Cute Sweet Things

Black & White Tiffany Wedding Cake

2011-11-11T12:06:00.001-08:00

I made this cake for a wedding on the Gold Coast yesterday!

The top tier is a 10" Hummingbird Cake filled with Cream Cheese Frosting and some Decorator's Buttercream to go directly under the sugarpaste.

The bottom tier is a 12" Dark Chocolate Jaffa Mud Cake filled and coated with Dark Chocolate Ganache and covered in sugarpaste.

Making and using black sugarpaste can be a nightmare and so for this special cake I purchased 'Satin Ice' Ready Made black sugarpaste. The white sugarpaste is Bakel's.

Quantities of Sugarpaste

5 Kg white sugarpaste

1.3 Kg black sugarpaste

Three of the sketches used in the design stages.

Ingredients for the 12” square dark chocolate Jaffa mud cake

500g butter

500g dk choc

55g coffee

360ml water (replace some of this with the juice of 2 oranges)

280g SR

280g plain

110g cocoa

1.5 tsp bicarb

1080g caster

9 eggs

Zest of 4 oranges

16 tsp oil

225ml buttermilk

Ganache

2700g dark chocolate

1350ml pure cream

Method for the dark chocolate Jaffa mud cake

Preheat the oven to 160C (Fan Forced). Grease the tin and line the base and sides with a collar that extends 2 cm above the top of the tin. Add baking strips (made from damp cloths wrapped in tin foil) around the outside of the cake tin.

Put the butter, chocolate, coffee, water and fresh orange juice in a saucepan and stir over low heat until melted, then remove from the heat.

Sift the flours, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre. Add the combined egg, orange zest, oil and buttermilk and the chocolate mixture, stirring with a large spoon until completely combined.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 2 hours or until a skewer poked into the centre of the cake comes out clean, though it may be a little sticky.

Once removed from the oven, use a pastry brush (or similar) to brush the top of the cake with boiled water to keep it moist and save it from cracking and forming crusty bits on top. Then cover with a clean tea cloth to reduce evaporation. Repeat the brushing with boiled water step two or three times at half hour intervals as the cake cools.

Remove the baking strips once they can be handled or use oven gloves to remove them.

Let cake cool completely on a wire rack before taking the cake out of the tin.

Wrap the cake well in cling film (do not squash cake) and put in fridge till morning.

Method for dark chocolate ganache

Find out how to make ganache and fill / cover your cake with it Click Here

Ingredients for 10" square Hummingbird Cake

A 250ml measuring cup was used for this recipes.
440g can crushed pineapple in juice or syrup [or 62ml (1/4 cup) pineapple juice/syrup and 110g (1/2 cup) well-drained crushed pineapple]

300g (2 cup) self-raising flour

150g (1 cup) plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 large eggs (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)

250ml (1 cup) oil (we use peanut oil, but any mild-flavored oil could be used)

780g (3 cup) mashed very ripe banana

450g (2 cups, firmly packed) brown sugar

170g (1 1/3 cup) pecan nuts, broken or chopped into pieces

Cream Cheese Frosting (to fill the cake)

245g (1 3/4 cups) icing sugar

40g butter

80g cream cheese

2 1/2 teaspoons (12.5ml) lemon juice

Decorator's Buttercream (a nice firm buttercream to spread on the sides and top of cake)

(Very stable in very hot weather which we get in the summer here on the Gold Coast, Australia. Probably the best buttercream for covering the outside of cakes as it firms up nicely and forms a crust)

250g Lurpak butter

250g copha or solite

1 tbsp lemon juice

around 750g Pure icing sugar (just keep adding till you are happy with the consistency)

one and a half tablespoons of 'Pavlova Magic'.

1/4 cup of water (don’t freak out if the icing seems to curdle, it comes together fine.)

Method for Hummingbird Cake

If using a can of crushed pineapple, empty the contents into a strainer over a medium bowl. Set aside to drain.

Grease a deep 10” square cake pan and line the base and sides with baking paper.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 degrees Celsius fan-forced). If you are not using a fan-forced oven, adjust the oven rack to the lower half of the oven so the centre of the cake will be in the centre of the oven.

Stir or whisk self-raising flour, plain flour, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon together in a large bowl until combined.

Measure 62ml (1/4 cup) pineapple juice/syrup and 110g (1/2 cup) pineapple flesh.

Place eggs, oil, banana, brown sugar, pecan nuts, crushed pineapple and pineapple juice in a large bowl. Stir the ingredients together until well combined.

Add banana mixture to flour mixture and stir until combined.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a spatula or the back of a spoon.

Bake cake for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, until a thin-bladed knife or wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out without any batter attached.

Allow cake to cool in pan on a wire rack. Remove from pan.

When cool cut in half and fill with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Place icing sugar in a mixer and mix on high speed for a few seconds to remove any lumps. Add butter, cream cheese and lemon juice to the food processor. Process on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Stop the machine and use a spatula to scrape down the side of the bowl. Process for a further 15 seconds, or until the frosting is smooth and creamy. Make a dam of Decorator's Buttercream around the edge of the cake and fill in the middle with the frosting.

Decorator's Buttercream

Melt/soften the copha (make sure soft all the way through, or just melt) (Solite is already soft, so just add straight to the bowl).

Add copha/solite and softened butter to mixer, start mixing, add lemon juice.

Add the icing sugar a cup at a time, once combined add pav magic, and water. Leave to mix for about 10 minutes.

Smooth over the sides and top of the cake and leave till firm.

Covering the cake with sugarpaste

Knead some white icing to a pliable dough and roll it out to 3 mm (1/8 in) thick, using a large rolling pin.

Cover both cakes with white sugarpaste.

Making the strips
Cut out 3.5 cm wide strips of black and white sugarpaste the height of the cake. You will need 20 black strips and 16 white strips plus 4 white corner strips which you can custom cut to fit once all the other strips are in place. Start off each side by marking the midpoint and sticking the first black strip right in the middle.

Making the lids

Let the cakes sit for a couple of hours to allow the icing to dry before you make the lids. Brush the top of the cakes with a little water (or syrup) and run the brush around the top inch of the side of the cakes. Knead 700g of the white icing for the top box lid and 900g for the the bottom box lid.Once the dough is pliable, roll out each piece till they are at least 8 in larger than the width of each box. Roll the icing over your rolling pin, lift it up and roll it over the cake. Smooth the top and sides with a flexi-scraper. Use a ruler to mark the edge of the lid on all 4 sides. Trim the lid with a sharp knife.

Making the ribbon

Knead 500g of the black sugarpaste to a pliable dough and roll out. Measure length of ribbon needed. Cut out 4 strips of the required length by 3.5 cm wide. Trim one end of each ribbon into a point to help fit the ribbons together on top of the cake. Stick to the cake with water or edible glue and trim excess ends with a knife.

