Butterfly jam tarts

August is a birthday bonanza at our house and I wanted to share a few different things I made for Miss 6's official party, though you don't need a party to make these beautiful jam tarts! You could also make any shape really - butterflies, fairies and ballerinas featured at this party so the butterfly was a perfect fit. These were a great hit with adults so maybe I don't really need a party for an excuse after all!!!

I had a butterfly cookie cutter and some tiny love heart shaped ones which is what was asked for in this recipe but I don't think my actual butterfly was the exact size that was recommended as I was only able to cut 2 love hearts instead of the required 4 but it still worked fine. I found them easy to make and I loved how the jam mixture, even though exposed through the cut out hearts, didn't ooze out all over the shortcrust pastry and it held it's shape. It really was a novel idea that I spotted in the latest Donna Hay Kids issue and just had to try of course. Who doesn't like eating jam tarts off a stick!

You will need:
1/2 cup (65g) sweetened dried cranberries
1/4 cup (80g) raspberry jam
1 tablespoon caster sugar
4 sheets store-bought shortcrust pastry, thawed
1 egg, lightly beaten
18 wooden sticks (paddle pop sticks I used)
white sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Place the cranberries, jam and sugar in a small food processor and process until a rough paste forms.

 Using a 5cm x 7cm butterfly-shaped cookie cutter, cut 36 shapes from the pastry. Using a 1cm x 1.5cm heart shaped cookie cutter, cut 4 heart shapes or 2 like I have above from half the butterflies. Place the whole butterflies on lightly greased baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper. Spoon 1 teaspoon of the jam mixture into the centre of each whole butterfly and brush the edges with egg. Lightly press a wooden stick onto the base of each butterfly and top with the remaining butterfly shapes.

 Press the edges to seal, brush with egg, and sprinkle with white sugar. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until light and golden. Allow to cool on the trays before serving.

Enjoy! Mx

Raspberry-layered butterfly cake

I have mentioned before how B & I love making special birthday cakes for family and we have shared with you a couple of our creations so far along the way. I made this beautiful cake for my gorgeous girls to share on their birthday. I usually try to make them a cake each but seeing as Miss 4 turning 5 didn't seem to object to sharing this event with her big sister this year (don't think I can get away with it for much longer!), I decided to opt for the one special cake. I didn't exactly time their Birthdays very well did I? Having them one day apart from each other with nothing that exciting going on 9 mths before hand that I can think of!

I wanted the 'WOW!' factor from their little faces and oh how I loved looking through all the kids cake books to find something that my girls would love. I sometimes think how lucky I am to have some little people to make my creations for or else I'd end up making them for my parents and at their 'mature' age, getting the Woman's Weekly swimming pool cake might look a little odd!!

You might think this cake looks really hard but trust me not only did it look the part it tasted great and was actually very easy, all you need to do is just follow the instructions closely.

Now I know what B is going to say "Not another kids cake book", but she will thank me once her little bub is born and she will be begging me to borrow my collection trust me! I have a confession to make, yes I found this cake in yet another book I bought (I just HAD to have it). It's another Women's Weekly called "More Cakes For Kids".

Equipment
two deep 17cm round cake pans
20cm round prepared cake board or plate
oven tray
small piping bag ( I just used a glad sandwich bag that I just cut the tip off )

White Chocolate Cake
185g  white eating chocolate, chopped coarsely
90g unsalted butter, chopped coarsely
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 Quantities fluffy mock cream frosting (which I will show you further down the page)
1/4 cup raspberry jam, warmed, strained, cooled
pink food colouring

Decorations
125g white chocolate melts, melted

1.Preheat oven to 150 degrees. Grease pans, line with baking paper.
2.Stir chocolate, butter and buttermilk in a medium saucepan over low heat until smooth, cool 10 minutes.
3 Whisk sugar, eggs and extract into chocolate mixture. Whisk in sifted dry ingredients until mixture is smooth and glossy.
4. Divide mixture between pans, bake about 1 hour. Stand cakes in pans for 5 minutes, turn top-side up. onto wire racks to cool.

For the butterflies
Using the letter B shape ( like half a butterfly wing shape) trace them onto some baking paper. I used 3 different sizes, a large, medium and small for my butterflies.
Tint the melted chocolate buds pink , spoon into a piping bag (this is where I used a glad sandwich bag and just cut the corner tip ever so slightly).

Pipe chocolate around the inside butterfly shapes on the tray, stand at room temperature until set.

Fluffy mock cream frosting (you will need two quantities of this)
2 tablespoons milk
1/3 cup water
1 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon gelatine
2 tablespoons water, extra
250g unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine milk, the water and sugar in small saucepan, stir syrup over low heat, without boiling, until sugar is dissolved.

Sprinkle gelatine over the extra water in a cup, add to pan, stir syrup until gelatine is dissolved. Cool to room temperature. Beat butter and extract in a small bowl with electric mixer until it is as white as possible. While motor is operating, gradually pour in cold syrup, in a thin steady stream, beat until light and fluffy. Mixture will thicken more on standing.
Remove half the fluffy mock cream frosting to a medium bowl, stir in jam, tint pink.
Split cold cakes in half, sandwich cakes with raspberry pink frosting on cake board. Spread cake all over with remaining plain frosting. Position butterflies on cake and decorate with a ribbon.

So beautiful and watching my girls faces was all worth the effort!

Enjoy! M x