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!