Happy Easter!

Wishing you all a "Happy Easter"!







I will be back next week with more photos, all the details and recipes...

Have a sweet day!

79 Ideas Pretty Rustic Easter

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you these gorgeous Easter photos from 79 Ideas. I love the rustic colour palette and the pretty details like the ribbon wrapped flowers and the single white feather. To see more of Radostina's lovely photography check out her gorgeous blog 79 Ideas.

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites:

• The pretty table setting in Easter table decoration set 2
• The bunch of flowers in Easter table decoration set 2
• The rustic basket with speckled eggs in Easter table decoration set 1
• The beautiful table setting with speckled eggs in Easter table decoration set 1

Have a sweet day!

Alice M. Wingerden's Pretty Easter

This week on Flickr Faves Sunday, I bring you these pretty Easter photos from Alice M. Wingerden. To see more of Alice's pretty work check out her blog Thoughts from Alice that is full of her wonderful photographs!

Some beautiful shots from my Flickr favourites:

• The pretty bird cake stand in Easter Egg Display
• The delicate crockery in Vintage Easter Basket
• The beautiful glittered eggs in Pastel Eggs
• The delightful speckled eggs in Easter Egg Display

Have a sweet day!

3D easter egg and bunny

Just before Easter the lovely peeps at Lékué sent me the 3D easter egg and bunny mould and a decopen. I filled my bunny and egg mould with white chocolate and then, using the decopen filled with white chocolate coloured blue, I drew a graffiti squiggle over the top; a great gift for my cute nephew Samuel who loves bunnies and puzzles!

3D easter egg and bunny
What you will need:

• 3D easter egg and bunny mould
• White chocolate drops
• Aqua chocolate food colouring
• Decopen

Instructions

1. Temper (melt) white chocolate
2. Spoon chocolate into icing bottle or bag fitted with a small nozzle
3. Squeeze chocolate into moulds
4. Lightly tap moulds so chocolate lays flat and air bubbles are removed
5. Stir blue chocolate food colouring a little at a time into the remaining white chocolate until you have desired colour. Stir well so colour is even
6. Fill decopen with blue melted chocolate and carefully draw design onto filled moulds
7. Lightly tap moulds so chocolate lays flat and air bubbles are removed
8. Leave to set. Refrigerating speeds up this process and can make it easier to turn out
9. Carefully release the eggs and bunny from the moulds
10. Assemble egg and bunny

The decopen comes with two, four or six nozzles and can be used to decorate cakes and biscuits with messages, create ball, flower, rope and shell shapes; make toppings for your cupcakes and exquisite macaroons or profiteroles. I can't wait to use it again on my sweet treats!

Have a sweet day!

Hand-made chocolate flowers

I love the bunny jars for Easter that I made but wasn't completely happy with how I filled them with foil wrapped eggs so decided to make some hand-made chocolate flowers using my Ikea flower ice mould for the peach lidded one. I think the bunny jar looks much better now!

Hand-made chocolate flowers
What you will need

• 16 hole flower mould
• 200g White chocolate drops
• Peach powder food colouring
• Blue powder food colouring

Instructions

1. Temper (melt) 3 tbsp white chocolate
2. Place 3 tbsp of the melted white chocolate in small bowl and stir in peach food colouring until colour is even
3. Place melted peach chocolate in a piping bag
4. Fill flower top with peach chocolate
5. Lightly tap moulds so chocolate lays flat and air bubbles are removed, and leave to set
6. Temper (melt) rest of white chocolate and stir in blue food colouring until colour is even
7. Pour into flower moulds until mould is full, tap lightly to remove air bubbles and leave to set
8. Turn out chocolate flowers

Please note that if you use a silicone ice cube mould the chocolate will come out matte, versus shiny if you use a chocolate silicone mould

Bunny jars for Easter tutorial

Have a sweet day!

Hand-made chocolate bunny heads

For the past couple of years I have made chocolate bunny heads filled with hand-made honeycomb, both of which can be found on my 'in my kitchen' page. This year I wanted to keep them simple with three layers of chocolate in white, milk and dark. I also coloured their eyes with blue chocolate and their noses with pink chocolate.

