The Alchemist's Pantry

Baby showers deserve pretty cakes. And doughnuts. Lots of doughnuts 🍩

The scent of freesias is perfect for a spring wedding. The Old Church, Weddings & Functions

Making the lemoncello we use in our Amalfi Lemon cakes.
We use the rind from the lemons for lemoncello to drizzle over the sponges and the juice for lemon curd to put in between the layers 🍋.
We also make lemon syrup for an alcohol free version.
The lemon tree this year has over achieved and is now flowering again, still has lemons on it.
🍋 🍋 🍋

Bright and cheerful daisies

It’s definitely colder out there. So a fabulous cake for the cooler months is a delicious dark chocolate stout and caramel cake.

The chocolate is rich, but not sweet, and the caramel has deep, toasty flavours to not be cloying. Wrapped in a delicate veil of vanilla buttercream. It’s sophisticated, decadent and moorish.

A fabulous excuse to indulge.

And that’s a wrap for the sea*on. And what a cake to finish with!
Congratulations Fiona and Kate, and thank you!

Now it’s time to start thinking about tastings and bookings for the upcoming sea*on ❤️ the diary is already filling up.

The last wedding cake of the sea*on is coming up and what a sea*on it has been!
The couples I’ve met and their families have bought so much joy. The venues, florists, make up artists, hairdressers, bands, DJs, planners, photographers and caterers all working to make a perfect day.
It’s been brilliant!
I’ve decided next sea*on to pull back a little to make sure I can balance my new extremely busy day job with the pleasure of making beautiful and delicious memories for people.
There will still be cake, but not as many. So if you have been thinking about booking your wedding with me, please contact me now so you don’t miss out. Because once those slots are full, I won’t be squeezing any more in.

Birthday and celebration cakes are still available, but like weddings will be pared back to make sure the quality remains the same high standard as always.

It was a decade ago that we introduced a the Alchemist’s Pantry to the world.
It all started as a way to show people what we made from the produce we grew in our 1/4 acre garden Horsley Cottage and how to make stunning food that cost next to nothing.
Then we started sharing our preserves with the world under a label, and using those preserves in the first cakes we started to make.
Then two years ago we moved from our cottage and its gorgeous garden and our cakes took centre stage.
It’s been an evolution and an incredible journey ❤️ I’m so excited for what’s coming next.

The Alchemist's Pantry Alchemy in the kitchen - take simple ingredients and turn them into magical food.

When small disasters happen it’s great to know you can rely on friends to help out.
Yesterday I went to start making a two tier cake for a client and disaster struck when I dropped a tray on the open oven door 🤦‍♀️ breaking the inner glass.
A call for a surrogate oven and a friend stepped in to offer hers.
Life saver ❤️

I love The Old Church, Weddings & Functions as a venue.

Such a beautiful interior. It’s inspiring and a fabulous setting for an ethereal cake.

With visitors from overseas there wasn’t much cake action in the kitchen for a while. But reinvigorating the mojo has been easy when you get to create pretty little morsels like this.
This is Sofia. Named after the young, vibrant personality who first inspired this design ♥️
For when you need a stunning, perfectly formed cake for a small celebration.

So what do you do when you have a milestone birthday?

Create a four tier wedding cake of course!

Fresh and wafer paper flowers, transluscent paper leaves, crystals and a little glitter.

All in a perfect vineyard setting at Craggy Range Winery and organised by Flock Events

Gorgeous day, gorgeous couple and a gorgeous cake ♥️

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone ♥️

Playing with ganache and colour.

This takes me right back to the Amalfi Coast and those gorgeous terracotta roofs and gelato coloured buildings.

Just a little after dinner dessert cake for no particular rea*on.

Would make a lovely relaxed birthday cake too ❤️

And then she was dressed and ready for the party.

A delicious strawberry and cream confection with both strawberry gel and fresh strawberries between layers of soft vanilla bean cake and silky buttercream.

Simplicity is anything but.

When a cake is pared back to this level there is nowhere to hide. Everything must be perfect. The texture, the flavour and of course the finish.

A finish like this takes time and attention from the very beginning. You can’t add another layer to cover a mistake. The edge’s must be sharp, the sides straight and the frosting satin smooth with no blemish.

