#TNTea

Hello!!

I know I have been very inconsistent with the blogging. I have been busy with a few new job ventures. However, with uni exams coming up, I thought I would take a little break and do a quick post on my 22nd Birthday by sharing a few photos with the blogger world. 

For my 22nd Birthday, I decided to host a Garden Tea Party. With the help of my sister, friends and family I was able to pull off an amazing event! 

The set up was at my sisters house, where all cake stands, decorations and props were items that we have between the 2 of us. Most of the food was either made by my sister or myself. My sister has 2 pet rabbits, Taro & Sesame whom were also a highlight of the event. Lastly I had an event hashtag of #TNTea where more photos can be seen.

Additional items were by:
Flowers by PaPetal http://papetal.blogspot.com.au/ - She uses crepe paper to create beautiful floral creations, she has an instagram of @papetalcraft. Her Facebook page would be best mode for contact.
Tea sets  by Just My Cup of Tea - Vintage China & Prop Hire
Macarons by fellow food blogger Tina Huynh (Gaytime and neopolitan!)
Cake from http://www.cavallaros.com.au/cakes.html
Pastries by Dulce Luna Viennoiserie
Photography Danny Ku

The menu

Photobooth props and area

The set up

Papetal hypericumberries

The tea table set up

Papetal crepe flowers and Just my cup of Tea sets

Dulce Luna pastries

A glimpse of afternoon delights

Papetal crepe flowers

Papetal crepe flowers

Home-made scones with jam

The filled table

Maracuja Cake from Cavalloros 

Sesame

Taro

Thank you everyone for helping pull of an amazing event! Another shout out to everyone who came, because without you all, there wouldn't have been an event to begin with!

Good food, good times!

Canon 5D Mark II Camera Cake

Hello! It has been a few months since my last blog post. However, I am back and hopefully able to keep up some regular posts going. I thought I would start the first post of 2014 to be of my most recent cake creation venture. 

This cake was for a 21st birthday of someone special. They love photography, and as a vow, I said that one day I would make them a camera cake. The day finally came. It was my first 3D sculptured cake, in terms that it required carving, layering and different aspects for it to look like the real thing. As I wanted to get as much detail as I could, I had photos of the camera to use as a reference point.

This cake was the first time I had ever written on fondant using edible paint. This was scary as I was using white paint on black fondant. If I produced any major mistakes, I was doomed! 

A few last things, the weather was humid which meant that anything could have happened for the cake to be ruined. Furthermore, this cake was going for a drive down towards Jervis Bay (2.5 hours away). This was my second biggest fear. I was afraid the cake wouldn't make the journey. To make sure the cake didn't collapse, I placed some fondant rolled in plastic in between the top of the lens and the front of the camera. I was very glad that it made the journey with no damages *sighs in relief*.

Overall, the cake has to be the best fondant cake I have made to date (despite staying up until 2am finishing off final details). I was surprised that I didn't fall asleep while writing on the cake. I was very happy with how it turned out, especially since it consisted of a lot of firsts. I was too scared to cut into the cake, so the birthday boy did all the cake cutting. 

Things you'll need:

• Thunder Cake Recipe times 3 (1 batch for square, and 2 for rectangle)
• 1 Large rectangular spring form pan (Like this) 
• 1 Square cake pan (21cm x 21cm)
• Camera template : I enlarged the image in a word doc of A4 paper to the size I wanted. For a Canon camera, I extended the front grip of the body. 
• Toothpicks
• Serrated knife
• Circle cookie cutters
• Offset spatula
• Chocolate ganache recipe (I used 300g dark chocolate, 300g milk chocolate and 600ml of thickened cream)
• Black fondant: 1.5kg to be safe Available here
• Red fondant: You don't need much, so you may be better off colouring white fondant red using red gel paste. Available here
• Silver edible paint Available here
• White edible pain Available here
• Other colour fondant to cover cake board (Optional)
• Rolling pin
• Corn flour (can also be substituted with tapioca or rice flour)
• Thin paint brushes
• Fondant tools: If you don't have fondant tools a small sharp knife will suffice
• Various icing piping tips: This was used to get nice clean cut circles of various sizes using different ends of the tips 
• 12" Cake Board + 12" cake box  Available here
• Water to stick fondant together
• Unfortunately, I have no photos of the cake cross-section as the camera body was cut the following day and I didn't get a photo of it. 