Hand-made chocolate bunny heads
What you will need

• Mini non-stick cake pan, 6 cavity - bunnies
• 100g White chocolate drops
• 100g 40% milk chocolate drops
• 100g 70% dark chocolate drops
• Pink powder food colouring
• Blue powder food colouring

Instructions

1. Temper (melt) 2 tbsp white chocolate
2. Place 1 tbsp of the melted white chocolate in small bowl and stir in pink food coloring until colour is even
3. Place a small drop of pink chocolate into nose of bunny moulds
4. Place 1 tbsp of the white chocolate in small bowl and stir in blue food coloring until colour is even
5. Place a small drop of blue chocolate into eyes of bunny moulds
6. Lightly tap moulds so chocolate lays flat and air bubbles are removed, and leave to set
7. Temper (melt) rest of white chocolate
8. Pour into bunny moulds so white chocolate is about 1 cm deep, tap lightly to remove air bubbles and leave to set
9. Temper (melt) milk chocolate
10. Pour into bunny moulds, tap lightly to remove air bubbles and leave to set
11. Temper (melt) dark chocolate
12. Pour into bunny moulds, tap lightly to remove air bubbles and leave to set
13. Turn out chocolate bunny heads

I packaged mine in pink bow cookie bags from Etsy seller Avenue 55 and added a few mini mini eggs to keep them in place!

I also made one without white chocolate for my friend who isn't so keen on it!

Have a sweet day!

Gluten free mini decadent chocolate nests

Mini decadent chocolate nests (makes 48 mini size cupcakes)
Ingredients

• 200g (7 ounces) 70% dark chocolate chips
• 100g (3.5 ounces) gluten free cornflakes, lightly crushed
• 50g (1.7 ounces) raisins
• 50g (1.7 ounces) almond slivers
• Edible gold glitter
• Mini mini eggs

Mini mini eggs from Tesco

Method

1. Melt chocolate in microwave on low power for about 1-2 minutes (the exact amount of time needed will depend on the type of chocolate being used so remove and stir the chocolate every so often to ensure it heats evenly)
2. Once the chocolate is melted, remove from microwave and gradually pour into bowl of crushed cornflakes, almonds and raisins
3. Stir chocolate, cornflakes, almonds and raisins until the dried ingredients are completely covered in chocolate
4. Spoon mixture into cases and make a hole in the center
5. Sprinkle with edible gold glitter
6. Fill hole with mini eggs and leave to set

I served four of them on my gold spot cupcake stand as part of my Easter table

I packaged up the rest in pretty egg boxes, for all the details and where to buy check out here

For free downloadable Easter labels see here

Have a sweet day!

Mini gluten free berry chocolate cupcakes

Mini gluten-free berry chocolate cupcakes (makes 48 mini size cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 125g (4.5 ounces) butter, softened
• 2 tbsp Hotel Chocolat organic cocoa powder
• 150g (5.2 ounces) caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 225g (8 ounces) gluten free self-raising flour
• 60 ml semi skimmed milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 100g (3.5 ounces) 70% dark chocolate chips
• 200g fresh raspberries, pureed

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat oven to 160-180 deg C (325-350 deg F)
2. Line cupcake tin with paper cases or tray with silicone cases
3. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until the mixture turns a pale colour
4. Beat in eggs, flour, milk and vanilla extract
5. Fold in the dark choc chips and raspberries
6. Pipe batter into cases
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or till cakes bounce back when lightly pressed
8. Place cakes on a wire rack to cool

To decorate (for 48 mini sized cupcakes)
Ingredients

• Chocolate buttercream
• Desiccated coconut
• Fondant flowers
• Jelly beans

For instructions on how to make fondant flowers click here

Instructions

1. Fill piping bag fitted with star nozzle full of chocolate buttercream
2. Pipe a nest on top of cupcakes
3. Sprinkle with desiccated coconut
4. Push fondant flower into side of nest and three jelly beans in the centre of the piped nests

I served eight of them on my gold spot cupcake stand as part of my Easter table

I packaged up the rest in pretty egg boxes, for all the details and where to buy check out here

Have a sweet day!

Gluten free strawberry & almond cupcakes

For my bunny topped cupcakes I made gluten free strawberry & almond cupcakes with a poured fondant top, and they tasted a bit like bakewell tarts! I sprinkled them in gold glitter and adorned with them roll-on fondant icing.

