The Crafty Penguin

Cake with Horizontal Stripes

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 22:35:00 +0000

This cake is decorated with strips of modeling chocolate, sheeted and cut with the Kitchenaid pasta attachments.

Modeling chocolate is make with chocolate and light corn syrup. Baking chocolate or chocolate melts work well, but chocolate chips make the modeling chocolate too crumbly. For this project I just used what I already had - semi-sweet baking chocolate for the dark modeling chocolate, and Wilton melts for the white modeling chocolate.

Dark modeling chocolate:

12 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate

1/3 cup light corn syrup

White modeling chocolate:

16oz (1 bag) white chocolate melts

1/3 cup light corn syrup

To make modeling chocolate:

1. Melt the chocolate according to the package directions. Keep mixing until the chocolate cools to about 90°F.

2. Add the light corn syrup and mix until it comes together.

3. Wrap the mixture in plastic wrap and let it cool to room temperature.

To make and assemble sheets of modeling chocolate for the cake:

When the modeling chocolate has cooled, it will be hard. Knead small pieces with your hands until it warms up and can be rolled out.

1. Form pieces into thin rectangles and run them through the pasta roller attachment as you would with pasta dough (continue to knead dough by folding sheeted pieces in half and running them through again.) Strips will need to be long enough to fit around the cake. For a 5-inch round cake, strips will need to be approximately 17 inches long.

2. When strips are long enough to fit around the cake, run them through the fettuccine cutter attachment to cut them into equal sized stripes.

3. When you have enough stripes of each color, arrange the pieces on a non-stick surface, pressing them together so that there aren't any gaps. Then roll out an additional sheet of modeling chocolate and press it on top of the pattern to hold all of the pieces together. (This seems to work best with white modeling chocolate since it is more sticky.) This side is the back.

The side on the bottom will be on the outside when wrapped around the cake.

4. Each cake will also need a circle of chocolate to cover the top. Using a piece of chocolate that has been rolled into a sheet, press the rim of the cake pan into the chocolate to make an imprint, then cut along the line.

5. Attach the side piece to a crumb-coated cake by rolling the chocolate up on the side of the cake. The edge can be trimmed if it is too long. Last, press the chocolate circle on the top of the cake.

Giraffe Sugar Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 04:34:00 +0000

Another non-round design on round cookies! (Remember these penguin gingerbread cookies?)

The cookies are vanilla sugar cookies...

And the design is created with royal icing:

- Orange piping and flood icing

- Brown flood icing (I made this flood a little thicker than normal, instead of making both piping and flood icing for the brown spots.)

- Cream flood icing (also a little thicker, for the same reason)

- Black piping icing

- Royal icing eyes (these are pre-made eyes.)

To make a giraffe:

1. Pipe around the edge of the cookie with orange piping icing.

2. Flood the center of the cookie with orange flood icing. Then let the icing dry completely.

3. Add a cream nose just below center.

4. Add four orange ovals for the ears and horns.

5. Add brown spots around the bottom edge of the cookie. Then pipe black accents on the horns and ears, and dots and a smile on the nose.

6. Attach the eyes with a dot of extra orange icing.

Let the cookies dry completely before stacking or packing them - they're dry when they are no longer shiny.

Easter Egg Sugar Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:20:00 +0000

These striped and marbled designs are made by piping a second color of royal icing on the wet flood.

- Royal icing tutorial and recipe

- Sugar cookie recipe

To create a striped and marbled designs with royal icing, start by piping and flooding with the main color.

While the icing on the cookie is still wet, pipe lines with a second color of icing on top, using the flood consistency icing. Use a piping tip (Ateco #1 or #2) to create finer lines. Stop at this point for a striped design.

To create a marbled effect, drag a toothpick through the stripes while the icing is still wet.

Ladybug Fondant Cupcake Toppers

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 22:40:00 +0000

Ladybugs and a bumblebee! These guys are made with Satin Ice pre-made fondant since black and red are so hard to dye.

Supplies: fondant (back, red, yellow), icing eyes (3/8''), silicone rolling pin with guide rings, circle cookie cutters (for this size cupcake, I used the 1-1/2'' and 2-1/4'' diameter cutters), icing tip for cutting dots, corn starch duster (see the bottom of this post for how to make one.)

Step 1. Roll out black fondant, dusting fondant with cornstarch to keep it from sticking. This is rolled to 1/16'' with the pink guides. For thicker toppers use the purple 1/8'' guides. Cut bases for the ladybugs using the larger of the two circle cookie cutters (2-1/4'' diameter). Each ladybug needs 1 base. Set bases aside.

Step 2. Cut more large black circles - these will be used to make the heads. Use the small circle cookie cutter (1-1/2'' diameter) to cut three heads from each of large circle. Cut the same number of heads as bases.

Step 3. Cut spots from the left-over black fondant using a piping tip - about 4 spots per ladybug.

Step 4. Roll out the red fondant and cut large circles (the same size as the black bases) - one for each ladybug. These will make the wings. Cut a triangle out of each red circle. Place a head on top of the red circle to judge where to make the cuts.