To make the bow simply watch this video

Making the bow

Follow the video above to make the bow or this other video.
Once the bow is completely dry use edible glue to stick it to your cake.

I hope you enjoy making the cake as much as I did.

Sweet Thing

Beach Wedding Cake Tutorial

2011-10-22T07:02:00.000-07:00

This fabulous Beach Wedding Cake is covered in ivory sugarpaste and decorated with matching handmade and painted sugar-paste shells.

The bottom tier is a 10" dark chocolate mud cake filled with dark chocolate ganache and the top tier is an 8" white chocolate mud cake filled with white chocolate ganache.

Ingredients for 10” Dark Chocolate Mud Cake round

270g butter

270g dk choc

31g coffee

200ml water

155g SR

155g plain

60g cocoa

.6 tsp bicarb

590g caster

5 eggs

9 tsp oil

125ml buttermilk

Ganache

1475g dark chocolate

740ml pure cream

Fondant

1.475kg sugar-paste

Baking time

1 hr 50 mins

Method for Dark Chocolate Mud Cake click here

Ingredients for 8” White Chocolate Mud Cake round

240g butter

240g white choc

215ml water

120g SR

240g plain

315g caster

2.4 eggs

1.25 tsp vanilla

Ganache

1025g white chocolate

350ml pure cream

Fondant

1150g sugar-paste

Baking time

1 hr 20 mins

Method for White Chocolate Mud Cake click here

How to make ganache and cover your cake with it click here

Sugarpaste
I coloured all my sugarpaste at once using Wilton's gel paste in Ivory.
1.475Kg for the bottom tier plus 1.150kg for top tier plus 500g for the shells

How to colour sugarpaste and use it to cover your cake click here

How to assemble a 2 tiered cake click here

I used Poly-Dowels from GlobalSugarArt.com to support my cake this time and found them easy to use. They are easy to cut with scissors and more hygienic than the wooden ones, I think.

Sea Shells
Using 500g of the ivory sugarpaste, I decided to make a 50/50 mix of sugarpaste/gumpaste (read 'Successful Molding' below for other suggestions for mediums to use with molds). I used the recipe below for gumpaste but only used half the quantities to achieve a 50/50 mix.

I used 3 First Impressions Molds which I ordered from America from GlobalSugarArt.com

S102 4 Shell Set
S188 Shell Set 6 (21398)
Clam Shell Press 2 pc.

I made 10 of each shell making a total of 130 shells.

Gumpaste Ingredients:

500 grams of sugarpaste (I use Bakels Pettinice, but any will do)

2 teaspoons of Cellogen (if you use CMC, Tylose or Gum Trag then only use 1 to 1.5 teaspoons)

1/3 teaspoon raw egg white

2 teaspoons Cream of Tartar

Instructions:

Use a little Crisco (here in Australia I use Copha which is a solid white vegetable oil) on your work surface and knead up your sugarpaste so its nice and soft.

Sprinkle the Cellogen, or alternative, over the work surface and knead it into the fondant.

Make a well in the mix and pour in the egg white, knead until mixed through, it may feel a little sticky, add more Crisco to the surface if you need to or some icing sugar to stop it sticking to your hands.

Sprinkle the Cream of Tartar on the work surface and knead into the mix until all incorporated.

(Thanks to Fran for this gumpaste recipe which I have adapted a little.)

Successful Molding by Alan Tetreault
GlobalSugarArt.com

Successful molding using silicone molds is all dependent on the medium you choose. Many decorators call me in frustration that they cannot get a good impression with a silicone mold using sugarpaste. Generally, for larger or detailed molds, I recommend using at least a 50/50 mix of gumpaste and sugarpaste. If the mold has a lot of details or undercuts (details that are cut out of the mold that you cannot see from the opening) I use 100% gumpaste. On a large mold that is very detailed, I recommend adding Tylose to gumpaste to make a very firm and strong gumpaste. The more detailed the mold, the firmer the gumpaste should be to achieve the best results. Here are my suggestions:

It helps to use a small dot of shortening (Crisco) on our fingertips while pushing the sugarpaste or gumpaste into the mold.

1. For small molds that you want to be able to cut through or eat, use only sugarpaste. For each pound of sugarpaste, knead in about one cup of confectionery sugar or enough so that the fondant no longer sticks to your hands or the surface you are kneading on. This will make molding easier and you can handle the finished product without it stretching out of shape. This also works well on side designs, drapes and borders that you are molding with a silicone mold. Adding a flavoring to the fondant (like orange, lemon, almond, peppermint, etc.) can be a nice finishing touch. Especially since it is usually the children that try to eat the decorations! Freezing the molded fondant for 5-15 minutes before removing helps keep the detail.

2. For larger figurines, flowers and borders like pearls and ropes, I recommend a mixture of 50% gumpaste and 50% fondant kneaded together. This makes a mold that can still be cut through with a knife when you serve the cake but you may not want to eat the pieces. Freezing the molded fondant for 5 -15 minutes before removing from the mold helps with removal and keeps the detail.

3. For large molds or molds that have undercuts, I use all gumpaste. Freeze 10 minutes before removing from mold.

4. For very large or detailed molds, I add 1-2 teaspoons of Tylose to one pound of gumpaste and knead it well. Allow it to rest overnight in the refrigerator in a sealed bag. The next day, break off a piece and knead it well before using it to make a mold. It will be very firm. Freeze 10-15 minutes before removing from the mold.

These shells were molded using 50/50 gumpaste/sugarpaste with no added confectioners sugar.

I placed the filled mold in the freezer for 15 minutes then removed the shells from the mold and lightly dusted with non toxic Luster Dust in Spanish Moss (bronze metallic look) by Sunflower Sugar Art from GlobalSugarArt.com. I used a paintbrush to apply the dust.

This YouTube clip will give you a good idea how to use silicon molds even though it shows a baby mold and not a shell mold.

Leave the shells to dry for at least 24 hours before gluing them onto the cake with edible glue

Edible Glue

Also called Gum Glue

Add 2 tablespoons of warm water to a quarter teaspoon of Tylose Powder and allow the Tylose powder to melt. Don’t worry if at this stage the glue appears not to be blending. Put a lid on the container and leave it in the refrigerator overnight and in the

morning you will have a perfectly clear and ready to use glue.

The glue should be a dripping consistency. If it is too thick, just add a little more water and stir with a toothpick .

The edible glue should be stored in the refrigerator when not in use.

To apply the glue, use a good quality paintbrush and brush on to the area where you are going to be working. Leave until it begins to dry a little so that the area is just tacky to touch.

I left 16 assorted shells to place around the cake and sprinkled some raw caster sugar to look like sand.

