I am writing today to tell you, for now at least I will no longer be blogging on Bake & Bloom.

I am sure any Bride to be will tell you it is a big task to plan a wedding, and l have a lot of commitments to meet in my personal life  at the moment including my veggie garden which is now huge! Changing jobs & finally getting really into floristry & trying to be more active in my family life which I have neglected for for quite a while now. Finding the time to commit to make this blog all it should be has become fairly difficult.

I would like to thank each & every person that has ever stopped by to say Hi or read a recipe, and especially my regular loyal readers & friends.

In particular I would like to thank my friends Mel (From Bread n’ Sniff It) & Christie (From Fig & Cherry) for making me really feel like a part of of the blogging family. You’re both a total inspiration to me!

Rest assured I will be back some time next year.

So for now my friends, goodbye. Keep cooking & know that I love you all. Thanks for making my life for the last year & a half a little sweeter & I am sure we will speak again soon!

xoxo Shannon Smyth

Ok. so technically it actually took 3 days, not 2 but this weekend I made my step sister’s wedding cake & 3 wedding bouquets, 5 buttonholes & a table centerpiece. (and a lot of mess) 

You may bow down in my awesomeness now. 

It was my first real wedding & Rachael & Adrian put a lot of trust in me to leave some important elements of their big day in my trembling hands.  Thanks for letting me be a part of it guys! 

Want to know how I did it? Well to be honest, I am not even sure myself but I had a whole lot of help from Joy The Baker & Wilton. 

The cake consisted of 2x 12″ butter cakes & 2x 8″ butter cakes sandwiched with a good store bought lemon curd & frosted with more french vanilla buttercream than I have seen in my life. I have a whole new respect for pastry chefs & anyone who says they charge too much for wedding cakes seriously does not understand how much work they are. 

Iced & ready to go to the reception

Let me break it down for you: 

• Prepare cake batter. To give you an idea of proportions, this cake will feed approx 56 people for dessert. It took 20 eggs, a small sack of flour & over 2 hours to bake in total. (each 12″ cake took 65 minutes & I only have 1 12″ cake tin) I just have a regular sized kitchen mixer & I needed to divide the batter into thirds to be able to mix it.
• Allow cakes to cool completely.
• Prepare approx 15 cups of french vanilla buttercream & set aside. Tip** I added a little cornstarch to add some stability to the buttercream. It does effect the texture a little bit but the weather is so warm here I was not going to risk the icing melting right off the cake.
• Prepare the crumb coat. I just used 5 cups of icing sugar + enough pouring cream to make a thin spreadable paste.
• Individually trim all 4 cakes with a large serrated knife to achieve a flat top.
• Individually crumb coat all 4 cakes using a large palette knife regularly dipped in boiling water. Allow crumb coat to dry for approx 2 hours.
• Spread one of each sized tier with lemon curd & sandwich top layer on each. Thickly apply frosting with large palette knife dipped in boiling water to achive a smooth, tidy finish.
• Using a hot glue gun, apply ribbon to the outer edge of cake boards.
• Precariously transfer cakes to their corresponding boards.
• Somehow transport the cakes to the wedding reception along with all the decorations & equipment. I didn’t have a box big enough for the bottom tier so I carried on my lap all the while praying we didn’t crash or I would have gone face first into half an inch of frosting.
• Explain to the passive aggressive restaurant manager that you are attending the ceremony & therefore cannot set up the cake in the afternoon, it needs to be done now or not at all. Snigger quietly at putting someone so snotty out of their way. (OK so I probably should have called her a few days in advance rather than an hour beforehand, but I have no idea why she made such a big deal about it)
•  Measure & cut approx 5 wooden dowels to support the top tier &  push pointy end first into the bottom tier.
• Stack the top tier on top of the dowels & painstakingly make minor adjustments until centered.
• Decorate lavishly with fresh flowers & apply buttercream beading to hide the cake board.

It is also noteworthy to tell you that this cake required 4.5 kg of icing sugar &  2.5kg of butter in the cake + frosting, even I was a little frightened of seeing so much butter in one place. 

I think the result more than justifies the calories though. 

Ready to be cut

The wedding went off without a hitch, the weather finally cleared to reveal a perfect blue sky. The bride looked amazing, the groom showed up & most of the topless sunbathers vacated the beach for the duration of the ceremony. 

