My Housewarming Party Platter

Chocolate Nutella Filled Cupcakes... recipe in the 2010 blog entries

Lady Bird White Chocolate Cupcakes... recipe in post below

Chocolate Brownies...

The Complete Party Platter....

White Chocolate Mud Cake Ladybird Cupcakes

We had our housewarming party last Sunday, and not that I need an excuse to bake, I couldn't wait to find the perfect occasion to showcase these lovely ladybirds!  They went down a treat and I had so much fun making them, you should really give them a go for yourselves!  

Cooking Time: 20 mins

Preparation Time: 30 mins

Serves: 12

Ingredients:

 - 125g butter, chopped coarsely

 - 80g white chocolate, chopped coarsely

 - 1 cup castor sugar

 - 1/2 cup milk

 - 1/2 cup plain flour

 - 1/2 cup SR flour

 - 1 egg

Method:

1)  Preheat oven to 170C, 150C fan-forced.  Line a twelve-hole muffin tin with paper cases.

2)  Stir butter, chocolate, sugar and milk in a saucepan over a low heat until smooth.  Transfer mixture to a medium bowl and cool for 15 minutes.

3)  Whisk sifted flours into the chocolate mixture and then mix in the egg.

4)  Drop 1/4 cup of mixture into the paper cases.  Bake for around 20 minutes.  Place on a wire rack to cool.

Simon's Stegosaurus Cake!

The next birthday in the 2011 cake calendar was of course my partner, Simon, who at turning 34, chose this cake himself!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SIMON for January 14th! xx

The Train Cake!!

Remember when you were little and (one of) the most exciting things about your birthday was choosing your very own cake out of the Women's Weekly Kids Cake Book?!  My goodness, i remember spending hours upon hours, even days trying to choose the perfect cake!  Some of them really are pretty incredible and i've decided to spend 2011 re-creating as many of the treasured favourites I can.

So, the first birthday in my diary for 2011 is my grandfather (fondly known as Darl), and I didn't even need to think twice about which cake he'd like.... after all, it had to be the most grand of the lot considering he was turning 90 years old on January 13th!!  The Train Cake had his name written all over it!  And he absolutely loved it too!!

The cake itself was made from an old Godfrey family recipe - Highlight Cake (also known as Madeira Cake or Grandma's cake).  It is the perfect base for any of these novelty cakes as it not only tastes YUMMY it's quite dense and easy to play with.

Highlight Cake Recipe to follow shortly...

So, without further ado, may I introduce to you.... The Train Cake!!