Rectangle Pan: I used toothpicks to pin the template to the cake. Using the serrated knife I cut out 2 of the templates.

I used cake offcuts to the create the top part of the camera. I stacked them on top of each other to make sure I got the height and shape to my liking

Photo reference point

I used ganache to stick the cake offcuts to the body. I wasn't happy with the grip component of the cake from the template. Therefore, I added an extra bit of cake so that it was longer and more square than round at the front. I did a ganache crumb coat of the 2 halves separately. 

I then realised I forgot the part that sits above the lens which contains the camera brand. Therefore, I roughly cut something to the shape I wanted and attached it using ganache. Refrigerated for 1 hour.

I  carved the camera body so all the edges were smooth and even. I carved down where the shutter button is located. I added another light crumb coat to the newly carved area. Refrigerated for 30 minutes.

Final camera body done!

I stacked the cakes together and did a final ganache coat. This was then refrigerated until fondant work. 

Square pan: I was able to get 4 circles (2 large, and 2 slightly smaller). Using the cookie cutters, I chose the large size I wanted for the front of the lens. I went one size smaller for the body of the lens to give it some shape.

Lens completed!

1 crumb coat (refrigerated for 1 hour) then a final coat (refrigerated until fondant work). For the lens to fit on the cake board, roughly 3cm had to be cut from the end.

For the fondant work, I called my sister for assistance. There were no cuts or gaps in the fondant! The fondant was kneaded together and rolled out (using corn flour so it didn't stick to the table or rolling pin) then placed on top of the cake.

After the fondant work was done, I carefully transported the camera body to the cake board. The lens was attached to the body with some chocolate ganache. Decorations begin! 

Using varying piping tips I cut out different sized circles for the camera buttons.

For the lens, I cut strips of black fondant and used the knife to put little indents for detail. I brushed a bit of water on each fixture for it stick to the fondant. Other details were different sized rectangles that I adjusted to suit the scale of the camera.

Buttons and fixtures on the back of the camera. I rolled out a thin sausage of black fondant for the area around the view finder.  

Using the white edible paint and a thin paint brush I hand wrote all the camera body and lens details. 

I used one of my fondant tools to indent an area of the lens which has the aperture readings.

As you can see, there are a few dodgy writing on the cake there. 

I cut rectangles for the  various screens and view finder on the cake. I made the flash connector (which is a bit hard to see). To do so, I cut out some mini circles and rolled bits of fondant. I painted them all using edible silver paint. Lastly, I rolled out a thin sausage of red fondant and placed it on the rim of the lens.

Finished Canon 5D Mark II cake (Front)

Finished Canon 5D Mark II cake (Back)

Before serving I sprayed it with a bit of canola oil to remove white marks. 

I printed out photo and just stuck it on the back using a dab of oil.

The real 5D Mark II with its cake counter part 

Birthday Boy with his 2 cameras. You can now clearly see the size difference.

Back of camera comparison 

In a traditional camera sense, the lens was detached first. 

Good food, good times!

How to pull off a WONKA Themed Party!!

It was my 21st birthday at the end of May, which explains why my blog wasn't very active.  During the month of May a lot of time was going towards uni and my birthday celebration. I thought I would do a quick post on my 21st birthday celebrations and  how to pull off a WONKA themed party!

Firstly, I celebrated with my family early by going to Wagaya and VIVID Sydney at Darling Harbour. This was then followed by a smashing 2 hour family karaoke session! =D

One of my closest girlfriends surprised me early on a Sunday morning. My dad had answered the door, and she asked him to call me out but not to mention why. I run to the door in my pjamas, to find her there holding a cake with a candle, sparkler, and singing me Happy Birthday!

Orange & Fig with cream cheese from Black Star Pastry

On my actual birthday, I went to have lunch with one of my uni mates, and at dinner I was spoiled with a dinner date at the Quay. This was then followed by a stroll around the Sydney Harbour VIVID lights.