Step 5. At this point, all of the pieces are cut out. Each ladybug will be assembled from 1 black base, 1 red wing piece, 1 black head, and several black spots.

Attach pieces together using water. Brush a small amount of water on the back of one piece to attach it to another.

Step 6. Attach the icing eyes with a small dot of the frosting using on the cupcakes. Place toppers on cupcakes immediately after piping cupcake frosting.

Other ideas for fondant:

- daisy fondant cupcake toppers

- homemade fondant and cake decoration

Basketball Sugar Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 02:08:00 +0000

These are some basketball sugar cookies I made for the last game of the season.

-Sugar cookie recipe

-Royal icing recipe & technique

To decorate with this design, start by piping orange piping icing around the border of the cookies with a #2 tip.

Then fill in the centers with with flood-consistency icing.

Let the flooded cookies dry overnight.

Then pipe black lines with piping-consistency icing.

Let the piped cookies dry for several hours, until the icing is hard.

Cookies are dry when they are no longer shiny.

Brownie Bites

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 06:59:00 +0000

Brownie bites can be made from any regular brownie recipe - these ones are made from the recipe on this post. This recipe makes about 3 dozen brownie bites.

To make brownie bites, you'll need a mini-muffin pan. Spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray and wipe off any excess. Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Mix up a batch of brownie batter, and scoop approximately 2 tablespoons into each cup. The cups should be full, but not spilling over.

Bake brownie bites for 12 to 17 minutes. Brownies are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean (the center should not be wet, but if the toothpick comes out completely clean then they may be overdone.)

Remove the brownie bites from the mini-muffin pan once they have cooled, then serve plain or decorate. These were decorated with piped buttercream stars (Ateco #824 tip, vanilla buttercream flavored with melted bittersweet chocolate.)

Graham Cracker Almond Roca

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 22:15:00 +0000

Ingredients

graham crackers

toasted sliced almonds

bittersweet chocolate chips

1 cup packed brown sugar (for toffee)

3/4 cup salted butter (for toffee)

salt

optional: white chocolate chips to melt and drizzle on top

The amounts for this recipe aren't very precise. Use as much almonds and chocolate as you like, or double the amounts of the toffee ingredients to make a larger batch.

Step 1. Butter a baking sheet. Then arrange graham crackers on the sheet.

Step 2. Place almonds on top of all the graham crackers.

Step 3. Make the toffee mixture by melting the butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan on medium-high and bringing it to a boil. Boil for 4 minutes.

Step 4. Pour the hot toffee mixture over the graham crackers and almonds and sprinkle a small amount of salt on top.

Step 5. Bake at 325 degrees F until the toffee begins to bubble, approximately 10 to 15 minutes. As soon as the sheet is taken out of the oven, spread chocolate chips over the top of the toffee layer. The warm toffee will melt the chocolate chips. Spread chocolate out with the back of a spoon once the chips have melted.

Step 6. Decorate the top by adding more almond slices, or drizzling melted white chocolate. Freeze sheets for few minutes to allow chocolate to set, then slice bars into smaller pieces.

Royal Icing Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 06:12:00 +0000

Royal icing is used to decorate sugar cookies, gingerbread houses and cakes. This tutorial shows how to prepare piping and flood icing to decorate cookies.

Royal Icing

1 lb powdered sugar

3 tbs meringue powder

6 tbs warm water

a squeeze of lemon juice

* 2-1/4 tsp powdered egg whites can be substituted for the meringue powder

Instructions. Place all ingredients in the bowl of the stand mixer. With the paddle attachment, mix on low until ingredients form a paste. Then mix on high for several minutes, until icing has the consistency shown below (between soft and stiff peaks.)

This is the consistency used to pipe borders and details on cookies. Test that the icing isn't too thick or thin by pushing a small amount through the tip with your finger (Wilton #2 tip). The icing is the right consistency if it is easy enough to push out of the tip, but when icing lines are overlapped they do not blend together.

Split icing into two bowls. Set one bowl aside to be used as the piping icing and cover it with a wet towel so that the icing does not dry out. The second bowl of icing will become the flood icing.

The flood icing (used to fill in areas with piped borders) is made by thinning piping-consistency icing with water. Add water, tablespoon-by-tablespoon, to the second bowl of icing. Mix thoroughly after adding each tablespoon. It will take approximately 3 tbs to thin this amount of icing. Icing is the right consistency when it forms a drizzle, but is not watery.

If the consistency isn't quite right, piping or flood icing can be thinned with water or thickened with powdered sugar at any point in the decorating process.

Cover this bowl of icing with a wet towel too while getting piping bags and bottles ready.

Preparing to Decorate. It doesn't take any fancy supplies to decorate sugar cookies but some tools make it a little easier than others.

-Piping bags, standard couplers and Wilton #2 tips: These are needed to pipe borders on cookies with the piping icing. One of each is needed for each color of piping icing.

-Piping bottles: For the flood icing. These ones allow you to change the tip which makes it easier to fill small spaces.

-Toothpicks: Use toothpicks to spread the flood out, create designs, transfer food coloring, and clean piping tips if they get clogged.

