Latest idea!

Good morning everyone!  I hope you've all had a fantastic week so far!  The weekend is near and I am sooo excited because we're having a Father's Day celebration at my place for my hubby and his side of the family.  Nothing like a good ol' barbie to bring the family together.  Of course, there will be cake, but nothing too fancy in terms of design, but definitely tasty - and chocolate.  Will show you all next week so be sure to come back.

Today I will be keepin' it short and sweet, as I have two boys tugging on my clothes wanting to play, hehe.  This week I made something small and sweet.  I'm always looking for new ways to present products, and in a whim came up with this wee beauty.

How awesome is that, huh?  They are mini (very mini) banana cupcakes with vanilla bean buttercream and white non-pareils in a beautiful box (commonly used for chocolates).  I will be testing this product to see if it will be a hit!  I think it's a great gift idea.  Instead of a box of chocolates, it's a box of petite cakes!  Or cupcakes, whatever ya want to call them.  Something different.

Anyway, I would love to hear what your thoughts are on this, so feel free to leave me a comment!  Thank you for stopping by today.  Have a wonderful weekend and don't forget your Dads this Fathers Day!

Oh, and before I forget, I would like to say a very happy birthday to my aunty Fatu!  Well, technically she is Lui's aunty, but family is family!    Remember how I mentioned on this post how I would reuse this cake every time there's a birthday?  Well, here it is!  A little cake for you on this special day!  Enjoy!

xo

Thank you Summerland Primary!

Last Friday I had the pleasure of holding a bake sale at Summerland Primary to raise funds for SPCA.  I baked hundreds of cupcakes on Thursday (right through to Friday) to make sure there were enough cupcakes to go around!  That was A LOT of work, but all worth it for the cause!  Anyway, as my son and I, along with some of his friends, were setting up just before lunch time, children were already lining up!  It was incredible!  Sooo many children remembered to bring their coins to buy cupcakes to help SPCA.  I was definitely blown away by the number of children and staff that turned up.  We raised over $200 in a short period of time.  The left over cupcakes I sold to my family, friends, and other Aucklanders at Cornwall Park which raised over $200 as well.  It's wonderful to see so many kind Kiwis banding together to help organisations such as SPCA to continue their good work.

A very big thank you goes out to the awesome students and staff of Summerland Primary!  I also would like to say a special thanks to Deputy Principal Barbara Dysart and Room 15's teacher Sarah Woodgate for making this happen - for allowing me to hold the bake sale at the school and printing and putting up posters everywhere.  And of course, a very big fat thank you goes out to my son Javaughn and his friends Kevin, Mataio, and Jericho, for helping set up, eat sell, and pack up all the cupcakes.  You boys are truly the BEST!!

Here are some pics from the Summerland SPCA Cupcake Day.  Enjoy!

Hope you guys enjoyed this post!  Be sure to come back for more goodies!  Have a tasty Thursday!!

xo

Happy SPCA Cupcake Day New Zealand!

Hello everyone!  Today is the official SPCA Cupcake Day!  I encourage all of you to support this cause and go out and buy cupcakes where you see them.  The cupcake cooks will be wearing these stickers,

so make sure you grab some loose change from your pockets and give give give!  To those buyers who wish to receive a tax receipt for their donation* simply ask the cupcake cook to take your details on their Donations Receipt Register, and SPCA will send them a receipt.  How awesome is that?  You give some, and get some back.

Now, today I will be sharing my cupcake entry for SPCA's 'Most Creative Cupcake' Competition run by More FM.  Here is my entry:

Today More FM announced the winner of the brand spankin' new KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer valued at almost $1,000!

Sooo beautiful, huh?

Unfortunately, I don't get to take this baby home :-(.  More FM had a very tough time deciding on a winner as there were hundreds of entrants, but like any competition, they had to pick ONE.  And I am delighted to announce that the lucky winner goes out to the very talented Kate Boyt from Tauranga!  Here is her entry:

Congratulations Kate!  Your cupcakes were so cute and gorgeous!  Hope you made lots of moolah for SPCA and enjoy your new KitchenAid!  Now you have every reason to keep them baked goods coming!  Of course, I wouldn't mind you sending some my way (wink wink, nudge nudge).

One day, hopefully soon, I wish to own my very own KitchenAid Stand Mixer...but for now, I will keep on baking and caking with my very humble mixer that has been through a very hard life.  Sorry Mixer, you can't quite retire yet...I still need you to make beautiful cakes and bakes.  xo

Stay tuned this week as I will be announcing how much funds I raised for SPCA, thanks to Summerland Primary staff and students, my wonderful family, and other fellow Aucklanders that supported this cause.  It's lovely to see everyone in the community banding together to make a difference, however small it may be.

Have a cupcake-filled Monday and see you again soon!!  Blessings!

xo

*Donations over $5 are tax deductible.

I do

Last month I received a lovely email from one of my Mum's colleagues regarding a wedding cake.  Deepana (who by the way I only just met on Tuesday - such a nice young woman) had been so busy with finishing a paper she was sitting at uni whilst planning her big wedding day.  I say big because it really is.  She is expecting around five hundred and fifty guests!  Oh my word!  She said this is typical of an Indian wedding.  Thank goodness this cake was for her 'legal' ceremony, which will involve fewer guests.  In their culture weddings last up to several days as there are many ceremonies involved.  They actually started last week and it is still going this week, until the weekend for their 'big' wedding ceremony.  Wow, that sounds like a lot of fun and stress at the same time!  What a great tradition to have!