To avoid confusion with my American readers... in the UK the term fondant actually refers to icing that is used for pouring and dipping; the glossy, sticky stuff found on iced buns and fondant fancies. This is what I used to ice my cupcakes. I used roll-on icing for the bunnies and flowers which is called fondant icing in the US and is the same as sugar paste.

Gluten free strawberry & almond cupcakes (makes 20 cupcake size cakes)

Ingredients

• 100g butter
• 100g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 500g gluten-free self-raising flour
• 50g ground almonds
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 tbsp strawberry jam

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat oven to 165C/325F
2. Line baking tray with cases
3. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy
4. Beat in eggs one at a time until batter is smooth
5. Fold in the sifted flour, ground almonds and almond extract with a metal spoon
6. Pipe batter into cases
7. Divide jam between the cases and, using a cocktail stick, swirl into batter
8. Bake for about 20 mins until cakes bounce back when lightly pressed
9. Place cakes on rack until cool

To decorate (for 24 cupcake sized cakes) Ingredients

• Fondant icing
• Edible gold glitter
• Fondant bunnies
• Fondant flowers

For instructions on how to make fondant flowers click here and for instructions on how to make fondant bunnies click here

Instructions

1. Make up fondant icing as per instructions on packet
2. Pour fondant icing on to top of cakes and sprinkle with glitter
3. Place fondant flowers and bunny on to iced cakes
4. Leave icing to set

I served mine in mini butter dishes as table settings for my Easter tea and cakes

Have a sweet day!

Hand-made chocolate egg

I have never made a big chocolate egg... until now! But when a certain little person said they would love a blue egg for Easter, their wish was my command!

Chocolate egg
What you will need:

• Large egg mould
• White chocolate drops
• Aqua chocolate food colouring
• Green dusting powder

Instructions

1. Temper (melt) white chocolate
2. Stir in blue chocolate food colouring a little at a time until you have desired colour. Stir well so colour is even
3. Fill mould full of melted chocolate, let it sit for a few minutes.
4. Then pour the liquid chocolate out. Some of the chocolate will have solidified on the inside of the mould
5. Leave to set. Refrigerating speeds up this process and can make it easier to turn out
6. Carefully release the eggs from the plastic moulds

I filled mine with coloured candy and a little white rabbit then wrapped it tightly in cling film and tied a pretty ribbon round it.

For now the bunnies are looking after the egg!

Have a sweet day!

Hand-made chocolate carrots

Last year I made pink chocolate carrots with green chocolate tops, but I found that a lot of the tops fell off! So this year I made peach carrots and painted the tops with edible green dusting powder. No breakages so far!

Chocolate carrots
What you will need:

• Carrots chocolate mould
• White chocolate drops
• Peach chocolate food colouring
• Green dusting powder

Instructions

1. Temper (melt) white chocolate
2. Stir in peach powdered food colouring a little at a time until you have desired colour. Stir well so colour is even
3. Spoon chocolate into icing bottle or bag fitted with a small nozzle
4. Squeeze chocolate into moulds
5. Lightly tap moulds so chocolate lays flat and air bubbles are removed, and leave to set
6. Turn out chocolate carrots
7. With a damp brush, lightly paint the carrot tops with the green dusting powder

After posting about my bunny jars for Easter the other day, Bonnie Leigh from the blog Three o'clock on Tuesday suggested making mini ones using baby food jars. What a great idea! So I made some more bunny jars, this time using baby food jars and some very small bunnies I've had knocking about since last year which I bought from Acorn & Will.





Have a sweet day!

Glitter eggs

For this year's Easter tree, that I am in the process of making, I need some new eggs to hang on it. I have recycled my previously painted eggs from my Easter 2010 table by covering them in glitter to match this year's Easter colour scheme of mint, peach and gold.

Glitter eggs
Tools and Materials

• Hanging plastic eggs
• Gold egg hangers
• Glitter
• PVA glue
• Gold embroidery thread
• Small paint brush

Glitter eggs, How-to step by step


Start by carefully removing the plastic stopper from the plastic eggs. Then brush PVA glue on to top of eggs. Sprinkle coloured glitter onto glued area of eggs. Tap gently to remove any excess glitter, and leave to dry. Push egg hangers into hole at top of eggs and thread gold embroidery thread through loop in egg hanger, and knot to secure. Brush PVA glue onto rest of eggs and spoon glitter onto eggs, covering entire surface. Tap gently to remove any excess glitter, hang and leave to dry.






Have a sweet day!