All this beauty needs is some florals and she’s dressed for the party.

It’s really satisfying when it works.

A smart way to beat the heat and its effect on fresh florals is to use silk ones.
New Zealand summers can be harsh and keeping flowers fresh is a challenge.
This is so pretty with its pick hues and little crystal accents.

I call this relaxed elegance. Gorgeous tall structure softened by some hand dried florals and a little stencilling.

Cool, white and so so elegant. A little bit in love with those florals ❤️

Yesterday I swapped buttercream for rosé and Chardonnay and spent the day at the Bridge Pa Triangle wine festival. What a fab day!
Couldn’t make it last year due to wedding commitments, but this year I booked the day out in my calendar.
Normal service will resume this week for my brides and grooms ❤️

18 months ago we ran a giveaway for a three tier wedding cake to a nominated deserving couple.
A year ago I delivered a cake to a young, gorgeous couple who were so deserving of the opportunity and who will be celebrating their first anniversary today.
I hope your first year of marriage was filled with love and blessings and the rest of your life together is the same ❤️

A wedding cake, like a wedding dress, is a reflection of your personality and an opportunity to make a delicious statement.

Beautiful, pared back and elegant. This cake took centre stage at a rural garden wedding.

Great collaboration between the artist and the couple makes dreams come true.

I love making dreams.

Hasn’t this weather been amazing?

Everyone wants to get married in good weather, but too much sun can create its own issues.

Have you ever thought about what happens to a buttercream covered wedding cake when it’s left out in the sun for too long? It’s not pretty 🫠

Getting cakes to venues in pristine condition in hot weather is down to timing, planning, an iceberg and sub arctic car air con.🥶

When I do my consultations with my couples I always discuss where the cake will be displayed and what refrigeration is available.

If the wedding is being held at a venue with a full industrial kitchen, it’s likely to have a walk in chiller. Perfect. 🤗

If it’s a private location, or at a venue that doesn’t have caterers, consider a separate fridge to hold it in. Borrow one from someone’s man cave, or hire one. While the drinks trailer will do at a push, people will be going in and out constantly and a three tier cake takes up a lot of room.

A wayward elbow after too many cocktails and tragedy, a cake becomes a trifle! 😳🤦‍♀️

By that time I’ll be home with my feet up, a glass of rosé in my hand and unable to repair the damage 🛠️⛑️

- Refrigeration is essential
- Remove the cake from the fridge just before the cutting photos take place
- Disassemble before cutting in to portions.

The Alchemist's Pantry

It’s time to start thinking about next wedding sea*on already, even though I’m in full swing with this one. And loving it.

The feedback from our couples and the photos of the cakes they are sharing with me is fabulous. Thank you.

Always wanting to change things up a bit I’ve updated the flavour menu. And to help decisions I’ve included what they’ll look like as a portion too.

Great for those people who are all about the aesthetic ♥️

Amalfi Lemon - Limoncello infused lemon cake, home made lemon curd, lemon buttercream. Non alcohol version available,

Chocolate truffle - rich Belgian chocolate sponge, decadent Belgian chocolate fudge buttercream and chocolate cream.

Chocolate and raspberry - Rich Belgian chocolate cake layers, raspberry reduction, raspberries, Belgian chocolate fudge buttercream

Coconut passion - Coconut and lime cake layers, mango and passion fruit curd and coconut buttercream.

Pistachio and raspberry - pistachio and rose petal cake layers with raspberry cheesecake centre, raspberries and rose buttercream.

Caramel & almond praline - brown sugar cake layers, whipped salted caramel, almond nougatine and caramel buttercream centre.

Elderflower & pear - elderflower infused cake layers with pear and ginger conserve and elderflower buttercream.

Strawberry & Cream - creamy vanilla bean cake layers with strawberry reduction, strawberries and vanilla buttercream.

All cakes are finished in our special recipe vanilla bean buttercream. Creamy, smooth and not too sweet.

Talofa!

A little Samoan inspiration for this very special birthday cake with a stencil from Ibicci NZ - Custom Decorated Cookies and Culinary Stencils. It makes me happy just looking at it.
And thinking about a Pacific island holiday 🏝️

Manuia le a*o