Adriano Zumbo Packet Mix Macaron and Brownie Review

Adriano Zumbo Salted Caramel and Passionfruit Macaron mixes, plus chocolate brownie mix

Join me on Facebook

We love Adriano Zumbo here in Australia, the Sydney based patissier has been proclaimed the king of macarons by those far and wide that have tasted his perfectly pretty, often exciting macarons and pastry creations. 

Now we can have a little bit of Zumbo at home with the release of Adriano Zumbo packet baking mixes. 

I usually bake from scratch and I don't have that much experience using packet mixes so I called in a "non baking friend" to try out the macaron mixes.

First a look at in what's in the box:

 

In the Salted Caramel Macaron box (pictured) there is Caramel meringue mix, Almond meal mix, and Caramel filling sachet. Two piping bags are included, one for the macaron and one for the filling. Ditto the Passionfruit but passionfruit flavoured and the brownies contain the batter mix and choc chunks.

There is a template ring so you can mark out your circles on your baking paper. You can also go to the website and download a template sheet if you, ummm "can't find a pencil??" Seriously, a lot of thought and time has gone into developing these products, from the funky packaging to video web links to help you along the way and as for the macarons lets see what a self professed non-baker can do.

I was surprised how quickly my friend was able to use an electric hand mixer make the meringue (with cold water), sift/fold and pulse in the almond meal and then piped perfect macaron circles (I did ask about their piping technique and they said "I do watch MasterChef") and baked the following...

Goodness, how perfect are these shells!!

Here they are Passionfruit complete with filling and the caramel....

I know you will be tempted to eat them straight away (and they do taste great), but do try saving them overnight to end up with the squidgy authentic macaron experience.

Still not feeling confident baking macs... you always scan the side of the macaron mix box to watch videos.

Alternatively head over to Zumbo Baking where you will find helpful videos to assist you in your baking.

More of a chocolate fan? The Adriano Zumbo range includes, chocolate brownie and choc mud mirror cake (couldn't get this one for the review). 

A quick look at the brownies... you will have this mix together in a couple of minutes... hand mix with a spoon, pour into a lined tray and viola see what you get! Served warm with ice-cream for your next family get together.

Dark and delicious chocolate brownies from the Adriano Zumbo Chocolate Brownie Mix

Happy Baking :) 

You might also be interested in liquorice ice-cream

or Bundy Banana cupcakes with toffee toppers

New release Cake, Cookie and Baking Books

Yes, it's that time of year for a sneak peak at the new and upcoming baking book releases.

Join me on Facebook

Starting with a book that is not strictly "baking", but you know it will include baking as we are talking about much anticipated first book by the brilliant blogger Deb Perelman, yes it's the Smitten Kitchen cookbook. The 336 page book has over 100 mostly new recipes, (with some of your favourites in there too) and hundreds of colour photos.

Oh my goodness don't know Deb's work, then rush over to her blog  ...hang on a sec, stay around and read my blog post first :P 

UK or Australian, our release date is next year. Can't wait? Amazon (US) has the book for preorder now for a October 30 release date  The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook 

This next book makes me smile just thinging about it. Bakerella the queen of cake pops, has a holiday book coming out October 17 aptly named 'Cake Pops Holidays' this title contains more than 40 holiday mini treats. How cute are those polar bears on the cover!! Watch Bakerella herself intro Cake Pops Holidays...

Amazon Cake Pops Holidays 

'Decorating Cookies 60+ designs for holidays, celebrations and everyday' was released this week. Not only do you get the expertise of author/blogger Bridget Edwards of Bake at 350, the book also includes guest appearances by five guest-star baker-bloggers each share a special decorating technique: Amanda Rettke of i am baker, Marian Poirer of Sweetopia, Gail Dosik of One Tough Cookie, Meaghan Mountford of The Decorated Cookie, and Callye Alvarado of The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle. A must have book for the cookie inclined. 

Decorating Cookies: 60+ Designs for Holidays, Celebrations & Everyday

Jeanne Sauvage of Art of Gluten-Free Baking  is releasing her book 'Gluten-free Baking for the Holidays' this month. The 168 page book makes for a perfect gift for gluten intolerant baker on your Christmas list, but I want it to whip up gluten-free holiday treats for friends. 

