Sweet Strawberry Layer cake

I have such a treat for you this week. I am finally sharing my sweet strawberry layer cake recipe here and yes I don't know why it has taken me so long although perhaps you will forgive me when I tell you I have been tweaking it over the years to come up with the delicious version in the top photo.

Picture by Alyce and Colette Photographers

The secret my dear friends is...........strawberry jelly (jello) crystals which gives the cake both the flavour and the colour in one go.

I have been using it for years as it's such a favourite with the kids.

In fact when I made it for Sweet's recent birthday after not using it for a year or so and The Destroyer was licking the bowl* he said it tasted like berry pancakes and told me that if the finished cake tasted the same it would be the most amazing cake I ever made.

*(I know he shouldn't do that with raw egg but seriously I am only human and he was begging.)

(for this version replace the yogurt with strawberry puree)

The 3rd picture above is of an older version of the cake back when I used to add puree strawberry in place of yogurt, which is still good and I'm telling you just in case you would like to try it out yourself.

The finished cake cuts very well and is quite moist so you can make it a few days ahead and decorate as needed. The only downside is that it has quite a brown hard crust which I think is better removed for decorating if you want the cake to look nice once sliced. But I pretty much do that for all my cakes anyway.

I like to fill this cake with a light vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream which I guess kinda makes it a strawberry and cream layer cake and totally delicious and I have included a recipe at the bottom of the post.When filling I find it best to chill the cake in the fridge for a few minutes between each layer.

I hope you try my strawberry ckae and that it becomes a family favourite for you like it has for me.

Sweet Strawberry Layer Cake (divide the batter into 3 x 6" pans to make a 4" high filled cake)
The jelly (jello) used in this recipe is the dry sugar crystals in the packet. If cake flour is not available use 310g (11 oz) plain (all purpose) flour and add 40g (1 3/8 oz)of cornflour (corn starch) instead.
Note I like to use weight instead of cup measurements as standard cup sizes are not the same in USA and Australia.

350g (12 3/8oz) cake flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
200g (7oz) sugar
1 packet strawberry jelly crystals (jello) 85g (3oz approx)
225g (8 oz) unsalted butter at room temperature
4 large eggs at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
240ml (8 1/2oz) full fat milk
135g (4 3/4oz) no fat greek yogurt (I use Chobani)

Preheat oven to 170 C  (340 F) fan forced. Line the base and sides of 3 x 15cm (6") tins or 2 x 20cm 8" tins.

Sift the flour and baking powder and set aside until needed.

In the bowl of a large mixer at high speed cream together the butter, sugar and jelly (jello) crystals until light and fluffy.

Reduce speed to low and add the vanilla and then eggs one at a time mixing until combined and scraping down the sides as required.

Add 1/3rd of the flour mixture, mix at low speed until just combined scraping down sides as required. Add 1/2 the milk and mix until combined and then another 1/3rd of the flour mixture once again mixing and scraping down the sides.

Add the remaining milk and all of the yogurt and mix until combined and then the final third of flour making sure the sides and bottom of bowl have been scraped down and no lumps of flour are remaining.

Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared tins.

Bake until the cake is cooked all the way through and a skewer inserted comes out dry approximately 45 minutes.

Italian Meringue Butter cream This batch will make enough to fill and cover the cake and extra to decorate with buttercream flowers as in the example.

Make sure your bowl and mixer are clean to whip egg whites. I use a stand mixer with a pouring shield to make this butter cream, the sugar syrup is very hot, make sure you take appropriate safety precautions when pouring the hot sugar syrup mixture. Not suitable for young children to make.

300g white sugar (12oz)
75g (2 3/4oz) water
5 egg whites
450g (1 pound - 4 sticks) unsalted butter cut into smallish cubes
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place sugar and water into saucepan over high heat and bring to boil. Conintue to  heat until the sugar syrup mixture reaches 115 C (240F). Brush down the the sides of saucepan with a wet pastry brush as required to stop sugar crystals from forming.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of your mixer (make sure the bowl is quite large). When the sugar syrup reaches 110C (210F) start to whip the egg whites at high speed.

Once the sugar syrup reaches 115C (240 F) carefully pour the syrup into the whipped egg whites whilst the mixer is still beating on high.

Continue to beat until the egg and sugar mixture cooled to room temperature (or the bowl feels cool to touch) and then start to add a few cubes of butter at a time. Add the vanilla.