I hope you like my cake and try making one yourself. Please share your efforts with me as I would love to see what you come up with.

Spiderman 4 Cake

2011-10-09T04:27:00.000-07:00

The idea for this cake came from the Spiderman 4 wallpaper below

I copied the spider and the number 4 to cut out in black and red sugar paste.

If you would like a larger sized spider to print out just visit my 'Free Stuff' page.

The cake itself is a 7" round Dark Chocolate Mud Cake filled and covered in Dark Chocolate Ganache and sugar-paste.

Ingredients

135g butter

135g dk choc

15g coffee

100ml water

75g SR

75g plain

30g cocoa

.3 tsp bicarb

295g caster

2.5 eggs

4.5 tsp oil

60ml buttermilk

Ganache

735g dark chocolate

365ml pure cream

Fondant

740g red sugar-paste, I used Cake Art coloured sugar-paste

75g black sugar-paste, I used Cake Art coloured sugar-paste

The fondant can be make by colouring white (Ready to Roll) RTR fondant such as Bakels or the supermarket alternative, Orchard with red gel colour such as Wilton gel or Americolor.

For directions on how to make the cake click here but please note that cooking time for the 7" round cake is approximately 1hr 20mins at 150C. For more help making and using ganache click here.

I piped the spider's web in black RI (Royal Icing). Click here for the recipe.

I used one quarter of the recipe (the egg powder recipe) and had more than enough. Use a 12" piping bag with a #2 tip

To make the spider, roll out the black sugar-paste quite thinly and leave it for an hour or two to harden a little before cutting out your shapes.

Retro Birthday Cake

2011-08-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

This stunning 8" round cake is a Vanilla Buttermilk Cake layered with Swiss Lemon Meringue Buttercream and covered in sugar-paste.

One thing I really like about this particular buttermilk cake is that it is essentially a one bowl cake, not following the regular cake pattern of creamed butter and sugar, eggs added one by one and then alternating dry and wet ingredients. That’s the good part. The bad part is that it is imperative that you scrape down the bowl often, all the way to the bottom, overdoing it even. Otherwise, little deposits of unmixed butter or flour will sneak up on you.
Otherwise, the cake is really quite simple.

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake 8’ round / 7’ square cake

Ingredients

700 ml cake flour  (replace 6 tbsp plain flour with corn flour) explained below

470 ml sugar 

4.5 teaspoons baking powder 

0.4 teaspoon salt 

230 g unsalted butter, at room temperature 

245 ml plus 60ml buttermilk 

4 whole eggs 

2 egg yolks 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 160C / 325°F. Butter an 8-inch round cake tin. Line the bottom of the pan with a round of parchment or waxed paper and butter the paper.

2. Combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large mixer bowl. With the mixer on low speed, blend for 30 seconds. Add the butter and 245 ml of the buttermilk. Mix on low speed briefly to blend; then raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

3. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, and the remaining 60 ml buttermilk until well blended. Pour one-third of the egg mixture into the cake batter at a time, folding it in completely after each addition.

4. Bake for 2 hours, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Turn the cake out onto a wire rack by placing a rack on top of the pan, inverting it, and lifting off the pan. Peel off the paper liner and let cool completely. When cool, place a cardboard cake board on top of the cake, invert again, and lift off the rack. Wrap the cake on its board completely in plastic, so it doesn’t dry out, and refrigerate.

What is Cake Flour?

Replace 2 Tablespoons per cup (per 240ml) of all purpose flour (plain flour) with cornstarch (corn flour) to reduce the gluten content without sacrificing volume.

Recipes that call specifically for cake flour should have liquid volumes calibrated accordingly, so the won't turn out dry, as long as you don't ADD the corn flour, but incorporate it, so that the dry volume is the same.

Commercial cake flour is also finer than regular flour. Sifting a few times through with the cornstarch or zipping through a food processor can really help when you're trying for a lighter-textured cake. "All-purpose flour" seems to be labeled "plain flour" in Australia.

Swiss Lemon Meringue Buttercream

This all-purpose buttercream has an ultra-silky, stable texture that spreads beautifully over cakes and cupcakes, and can be piped into perfect peaks and patterns.

The recipe makes enough to fill a 3 layered 8" cake or for 24 (or 18 if piping a tall topping) cupcakes.

Ingredients

4 large egg whites

250g Caster Sugar

pinch of salt

250g Unsalted butter/ softened

1.5 lemons, zest only

Directions

Combine egg whites, sugar, and salt in the heatproof bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly by hand until mixture is warm to the touch and sugar has dissolved (the mixture should feel completely smooth when rubbed between your fingertips).

Attach the bowl to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, whisk until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Continue mixing until the mixture is fluffy and glossy, and completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl), about 10 minutes.

With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all butter has been added, whisk in lemon zest and a little yellow food colouring gel (optional). Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth. Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes

Once the cake is layered with the buttercream it needs a crumb coat. Swiss Meringue Buttercream is not much use for this as it is quite soft. On this occassion I have added a very thin coating of white chocolate ganache but could have used a crusting decorators buttercream instead.
This nice firm crumb coat will make it easy to get a nice finnish on the sugar paste covering.

Brush the cake with a thin layer of water (boiled and cooled) this will help the sugar paste stick to the cake.

I used just under 1 kilo of white sugar paste to cover the cake and coloured a further 200g pink, 200g orange and 200g yellow.

I used a pizza cutter to cut out Paisley pattern teardrops, triangles, long ovals, circles and flowers then randomly placed them all over the cake. I stuck them down with some edible glue but a little water would have worked just as well.

Back view

Side view

Chocolate Caramel Mud Pink Tatty Teddy Christening Cake Tutorial

2011-06-10T06:05:00.000-07:00

7” White Chocolate Caramel Mud Cake Round
Ingredients

180g butter

180g white choc

162ml water

90 SR

180g plain

120g caster
120g soft brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla
250g nestle Top'n'Fill Caramel

Ganache

780g white chocolate

270ml pure cream

Fondant

780g sugar-paste

Method for the 7" round white chocolate Caramel mud cake

(adapted from Planet Cake Cookbook)

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease tin and line the base and sides with a collar of baking paper that extends 2 cm above the top of the tin. Add baking strips (made from damp cloths wrapped in tin foil) around the outside of the cake tin. Put the butter and water in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until butter has melted. Turn off the heat, then add the chocolate and stir until it has melted and is well combined.

Sift the flours together in a bowl. Add the sugars, a pinch of salt and make a well in the centre.

Pour the chocolate mixture, egg and vanilla into the well then stir with a wooden spoon until well combined. Add Top'n'Fill and stir till combined

Pour into the cake tin inserting a flower nail in the bottom of the tin. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a skewer comes out clean when poked into the middle of the cake. Cover with foil halfway through if the cake is browning too quickly.

