Saturday, November 24, 2012

Supermassive Games Bake Off


Chocolate Bunny Donut in cake form
 
Chocolate Bunny Donut Plush


I could not resist making one of my characters for the bake off at Supermassive Games, my office job. My baking is often a little unpredictable as I struggle following recipes and measurements. I was a little nervous about baking as I had not baked anything since last year!

Naomi, my sister suggested I make a chocolate bunny donut cake and instantly agreed! I wanted to keep it simple but also wanted to make something nice. I selected the chocolate brownie cake from The Humminghird Bakery Cook Book. It was the first time I cooked form it and I have to say I think it went quite well.  Will definitely be trying out a few more soon.The chocolate bottom and red velvet cupcakes are my favourites from the bakery!!!



The baking station all ready to go

 The recipe was easy to follow. But I did panic over whether my eggs and sugar were light and fluffy enough. :)


 It was very exciting when the mixture started to look cake mixture, all thick and smooth. Tasted great too.



 I managed not see chocolate in the list of ingredients in the recipe! So I was frantically searching for dark chocolate in the cupboards. The only suitable chocolate for dark gianduja with hazelnuts from Italy. At first I tried removing the whole hazel nuts but then decided to just include it in the mix as well.






 In the book the baking tray suggested is a different size and thickness to the tin I chose, so I had to guess the cooking time. This part was the most difficult part of all! I didnt want it to be undercooked or overcooked. The total time was about 50 minutes I htink and ended taking the cake in and out of the oven loads!






The next step was the make the chocolate frosting. For the white icing I went for the cream cheese frosting. Frostings for me usually end up being a disaster but this time they turned out really well!


I was scared the frosting would be too runny but it was all fine. I did put the cake in the fridge overnight just in case the frosting did not stay like that and the cake was still soft and moist the next day.



The mini marshmallows were originally for the teeth but they were too small! I used them to decorate the ears instead and managed to find larger marshmallows during lunch time, just before the competition.


I wish I had taken a photo of the mess I made at the office, assembling my cake! I had to attach the ears and tail on the board. I had only minutes before the bake off started and I was getting chocolate everywhere! I made it just in time! :)



Here are the other cakes that were entered. 





























My chocolate brownie bunny donut cake came third for Best Tasting!
I do wish I had practiced just once before so I knew how long to cook the cake for. But overall it was very successful! :)


Frosted Brownie and cream frosting recipe taken from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook.



Happy 5 Year Anniversary to SukiSuki!!!




I almost forgot to post this giveaway up here on the blog!

SukiSuki started 5 years ago back in 2007. During the last 5 years there have been many new arrivals and the Suki collection is still growing! 


To celebrate SukiSuki's 5 year anniversary I am giving away a suki flower. The winner may choose from any of these flowers. (Pot not included )

The giveaway ends on the 25th of November, which is tomorrow! There is still time to enter! :)

So if you fancy winning one of these little happy flowers, just pop over to my facebook page.
Click HERE to enter the giveaway.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

SukiSuki Autumn Giveaway

Chocolate Bunny Donut




This utterly delicious and delightful donut can be yours to win!

All you have to do to enter is visit the facebook page and share or comment on the giveaway post.

If you would like to win a Chocoloate Bunny Donut click this link -  ENTER GIVEAWAY

The winner will be announce on the 4th of September!

Please pop over and follow SukiSuki facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/loveSukiSuki



Chocolate Bunny and Chocolate Bear Donut

What a delicious par!

These new donuts look good enough to eat!

The plan yesterday was to make something for the Autumn giveaway. I was being insanely indecisive. But my indecision was being fueled by enormous amounts of creative energy. These kind days are rare! I love these days and I wish they happen more often! When I have these creative and energetic bursts I know they are the best days for creating!

Deciding on a character was almost impossible, it kept changing depending on what fabrics I was selecting. Then the fabrics kept changing depend on the colour combinations. Naomi probably thought I was going crazy but this is all part of the process. :) Ideas were constantly changing and developing till I finally came to a decision that felt perfect! A new bunny and bear donut!

It was impossible to  decide between a bunny or bear so I had to make both. But I had already decided that it would be the bunny donut for the giveaway. 

Bunny and Bear donut

I do love them!

Chocolate Bear Donut looking all cute and yummy!


From behind



The different donuts




Naomi's Internship Presentation


 Naomi's time as SukiSuki's intern is approaching the end. Yesterday she had to present to her tutor George what she has been doing for almost the last 10 months.

 Naomi had put together a slide show of photos as well as lots of paper items and sewn items to show George.

I think the presentation went very well.















And here is a basket of all of the Suk's that Naomi made herself. 10 months really has flown by, it almost seems too short! Wish we had more SukiSuki time together. During this time she has learnt the process of making SukiSuki plushes, how to sew with the sewing machine and by hand. As well as designing and making her own suki's she has also sold 4 items.   

I really hope Naomi enjoyed her internship at SukiSuki. I will miss her, and especially the part where I can boss her about all day! :)



SukiSuki Sheep

Cream Sheep and my first sunflower

Preparations for more sheep

Sleepy Sheep

Black sheep and courgette flowers

A sheepy pyramid

Pearl and the sheep

They fit perfectly in handbags



Sheep are available in my Etsy Store - http://www.etsy.com/shop/loveSukiSuki
If there is a colour you would like that is not listed in please contact me.


Naomi was given the task to prepare a world map for me to keep track of where all my Sukis go.
I have started with mapping the sheep. I need a bigger map! I will map all the Sukis are now all over the world!