The mixture will probably become quite liquid, but continue to beat until it thickens and all the butter is evenly distributed. May take around 10 minutes.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the Children's cookbook Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! Published in the USA in 2011 the book is still available at Amazon and many online bookstores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original ideas, photography and recipes Linda Vandermeer please do not reuse without permission.

My Sweet Candy Girl Birthday cake

Sweet had her 9th birthday and I made this 'My Sweet Candy Girl' birthday cake with gold leaf decorated macarons, hand piped butter cream flowers and musk stick lollies.

In the past we have had quite fancy parties for her and some pretty spectacular cakes, and when I say for her, I really mean for me.

Because it seems to make Sweet happy what she really wants is lots of lollies and candy on a cake.

I know this because a few years back I made quite an elaborate cake that I managed to make look like it was set in a mirror on the wall. It was a carved unicorn head and it took quite a bit of work (CLICK HERE for a free video tutorial on making that unicorn cake). I was quite pleased with myself of course and Sweet did love her party and still talks about it now.

However a few months after that party a girl at school brought in a cake covered with lollies (that's Australian for candy), Sweet told the family at the dinner table in detail how amazing it was.

Pretty much because.......lollies. That's right she is a kid, all it takes to impress her is quite a bit of candy. So this year I decided to stick lots of lollies on the cake, we did compromise with some pretty piped flowers but as they were buttercream and therefore creamy sugar Sweet was totally ok with it.

Musk Stix - an Australian icon

Maybe the best part of all was that Sweet and my son The Destroyer got to join in decorating the cake and put the musk sticks around the edge of the cake.

I think if at this stage I had given Sweet a stack of extra lollies/candy and told her to pour it into the top all the kids would have been happy, but I decided to pipe on some flowers and swirls, pop on a few macarons and then add sixlets and soft sugar pearls.

It ended up being a perfect mix of sweet and pretty, although I did only eat one musk stick despite having quite a few on my slice.

If you can't locate musk sticks you might like to substitute pink chocolate covered pretzels or strawberry pocky sticks.

Later in the week I will be popping up the recipe for the strawberry layer cake which has been a favourite in our household for many years.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the Children's cookbook Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! Published in the USA in 2011 the book is still available at Amazon and many online bookstores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original ideas, photography and recipes Linda Vandermeer please do not reuse without permission.

Pinkalicious Macaron Recipe

When I saw these plates online I was smitten. Look at them. Just look they are pretty much the cutest disposable plates I have ever seen.

I don't even like disposable plates, I completely avoid them where ever possible but I had to buy these ones I mean seriously they have pink polkadots and gold spots and then part of them is the sweetest pale pink and no this post is not sponsored by the company.

Anyhoo then I made some macarons to serve on them 'cause they deserved something special.

I picked mine up from Lark Australia.

In the US check out Bash Party Goods who produce the plates.

I did read on Bash Party Goods Instagram page that they had macarons in mind when they created these plates so just to help you out I'll re-share my recipe.

Your welcome

Macaron Shells makes around 40 shells or 20 filled macarons. See below macaron recipe for simple instructions for ganache filling.

190 gram (6 5/8 oz)almond meal (almond flour)
190 gram pure icing sugar (6 5/8 oz powdered sugar)
190 gram granulated sugar (6 5/8 oz)
48 grams water (1 5/8 oz)
140 gram egg whites aged split into 2 lots of 70grams each (5 oz split into 2 lots of 2 1/2oz each)*
food color of choice (I use gel type food color like Wilton)

*ageing egg whites refers to separating the yolks from whites and then leaving the whites to age for a few days. This can be done on the counter if your countries climate permits or in the fridge, wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and then pop a few holes in the top. Alternately you can pop fresh egg whites in the microwave on high for 10 seconds or so - I used the microwave method in this batch pictured.

1. Mix the ground almonds and icing sugar together and pulse a few times in food processor to make almond meal finer. Do not over process as the meal can become oily. Sieve into a large bowl. Add colour and 70g (2 1/2 ounce) of the egg whites to the sugar/almond mixture but don’t mix in.

2. Place remaining 70g (2 1/2 ounce) of egg whites in bowl of mixer fitted with the whisk.

3. Pop granulated sugar and water into saucepan stir to combine and cook without stirring to 118C (245 F). Brush down the sides with a pastry brush dipped in water as required to avoid the sugar crystallizing. Once the mixture reaches 115C (240 F) start mixing the egg whites on high. Make sure you have a pouring shield on your mixer, when the sugar syrup reaches 118C (245 F)remove from heat and immediately pour in a thin stream down the side of the mixer bowl continuing to whisk on high.