Let cake cool completely on a wire rack before taking the cake out of the tin.

Wrap the cake well in cling film (do not squash cake) and put in fridge till morning.

Method for white chocolate ganache

Process chocolate till it resembles breadcrumbs and place in a large bowl

Put the cream in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and mix with a hand whisk until the ganache is smooth. (Do not use an electric whisk, as you will create too many air bubbles in the ganache.)

Allow to cool completely and then leave to set overnight.

To torte and cover your cake with ganache click here

To make the teddy. Colour white ready made sugar paste with pink gel colour and add half a teaspoon of Tylose powder and kneed till incorporated. Model all the little bits and pieces in the picture above and leave to harden for an hour or two.

Use dark pink petal dust to brush onto the Teddy's cheeks with a dry paint brush. Use wooden cocktail sticks to attach arms, legs and head to body along with edible glue made from water and Tylose powder. Use the same method to attach the finished Teddy to the cake.

Hand painted Wedding Cake Tutorial

2011-05-07T03:50:00.000-07:00

Materials needed

7" and 9" round card for the base of each tier.

Doweling for support

Bottle Green satin ribbon - 6mm wide by 2m

Bottle Green satin ribbon - 2 inches wide by 2m

Black satin ribbon 1 inch wide by 2m

Diamontes buckle

13" diameter cake board 4mm or 6mm thick

7” Dark Chocolate Mud Cake round

135g butter

135g dk choc

15g coffee

100ml water

75g SR

75g plain

30g cocoa

.3 tsp bicarb

295g caster

2.5 eggs

4.5 tsp oil

60ml buttermilk

Ganache

735g dark chocolate

365ml pure cream

Fondant

740g sugar-paste

9” Dark Chocolate Mud Cake round

220g butter

220g dk choc

25g coffee

160ml water

125g SR

125g plain

50g cocoa

.5 tsp bicarb

480g caster

4 eggs

7 tsp oil

100ml buttermilk

Ganache

1200g dark chocolate

600ml pure cream

Fondant

1.2kg sugar-paste

Click here to learn how to make dark chocolate mud cake and dark chocolate ganache.
Click here to learn how to torte and cover your cake with ganache.
Click here to learn how to cover your cake with sugar paste.

The pattern on the top tier of the cake was inspired by Crewel Embroidery and I looked at many examples on the net for inspiration.

Sample of Crewel Embroidered fabric

I wanted to use simplified elements of the original designs to create a new and unique black and white design.

First of all I made a template for the top of the cake and the sides from some greaseproof paper...

....and then drew on my design with an HB pencil.

I turned the paper around and traced the design on the back, again using an HB pencil (do not use a softer pencil as it will smudge onto your pure white icing and really make a mess).

I transfered my design onto the cake using a sharp HB pencil, securing the template with sticky tape around the sides and holding the top down lightly with my fingertips.

I scanned my greaseproof paper templates for you to enlarge in your photocopier to fit the exact size of your cake. Once you have the outline transferred to the cake you can paint the motifs larger going over the lines a little covering up all the pencil marks as I have allowed for this by drawing the outlines smaller than i require for the finished work.

The bottom of each stem is covered by the green ribbon and the top of each stem I ended in an RI dot or two. Choose one of the central stems and line it up with the stem on the top of the cake.

I used Cake Art black edible colour on top but it was a little shiny so used Wilton on the sides and was happier with the finish. I used two round Taklon brushes a No 5/0 to outline and a No 4 to fill in.

If your colour is too thick, use a little Vodka to thin it down. I didn't need to use any on this occasion.

Sorry that the video is so boring and has TV noise in the background but it is my first YouTube clip and I hope to improve. It also shows how slow I am at painting on cake. it took me 4 hours to complete! My brush was rubbish with hairs sticking out at right angles which I cut off making the brush almost impossible to use as there were only about 12 hairs left LOL! I have since replaced it.

Another tip! Use a brush with very long hairs as this helps with lines. Lay most of the brush on the cake and pull it along as this reduces hand wobble.

To make my design zing I wanted to add piped Royal Icing dots but decided to wait until the cake was fully assembled.

To assemble the cake I firstly placed the bottom tier on its base using some Royal Icing as glue. I then covered the bare edges of the board using a roll of sugar-paste which I unrolled like you would a carpet around the cake. Join at the back by first overlapping the sugar-paste and cutting with a knife through both layers, removing the excess and joining with a little Royal Icing.

Ali (my partner) marks the length of dowel to be cut while I take the picture.

I needed 4 dowels to support the top tier for this cake and one double height piece for the central dowel (this stops the top tier from sliding about while being transported).

Ali pushes in the first dowel

Ali carefully taps in the central dowel.

The central dowel cuts right through the middle of my design but it is easy to cover this up with a small black sugar-paste cut out, topped with a smaller white round piece of sugar-paste and crowned with a large dot of black royal icing.

Can you see the added dots!

I stuck the black ribbon onto the middle of the green ribbon using 12mm wide double sided tape but left the ends of the bow unstuck so that they could be hanging loosely from the bow as they would look too rigid otherwise.

I didn't cut the ribbon in any way to form the bow. I just made it look good while holding it in my hand then slipped it through the diamonte buckle trying not to lose any of the nice shape I had.

Foot Locker Art Prize entry 2011

2011-04-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

'Organic' Click image to enlarge

I know that this is not a cake but I did warn you that I would be blogging about art and photoshop as well as all things cake!

This is my entry for the Foot Locker Art Prize and you can visit the competition website here.

I started by painting in watercolour on an A4 sheet of watercolour paper and once it was totally dry I went back over the painting with pen and ink with some of my usual kind of doodles.

Next, I scanned my image into photoshop and played around with the doodled areas in the liquify filter using the 'Bloat' tool. I was looking for an organic look, of say, intestines or varicose veins or the arteries around the heart or other interesting internal body parts!

Then I started playing with filters and effects such as Invert, Colourise and Neon glow.

Neon Glow

Too much fun!

As you can see I duplicated the background layer and rotated it by 180 degrees then reduced the opacity to 50% and rubbed out any bits that were crossing over each other. Lots of other little tweaks took place till I was happy with this.

Finished art work

Nike Air Template

I used the selection tool to select each area of the sneaker in turn, filling in the heel and ankle areas with desaturated panels from the edge of my original art work and used the 'Fresco' filter on the patterned bottom edge. I dodged and burned the edges of each area and added a shadow around the lace holes

Once I had flattened the layers making up the sneaker, I used layer style / blending options / bevel and emboss to give the sneaker a 3D look and Outer Glow / dark purple to help pick out the sneaker from the patterned background.

Too easy!

