Christmas Time at the Market!

 Having spent a couple of Saturdays at the Fair Alternative Market in Princes Street, last weekend provided the opportunity to do all things Christmas with the baked goodies! As well as the regular homemade marshmallows, I experimented with peppermint ones too. Some sugar cookies in the shape of snowmen and angels started off the Christmas theme. I love to experiment with cake pops...such a unique idea, and also a blank canvas for your imagination! I used vanilla pops and created two types; one round in a Christmas pudding theme and some cone-shaped as Christmas trees! I used the cocoa candy melts for the pudding with white chocolate for the cream, topped with a little ivy fondant piece, using the PME cutters. The Christmas tree pops were covered in green candy melts and decorated with mixed sprinkles. On to the cupcakes...the regulars (Red Velvet and Chocolate) were present, the much requested Lemon cupcakes were back and a new Mince Pie cupcake made an appearance! The lemon cupcakes are filled with a drop of homemade lemon curd in the centre and topped with lemon buttercream. For the mince pie cupcakes, it is a mixed spice sponge with a spoonful of mince in the centre and topped off with mixed spice buttercream...Christmas in a cupcake! The final addition to the Christmas table was some Hot Chocolate Kits; a lovely gift idea for Christmas!

More G.A.A. - Next up Bishopstown!

The latest celebration cake was for another G.A.A. mad youngster with a request for a very chocolatey  chocolate cake! This time around, I went with a rectangular cake, finally using the new baking tins! This made the logistics of creating a pitch a lot easier than with a round cake! As with the last cake, the goal posts have to be the most challenging aspect! With skewers supporting the uprights, they held up well. The crossbars on the other hand were another story, needing some last minute improvisation! For the grass, this time I started with chocolate buttercream rather than vanilla. This gave a darker base colour to build up the green, creating a more grass-like green in the end. The cake was made with three layers of a fudgey chocolate cake, filled in between with a light chocolate buttercream. I also used the Funky Alphabet Tappits for the first time, on this cake and they worked out well! They are a bit fiddly to start with but a sewing needle is your best friend! A last addition to this cake was a couple of fondant scarves!

First Market Outing!

Yesterday brought my first venture into trading at a market, so it was a very exciting time! I will be attending again next Saturday so for anyone who is in the area, come along and check it out at The Fair Alternative, Princes Street, Cork!

After two very late nights it was all systems go with cupcakes, cake pops, homemade marshmallows and Rocky Road! As a start I went with Vanilla, Red Velvet and Chocolate cupcakes and Madiera Cake Pops. Some Rocky Road proved to be a nice treat along with a tea or coffee! Having the homemade marshmallows in some nice clear bags makes them a sweet little gift!

As my first experience at any market/fair, it was a huge learning experience with some great tips and tricks for the future picked up! Interacting with so many people and getting such positive on the spot feedback made the day all the more special!

As a final note, I must say a huge thank you to those who have been such a massive help and support over the last couple of days in ensuring the day ran so smoothly! Here's to many more successful days in the future :)

Experimenting with Cupcakes!

A day of experimentation with chocolate cupcakes led to four different results! Before anything with cupcakes, I had a go at making some honeycomb and used it to decorate one set of cupcakes in the end. Using the same base chocolate mix, it was time to try out some flavours. First up was a chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting, and finished off with some crumbled homemade honeycomb. Second up was an Oreo (Cookies & Cream) cupcake - a chocolate cake topped with a vanilla frosting with crumbled oreo through it, and finished with an oreo cookie. Next up was an After Eight mint cupcake - a chocolate peppermint sponge frosted in a chocolate After Eight buttercream and topped with some pieces of After Eight sweets. Last up was a peanut butter cupcake - a chocolate peanut butter sponge frosted with a peanut butter buttercream and sprinkled with some chopped peanuts.

Happy 17th Birthday to a G.A.A. Mad Lad!

Finally able to share some photos with you of the cake I have been working on, now that the event has passed! This was a chocolate sponge cake with two layers, filled with one layer of chocolate fudge buttercream. A crumb coat and additional thin layer of regular vanilla buttercream coated the outside of the cake which was then finished with rolled white fondant. In terms of the actual cake, I tried a recipe for the first time, calling for the chocolate to be grated into the mix which I was skeptical about. I added a couple of spoons of cocoa powder and the sponge turned out well and was a nice light chocolate cake. I will experiment with using melted chocolate next time to compare. For the decorations for the cake, I made at the weekend in order for them to be dry for the cake. They were all made by hand! My favourite part of the cake was probably the O' Neill's football!

Stay Tuned!

I am currently working on another celebration cake for a birthday this week. Decorations have mostly been completed and the cake is ready to go! Stay tuned during the week for the pictures of the final cake!

Happy 11th Birthday!

I made this cake last weekend for a girl's 11th birthday. I actually carved out the 1's myself with card templates I made on the computer. This gave me control over the size of the cakes rather than being restricted to a tin. As the first cake like this I have done it was a challenge but the hard work paid off in the end and some valuable lessons were learned! It was a 3-layer vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream and covered in fondant. It was decorated using fondant flowers and butterflies using the PME cutters.

