Lemon and Lace

I know I said just yesterday that it was tradition for my sister to give her class cupcakes at the end of each year, but what is a new tradition, is cupcakes for the Mums!  Meg and the other Grade 6 teacher (Stacey) went out for a Christmas dinner with the Mum's in their classes.....and took them cupcakes!

For the occasion I baked vanilla cupcakes and iced them in pink and yellow white chocolate icing, and finished them off with lace and ribbon trim, with white wafer roses to top them off....so pretty! :)

Taking Bets with Boys

This is what award winning cheese cake looks like

Taking bets with boys - this is what I have learned:

1. If you threaten them with a challenge, even when they know they are going to lose, and they still always take the bet
2. When they realise that they are going to lose, they bail before it has to be proven to them in person
3. They will do almost anything for baked goods!

Last week I took two bets with a guy....after he lost the first bet (to do with beer and awards and boy stuff), he was silly enough to suggest that instead of him actually conceding defeat, we would instead have a bake off....little did he know that I was actually a chef! 

Suffice to say I won the bet by making the cheese cakes in the pic above....no surprises there seeing as though he bailed on baking anything and opted out of the bake off before it began!  What was my prize you ask....roast chicken dinner cooked for me in person by said guy....it was delicious....well worth the 45 minutes it took me to make the cheese cakes! 

Bets with boys....I will take one any day! :)

Hello Kitty Cupcakes

I got a last minute order this week for these Hello Kitty Cupcakes this week - they are for a little girl named Kendall, it is her birthday this weekend.  

I had such fun making them, mostly because I had some assistant chef's in the kitchen with me last night....thanks for all your help with the whisker making and bow shaping - Lu, Hales, Barker and Mike you are the best hello kitty face makers I have ever met! :)

(Apologies about the poor quality of the photos - I didn't have my camera with me...thank goodness for Blackberry!)

Basic Vanilla Sponge

There is something about a simple vanilla sponge cake that just goes so well with an afternoon cup of tea!  I baked this cake on the weekend, I was home for a visit, so I thought it would be nice to spoil the family with some sweet treats....Mum and Gran were stoked!

Fluffy and light with just the right amount of sweetness in the icing...delish!  Personally I think the best part was the piping design with the glitter and little pearl details...but that's just me :)

Blueberry and Lemon Drizzle Cake

Tea and cake was the reason behind this blueberry delight.  My cousin (Barker) and his friend (Ricky Bobby) came over for a visit, so I thought I would make a cake for tea.

To my mind, tea and cake were a bit of an unconventional choice for two male, rugby-playing giants....how wrong I was....that cake didn't stand a chance!  Ha ha.  What started off as a begrudging "just one slice please" (as though they were doing me a favour) ended with them eating THE WHOLE CAKE in one sitting!

Inbox me if you guys want the recipe....this one is a keeper!

Surprise Cupcake Deliveries

This past weekend I was in Cape Town, to bake for a wedding, an while I was there, I thought I would do a couple of surprise deliveries to friends in the area, and of course to the old office :)

All-Star Cupcakes

My Dad bought me these star-shaped cupcake pans a little while ago, so I thought it was about time that I gave them a try...I made blueberry cupcakes and dusted them with icing sugar.  Along with the pans came this awesome little star stencil - so that you can make shapes on the top of the cupcakes once they are baked - how cool!

Thanks Farms for the prezzie

xx

White Icing Hearts

While I was home during the holidays I decided it would be a good idea to go for tea with my Gran, so baked these heart shaped cakes to take with me.  They are just plain vanilla cupcakes baked in heart shapes and then lightly dusted with icing sugar and finished off white a white satin ribbon.

My Gan loved them, but couldn't understand why on earth I had "wrapped the cake with ribbon" - note to self, when baking for Granny, never wrap cupcakes with ribbon! :)

I love Cape Town Cupcakes

I thought that my last weekend in Cape Town deserved something special - a little something to celebrate the good times in a great town with awesome mates - so in typical Niki style I organised a little themed dinner party...Le Dolce Vita - The Good Life .

Dinner was outside on the balcony at our old faithful, Rick's Cafe.  Everybody came in black and white, and upon arrival all the girls donned some pearls and red lipstick and the guys put on some very tasteful taches.  Good food, good friends, the perfect Cape Town summers evening....what a flipping great time!  

Thanks to all my bests that came and shared the good time - I'm gonna miss you moles madly next year!

xx

Last Day of School Cupcakes

Your teacher is some kind of awesome if she rocks up with cupcakes for the last day of school!  Some lucky grade fives got these yummy cupcakes from Miss O on their last day in grade five at RGJS...spoiled girls!

