Stiletto Studio Blog

Mr Men themed Wedding Cake

2011-10-03T02:11:00.000-07:00

I think the most fun part about making and designing cakes (aside from, obviously, the eating), is that every single cake is different - special, unique, and entirely specific to the person who orders it.

This cake was DEFINITELY no exception.

A good friend of mine - known as Miss Ammie - was lucky enough to marry a wonderful guy on the weekend - Mr Shane - and they ordered what has become my absolute favourite cake so far. I'll let the photos tell the (fairy)tale...

This is a cake with a story (as really, all good cakes should be)

This one is the story about how Mr Shane and Miss Ammie met, fell in love, and ended up cutting this very cake on their beautiful wedding day!

They're two pretty cool people, Mr Shane and Miss Ammie. Even their motorbikes can't be apart from each other!

Then one day, Mr Shane took Miss Ammie on a treasure hunt (geocaching)...

And surprised her with a BEAUTIFUL diamond!

And she of course said yes :)

They bought a house, and started a little family!

And now, will live happily ever after :)

To two very deserving people - CONGRATULATIONS! And thank you so much for letting me share in your special day xx

- B xx

Cookie dough!

2011-09-01T13:54:00.001-07:00

Happiness is sometimes as simple as a fresh bowl of cookie dough <3

Sneak Peak - Wine Bottle cake!

2011-08-12T23:51:00.000-07:00

Here is a sneak preview of the Wine Bottle cake I made today for a very special birthday! Vintage 1929 <3

- B xx

Madagascar cake!

2011-08-09T02:48:00.000-07:00

I was recently lucky enough to make the CUTEST cake for a very special gorgeous 1 year old! And since then - have become lucky enough to start working with her grandmother in a kitchen and cake shop! Funny how these things work out.

I think despite how simple the overall design is, this is easily one of my most fiddly cakes yet. I LOVE fondant characters, so cute and edible, but gees they take some time and attention. I just love how these ones turned out! with their own little personalities.

The photos speak for themselves in this one - enjoy! <3

Love the giraffes quirky smile! Should have given him a bandaid like Melman in the movie.

The penguin was definitely my favourite - and actually an afterthought! Had a little space left on top of the cake, and what better to fill extra space with than a penguin...?

My favourite shot - animal bums all lined up in the jungle! Too cute.

Love that I have a hobby and job where I get to make these kinds of things - does anyone else have a job they just couldn't love more?

My happiest birthday wishes to Arabella!

- B xx

Cupcake class!

2011-08-07T02:41:00.000-07:00

It's now coming up on a year since I made my very first cake - though it seems like much longer! Now I'm facing a huge cakes-and-catering project for a wedding, some fun new cake orders, the possibility of travelling for some real caking study, and some classes of my own!

A lot of people say the best way to learn about cakes and decorating is trial and error, and I can certainly vouch that that's true! but there's no overlooking how much FUN it is to take classes, and get caught up in conversation with like-minded people about fondant and plungers and holographic edible dust. As only cake nerds can!

Over the last few weeks I've had the pleasure of attending cupcake classes by Tamara at Tempt Cupcakes, and cake basics classes by a Wilton teacher brought in by Trends. Both started with things I already knew, but it's still always really good to see how someone else does things! Some photos of the final results from the Tempt class are below.

We learnt how to use silicone moulds - something I've always overlooked because they're so expensive, but are so easy and effective. (I have of course now gone out and bought lots :P such is the life of a cake decorator!)

We also made chocolate details - something else that's really very easy, and so effective on cupcakes, but certainly takes a bit of practice! I took my flat mate along on the last night, and we came home with a whole container of broken chocolate decorations! No point putting these things to waste... we took one for the team.

All the details on these cupcakes were handmade over the three weeks, and many of them are still around! I took my cupcakes up to the parentals place as we were flying out to Melbourne the following morning, and they still have flower paste shoes and flowers and letters on the kitchen bench that they couldn't bear to throw away!

This one was my particular favourite - too cute what a simple bow can do on a cupcake!

On which note, the trip to Melbourne was for my 25th birthday, and we discovered The Cupcake Bakery - is anyone else out there the kind of person who just HAPPENS to stumble on all the cake and cupcake and sweets shops wherever they go!

Look at that glorious window! how could we possibly have walked past

And this little wall display was inside - Cupcakes, Cupcake cakes, butterflies and ribbons - I should really have one of these on MY wall!

My flatmate and I enjoyed a Rockyroad Cupcake and a Peanut Butter cupcake - but I can assure you they were not the last for our trip! I'm tempted to go back and open a shop of my own...

Has anyone else done any cake or cupcake classes they recommend? I'd love to head over to Sydney and do one of the Planet Cake courses! Divine <3

For this week though - a cake that looks like a wine bottle! Wish me luck...!!

- B xx

Happy Blogaversary!

2011-06-28T02:11:00.000-07:00

So I missed my very own one year Blogaversary. It's like missing your own birthday, or your pets birthday, or an anniversary on a really obvious day. Tragic.

BUT

I am now halfway between the anniversary of this blog, and the one year anniversary of officially launching Stiletto Studio as a business, so in a very busy and ridiculous month of madness, I'm letting myself off the hook :)

So - HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME! And what better way to celebrate than with cake? (On EVERY occasion, let's be honest) But before I get onto the details of that, here's a quick recap of the year that was!

- This time last year I was blogging about my first ever party! A Sex & the City 2 party organised with one of my besties, who has since moved away to Scotland. I miss doing parties - and I miss her more!

- Stiletto Studio started as a blog to showcase my cake-pop explorations a-la-Bakerella (as I've said before) but has since developed into parties, and then cupcakes, and now cakes. I haven't made a cake pop since April, and my 1st Wedding cake is in October!

- In the last year I have made 37 cakes, and (approximately) 600 cupcakes. That's about 300 bags of icing sugar! 80 blocks of butter, 85 blocks of chocolate, and at least a zillion hours spent bending over the kitchen bench squinting and thoroughly failing at multi-tasking.

- I have now moved into a flat with a whole room to hold all the cake stands, cupcake wrappers, tools, tissue paper, cupcake boxes, bags of fondant and cake tins I am now the proud owner of. One day soon, I will need a whole house.

So there you go! A year that was not at all what I expected, but perfectly summed up by a quote from one of the most fabulous and inspirational women of our time;

"I believe everything happens for a reason. People change so that you learn to let go. Thing's go wrong so that you learn to appreciate them when they are right. You believe less so eventually you trust no one but yourself. And sometimes, good things fall apart so better things can fall together"

- Marilyn Monroe (thank you to Jess of JB Photography for sharing)

Back to the cake - which I'm sure is what you've been waiting for. This was a 5 tier cake for one of my closest friends birthdays - 3 layers of Caramel mud cake, 2 layers of Banana cake, torted and covered in a rich milk chocolate ganache.

It was truly a towering goddess of sugary goodness.

On which note, I should perhaps go and whip up a cake to eat in celebration of finally putting this post up!

Still to come in the near future: an adorable Madagascar themed cake, Prince Williams' Chocolate Biscuit cake, and a Marshmallow slice recipe that needs to be eaten a tray at a time. YUM

- B xx

Cute as a button babyshower!

2011-06-02T03:05:00.000-07:00

About time, I know. I completely forgot this post was sitting in my drafts, with the photos already chosen and uploaded, waiting patiently for me to share.

I think I've said once before that nothing ever ends up being what you expect. I thought this blog was going to be a quirky diary of my baking exploits - primarily at the time, cake pops a laBakerella. Then suddenly I was teaching myself how to make cakes, now I'm spending every day fielding calls and emails about Cupcake Bouquet deliveries! Like I said - not what I expected!

Now I suddenly realise my big one year Blogoversary (is there a correct way to spell that...) is next Tuesday! And I haven't even had a themed party since January, much less planned one for my own celebration. What a slacker.

The white board over my very busy and important desk has a list of all the delicious things I've done in the last year but am yet to post here, so I'm biting the bullet and getting onto the first one on the list - the Cute as a Button themed babyshower I made some treats for earlier in the year.

I think my very favourite thing about this theme (besides how adorable it is) is how simple it is - nothing complex or busy about it, just cute and colourful as everything baby-related should be. Plus the colour theme of this one (picked by the clients) would really work for any baby shower.

Lots and lots of teeny tiny vanilla cupcakes

They're so teeny tiny, they'd almost be cute even WITHOUT the buttons.

And then for something different - and probably my very favourite discovery in the last year - chocolate dipped marshmallows :D

If you've never had one, go and find a marshmallow, dip it in the first chocolate you can find, and experience bliss. (Or else go and buy marshmallows and chocolate - I forget that normal peoples kitchens don't necessarily have emergency supplies of marshmallows, chocolate and fondant at all times!)

The display boxes for the marshmallow pops were another of my favourite things. Just little gift boxes with foam and shiny plasticky strippy stuff I found, with a big yellow polka dot ribbon tied around them. Doesn't get much easier than that!

And very effective - as well as better for transporting. I think I even still have them somewhere.... though if you could see all the stock and baking related bits and pieces I've accumulated in the last year, you'd understand why I can't be sure.

And then cookies! And finally - FINALLY - I found a recipe for sugar cookies that I actually LIKE. The cookies I made for my sisters Breakfast at Tiffanys party LOOKED fabulous, but didn't taste too great... In fact I think we chucked the left overs out. But these ones are sweet, and moreish, and EASY, and a perfect colour. I found the recipe here. Thank you to Megan's Cooking for sharing!