You can view more of my digital art and photography here

Below is another of my crazy entries to the competition called 'Fractal Foot Fetish' and was produced using fractal-generating software. A fractal is based on a mathematical equation that undergoes iteration.

Please leave a comment if you would like me to explain anything further.

Simple Cupcakes

2011-04-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

Vanilla Cupcakes

(adapted from the Planet Cake recipe)

Ingredients

175g unsalted butter, softened

160g caster sugar

1/2 pod of real vanilla seeds

1 tsp grated lemon zest

2 eggs

160g self-raising flour

100g plain flour

200ml milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 12 hole cupcake tin with paper cases.

Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest and a pinch of salt with electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

sift the flours together. Using a wooden spoon, fold the flour and milk alternately into the creamed mixture.

Spoon into the paper cases and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when poked into the middle of the cake.

Leave in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Storage: Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two days, or freeze for up to 1 month.

Cute Sweet Things Swiss Meringue Buttercream

( This recipe is a combination of my two favourite recipes.)

This all-purpose buttercream has an ultra-silky, stable texture that spreads beautifully over cakes and cupcakes, and can be piped into perfect peaks and patterns.

This recipe makes enough SMB for 12 cupcakes but as you can see from my pictures that I have not used a lot of SMB. For a full high topping you can double the recipe.

Ingredients

2 large egg whites

125g Caster Sugar

125g Unsalted butter/ softened

few drops of essence of your choice (I like to use vanilla)

Directions

With mixer on medium-low speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing well after each addition. Once all butter has been added, whisk in vanilla. Switch to the paddle attachment, and continue beating on low speed until all air bubbles are eliminated, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a flexible spatula, and continue beating until the frosting is completely smooth. Keep buttercream at room temperature if using the same day, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate up to 3 days or freeze up to 1 month. Before using, bring to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes

To tint buttercream reserve some for toning down the color, if necessary. Add gel-paste food color using a toothpick. Blend after each addition with the mixer (use a paddle attachment) or a flexible spatula, until desired shade is achieved.

Chocolate variation: Using a flexible spatula, fold 65g semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled, into buttercream mixture at the same time as you add the vanilla extract

Easter Cookies

2011-04-16T05:57:00.000-07:00

I made these cookies with my new Vanilla Cookie Recipe (below). This recipe differs from my usual Buttery Sugar Cookie Recipe as it is a little firmer and uses the seeds from real vanilla pods. This is now my favourite cookie recipe!

Vanilla Cookies

Makes 25 medium-sized cookies

200g unsalted soft butter

200g caster sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

400g plain flour

The seeds from one vanilla pod

In the mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla seeds till well mixed and just creamy in texture. Do not overwork or cookies will spread during baking.

Beat in the egg till well combined.

Add the flour and mix on low speed until a dough forms. Cover with cling and place in fridge for at least 1 hour.

Place dough on floured surface and knead briefly.

Roll out to 5mm thick.

Cut out your shapes, then, using a palette knife, lay them on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper. Chill again for about 30 mins.

Preheat oven to 180C/160C fan and bake for 8-10 mins, depending on size, until golden brown at the edges.

Transfer cookies to a wire rack and allow to cool before decorating.

Other flavourings

For lemon cookies, replace the vanilla with the finely grated zest of 1 lemon.

For chocolate cookies, replace 50g of the plain flour with 50g cocoa powder. Omit the vanilla!

To find out how to decorate the cookies with Royal Icing check out my Pretty Butterfly Cookies Tutorial.

Royal Icing

Traditional royal icing is made with real egg white, however, because of the slight chance of salmonella poisoning, I now prefer to use dried egg white instead.

20g (3/4 oz) dried egg white

90ml (2.5fl oz) cold water

500g (1lb 2 0z) icing sugar

method

Mix egg white and water in a bowl until smooth.

Sieve the icing sugar into a grease free bowl.

Tip in the egg mixture and beat on the slowest speed for 5 mins until the icing stands up in peaks.

Pink Tiffany Wedding Cake Tutorial

2011-03-24T23:03:00.000-07:00

This cake was made up of two square tiers. The bottom tier was an 11" dark chocolate mud cake with dark chocolate ganache and the top tier was a 9" white chocolate mud cake with white chocolate ganache.

Ingredients for the 9" square white chocolate mud cake
400g butter

400g white chocolate

350ml water

400 plain flour

200g SR flour

520g caster suger

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

White chocolate ganache

1700g white chocolate

600ml pure cream

Fondant

1700g sugar-paste

Method for the 9" square white chocolate mud cake

(adapted from Planet Cake Cookbook)

Sift the flours together in a bowl. Add the sugar, a pinch of salt and make a well in the centre.

Pour the chocolate mixture, egg and vanilla into the well then stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Pour into the cake tin, Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a skewer comes out clean when poked into the middle of the cake. Cover with foil halfway through if the cake is browning too quickly.

Let cake cool completely on a wire rack before taking the cake out of the tin.

Wrap the cake well in cling film (do not squash cake) and put in fridge till morning.

Method for white chocolate ganache

Process chocolate till it resembles breadcrumbs and place in a large bowl

Put the cream in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and mix with a hand whisk until the ganache is smooth. (Do not use an electric whisk, as you will create too many air bubbles in the ganache.)

Allow to cool completely and then leave to set overnight.

Ingredients for the 11” square dark chocolate mud cake

440g butter

440g dk choc

50g coffee

320ml water

Cover the cake board with sugar-paste a few days early so as it sets nice and hard

250g SR

250g plain

100g cocoa

1 tsp bicarb

960g caster

8 eggs

14 tsp oil

200ml buttermilk

Ganache

2400g dark chocolate

1200ml pure cream

Fondant

2.6kg sugar-paste

Method for the 11” square dark chocolate mud cake

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease the tin and line the base and sides with a collar that extends 2 cm above the top of the tin. Add baking strips (made from damp cloths wrapped in tin foil) around the outside of the cake tin.

Put the butter, chocolate, coffee and water in a saucepan and stir over low heat until melted, then remove from the heat.

Sift the flours, cocoa and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Stir in the sugar and make a well in the centre. Add the combined egg, oil and buttermilk and the chocolate mixture, stirring with a large spoon until completely combined.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 2 hours (for 11.5"cake) or until a skewer poked into the centre of the cake comes out clean, though it may be a little sticky.

Remove the baking strips once they can be handled or use oven gloves to remove them.

Let cake cool completely on a wire rack before taking the cake out of the tin.

Wrap the cake well in cling film (do not squash cake) and put in fridge till morning.