4. Continue to whisk the meringue on high until the side of the bowl is only a little warm to touch, around 50C (120 F).

5. Add meringue mixture to almond mixture and using a large spatula fold the mixture together until it starts to shine and forms. If you run the spatula through the mixture it should form a ribbon that disappears back into the mixture after about 20 seconds.

6. Add the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip (or just cut the end of a disposable piping bag, that's what I do) and pipe in lines onto parchment lined baking sheets. To make the macarons as even as possible I apply a constant slow pressure to the piping bag and count a few numbers like up to 3 for each one.

Waiting to form skins after piping

7. Set aside for about 30 minutes or until the macarons have formed a skin so that the macaron mixture does not stick to your finger when gently touched. If the weather is humid this step may take longer up to 2 hours. I pop on the aircon if it's humid at my house.

8. Meanwhile preheat oven to 140C (285 F). Once ready bake the macaroons for around 13 to 16 minutes depending on size, it may take longer, all ovens are different. If they are baked and you gently push on the side the tops will not move, if the tops do move bake for another minute or 2. Also they should not be browned if they are reduce the heat for the next batch or bake for less time.

9. Once baked remove the baking trays and immediately slide off the macarons and the parchment onto the work surface and let cool completely before removing the shells.

10. Once cooled match disks into like sizes and sandwich together using the ganache.

Ganache Recipe
To make ganache melt white chocolate with cream in the microwave and mix gently until combined, use a ration of 3:1, so for example 300 grams (10 1/2 oz) white chocolate to 100 grams (3 1/2 oz) cream, sorry guys I measure as I already have the scales out and I can't be bothered messing up a liquid measuring jug :) Add some gel color and raspberry oil/flavor to taste.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the Children's cookbook Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! Published in the USA in 2011 the book is still available at Amazon and many online bookstores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original ideas, photography and recipes Linda Vandermeer please do not reuse without permission.

Princess Macarons with Mini edible tiaras or how to eat a tiara 2

CLICK HERE for link to my macaron recipe

Ok these are my new favorite toppers.

Mini edible tiaras, seriously what's not to love, and with the right cutter you can whip up a stack of them and have them ready to pop onto pretty much anything to give it a bit of royal treatment.

Macarons.......check. Marshmallows........yup. Stacked cookies.....ah-huh.

They are really quite tiny, pretty much they just fit around my thumb. The cutter set I used (link here: Crowns Patchwork Cutters ) has a larger size tiara as well which is perfect for the top of a cake so you could make a whole princess (or prince/king) party.

How to eat a tiara blog post HERE

photo by Alyce & Colette Photographers

Now I have made a video on how to make the tiara but as I was silly enough to start upgrading my other computer with the video on it and I think it will be another few days before I have access to it. In the meantime I have written out the instructions below.

How to make an edible tiara
You can use any cutter or hand cut the shape yourself, however I have included links to the cutter I used. If you scroll to the bottom of the post I have also included a recipe for small batch mexican paste which should make up a few dozen of these mini tiaras.

Ingredients

Mexican paste colored light orange or ivory (buy premix or see small batch recipe below)
tiara cutter (available here: Crowns Patchwork Cutters )
crisco or similar solid but soft white fat
2 X small white rolling pin - one for rolling the other (2cm or 3/4" for setting the tiaras onto to dry)
toothpick
edible gold dust*, rose spirits  and paint brush
or edible gold paint/spray

*make sure the dust or paint is edible, saying non toxic does not necessarily mean edible and many glitters and dusts sold in cake decorating stores are for decorative purposes only. The links below are edible.

US suppliers - Amazon



Available to Australia via Fishpond


Crowns Patchwork Cutters

Rub a little crisco onto the small tiara/crown cutter.

Using a small rolling pin roll out the mexican paste very thin (like really really thin) and press the tiara/crown cutter into the paste to cut out the shape. I like to do this on a piece of plastic wrap which is a little fiddly but I know the paste can not stick to the counter.

If necessary use the toothpick to gently remove the mexican paste shape from the cutter. Use the toothpick to remove any excess paste from the shape and the small heart at the front if desired (see the you tube tutorial for more detail).

Place onto a small rolling pin to shape the tiaras. The one I used is around 2cm or 3/4" wide or around the same size as a permanent marker tube. You can use anything that is clean and food safe you have sitting around for this.

Paint the tiaras with the edible gold paint, either by using a premixed paint or mixing edible gold luster dust with rose spirits. Don't worry they may not look very sparkly while wet.

