Violet's Epic Cake Recipe – Day 4

This is my guide to baking an epic cake.

Yes it’s seriously epic! Those of you with dial up might want to not continue because there are around 50 photos! Trust me though, it’s totally worth it because the end result is both pretty and delicious!

So here’s roughly what you need for epic cake:

-3 standard cake mix bags (I know cheating :P) If you are in Australia get the Home Brand butter cake because it is AWESOME and it’s only 60c per bag. -Eggs -Milk -Butter Milk -Fondant icing -Ingredients for royal icing (check this recipe it’s great) -Milo (or just plain old chocolate powder if you’re not in Aus) -Red and green food dye

Gather your ingredients.

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Preheat your oven following the instructions on your packet mix.

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Now it’s time to make the cake mix πŸ˜€ Depending on your cake mix the ingredients might be different but this is how I do it… Packet mix in the bowl!

This cake requires 3 different layers, 2 of plain butter cake and 1 of my version of red velvet cake. We’ll make the red velvet version first.

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Add an egg! Eggs look so gross XD

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Add in the butter milk, you should use however much milk the packet mix says to, mine said 3/4 of a cup. For the other layers you should use plain milk.

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Mix it all together

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And then beat it to death! It should be nice and fluffy ^_^

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Once it’s fluffy add 3 table spoons of Milo and beat it in.

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Now add some red food colouring, this is why it’s called red velvet cake and it makes for a really pretty effect when it’s finished.

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Pour it out into your cake tin, I use a silicone one because it’s easy to get the cake out of.

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Put it in the oven until it’s cooked all through πŸ˜€

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Turn it out onto a rack to cool and make the other 2 layers.

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The other two layers should not have milo, food colouring or butter milk in them. They should just be plain old butter cake following the directions.

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If your cake breaks when you turn it out, just use some icing and glue it back together πŸ™‚

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Once your 3 layers have all cooled down it’s time to cut the tops off them. The reason you cut the top off is so you can get a nice flat cake and it doesn’t look like a gigantic lump on top ^_^ It’s much easier to ice a flat cake! So get a knife and poke it in the side towards the middle and start working your way around. Keep going until you’ve done the full circle. Use the knife to lift the top off (and eat it because by now you’ve spent forever staring at cakes bloody baking and you’re probably hungry).

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Once you have 3 flat layers get some icing (I’m using Betty Crocker) and cover the top of the red layer/

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Once it’s covered use the plate you had it on to flip it onto one of the plain layers.

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Cover the top of the red one again and flip the last layer on to it. This is what you should end up with!

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Cover the entire thing with icing ^_^

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One for the cake, one for the cook!

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Now get your fondant icing and roll it on the bench top. If it’s too hard pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds, if it’s too sticky dust it with icing sugar. Once you’ve rolled it out, drape it over the whole cake. It should end up something like this… You can see that I’ve repaired a crack by putting water on my finger and rubbing it. It’s going to be covered in icing so no one will ever notice!

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Now it’s time to decorate! Make some royal icing in the colour of your choice, mine is pink! Put it into a piping bag and start decorating! Ok mine isn’t very even but this was my first time using a piping bag so it’s ok!

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I tried to make it very decorative, there is a big heart on top, scalloping on the outside and lots of little bumpy bits. Whatever you do as long as you put effort in everyone will enjoy it!

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Now put it in the fridge to cool and it’s time to learn how to make icing roses πŸ˜€ Grab some fondant icing and colour it pink with food dye. You do this by putting a tiny amount on and kneading it until it’s pink. Make sure to do this on a surface that you can clean easily, food dye will stick to EVERYTHING. Maybe wear gloves, look at my hands, they’re all red XD

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So let’s start making a rose! Pinch off a little bit of icing and roll it in a ball.

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With your finger squish one side of the ball…

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Pick it up and roll the squished end in on itself like the photo below. You should make a bunch more squished balls, these are the petals.

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Roll the second petal onto the first but on the opposite side like below:

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Keep making petals and placing them around the part you’ve already made. You should over lap the next petal slightly with the one you’ve just done.

