{Happy Valentine's Day} Red Velvet Tower

Happy Valentine's day to all of you out there! My third and last post of this year's Valentine's series is a red velvet tower. This red velvet cake is extra chocolatey with a whole half cup of cocoa powder. That's exactly what you need on Valentine's Day: something red and chocolatey and delicious!

{Holding on to Summer} Angel Food Cake with Lemon Curd Filling

I was shocked this week to walk into the shops and find that in a matter of a week, all the New Year's and Christmas decorations have been replaced by hearts and cupid. We're not even half way through January! I feel like capitalism is wishing my life away. Valentine's Day means we're creeping toward the end of summer and I refuse to let go of summer and these beautiful summer sunsets just yet!

Don't worry, there'll be love and Valentine's Day inspiration on this page. Just not today. Not yet. So today I'm sharing with you a perfect summer cake. The cake is so light and fluffy it's like eating air! And even better there's no butter in it, so you can eat it and stick to those New Year's resolutions. You'll just need to replace the buttercream and lemon curd with some fresh berries.

{Happy New Year} 2013 in Review

As this year draws to an end, I find myself reflecting on the year that has been. I am sure many of you are finding yourselves in the same position. For me it has been a busy year and a bit of a wild roller coaster. now I'm not going to focus on the doom and gloom parts of my year, except to say that those parts are the parts that we learn the most from. So it's important to take some time to look back on the hard times and even failures to see what we can learn from them.

In January of this year I started my little baking blog. It's so exiting to look back at my first posts and see how much I've grown over the year: in baking, photography and writing. I also have a stronger sense of the type of baking that really brings me joy: creating delicious cakes and watch the way they light up the faces of the people I share them with.

Ok, enough of the soppy, deep stuff. Let's get into the cake! Here are some of my favourite baked goods over the last year.


January: Naughty Nautical Cupcakes
These I baked for a themed bachelorette party. I was so happy with how all the toppers turned out!

{Remembering Mandela} Rainbow Cake

On 5 December 2013 South Africa lost one of the greatest leaders of our time. Nelson Mandela was a man who forever changed the course of South African history and was a true South African hero. He, like many of his time, lived through such terrible times and endured so much, but came out of it a better man. Madiba did not have any hatred for the people who had put him through so much; after leaving Robben Island he said: "As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison". 

(Photo from Liberty Voice)

Ahoy There Matey's! Treasure Chest Cake

Last weekend, the cutest kid I know turned four. This special occasion was celebrated with a pirate themed birthday party. Now, every party needs cake and this pirate themed party needed a treasure chest cake. When I was first asked to do this, I thought "you must be out of your mind! I can't do that!". As it turns out I was wrong.

After a brief period of panic and some Googling, I had a bit of an idea where I wanted to go.

Snickers Birthday Cake

Last week was my boyfriend's birthday. We had decided earlier this year that our birthdays would be on a budget because we are planning the trip of a lifetime in early 2014: we are going to Sweden and Norway to see the Northern Lights!!!! I am SOOOO excited! So even though I love birthdays, the holiday is worth putting them on a budget. But this doesn't mean that we can't celebrate at all, it just means putting in a bit more effort to make a special day for the most amazing boyfriend.

Photo courtesy of Victoria Pilcher Photography

A little while ago, Brown-Eyed Baker posted a Snickers Cake recipe. Snickers are my boyfriends favourite chocolate (well, maybe with the exception of Chuckles), so I knew it would make the perfect birthday cake! What I didn't know at the time was how much work actually needed to go into this cake! Especially since we don't get marshmallow fluff easily in South Africa and so every element needed to be made from scratch. I put in some serious hours, starting on the weekend and getting home from work a bit early each day so I could have a bit more time to work on the cake.

Chocolate Sprinkles Cake

This week my cousin, Amanda, is visiting South Africa from Australia. She moved there a couple of years ago and any opportunity we have to see her is a special occasion. This visit especially so as it is only a week from her birthday. We had a dinner at my parents house earlier this week to celebrate her birthday and getting to spend some time with her. Of course, I had to make a cake!

During on of my many blog-hopping experiences, I found a Gummy Bear Layer Cake on Raspberri Cupcakes. Being naturally drawn to anything with sugar, cream and bright colours, this cake REALLY appealed to me! I started off making the cakes a week or so ago, but then life happened and I didn't get a chance to finish it. I stowed the cakes in the freezer, wrapped thoroughly in glad wrap, ready to stack when I got the chance. This is a great celebration cake and I knew I had to get it finished for the dinner.

Vanilla Funfetti Cake

In South Africa we call funfetti vermicelli, but somehow it just doesn't sound as exciting. Cutting into this cake to see a beautiful vanilla cake with bright spots of colour is better described  much better by funfetti than vermicelli! Since I first saw this cake I thought it would be a great treat one day when the niece and nephew came over. Last weekend we had some of the family over, complete with nieces and nephews. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring some funfetti to Joburg.

Happy Mother's Day: Palet D'Or

Mother's Day in my family is celebrated by myself and my two siblings making lunch for my mom. My brother makes the starter, my sister the main and, of course, I make the dessert. Now Mother's Day needs to be celebrated properly, with a dessert that shows all the love you have for your mom. This year, my chosen dessert was the Palet D'Or from the Bouchon Bakery book.

St Paddy's Day - Chocolate Guinness Cake

St Paddy's day isn't widely celebrated in South Africa; well, other than university students who will welcome any excuse for a party. Nonetheless, being of Irish descent, I felt like I couldn't let this opportunity to do some baking pass up.

A while ago I made this cake and it was just so delicious and moist. The cream cheese frosting perfectly complements the richness of the Guinness and the chocolate.

New Year's Celebrations 2012-2013: Red Velvet Cake

For New Year's Eve I had the perfect excuse to do some baking and make use of the new recipe books I got for Christmas. I decided on a red velvet cake, but had a few recipes to choose from. I finally settled on the recipe from the Cake Boss recipe book. I also decided to try pipe a message on the top with royal icing. I've tried this a few times before with awful results and this time things turned out much better! It seems the real trick is all about the consistency of the icing: too runny and you end up with a puddle, to thick and it's a nightmare to pipe. The best consistency comes through trial and error.

I use the royal icing recipe from Cake Journal, you can find it here.

The recipe for the red velvet cake and the cream cheese icing came from Buddy Valastro's Baking with the Cake Boss. I was hesitant to use the recipe as it didn't mix the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda before adding to the recipe, as most red velvet recipes do. It was delicious though and an easy cake to make. I adapted slightly because of conversions to grams and certain ingredients not being readily available in South Africa.