(P.S - I haven't shared the Breakfast at Tiffanys party on here yet, because I was hoping with everything crossed that Amy Atlas might share it on her site! But since that hasn't happened in 5 months, I think it's time :) In the meantime, the photos are all up on my Facebook page here)

So there you go! The full spread of goodies for a very cute Babyshower - my first! Though hopefully there'll be lots more to come - I'm dying to do a Pea in a Pod themed babyshower for someone! Think of all that green pea cuteness.

Shall have to start thinking of what to blog about on my blogaversary... Probably cake! I have some photos of a truly delicious two tiered Lemon and White chocolate Mud Cake I made that may just do the trick. But then let's be honest, why pass up a perfectly good opportunity to make MORE cake??

- B xx

Sneak Peak - Birthday Cake!

2011-05-17T22:43:00.000-07:00

I've just finished making a cake for one of my closest friends, so here's a quick sneak peak - I can't show you the rest because she hasn't seen it herself yet! All I can tell you is that there are five layers of happiness in this one... can't wait to try it!!

Happy Birthday Jaynee!

- B xx

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T02:42:00.000-07:00

I love the kind of weekend where you feel like you got a lot done, but not so much the kind of weekend where you reach Sunday night, and realise you need another weekend to recover...!

I was overwhelmed by orders, requests, and feedback on the Mother's Day range I put out this year - my very first! so thank you to everyone who got in touch. The cupcake bouquets (previewed here) were definitely the most popular, and I had a ball making them! Here's the line up on my kitchen table yesterday afternoon waiting for pick ups:

Not a fabulous photo, chances are pretty high that I was covered in icing sugar by this point and trying to keep my camera clean-ish. I hope they all made it to their destinations safely!

Unsurprisingly, the LAST thing my Mum wanted this year was cupcakes - of any form - so I had to compromise on cake (since then it gets "shared" :)) and a painting (slightly less edible, but equally time consuming).

Again not a great quality photo, but would you believe - when I went to edit it tonight, it was focussed on some of my ridiculously long hair which had dangled into shot. Sigh. I clearly wasn't paying ANY attention at the time. Given that I was half asleep when I finished the painting itself, it's probably for the best :)

But back to the cake, since that's what we all came here for.

And not just cake. Cake with a VIEW

And Frangipanis! And happiness. And 3 layers of ribbon because I had no patience for letting the buttercream set, and it kept soaking in. White ribbon + tiredness + no other ribbon colour options = fail. Luckily you can't really tell in the photo. (Hush, no need to spoil my illusions!)

This was my very first go at making frangipanis, very last minute, and with no tools, cutters or molds... These were entirely hand made and shaped, and then painted with a little food colouring and water. I love the way they turned out for something so last minute - definitely inspired me to learn the RIGHT way though! Wonder if there actually IS a right way... I'm sure there's a gadget that does it all for you, but then where's the fun in that!

And the best part? (seriously, the best part) underneath all that buttercream and sunshiney goodness, are two tiers of dense and delicious White chocolate and lemon mud cake. YUM. Every time I try a new recipe I fall in love with it, no idea how people ever pick favourites!

I've made the lemon and white chocolate variation before, but this time I put half brown sugar and half white. Only a teeny tiny change really! but I think it made all the difference. Funny how just changing the sugar makes the difference between chocolate mud and caramel mud, then a dash of lemon juice and it's all different again! Just another reason to love mud cake, as if I needed one....

So there you go! Mother's Day over for another year (in my corner of the world at least). A big Happy Mother's Day to all you mums out there! I hope you've had/are having a lovely day and being spoiled rotten. Thank you especially to MY mum (though I don't believe she's figured out how to read this...) for being patient with all my Mother's Day musings over the last few weeks, I hope the cake makes up for all the pestering :)

What did you do with your mum/kids to celebrate this year?

- B xx

Sneak Peak - Cupcake Bouquet for Mother's Day!

2011-04-28T03:15:00.000-07:00

I've started testing out some ideas for my Mother's Day collection, so here's a sneak peak of my first try at a Cupcake Bouquet!

So simple, but cute and effective - and a tasty twist on a classic bunch of roses!

Does anyone else know what they're planning to give for Mother's Day this year?

- B xx

Easter Lemon treats and Ruffle Cake

2011-04-26T01:56:00.000-07:00

I hope you've all had a lovely Easter break! I had very much hoped to have a post up BEFORE Easter weekend, but even with all my good intentions - it turns out working for a chocolate company the week before Easter is busier than I had intended!

I've been promising the photos from my Cute as a Button Babyshower, and the post is sitting there just ITCHING to leak into the blogosphere, but I figured I'd best share my Easter happiness while the season still lingers. If you really and truly can't wait any longer - you CAN see the Cute as a Button photos on my facebook page here or the flickr album is here - like the page, become a contact, or just share the love at either of those locations while you're visiting!

We spent our Easter break up at our bach at Waiterere Beach, reading, eating chocolate, and lazing about achieving not much at all! Exactly what I needed. I HAD intended to make a whole bunch of Easter cupcakes, specifically these ones from Bakerella that I've been wanting to make for forever - so cute! Or giant homemade Creme Eggs that I found the recipe for at Pimp That Snack (A must visit site!). But alas, none of that happened. I still plan to make the creme eggs this week - so do let me know if you've tried them before and they worked!

Luckily though, my sister came down for the holiday break, and brought with her the magical - and very secret - recipe for Lemon Tea Cakes...

YUM. Look at them. Lined up like little lemon soldiers of happiness.

Most importantly, I needed something to put on this ridiculously cute Easter stand that I bought from Cake Stuff, that clearly was far too seasonal to NOT use at this time of year...

Perfect!

Not even $20 NZD, and they even have little holes to punch out and fit Easter eggs into! Doesn't get any better than that. I strongly recommend getting in and buying one for next year - or maybe for a Spring Celebration party...? Bunny party? Because you like to pretend Easter happens all over again in May...?

Too cute - thanks Trina for making them for us! And sorry they didn't last more than a few hours....!! To see more of her cute creations visit her blog Musical Butterfly - same place you'll find all the photos of my Magical Apron! Or go back and have a look at my post about it for details.

~~~

I made a ruffle cake last month since they seem to be all the rage! And I wanted to give it a try. Since it was pink and ruffly and happy and cute (even though Mum thinks it looked like a toilet paper holder - not entirely untrue!) I decided it needed a little bunny on top! So here's a preview of that, rounding off the easter theme - and more photos to come! I'll try and round up all the youtube instruction videos I found on how to actually DO the icing - it's much much easier than it looks!

Stay warm if you're in my half of the world - send us warm thoughts if you're not!

- B xx

Sneak Peak - Winnie the Pooh!

2011-04-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

I'm working on putting together the details and photos from a Cute as a Button babyshower I did earlier in the year, but in the meantime - here's a sneak peak of a Winnie the Pooh 2nd birthday I did this morning.

Love the way it turned out - just as well I'm a details-staying up 'til 4am-perfectionist kinda person!

Lots more photos to come!

- B xx

RECIPE: Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl

2011-04-11T01:31:00.000-07:00

"Peanut butter [is] the pâté of childhood"

Florence Fabricant, NY Times

So I mentioned in my last blog post that I was hoping to try lots of new recipes and learn some new skills, but while going out into the magical world of the internet to find some exciting new ideas, I was really underwhelmed by the number of recipes that came without photos! I'm a big photo person (clearly) and apprehensive about trying a recipe that doesn't give me some idea of what I'll end up with...

Maybe that explains why I got into reading cook books instead of text books :)

Either way, it inspired me to start sharing some of the recipes I DO use, so that hopefully someone else who has my debilitating photo-less phobia can find some peace!

This recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl I actually found (embarrassingly) while trying to find recipes for a bake sale for Christchurch, and it was the only thing I already had all the ingredients for! Plus it's pretty, and delicious, and easy, and it combines chocolate and peanut butter, arguably one of the best combinations in the world - sorry Nicole, and Matt, this one's for Katie and Jayne!!

The cake itself was a caramel mud cake with a really rich chocolate ganache that I made for my good friend Katie for her birthday - it's important to note that I once made a very sweet - and very experimental - peanut-butter-cream-cheese-chocolate-slice-concoction for Katie at work, and she literally ate the whole thing... *sugar overload at the thought*

Needless to say, this was perfect for her :)

Warning : the recipe kinda suggests making this as a slice, but it is REALLY really sweet. I used half the recipe in the same size pan to make the slabs for the side of the cake - and even then it's very sweet! Love how it turned out though - and it went surprisingly well with caramel mud cake! (but then what doesn't :))

Enjoy it!!! it's absolutely delicious, and really addictive! I promise I'll look into some caramel options for those with an (unhealthy) aversion to the peanut butter :)

I recommend using blocks of chocolate (Cadbury, Dream, Lindt) instead of cooking chocolate for this - it's important that you like the taste of the chocolate since it's pretty much the main component!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl

360g white chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup (140g) smooth peanut butter

400g dark chocolate, chopped (I use milk, but it doesn't really matter)

1) Grease 20cm x 30cm lamington pan; line base and sides with baking paper extending 5cm above edges of pan (important, otherwise you can't get it out! trust me!)

2) Stir white chocolate in small heatproof bowl over small saucepan of simmering water until smooth; cool 5 minutes. Add peanut butter, stir until smooth

3) Stir dark chocolate in small heatproof bowl (blah blah - you know how to melt chocolate - I do it in the microwave in 20 second blasts!)

4) Drop alternate spoonfuls into pan. Gently shake the pan to level the mixture. Pull a skewer backwards and forwards to create marbled effect

5) stand at room temperature for 2 hours until set

Easy as pie! Though I recommend running lines gently through it with a knife after about an hour to make cutting slices easier later

Let me know if you try it and love it!

Katie - a very happy birthday! hope you're feeling better

- B xx

Too much caramel mud cake.

2011-03-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

Excess caramel mud cake doesn't sound like it would be that bad (if at all), but it represents a complete melt-down in Becsville. Let me elaborate.

In a whirlwind month (and a bit) my life has kinda turned upside down. Or maybe I have? or maybe nothing's changed and I'm just unsettled... who really knows! Either way. In the last month-and-a-bit I have:

- Applied for at least a zillion jobs. And then at least 300 more

- Been offered 7 of them. All in the same week. Within 48 hours actually. Maybe even less...

- Had more than one contract in my hot little hands at one time and had to make big adult-like decisions (yuck)

- Baked 175 cupcakes to sell/auction/raffle for Christchurch after their earthquake (plus cookies, cakes, truffles, rice crispy thingys... you get where I'm going with this)

- Done a babyshower, 5th birthday cake, hens night cake, cupcakes and a prize cake

- Celebrated a 90th birthday, a wedding, Valentines Day, St Patricks Day, and an anniversary

- Mourned the death of my car Scarlet - prematurely, since a month later I'm still driving her

- Had (still have) tonsilitis that was maybe strep throat, maybe glandular fever, currently just annoying...

And then the crux of my eventful month-and-a-bit? In my special Becs kinda way I totally ignored the dates on an upcoming cake raffle, and went ahead and made a ridiculously decadent two tiered caramel mud cake.

Two weeks early.

SIGH.

Luckily I have a boyfriend who can help me out in crisis situations like these.

I don't know about you, but I get way more done when I'm BUSY. Not just kinda busy - ridiculously-strenuously-no-free-time kinda busy, multiple jobs busy. I'm hoping in the next few weeks things will get a teeny tiny bit more structure and routine, and I can start wishing I had free time again.

In case you hadn't noticed though, my blog has been suffering. Poor wee blog, used to have so many pretty photos and tasty goodies. I haven't even been reading OTHER blogs recently for inspiration! (SHOCK HORROR)

So enough is enough, back into the reading and following and being inspired, and definitely back to the kitchen (with a whisk. And a camera. And my taste buds). My plan is to try and make something new every week. A new dessert, new meal, new design for a cake... something. Something I can PHOTOGRAPH, since I love that too. Plus it's fun. And it means I can blog every week (she says hopefully) which is also part of my magical new plan.

So there's me. My fresh start, new beginning, happy ending, however you wish to look at it. And as you may have noticed, I found a really good use for one of the excess Caramel mud cakes! a good excuse to try my hand at buttercream icing roses as seen at I am Baker. Easier than they look!

To those of you out there who have patiently twiddled their thumbs (whilst going about your normal lives) in my blogging absence - thank you! I promise there are many more updates to come, including a Strawberry Shortcake cake which I THINK is my favourite yet!

- B xx

Stylish Blogger!

2011-02-02T19:39:00.000-08:00

So now that my Valentine's Day collection is officially made, photographed, marketed (and partially eaten :D) and all I can REALLY do is wait... I feel like I can take a little bit of time to get back into blogging - since that's how this whole thing started! And also because 2 posts back I was given my first Blogger award! And there are instructions I must follow or... never blog again...? unsure. Either way, onwards with my marching orders!

Pretty, yes? I agree. Wonder where it originated. And if I should frame it. I feel like that may be a step too far...

So here are my Instructions:

1) Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award
2) Share 7 things about yourself
3) Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4) Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award

1) A HUGE THANK YOU to K-Money from To My Mother, My Dog, and Clowns! Whose blog I think I first stumbled upon because I loved the name :) Go and visit for some laughs - and chuckle-able highschool prom stories!

2) Seven things about myself... I could do the generic age, hair colour, shoe size business... but in the interests of having you - preferably - CONTINUE reading, I shall try to make it more interesting

- 1 - I love bananas. On everything. Like actually - chicken salads, in sandwiches with tuna, on pizzas with chicken cranberry and avocado, on toast. All the time, with everything. Even capsicum. Yum - go and try it.

- 2 - My jaw clicks/creaks when I yawn (or sometimes of its own accord for no reason - usually at serious moments or when everyone goes quiet). My dentist told me to hold my jaw when I yawn in case one day it just pops on out. Awkward ...

- 3 - I have a serious fetish for high heels - and not just foot sized high heels, ANY high heels - I have a huge collection that includes a high heel shoe liqueur bottle, high heel shoe lamp, chairs, glasses, speakers, cushions... there's a lot. At Christmas, I even have an entire shoe tree. Yes.

- 4 - I taught myself how to spray paint (art) after seeing a spray paint artist on the street in Chicago. It's ridiculously addictive and messy, and I LOVE it. Unfortunately I'm also really lazy about changing the filters in my gas mask, and feel like a blowfly/toxic-materials handler when I WEAR one.... so I haven't painted in a while

- 5 - I have had more bumps to the head than acceptable. I was (arguably) pushed down the stairs and split my head open on the door frame, was hit with a shoe - that left a distinct sole-pattern mark smack bang on my forehead for a week - and (allegedly) pulled a tree (branch) down on myself while scaling a mountain (slash climbing a hill) that left a (very impressive) big purple welt that everyone at school found very cool. My family says it explains a lot...

- 6 - I create Becisms. I essentially speak my own language, which you will understand if you know me, and if you know me really well - chances are you USE some of my Becisms. Generally by adding 'age' and 'ism' to words that (let's be honest) don't really require them. I also become infatuated with words for no reason. Stowage for example. Spillage. Stickage. Jugular... You get the picture.

- 7 - I don't like cake.

PAUSE FOR EFFECT

Yep, I said it. Humorous really given how many cakes I make, but I'm just not especially a fan. Unless it's really extremely horrendously rich decadent dark DENSE mud cake. In which case serve it on up! I'd rather decorate than eat to be completely honest. It seems wrong, criminal even? but my nana flab will thank me one day... (for all the cupcakes and truffles I have instead...!!)

So there's me! Now onto you lot. Instructions say to pick 15 recently discovered bloggers, and most of these aren't recently discovered at all, they're just blogs I love/am inspired by/think you should visit - RIGHT NOW! This isn't like one of those forward email things where I'll stub my toe if I don't follow it exactly, right...?