Method for dark chocolate ganache

Making the lids
Let the cakes sit for a couple of hours to allow the icing to dry before you make the lids.
Brush the top of the cakes with a little water (or syrup) and run the brush around the top inch of the side of the cakes.
Knead 400g of the pink icing for the top box lid and 600g of pink for the the bottom box lid.
Once the dough is pliable, roll out each piece till they are at least 8 in larger thad the width of each box. Roll the icing over your rolling pin, lift it up and roll it over the cake. Smooth the top and sides with a flexi-scraper. Use a ruler to mark the edge of the lid on all 4 sides.
Trim the lid with a sharp knife.

Making the ribbon

Knead 500g of the white sugar-paste to a pliable dough and roll out to 16 x 40 cm rectangle. Cut into 4 long 4 cm wide strips. Trim one end of each ribbon into a point to help fit the ribbons together on top of the cake. Stick to the cake with water and trim excess ends with a knife.

To make the bow simply watch this video

Making the bow

Follow the video above to make the bow or this other video.

How to make Ganache and cover your cake with it

2011-03-24T20:54:00.000-07:00

I love using ganache to cover cakes and wedding cakes as it tastes incredibly delicious and it’s so much easier to get nice, straight sides and edges compared to buttercream. Ganache is also wonderful to use under sugar-paste for the same reasons. Living as I do on the Gold Coast, Australia, ganache is the obvious choice as it withstands most of our really hot weather MUCH better than buttercream.

Chocolate and cream are the only two ingredients in ganache and are used in a 2:1 ratio for dark and semi-sweet chocolate and the 3:1 ratio for milk chocolate. The wedding cake in the picture above was covered in white chocolate ganache using the ratio 3:1 i.e. 3 parts white chocolate to 1 part cream.

In extremely warm weather it is sometimes necessary to increase the amount of chocolate in the mixture to prevent it melting.

To torte and cover a 9" round cake with dark chocolate ganache

Ingredients:

1.2 kg dark chocolate

600ml pure cream

To torte and cover a 9" round cake with white chocolate ganache

Ingredients:

1.3 kg

450ml pure cream

If you prefer a really soft filling for your cakes then just whip ½ cup cream and add 2 tbsp of the Ganache and whip a little more. This makes a delicious and easy chocolate mousse.

Step 1: Make the Ganache: (Same method for white and dark chocolate ganache). Heat the cream until it just starts to bubble, pour over chocolate (which you have blitzed in the food processor to coffee granules size) and let it sit for about a minute to melt. Use a hand whisk to blend it all together then set aside to cool.

Your ganache at this point will be thin. You will have to let it set overnight until it thickens to a slightly thicker peanut butter consistency. Since I don’t have the patience to wait, I just let it cool to room temperature and then pop it in the fridge (don’t cover because you might get condensation). It would usually set in the fridge in about an hour or two. If it sets too hard, just microwave it in 10 second intervals (keep mixing it whenever you take it out).

Cutting cake into layers. Keep original layer of greaseproof paper on as long as possible to keep cake intact add a board or metal base to the top of the cake when cutting as you may accidentally put pressure on the top of the cake when cutting and dent your nice flat top.

Cut out a circle of non slip matting

This will stop your cake moving about on top of the turntable

Step 2: Torte and level the 9" cake: Place cake upside down on the cake board on a layer of ganache to act as a glue and to even out any irregularities. Add a mound of ganache in the middle of the board if your cake sunk or add a ring of ganache round the edge if you cake was high in the centre. If you are using the soft filling then pipe a ½” snake of Ganache around the outside edge of the cake to create a dam, pop the cake into the fridge for the dam to harden (about 5 min) remove from fridge, then fill with the filling. If using regular ganache to fill then apply with a cranked handled palette knife if you have one.

Top with the next layer of cake and repeat if needed.

Step 3: Crumb coat: (optional) Cover sides and top of cake quickly with a thin coat of ganache to stop crumbs getting into your final coat of ganache. This is useful especially if your cake is more crumbly than normal. Put in fridge for an hour or so to harden before continuing.

Applying a quick crumb coat

A set square helps me get perpendicular sides

Crumb coat complete

Step 4: Cover the top of the cake with Ganache: I like using the 'double board' method to get the top edge of the cake perfectly smooth. Top the cake with a 1/2” layer of Ganache, smooth it out then place a 9" board on top which has been completely covered on both sides with cling film to keep the board clean and reusable and secured with sticky tape. Check with a small spirit level to see if it’s leveled, if not, gently press down around the cake until it is.

Step 5: Cover the sides of the cake with Ganache: You want to always add more ganache than you need at the beginning because it is so much easier to just scrape off the excess and be done rather than to keep adding then scraping then adding then scraping…etc. As the 9” cake board is slightly larger than the cake (9” cake shrinks a little after cooling). I use the edge of the two boards as a guide to the thickness of the Ganache. Once you have added the Ganache along the sides, use a metal scraper or similar tool, to scrape the excess off a little at a time, layer by layer as you turn the turntable.

Step 6: Place the cake into the fridge for at least a ½ hour, remove, then carefully undo the cling and lift off the board then carefully peel the cling film from the top of the cake. You may need to smooth away the little imperfections or fill any air holes with a little bit of Ganache.

I went straight ahead and covered these 4 cakes with sugar-paste but I could have used a hot palette knife to smooth out any remaining imperfections if the cakes were not being covered,

Step 7: Let the cake sit overnight at room temperature for the Ganache to completely set. If you live in a hot climate like I do then best to put it in the fridge overnight. A wine fridge is best (as it is not so cold as your normal fridge in the kitchen) and has a built in humidifier. The cake will get quite hard and cold overnight and it is important that the cake gets back to room temp before covering with sugar-paste.( If you do not allow your cake to reach room temp, all the way through, the cake will sweat through your sugar-paste!) Before covering you can either brush or spray the cake with a little bit of water or vodka (it evaporates away anyways) or some type of syrup (apricot jam diluted with water).

The above recipes make more ganache than is needed so that there is enough to allow for mistakes and for putting on extra and then scraping back off the excess. I also freeze any untouched ganache for my next cake.

Use these steps to make a gorgeous Pink Tiffany Wedding Cake

.

Raspberry Coconut Ice Recipe

2011-03-15T03:39:00.000-07:00

The Coconut ice turned out to be such a wonderful shade of pink that i just had to buy a pink feather boa to show it off!

Raspberry Coconut Ice

Adapted from Junior Masterchef Australia, the Cookbook Volume 1 by Harper Collins

320g/2 cups icing sugar mixture, sifted

315g/3.5 cups desiccated coconut

395g can condensed milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

a few drops pink colouring

4 tablespoons raspberry sauce (made from 300g frozen raspberries)

1. Lightly grease a tin (I used a tin 16 x 26cms) and line base and sides with baking paper. Divide icing sugar between two bowls and then stir half of the coconut into each. Make a well in the centre.