Cake Pops Round 2!

So after a first attempt which didn't turn out too well, I had a second go at making cake pops! Candy melts are pretty straight-forward to use (now I have my lessons learned!). Their thick consistency when melted means it is important to thin the mixture before dipping. Having researched online I went with vegetable oil to thin the mix - you want to use a flavourless oil! You can also use things like shortening or paramount crystals but vegetable oil is an affordable and easy choice! To get the consistency I was comfortable with, I ended up using 2-3 tablespoons of oil, but you can judge yourself. You want something close to melted chocolate. I needed pink for these pops but was only able to get white and red melts. I ended up using around 3/4 pack of white and just 4 or 5 of the red melts to get a baby pink colour. I also used some heart sprinkles to decorate...remember to do this right after you dip the cake pop...the melts dry quickly!

Palmiers

Palmiers, otherwise known as Elephant Ears, are a (usually) sweet biscuit that I have grown to love after trips to France and Spain over the years. The intricate layers of sugar and pastry make it seems like a very complicated process to make them. Of course, things are greatly simplified by the purchase of ready to roll puff pastry! Basically, these biscuits are made by sprinkling sugar across the counter top, placing the sheet of pastry on top, and sprinkling an additional layer of sugar on top. You then roll the sheet of pastry out so to get the sugar to stick to the pastry. To form the biscuits, 3 sets of folds are required. If you imagine the center line of the sheet of pastry, you will fold both the left and right sides in towards the center, but only reaching half way to the center. The second fold is right to the center so that each side meets in the center. Lastly, you fold one side on top of the other, like closing a book! This leaves you with a long, narrow strip of pastry, which you slice about 1cm wide each. Place the pastry, cut side up on a baking sheet and bake in a 220°C for 10 mins, flipping the biscuits after 6/7 minutes, once the underside is golden and crisp. Next time I thing I will experiment adding some cinnamon to the sugar before making them.

A Thank You Cake!

Time for an up to date post having finally uploaded the collection of past baking ventures!

I was asked to make a cake for a member of staff finishing up at O' Sullivan's Pharmacy in Grange. With all the necessary ingredients and tools at the ready, I decided to attempt a fondant icing covered cake, and experimented with making the pharmacy logo from fondant.

For this cake, I decided on a vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream. The recipe I used included greek yoghurt. After mistakenly picking up gooseberry flavoured yoghurt, at attempt two I chose to use natural yoghurt instead. The sponge was incredibly light and tasty and seems like a good base sponge to add other flavours to in the future such as honey. I cut three thin layers of sponge, filling with vanilla buttercream in between. After covering the cake in white rolled fondant, I used alphabet cutters with some purple fondant for the message and finished off the cake with the fondant logo.

It's a Boy!

Welcome baby Cillian!

With a new cousin (4.08.12) in the family this August, I took the opportunity to make some edible gifts for the family. 

First up was the homemade marshmallows, this time with blue food colouring and cut outs of little teddy bears, presented in some clear cellophane bags. Next was a batch of sugar cookies, continuing the teddy bear theme! These were finished off with some light blue royal icing, with a deeper blue to highlight the details. Last up was a round of chocolate cupcakes, topped with a blue buttercream swirl...the first opportunity to use the recently purchased 1M piping tip! As these goodies were a gift, I presented them in blue and white gingham boxes.

Mix n' Match!

Just another selection of goodies to share! I recently experimented with a recipe for caramel squares with peanuts. These started of with a shortbread base, followed by a layer of boiled sweetened condensed milk (caramel), mixed with chopped peanuts. Finally they were finished of with a layer of melted milk chocolate, to which I swirled white chocolate. One note to make was the layer of chocolate could have been a little thinner...just to make them easier to slice! The top left corner is from a recent batch of chocolate cupcakes for a birthday. The final two pictures are from my first attempt at sugar cookies, which went down a treat on a family weekend! A key with the dough is to keep it chilled whenever possible (the whole dough, and even the cut out shapes). I finished these cookies with royal icing, using meringue powder rather than egg whites. The images on the far right are two victoria sponge recipes, one original with regular icing, and the other adapted as an orange sponge, with orange zest in the cake and both orange juice and zest in the icing, finished off with a few pieces of orange peel.

Time for Homemade Marshmallows!

Having watched James Martin make his own marshmallows, I was sold on the idea!  

After finally investing in a sugar thermometer, I braved the process myself a few weeks ago. It was more straight forward than I expected and everything went smoothly!

Speaking personally, and sharing the feedback of those who tasted them, there is really no comparison between homemade and shop bought marshmallows! They are light, airy and fluffy with an added bonus of not sticking like glue to everything like the shop bought ones do!

Retirements & Birthdays...2 Giant Cupcakes!