I Like Cupcakes

Today is my last day at Ogilvy and so I thought it would be nice to make some cupcakes for all those people who have made my time here so great...I have had some awesome times in this building and I am going to miss you guys madly!  Thanks for the laughs and learnings - I'm sure I will see you around though this word of advertising is nothing if not small! :)
xx

Wedding Cupcakes for Mr and Mrs Rock

This last weekend I was in Matuba...just near St Lucia (for those who don't know) for Britta and Tanner's wedding.  Britta, or Cookie as I more fondly know her as, went to school with my sister and so has been "in our family" for many years.  My whole family drove out to Zululand on Friday and spent the weekend in the sunshine icing cupcakes and sharing in the wedding celebrations...can't think of a better way to spend a sunny weekend in December!

Now I know that when it comes to weddings everyone wants to see the dress and the tables etc,so I have a attached a couple of pics of all of that....just to give you an idea of how magical the day really was.  (And let me just say...before you even look...the pics really aren't going to do it justice...was SO beautiful!)  I was lucky enough to be asked to make the cupcakes for the wedding, so there are a couple of pics of those as well.

Congrats Cooks and Tanner!  Wishing you many happy years together...so glad I was able to be there and share your special day :)

 The Chef hard at work before the wedding

The bridal party and some of the decor

More Decor

Bride and Groom

The Cupcakes

Officially a real Chef

I'm sure you have noticed (over the last little while) that there have been a couple of non cupcakes things creeping into my blog.  For those of you who don't know, that is because I have (since July) been doing a Patisserie Chef's course - which ended last night when I did my final prac exam.  The pics below show what was on the menu...it consisted of the following (starting on the left):

Creme Caramel with Spun Sugar

Lemon Tart with Fresh Strawberries

Vanilla Panacotta with Chocolate Runouts, Berry Compote and Fresh Cream

Bread Rolls

It has been a long time since I had to do a prac exam for something, and let me tell you, 4 hours absolutely flies by!  I'm too stoked to be complete with the course and even more stoked that I passed!!!  If you want to check out more of the goodies that I baked during the course - you can click here.

I am now proudly going by the name Chef Niki...the name has quite a nice ring to it doesn't it! :)

Granny's 80th

My Granny turned 80 last week, so the whole family (except my aunt and uncle in England) went to Salt Rock for the weekend to celebrate.  We had a fantastic lunch on Saturday with awesome food and lots of wine...and cupcakes for dessert  

Happy Birthday Granny - 80 years old and still going strong - I'm so glad I have your genes! :)

xx

Chocolate and Decadent Nougat Cupcakes

I'll be honest, it is not often that I feel the inclination to want to eat the cupcakes that I bake - most time my concern for my hips get ahead of me and I refrain.....not so with these ones!  Sally Williams may just have been my favourite person in the whole world when I made these cupcakes....her nougat is seriously to die for!

Vanilla cupcakes topped with chocolate icing and a piece of luxury nougat...it doesn't get much better than that my friends!

Rowan - happy birthday dude, hope you enjoyed the actual cupcakes as much as I enjoyed the toppings for them! :)

Blueberry Cupcakes

Because Lexi is one of My Favourite Cupcake's biggest fans, she got cupcakes on her birthday yesterday and again for work today....lucky girl!

At least the second time round she got a more "healthy" option with these blueberry cupcakes .

Arrggghhh....happy birthday me matey!

For my birthday this year I decided to have a pirate themed dinner at a restaurant called Panama Jack's which is in the harbor in CT...but of a dingy looking place, so completely appropriate for the theme!

Everyone made such an effort with their costumes...the least I could do was make cakes to match!  Loved the party - I have the most fantastic friends and family in the world...thnks guys!
x

Their Love Is Here to Stay

Last Saturday I had the privilege of attending a pre-wedding breakfast at The Vineyard Hotel for my friends Jared and Hannah.  They are getting married in the UK in December, and as most of their South African friends will not be able to be there for the ceremony, they had a pre-wedding breakfast here in Cape Town.

Beautiful venue, beautiful table settings - really lovely words from the special people in their lives - all in all, a fantastic champagne filled morning!  After such an awesome pre-wedding celebration, I can only imagine what the real deal will be like....wishing you guys all the best with that one...you can be sure that I will be wearing my white wrist band and thinking of you on that magic day!

xx

Happy Birthday almost ex-pat

Happy Birthday Jarrie - I hope that SA flags serve as a reminder about where you need to end up eventually...we're gonna miss you when you go friend!

Pink berrry delights

My Mum's birthday was on the 21st of October, and unfortunately Meg and I couldn't be around to celebrate with her on the day, so we had a birthday lunch the weekend before.  Coupled with the birthday lunch, we also celebrated Bryan and Lauren (our cousins) completing the Amashova....fresh strawberry cupcakes were definitely the order of the day! :)