Anyway, since then we'd been emailing each other on a regular basis.  On one of her emails were her and her fiancé's specifications: two tier chocolate eggless cake with creme and hot pink colour theme and daisies.  She had seen some of my cake creations via my Mum and loved them.  I told her that I had never done a wedding cake before and that hers would be my first.  Fortunately, this detail did not bother her one bit.  She even trusted me with design ideas!  Wow!  I definitely had to whip something amazing as this cake would be the beginning of my wedding cakes journey.  Fun times!

After an intense sleepless night, I had what turned out to be a pretty amazing cake!  But before I did, I really immersed myself in their culture.  I remembered her telling me how much they love their bright colours and gold, so I made sure this was evident on the cake.  On Tuesday night I delivered the (verrry heavy) cake with my Mum to Deepana's place.  Let me tell ya, I was sooo  nervous about the drive!  She didn't exactly live nearby, and there were sooo many road works that we just had to go through.  I even had to remind Mum to take it easy on the curves, on the occasion she'd forget there was a wedding cake on board.  I swear I was praying and staring at the cake the entire journey!

Upon arrival we were welcomed by her lovely family (in amidst their wedding preparations).  I still had not met Deepana, so there I was trying to work out which one of the house full of ladies was the bride-to-be, all while trying to balance what felt like a tonne of brick in my arms.  Finally, I worked out who Deepana was.  The expression on her face (once she saw her cake) was just priceless.  She had the biggest eyes and the widest smile on her face saying, "this is better than what I imagined!" whilst staring at her wedding cake.  Yay!  Seeing her (and her family) sooo happy and thrilled about the cake made me really happy, too, and it definitely made all that labour oh-so-worth-it!

Introducing, my very first wedding cake...  

I really love the sepia effect I applied on this cake.  

For more pictures of this wedding cake (in colour) click after the jump...

A special Birthday celebration!

Good Monday everyone!  It makes me sooo happy to wake up to blue skies and sunshine!  I really love it! I can't tell you how much the weather affects my mood, lol.  It's harder to be chirpy when it's grey and gloomy, but of course I try not to let that affect my day too much, otherwise that's a whole season of being gloomy...and I feel sorry for my family if they have to deal with that every single day.  :-)

Over the weekend my family and I held a very small and impromptu birthday celebration for my uncle's 50th birthday.  The thing is, my uncle doesn't live in NZ, and there is about four hours difference between us, but we still wanted to make the effort to make it a special moment for him...after all, how many times do you turn 50?  How did we do it you ask?  Well, via SKYPE of course!  It's amazing how much technology plays a big part in our lives today in terms of bridging the communication gap.  It's definitely one of my most favourite tech advancements and my family and I use it all the time.

Anyway, my cousin asked me to make a birthday cake for the occasion...of course I was more than happy to help out.   I decided to take a break from chocolate and revisit vanilla bean.  I made a very simple vanilla bean cake filled and frosted with vanilla bean buttercream, and of course embellished with some colourful confetti sprinkles to make it more festive.  Here are some pics for you all to enjoy!!  Oh, and I decided to take pics of the cake with and without the writing...I was thinking every time there's a birthday I could just place a message on the blank cake and send it to the birthday celebrant!  Like so...

 Let me tell ya, I felt super clever after thinkin' of that idea!  LOL!  Lovin' technology and its endless possibilities!

Okay, so here are the 'real' pictures...enjoy!!

Tito means Uncle and Lolo means Grandpa :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TITO JOHNNY!!  xo

More pics after the jump...

Fashion Friday!

Another beautiful sunshiney day!  I am lovin' this!  Though it's still very nippy outside, it's nice to have blue skies and sunshine for a change.  I was beginning to get sick of the colour grey, and I own a lot of grey clothing!!  Need to bring in the colours because spring is near!  I'm thinking mixin' up some dull colours with some vibrant ones, add a bit of floral in the mix, and of course maxi dresses!  Okay, it doesn't have to be long, but if you know me, you'll know that I don't like to wear anything above the knees...unless I'm wearing tights underneath.  LOL.

So, what are some looks I'm diggin' right now?  Sources: Jeanswest and Just Jeans.  (Having some trouble with my connection atm, so I could only post up a few clothing images...grrr)

Drape Jacket :-)

and this pink sand twin pocket blouse

...wear it with these chinos.  I love these chinos!

And of course, ya gotta have a floral maxi in your wardrobe!!

Blossom printed maxi

More pics after the jump guys...

SPCA Cupcake Day

That's right guys!  I am a proud supporter of this year's SPCA Cupcake Day and the image above is the official sticker I (along with all the other Cupcake Cooks) will be wearing when selling our cupcakes.  If you would like to find out more about this event or how you could help SPCA, then click here.

This is very exciting for me because this is my second charity event that I've been involved in this year.  I haven't mentioned this yet but earlier this year (as most of you fellow NZers would know) we had the most tragic earthquake happen in Christchurch.  This natural disaster took a lot of lives along with their hopes and dreams.  I was shocked when I heard the news and all I could do was pray for survivors.  I remember feeling really helpless and wondering what else I could do to help (apart from donating money online to Red Cross).   Then I stumbled upon a page on facebook set up by the lovely Delish Cupcakes in North Shore, Auckland.  They had organised a 'Get your bake on' for anyone to join and all money raised would go directly to those affected by the Christchurch earthquake.  I had both my hands up!!  What a lovely idea and a sweet gesture to show Christchurch that we are thinking of them.

It was a great day!  Lots of people turned up with their loose change and empty stomachs yearning for sweet treats.  I was one of the volunteer bakers and helpers on that day.  I even put my "I (heart) cake" t-shirt fit for the occasion, because it was Black and Red - the Canterbury colours.  I donated some delicious chocolate cupcakes and banana cupcakes with red and black daisies (again, using the Canterbury colours).  It was an awesome experience!  I got to meet so many lovely people, doing their bit to help out.  We made over $6k that day - what an incredible achievement!!

See pics after the jump...