So I am passing the Stylish Blogger Award on to ... DRUM ROLL:

1) Sandra @ Kiwi Cakes Blog because I buy almost everything I need for Stiletto Studio from Kiwi Cakes (and all the things I don't REALLY need) and because Sandra has been a fantastic help in the last year! Plus she's supporting Purple Cake Day, which is a fantastic cause

2) Amy @ Stem because she was the first person to compliment - and share! - one of my parties on her blog. She also shares lots of other parties - and her own - that are always absolutely gorgeous!

3) Rosa @ The Culinary Explorations of Mrs Cake because she has the easiest to follow recipes, and they're always reliable! Especially her pumpkin pie recipe, and Denheath Custard squares. YUM. Plus she's a fellow Wellingtonian!

4) Stephanie @ Cake Fixation because she makes and shares the most BEAUTIFUL cakes!

5) Lisa @ Personally You Parties - because she had a blog post on cupcake fondue, and it made my week

6) Nicola @ Small Things Iced because her Tree House cake is adorable - and so clever!

7) Natalia @ Vegans in the City because she's a good friend of mine, and I love her creativity in adapting recipes to be vegan/gluten free!

8) Anne @ Something Else to Eat because she's a fellow Wellingtonian, and I love that she reviews places I actually KNOW!

9) Jamie Lane @ Making the Mundane Magical because she ALWAYS makes me laugh with her everyday tales of adventure

10) Laura @ A Pretty Plethora - even though she already has a Stylish Blogger award, her blog is wearing a mustache, and that pretty much defines Stylish

11) Shirley @ A Lovely Mother because I think her blog layout and design is adorable!

12) Natasha @ Fete Fanatic because she has shared one of my parties before, and continues to find the most gorgeous ones to share!

13) Trina @ Musical Butterfly because she's my sister :) And she's the reason I got into blogging in the first place! AND because nowhere near enough people visit and appreciate all the clever things she makes - Go visit her blog NOW!

14) Leoni @ Happy Cakes because her blog banner is the cutest thing I've ever seen, and she makes the most beautiful cakes!!

15) Nessie @ Baking = Love because I love her blog title, and she's a fellow NZer!

So there you go! 15 Blogs you must go and visit right this second - stop reading and go!

Sorry there's so much text in this one - I have lots of photos to come! plus a baby shower, a second birthday, and a purple party on the books! Fingers crossed for lots of orders for Valentines Day...!

- B xx

Valentine's Day range out now!

2011-02-01T03:20:00.001-08:00

So - as per my last post - we had a fantastic Breakfast at Tiffanys themed party - photos are gorgeous, food was delicious, Birthday girl was very pleased. BUT, I have submitted the photos to Amy Atlas with all my fingers and toes crossed that they will be featured there! which means I can't share the photos - YET. I have got an album of the photos up on the Stiletto Studio facebook page so head on over and become a fan if you'd like to take a look in the meantime!

That being said, it is now (in New Zealand at least) officially FEBRUARY! Seems like just yesterday I put the Christmas party photos up... but now it is well and truly time to start thinking about Valentine's Day! So I decided to put together a range of sweet Valentine's Day treats, and see how they went!

The whole range is available (Wellington only at this stage I'm afraid! although the truffles may be courier-able within NZ) with details on my facebook page or website, so head on over and have a look!! I'm considering having a deal of some kind to generate some more interest. Maybe a free cake or cupcakes for the person who refers the most orders? We shall see! Less than two weeks to go, so I'll get onto that!

A few sneak peak photos of the range are below - the teddy bears are my favourites! What's yours?

- B xx

Polka Dot Peanut

2011-01-19T01:18:00.000-08:00

Whoops, it's now OVER a month since I last updated - so much for my new years resolution!

Seriously though, it's been a crazy month - I spent two glorious weeks in the land of Melbourne, a week on the sandy sunny shores of Waiterere Beach, and then another two weeks job hunting, planning, enrolling in a Diploma of Photography, trying to suss out a business plan for Stiletto Studio, and just plain trying to get settled for 2011.

So here we are! With a brief update on the best (food related) parts of my month away from blogland, some cute cute photos of one of my favourite Christmas presents, and a teeny tiny taster of what's to come.

Before all that though - remember Kates 1st Birthday cake? Well I got the cutest little photo in my inbox the other day:

Isn't she adorable!! Looking a little stunned/overwhelmed to be honest, but then that IS a lot of food for a teeny tiny someone! Thanks so much to Belinda for the photo, and your continued support!

Now roll back a few weeks, and imagine your heart skipping a beat when you open a special Christmas box to discover THIS glorious view:

Yes. Chocolate and strawberry macarons from LINDT.

Oh. My. Word.

Amy, my heart is yours forever.

And I'm proud to say, THIS little beauty was actually DINNER! :

Healthiest dinner ever. Thanks Pancake Parlour!

Last but not least, a tower of love made by my very clever cousin Jess:

I'm not even generally a fan of gingerbread, but THIS one was delicious. Pretty sure I ate at least half that tree. Just taking one for the team.

And now, a very special Christmas present. This was a request that I made to my very clever sister Trina from Musical Butterfly.

APRON I said!

But not just any apron.

This one needs CUPCAKES - because really, don't all aprons need cupcakes?

And POLKA dots I said, because I have the perfect shoes to wear with it!

Ruffles and lace and pockets - Oh my!

Are you ready to see it yet?

In it's full-length glory?

Here we go...

Drum-roll please....

TA DA!!!!

Gorgeous, no? I'm sure she would want me to point out that she HAND STITCHED the cupcakes on. And yet still she sometimes wonders how I have the patience for detailing cakes? Who knows. We're obviously a patient pair.

Polka dotted goodness like this desires admiration, no? Let's admire from all angles

Pretty Pockets

Polka Dot booooows!

My red spatula. See, now I match!

I think this is the "should I decorate the cupcakes, or just EAT them....?" face

And see! the shoes :D

And my new recipe book from mum and dad - perfect!

Thank you Trina!!! I promise I won't get it dirty in the kitchen (eek!!!) xxxx

I had planned to now show a sneak peak photo of what's coming up on Saturday, a Breakfast at Tiffanys themed tea party for Trinas birthday! but then I realised - she'll be reading this! and what I was going to share is a SURPRISE! So alas, I shall leave you in suspense, and promise full disclosure after the party :) It does involve a lot of little blue boxes though....!

How was everyone elses Christmas/holidays/January? Can you believe creme eggs are already in stores!!!!

- B xx

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-18T17:06:00.000-08:00

Well, after all my very very best intentions, I didn't get around to putting up all the christmas posts I had hoped to! I'm now in Melbourne, and after a stressful few weeks, VERY very ready to relax and have a holiday.

All the photos I had hoped to post are up on flickr and my facebook page, and I'll be back in the new year to go over the details of them! Just a good excuse to prolong my favourite season a little longer :)

Thanks for all your support this year! your comments, questions, feedback and emails have been really encouraging, and I look forward to being much more organized next year!!!

A random selection of photos from our Family Christmas party are below:

To see more photos of our family Christmas party, you can see the facebook photos here or flickr set starting here

A random selection of photos from the Book club Christmas party I planned:

All the dishes were based on books from the book club collection! Lots of fun to plan and make.

To see the rest of the photos on facebook, visit the album here or the flickr set beginning here

And last but not least, the Christmas cupcakes I made to photograph for my Christmas cards!:

So that's all from me for this year. I wish you all a VERY happy Christmas and holiday season with your families! May you have a safe and relaxing break, and I look forward to seeing you again in the new year!

All the best - B xxx

Happy Belated Turkey Day!

2010-12-13T23:13:00.000-08:00

Happy Turkey day!!!

Whoops, I'm about a month behind :) Plus y'know, in the wrong country... but the sentiment still stands!

Thanksgiving was one of the things I loved most about my visit(s) to the states, and easily some of the most delicious traditional food, so we started our own tradition down under. (For those of you who are Kiwis and object to being referred to as "down under" like our (superior) Aussie cousins, I assure you that "down under" is all the same to Americans!)

Enter problem number 1: Pumpkin pie in the states = Pumpkin in a can, which we don't get here

Problem number 2: Yams are out of season here, so candied yams are suddenly more difficult than they sound

Problem number 3: Turkey here is RIDICULOUSLY expensive and somewhat hard to find

Problem number 4: Reeses peanut butter cups, Candy Corn and double-stuff Oreos are non-existent down this end of the world (luckily a bag of Candy corn arrived just in time, and just as well - I have NO idea what could ever replace Candy corn!)

So here is our improvised shopping collection:

Looking at that now, I seriously wonder a) why we bought mini mint treats, b) what we had INTENDED them for, and c) where they ended up.... A Thanksgiving mystery I can no doubt trace back to my mum.

But lets go through this step by step.

No party would be a party (or so I have discovered) without some well placed, gorgeously coloured, custom-designed printables. Since I've been planning a Thanksgiving for.. well actually... since LAST Thanksgiving, I had some really cute ideas for some printables - and I had optimistically intended to design and make them myself....

Gorgeous aren't they!

Wish I HAD made them myself!

But in reality, throw in a bit of a life, two OTHER events in the same fateful weekend, and a much-longer-than-expected saga with my first experience making mini toffee apples from scratch (My apologies AGAIN to the ruined stove top, the black saucepan, and the teeny tiny sugary burn on my arm) and I found myself with 45 minutes to go before the first guests were due to arrive, and no printables. Thank God for regular blog-stalking, Google Reader, and lots of other - much more prepared - paper-printable artists.

These little cuties I found through Michelle at Maddycakes Muse , and were designed - and provided FREE - by Carli over at DimplePrints (cutest name ever!)

Unfortunately I had neither the ink, nor the inclination to print EVERYTHING out - we're talking pages and pages and pages of autumny-turkeyish goodness! - But it turned out that the cupcake toppers and the label tags were enough to set the stage for a rediculously filling and festive evening.

Thank you again to the lovely Carli for saving my butt at the last minute!

Now THESE on the other hand. These I've been drooling over for months. Literally. Drooling over the cuteness ALONE, don't even get me started on the chocolate side of these little guys.

