Xmas Tree Cake pops

Came out way better than I could have hoped !



I made tree cakepops my youngest son's xmas dinner @ school & christmas day

Pink cakepops

These are my second try at cakepops and I must say with these things practice definately makes perfect. These look so much better than my 1st try ! Tasted just as good though, you really can't go wrong !

Cakepops

Ok so I'm willing to share my failures in baking, not just my successes (although I'm not sharing them all though)

These are my 1st cakepops, they are supposed to resemble halloween pumpkins, well at least they taste like cakepops ....




These were for the boys to take to school, the kids loved them !

cookbooks

It may have been quite here but I haven't stopped baking. For my birthday I've received and bought quite a few cookbooks ( i received lots of book vouchers that I'd thought I should invest wisely ;) ...

I bought Bakerella's cake pop book, Nigella Feasts, The Hummingbird bakery,Tara Ramsay's Family Kitchen, Nigella Express, Yvonne Jaspers Spaghetti aan het plafond (cookbook with dutch celebrities and their family), The Pastry Queen by Rather Oresman and I was given Somja Kimpen kook je slank & fit (belgium health guru) and High tea Party by susannah blake.

Can you believe I still have lots on my wishlist ? LOL yep plenty !

What is your favorite cookbook and which one do you desperatly need to add to your collection ?

Mini Cake Bunting

Mini Buntings on cakes are all the rage, but to be honest all the cutting stamping etc. is a lot of work after you've made a cake.

Thank god for freebies ! Here's a digital freebie for 3 different shades courtesy of the Tom Kat Studio

Download PASTEL pages HERE

Download BRIGHT pages HERE

Download BOLD pages HERE

Cupcake Stores

The cupcake stores are popping up in the Netherlands, here are some that are not more than an hours drive from me

There is one in Utrecht Sweet Things

There are two in Den Haag, Cupcake Chic and Cupies

There is one in Rotterdam, Alice in Cakeland

Have I missed any ?

Can you believe I have not been to one of these ? I think it's time for a cupcake day, touring from one shop to another ! Who's in for it ?

Pink Tea Party

This last weekend I celebrated my 40th birthday in style; a girly pink party with cupcakes ! I will share some close ups that the fab miss delis took of this table

and here's what I served:

Red Velvet Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, Vanilla cupcakes with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream, Chocolate cupcakes with strawberry swiss meringue buttercream, Marshmellow Pops, Cupcake Cookies, Chocolate covered cookies (only thing not made by me),
Croissants with parmaham, cream cheese and strawberries, Sandwiches with cucumber and cream cheese, salmon with cream cheese and mozzerella with pesto and tomato, Candy Floss

I made the cute "Keep Calm" posters @ this website.

And my garland was cute too with white cake doilies and pink tissue pompoms.

Spongebob Squarepants Party

Spongebob Squarepants is such a big hit in our hit with our boys so when dude #2 turned 6 this summer it was a great theme for his birthday.

Birthday boy (right) loved this !

Rainbow Layer Cake

Celebrating Colin's family birthday party we had to have some cake, didn't have to be perfect but I wanted it to be special so I made a rainbow layer cake.

Looks like a basic buttercream cake but with a big wow factor when you cut the first slice .....

Cupcake ribbon toppers

So easy and yet I hadn't thought of it Tutorial for riboon cupcake toppers (which you could use for any occasion just as long as you have the right ribbon) !

Custom Colored Sprinkles

Finding it hard to get the exact color of the sprinkles you need ? Well over here in Europe we do not have a lot of bake shops so this was a fabulous find ! How you may ask, all is revealed here

Cake themed room

How cute !



source

Spring Tea party

This weekend my mother celebrated her birthday, a week earlier because of mothersday, and hosted a high tea for the occasion. Last year I got ill and wasn't able to help her with decorations and baking but this year it all came together perfectly.

We served lots of green & yellow candy, scones, vanilla & chocolate cupcakes, apple cinnamon muffins, banana bread muffins, mini club sandwiches, salmon sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, chocolate, cookies, strawberries, mini pigs in a blanket and quiches.