Gluten-Free Baking for the Holidays: 60 Recipes for Traditional Festive Treats

Moving away from bloggers and onto celebrity cupcakey ladies with your favourite sister act from DC Cupcakes. Yes, Katherine and Sophie have a new book for the holiday season... would make a lovely Christmas gift for a fan or if you are unfamiliar with the girls there is a very good preview of this book on Amazon's 'look inside' feature, you can read the index, see samples of recipes and their signature frosting swirl.  Sweet Celebrations: Our Favorite Cupcake Recipes, Memories, and Decorating Secrets That Add Sparkle to Any Occasion

 

Didn't think I needed another Peggy Porschen book and then she goes and writes one where the emphasis is more on afternoon tea. There is a chapter on sweet treats, one on cupcakes and many more delicious sounding baked goods. *Hint, hint loved ones... I want this book! This book has already been released in the UK market and is well reviewed on UK Amazon Due for release in the US November 29th... note the different cover pic for the US market.

Adore. Adore Thomas Keller. From the 'French Laundry Cookbook' to 'Ad Hoc at Home', Thomas Keller is a rare combination of a fine chef and a fine writer. That's why the 'Bouchon Bakery' being released October 23rd is my one must have this year!

Not from the UK? You may not know who Paul Hollywood is, unless you have caught the "The Great British Bake Off" on cable. This silver fox is strict, a touch arrogant, charming and one fabulous baker. This book is well reviewed and includes a good "look inside" feature on Amazon UK.

Also available on Amazon US How to Bake  Watch Paul intro his book and make flatbread....

 I must admit I'm a bit of a sucker for single subject cookbooks and even though I have no idea who 'Miss Madeleine' is; the promise of these little tea cakes, plain ones, dipped ones, gluten-free ones, vegan ones and chocolate ones was too much for me and I have ordered a copy.  We Love Madeleines Amazon US

Another single subject book in the 'Secrets of Eclairs'. I saw a friends copy of this book during the week, nice. Clear instructions on baking eclair shells, lots of tips, flavours, variations of fillings and toppings. Though, some ingredients such as liquid fondant may not be easily available in some places. This book would suit a more adventurous baker. Amazon UK.

available from secondary sellers Amazon US Secrets of Eclairs

An Australian books rounds out the list; the 'Sweet Studio' by Darren Purchese. Australians would know Darren from his appearance on MasterChef. Watch Darren and have a sneak peak at the gorgeous Chapel st Bakery.

the book is available for preorder from Fishpond (AU) and Amazon US Sweet Studio

Have I missed you favourite new release? Let me know in the comments section or find me on Facebook. 

Happy Baking :)

Liquorice Lovers Ice-Cream Recipe

                      liquorice lovers ice-cream

Join me on Facebook

Sad to hear that Darrell Lea is closing it's remaining 27 stores this month. The iconic Australian Chocolate and lolly maker has been producing much loved treats such as Soft Eating Liquorice and Rocklea Road® since 1927. However, all is not lost, under the new ownership Darrell Lea stands in local supermarkets and the like will continue to stock your favourites. 

For my Dad it's the original soft eating liquorice, soft sweet, rich with molasses and just a touch of salt. This ice-cream recipe today is for you Dad. 

Darrell Lea soft eating liquorice 

Liquorice Lovers Ice-Cream

you'll need an ice-cream machine for this recipe

Ingredients

200g good quality soft eating liquorice, cut into pieces

5 large egg yolks

1 cup milk

2 cups of thickened cream (in Australia this is whipping cream with a 35% milk fat content)

3/4 cup sugar

black food colour

*a prepared ice-bath... which consists of a bowl (or it could be your kitchen sink) with ice cubes in it. This is to speed even cooling of the custard mixture... you don't want to end up with scrambled eggs!!

cut liquorice

In a medium saucepan warm the milk, half the cream, sugar and the liquorice pieces. Bring to a simmer, remove pan from heat, cover and let cool.

strain mixture and discard liquorice pieces

Once cool, strain liquorice/cream mixture into a clean saucepan. Discard liquorice pieces.

In a medium bowl whisk egg yolks together. In a seperate bowl pour in the remaining one cup of chilled cream.

