Alicia's 30th

Happy Birthday to my buddy ole pal Alicia!
I had the pleasure of making her birthday cake for about 80 people. I wanted to make it sure it was a good one and so tried out 3 recipes for chocolate cake and called on my family for their opinions. The final verdict was the Boiled Chocolate Cake in of the Women's Weekly cookbook for its moistness. This one also had plenty of sugar which I'm sure added to the appeal.

I made 3 batches of the recipe for the 3 fat layers which equated to over 2kg of sugar! Though it was  pretty big cake I guess. Unfortunately I didn't use an appropriate icing and so you can see the big crack in the middle when I had joined the 2 cake tin pieces together. But I am glad I used the sponge fingers to cover up the ugly sides. The green ribbon was to match the theme of 'a touch of green', Alicia's favourite colour.
From the feedback, I'm glad it was enjoyed by many in the end.

Irene & Ryan's Wedding

A big congratulations to my little sister and her now husband!
What a wonderful celebration it was and such a happy time for all.

I had the pleasure of making their wedding cake which was yet again another chocolate mud cake.

To personalise the cake a bit more I added 2 hearts dangling off the tree with their names on it. I liked it.Irene had seen a wire tree sculpture after browsing through some photos and after a little bit of a search online I could see that this wasn't too difficult and am stoked to add another skill to my learning bank.

Another skill that I learnt was cutting a wedding cake into appropriate portions. I had drawn out a guide but it totally cut into more than I expected. The bottom tier which was about 9 inches served about 50 people, amazing!

Irene had the most perfect cake stand too, it was a tree stump from their yard and made the perfect centerpiece in the backyard amongst the whole natural theme. Beautiful, just as she was :)

Bulldogs birthday cake

I got a request for a simple cake with a NRL Bulldogs theme. My first thought was "gosh, how am I going to shape a bulldog?"
But after a quick search about I was delighted to come across the idea of an edible icing image. I had never used it before but it seemed straight forward. Peel off the backing, whack it on the cake and presto done!

The cake is 3 layers of chocolate sponge (Women's Weekly recipe) with chocolate ganache sandwiched between and coated in a butter cream icing.

I was going to pipe wording on the cake but after failing with leftover royal icing which was too runny, I had to cover up the ugliness with more piped stars. Butter cream is not my friend. I still haven't figured out how to get the best texture for piping with so that it isn't all curdly-like. Sadness. But it did the job.

Thanks for letting me try a new method with the edible image Ronald :)

John's 32nd birthday

Happily, I had an idea easily pop into my head for yet another year for John's birthday cake. Well it wasn't hard since it related to his present of a car racing experience.

I was originally going to make the whole cake to be a car (after advice from his brother it was to be a Holden) but due to time and health considerations went with this simple design.
I chose to make this yoghurt and mixed berry cake (recipe from the Women's Weekly low fat cookbook) as some of his family are quite health conscious.  The sides do look bare, I know, but I figured at least this way the icing could be peeled off to maintain it's slightly wholesome status. And sure it doesn't look like a racing car but it does resemble a car and the racing grid should help! Ah cuteness.
The cake itself I was happy with and would make it again - berry moistness and light texture, nice...

Vincy & Jose Wedding cake

Congrats to Vincy and Jose on their wedding.

Vincy really likes cats and requested 2 affectionate cats as cake topppers. You can't see it but the cats tails also sweetly touch together.
I've enjoyed learn (and guessing) new techniques as I progress with cakes. The vines were new for me and overall I'm quite happy with how the cherry blossoms turned out. Also new for me was the progressive toning of the tiers, which I had only thought up as I was colouring the icing much to my delight.
The top two tiers are actually foam and golly that makes things so much faster, with not having to bake, level, ganache and line boards! Unfortunately my brain was being slow so I took a lot longer to do the icing than was necessary - don't ask how long -_-'
The bottom was a chocolate butter cake so that the cake cutting would look more natural. Happy days!

Jess & Chris' wedding cake

November saw the wedding of my sister's friends: Jess & Chris.
It's very handy when people like the style of cakes that I've already made before. And also it gave me an excuse to organise a day off work just to go buy square cake tins. Hoorah.

Chocolate cake with ivory icing.

I heard about the ivory coloured icing from a friend but I personally don't think it adds too much more the overall appearance. The ivory was quite subtle, but the icing quality itself was good. I love my new 50cm  rolling pin and non-stick mat that I bought in America, this combined with the icing helped reduce the stress level when covering the cake.

Baby shower cake

What eventually follows a wedding? A baby!
For Belinda's afternoon tea at work to wish her well for the upcoming arrival of her little one, I contributed a chocolate cake.

Another cake experimentation gone right. Hoorah.

Beer lovers cake

Another cake for month of April was John's birthday cake. Inspired by his love of beer, this idea instantly came to mind. Quite appropriate I thought, considering I was taking him a pub.

He does like his beer, but I could not bring myself to actually add beer into the cake. Something about savoury and sweet just didnt quite appeal to me, instead it contained banana and walnuts. Hmm maybe I could have added beer nuts!
This design was modelled loosely on a Tooheys bottle. It was amazing how long it actually took to make the little letters, but was well worth the detail.

Pre-wedding cupcakes

In the usual tradition at work, we celebrated Belinda's upcoming wedding with food. For the lunch in April, I decided to make vanilla cupcakes.

Lilies drying

The mini flowers were quite cute and fun to make. I'm happy with how these turned out which I had just guessed how to make. Had I had more time I would have piped on their names on the cupcakes, hence the flowers being on the side, but they did the job well.

Handbag cake

In March, a challenge was set before me by Ronald, and I welcomingly took it up! He had wanted a girly cake for a young family friend and had a great idea of a handbag. I had never made a handbag cake design before, and after a bit of research and squinting at other pictures, this cake was created.

Again the cake was the trusty standard chocolate flavour. I can see the areas of improvement that could be made (crinkles at the back, piping work) but overall I was pretty stoked with my first attempt. The feature that I was most pleased with was the zipper piece. I was told that the recipient squealled with delight and refused to cut it up, which was funny because I was wondering how they would manage that.

Suze & Noods wedding, and North Coast relaxing

Latter February was so busy and non-stop !

I was given the honour of making Suze and Noods wedding cake which I was totally stoked about. (Congrats Suze & Noods). Knowing Suze, it's gotta be quirky, which was exciting for me as I hadnt ventured into that style before. She had a great idea for the design, and I was very curious about the 4inch gummi bears she told me about .
Here's the outcome.

So sad, the one of the bows got crushed in transit somewhere during the course of the afternoon where I had several people assisting. But I'm glad it at least stayed intact. And it was the first time that I had tried out the choc mud recipe too, which was a bit risky, but I was very happy with it and will definitely use it again. (more cake photos further down post)

The wedding itself was fantastic too. So well organised and flowed well. And the food! Held at an Asian restaurant, there were 13 dishes which came out through the night and of course you have to try each and everyone of them. But the end of the night I was sooo stuffed. Snapshots:

Hands on lobster. What an effort!

Fishy. What a pity Lauren missed the chance to suck out the eyeball :P

What a superly fantastic idea for a bomboniere, self serve lollies!

Such a fantastic night. The following day I meet up with another friend for lunch at Liana's in Parra. Still feeling full from the night and knowing that I didnt really need to eat for the rest of the week I thought I would get something small....

Small I had thought, small it was not. The serving of brushetta was not only huge but tasty. Mmm mm I'm a sucker for smoked salmon and avocado. I did manage to get through the bulk of it, finishing off all the toppings of course.
Other dishes on offer, also for the hungry.

The week prior to the wedding I went away to Foster for the first time. It's such a lovely peaceful and relaxing place! We went fishing (I cast my first line!), canoeing, beaching, lots of walking, spotted a dolphin and lots of enjoyable eating. And where of the pictures of the weeks frivolities you wonder? I left my camera behind at home :( Much sadness. Being desperate to capture the moment, went old school and purchased a disposable with limited 27 shots. How different it was to actually stop, frame the shot and count to three. No food photos were taken!
The weekend prior to Foster I hung out with friends at Terrigal to begin the relax beach mode. How luxurious to have a holiday house with the beach as your backyard, and every morning waking up to this sight

Loved it. Thanks for your hospitality Mia and Elissa.

Additional photos / notes of the cake in progress:
Step 1: Bake cake

Step 2: Ganache cake. (Again the first time I have tried this method properly. Note the whole bowl of icing!)

Step 3: Covering and decorating the cake

Step 4: Assembling the cake

Step 5: Transport the cake (whilst trying not to stress too much about it staying intact)

Coincidentally it was another friends birthday during this preparation time and I managed to squeeze in a bonus mini cake with simple decorations. (giant 2 and 5 candles were to be assembled on top) Happy Birthday Saby!

Latter half of 2009 continued - part 2

I love attending wedding and got invited to 2 lovely ones. Funny, for both of them I got the fun job of ushering.
Congrats to Lori and Aron! Such a great couple, and a fantastic wedding I must say.
Their reception was held at Le Montage in Lilyfield, it was pity for them about the rain but it is a great location by the water. And the food! Soo much of it, I dont know how anyone could finish the lot!
First there was the shared antipasto starter, and you have your bread roll, followed by an entree of either salad or cheesy tortellini.

All this in itself is quite filling. So when they brought out the mains of either steak with wedges or creamy chicken with risotto, your stomach starts bracing itself. I think I only managed one third of the chicken.

And of course you have to have dessert to top of the meal. This was either a cookies and cream tart or a raspberry cheesecake. Both YUM.

And you cant forget the wedding cake. Pretty. I think it was made by one of Lori's relative.

Congrats to Kim and Cam also!
Another beautiful wedding and joyous display of commitment to each other.
Their reception was held at Mandavilla Function Centre at Horsely Park. Another great location, very spacious and off the main road. I loved how they had an archway on wheels for when the couple entered the room.
Here we were served an entree of either chicken caesar salad or calamari rings and salad.

Followed by chicken or fish with mash. I had got chicken both times so luckily James was kind enough swap with me for the fish.

And this was topped off with either profiteroles or mousse. I was so hoping for the mousse but alas it was not to be. I didnt think there was a dessert I wouldnt enjoy but I have come to a realisation that I dont think I'm a fan of profiteroles in general. Maybe something about the 'tough' texture of the pastry compared to other pastries.

And the pretty cake made by Kim's friend. Lovely.

As part of the Good Food Month, my friends and I caught up over high tea at Radissons in the city one October weekend. Delicious. (Good ole footie final in the background)

Also as part of the October fooding we made a trek to Ashfield for the "Yum Cha" which was street stall all other the main street. Being too crowded we decided to just head in to an actual restaurant. (Another excitement was that I saw Jay from Frenzal Rhomb wandering the streets!)
This was much more worth it than roaming the streets. We got various noodles and meats, you know, asian stuff...Check this one out though. It's like scrambled eggs, and provided much visual amusement. Mm tasty.

Deciding to continue on with the adventuring we tried to find dessert. The guy heartily assured us 'yes they served desserts' and 'yes this is a sweet dish' after we asked several times. We were quite unconvinced but gave these a go anyway. We should have known, the menu didnt even have a dessert page or heading.

Curry puff-ish buns

Coated fried sourish berries topped in a sweet snot textured syrup

Red bean mushy filling in fried pastry (the most somewhat familiar dish for me)

These werent our typical sweets. We needed more sugar! So we were a little disappointed but it was worth the attempt.

More asianing as it was Grandma's 80th birthday celebratory dinner with the extended family coming from overseas. Dinner was had in Parra on Church St, there was that many of us that we had our own room to be rowdy in :P
All kinds of interesting dishes were ordered. Of particular note:
Lobster is a mighty lot of effort to get into, and the reward is so so. I just dont like getting my hands dirty :P

Fishy

Haha, Pink bottoms! (Actually sweet buns with a red bean filling - most fun to squeeze out...of the bottom)

On Grandma's actually birthday, the Aussie troop went out to Parra again, this time at Tingha Palace within Parra Leagues Club.
This asian version of cold meats was also ordered at the other dinner but I hadnt tried it all last time. So you have your usual BBQ pork and gravy beef etc and there in the centre is a clearish sauce coated noodle looking mass - jellyfish. Iiinteresting.

And there was pigeon which I havent had before. It kinda reminded me of the taste of liver. Dirty fingers again. Yes that is the head there. I'm, not sure if anyone attempted to 'eat' it.

Mixed pot of chicken feet, sea cucumber and fish something. They do like their delicacies. I had tried the sea cucumber previously and I dont recommend this at all if you're not a mushy  jellyish 'slimy' texture eating person.

While my cousin was in from the US we had to give her a taste of some local goods. An Angus burger was mentioned so after a random search on the net we settled on the Helm bar in the Darling Harbour. The burger was pretty high but Janet managed to get around it.
Bread and dips

Trunk's salmon

My beef salad with witlof and beetroot

Later on there was also Karina's birthday where we had dinner at Dedee's in Abbotsford till Brett finished his shift there. The restaurant has a fantastic view over the water, a guitarist playing cruisy tunes, so romantic for the 4 of us :P
And the food? MmMm. It was posh nosh for me.
Seafood pasta

My halomi and greens

Dessert tasting plates are a must. Ooh I could so go there again just for dessert. (Creme caramel, Date slice, coffee something and something tart)

I also made Karina a cake, upon Ronald's great suggestions that she liked her drinks I made a sort of wine bottle shaped white mud cake.

I also made an effort to get to Sculpture by the Sea this year. Excellent works of art. I'm impressed every year. On the food side, if this is the sauce for the sushi, I'd like to see the sushi! Funky.

John and I celebrated our 3yr anniversary by combining the 2 things we each love into one - music and food. Perfect!
After watching Where The Wild Things Are at the Dendy we strolled down to The Vanguard for dinner and live music by Steve Balbi. It has such a great atmosphere.
My salmon and tortellinis

John's steak with yummm mash

There was also the numerous Christmas eating at work, at a workmate's place, with our bible study group, with the family, with John's family and for my sister's birthday. All of thorough enjoyment and actually I dont feel of excessive consumption.
But that is enough. I might do the 2009 musings in the next post.