A few things went wrong with the scones (they were intentionally smaller but I had a hard time figuring out the baking time since it wasn't my oven I had to throw quite a few out) and the cupcake toppings (i forgot to bring my mixer along so i didn't think it tasted ok enough but the guests seemed to like it).

Dinner recipe #2

Meatballs with tomato rice and spinach

Main course, 4 persons, 30 minutes, recipe from allerhande,
per 1p. portion 570 kilocalories, 21 gr. protein, 26 grams fat and 64 grams carbohydrates

2 cloves of garlic
300 grams of minced meat
1 can of tomatopieces
300 gr. rice
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 bag of fresh spinach of about 300 grams (we got ours from the turkish supermarket and it was goooood)
50 grams black olives sliced up (fresh or from a pot either is fine we got fresh ones from our turkish supermarket)

1. mash up 1 clove of garlic and cut the other ones in slices.
Combine the minced meat with de mashed garlic, season with salt & pepper as per your taste and make 12 balls.
Put the tomatopieces in a sieve above a bowl and pour 100 ml water in the can, shake and pour this over the tomatopieces. Save the liquid.

2. Cook the rice as per the instructions on the box. Heat the olive oil in a deep & big saucepan and make sure to roast the meatballs till they are nice and brown allover. Add the tomato liquid and spice it up with salt & pepper and let it simmer for 10 minutes on a middlehigh fire.
Add the tomatopieces to the rice and warm for 2 minutes.

3. Turn up the fire, add the spinach in parts to the meatballs and season as per your taste with salt & pepper. Let is simmer until the spinach has softened and its all done.

We served the rice on a huge platter, poured the meatballs and sauce on the rice and sprinkled the olives over the dish.

Review : it was yummy according to the grownups that made it and the guests, great combo although we will be adding more spices to the meatballs next time as we thought they were a bit bland.

For dessert we had Eton Mess (Nigella Lawson), a favorite recipe I will share soon.

Dinner Recipe # 1

Want to share some recipe's I've found here or there that I've been trying with my blog readers. DH and I tried this recipe, our guests loved it, we had some things we'd like to try differently next time (a little less mustard in the saus & the chicken needed more seasoning). Would love to hear what you think of it !

Easy French Bistro Menu (courtesy of Stephanie)

Menu: Chicken with creamy Dijon sauce, Roasted Potatoes, Sauteed Garden Vegetables + Butter Lettuce Salad

To make the dinner first prepare the roasted potatoes…toss cubed red potatoes with olive oil until well-coated; add sea salt & freshly ground pepper to taste. Roast the potatoes in an oven preheated to 425 degrees and cook for 30-45 minutes. The cooking time depends on the size of your potatoes (the smaller the cube, the shorter the cooking time). If you have any herbs on hand, toss those in the mix as well. Herbs like thyme, rosemary or chives work best.

Once you have the potatoes in the oven, rinse and crisp the lettuce in a salad spinner . Place in refrigerator.

Now chop spring onions (you may substitute shallots), zucchini, crimini mushrooms and perhaps yellow squash. Set aside.

Heat a cast iron pan (or frying pan) over medium heat. Throw in a 1-2 tablespoons of butter. Season 4 trimmed chicken breasts with s + p and cook about 8 minutes each side. Once cooked throughout, set aside on a platter. Using the same pan (and the chicken drippings), make a cream sauce to pour over the chicken. Add about 8 ounces of creme fraiche* and about 3 tablespoons of Dijon mustard (I prefer the Maille label) to the pan. Simmer on medium heat until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.

Quickly saute your pre-cut vegetables in a wok with a little olive oil and dried Italian herb seasoning and you’re good to go! You’ll want to saute the veggies on medium high heat.

Retrieve the salad spinner from the fridge and drain the water before giving it a good spin. Serve with a simple, homemade shallot vinaigrette–found here.

Bon Appetit !

Making roses is easier than you think

I got together with a group from the forum where I get lots of tips, help and inspiration. It was a lot of fun and I made a bunch more friends ! I learned even more tips, gave some, loved seeing what everyone was making and learned how to make some cute roses








vanilla cupcakes with white chocolate spread & fondant