-Gel food colors: Only use gel colors for royal icing; the liquid ones will change the icing consistency. I like the spectrum ones because they come in a squeeze bottle, but they work the same as other gel colors.

-Sanding sugar: For decorating. The crystals are smaller than typical sugar sprinkles.

Preparing Piping Bags with Piping Icing. First prepare the bags as shown below.

After dying piping icing with gel colors, spoon icing into piping bags. (Try folding each bag over the top of a drinking glass.) Use a bench scraper to push the icing to the tip of the bag and twist the end.

Preparing Piping Bottles with Flood Icing. Dye flood icing then pour into bottles.

Decorating Process. Decorating cookies typically takes two days. Pipe and flood the first layer one day, let the cookies dry completely overnight, then pipe any extra details the second day.

Penguin Gingerbread Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 06:16:00 +0000

Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1-1/2 sticks salted butter

1 cup packed dark-brown sugar

5 tbs molasses
3 tbs water

2 tbs ground cinnamon

2 tbs ground ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground pepper

Step 1. Cream butter and sugar in bowl of stand mixer (using paddle attachment) until fluffy.

Step 2. Add molasses, water and spices (cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and pepper) and mix until combined.

Step 3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda. Slowly add in flour mixture, in three parts, mixing after each addition.

Step 4. Roll dough out to 1/4" thick between sheets of waxed paper (see instructions in this post.) Refrigerate dough sheets for 30 minutes before cutting shapes. Refrigerate cut shapes again, for another 30 minutes, before baking. Refrigerated dough will spread out less when baked.

Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes (depending on cookie size) at 400 degrees F on a parchment paper or Silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake cookies of equal size together.

Decoration. Once cookies have cooled, they can be decorated with royal icing. This design is done in several stages.

See this post for a royal icing recipe and tutorial.

Icing Step 1. Outline the black section of the penguin with black piping icing. The tip should hover above the cookie without touching it.

Icing Step 2. After the outline has dried for a couple minutes, fill it in with black flood icing. If the flood is a little to thick, and doesn't spread out on its own, a toothpick can be used to pull it into the corners.

Icing Step 3. Once the black section has dried completely (overnight), repeat steps 1 and 2 with the white piping and flood icings to outline and fill in the white section of the penguin.

Icing Step 4. Let the white section dry completely before piping on yellow triangles for the nose and feet

Icing Step 5. Using a black food decorating pen, draw eyes on the dried icing.

Cake Series (Part 4 of 4): Decorating

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 03:32:00 +0000

Decorating - finally! This design is inspired by Peggy Porschen's Buds in May wedding cake, which has two tones of blue stripes and red rose buds.

Assembling tiers. Tiered cakes need a support system to support the weight of each tier. Since each tier is on a cake board, this can be as simple as small dowels inserted into each layer (except for the top layer.) I found that this article from baking911 is a great resource for information on assembling tiers.

Green stripes. There isn't a whole lot to this design. You'll need two colors of fondant. White fondant can be dyed to any color by kneading in gel food coloring (gels are different from the liquid food coloring that's at the grocery store.)

Roll fondant out to 1/4" thick on a non-stick surface that has been dusted in corn starch. Cut rectangles to the desired height and width. (A clean quilting ruler and pizza cutter with a plastic blade work well for doing this.) I cut 2" x 1" rectangles so that the design would go half way up each 4" tier.

Let fondant rectangles dry a little before picking them up and attaching them to the cake. To attach a rectangle, brush the back with water, then press it on the cake.

For a stronger edible adhesive, try piping gel or a small amount of fondant dissolved in warm water.

Alternate the two colors of rectangles as you work your way around each tier.

Dots. The last step is piping royal icing dots at the seams between rectangles. For a royal icing recipe and tutorial, see this post. The dots are piped with a Wilton #3 tip.

Depending on the specific cake and filling, cake can usually be covered in fondant and decorated one or two days in advance.

Cake Series (Part 3 of 4): Torting and Covering Cake in Fondant

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 03:27:00 +0000

Here is a look at the inside of the cake. The layers are each 1/2" thick, and filled with buttercream.

Torting the Cake. I used an Agbay Cake Leveler to do the leveling and layering, which works great for cutting really thin layers. It's basically an adjustable blade attached to two legs with rulers - but a whole lot sturdier than that sounds. The Abgay is definitely one of my favorite cake tools because it's so efficient and well-designed. The next best thing for cutting layers would be a long serrated knife, though you'd want to go with thicker layers.

First level off the tops, then cut each of the layers starting from the top. Two cakes make each tier. Each cake makes three 1/2" layers - so a total of 6 layers per tier. Since I leveled off the tops, I used one of of the two bottom pieces as the top of the tier.

Filling. The filling can be anything - chocolate ganache, lemon curd, mousse - this is just a simple buttercream though.

A good starting point for a buttercream is to use equal parts (by weight) of butter and powdered sugar along with the flavoring. (Cream the butter with the flavoring, slowly mix in sugar, then beat on high until light and fluffy.) Depending on the flavoring (this could be vanilla, lemon zest, fruit jam, etc.) it might need more powdered sugar. Just taste it to see if it needs more.