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As you go you should use your finger to push the petals out a bit.

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Once you think you have enough petals roll the bottom of the rose together with your fingers so it’s a bit rounded.

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Make a bunch of them πŸ˜€ This is what you should end up with!

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Now bring out your cake from the fridge. Mix up a bit of royal icing and colour it green.

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I put a bunch of green icing in the middle of the heart and placed the flowers on top.

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I make a lot of flowers in different sizes so….

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…I can shape them into a heart too!

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Yay! Finished πŸ˜€

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NOM NOM NOM!

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Delicious cake…

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I think the flowers really make the cake… and they are delicious too ^_^

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And the best bit… When you cut it open it looks even prettier!

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How pretty is it? And the red velvet is delicious!

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Now serve with thickened cream…

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And enjoy!

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So there you have it, it’s delicious! What do you guys think? What’s your favorite type of cake? Let me know if you make your own epic cake!

How To Repair Old Slippers -Day 3

I’m super tired tonight so I’ve just got a mini tutorial on repairing old slippers for you all πŸ™‚

I’ve been a little obsessed with slippers lately so I’ve got 2 tutorials planed that revolve around slippers. It’s probably because I spend so much time at home but I think a good pair of slippers are a very important part of a girl’s wardrobe ^_^

It takes me a long time to choose slippers (more on that in my next slippers post!) and when I finally find a pair that I like I have a hard time giving them up, I’m the kind of person that will wear them until they literally fall apart! I’m also quite thrifty so at times when money is tight I am all for repairing and reusing anything I can possibly fix.

So I have this cute pair of slippers but…

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The soles are all gross and worn out. There is even a small hole!

So what you need for this version of repairing old slippers:

-Scissors -A sheet of felt in a matching colour -Needle and thread in a matching colour -A pen or tailor’s chalk

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Start by putting your slippers on the felt and tracing around the outside. Get as close to the size of the actual sole as possible, if in doubt it’s better to cut bigger than smaller because you can always trim it but you can’t add more felt if you cut too much! Cut one out for each slipper.

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Thread your needle and with the new sole on top of the slipper sew it in place with 1 stitch. You should start at the very back of the slipper. Tie it in a double knot so it doesn’t go anywhere.

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Now using a blanket stitch start sewing around the edge. If you need to know how to do a blanket stitch have a look here.

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Continue around the entire edge. If you find there is slightly too much felt you should trim it a little bit. If there is not enough, stretch it because once you put them on the felt will get worn into position. When you’re finished they should look something like this:

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Hopefully your stitching is a little neater than mine!

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And there you go, with 60c worth of felt you saved yourself from buying a whole new pair of slippers! One thing to note- the felt is super slippery on tiles until you wear it in so don’t slip over!! That said it’s pretty fun to be able to faux ice-skate around my tiled house in the middle of a 35Degree Celsius summer πŸ˜€

Enjoy!

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Bonus outfit post:

Jsk- Angelic Pretty Stockings- Myer Slippers- Bras n things Hair things: some junk store

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See you all tomorrow when I’m not half asleep! Let me know if you ever give repairing old slippers this way a try!

Nuffnang Christmas Party

Ok this doesn’t count as the Day 3 post, I’m going to do that later today (I’m still editing the photos!).

Nuffnang Christmas Party!

But I really wanted to let you all know about the Nuffnang Christmas party because all of your Australian bloggers are invited and you don’t even have to be a Nuffnang member to come!

We are having one in most Australian capital cities so make sure if you’re in Aus you come down to one πŸ˜€

They are being held simultaneously on the 17th of December and if you’re in Brisbane you better get down to Bohemia in the city and party with me and James!

The theme of the party is BLUE so if you come make sure you wear something pretty and blue!

The best part is that in the Brisbane party we’re going to have a Nintendo Wii competition on the big screen!!

You can find more information HERE.

Or just go ahead and RSVP here.

Are you Brisbane bloggers going to come and play Wii with me?