Gently heat the strained liquorice/cream mixture until it is just warm. Pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Return mixture to saucepan over a medium heat, stir constantly until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

the second straining step picks up any egg residue left in the mix

Strain the custard through a fine seive into the chilled cream. Add black food colour if desired.

adding black food colour

after food colour is added

Stir constantly over the ice bath until mixture starts to cool, place bowl in refrigerator or freezer to chill completely. 

Once chilled churn in an ice-cream machine according to manufacturers instructions. Let the the ice-cream "ripen" by storage in the freezer overnight before eating.

*Note... I haven't added salt to the recipe as the liquorice released enough salt, however if the liquorice you are using is particularly sweet add a pinch of salt to the cream mixture at the start.

Happy Baking :) 

you might also be interested in baci chocolate ice-cream

or what about combed chocolate curls

Marshmallow Fluff in Australia

Marshmallow Fluff is the number one item being searched for by Australians on this blog.

Join me on Facebook

Wooo Hoooo!! I found Marshmallow Fluff today at my local shopping centre. Ok, this doesn't sound too exciting if your in the US and your local supermarket has loads of the sticky, sweet spreadable marshmallow; yet we Australians are dying to get our hands on it. I can see whoopie pies on the horizon... happy baking :)

The Unique Pasta + Deli is situated on the corner of the fresh food court at Knox City. 

A well stocked continental delicatessen with fresh pastas, sauces and antipasto. The staff are friendly and well informed plus I did spy pretty, pretty macarons in the front cabinet. Almost forgot... they have Marshmallow Fluff!!!

Shop 1048 

Knox City Shopping Centre

Cnr Burwood Rd and Stud Rd 

Wantirna South 3155

Melbourne

Phone 9837 5498

Wild Hibiscus Mini Cupcake

                                  Wild Hibisicus Mini Cupcake

Join me on facebook

The roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa) is a species of Hibiscus native to the Old World tropics. In Australia we know the roselle plant as 'Rosella'. wikipedia

Rosella cordial and jam has been made in Australia since the colonial times, popular in Queensland where the Rosella plant flourishes. It's a bit cold where I am for a Rosella plant, but spurred on by successful plantings on the gardening forums I'm going give it a try and plant this spring. It can be grown as a perennial or annual, so I'll be trying to grow this small shrub as an annual.

 image wikipedia commons

Love, love, love the raspberry/plummy flavour of Rosella jam and can't wait to make a batch myself, but in the interim I have a jar from the supermarket and syrupy wild hibiscus flowers that I used to top today's cupcake.

wild hibiscus flowers in syrup and rosella jam

You may have seen these wild hibiscus flowers in a champagne cocktail, though they are equally at home paired with brie as part of a cheese platter or topping a pavlova. Fabulous stuffed with sweet or savory fillings, or try dipping the bases in white chocolate to serve with after dinner coffee.

I used flowers straight from the jar to top today's mini cupcakes; the rosella flowers are sweet, soft and fleshy with notes of raspberry/plum and rhubarb. 

For chocolate flowers pat the flowers dry with paper towel before dipping the bases in tempered chocolate. The chocolates can be make ahead of time, with the flowers taking on more of a fruit leather texture as they dry.

rosella jam; I'll be using this in upcoming weeks

the petals open and take on an opaque quality as light streams though the glass

I used soda water in a wine glass for the photo today, to illustrate the bubbles opening the petals of the flower. If you are planning to use wild hibiscus flowers in champagne flutes at a wedding, first test that the flowers open in the glasses you have chosen. You need a champagne flute that isn't too narrow at the bottom to allow room for flowers to open.

Have fun trying them, happy baking :)

For cocktail recipes and more visit the official Wild Hibiscus website here

You can find jars of the flowers in varying sizes in Australia from the bushtucker shop in Europe from Wild Hibiscus shop Deutschland. Plus good kitchen supply and bar supply stores.

And of course they are available from Amazon too.

You might also like....

golden apple cupcake

recipe mini vienna almond shortbread chocolate bars, topped with gold leaf tipped vienna almonds

Raspberry and Orange Gluten Free Friands

Join me on Facebook

Goodness me, is $5.50 each too much to pay for a small gluten free friand? That's what our local department store cafe was charging when I was there with friends recently. 

The poor little plain orange friands looked a bit on the dry side; it got me thinking about why are gluten free cafe cakes always so dry, hard and often lacking in flavour? 

With only 1/3 to 1/2 cup of flour per recipe friands must be one of the easiest recipes to convert to gluten free. I tested the following gluten free friand conversion out on friends and family this week, concentrating on "moistness" and packing with flavour. Everyone loved them... hope you do too :)

Raspberry and Orange Gluten Free Friands

greased oval friand tin or muffin tin (1/2 cup 125ml capacity)

preheat oven to 200c (392F) or 180c (356F) fan forced

Ingredients

6 egg whites

185g butter melted and cooled

1 tbl orange juice

1 cup almond meal (almond flour) 

1 1/2 cups (240g) sifted pure icing sugar (confectioners, make sure it's pure with no flour added)

1/2 cup gluten free plain flour (gluten free all purpose) 

4 teaspoons fine orange zest

1 cup of raspberries, fresh or frozen

Topping

1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds

* optional .... 1/4 cup freeze dried raspberry pieces

1 cup of sifted pure icing sugar 

1 to 2 tablespoons of orange juice

Method

Put the egg whites in a medium bowl in a medium bowl, use a fork to lightly whisk and break up the whites. Add the butter, zest, almond meal, sifted icing sugar, juice and *berries; stir until the mixture is combined. 

Divide the mix between the 12 hole pan. Bake 18-22 minutes, don't over bake. Allow to cool 5 minutes in pan before removing cakes and transferring to a cooling rack. 

adapted from AWW lemon and cranberry friands

Icing

In a small bowl, add one tablespoon of orange juice to sifted icing sugar. Stir until smooth, add more juice if needed to created a drizzle over consistency. 

Drizzle over icing and top with toasted almond slivers and freeze dried raspberry pieces.

                         moist and flavourful 

Notes:

*if using frozen berries don't defrost first, stir through in their frozen state

*if you can source freeze dried raspberry pieces they do add a natural flavour punch; the pieces will loose their crispness after a short while however they still will taste wonderful.

*undecorated friands freeze well wrapped for three weeks, defrost in the refrigerator before decorating.

*friand tins are easily available in Australia, mine is a Wiltshire tin from the supermarket. Cute Mini friands  silicone moulds are available on Amazon..they really are "mini" about 3 teaspoons of batter per hole.

 Happy Baking :)

Need to use your left over egg yolks? How about a batch of pastry cream to fill tarts, pastries and cakes.

Or an easy Hollandaise sauce.

Little Lime Lemon Lamingtons

                            little lime lemon lamingtons 

Join me on Facebook

Lemon Lamingtons??? Lamingtons are traditionally cubes of sponge cake dipped in chocolate icing and rolled in coconut, but according to the Wikipedia entry on Lamingtons 'The raspberry variety is more common in New Zealand, while a lemon variety has been encountered in Australia.' 

Just as I was thinking "this Australian has never encountered a lemon lamington", I opened a new Australian Women's Weekly cookbook "Cakebaking" and there on page 32 is 'lemon lamingtons'. Have I missed a trend? 

My broken ribs are still healing and in a "now we have one I baked previously" moment I whipped out a lemon buttercake from the freezer. Plus with more limes in the garden at the moment than lemons it seemed natural to make a batch of lime/lemon butter too. Put the two together and we have my version of a lemon lamington...

bumper crop of limes in the garden this year

Little Lime Lemon Lamingtons

Ingredients

1x plain lemon butter cake or sponge cake cut into cubes (I used a ruler as a cutting guide)

1x batch of lime/lemon butter (recipe below)

2 1/2 cups shredded or desiccated unsweentened coconut 

desiccated and shredded coconut

Method

Pour your lime/lemon butter into a pie dish. Place the shredded coconut on a dinner plate. Dip cubes of cake firstly into the lime/lemon butter, then gently roll in coconut.

You can serve them straight away, but I think they are nicer when you allow them to sit for a short while to allow the lime/lemon butter to sink into the cake a little.

Lime Lemon Butter (Curd)

 Makes 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients
3 large egg yolks
Zest of one small lime and 1/2 of one lemon
1/4 cup of lime juice
6 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons butter, cold and diced

Method
Combine yolks,  zest,  juice, and sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk to combine. Set over medium heat, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, making sure to stir sides and bottom of pan. Cook until mixture is thick enough to coat back of wooden spoon, 5 to 7 minutes.