To build the cake, place the bottom layer on top of a cake board that has been covered in foil. A little buttercream works well to glue it on. (Cake boards come in just about any size, or you can make one by cutting a card a cardboard circle to the size of the cake.)

Brush the layer with sugar syrup (see Cake Series Part 2), then spread a thin layer of filling over the layer using an offset spatula. Stack the next layer on top.

Repeat the process for each layer.

Crumb Coat. Spread a thin layer of buttercream over the top and on the sides of the cake to seal in crumbs and moisture.

Smooth the top by running the spatula under hot water, drying it off, then immediately running it over the top of the cake. Run a smoother around the sides to remove excess frosting and smooth the sides. (Clean the smoother off when it starts to collect icing, then start again where you left off.)

Put the cake in the fridge while you roll out the fondant, so that the icing can set.

Covering Cake in Fondant. See Cake Series Part 1 for how to make fondant. Knead fondant until it is softened, then roll out to 1/4" thick on a non-stick surface such as a big Silpat. (Note: Dust surface and fondant with corn starch duster to keep fondant from sticking. See instructions for making one at the end of this post.)

For a round cake, here is a quick way to approximate how big the rolled-out fondant needs to be in order to cover the cake (the extra two inches account for the the fondant not being lined up perfectly with the cake.):

diameter of fondant circle needed = diameter cake of tier + (2 x height of tier) + 2"

Roll the fondant sheet up on the rolling pin to transfer it to the cake, then roll it out on the cake. Smooth edges with hands, starting from the top and working down the sides. Then cut away excess fondant from the bottom of the cake.

Even though the cake is generally smooth at this point, it still benefits from going around the sides and top with fondant smoothers. Although fondant naturally forms rounded corners around the top of the cake, corners can be made sharper using smoothers. Bring smoothers towards each other at the corner, pushing the corner to a sharper point.

Now it's ready to be decorated!

Also...

Making a Corn Starch Duster. It sounds strange, but a nylon stocking works really well for making a corn start duster. Take an ankle or knee-length one (new and clean, of course) and pull it over a drinking glass. Fill it with corn starch, then tie it off.

Note: Powdered sugar is not a good substitute for corn starch because it can cause the fondant to crack and tear.

Cake Series (Part 2 of 4): Baking and Storing Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 04:26:00 +0000

Selecting and Lining Cake Pans. To make a tiered cake, you'll want to use pans that have straight walls. This cake uses two 8" round cake pans and two 5" round cake pans. (Each tier is made of two cakes.) For the cake batter, I made a triple batch of the recipe below and poured a third of the batter in each of the 8" rounds, and split the last third between the two 5" rounds.

Line the cake pans using parchment paper. Set pans on top of a large sheet and trace the bottom of each pan, then cut out the circles. Next cut a strip of paper to line the wall of each pan. It should be an inch wider than the height of the pan, and long enough to wrap around the inner wall. For an 8" round pan with 3" walls, this is a 4" x 26" rectangle. For a 5" round pan with 3" walls, this is a 4" x 16" rectangle.

Fold over 1" of each strip, lengthwise. Then cut small tabs along that 1" section.

Check that the pieces fit (no gaps) - the circle sits on top of the tabs. Then remove them to grease the pan before putting them in permanently.

Sugar syrup. Prepare a simple syrup that will be brushed on the baked cake to add moisture and flavor. Place equal parts sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil, then remove pan from heat and allow syrup to cool. Flavor to compliment your cake - I added a couple tbs lemon juice once the syrup had cooled. Store in the fridge.

The Cake. The recipe makes one 8 in round cake. It can be flavored however you'd like - with lemon zest (yum!), orange zest, vanilla etc.

Victoria Sponge Cake

From Peggy Porschen's Simply Spectacular Cakes

Ingredients:

1-3/4 sticks salted butter

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs

1-1/3 cups self-rising flour

about a third cup of the sugar syrup

Prep. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Step 1. Cream butter, sugar and flavoring in bowl of stand mixer. Use the paddle attachment and mix on high until light and fluffy (this will take several minutes). Turn mixer to medium and add eggs one-by-one. If your mixture begins to look curdled (like mine does in the second photo below), add a little of the flour to the mixture and continue to mix until combined. Turn the mixer to slow and slowly incorporate the flour.

Step 2. Pour batter into lined cake pan and spread evenly with an offset spatula. Bake for 25 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake start to cool in its pan, sitting on a wire rack. When it's still warm, poke holes in the cake top using a skewer, then brush the top with sugar syrup (Uh oh - as you might see in the last picture, I forgot to do this until it had cooled!) Remove the cake from the pan once it has cooled.

Storing the Cake. To freeze the cake to use later, wrap cake in two layers of plastic wrap, then one layer of foil. To store cake for decorating the next day, wrap in waxed paper, then foil, then store at room temperature.

