Magic Drinks

I found this idea off a lovely customer who planned to try it for their childs party.

So I thought I would give it a go using our clear plastic cups with dome lids and matching stripe straws.

I picked yellow, green and pink food colouring and put a few drops in (well I went a bit heavy on the pink, whoops!)

And left it to dry overnight

Then just before you are ready to serve the drinks, pop ice in to cover up the food colouring

Then pour in the lemonade and watch it change colour

Very cool for a rainbow party or any colour themed party!

My daughter was very happy to be the ‘taste tester’

“oh its a bit fizzy!”

The one thing I really like about this idea is that you can prepare the cups and ice days before the event instead of at the mad rush before the party

My Pinterest Love

Have you joined Pinterest yet?  Its definitely changed my life!

How many people can say pinning is part of their job description?  I can!

I try to pin everyday party/events inspiration, I love organising my pins into different themed pin boards and one pin always leads to another!  And quite often leads to a new blog to follow.

The one thing I love most about Pinterest is each pin always leads back to the original website or blog it is pinned from.  So its perfect for saving DIY ideas and recipes.

Whenever I have a event or holiday coming up I take a look at my pin board to draw inspiration for that event

I have 108 pin boards and counting!

I hope you get inspired as I do!

Julie

Mother’s Day

I have created a wee Mother’s Day display of some of our products so you create something sweet for you own mother

Including one of my favourite recipes: Feijoa, hazelnut and white chocolate cake (pictured on our glass cake stands), I will probably get into big trouble for sharing this recipe as many people have asked me for it over the years!

This is one of my favourite cakes as its fudgey and has beautiful flavours and texture, the top of the cake caramelises perfectly with the hazelnuts.  You can serve it dusted with icing sugar with coffee or warmed with french vanilla ice cream!

Feijoa, white chocolate and hazelnut cake

INGREDIENTS

90g soft butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

3 eggs

1 cup chopped hazelnuts

1 cup white chocolate, chopped

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence (check out the recipe here)

6-8 feijoas, peeled and mashed

1 cup milk

1 cup sifted flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup of extra brown sugar or raw sugar

METHOD

Cream butter and sugars, add eggs one at a time

Fold in the vanilla essence and mashed feijoas

With a big spoon fold in the milk, flour and baking powder

When this is well mixed, fold in HALF of the hazelnuts and all of the white chocolate

Grease and line a 23cm tin (9 inch)

Pour the mixture into the tin

Sprinkle 1 cup of brown or raw sugar and the remaining hazelnuts on top of the cake

Bake 180°c, 40-45 minutes

Freshly brewed coffee and cake is perfect for morning or afternoon tea with your mother and/or children

I tried out the quilted glass jars on my expresso machine and the glass withstood the heat, (I would recommend wrapping a napkin around the jar though) which made me think ice coffees would be so lovely in these jars!

You can check out our range of Mother’s Day products pictured in this photo shoot on the website, perfect for creating your special mother’s day or for gifts

I especially love this ‘love you mum’ card!

We also now do gift vouchers!

Please let me know if you do make the cake, I would love to hear what you think!

Easter Party Printables

We’ll I’m so excited to share our exciting news of our exclusive line of party printables

Our first collection (mini collection that is) ‘HOPPY EASTER’ is for Easter in colours inspired by our pink, yellow and baby blue striped paper straws

This mini collection includes a free Easter Egg Hunt poster, egg shaped bunting, cupcake topper/labels and straw flags

Here is a example of our cupcake toppers cut into a plain square and stuck onto a yellow stripe straw on a yummy chocolate cupcake in our new cupcake cups

You can purchase the whole collection for only $12.50

Download our free Easter Egg Hunt Poster here

I print on photo paper but you can use cardstock and print at home or your local printers

Easter Bunny Bark

Another treat I made for our mini Easter party is Bunny Bark

I lined our wire basket with a yellow polka dot paper napkin and placed the Bunny Bark in

So easy to make and its not sickly sweet

INGREDIENTS

This recipe can be doubled

7 Oreo biscuits

200g white chocolate

3/4c Pretzels

2 small tubs of mini m&ms

Sprinkles

METHOD

Lay a piece of baking paper on a baking tray

Crush the oreos and pretzels into small chunky pieces

Melt the chocolate in the microwave or in a double boiler

Add the oreos, pretzels and m&ms to the white chocolate and mix to combine

Spread the mixture on the baking paper so its just under 1cm in thickness and sprinkle with pretty sprinkles

Refrigerate for a hour or two

Once set break it up into bite size pieces

Store in the fridge as its that much better cold and hard

I love the textures and colours that make Bunny Bark so cute!

Chocolate Bird’s Nests on Wooden Spoons

I made these simple birds nest on wooden spoons for our mini Easter party photo shoot

The kids loved and devoured them!