These I found over at Our Best Bites - they're well worth a visit. And actually that's the same place I found the Glass Block Jelly recipe I used for our Christmas party! Lots of fantastic ideas, photos & recipes that are (relatively) easy to follow - if not at least gorgeous to peruse.

Sans Reeces and Double Stuff Oreo cookies, and with a little improvising with Ferrero Rocher, I think they turned out to be my favourite thing on the table! I still can't bring myself to eat mine... though I hear they were delicious.

Last year I spent Thanksgiving with some good friends in Florida and was able to try some really delicious traditional recipes first hand. I had a recipe from my good friend Alyssa for her families traditional Yam Puffs with marshmallows recipe - YUM!! With Yams out of season down here (being summer) we used kumara instead - and it turned out to be DELICIOUS! I'm a complete sucker for anything sweet, and seriously can't think of anything better than covering ALL my veges with marshmallows... What a wonderful holiday.

Note also our "honorary turkey" (aka chicken), Turkey, cranberry and brie filo pastries, Cranberry stuffing patties, meatballs & noodles, and lots of yummy veges. Lots of too-good-to-be-true dishes that I think are the beginning of a very delicious tradition.

My favourite part of the night (and the rest of the week, with the leftovers) was the pumpkin pie. I was lucky enough to have a sweet potato pie (my first!) made for me by a co-worker when I left Disney last year, and I nearly died. So obviously I had to find a recipe to make one myself - which incidentally is quite hard to do without a can! Luckily, Rosa over at The Culinary Explorations of Mrs Cake stepped in at just the right moment with a really easy, extremely delicious recipe that I am concreting into my recipe collection. Go and have a look at the recipe here

Mmm mmm mmm, almost too good to be true. Even if my dad didn't like it. Pssh.

I think most important to the holiday is that it really genuinely - uncommonly - is a holiday that's all about spending time with people - no presents, no commercialism (at least not down here!) and a whooooooole lot of very full tummies. Sounds perfect to me.

But then what am I saying, Christmas is my favourite time of year :D And now that my obsessive-compulsively-chronological needs are satiated, I can get onto all the Christmas goodies waiting patiently in my flickr account :D

- B xx

And a partridge in a pear tree

2010-12-06T01:36:00.000-08:00

Is it just me, or does time literally fly at this time of year? Yesterday it was October and I was flat out planning for my first big cake, suddenly it was November and a trip to Melbourne and Toast Martinborough and a big batch of cute cute mini cupcakes, then BANG, December = my first official themed dessert table for a client, a batch of 51 cupcakes with 4 days notice, a late Thanksgiving, and now here we are - 17 days out from Christmas!

Stop, breathe, start again.

It’s been a big week, a big month, and let’s be honest – a really big year. The lovely Mia from http://miafied.blogspot.com commented on my blog today, and reminded me of how long it is since I last posted! And how much I still have in my magical-blog-ideas-Mary-Poppins-pocket of goodness.

Which brings me on to you - to all of you who actually READ this, and follow these random whimsical things I've been doing - which thus far have been working out, touch wood - thank you! I love getting your comments and emails, and fully intend to put more time and planning into this blog for next year! If only more of you lived somewhere nearby so I had more people to help me EAT all the madness I've been creating.

Like these. Teeny teeny tiny little vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing and teeny teeny tiny (excruciatingly fiddly) baby faces for an antenatal party

Look at the little bows, eep

Thank goodness I wasn't actually there for the eating of these, they're FAR too cute. Plus I would've felt mean... look at those little curls!

Another new exciting amazing wonderful thing I totally forgot to share - I finally got a new camera! a DSLR camera. A BIG GIRL camera, like the big kids play with. It's heavy, with lenses and focusing and macro and its own special bag and everything.

I worry that I'll drop it. I worry that I'll never ACTUALLY figure it out

Sometimes I worry if I'm a dufus for hovering constantly over teeny teeny tiny cupcakes with my big big big black camera

But then look! it takes these cute little photos where some bits are in focus and some bits aren't (which might I point out, is probably more the fault of my questionable eye sight, and me THINKING It's in focus when actually it's not. Trip to the optometrist time perhaps?)

Perhaps I shall add camera classes to my ever-growing list of objectives for next year. But then that means less time for baking... such a dilemma!

And I DID just finish spending 2 hours in the kitchen painstakingly rolling and christmas-puddingafying little Baileys Truffles...

I wish I'd been more organised, and thought to start some kind of 12 Days of Christmas blogathon, since I have so much left to share! And since at least some of it really needs to be squeezed in in the next 10 days before I head off to Melbourne for the rest of the year - posting pics of Christmas cupcakes in January feels wrong, much as I wish Christmas lasted all year!

So here is my last-23-days-of-2010-resolution - to get everything posted in the next 10 days (maybe with some sneaky drafts to put up over the holiday weeks!)

Wish me luck! The next 10 days also bring Carols by Candlelight in Wellington, Annual (red-gold-reindeer themed) Christmas dinner with our neighbours, 2 sets of Christmas drinks, my last day at my job, Pre-Christmas-Christmas with my family, a trip to the salon, seeing all the Christmas lights around Welly-town, and a partridge in a Pear Tree!

It's summer for us down here, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for fine weather - what does everyone else have planned in the next few weeks??

B xx

Kates 1st Birthday cake

2010-11-24T01:08:00.001-08:00

As is usually the way, things don't always turn out the way you planned. I had initially thought Stiletto Studio would mostly do parties and dessert tables, but it turns out the most popular thing - at least starting out - is cakes! So I taught myself how to make them, how to tier them, how to cover them in fondant, and voila! Now cakes are what I advertise the most (and let's be honest, what I EAT the most... :))

This is undeniably my favourite cake so far. I planned it over a few months, but as is usually the way with me, didn't really know how it would turn out until the day. Luckily, cute little 1 year old Kate LOVED it! What a cutie pie.

There were three parts to it - the main feature was a two tiered mud cake, plus vanilla cupcakes, and a sponge "smash cake". The smash cake was rainbow colours, since I figured that'd look all cute and mushy if it really WASH smashed

Plus y'know, it looks purdy :)

Started well, didn't drop anything, didn't have a break down, didn't run OUT of anything, even the icing went on the way I told it to! I'll let the photos tell the story:

Happy Birthday to Kate!

This week I'm working on some mini cupcakes for Kates mum, then a book club party, Christmas picnic night out, and a late Thanksgiving party the weekend after!

- B xx

These are a few of my favourite things

2010-11-12T15:18:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's literally been WEEKS since I last updated, especially when there's been so much to update! I wonder if it's possible to get writers block even though you know what you want to say.... Maybe it's just called procrastination :)

The end of October was a bit of a mad house for us - my mum had a birthday, and I left the next day (Halloween) for a week in Melbourne. I'm gutted I wasn't in a position to have a Halloween party! but there's so much around on the internet even now with details of fantastic Halloween events, I figured I couldn't do something half hearted. I still have the gorgeous Monkey Moo Moo printables I won from Following Phubie and think I may still use them to do a practice table spread so they get some love, and have a late Halloween :)

In the meantime, we had a dessert buffet for Mums birthday that we themed "These are a few of my favourite things" from The Sound of Music. I threw it together on the day for a night of sugary goodness with some of mums closest friends.

The frangipani canvas at the back was what I gave mum for her birthday, and the food was a combination of all her favourite desserts - as well as some for our neighbour Tony who shares her birthday (the duck cake back right was for him)

We had chocolate and cream fairy cakes (with chocolate icing, too yum)

Vanilla and cream butterfly cakes - mums special favourite AND her

specialty

And these vanilla slices/custard squares which were DELICIOUS. I've never tried to make them before, and found this recipe for Denheath Custard Squares over at Mrs Cake . We changed them a little bit and left out the coconut, but they are still ridiculously good

Look at all the custardy goodness. EEK.

Mint slice truffles for a twist on my usual truffles using mums favourite biscuits, and the green candy melts I won from Mrs Cake

Probably shouldn't have used so many green melts this close to Christmas... But you can't have mint and not use green...!

These were plain chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing, and the little circles of fondant were crazy easy to make using some new impression mats I got from Kiwi Cakes

There were a few dessert favourites (including chocolate self saucing puddings) which we left out because we wanted to keep everything to finger food and/or one serve and easy to eat on your lap, so we ended up using shot glasses for the chocolate mousse from some of Mums favourite places to visit

Ridiculously easy to prepare and set up, and actually a really good size serving!

The cake was plain chocolate with a layer of cream and a really rich chocolate ganache

Because it was only done on the day, and because of the layer of cream it was too complicated to cover the cake in rolled fondant like I usually would, but it actually ended up looking really cute with just fondant details - raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, white dresses with blue satin sashes

And little Maria (who was much easier as a nun!) is still sitting in our kitchen keeping an eye on things

Was a good night had by all - and the leftovers were even better!

Happy Birthday mum!

- B xx

P.S - Since the party I came across this ADORABLE Sound of Music party at Sew Weekly - it warrants a visit! The little kiddies in their curtain-outfits are far too cute.

Tim Burton Cupcakes

2010-10-28T01:20:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting around to looking at some of the Tim Burton party details a bit more closely. Mostly because I'm basically missing out on Halloween this year! So trying to make the Tim Burton goodies last longer :)

I'm a bit of a knob, having just noticed when I tried to find all the cupcake photos that I didn't actually take a photo of all the different kinds of cupcakes TOGETHER.... and yet I'm pretty sure I took literally thousands on the day. Always the way. Let's blame it on the huge distracting red wig I was wearing at the time.

Moving right along. I had lots and lots of different ideas for Tim Burton cupcakes, ESPECIALLY Alice in Wonderland ones which are all over blogland at the moment, but given that I was trying to incorporate as many TB movies as I could into the spread, it made sense to make a big varied range.

I had two trays of cupcakes on the table, and one tiered stand on the dessert table. I didn't really take many photos of the trays - epic fail, but you can see above the Charlie and the Chocolate factory one. I made teeny tiny little rainbow fondant lollypops on tooth picks that looked really cute on their own (top, middle, yellow) but didn't love how they looked on the cupcake. Lucky they tasted good!

And below the Beetlejuice cupcake (black and white with the bow tie) and Joker cupcake (yellow and purple with the green bow tie).

There was a range of normal sized cupcakes and teeny tiny mini ones - not gonna lie, I actually just ran out of patty pans :) Whooops! All in good fun. But actually having the range added quite well to the theme. See. Secretly I planned it that way *cough*

Actually now that I've let that slip, I don't even have patty pans ON all of them on the stand. What a slacker. Mismatching is all in vogue though right....!

Moving right along

The idea for the one above actually came from a photo I saw of the entrance way to the Tim Burton exhibit in Melbourne. Tim Burton always uses jagged swirly patterns, and this one was very his style. It was also one of the easiest to decorate! A pre cut circle of white fondant with black icing gel.

The five above were my favourites (hence they ended up on the top tier of the stand on the dessert table) ESPECIALLY the Tweedle Dum/Tweedle Dee cupcake on the right - another easy one on a pre-cut circle of fondant.

PLUS, a perfect match for a very important guest

TOO CUTE!!!!

I tried to steer clear of most of the Alice in Wonderland ideas I'd seen with top hats and cards since I already had such a lot of inspiration from that movie in other aspects of the table, so went with a simple hard candy in plain vanilla buttercream. Simple and cute!

Eek! look at Jack Skellington. He's my idol.

The roses were inspired by Big Fish and Sleepy Hollow. I tried to make them a darkish red and love the way they turned out. Although FYI - if you store these in an airtight container and forget about them, the rose practically MELTS into the icing! not a great look...

(Just quietly, this post is making me hungry)

The purdy blue ones were partially for my visiting big sis, partially because I wanted to play with my butterfly plungers, and partially for Corpse Bride. A lot of the Tim Burton inspired cakes I saw when I was planning were purpley blue butterfly Corpse Bride inspired, and this was my simpler version :)

One of my favourites that really just happened on the day were these Pumpkin King cupcakes that matched the Topsy Turvy cake. I had pumpkins left over after finishing the cake topper, and they turned out perfectly!

Favourite image from the day - Jack and Sally!! Both done on pre-cut fondant circles that I just placed on the buttercream on the day - HUGE time saver!!

So there they all are! There were others around on the tables that I possibly missed, but these were my favourite ones!

This last weekend I spent making teeny tiny pink and purple polka dot cupcakes to match a 1st birthday cake - how did I ever manage before fondant???

- B xx

For the love of food and winning

2010-10-26T01:33:00.000-07:00

I would say I've been slack with updating, but actually I've just been BUSY. I'm currently in between jobs, booking up flights, planning parties, making 1st birthday cakes, and just generally not having any free time to myself to do anything but sleep!

Oops, that's not entirely true - just had the most relaxing couple of days at our beach house enjoying the sun and our new puppy Wall-E's first adventure to the beach! Look at the little cutie

But that aside, I now have a tonne to update - literally, my first blogging back log. Exciting. The question then is - do I update all in one MONSTER update, or spread it all out over several posts? I'm thinking several posts. So here's an update on some incredibly good food that's been gracing my kitchen and palate in the last few weeks, and the details on some fantastic competitions!

First up, a meal we had at home that was really simple but far too good to be healthy. I'm not much of a recipe person, so these were just created from scratch with a bit of imagination - but it helped to have someone in the house with a slight obsession for feta.... everything tastes good with feta!

This is a bacon, spinach and pumpkin frittata literally COVERED in feta. Doesn't look especially appetizing in the casserole dish, if I do say so myself. But from THIS angle....

YUM :D Follow that up with a dessert that is quickly climbing my non-chocolate-dessert favourites list

Passionfruit cheesecake. Epic (although FYI, really filling and mega dense.)

Onto a New Zealand institution - if you live in Wellington and haven't been to Strawberry Fare, I strongly recommend you walk away from your computer RIGHT NOW and get over there. They're renowned for their desserts and they're far too good.

Like this ^^^

Literally a TOWER of chocolate black forest goodness. Or better yet, if you're like me, this is the aptly named Chocolate Madness dessert

A culmination of all the chocolatey goodness they have on offer. I'm still not entirely sure of what it all is... but I know it included chocolate ice cream, chocolate brownie, white chocolate mousse, some other kind of other chocolatey thing.... who cares. Chocolate = happiness.

Last but not least, a very grown up - and delicious - dinner with some of my best ladies. Starting with a divine risotto that I for some reason forgot to take a photo of... Sorry Chelle, it was yum :)

Then pesto-stuffed chicken wrapped in prosciutto on kumara mash from Jaynee

Definitely as good as it looks, I assure you!

Then my personal favourite course for the night - Caramello PIES.

Yes.

Caramello + pie. Biscuit base, plus a chocolate puddingy layer of goodness with a caramellowy chocolate moussey topping on top.... EEK. I didn't even finish mine - THAT'S how good it was.

And my teeny tiny contribution to the meal (since one can hardly turn up empty handed) was truffles. Lots of colour-coded truffles

The white ones are white-chocolate coated oreo truffles (as seen in lots of places, but I originally discovered on Bakerella)

and then a variation on my Baileys truffles that I've made before - I didn't have quite enough wafers to make them work properly, so these ones ALSO have crushed up Malteasers (basically a food group all on their own). Let's call them Milk-chocolate-baileys-malteaser-crunch truffles.

So there's my month in food. Thank you to all my good friends and family who entertain my food issues.

I thought I should also highlight some competitions that are running/have been running recently.

Christine over at Following Phubie had a link party with a prize of Halloween printables from Monkey Moo Moo that I was stoked to win! Can't wait to get them printed and have a bit of fun with it, although I can already tell it will be a bit late for actual Halloween, oops! Thank you Donna for sending them through - they're adorable!

Then a competition from fellow Wellingtonian Mrs Cake where I won a whole lot of coloured candy melts (which I for some reason have never been able to track down for myself, fail). Can't wait to get into them! I mean melt them and use them... *cough*. Thanks Rosa!

If you haven't visited her site before, now's a good time - she has tim tam truffle bouquets and custard squares! YUM!! You can find her here

I've also entered my Tim Burton Tea Party into the Handmade Halloween competition over at Entertain Exchange

There's lots there to see! so I recommend checking it out.

Over and out for todays huge update!

And coming soon: details of my Topsy Turvy Tim Burton cake, Tim Burton cupcakes, Murder Mystery party, upcoming book-club party plans, and a very big tiered birthday cake with matching smash cake and cupcakes for a very special 1st birthday!

- B xx

Tim Burton Tea Party

2010-10-10T01:29:00.000-07:00

So we finally had the Tim Burton Tea Party!

And it was great fun. Lots of work - a lot of it last minute, whoops - and I just today (one week later) discovered some bits and pieces I'd bought for decorating and completely forgotten.... but there was enough colour and spiders and swirls and fingers around the table to get the look I was going for.

I tried to incorporate as many of Tim Burtons films as possible - not all, unfortunately - and as many of his common themes, including big chocolate fish for Big Fish, giant peaches for James and the Giant Peach

Lots of beetles, bugs and spiders for Beetle Juice

Some very special "Mrs Lovetts meat pies" from Sweeney Todd

And of course lots of touches from Alice in Wonderland

Jack Skellington inspired vintage candy and chocolate hearts and Jack Skellington chocolate mud truffle pops

Pumpkin king cupcakes and a Corpse Bride/Nightmare Before Christmas inspired topsy turvy cake
(and moreish chocolate-dipped marshmallows with peanuts, multi-coloured sprinkles or red/pink/white hearts)

Mini-sized 100s and 1000s biscuits, wafers and slice, and lots of candy and Willy-Wonka style lollypops

Flowers, tea pots and toadstools

Nightmare Before Christmas candy canes

The white rabbit!

More details to come on the topsy turvy cake, cupcakes and "Jack" pops, but in the meantime here's a photo of my amazing friends and family who put so much effort into their costumes - couldn't have done it without them!

Back from left - Matt as Willy Wonka from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Steph as Katerina Van Tassel from Sleepy Hollow, Domi as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, Trina and Andrew as Mrs Lovett and Sweeney Todd from Sweeney Todd, Simon as Edward Scissorhands from Edward Scissorhands, Jo as the White Queen from Alice in Wonderland

Front row from left - Jayne as Lydia from Beetle Juice, Me as Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas, and Mum and Dad as Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee from Alice in Wonderland

Special thanks to Domi and Jo for the extra sugary treats they brought, Matt for the extra candy, Simon, Jayne, Trina, Andrew & Mum and Dad for helping with colouring, baking and taste testing 'til the wee hours, and to Steph the Quiz Queen for keeping everyone guessing for a good half hour

And something new for this week - If you haven't been there yet, go and visit Meg over at Life of Meg for Mingle Mondays! Great way to see some new creative blogs.

- B xx

Glee bites, Butterflies and Tea Parties

2010-09-26T00:17:00.001-07:00

For those of you who love Glee (and are in New Zealand!!) I strongly recommend you go and see the Gleevent!! I love the TV show - albeit mostly for the soundtrack - and when we saw the preview night of the stage show last week, it was fantastic. Visit the website for details, and/or my good friend Steph's blog for a more detailed review here.

For me though this was of course another excuse to bake, especially since I still had some left over mud cake (Yes, my household has really gotten to the point where there is EXCESS cake)

Chocolate mud-truffles dipped in milk chocolate with yellow fondant and red edible gel pen

Yum. Although not sure if I'm a fan of this edible writing gel business - the letters took forever to dry, and even then stayed sticky... questionable. Luckily we were more focussed on the chocolatey muddy goodness underneath.

From this same batch of chocolate-mud truffles, I made these cuties to send to my sister in the far off land of Hamilton

Also my first play with plunger cutters - which sound far more terrifying than they actually ARE - and more playing around with marbling fondant

FYI - when marbling fondant, WEAR GLOVES. Even if you feel a bit spastic - I'm still trying to get the purple colouring off my fingers. I look diseased.

So that's my week in pictures. Had a huge big shopping spree yesterday for the Tim Burton party which is now next Sunday (eek) and found lots of fun stuff. Was trying to represent all his movies, but a) I don't LIKE them all - I know, who would've thought - and b) there are too many. Put aside the fact that I'm now living in a room surrounded by severed fingers, tea cups, grass mats, tea pots and fake spiders, and I think it will be a success.

I couldn't wait any longer to open everything up when I got home, soooo.... HERE'S A SNEAK PEAK!!

Tonnes to do this week to prep for it, fingers crossed I don't have a fondant break down this time!! especially since a topsy turvy cake will be involved....

- B xx

Impromptu Tea Party practice

2010-09-20T03:41:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't caught up from my previous ramblings, Miss S and I are having a Tim Burton Tea Party - we had so much fun planning the Murder Mystery night (some details are here but alas I am slack, and have not yet done a full post with all the details - promise promise promise it's coming!) and couldn't wait any longer :)

It's a Tea Party partially inspired by all the Alice in Wonderland tea parties popping up all over the place since the movie came out, but since Alice was by no stretch of the imagination my favourite Tim Burton movie, I decided to make it a blanket Tim Burton theme - makes for a far more interesting range of costumes :)

FYI I'm still a die hard fan of the 1950 Disney version of Alice in Wonderland, or the slightly creepier but still gold MUSICAL version from 1985 - if you haven't seen it/them you should. (Warning - the 1985 movie is seriously questionable, Martha Raye as the Duchess = CREEPY, and talking/singing chess pieces haunt me to this day... Ringo Starr as the Mock Turtle is somewhat hilarious though, do it)

Eek, look at them -

Shivers. Serious creepage.

Anyway, due to said planning I have been doing the mandatory op-shopping for tea cups and saucers and tea pots and other bits and pieces, and since they were all sitting out in our conservatory looking bored - my mum and I decided to have an impromptu practice tea party on Saturday afternoon.

We even got out the real silver spoon set - just because why the heck not. Although to be honest, we didn't actually USE them... they were a slightly questionable shade of old.

But I DID get to use the silicon teacupcakes I found all the way back here - they worked, but were slightly hilarious/flawed when we tried to pick them up by the handles, since they're ALSO silicon and don't really work as handles at all... they are for cupcakes, not tea... but still! I made my Nanas recipe for light buttercakes (which only sporadically works out succesfully - luckily this was one of those times!) with lemon curd in the middle and buttercream icing - Tea with lemon! Yes, I'm really that tragic.

They were just as cute as Lemon Meringue cupcakes too

We had homemade sausage rolls, mini wafers, toffee pops & squiggles (They're new, and DELICIOUS. Don't really taste a thing like their original normal size ancestors... but they're miniature, so it's ok) Chocolate teddy bears (thank you, Australia, just another one of the delicious original foods you've blessed me with) and mini pikelets with jam and cream - noticing a *cough*mini*cough* trend here?

Not to mention tea. Obviously. Lots of tea. But not out of those pretty little teacups I used for the photos, since they hold a pathetic amount of said tea.

But they were $4 for the whole set after all. Thank you Sallies Upper Hutt.

And thank you Wellington for the BEAUTIFUL view you provided for our tea party!

Sometimes I forget to look out at our beautiful view. Thank God it's spring and I won't have that excuse much longer! Especially since I need to get away from all these cupcakes and out into the sun...

2 weeks till my flea arrives!! (My big sister loves being called that, really) She'll make a stunning Mrs Lovett

B xxx

Tim Burton, Topsy Turvy Cakes, Tea parties, Jellyfish

2010-09-19T03:48:00.000-07:00

Well this weekend was supposed to be the perfect weekend for staying inside and being lazy - we got out the torches and candles in preparation for power outages, brought extra wine and cheese and snacks to make sure we didn't starve (the necessities) and made the most of the DVD sale at work to ensure we weren't bored (like I needed an excuse) - and then I'm pretty sure the storm just forgot to hit us. In fact beyond that, it's been overall a fairly gorgeous weekend! How does Sunday come so quickly?

Faced with a gorgeous sunny day - and feeling slightly slobby and lazy about wanting to stay home

DESPITE said gorgeous sunny day - Mum and I took a drive up the coast to visit our bach and make sure it wasn't washed away (since apparently other areas of NZ WERE hit by said devastating storm, whoops, our bad :)).

Was divine - if blustery - up there, and the beach was covered in newly carved rivers, rubble and trees, lots of blue-bottle jellyfish (Ick - they really do look like plastic bottles) and a tennis ball. Obviously.

Got the above gorgeous panorama through sheer cleverness (which let's be honest, was actually a complete fluke, unfortunately) but it doesn't show the mess on the beach particularly well. Oh well, we know it was there. In fact I'm pretty sure I fell over it at least once (which would explain how I got sand in my camera. Sigh. Technology and I are not a happy pair).

So that was the end of my extremely relaxing and unexpected weekend. Started with Letters to Juliet and a glass of wine (both of which I would recommend, equally) an impromptu tea party (photos to come, but in the meantime you should know - mini pikelets with jam and cream = delicious AND cute) a night of watching Tim Burton movies to get inspired for the upcoming Tim Burton Tea Party (let's be honest, we only stayed awake for 3 movies - we're getting old and decrepit, Steph and I) and then a day at the beach. Luuuuuuuuuurvely.

Now I have Tim Burton on the brain. Though I can think of much worse things.

Happy Sunday!

- B xx

Burlesque Cake and Bake!

2010-09-13T02:44:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly enough, I did actually manage to survive last week - JUST.

I had a minor breakdown on Friday after a far too huge and stressful week, vowing to never touch a cake again after some careless meddling broke 3 different fondant decorations, two collapsed cake tests, and some extreme worrying about a dress that may or may not still fit.

But a cup of tea, a cry, and a minor tantrum later, and I was back in the kitchen and ready to roll.

Tossing up my time between two cakes - the first was a Harry Potter cake for a 7th birthday (blog post to come, but you can sneak preview the photos on my website here) and the second was for Miss la Belle's Burlesque Cake and Bake!

Drum roll please:

The cake I'm pretty sure I was born to make.

If you know me at all, you'll know that my favourite things in life don't fall far from high heel shoes, red and black, and chocolate - so this event was pretty much made for me.

Now can you see why it was important that the dress still fit? (Though to be honest, I didn't breathe a whole lot during the night - corset boning = OUCH)

Since we had to come up with a name, my cake was called "Moulin Rouge" - another one of my favourite things

This was an INCREDIBLY decadent and heavy mud cake, with vanilla buttercream icing and pettinice fondant.

Hat and shoe were modeled on the versions I wore on the night - made entirely from fondant, and the shoe is held in place with toothpicks (FYI I didn't even try the netting, oops! That looked like a little too much detail for someone having a clumsy day)

All the tears and icing sugar behind me, it was a fabulous night! My good friend Natalia (you can visit her blog here - she made a DELICIOUS rich chocolate and raspberry vegan cake called Vegalicious!) won Audience favourite - very much deserved.

These are the seven gorgeous creations - one of them was a ridiculously good Chocolate Banana cake from Joy of Baking

And "Moulin Rouge" and I won the prize for best cake/dress match!

Which means free tickets to the Wellington heats of Miss Burlesque 2011, AND my very own bespoke Millinery from Amy Jansen-Leen! Perfect timing since I just (finally) picked my dress for the Melbourne cup in November. Go and have a look at some of her previous creations here - they're gorgeous!!

Thanks to Steph (as usual) for inspiration, and a huge amount of time wasted/procrastinating whilst discussing fondant colours and cake recipes - you shall be my date for Miss Burlesque next year!

- B xx

Chocolate shoes and fondant top hats

2010-09-08T02:34:00.000-07:00

I have about a million new photos of new projects and delicious foods waiting to be uploaded and described and shared, including the details of the Murder Mystery party (which you can see over here at Catch my Party), my very first (and successful and delicious!) tiered cake (which you can see on my facebook page here) and the plans in the making for an upcoming Tim Burton Tea party (which is so secret that it doesn't appear ANYWHERE else on the net yet)....

BUT, I'm currently - and thankfully - typing on the brand new keys of a brand new laptop. So new in fact that the keys still click, and bonus - it has a delete key, AND a functioning t, d, 5 and 8! Plus it closes without needing to be hit - all features my old laptop was sadly lacking in its old age, may it rest in peace.

All these brand-spanking new features however also mean that my photos are over there >>>>>> on the old laptop sitting beside me, where I can't currently access them :) So the photos shall have to wait. But in the meantime life happens and while I may not necessarily be in the mood for it just at the moment, I have entered a competition for Saturday night that will be lots of fun - Miss la Belle's Burlesque Cake and Bake! Cake + heels + polka dots + corsets + feathers + lace = one epically fun night! Especially since one of the prizes is for the cake that best matches the cake makers outfit!

While I can't give away too much (In case the lovely Steph and/or Natalia read this - they're my competition!) I WILL say that at this time there is a giant chocolate shoe cooling on the bench, a design for a black fondant hat - beside it's wearable inspiration, and a WHOLE lot of red fondant waiting waiting waiting for decorating to begin tomorrow night. There's also a Harry Potter fondant scarf and spectacles waiting, but that's a whole other story!

Here's a sneak sneak peak of the dress - let's just hope it still fits.

Let's also hope that I can cut fondant in straight lines, or that boning is not going to happen at ALL.

More photos to come I promise! As I mentioned before, I do also have a Harry Potter cake on the go for a 7th birthday on Saturday, so that's keeping me busy too! Hopefully on Sunday I'll have time to sit down and sort all these things out - but let's be honest, I'll either be baking again, painting, or in the bath.

Since I'm going to end this here and leave you with a tiny bit of spare time that you might otherwise have spent reading my ramblings, please use said time to visit the Classic Hits website and vote for my shoes!!! Sounds ridiculous, it probably is, but I entered a pair of my favourite heels into this competition to win either a) a trip, or b) a new pair of shoes! Can't go wrong there. They're number 10!!! And you can vote from here. They're called Wicked Witches Revenge (by me) and they're red, and heels - two of my favourite things in life :) Yum.

I'm off to start melting down two entire blocks of dark chocolate (Oh yes, that's how good my Mud Cake is) and will have photos of the final result up soon!

- B xxx

Itty Bitty Chocolate Chip Cookie-wiches

2010-09-02T02:44:00.000-07:00

I really don't have the time tonight to be writing a new post, nor did I intend to - far too busy eating pesto-stuffed chicken breasts wrapped in prosciutto (Thanks Jayne!) followed by sweet tangy and thoroughly delicious raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake... YUM...

Oops, getting distracted - anyway, my point is that I'm far too busy to blog, but this really, actually, simply, could not wait.

I decided to just briefly check my reader in case anything exciting had turned up in the last 2 hours (which is generally unlikely, since it's the middle of the night for 90% of the blogs I follow) and this little gem was just sitting there waiting for me, from the amazing Jenny over at Picky Palate (who by the way, has just SHOT to the top of my favourite creations list).

Important thing you should know about me - I'm obsessed with toast, I eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, in fact I'd quite happily eat toast (and desserts) all day long if my mum would let me. I'm also obsessed with cookie dough - something I fell in love with during my time in the US, and which I now miss TERRIBLY since New Zealand hasn't cottoned onto the true magic of selling cookie dough just for the sake of cookie dough... Thus, I present to you my ideal food: Itty Bitty Chocolate Chip Cookie-wiches. Even the NAME is cute, but just wait until you see them..

This, is mini toast

Like actually, teeny tiny pieces of real bread-shaped toasty goodness. And only the cleverest person would think to put cookie dough on top...

And voila!

Jenny has officially created a whole new food group. YUM

For all the details - and the rest of the gorgeous gorgeous photos - visit Jenny at Picky Palate and look here.

- B xx

Stiletto Studio Launch!

2010-08-30T01:10:00.000-07:00

It's official! Stiletto Studio is now up and running, with a spiffy new website - www.stilettostudio.co.nz and facebook page!

Murder mystery party on Saturday was a huge success - visit Night of Mystery to see where we got all the background, characters, and paperwork for the event - they have a huge range of themes and characters available, and make it relatively easy to pull off! I promise to have photos up soon, but as usual there are just such a lot of them! Here's a sneak peak in the meantime...

And visit Cupcakes Take the Cake for a sneak preview of the special cupcakes we whipped up for the occasion.

And a HUGE thank you to Steph for all her help with the whole event! Most fabulous co-host ever!

Also tried out the bubble wrap chocolates from my last post, originally put up by The Lone Baker, and they were easy as pie!

Accidentally made too many though, and had to eat them... what a terrible shame :)

- B xx

High heel cookies and chocolate bubbles

2010-08-23T15:27:00.000-07:00

Have been far too busy reading a hundred other blogs that I keep discovering to update my own - plus, the murder mystery party coming up on Saturday is keeping me crazy busy. I spent hours last night trying to get tombstone cake pops and chocolate tuxedos... But more on that later, since some of those attending read this blog! And are yet to be surprised.

For today, just two gorgeous things I discovered in my travels. First, a gorgeous Wizard of Oz themed party by Linda at Bubble and Sweet. And bonus - she's down my neck of the woods in Brisbane!

Really really cute layout! And all whipped up in 2 weeks.

My favourites are the poppy field cake balls

And, obviously, because it's me, and I'm obsessed with shoes...

RUBY SLIPPER COOKIES!!! Yum :D Not sure I could bring myself to eat them though, they're so pretty...

Go and visit Bubble and Sweet for more photos, and Imprintables, Details, Details and Paper Scissors Rock Stationary to see where she got bottles, straws, and inspiration!

And then this little gem that has been featured all over the show since The Lone Baker put them up - Bubble wrap chocolate decorations!

They're crazy effective, and look relatively easy to make! Hopefully I have some bubble wrap at home to try them... Visit The Lone Baker here for step by step instructions.

- B xx

Kiwiana Party

2010-08-16T02:29:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally getting around to updating the photos from Nicole's Kiwiana themed farewell party. I was right, there were FAR too many photos, but it always fascinates me how different photos are when you get them uploaded and see them properly - the ones I thought looked epic in the viewfinder were mostly out of focus or cropped weird, and the ones I thought were smaverage turned out pretty cool! Such is life.

So here's a huge jumbled summary of everything...

Too much to look at at once? not to worry, I broke them down too.

Most important part for an Aussie throwing a kiwi themed party - the Pavlova. Not gonna lie, I bought this on the day (don't even want to consider what I pav I personally baked would look like... eek, not good) but the cream and kiwifruit was me I promise! (for those of you outside Australasia, more details on what a pav actually IS can be found here)

One of my favourite things in Amy Atlas dessert tables is having candy on hand - can't really go wrong in a party when there's candy within arms reach! So I used kiwi classics - Minties, jaffas, pineapple lumps, and chocolate fish (which fyi turned up later in the "water" surrounding the New Zealand brownie, thanks to my creative friends). Haven't been able to find nice glass jars to use like the pros (at least not in my price range) but I found this haphazard collection of glasses at an Op Shop, and they were the right height variations to make it work.

Possibly the most paint-stakingly slow and detailed part of the entire spread was the chocolate jandals (thongs if you're an aussie, flip flops if you're an American), which is funny given they were a relatively last minute addition. I used a chocolate mold I found at Cakestuff for the jandals and just filled them with milk chocolate (only 6 pairs per tray, so we're talking a bench-to-freezer marathon of maybe 10 laps) then used multi-coloured gel pens to add the straps. That was the part that took the longest, but once I figured out that the gel was 100% easier to draw if the tubes were kept in hot water in the interim, time went a bit quicker.

The New Zealand Brownie was easier than it looked - I made two trays of chocolate chip brownie, printed an outline of New Zealand across two A4 pages (North Island on one page, South on the other), pinned them into the brownie with tooth picks, and went for gold! I used green buttercream icing so it was a bit thicker and easier to add the "terrain" on the top - thanks to mum and Dad for their creative input. Funnily enough, being North-Island-dwellers the North Island was demolished first, and the South Island lasted almost another whole week!

The sheep pops are based on the tried and true cake pops from Bakerella, but I'm not GENERALLY a huge fan of any cake not of the mud persuasion, and have since decided that I much prefer using brownie mix instead of cake - NB this comes out much more DENSE and rich than cake pops, and goes fairly solid in the fridge! but slightly easier to mold.

These pops were dipped (twice) in white chocolate then in white candy (like the silver candy balls, only white, no idea what they really were other than crunchy) and added the fondant face at the same time. This humorous juggling act is the reason there were only 10 of these cuties - I thoroughly misplaced my patience.

I used cupcake picks of the buzzy bee for the cupcakes, with blue buttercream icing and fondant clouds. We're still finding the cupcake picks around the house even now...

The kiwi brownie bites were a favourite - and an impromptu one. Left with brownie bites after I gave up on the sheep I decided to try something a bit different with the remaining ones. These were rolled in milk chocolate and splinters, with a split chocolate button for feet, and malteaser and toothpick for head/beak.

The rugby balls were made from brownie mix too, only these ones I mixed in with some extra chocolate sauce and chocolate chips so they were a bit different. Easy peasy to shape, dip, and draw on the lines in white chocolate gel! Yum. And the funky NZ t-shirt shaped plates came from the $2 shop, which was funny 'cause there were people buying them as actual souvenirs when I was there. Geeks...

Crowning glory of the table - and another impromptu addition. This was a cake for my best friend who has a (somewhat unhealthy.. *cough*...) addiction to tomato sauce. The icing was actually slightly closer to a crazy bright pink than the red I wanted, and everyone did warn me that you need a fairly specific combination of red dyes to get it right... but it looks right in the photos :)

Decorations were cheap and basic - cards bags and ribbon came from the $2 shop and the jandals were 99c at the Warehouse, then just taped them to the wall. The cup-wraps and labels I made myself with some iconic favourites.

So there you go! Full view of the tables below. Unfortunately I don't have a backdrop to use for parties yet, but I think for this one at least being BBQ themed the blue wall ended up being kinda quirky.

Next up - a Murder Mystery! Canapes and desserts to come

Buttons, Tiffany's and Ninjas

2010-08-11T15:27:00.000-07:00

I still haven't updated on the kiwi party from 2 weeks ago (mostly because I WAY overkilled on the photos, and still haven't had the time to wade through them) OR the donut-esque cake bites I made (and then re-replicated last night in bulk), but google reader is constantly presenting me with things I absolutely must share, on the spot. Plus, I have vouchers to spend at Westfield tonight, and whilst looking for inspiration on what I'm going to buy I found these gems which will definitely be on the list - Teacupcakes.

Easily the cutest thing I've ever seen. These are even BETTER than the stretchy reusable cupcake molds you can already buy, because a) they have a handle, and b) you have to wear long white gloves while using them - gold. More details on where to buy these here.

Anyway, back to google reader, my personal best friend. This particular dessert table instantly reminded me of my sister Trina (you can find her blog here - DO IT) who has a healthy obsession with all things Audrey Hepburn - a Breakfast at Tiffanys Dessert table.

CUTE!! Tiffany box cakes equal the epitome of everything a girl could possibly need in life.

Trina - if you're here for your birthday in January, I'll see what I can do :) You can find the rest of the photos from Maddycakes Muse here

Moving on, I found these photos quite randomly at Inspired by This, which I don't often visit, but couldn't resist when I saw the wedding theme - BUTTONS.

Cakes! covered in buttons! Bouquets with buttons, buttons on the tables, buttons on the table plans - and JARS of buttons. We had a jar of buttons at home somewhere that we used to use for games of Up and Down the River, but which I suspect Trina has since "borrowed" away into the depths of her knitting bag - if we still had them, we could plan a wedding!

The rest of the photos can be found here

And last but not least - in fact possibly the cutest - NINJA CUPCAKES.

And even better than Ninja Cupcakes (who knew) - These are FREE printables from Zakka Life!

Such a joyful little Ninja, really. Maybe because of the giant cupcake he's hiding behind that's roughly 10 times his size - I'd probably be happy too.

You can download and print these yourself from here

xxx