Archive for the ‘Party’ Category

Real Parties – Lilli’s Pink Tea Party

Sunday, July 18th, 2010

When your mum is the stella baker behind Bubble & Sweet it would be no surprise that your birthday parties are the most scrumptious and add in an aunt with an eye for detail for decorating and you have yourself a delicious desert table fit for a princess. Lilli’s 6th birthday party was dreamed up by her mum Linda, who was inspired by fairy wand cookies and the rest just fell into place.

The pink macaron tower was the start of the show, accompanied by a strawberry and cream layer birthday cake, fairy wand cookies, butterfly cake pops, marshmallows, chocolate macarons and fairy bite cookies. Linda made all of sweets and she will be adding recipes for some of them over the coming weeks. The decorations are handmade pom poms which you can make your self or get from Ah-tissue and the paper lanterns are by Robert Gordon.  Visit Linda’s blog for more information.

Party Central – Ice-Cream Parlour

Sunday, July 4th, 2010

Sweet as candy and cool as ice-cream. This DIY Ice-Cream Parlour dessert table styled by the lovely Amy Moss from Eat Drink Chic is lip licking bliss. I am totally in love with concept, I mean who doesn’t love ice-cream? Amy also designed all of the labels for the dessert table, and has been kind enough to make them available for download from her website. Amy has not forgotten a single detail from the cups right down to the cherry on top. It is kind of dessert table is something a first timer can give a go and be proud of the results, as you can download the labels in advance and only have to arrange store brought items on the day. Now to twist Amy’s arm for a blue version……

Real Parties – Jeremiah’s Kite Party

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Let go fly a kite, up to the highest height!! Sydney sider Tracey Lau put together a fabulous kite party for her son, Jeremiah’s 1st birthday. Blue juice, kite vanilla cookies, kite cupcakes, blue fairy floss, caramel popcorn, Krispy Kreme’s, blue jelly pots, merinques, marshmallows, chocolate and blue & green lollies all making a stunning dessert table with a gorgeous backdrop of a kite and clouds on the blue sky. I love the symmetry of Tracey’s table, her style and attention to detail is remarkable. Tracey has listed the suppliers she used for the dessert table on her blog here.

Party Inspiration Board – Rainbow Theme

Monday, June 21st, 2010

What’s not to love about colour at a birthday party? But before you have a heart attack about the amount of food colouring one must use to re-create such a colourful dessert table, fear not! There are some food colourings that you can either purchase or make yourself that are natural and do not contain the nasties that artificial types have in them that can be bad for your children. Here is some useful information about food colouring and some recipes to make your own or you can purchase them here, both links from a hullabaloo food.

Clockwise from top left:

Macarons picture from Rachels Photography
Rainbow cake picture and recipe from Whisk Kid
Rainbow fun invitations by Katy Jane from Styled Baby
Rainbow sugar crystal sticks by Amy Atlas
Rainbow pom poms from Ah-Tissue
Rainbow jelly picture and recipe from My Kitchen Snippets

Party Inspiration Board – Bumblebee Theme

Monday, June 14th, 2010

A little party for the busy buzzy bumblebee in your life.

Buzz buzz bee party invites by Alannah Rose stationery.
Bumblebee outfit by NOO Designs from The Rocking Horse
Yellow Rock Candy Sticks DIY recipe from eHow
Yellow pom pom by Party Pom Poms
Bee Party jelly pail by Effi Georgia
Bumblebee Cupcakes by Natty Cakes
Cupcake wrapper by The Cupcake Wrapper Co.
Desserts by Amy Atlas

Real Parties – Charlotte & Mummy Share A Birthday

Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Charlotte and her mum, Rebecca wanted to share their birthday party, charlotte turning 2 loves her teddy and mum turning the big 3-0 loves afternoon tea. So the girls at The Party Studio combined both loves and created a teddybears picnic for Charlotte and High Tea for mum which melded so perfectly, it’s hard to tell where the picnic finished and the high tea starts. The result was a stunning dessert table, with the centrepiece a gorgeous cake from The Cupcake Gallery, other delights included melting moments, ribbon sandwiches, cupcakes, scones with jam and cream and of course lollies.

Going Gaga Over – Kikki-K

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Bring the fun and excitement of the Cirkus to your next party. Kikki-K have just released this super cute party pack, perfect for children’s birthday parties and other special occasions. Filled with everything you need to plan a fun Cirkus inspired party with eases. Each pack contains 10 invitations, matching envelopes,  sealers, gift bags and gift tags.

Available in store or online at Kikki-K

Going Gaga Over – Hello Naomi

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

This simply gorgeous birthday party dessert table, for 1 year old Naomi shows that less is more. Pink, red and chocolate set the scene for a lovely afternoon at the Parkland Restaurant at Centennial Park. The centrepiece a masterpiece itself is a carmel mudcake, accompanied by raspberry and coconut cupcakes, coconut ice, meringues, pink lemonade and an assortment of red and pink candy. Hello Naomi is the artist behind this spectacular dessert table. Thank you Naomi for sharing yet another inspiring creation with Mini Gaga

DIY – Fantastic Toys Cupcake Favors

Sunday, May 2nd, 2010

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Ditch the lolly bags with these great DIY printable cupcake favors. Decorate the table and send a piece of the party home with each child. Simply print, cut and stick these super gorgeous cupcake favors and place a cupcake inside each one and pop the lid on. Fantastic Toys creator and designer, based in Minneapolis, USA, is a toy maker and makes everything from his own patterns. 

Visit the Fantastic Toys Etsy shop here.

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Going Gaga Over – Tartelette

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

Raspberry Macaron Bouquet Recipe

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WARNING: the following links can be addictive, click at own risk.

By now you would have noticed the dessert table trend of cake pops and french macarons. My new favorite daily must read blog, is that of a brilliant pastry chef, food photographer and food stylist, US based Tartelette has combined these two hot trend items in to one very stylish and delicious addition to a dessert table, Raspberry Macaron bouquets. Tartelette's other macaron recipes here

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Raspberry Mascarpone Macarons:

For the shells: 

90 g egg whites (use eggs whites that have been preferably left 3-5 days in the fridge)

25 g granulated sugar

200 g powdered sugar

110 g almonds (slivered, blanched, sliced, or meal)

1 tablespoon cherry pink powdered food coloring

Prepare the macarons:

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, (think bubble bath foam) gradually add the sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue (think shaving cream). Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry. Place the powdered sugar and almonds and powdered color in a food processor and give them a good pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Add them to the meringue, give it a quick fold to break some of the air and then fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that falls back on itself after counting to 10. Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes. Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (Ateco #807 or #809) with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper or silicone mats lined baking sheets. Let the macarons sit out for 30 minutes to an hour to harden their shells a bit. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 280F. When ready, bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on their size. Let cool. Once baked and if you are not using them right away, store them in an airtight container out of the fridge for a couple of days or in the freezer.

For the filling:

4 oz mascarpone, room temperature

2-3 tablespoon good quality raspberry preserves

In a small bowl, whisk together the mascarpone and preserves together until well incorporated. Fill a small piping bag with a large plain tip (Ateco #809) with it and pipe in the center of each shell. Let the shell mature at least 24 hours in the fridge so all the flavors have the chance to meld together.

A very special to thank you to Helen for allowing Mini Gaga to feature her brilliant jaw dropping work. Please do leave a comment to show your appreciation to Helen.

Please note that these images are the copyright of Helen M from Tartelette and can not used with permission. Her portfolio can be viewed here

Tartelette