Allow to dry. Once dry you may wish to give them an extra coat or brush a little extra gold luster dust onto the tiaras to add extra shine.

Store in an airtight container until required. You can make these weeks in advance.

Adhere to tops of macarons, marshmallows or cookies with a little royal icing.

Small batch Mexican Paste

75g pure icing sugar (2 5/8 powdered sugar)
1 tsp gum tragacanth or tylose powder

Knead together well. Store wrapped in plastic in an airtight container at room temperature. Knead again well before use. Can be colored as required.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission. 

Deer Heart and Linzer Love Cookies

I love linzer cookies, The delicate buttery cookie sandwiched together with preserves is such a dainty treat and as you can see they are pretty as a picture.

Love is all you need Bowl and Mug from Mollegaarden (Krasilnikoff)

Although it is usual to decorate simply with the cut out shape showing the filling and maybe a dusting of sugar, I have decided to embellish each cookie with simple dots of royal icing adding an ornate touch without overwhelming the treat.

I have also modified my recipe to use hazelnut instead of the original almond lending a warmer, nuttier taste to the cookie which perfectly pairs with the raspberry filling.

The idea for the Deer Heart cookies has been in my head since last Valentines Day, as in truth the Deer Aimee cutter from Cakes by Bien is one of my favorite cutter ever. But I did find cutting the buttery soft linzer cookie dough a little tougher than when I use my regular vanilla sugar cookie or gingerbread cookie recipe and in the end I made half a simple circle cookie with a heart cut out. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it is a little bit of work removing the dough around the neck section and I can be a little bit lazy sometimes.

As it turns out the simple heart ones were the perfect little bite size, adorable and so much fun to decorate with the little dots of royal icing.

Hazelnut Linzer Cookie Recipe makes around 24 double filled deer cookies or 40 small circle.
Deer Aimee cookie cutter from Cakes by Bien. Circle cutter approx 4cm (1 1/2")

225 g (8oz) unsalted butter room temperature
100g (3 1/2oz) or 1/2 cup sugar * I used caster (superfine) sugar
1 large egg yolk
300g (10 1/2 oz) or 2 cups plain (all purpose) flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
80g (2 3/4oz) hazelnut meal (ground hazelnut)
Deer Cookie cutter and small plastic heart plunger or circle cookie cutter and medium heart cutter.

Filling - 1/2 cup raspberry jam (jelly)

Decoration - Royal Icing

In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together the sugar and butter at high speed for a couple of minutes until light and creamy. Reduce the speed to medium low and mix in the egg yolk, scraping down the sides as required. Add the flour, hazelnut meal, cinnamon and salt and mix at low speed until combined.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours until the mixture is firm.

Dust the workbench with flour and generously flour a rolling pin, then roll# out the dough and cut out shapes as desired.

# If you have difficulty rolling out this dough you can roll it out between sheets of baking paper.

To make the Deer Heart cookies, cut out the deer shape and then use a small heart plunger cutter to cut out a heart shape on the back of half the cookies.

To make Linzer Love cookies cut out circle shapes and use a heart fondant cutter to cut out hearts in the middle of half the cookies.

Place the cut cookie dough on baking trays covered in baking paper and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and bake the cookies until golden (around 12 - 15 minutes).

Allow the cookies to cool on tray.

Place the raspberry jam (jelly) in a microwave safe bowl and heat at high for 20 - 30 seconds until it starts to bubble. Stir until smooth.

To fill deer cookies place jam (jelly) in a disposable piping bag and pipe onto half of the cookies (the ones without the heart cut outs). Gently press the remaining cookies onto the top using the jam (jelly) to stick the cookie into place.

To fill the heart cookies you can just spoon the jam (jelly) onto the top of half the cookies (without the heart cut outs) and press the other cookies gently onto the top.

To pipe decoration mix up pre-mix royal icing to piping consistency and fill a piping bag with a small round tip (I used 1.5 PME).

Pipe an eye and ear onto the deer cookies and a few small dots around the back/tail area.

With the heart cookies, pipe decorative dots around the heart cut out and edge of cookies.

Optional - To pipe decorative drop swags around the edge of the cookie, press the tip to the edge of the cookie and gently apply pressure to allow a length of icing to fall/drop down, carefully pull the tip around to the point on the cookie you wish the swag to reach whilst still applying the light pressure and press the tip to the cookie so the royal icing attaches to the edge of the cookie. Continue around the cookie until you have completed a full circle. Fill in dots between the swags around the edge of the cookie and then pipe a second smaller circle of dots on the top of the cookie.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission. 

