A few weeks ago I was looking online for inspiration for making an elephant cake and found there really aren’t that many available. Sure, there is a plethora of nursery-styled ‘Jumbo the Elephant’ type cakes, but I wanted something more authentic. The occasion was my father’s 80th birthday and the celebration was to be a […]
Christmas Cake with Snowflakes
December 11, 2016 By 33 Comments
I didn’t start making my Christmas cakes until the beginning of December which is a little late but now that the fruit and nuts have soaked in brandy and citrus juice, the cakes have been baked and then finally iced and decorated, I feel I have caught up with the season. A few years ago […]
Cheat’s Bombe Alaska
January 23, 2016 By 37 Comments
Ever since we enjoyed Bombe Alaska on New Year’s Eve, it’s been on my mind how much I’d like to make one. This is a theatrical dessert that was big in the 70’s when a dinner party wasn’t a dinner party unless you were setting your guests’ food on fire. But the dessert originated a […]
Gingerbread Loaf
November 19, 2015 By 38 Comments
When I was in high school I had a friend Mattie who never showed any signs of wanting to cook. Since leaving school we haven’t seen a lot of each other as he moved away from Sydney however, we do keep in touch through facebook. A few weeks ago he posted a photo of a […]
Tropical Cake with Coconut Cream Frosting
October 3, 2015 By 26 Comments
As most of you are aware, Miss Arabella has had a birthday. And while we did have a ‘Queen of the Desert’ party and while I did make a stiletto riding on top of a bus, birthday cake, there was still that issue of a more intimate family celebration. The weather for Miss Arabella’s party […]
How to Make a Bus Cake with a Stiletto Shoe
September 25, 2015 By 34 Comments
When Arabella chose, ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert‘ as the theme for her 21st birthday party I knew I’d need to make an appropriate cake and thought about what best symbolised the movie/musical. The realisation came upon me that central to the movie is the bus named ‘Priscilla’ with its giant sparkling stiletto perched precariously […]
Lemon and Almond Basbousa Cake
May 23, 2015 By 43 Comments
A lot of food bloggers dream of compiling all their recipes into a published book. Alice Phillips from Ally’s Kitchen is one blogger who has turned that dream into a reality. Recently launched, her cookbook, Ally’s Cookbook – A Passport for Adventurous Palates is currently being reviewed by food bloggers all around the world. I […]
Dark Chocolate and Sour Cherry Cake
April 21, 2015 By 38 Comments
This is the cake I made for our Easter Sunday lunch. But remember someone ‘tinkered’ with my camera altering the white balance and so the photos I took were all having a hot flush. So I made the cake again for a Saturday night dinner party and baked the cake the night before, mentally planning […]
Praline Meringue Torte
March 18, 2015 By 40 Comments
I’ve had my first date. With Tiablo, the Brazilian. I was running a couple of minutes late and he even sent me a text message making sure he wasn’t being stood-up. After the initial greeting we spent an hour in the downstairs part of the gym with all the bulky-blokes with rugby league sized thighs. […]
A Christening Cake
January 4, 2015 By 20 Comments
A few days after Christmas we had the Christening of Em’s little boy, Freddie. The Christening had been delayed to allow for it to be in Sydney and so sadly, he had outgrown the Christening gown that has been in our family for five generations. But he did look very smart in a white shirt […]
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