Thursday 19 June 2014

Dragon Eggs - Game of Thrones Inspired



I absolutely love Game of Thrones! But unfortunately its the end of another season :( how sad. Anyway, in the spirit of things I thought I would my post Dragon eggs that I made for Easter this year. This idea came from the amazing Elise from My Cupcake Addiction who also loves Game of Thrones. I get a lot of my ideas and inspiration from My Cupcake Addiction through following her Blog and subscribing to her Youtube channel. She releases 3 videos a week, they are all free and best of all she is Aussie! So it makes it so much easier to source the same ingredients and equipment that she uses and recommends! So I highly encourage you to check it out :) 


Dragon scales (aka fondant making)

So I started by making the fondant. This was a recipe from My Cupcake Addiction and I was really keen to try this as firstly, I had never made my own fondant before, but secondly it was made from marshmallows, so it wasn't quite as sweet as normal store bought fondant. You can find the recipe and a video tutorial on how to make it here. It was quite a simple and easy recipe to follow and is ready to use within 24hrs. 



Step 1: Melt the marshmallows 


Step 2: Add the icing sugar

Step 3: Knead together. I don't have a pic for this one as my hands were covered in marshmallow and icing sugar! 

Step 4: Wrap twice and leave for 12 - 48 hrs


The Eggs

So for the eggs, you can use white chocolate eggs e.g Dream, but as these were gifts for family, I knew they weren't too keen on white chocolate so I went with normal milk chocolate. You start by cutting a circle piece of the fondant for your base, stick it on to your egg, using a tiny bit of water. Then start cutting your dragon scales with a small leaf cutter, but turned upside down e.g using the round side not the spiky side. Beware: there are lots of scales to cut! Once done start sticking them onto the egg, going around the bottom, then moving up and going around again.


    
My workbench

First layer 

 I tried to overlap mine a bit more due to the brown colour of the chocolate egg peeping through, with a white chocolate, this wouldn't matter as much. 


 
'Scaling' the eggs

Once complete, gently but firmly ensure they are all pressed on. You can add some texture to the bottom of the egg by slightly 'trimming' the bottom part with scissors. 




While the fondant is still relatively fresh, spray your colour on. I just used basic Wilton colours in red, green and gold. There wasn't many other brands or options to choose from at the shops unfortunately, but never mind, it still worked well. If your doing the spraying inside, put down lots of newspaper, just to make sure you don't end up changing the colour of your kitchen décor whilst your spraying your eggs!


Spraying the eggs

Let them dry, then wrap in alfoil and store until you are ready to give them on as gifts.

                                  

My brothers and my boyfriend loved these eggs, but the first thing they said is: 'What's inside?' haha so if I was to do this again, I would make my own chocolate eggs and add a little toy dragon, or even make one from fondant!


 

The finished project!

Anyway, I had such a great time making these, it was fun to do something different from cupcakes. Have you made anything tv series of movie themed? If so, what? I would love to see pictures :)



Tuesday 10 June 2014

High Tea Cupcakes


A while back I baked cupcakes for a mini high tea work function. I had just recently bought some amazingly cool cupcake holders and so this seemed the perfect time to christen them.

I baked my trusty Red Velvet Cupcakes and my basic Vanilla Cupcakes. I baked them in the tea cups as they are made from silicone, however next time I think I will grease them better to ensure they can be eaten easier. Unfortunately they stuck to the sides and so people had to almost scoop the cupcake out with a spoon or pop it inside out and risk the cupcake going on a mini flight! This was my first time baking with silicone, so Im not sure if its always like this or not. Feel free to post in the comment box below and tell me your positive and negative experiences with silicone cupcake cases.






I made a basic butter cream frosting and tinted it pink and purple and then simply decorated them with an assortments of flowers, cashous and sprinkles. The frosting was piped with my trusty and favourite Wilton tip 1M. Such a simple and easy to use tip, if you havent used it before I highly recommend you grab one and try it out for your next batch of cupcakes :)




And there you have it, some basic, yet fancy High Tea Cupcakes!