Baking pretty cupcakes -in greengate bowls

Mini Greengate bowls available Simply Sweet Home CLICK HERE

Ooops due to some technical difficulties (or maybe more accurately a spectacular baking fail) I do not have my planned recipe post this week.

Instead I'm going to share these pictures I took quite a while back using up leftover frosting, candy, sugar flowers and sprinkles to decorate some cupcakes I baked in mini bowls.

They turned out soooo pretty.

The kids had these for afternoon tea and it made the everyday into a bit of a fancy occasion.

Plus I love using those little mini bowls to bake stuff in, I use them when ever I can (um maybe to justify to Mr Sweet how many of them I have sitting around the house).

If you would like to decorate your cupcakes in a similar way, fill mini bowls (or teacups or cupcake cases) around 3/4 full then when baked and cooled top with frosting or icing (I used raspberry Italian Meringue Buttercream piped using a star tip to make lots of small stars).

Add a macaron (Click here for my macaron recipe) some sugar flowers (Click here for my tutorial on how to make your own sugar flowers) and then some sprinkles, sixlets, marshmallows and sprinkles.

Shopping notes
Greengate bowls available at Simply Sweet Home
My sixlets and marshmallows were from Big Lolly
Macaron recipe CLICK HERE
Sugar Flowers CLICK HERE
Soft sugar pearls from Queen Australia

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

This is not a sponsored post however I am related to the owner of Simply Sweet Homes.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission. 

Sweet's gardening party with pink and grey party table

Sweet's 8th birthday party this year was a pretty grey and pink dessert table with a garden theme to tie in with the main party activity which was.......gardening.

We purchased some packets of easy grow flower seed and pots that eventually break down and the kids got to fill the pots with soil and plant the seeds. The pots were just the right size to fit into cupcake boxes which made packing up and taking home both pretty and easy.

I was lucky enough to find some little trowels the week before the party for $1 each at the local supermarket which the kids took home along with their little garden boxes.

If your not trying to be as economical as me this would work as well with a few punnets of plants instead of the seeds, but I managed to get enough for 12 kids along with a few of those sunflower and tomato ready to grow pots (that I used as party prizes for other games) for under $20.

All the rest of the stuff I used to decorate the gardening table with I already had (see that pink polka dot fabric it was from Bubble's 5th birthday party I blogged about 5 years ago).

Apron and string in tin - Greengate
Garden pots, seeds - Big W discount department store
Trowels - Coles supermarket
White plant stand with blackboard - Bunnings hardware
Pink polkadot cupcake boxes and pinwheels - Choice discount variety store

Party Table

The party table colour theme was based on the lovely grey with pink rose and white dot fabric I used as a table covering. I picked it up because it was so pretty intending to have dresses made for the girls, it was from Lincraft at around $8 a meter.

I had a fake window/mirror shutter I had from a while back I got in a closing down sale and was part way through restoring an old wooden plate rack I picked up on Ebay, so I added them to the table. The pink riser that the candy jars are on is a bathroom caddy I picked up at a discount dollar store last year and painted pink for another party.

Then when I was out one day I spied those big moss balls and I don't know why but I got them. For some reason I really like them, anyhoo they added some colour to the table and a bit of texture the big one was $10 and the 2 smaller ones $5 each from Vast Interiors.

The day before the party I picked up a stack of flowers to pop in little pitchers and vases scattered around the table. It was a pretty relaxed table.

Overhead are some pink hanging lanterns which don't quite make it into the photo's.

Party table menu

Decorated cookies - royal icing stripe cookies with fondant rose accent and fondant pink quilted cookies with white royal icing dots (Click here for free tutorial to make similar quilted cookies)

Birthday cake  - Ombre butter cream decorated cake in shades of storm and pink sunset - Italian meringue butter cream with strawberry cake. The butter cream was applied with an offset spatula to evoke the feeling of an artist's pallet.

Candy - Chocolate sixlets, marshmallows and bon bons. There were also pink pig sours on top of the white plate rack and I bought out a selection of other lollies for the kids to fill up their own take home loot bags.

Homemade raspberry macarons (Click here for recipe) served in a Greengate Sophie Vintage bowl.

Cinnamon scrolls with pink cream cheese frosting- we are loving cinnamon scrolls at the moment so we prettied them up with sugar flowers, butter cream piped leaves and sugar sprinkles. What more can I say - yum (click here for a cinnamon scroll recipe)

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission.