I scream, ice cream

I have had this idea in the back of my head for some time, in a slightly different form, but I gave it a tweak to make a great project for you to make with your kidlets this Halloween.

I started by making some ice cream cones. Of course, you could do this with ready made cones which would be easier, and spray them or paint them to get the colour you want. But being me, I decided to take the hard way.

The recipe is very simple, just mix together 2 egg whites, 100g of sugar and 85g of flour to a paste.

I made a stencil of the cone shape I wanted with some acetate, and then, with an off-set spatula spread out 2 dessert spoons of the mixture. You have to make sure that you have greased your baking tray really well,  then put it into a medium oven (I have mine at 140 on fan) for about 8-10 mins, but check every minute after the first 5 mins to make sure they are not burning. As soon as they are out of the oven, lift them off the tray and form them into the cone shapes. You have to be careful not to burn your hands but if you don't do this immediately they will harden and crack when you try to bend them. You can download a pdf of the recipe and the template here.

I coloured half the mixture green and then made some chocolate cones by replacing 25g of the flour with cocoa powder.

My first creation was a princess cone. Using food colours I painted her face and then added some pink hair (strawberry ice cream). I gave her a little candy fascinator, and then added some pink dreadlocks (strawberry laces). She was my favourite of the day and I loved how easy it was to paint the cookie cone, my imagination has started to go into overdrive thinking what I can paint next!

The kidlets came up with their own designs. So we have a zombie cat, an alien, another alien (we basically made the ice cream cone added the decorations and sprayed it silver using edible spray paint) and a witch. 

They really enjoyed making their little ice cream characters, but I do have to include a warning. this project may make you kidlets turn green!

xxx

Painted rose and hydrangea wedding cake

I made this cake last weekend for a really lovely couple who wanted a cake to reflect their wedding flowers but asked for my creative input too. I love having freedom to add elements that I think will compliment the bride and grooms choice, it makes for a lovely collaboration.

They also requested the bird toppers, but wanted to keep them as a memento of their day. So I placed the birdies on their own board, which was just sitting on top of the cake, and added a nest of hydrangea flowers for them to cuddle into.

I had a hydrangea cutter so I painted the fondant first and then cut them out, leaving them to dry for a day before they went on the cake. I decided to add some 3D interest to the cake so I included some of the cut out flowers on the sides.

They also wanted cupcakes to use not just as favours but also name places. The cupcakes didn't have to match the cake exactly but needed to have the same feel and vintagey colours. 

I did some simpler versions for the children attending the wedding.

This is a picture taken on the day by  Rosewarne Cox Photography, isn't it gorgeous? (The picture, not the cake!) You can see more sneak peeks of the lovely bride and groom here.

xxx

Bar Mitzvah cake

I made this for a work colleague of Mr LD. His son is celebrating his Bar Mitzvah.

This is the first Bar Mitzvah cake I have made but I've a sneaking suspicion that it is not a very traditional version!

There were very specific instructions as to the design and fortunately Mr LD is a big fan of Family Guy so I knew who the characters were.

On a different topic, I had some very exciting news this week that I can't share for a few weeks, but I'm bursting to tell.

xxx

Mad Hatter Tea Party...2012

In previous years the Hatter has visited various members of the household. However Mr Lemon Drizzle remains un-hattered. Could this be his year? And if so how will he react to a wonderland of whimsy? (With his normal good humour?), we can only hope.

There was a faint drone of the children running and shouting in the garden, and the 'Mama' hiding in their bedroom, stealing a few minutes to play Bejewled on his iPod. "Ha" he thought "she will never beat my score!" So, he took a few minutes to stretch out on the couch with the weekend papers. He skimmed the guide and then opened the Review section but his eyes were closing and he couldn't keep them open, and to be honest, he didn't want to try. Soon he had assumed his customary Saturday position, and tried to catch forty winks.

But no sooner had he nodded off again than he heard a whisper in hie ear, 'Carpe diem...carpe diem'. He flicked his ear but it wouldn't stop.

"Do you mind, I am trying to get some sleep!"

"Come, it's party time!"

He opened his eyes and saw a strange man in front of him.

"Garr" he jumped!

"Come with me...now!"

He wasn't the kind of man to take orders, and he didn't like strange men in the house and he certainly didn't like parties. So he just closed his eyes and attempted to ignore it all. But try and resist as he might, his eyes strained to open, and, when he gave in, he found himself in a strange room, filled with flowers.

"Welcome" said the Hatter, "to our florabunda party."

"Florabunda! Seriously? In case it has slipped your notice, I'm a man, I'm a manly man, I don't do flowers. I eat salt and vinegar chip sticks and drink beer!"