The following day, my highschool girl friends surprised me with more cake. First, one of them came over and we were talking. I then could then hear some noises coming from outside, I opened the door to see more of my friends, and one was holding beautiful tulips. We will be growing old together! =D

This was not a staged photo

Cake from Cavallaros

The last of my birthday celebrations ended with my WONKA themed birthday party. With about 2 months worth of preparation and planning, it was the best party I have ever hosted where nothing went wrong! The idea came from a friend who one day said 'you should have a WONKA themed party' and that is what I did. A special shout out to all those people that dressed up! =D

Key points:
1. PLANNING! Key to any event, but mainly to themed ones!
2. My favourite store during this time was Ronis & Reject Shop @ Liverpool. They had everything I needed for all colourful things for the event. Including the balloons + helium hire.
3. GOOGLE for different ideas and approaches to how others have done a WONKA PARTY!
4. The Professors was my go to online candy shop. Free shipping for purchases over $80, and has a great variety of all different confectionery at really good prices. 
5. Dressing up! The theme was WONKA, I therefore strongly encouraged a lot of colours for outfits, or to come as some of the characters. I myself, went as Willy Wonka.
6. If it is for a kids party, you can have candy related games and such, but since it was for my 21st, it was about food, fun, friends and family!

WONKA Golden ticket invitations

A lot of people wondered how I did the invitations, and the design all done in Microsoft Word. I googled golden tickets designs and then I created my own. I purchased the paper from Eckersleys, which is double sided gold paper, and printed double sided. The red envelopes were from OfficeWorks, and I printed and glued on a WONKA Bar IMAGE that I got from the internet. 

Mushroom backdrop

All I did was purchase some white spotted wrapping paper and cut out mushroom shapes. For the stalk, I cut out the shape on brown cardboard.

My Wonka Candy Buffet designed by me

Poms Poms (Ebay): POM POM seller

Thanh Bars made by Bak3rlicious: https://www.facebook.com/Bak3rlicious?fref=ts

Some of the lollies. Labels made by Bak3rlicious

My close friends with our GIANT boxes of WONKA Candy Urban Outfitters - OVERSIZED CANDY

The Confectionery was either WONKA or WONKA related (by the characters/film/movie concepts). My Candy buffet was composed of:

• Pixie/Sherbet sticks: Placed in glass jars.
• WONKA Fabulicious Raspberry twists: Placed in pull up straw containers.
• Lollipops: Stuck into foam cones from Lincraft.
• Augustus Gloop Cupcakes: Chocolate cupcakes with a chocolate centre, labelled with edible WONKA label (image and links further down).
• WONKA Red Skins: Buckets purchases from Ronis @ Liverpool.
• Violet Beauregarde Gum: Blue Chewing gum in paper party boxes
• WONKA sweetarts: Little packets that came with the oversized box. Placed in buckets.
• THANH BAR: Instead of a Wonka Bar, personalised by Bak3rlicious.
• Veruca Salt Golden Eggs: I found a random place that was still selling GOLD Cadbury easter eggs, and I created a Good/Bad Scale on word, based from the first movie.
• WONKA Tofee Apples: The candy version, not the actual apples. Places in paper party boxes.
• Mike Tee Vee Snacks: Arnotts Tee Vee Snacks, placed on a plate
• Gobstoppers: Little packets that came with the oversized box. Placed in buckets
• WONKA Nerds: Little packets that came with the oversized box. Placed on a plate, however I purchased more from an online & local store: LINK HERE

My backyard was decorated with balloons, giant striped umbrellas from the clothesline, noodle candy boxes and coloured citronella candle

My driveway/walkway filled with balloons lollipops, poms poms and a bubble machine (not in photo) Auburn Party Store

For the balloon sticks, I bought 100 pack of normal balloon sticks, and then taped 3 together per lollipop for a stronger structure. I also purchased the tie died balloons from the party store. Each balloon was wrapped with about 1 metre of cellophane. As people walked into the party, there was actually a bubble machine going, as from the first movie made. 

Oompaloompas

Augustus Gloops

Violet Beauregardes

More Oomploompas

Veruca Salt

Augustus Gloop Cupcakes, with edible WONKA Rice Paper labels LINK HERE

A WONKA Birthday Cake - Made by my sister and sister-in-law

Lemon & Blueberry layer

Chocolate & peanut butter layer

There are so many people to thank for making my 21st birthday celebrations the best birthday ever, and for making my party a success. I just want to thank everyone again! You have made me feel  special, loved and I am extremely lucky to have you all in my life! <3

Good food, Good times!