 Here’s a couple of photos of the happy couple + the flowers. They really are just the most perfect couple & I have no doubt they will grow wrinkly together. They’re off to Vanuatu for their honeymoon today.  

Adrian went for the dip. Kudos! I think Shane would drop me if we tried that.

I also had the privilege to (finally) meet my 10 week old niece Brooke. 

This is the look I got when I asked if I could hold her.

The end

Any day that includes cake & me hugging beautiful little babies is a good one. I can’t wait for my wedding, I keep dropping little hints to Shane that we should drop everything & have a little destination wedding but I don’t think I could live with it. The best part about weddings is seeing all the people that travel to see the people they love.

xoxo Shannon

Ever wondered how your florist gets their stems, you know..all swirly and pretty in a bouquet?

Before studying floral design I actually kind of assumed they did it much in the manner one might twist spaghetti before you put it in water, embarrassing huh? It is technically called stroussing & while it sounds easy in theory it is kind of tricky when you learn. Unless you find it easy, in which case you suck & I hate you! 

 I am going to tell you how anyway.

The basic idea is you want all your stems turning in the same direction so you just keep placing them at an angle & turning. I hold the arrangement with my left hand & turn clockwise but whatever feels comfortable is fine.

To begin with while you’re mastering the technique you will want to start with nice straight stemmed flowers with larger blooms & the same applies for foliage if you choose to use it. If you want your flowers spaced quite widely you’re going to need some foliage to add body & keep them whole thing in place.

Gerberas, long stemmed roses, spider chrysanthemums, narcissus (daffodils, jonquil such) are the kind of thing you are looking for. Obviously you can work with anything you please however you will have a hard time trying to strouss a bunch of gnarled twisty stems on your first try. Do not, whatever you do begin with tulips…they are the mongrel teenage child of the flower world & notorious for misbehaving.

Here I have chosen spider chrysanthemum, disbud chrysanthemum & jonquil. I really love the look of green & white flowers together, it suits almost any home. If you’re ever standing in the florist scratching your head over what colours to choose get green & white, they are both classic & modern. If they hate them, they are sick human beings who didn’t deserve your lovely flowers in the first place.

• Strip your flowers of most of their foliage or completely naked. Naked is generally better but because I am usually too cheap to bother purchasing foliage I have left some leaves on to give my bunch some structure. (In a shop I would never leave the leaves on because they die in a couple of days & look awful)

• Pick your best looking flower as your focal bloom. Place the next flower over the stem of your focal flower on an angle & hold on the palm of your hand. The greater the angle the more space there will be between your flowers. This arrangement was very tight as I like that pom pom look.

• Rotate the bunch & continue placing flowers on the same angle & turning making sure you regularly inspect the top of the arrangement  to ensure even spacing & correct placement.

• When you are happy with the arrangement, tie it off with some string & cut the stems to the desired length. Florists habit..I tend to keep the stems very long because when you study floral design eventually you begin to see stems like this:

• Place your arrangement in the receptacle of your choice with water (note that I have chosen entirely the wrong vase for this arrangement) & display your handiwork near a window to make your neighbours jealous.

As I have said it sounds easy in theory however when you have a fistful of thick stems wider than a coffee mug it can get a little tricky. Practice makes perfect though & remember when you choose beautiful flowers it is pretty hard to make them look ugly.

Thus concludes my first floral 101. I would love to know what you think & what you have always wondered how to do.

No one has attempted as many bad batches of those perfect Parisian cookies as I have. My macarons have stuck to the paper & lost their bottoms, cracked at the top, failed to rise, had big awful air pockets…you name it, I have seen it.

I have tried the French meringue method, the Italian meringue method & the little known Swiss meringue method all with disappointing results. All in all I would say I have made over 35 batches of failed macarons in the last 2 years.

Much of the problem lay within my own patience. I have incorrectly read recipes more times than I care to mention.

I am thrilled to tell you however that on Friday night, under the influence of 2 large glasses of riesling & quite a lot of peer pressure from my dear friend Maggie I was able to produce a near perfect batch of macarons! They were quickly sandwiched with salted caramel buttercream & consumed with vigour. In the end it was the classic French meringue recipe that worked for me, indeed it was exactly the same recipe I had used on my first attempt however it was executed with much more care & respect.

I am still no authority in these things but when I have produced a few more successful batches I will be posting a very detailed step by step picture tutorial because I am sure I am not the only serial macaron killer.

Saturday was spent doing work experience at The Flower Garden in preparation for Mothers Day.  Saturday could be summed up in one word: BUSY. I am not sure why I was surprised. I spent the majority of the day making up arrangements for the front of the store however I simply couldn’t keep up with the rate at which they were being purchased. Every time someone walked out the door smiling & holding one of my creations I felt a swoon of happiness. “I wanted to shout out, you there! I made that! I am glad you like it”

At the end of the day I received the most wonderful compliment from the boss’ son that I have a bright career ahead of me & he thinks I am wonderfully creative.  I am pretty much in love with being a florist right now (even if I am not technically being paid for it)

These were my small but significant triumphs this weekend.

Does festive baking transform you into a trembling, twitching nervous wreck?

Join the club

There’s something about baking for the holidays the renders me a complete kitchen mess. It must be the pressure, because without fail the moment I set my mind to preparing festive treats all my baking sense goes out the window.

I forget to warm eggs & butter to room temperature, I pour boiling milk over yeast & then rest dough in full sun. I even occasionally pull roasting pans from the oven without oven mitts (yes that has really happened in the heat of a holiday cooking tizz) I scream at loved ones & run around barefoot with knives.

By Saturday night I was getting a little desperate to produce something for the blog, for the big Easter lunch & for my sanity, there are only so many kitchen disasters my little heart can bear & it dawned on me, Why do I do this to myself? The only person turning the pressure up is me! My family & friends couldn’t care less about having the perfect balance of cinnamon to candied orange zest in ones hot cross bun, they just want something yummy and chocolatey for Easter to stuff in their faces as quickly as possible.

Introducing this easy peasy Easter decorated rich chocolate cake.

It’s not quite a mud cake so you can go back for seconds, but it is very rich & satisfying. I used half milk chocolate & half dark chocolate purely because the people I hoped to impress most were children. You can use whatever kind of chocolate you prefer. The best thing is it is just a chocolate cake with some festive decorations, you can decorate it for any occasion you like.

Don’t be alarmed when it sinks a little in the center, it’s not the prettiest of cakes but it is very tasty.

On a side note I am officially doing work experience at The Flower Garden in Bundall which is wonderful. I spent Saturday morning working & made some really beautiful arrangements that I was so proud of. The team are so welcoming & supportive, I couldn’t be more happy.

Mr Bake & Bloom is currently in Prague with his buddy, drinking cheap beer & quietly mocking me (I swear I can hear him mocking me) It is a bit of a worry because he almost always comes home with large chunks of flesh missing when he goes out for a boys night in his hometown. I can’t imagine what he is getting up to over there.

Now that I have mentioned large chunks of missing flesh…here is the recipe. Yummm

Rich Chocolate Cake with Ganache Glaze & Easter Nest

(Adapted from Taste.com.au)

Ingredients:

• 100g good quality dark chocolate, chopped
• 100g good quality milk chocolate, chopped
• 200g butter, softened
• 1tbsp vegetable oil
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 organic eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

For the ganache:

• 200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 cup thickened cream
• 1/2 tsp butter

For the decoration:

• 2 Cadbury flake bars
• Candy coated Easter eggs

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease and line base and side of a 6cm deep, 22cm  round cake pan.
2. Place chocolate in a heatproof, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave, uncovered, on MEDIUM  for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring every minute with a metal spoon, until almost melted. Stir until smooth. Set aside for 10 minutes to cool.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Add melted chocolate. Beat until well combined. Sift flour and cocoa together. Fold half the flour mixture into butter mixture. Add half the milk. Stir gently to combine. Repeat with remaining flour mixture, milk, oil & salt. Spoon into prepared pan. Smooth surface. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging.
4. Stand cake in pan for 15 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. To make chocolate ganache: Heat cream in the microwave or a double boiler until almost boiling. Pour over the chocolate & butter in a heat safe bowl & stir until it looks like sexy chocolate lava (I am very technical I know) Allow to cool & refrigerate until it is a stiff pourable consistency (about 40 minutes in the fridge)
6. To decorate, pour ganache over the top of the cake & spread, allowing some ganache to ooze over the edges. Make a nest out of pieces of flake bar & add the little eggs. Refrigerated until ganache is set.

Serves 12

I think there’s something about just baking a cake that is so relaxing rather than making traditional holiday treats. What are your holiday kitchen saviors?