Quick as a flash the little man jumped forward and started tickling him. "I think we have to cheer the grumbly bear up"

"Get off me," he slapped the Hatter's hand away, " I don't need cheering up, I just want to be left alone...to sleep"

"Have some cake" was the only reply and a flower shaped cookie was thrust into his hand. 

"It's OK, but what are the bits in it?"

"Lavender!"

"In a cake, that's not right? And this?" he asked pointing to a stack of unrecognizable goodies.

"Macaroons"

"They aren't macaroons. Even I know they should be shiny and crisp on the outside with a 'foot'. These are flat, dull, and holey."

"Yes, well, our chef blames the oven, she says it is impossible to make a macaroon in it...anyway moving swiftly on, what about a meringue, with cream and raspberry?"

"The devil's fruit!"

Chocolate cake?"

"With edible flowers? I don't think so"

"Parma violets, fondant roses?"

"I'm picking up a theme!"

"I know, a cake pop"

"Don't get me started...it's a cake...on a stick...it doesn't make it more fun. You can guarantee that after one bite it will crack and I will lose most of the cake on to the floor! It really is the most ridiculous cake-based idea, barring cake-in-a-jar, or even worse, a cake push pop. They are all just designed to make it harder to eat cake!"

The Hatter sighed, but continued to parade an seemingly endless supply of cakes, biscuits, ice cream and even jellies in front of the angry man. This was a most unusual teas party, normally his guests succumbed quickly, and willingly, to his mixture of whimsy and charm. Had he lost his touch?

On and on they went, until the Daddy could take it no more.

"Stop! Enough! I will eat something. Do you have any lemon drizzle cake?"

"Aha, yes, we have an excellent lemon drizzle cupcake."

"Well I would much prefer a good hearty slab of cake, but I suppose this will have to do."

He took a bit of the tiny dainty..it tasted absolutely delicious but then his teeth crunched down on to something hard and unyielding.

"What on earth is this? How irritating! A cherry, a cherry hiding in a lemon drizzle cake with the stone left in, have you no thought for tradition or the health of my teeth?"

The Hatter snapped his fingers. "Right, that's it! You have no appreciation of  whimsy or exceedingly good cake.!

"You're absolutely right, but I never claimed to, I just wanted a lie down. I think you may possibly have the wrong man, I don't care at all for whimsy."

"Right then, only one thing for it. Help me out Dormouse."

A small mouse crept up behind the man and knocked him on the head with a teapot.

He woke with a start, still on the couch, but now a small, insistent child was jumping up and down on him.

"Daddy, daddy wake up, wake up!"

"No, leave me alone, I was having a lovely dream, about the best cake ever!"

His wife passed by the door and rolled her eyes (she had been reading a certain book!). "I hope it was one of mine" She said jealously.

"Yes dear." He replied, and closed his eyes while a small child pummeled his chest, and in the distance a funny wee man laughed and laughed.

 Thankyou to Vanessa from A Fanciful Twist for hosting the Mad Hatters Tea Party. You can see hers here.

You can also see previous years parties (with less grumpy participants) here and here. And you can make your own toasted oatmeal ice cream with this recipe.

Thankyou for visiting Amelie's House. We look forward to visiting your parties

xxx

Princess castle cake

This was a remake of one of my very first designs, but the client wanted a five layer rainbow cake inside, hence the height. The little girl was turning 4 so we added the door number as a small nod to her age.

xxx

How to paint a Spring cake

I often get asked how I paint my cakes.  So I thought, for this post, rather than just a picture of a finished cake I would show you a little of the process. That makes it sound rather grand when actually all it involves is me sitting and painting. (But incase you are curious I've included the finished cakes too.)

 I recently had two separate orders for Spring cakes.  You can see the original here.

I used The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady as my reference, you can see it just next to the cake.  I paint freehand. For this flower I just placed a light colour where I thought the flowers should be.  With plants it is easy to make a stem a bit longer or to add a leaf if it doesn't look quite right.

I use paste colours and sometimes powder colours, and I use boiled water, although you can use vodka.

I sometimes paint a rough out line of the object, this is helpful for birds as you want them to look correct.

I paint the lighter colours first adding three or four darker tones on top.  When you paint on fondant as opposed to paper it is harder to make tones by adding washes, you need to add darker colours to get the same effect.  You can see here that I wash away any guide lines that are excessive.

I hope in the future to write some blog posts with tutorials for you to try at home, but I would love to see pictures of any painted cakes you have already done.  Leave a link in the comments below.

xxx

DUSKY ROSE CUPCAKES

These were Autumn cupcakes I was inspired to make after purchasing these lovely brown spotty cases.

I love pink and brown together!

A friends' mum very kindly gave me a cupcake stand so I made these as a thankyou, it was also her birthday.

To be honest though I don't need much of an excuse to make cupcakes!