2. Divide the condensed milk and vanilla in two parts. Place one half into one of the bowls and combine coating the coconut. Press the white coconut mixture into the prepared pan and smooth over with a cranked spatula.

3. Thaw the unsweetened frozen raspberries in a large fine meshed strainer suspended over a large bowl. Once the berries have completely thawed, force the juice from the berries by pressing the berries through the strainer with the back of a large spoon. All that should remain in the strainer is the raspberry seeds. Throw away the seeds and place puree in a saucepan and simmer till the puree has reduced and become thicker.

Add 4 tblsp of the thickened puree to the remaining coconut mixture plus a little pink colouring. Add more icing sugar if the mixture is too wet. If it is too hard to stir this use clean hands. Spread this over the white layer and refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.

4. Once set, carefully remove it from the tin using the baking parchment and cut into squares or rectangles. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

A different recipe for raspberry puree which you may prefer

Raspberry Puree:

2 - 12 ounce bags (680 grams) of frozen raspberries (unsweetened)

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar, or to taste

1 teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional)

method: Thaw the unsweetened frozen raspberries in a large fine meshed strainer suspended over a large bowl. (This may take a few hours.) Once the berries have completely thawed, force the juice from the berries by gently pressing the berries with the back of a large spoon. All that should remain in the strainer is the raspberry seeds. Throw away the raspberry seeds and, to the strained juice, stir in the lemon juice (if using) and 1/2 cup (100 grams) of white sugar (add more if needed). (For extra flavor you could add a little raspberry liqueur.)

Store covered in the refrigerator up to a week, or freeze up to a year.

Makes approximately 1 3/4 cups (420 ml).

Easy Transformers Dark Chocolate Mud Cake Tutorial

2011-03-13T01:53:00.000-08:00

This was a small 5.5" diameter cake to feed 10 children.

Dark Chocolate Mud Cake (from Planet Cake Cookbook)

Ingredients for 5.5" cake

80g butter

80g dark choc

10g coffee

60ml water

50g SR

50g plain

20g cocoa

1/4 tsp bicarb

180g caster

1.5 eggs

3 tsp oil

40ml buttermilk

Dark Chocolate Ganache

450g dark chocolate, finely chopped

225ml pure cream

Fondant

RED: 600g sugar-paste to cover entire cake

GREY: 200g Background for mask and number plate

BLACK: 200g Mask and number

To find out how to make the mud-cake and ganache filling please visit my Ben Ten Cake blog

To Decorate your Transformer Cake

Download the shape below from here and resize to fit your cake if necessary and print it out. Then cut out the basic outline. Use this as a template to cut out a slightly larger (2 cms) shape which you will use to cut out the blank grey sugar-paste background for the mask.

Attach the grey shape to the cake using a little Royal Icing to stick it down.

Next, cut out all the separate pieces of the mask and use them as templates to cut out the pieces of black sugar-paste.

Attach each piece to the grey background making sure that the pieces are in the right place.

To make the plaque and the number 5, simply cut out a square of grey and attach it with some Royal Icing to the front of the cake.
Make an indent at each corner of the plaque with the end of a small paint brush (or similar) roll 4 small balls of grey sugar-paste and place in the holes with a tiny drop of water painted on as glue. Cut out a number 5 in black with a cutter and attach.

To transfer the letters onto the board just stick your printed word onto the board with sticky tape and trace round each letter with a pointed metal tip pressing quite heavily. You will see the imprint of the lettering on the board if you look closely.

Pipe the letters with some Royal Icing

I designed this image with a maori influence for a T-shirt printer in Burieigh.
Who would have thought I would be making a TF cake not long after!

Pretty Butterfly Cookies Step by Step Tutorial

2011-03-07T16:15:00.000-08:00

These cookies are iced using the 'Outlining and Flooding' technique which is simple to learn. The outline works as a dam or wall to hold the runny icing which you use to fill in the main parts of the cookie.

Buttery Sugar Cookies Recipe click here

Cookie Leveller click here

Royal Icing Recipe click here
Traditionally a thicker consistancy icing is used to outline the cookie shape and then a thinner one to fill in. I have come to prefer using the same icing to outline and flood my cookies because it saves time preparing and filling icing bags twice for each colour.

Outlining
Outline your cookies first and leave at least 15 minutes before you flood the inside of the 'dam' (outline). If the outline is a dark colour as here, it is best to wait 24 hours so that the colours don't bleed into each other.

Sweetopia

To outline the cookie hold the bag at 45 degrees and position the tip on your cookie. Put enough pressure on the bag so that the icing comes out and you can start moving in the direction that you want your icing to go. Start lifting the pipping bag till it is a few centimetres above your cookie and the icing just falls in a continuous line onto the cookie below. Come back closer to the cookie at corners and when finishing also reduce or stop pressure on the bag to go more slowly or to stop.

Flooding
Use a number 3,4 or 5 sized piping tip depending on the size of your cookie. Fill in one area at a time quickly zig zagging back and forth. Don't worry if you haven't filled in every spot: speed is more important at this point. To fill in these little missed bits just use your piping tip, toothpick or small paintbrush (used only for food), to push the icing into your missed bits.

Decorating
To colour the wings by 'melding' several colours into each other then you must do it straight away. The base layer starts to dry quickly so you need to add your next colours as fast as possible.

Sweetopia

Add two black lines of icing with a contracting colour in-between then drag through the lines with a cocktail stick or a pin. Have a look at some pictures of real butterflies to get an idea of what it is that you want to achieve.

The 'eye' of the butterfly is then made by layering a few coloured dots on top of each other, with the black as the final coloured dot.

Storing
Let the cookies dry for 24 hours before you package them.
Store in an airtight container in a cool dry place out of the sun (sunlight can fade the colours). The cookies can keep for up to 3 months but I prefer to use them up within a month.

I would like to thank Sweetopia for the original idea and for 3 images.

Make and Use my Cookie Dough Leveller Tutorial

2011-02-12T05:49:00.000-08:00

Would you like to know how to roll out your cookie dough in seconds?

Would you like all your cookies to be the same thickness?

Well read on and find out how it's done.......

Alasdair made this frame for me out of 1" x 1" 90 degree angle wooden edging available at Bunnings (Oz) and B&Q (UK).

Using my chopping board as the base he stuck 4 lengths together to make a frame. The two long sides have the 90 degree angle facing upwards as a guide for my rolling pin and the two short sides have the angle facing downwards to hold tight to my chopping board so that the frame does not move when I roll out the cookie dough.

The gap is set at 3/16th of an inch which is the thickness I like my cookies.

I use a layer of greaseproof paper under the cookies and another layer on top

Cut out cookies while still on the board and then lift off using a spatula.