The end of June highlighted the end of the school year and two retirements in St. Catherine's National School. Having attended the school myself, I decided to make a cake as a farewell gift. I had always wanted to try making a giant cupcake and had recently purchased the mould. I made a chocolate giant cupcake and added some chocolate fudge filling, finishing it off with buttercream on top. I had a birthday cake to do the same weekend so went for a vanilla cake, with the same filling and just changed the pattern of the buttercream on top, adding some edible pearls and a fondant '30'. The final two pictures here are iced lemon sponge squares (a simpler alternative to the lemon squares I previously made), and some banana bread mini muffins!

All things crumble!

With summer arriving, the Rhubarb in the garden was ready to pick, which started a couple of experiments with crumble! First up was a rhubarb and apple crumble, followed by a mixed berry and apple crumble. For the first, I used up the regular apples we had, which softened nicely into the crumble. Unfortuantely, for the second, I followed the recipe to use cooking apples but they could have done with some pre cooking before being added to the crumble!

The Birthday Cakes Adventure!

I have always wanted to try my hand at making proper birthday cakes but never had the equipment or know-how! In the last year or two, with a little perseverance, I used some family birthdays as an excuse to delve into the world of larger cakes! First up, I made a two layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. For an added twist, I made this into a Ferrero Rocher cake, adding some chopped into the filling, as well as adding some to the top to decorate. There's something about chocolate and hazelnut...delicious combination! Carrot cake was next on the menu. I have always wanted to make my own, after years of disappointment biting into a piece in a restaurant only to find raisins, which are not exactly a favourite of mine! I made a simple one layer square sponge carrot cake, with chopped walnuts in the mix. The cake was then covered in the traditional cream cheese frosting, and decorated with some whole walnuts as well as some homemade fondant carrots. My biggest challenge so far has been a birthday cake for my aunt's 60th. I am always up for a challenge, but there was a bit of delving into the unknown with this, given I had never covered a cake in rolled fondant before! As there was a party involved, I had to make a substantial cake, so I ended up making two 9X13" chocolate sponges, and filled them with that Ferrero Rocher frosting as requested! To decorate I added some mini muffins with sweets on top, as well as a '60' cut from additional sponge. This was the most tedious aspect of the cake as I was cutting around a paper template rather than using a cutter. The sponge was very delicate, so next time I will consider chilling over night or freezing before cutting. I then layered melted white chocolate over the numbers...much more straight forward than trying to cover something so awkward and crumbly in fondant!

World MS Day 2012

For World MS Day, in May this year, I contributed some tray bake items to a coffee morning fundraiser in aid of Multiple Sclerosis. My aunt, a dedicated social worker with MS Ireland for years, asked if I could make just something for her to bring in. In the end I decided that with the cause involved I wanted to do more than one thing. Having been involved in the MS Readathon event each year while I was in school, I was only too happy to have another opportunity to help out. I settled on three tray bakes for the coffee morning, going with all things lemon and chocolate! Of course not together though!

I baked lemon squares which consisted of a biscuit/shortbread base, followed by a rich lemon curd-type baked filling, dusted with icing sugar. I also made a tray of chocolate sponge, generously covered in a rich sticky chocolate fudge icing, sprinkled with chocolate drops. Lastly, to add an element of simplicity, I made rice krispie squares, using a mars bar mix to coat the krispies, and topping the whole thing off with melted milk and white chocolate. I am glad to say these tray bakes went down a treat at the coffee morning, and with the generous donations of many people on the day, some much needed funds were raised for the MS Society.

Rice Krispies to Cornflakes!

There are some days when nothing will do me other than to do some baking! I rarely need an excuse to pull out the mixer, but on those occasions where an event is involved, it makes it that more enjoyable. With couple of days of cupcakes for Mother's Day and St. Patrick's Day, I experimented with piping chocolate designs onto clear plastic to decorate the cakes with. They turned out to be pretty delicate, but just enough survived to decorate! The brownies below also sparked the start of my venture into gluten free baking. A day of needing to entertain young cousins resulted in some milk chocolate cornflake cakes with marshmallows and white chocolate & cranberry cornflake cakes. Of course as with most children growing up, we loved to make rice krispie cakes and they were the centre piece at birthday parties. With no rice krispies in sight one evening we settled on using Cornflakes. This turned out to be a pleasant surprise, as the Cornflakes seem to hold up better to the chocolate and stay crispier for longer! The final photo in the strip shows my first (and solo so far!) attempt at miniature Bakewell tarts.

A Test of Red Velvet

I ventured into my first experiment with red velvet cake a few months back. Tasted delicious, but probably could have done with a little more red food colouring! The light sponge combined with the cream cheese frosting makes for a lovely cake. The slight tang of the frosting helps to cut through the overall sweetness of the cake.

The Early Days!

As an introductory first post, I thought I would share a few snaps of some of the goodies I made in the early days, a couple of years ago! Clockwise from top left includes a chocolate fudge almond cake, Halloween fairy cakes, Christmas biscuits, a chocolate Easter nest cake, and some Easter cupcakes!