Cake Series (Part 1 of 4): How to Make Fondant

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 05:08:00 +0000

Over the next two weeks I'll be posting a series about making this cake! Today I'm writing about making homemade fondant, and in the following posts I'll write about baking and storing the cake, torting it and covering it in fondant, and decorating it. Here's a peek at the final product (it's inspired by Peggy Porschen's design!):

Fondant. There are plenty of good options for ready-made fondant, but since I never use that much at one time, I've been looking for an easy recipe I can make myself (that still has the right texture.)

After a not-so-successful attempt with marshmallow fondant, I found this recipe by Michele Foster on CakeCentral. This is the second batch I've made and I love it!

Fondant

From Michele Foster's Fondant on Cake Central

Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk

2 tbs unflavored gelatin

1 cup light corn syrup

2 tbs food-grade glycerin

2 tbs clear vanilla extract

2 tbs salted butter

a dash of salt

about 3-1/2 lbs powdered sugar

Step 1. Mix milk and gelatin in a microwave-safe bowl. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes, until gelatin blooms (becomes firm.)

Step 2. Microwave mixture for 1 minute, then stir. If gelatin in not melted, microwave for a little longer, just until it melts.

Add corn syrup, glycerin, vanilla, salt and butter to bowl and stir with a couple strokes. (Butter will not be melted yet.)

Microwave for 2 minutes, then stir until butter is completely melted. Set mixture aside and let cool completely.

Step 3. Place 2 lbs powdered sugar in the bottom of stand mixer bowl. Strain cooled mixture into the powdered sugar, then mix by hand until combined.

Step 4. Attach bowl to stand mixer and add 3-4 cups powdered sugar. Using dough hook, mix on the slowest setting. As powdered sugar in the bowl is incorporated, continue to add more. Keep mixing and adding sugar until mixture forms a ball.

You will know that it is thick enough when the fondant no longer slips down the dough hook (when mixer head is tilted up.)

Step 5. Transfer fondant ball to a non-stick surface and knead fondant until smooth. (I use a commercial size Silpat for this step and for rolling it out when I'm ready to cover a cake.) If fondant is still sticky and difficult to knead, dust with powdered sugar.

Wrap fondant ball in plastic wrap that has been coated in vegetable oil, then place in a plastic bag or container for storage. Let fondant rest overnight.

Fondant should keep for about a month at room temperature. Michele also suggests (in her CakeCentral post) adding white or semi-sweet chocolate to the corn syrup to flavor the fondant. I think I'll try the white chocolate next time around!

Up Next: Baking and Storing Cake

Pumpkin Cheesecake

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 05:04:00 +0000

Although I am still a cheesecake novice (this is #2), I loved this pumpkin cheesecake. It has more texture than a New York-style cheesecake and the gingersnap crust was easy and yummy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

from Kitchenaid Best-Loved Recipes

Ingredients for crust:

about 24 gingersnap cookies or 1-1/4 cup gingersnap cookie crumbs

1/3 cup pecans

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

Ingredients for filling:

3 packages cream cheese (8-oz packages, softened)

1 cup brown sugar (packed)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

1 cup canned pumpkin (plain puree, not pumpkin pie filling)

Gingersnap Crust. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In food processor, pulse cookies, pecans and sugar until mixture forms crumbs. Pour in butter, pulse a couple more times until combined evenly.

Pour mixture into 9-inch springform pan. Press crumbs to form an even crust (the flat bottom of a drinking glass works well for compacting the crumbs!) Bake crust for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden brown, then let crust cool completely.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Filling. In bowl of stand mixer, beat cream cheese on medium until fluffy.

Add brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg and mix until combined evenly. Add eggs and egg yolks one-by-one, mixing after each is added. Mix in pumpkin.

Pour batter on top of the crust in the springform pan. Bake for an hour - until edges are but a small circle in the center is still moist (center jiggles). Turn off the oven. Open oven door for 1 minute, letting the heat out, then close and let cheesecake sit in oven for another hour. Then remove cheesecake from springform pan by loosening the edges with an knife. Refrigerate overnight or up to two days before serving.

Note: I put a pan of water in the oven while baking the cheesecake, but still got a couple small cracks. Next time I will try adding a little cornstarch to the batter.

Hummingbird Bakery Vanilla Cupcakes with Red and Blue Fondant

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 06:10:00 +0000

I'm glad that this recipe only makes 8 cupcakes, because I had to make it twice! The first time around I made it into more of a traditional recipe - but it turns out I shouldn't have doubted the recipe. They turn out great if you just follow the steps as they are!

Vanilla Cupcakes

from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

a little less than 3/4 cup sugar

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

3 tbs unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup whole milk

1 egg

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Step 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In bowl of stand mixer, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter with paddle on slow. When the mixture forms a sandy consistency (this will happen pretty quickly), slowly pour in half the milk. Stop mixing once combined.

Step 2. In a small bowl, whisk the other half of the milk together with the egg and vanilla (this will just take a few seconds.) Pour into flour mixture and mix until smooth (no more than a couple minutes.) Scrape the bowl as you are mixing.

