  And the talented Nikki from Nikki Meyer Photography took pics for the birthday lady to remember all the details of this special occasion.

The very large hat made of cake!  There was so much food that the  birthday lady didn't even get around to cutting it :(  Fortunately, it will last a goodly while and they will be able to enjoy it at a later stage!

A tower of vanilla and red velvet cupcakes inspired by the Queen of Hearts scene from the Disney Alice in Wonderland movie.

A white rabbit frolicking amidst the delicious cupcakes!

Chessboard white and dark chocolate brownies

Teapot vanilla sugar biscuits

"Painted Roses" vanilla sugar biscuits

Triple lemon and raspberry petits fours

Macarons - vanilla, raspberry and blueberry

My two wonderful assistants: Sindiswa and Alicia

Smoked salmon and cream cheese blini

Chocolate Roll-Out Biscuits

On Monday i came across this post by the oh-so talented Sugarbelle.  My uncle and 8 year old cousin came to visit for a few days this week.  While "baby-sitting" my cousin, he asked if we could bake something.  As he has quite a sweet tooth and a deep fondness for chocolate, i knew exactly what we would experiment with!  Chocolate roll-out cookies...

The Judo-chop cookie cutting method!!

As you can see - a huge variety of cookie cutters were used!

 This recipe is my adaptation from Cookie Sensations by Meaghan Mountford, author of The Decorated Cookie Blog.


250 g butter
250 ml sugar
1 egg
5 ml vanilla paste
500 ml cake flour
125 ml cocoa
2.5 ml bicarbonate of soda


In a mixer, cream the butter until smooth before gradually adding the sugar.  Once light and fluffy, add the egg and vanilla.  Sift the dry ingredients over the creamed mixture.  Mix on low speed to combine the ingredients.  Knead into a ball.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 60 minutes.

Knead the dough until you can roll it out nicely.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of approximately 5 mm.  Cut which ever shapes your heart desires (we put almost my entire cookie cutter collection to use!) and place on a baking tray.  Bake for 10-15 minutes (size-dependent) in an oven pre-heated to 200 ˚C.
The baked cookies have a lovely chocolatey colour and flavour.  Good texture too.  Overall, a very easy and yummy recipe!!

Some helpful tips...

I have been ashamedly quiet lately :(  #toobusytoblog.  But, i just read this post  at Sweetopia and thought that it would be something very useful to other ladies who love to make pretty cookies as i do!  So, here i am, blogging at last, albeit not of my own making!

Have your piping bags and
nozzles at the ready

Figure out which colours you are going to need and have them ready in separate containers

Have sufficient moist cloths at your
work station - they are super handy
for wiping messy nozzles, hands etc.

As much as i love creating beautiful cookies, petits fours and cakes, I also enjoy being organised and tidy.  I have actually just been re-organising my sugar-flower-making kit/s to be more user- and space-friendly.  I was very pleased with myself when i had a look at my compartmentalised tupperwares all neatly place in my 'cake goodies' shelf!  An organised and tidy working environment definitely does led itself to more efficient and stress-free creation.


From Sweetopia, here are 10 tips to stay organised while decorating cookies.
http://sweetopia.net/2010/12/staying-organized-while-decorating-cookies-10-tips/

So inspiring!

Four decades of cookies - for a bit of fun, see if you can tell which cookies come from which decade before you have a look at Sugar Belle's post!

Sweet Sugar Belle posted this on her blog yesterday, i just couldn't resist sharing her post with you.  She is amazing - her work is sooo inspirational!  I don't think that there is an iced cookie design that she couldn't come up with!
Go to her blog to check out the rest of her pics:  http://sweetsugarbelle.blogspot.com/2011/05/four-decades-worth-of-cookies.html

The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle: Flowers in Pots Cookies

I came across these gorgeous flower pot cookies yesterday and i just have to share them with you. Sooo gorgeous!! I also love the way that Sweet Sugar Belle shows you exactly how to make them, step-by-step. I am definitely going to give them a try in the, hopefully, near future. Let me know, and send pics, if you do too!
The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle: Flowers in Pots Cookies

Spring has sprung!

I LOVE Spring! I've always loved Spring, but this year somehow i have had more time to appreciate the season and all the beauty it has to offer. It seems to me as if there is no end to the array of beautiful blossoms and flowers all around me. To celebrate nature's daily gift to us, i thought it only fitting to make a few Spring beauties of my own.