You can create these for any party, just use different candy or sprinkles to the theme you have

I used our stamped wooden spoons (available on our website) 3 yum! and 3 enjoy!  And placed them on baking paper

I melted about 100g of chocolate in the microwave

Dipped the spoon in the chocolate

Placed two mini eggs in the centre

And sprinkled with chocolate hail

Then placed them in the fridge for a hour or two to set

Happy Valentines!

I know this is a little late, but still worth sharing

Its been such a busy year so far and Ive had this idea in my head, inspired by Eat, drink, chic (such a fab website!)

I love their idea of a ‘couch picnic’, something my hubby would be into, so perfect if you want something low key and inexpensive.

So I have created a ‘couch picnic pack’ for only $8 perfect for you to set up at home and print off Eat, drink, chic’s printables

Included in the pack is:

Two popcorn boxes

Four red checkered paper napkins

Two red heart paper straws

Two wooden cutlery sets tied with peppermint twine

Packet of red & pink heart confetti

Finish it off with two of our mini glass bottles and you have a fab night in!

All products are available on our new website!

If your looking for something edible and gorgeous for yourself and your loved one on Valentines, check out the Tea Trolley

They have their signature cake balls (Boxed in packaging from us) and my mouth is just watering typing this: Plum & Chocolate mini cake with chocolate mousse frosting

Both are priced at $20, make sure you put your order in so you don’t miss out!

For more inspiration check out my Valentines pin board on Pinterest or check out my Valentines products on the website

Happy Valentines!

New Years Eve Celebrations

I thought I would throw together quick, last minute New Years celebration ideas

New Years Eve 2012 party collection from the TomKat Studio

Here is a free Happy New Years 2012 subway art from Custom Printables

New Years party hats from Ellinee

Happy new years party circles from Anna & blue paperie

Champagne cupcake recipe from Some Kitchen Stories

Martha Stewart has some fab food and drink ideas

And check out my Pinterest New Years pin board for more inspiration

I love the idea of recycling silver Christmas tinsel for decorations

Check out the Pop Roc New Years products photo album on facebook

I hope you all have a wonderful New Years!

Julie

Chocolate Cake Pops

I have had quite a few requests on how I make my cake pops so I thought I would share my version

This is a basic version

I use Dana’s chocolate cake recipe mixed with the divine chocolate butter cream from Sophie Gray’s ENJOY! cook book (well worth the purchase)  This recipe makes a perfect batch of about 70-80 cake pops.

I love making cake pops as you can do it in stages over a period of time and the cake balls (before dipped) can be frozen for up to a month in a airtight container

Bake the cake or any cake you desire and crumble the cake once cool into small pieces as pictured

Make up the butter cream

Mix the cake crumbles and butter cream together, into a clump as pictured below and refrigerate (you can leave it in the fridge in a airtight container for a couple of days)  Firming up the mixture makes it easier to roll

Roll the mixture into balls of your desired size, onto a baking sheet and freeze

Once you are ready to dip in the chocolate, melt the chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave.  It doesn’t need long in the microwave and looks like soft melts

Mix the chocolate until lump free

Remove the cake balls from the freezer.

I find it easier to take out about 20 at a time out of the freezer.

When you are ready to dip, stick a lollipop stick into a cake ball then dip into the chocolate and cover the whole cake ball

You do need to work fast, as the chocolate sets quite fast

Swirl the lollipop stick to remove the excess chocolate

Place back onto a baking sheet to set, and refrigerate

Yum!  I love the crack of the chocolate and soft texture of the cake ball when you bite into it

Sorry my photos are so terrible, it was rather late at night and I was quite tired

Raspberry & Chocolate Meringues

RASPBERRY & CHOCOLATE MERINGUES

I know this isn’t too relevant but I had to share these meringues (I hope this isn’t turning into a baking blog).  Inspired by my favourite cafe Little & Friday

I served them for my family Christmas lunch, they would be great for a party or entertaining

INGREDIENTS

150mls Egg white (approx 4 egg whites, if more discard)

1 cup Caster sugar

2 teaspoons Cornflour

1 teaspoon White vinegar

1 teaspoon Vanilla essence

100g Chocolate (I used Cadbury Energy)

20g Fresh As Raspberries (Half a packet)

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 150°c

Chop the chocolate into small pieces

I used Fresh As freeze dried Raspberry pieces

Whip the eggs whites until soft peaks

Gradually add the sugar and beat until glossy

Sift the cornflour over the mixture and fold through the vinegar and vanilla essence

Add the chocolate pieces and raspberries and gently fold through

Dollop the meringue mixture onto a baking sheet the size you prefer or you can pipe it on for a more uniform shape.  Just make sure the chocolate and raspberries will fit through the nozzle or hole

Dust with a little icing sugar and serve

I found the raspberries a little tart, I’m not sure if it was the batch or they are like that because they are freeze dried