Step 3. Pour into a muffin tin that is lined with cupcake wrappers. Each wrapper should be no more than 2/3 full. This will make 8 cupcakes. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 325 degrees F. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Vanilla Buttercream

Adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook's Vanilla Butter Frosting

Ingredients:

3 cups powdered sugar (approximate)

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbs milk (approximate)

Instructions. Beat butter for a couple minutes on high, using paddle attachment. Turn mixer to low and slowly add powdered sugar. Add vanilla extract and slowly add milk. Increase speed and beat for another minute or two, until fluffy. For thicker frosting, add more powdered sugar. For thinner frosting, add more milk. (Added: This is an Ateco 867 tip.)

Note: If you are adding fondant or gum paste decorations, wait to make and pipe the buttercream until the decorations are ready.

Decorations. These are fondant decorations, but a 50/50 mix of fondant and gum paste would also work.

Red. The red fondant was made with Wilton Red and a tiny bit of AmeriColor Yellow. For the red daisy, roll fondant out to 1/8 inch. Cut daisies using Large Daisy Cutter. To get smooth edges, run your hand or the rolling pin around the edges of the cutter.

The red fondant is also used to make the centers of the small white daisies. Make small balls of red fondant and use mold or mesh sieve (shown later) to emboss. Note: The mold shown here is only big enough for small daisy centers.

White. The white fondant is used to make the small daisies, using a small daisy cutter, and the flower centers for the large daisies. To make large flower centers, roll a ball of white fondant, then press it against a mesh sieve, just enough to emboss the lattice print.

Blue. Roll blue fondant to 1/8 inch and cut circles using a cookie cutter that is just larger than the small daisy cutter.

Let pieces dry. The pieces for the medallions can dry flat, and the red flowers can dry in cell formers. Once dry, assemble pieces using an edible adhesive - I used a mixture of gum paste powder and water.

Pipe buttercream and attach fondant decorations to the cupcakes!

The Basic Cake Pop (Plus Other Tips)

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:50:00 +0000

Cake pops, a Bakerella creation, are a lot of fun to make because they can take on so many personalities. When I made Penguin Pops in August, I loved the decorating, but I was a little frustrated with the process - the dough refrigeration seemed to cause problems.

I've done some experimenting since then, and here is my updated tutorial. Highlights - refrigeration causes cracking and moisture, and cake pops can be made just as easily at room temperature.

Supplies

Boxed cake mix (I used Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge, 18.25 oz)

Can of frosting (I used Betty Crocker Milk Chocolate, 16 oz)

Candy Melts (I used Wilton White Candy Melts)

Vegetable Shortening

Lollipop sticks

Decorations (these are just some sprinkles I already had)

Small bags and ties for packaging (optional)

Step 1. Bake cake mix according to instructions on package. Let cake cool completely.

Step 2. Melt the Wilton melts. This can be done in the microwave (heat in 30 second to 1 minute intervals, stirring between each interval) or in a chocolate melter (keep on "melt" setting for melting, mixing and dipping.) The advantage to a chocolate melter is that it will keep the chocolate at a constant temperature during the entire dipping process.

When chocolate is melted, it will still be thick. To thin the chocolate, add small amounts of vegetable shortening, mixing between additions, until the chocolate is smooth. For a 14 oz package of melts, you will need a total of 1 to 2 tablespoons shortening. (Don't add too much or it may end up tasting like shortening.)

Step 3. Transfer the cooled cake to a bowl, and break into crumbs using a fork.

The dough is made by mixing frosting into the cake crumbs. Start by adding 1/2 can of frosting. Mix until combined, then test to see if you can form a ball with your hands. Squeeze the dough together, then roll between your palms. If the ball cracks or falls apart, continue adding small amounts of frosting until a ball can be formed. (This will be about 3/4 of the can in total, but the exact amount depends on the specific cake and frosting.)

Be careful not to add too much frosting, or the dough will become sticky and difficult to work with. (And will have a funny texture when eaten.)

Step 4. Roll dough into cake balls with clean hands and arrange balls on a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Each ball should be about 1-1/4 inches in diameter.

Step 5. Attach a lollipop stick to a cake ball by dipping the tip of the stick in the melted chocolate, then inserting the stick into cake ball (about 3/4 of the way into the cake ball.) Let the chocolate set so that the balls won't fall off the sticks during dipping.

Step 6. Dip cake pops in chocolate until chocolate covers the entire ball. Take pops out of the chocolate and tap the cake pop stick against the side of the bowl or melter while spinning, to remove excess chocolate. Add sprinkles while chocolate is still wet.

Place the pops in a Styrofoam block or in a small cup to allow them to dry before packaging. (Let them sit for at least an hour in a cool spot of your kitchen.)

A Few Other Thoughts on Cake Pops:

Consider this "cake dough" on a stick - it won't have the same texture as cake.
Wilton melts are already tempered - the shortening is only added to change the consistency. Adding vegetable oil does not work as well as shortening.
Chilling finished cake pops can cause the chocolate to become soft at room temperature (and make a sticky mess when you try to package them.)
Avoid getting any water in your melted chocolate (check food coloring ingredients if you plan to dye the melts) or the chocolate will seize up and become grainy.
You can substitute home-made cake and frosting, but the proportions for the dough may be different.
Chocolate bark can be substituted for the candy melts, though you may have to play around with how much shortening you add.
Cake pops should be good for up to a week (no refrigeration needed.)
Check out Bakerella's site for all sorts of fun decorating inspiration!