Remove saucepan from heat. Add the butter, one piece at a time, stirring with the wooden spoon until consistency is smooth. Strain.
Transfer mixture to a medium bowl. Lay a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd to avoid a skin from forming; wrap tightly. Let cool; refrigerate until firm and chilled, at least 1 hour. Store, refrigerated in an airtight container, up to 2 days.

Adapted from Martha Stewart's lemon curd

Robot Tea Infuser

My best friend and I both love our tea infuser robots, they're not super practical for everyday use as you can only use large leaf tea inside your robots stomach. But, but, but they make you smile and do look cute just hanging around.

Happy Baking :)

Raspberry and Tangelo fruit butter recipes Fruit butter/curd tips and storage.

Mum's Vanilla Slices

Even though I call these "Mum's Vanilla Slices"; Mum never made them. My mum loved to clip or copy out recipes by hand, then over coffee she would  *hint *hint "oh, if only someone would make that"... and of course I always would  :) 

Many countries have versions of a puff pastry with custard cake, in Australia it's the 'Vanilla Slice' that rules. Puff pastry base, covered in creamy custard and topped with more pastry and then iced or perhaps just a dusting of icing sugar. The vanilla slice is so popular thousands compete each year in the 'Great Australian Vanilla Slice Triumph". With categories for professionals, amateurs and juniors, the baking competition attracts the best of best in classic vanilla slices in the country.

You're thinking I'm going to segue into the best of the best classic recipe now don't you?? Wrong... my family and friends do love this thoroughly nice recipe, but Mum's handed down recipe is an odd version of a vanilla slice in that it is egg free, the custard is made up wholly of custard powder (sorry to all MasterChef purists) and uses gelatine as a setting agent. 

*custard powder; is a sweetened flavoured cornflour product that when milk is added and heated to correct temperature it becomes a custard sauce. Also used in baking, particularly shortbread type biscuits (cookies).

I suspect many years ago Mum must have acquired the recipe from a brand name product as she names all the brands on the hand written scrap... wish she was still here to tell me about it, but I can still share the recipe for "Mum's Vanilla Slices" :)

Mum's Vanilla Slices

Makes 12

23 cm square cake tin (9x9 inch) sides and base lined with foil or baking paper

I haven't "poshed up" this recipe at all and it is as it was written, albeit minus the brand names of the products. The completed slice needs to be refrigerated overnight for ease of slicing.

Ingredients

2 sheets of ready rolled puff pastry

*5 tablespoons of custard powder

1/2 cup caster sugar (superfine)

600ml of milk (20 fluid ounces)

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of powdered gelatine

1/3 cup hot water

250ml of cream

2 tablespoons of sour cream

1 tsp pure vanilla essence/extract

Icing

1 1/2 cups of pure icing sugar (confectioners sugar)

1 1/2 tablespoons of water

1 tsp pure vanilla essence/extract

 Method

Preheat oven to 230C (450F)

1. Place pastry sheets on greased baking trays and prick well with a fork. Bake for 6 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven. Whilst still warm and using the base of your tin as a template trim the pastry to the size of the tin. 

2. In a saucepan blend the custard and powder and sugar with sufficient milk to make a smooth paste. Add remaining milk. Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly until milk boils and becomes thick. Cook 1 minute before removing from heat.

3. Sprinkle the gelatine onto hot water and stir until thoroughly dissolved. Stir into custard and place a piece of wetted paper on top to prevent a skin forming. Allow to cool.

placing wetted paper on top of custard will prevent a skin forming

4. Place both creams, vanilla and custard in a mixer bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until well blended. 

beat together creams, vanilla and prepared custard

Place a prepared pastry sheet in the bottom of your prepared tin, pour over custard and top with remaining pastry. Press down firmly with your hand. Set to one side.

Icing

Place icing sugar and water in a saucepan and warm over a low heat, stirring constantly until a good spreading consistency is reached. Add vanilla. Pour over pastry. Allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Cut into 12 squares and serve.

Happy Baking :)

You might also like Vanilla extracts, essences, pods and pastes

Double Pig and Prawn Money Bag Dumplings

            Double Pig and Prawn Money Bag Dumplings

Join me on Facebook

Shhhhh! I'll let you in on a secret, if I'm posting pictures of dinner you know something has gone awry. 

My sweet, cute pug puppy has another side… a touch of demon dog that rears it's head every time I pick up a piping bag!! From biting our girl pug to chewing the power cords, baby Barry is certainly rambunctious! New plan, the puppy babysitters (namely my husband and step son) will mind the puppy on the weekend when I will whipping up amazing cupcakes; or something like that ;) But for today it's double pig and prawn dumplings.

These are versatile little Chinese style dumplings, you can pop them into a soup broth, deep fry them, turn them into mini pot stickers or steam them like I have today… don't forget the sweet chilli sauce to dip them in! 

Double Pig and Prawn Dumplings

Ingredients

30 to 35 wonton wrappers 7.5cm (3 inch) square

125g (4oz) finely chopped bacon

125g (4oz) finely diced raw prawn meat (raw shrimp)

185g (6oz) minced pork (ground pork)

*1/3 cup finely chopped spring onions

*1/4 cup finely diced water chestnuts

1 tbs finely chopped chives

1 tbs corn flour (corn starch)

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp crushed garlic

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

sweet chilli sauce (to serve)

Method

Place all ingredients in a bowl, mix together with a wooden spoon then knead until smooth. Chill for 25 minutes.

Open your packet of wonton wrappers. Working with about four at time (keep the others covered with a clean damp cloth to prevent them drying out) lay them out and place a small ball of filling in the centre of each wrapper.

 Brush a little water around the edges and draw up the sides to form a "money bag". Pinch firmly to seal and place on a tray lined with non stick paper, cover with damp clean cloth to prevent drying out and continue to make more dumplings.

 Steam in an oiled steam basket or on a oiled plate within a bamboo steamer for 15 - 20 minutes. 

Serve with sweet chilli sauce for dipping. 

*water chestnuts can be replaced with the white part of celery if desired.

*this is what we call a spring onion in Melbourne Australia.... you may know it by a different name.

Eric the Valentine Emu Cupcake

                             Eric the Valentine Emu cupcake

Emu; second largest bird in the world by height, native to Australia. Covered with soft brown feathers, the emu male can reach up to a height of six foot six (201 cm) and has knife like nails. Emu's are curious and nosy animals.

Valentines Day in Australia is different than in the US, we don't buy make or buy Valentines for all our friends and family. Valentines Day here it's all about your boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife, lover or significant other; it's a time when men book "that" romantic restaurant, shop for lingerie, chocolates and red roses.

But I digress, it wouldn't be an "Australian animal" if I hadn't had at least one run in with one, so here goes...

The picnic grounds were crowded, the giant bird waited until the chubby little blonde girl was about to take the first bite of her Vegemite sandwich before confronting her.

The emu can't fly but the little girl had the "fight or flight instinct" and she ran. Her Mum was first one to yell "drop the sandwich", followed by a chorus of voices "drop the sandwich!", "drop the sandwich!" Try as she might the little girl couldn't drop the Vegemite sandwich that was now squashed between her clenched fist, she was too busy running. But eventually her legs tired and she stopped, dropped her sandwich that was quickly gulped down by the emu. 

What followed was reminiscent of a 'Law and Order' episode, you know the bit where they throw in a funny one liner over the corpse of the just murdered body; the chubby little girls parents, Ranger Tom and the Emu stood there laughing (well, the emu wasn't laughing but he might as well have been). Ranger Tom quipped "You're a lucky little girl the emu loves you, they can rip out your guts with those claws"... everyone laughed... it wasn't funny!!! 

Before you dismiss "emu love", take into account that after the female emu lays her eggs the male takes over hatching and raising the children; leaving the female free to find another male. Something to consider perhaps on Valentines Day when you open the fancy box your husband has given you to discover that "red satin sequinned thong"; just want you always wanted (NOT) when all you actually desired was someone to wash the dishes and mind the kids so you could go to yoga class. 

Eric being made with various batches of coloured fondant/modelling paste

Roll the fondant/modelling paste paper thin, I mixed the colours together. 

Use a small sharp knife to cut feather shapes, attach to your bird with cake glue or water. 

Happy Baking :)

You might also like to make a batch of raspberry curd this Valentines Day....

                    Raspberry Curd

To make simple raspberry curd heart cupcakes use a small heart cutter to cut a heart shape from the centre of your baked cupcake. Remove the heart, fill centre with raspberry curd & clotted or pure cream. Top with your heart cut out & dust with icing sugar.