Gothic brushes from Obsidian Dawn used in this little Photoshop creation.

Happy Valentine's Day Cookies Tutorial

2011-02-12T05:11:00.000-08:00

Here is another treat for you to make for your loved one this Valentine's day!

These cookies are not difficult to make and are decorated with Royal Icing and can be as simple or elaborate as you like.

I now use this gorgeous recipe for all my cookies. The cream cheese gives them a lovely flavour and texture and the consistency of the dough makes it easy to cut out shapes with cutters.

Buttery Sugar Cookies

250g softened butter

85g of softened cream cheese

150g (3/4 cup) caster sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

510g (3 cups) plain flour

Cream butter and cream cheese using K beater until light and fluffy. Add sugar egg & vanilla. Beat at a medium speed scraping down the side of the bowl often until creamy.

Reduce speed to low and add flour, beat very lightly until combined again scraping down the bowl.

Divide dough into 2 equal portions and wrap in plastic warp and refrigerate until firm (at least 2 hours). Or place in freezer for when you need them.The dough can last up to a week in a airtight container...they do go a little soft, but suppose to be like that...(not a crunchy biscuit)

Heat oven to 160 (fan). Sometimes I even lower the temp to 150, they don’t take long to cook, just enough so when you lightly touch them they do not make an indent in the cookie.

Roll out dough on baking paper.

Cut out cookies and bake for 7 to 10 mins until edges are very lightly browned.

Click here to find out how to make and use my cookie dough leveller!

Remove from cooking sheets and cool completely on wire rack.

Outline and fill the cookies at the same time using RI (Royal Icing) with a number 2 piping nozzle and remember that RI takes 24 hours to set.

Royal Icing
Traditional royal icing is made with real egg white, however, because of the slight chance of salmonella poisoning, I now prefer to use dried egg white instead.
20g (3/4 oz) dried egg white
90ml (2.5fl oz) cold water
500g (1lb 2 0z) icing sugar

method
Mix egg white and water in a bowl until smooth.
Sieve the icing sugar into a grease free bowl.
Tip in the egg mixture and beat on the slowest speed for 5 mins until the icing stands up in peaks.

Planet Cake Royal Icing using real egg whites.
250-300g pure icing sugar, sifted
2-4 drops acetic acid (white vinegar)
1 egg white

method
Beat icing sugar, acetic acid and egg white with electric beater on medium-high speed for 4 minutes for 'soft peak'. Add extra sugar if the icing is too soft.
Achieving the right consistency for Royal Icing can be difficult but practise makes perfect, so if icing is too thick or too thin just empty your piping bag and add more water/vinegar or icing sugar. You will soon work it out.

Place icing in airtight plastic bowl with a lid. Lay a piece of cling film directly on top of the icing and replace the lid.

DONT put the cookies in an airtight container until they are set (24 hours to set) need the air to help dry out..

Pipe on your designs once the cookies are set using a number 2 piping nozzle. If you would like to use my designs then click on the image above to enlarge and then copy the same or similar on your cookies.
For the straight lines, in particular, touch the cookie with the nozzle at the beginning and end of line only, pulling your line of icing in the air. This way you get the straightest line possible. For the heart-shaped outlines you sort of hold the nozzle above your cookie and let the icing gently fall/glide into place. Do not drag the nozzle along the cookie surface at any time. Very few of my cookies are identical as I adapt my designs as I go. Feel free to experiment.

Suggested timeline for making the Valentine's Day Cookies:

Day One - Baking

Day Two - Outlining, filling, and letting cookies dry overnight.

Day Three - Detail piping

These lovely little cookies last for ages, just keep on eating the odd one to make sure the rest are fresh, LOL! Remember to keep them out of strong sunlight so that the colours don't fade.

Another little artwork to brighten up your day!

Valentine's Day Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

2011-02-01T06:11:00.000-08:00

'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.'

If cooking for a man is a good way to win his affections then why not cook him up some fudge for a Valentine's treat?

This is a surprisingly easy recipe! So go ahead and try it out.

Ingredients:

395g Tin Sweetened Condensed Milk 

50g Unsalted Butter, cubed 

200g Finely Chopped Lindt Mint Intense

200g Finely Chopped Dark Chocolate (Plain)

Method:

Line the sides and base of a 16cm (6") x 26cm (10") baking tin.
In a medium saucepan, gently heat the condensed milk and butter on low heat until melted.
Stir continuously to stop the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.
While the mixture is warm, stir in the chocolate until completely melted. Immediately pour the fudge into the baking tin.
Smooth the top and refrigerate until firm (2-4 hours).

Line the baking tin.

Break the chocolate up and place in the food processor.

Blend at top speed till chocolate is finely chopped.

In a medium saucepan, gently heat the condensed milk and butter on low heat until melted. (I took the picture while stirring at the same time!!!)

Stir continuously to stop the mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.

While the mixture is warm, stir in the chocolate until completely melted. Immediately pour the fudge into the baking tin.

Smooth the top and refrigerate until firm (2-4 hours).

When set, cut the fudge into squares.

Did you notice that I printed out my 'Red Heart' artwork and used it to brighten up this picture.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

Live, love, create!

Australia Day Cupcakes

2011-01-27T07:26:00.000-08:00

Australia Day is the 26th January and as I now live in Australia I thought I should make some cupcakes to help celebrate this great national holiday!

The Australian flag seemed like a good place to start so I collected together some reference material for my cupcakes and took a Screen Shot which then displays all the images as one large composite image on my iMac which I leave up on the screen while designing the cupcakes and working out how to make them.

First of all make the cupcakes using my easy One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake recipe for the mixer.

The mixture will make 24 cupcakes or 48 mini cupcakes or as here 12 cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes.

Although the cupcakes keep well, they are especially good if eaten the same day they are made.

I used red and blue paper cases

Print out some images the exact size of the cupcakes and from them cut out the templates for the Union Flag.

Use 5cm and 8cm cutters for the blue sugar-paste circles for the top of the cupcakes.

Use two different sizes of silver Cachous for the six stars of the Southern Cross. Make a small hole for each star to push into and remember to moisten the holes a little so that the little balls stick and don't fall out when you go to eat your cupcake!

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes made in the Mixer

2011-01-27T07:17:00.000-08:00

Easiest Recipe Ever

Tips:

1. If you haven't got any buttermilk use normal milk instead replacing 2 tsp of the milk with white vinegar.

2. It is a really runny mixture so use a small ladle or similar to help pour the mixture into paper cases.

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

Makes 24 cupcakes or 48 mini cupcakes

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

330g (1 ½ cups) sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup warm water

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 180C (350F). Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.

Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Cupcakes will keep, covered, for up to three days.

Fill each paper case 3/4 full.

Cupcakes straight from the oven