Pocket Apple Pies

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 05:51:00 +0000

I've been meaning to make some of these cute little pies ever since I saw the molds at Williams-Sonoma!

Usually I use half butter and half shortening for pie crusts, but I went with the recipe on the box for these pocket pies since the dough has to be more flexible.

Pocket Pie Crust

Adapted from the back of the Pocket Pie Mold box

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cold salted butter (or 1 cup unsalted butter + 1 tsp salt)

about 8 tbs ice water

1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbs water (this is the egg wash, used later when forming pocket pies)

Instructions. Pulse butter and flour in food processor until mixture forms course crumbs. Add ice water tablespoon-by-tablespoon, pulsing between additions, until dough sticks together when pinched. (Unplug food processor before testing!)

Form two balls, wrap them in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Pie Filling

Adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook

4 large green apples

3 tbs flour

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

dash of salt

Instructions. Chop apples up into small pieces (about a half-inch long) and put them in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in mixture of flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

Rolling and Cutting Dough. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Take pie dough out of refrigerator. Using rolling pin, roll dough out to about 1/8 inch thick on a floured surface.

Use the back side of the mold to cut out pairs of apple shapes. Collect cutouts on a plate and repeat process with other ball of dough. Collect scraps in a ball and re-roll.

Note: This should make 7 or 8 pies, so there should be enough dough for about 14 to 16 cutouts.

Forming Pocket Pies. Using the inside of the pocket pie mold, place a bottom cutout (no vent hole) in the mold, and stretch to fit mold. Fill with pie filling and brush edges with egg wash.

Place top cutout (with vent hole) over filling and stretch crust to make edges meet. Close mold and press firmly to seal the edges.

Place pocket pies on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Brush pies with egg wash (this gives the pies that golden/shiny look, but isn't necessary.) Bake for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees F, until filling begins to bubble and crust is golden.

Let pies cool on racks for at least 10 minutes before eating.

Free-form Carrot Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 05:09:00 +0000

When I wrote this post a couple weeks ago, I mentioned that I didn't love the carrot cake recipe I had used. Since then, my aunt and my mom both sent me this really delicious recipe!

Carrot Cake

From Crafty Penguin's Mom's High School Home Ec Class

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

a dash of salt

1-1/2 cups vegetable oil

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups raw grated carrots (grated medium to small, not big size on box grater)

Prep. Line a 9 x 13 inch sheet cake pan with foil and grease foil. Grate carrots (easiest just to do this with the food processor.)

Step 1. Sift dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt) three times.

Step 2. Put dry ingredients in bowl of stand mixer. Add oil slowly while mixer runs. Beat for 8-10 minutes on medium.

Step 3. Add eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla. Fold in carrots.

Step 4. Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Step 5. Let cake cool on rack, then cut out circles with circle cookie cutter.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

4 oz. Cream Cheese

1/4 cup butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 lb powdered sugar

Instructions. Cream butter and cream cheese, add vanilla and sugar. Beat until creamy.

Frosting the cupcakes. Cut each circle-shaped cake into two layers. Pipe frosting between layers and on top using an Ateco #806 tip.

Decoration. These are decorated with gum paste carrots. The gum paste was colored with Spectrum Orange and Spectrum Green.

The carrots can be sculpted using a knife and a toothpick. Use the knife to make the intents on the carrot, then use the toothpick to make a hole for the stalk.

Refrigerate free-form carrot cupcakes (they taste best cold!)

3D Origami Swan

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 03:26:00 +0000

My friend Angela just taught me how to make these adorable 3D origami swans! She learned how to make them when she was in Brazil last year. This little guy up above is my first solo-attempt.

To make a 3D origami swan, you'll need a lot of paper and a bottle of Elmer's Glue. I used seven 20 x 30 inch sheets of matte gift wrapping paper to make this swan. Anything from printer paper to scrapbook paper will work, although thicker paper is more difficult to fold.

Cutting the Paper. Cut your paper into 2 x 4 inch (or 5 x 10 cm) rectangles. You will need 231 rectangles for this project, plus a couple of extras in case some don't turn out quite right.

Basic Unit. Each piece of paper is folded exactly the same way. This video shows how to fold the triangle, the basic unit of this swan. You can use a bone folder to save your fingers some pain.

Building the Base. The base of the swan is a ring of 40 triangles. First practice connecting the triangles correctly, as shown in the first video, then glue them together, as shown in the second video.

Complete the ring by connecting the first and last piece in your 40-piece chain.

Building on the Base. Start the second row by building (gluing) individual triangles on top of the previous row. Each triangle added should be attached to two triangles below it (one end from two neighboring triangles below.)

Building rows 2-8. Complete row 2 and build rows 3-8. Each row will require 20 triangles. To give the swan a round shape, angle the triangles outward for the first few rows, then row-by-row begin to angle them more inward.

Note: The first photo below shows the base from below. All other photos show the base and subsequent rows from the top.

Building the Base of the Neck, Wings and Tail. The base of the neck, wings and tail are shown with orange triangles. The neck base is four triangles wide, the base of each wing is three triangles wide, and the base of the tail is six triangles wide. There should be one space between each base.

Finishing the Neck, Wings and Tail. Build on these bases by decreasing the number of triangles by one for each subsequent row. The wings and tail are complete after you add a row of only one triangle. Curve wings and tail outwards.

The neck will have eight rows of only one triangle, plus a beak. Curve the neck downwards.

Add googly eyes to give your swan some personality!

Vanilla Sugar Cookies with Blue Glace Icing

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 06:18:00 +0000

This is my first cookie set with glace icing and I'm hooked - It's much easier to work with than royal icing, and it tastes better too.

Vanilla Sugar Cookies

Adapted from the book Cookie Craft

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup butter (if you are using unsalted butter, add 1/2 tsp salt)

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla

Prep. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Step 1. In mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. (I like to slice the sticks of butter to make the mixing easier.)

Step 2. Mix in egg and vanilla.

Step 3. Add flour cup-by-cup.

Step 4. Split dough into 2 parts. Form each into a brick. Sandwich each brick between two sheets of wax paper, then roll each brick into a sheet using 1/4 inch cookie slats. Refrigerate dough sheets for 20 minutes before cutting shapes. Save dough scraps to make a third sheet of cookies.

Step 5. Bake cookies for about 14 minutes at 350 degrees F. Cookies are done when they start to turn golden on the edges. Transfer cookies to racks to cool.

Decoration. This is the fun part! I decorated with glace icing and sugar pearls.

Glace Icing

4 cups powdered sugar

6 tbs milk

6 tbs light corn syrup

1 tsp clear vanilla extract

Step 1. Mix sugar and milk with whisk or fork until smooth. Mix in corn syrup and vanilla. Icing should be thin, forming a drizzle. This consistency is the flood icing, the background for the cookies. Split icing into several bowls - one for each color. Dye icing to the desired colors. (I left one bowl white and used Wilton Royal Blue for the other two, one with more food coloring than the other.)

Transfer half the icing from each bowl to squeeze bottles to flood the cookies. (Make sure to leave enough in the bowls for the piping icing.) To make the background of the cookies, make a pool of icing in the center of the cookie, then use the back of a spoon to spread the icing towards the edges.

Step 2. Half the icing is left in each of the bowls. This will become the piping icing. Mix powdered sugar into each bowl until icing is the consistency of toothpaste. Transfer icing to piping bags and decorate. (I used Wilton #2 tips.)

Each of the three cookie shapes here have a different design - plaid for the parallelograms, sugar pearls and stripes for the small circles, and flowers for the large circles.

For most of the piping here, I waited until the flood had nearly dried before piping the second layer.

The large circle flower design was done by piping wet-on-wet. When the flood/background is just starting to get tacky, pipe dots into the wet icing. Use a thinner piping icing if necessary. (Icing can always be thinned with milk or thickened with powdered sugar.)

This icing will get hard if you let the cookies dry overnight, but it won't become as dry as royal icing.

Basic Brownies

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:19:00 +0000

Sometimes you don't have to go far to find a great recipe - this one came from the inside of the baking chocolate box.

Baker's One Bowl Brownies

From the inside of Baker's Unsweetened Baking Chocolate Squares (with very few changes)

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

3/4 cup butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup flour

1 cup pecans or walnuts

Step 1. Microwave butter and chocolate for 2 minutes, then mix until the chocolate has melted completely. Stir in sugar.

Step 2. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour and nuts. Spread into a 9x9 baking sheet that is lined with foil and greased.

Check out how thick the batter gets after you add the eggs!

Step 3. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Let them cool, then cut them into squares.

Duo of Macarons

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:15:00 +0000

I've been meaning to make some macarons for a while now! Since I didn't have aged egg whites, I adapted a simple recipe for Almost Foolproof Macarons from The Food Geek.

Pink and Plain Macarons

Ingredients:

75g blanched almonds

75g almond slivers

150g powdered sugar

120g egg whites (about 4 eggs)

185g granulated sugar (150g + 35g)

50g water

Pink food coloring

Buttercream frosting

Prep. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Prepare 2 pastry bags for piping (I used a coupler with no tip attached to make the circles.)

Step 1 (The Meringue). In a small sauce pan, mix together 150g granulated sugar and 50g water. Boil the syrup to 230 degrees F.

Meanwhile, beat 60g egg whites to soft peaks in a stand mixer, then mix in 35g granulated sugar.

Turn mixer to medium and slowly pour in the boiling syrup. Mix for 12 minutes.

Step 2 (Pink Batter). Grind 75g blanched almonds and 75g powdered sugar in a food processor, then transfer the mixture to a bowl. Combine with 30g eggs and pink food coloring. Carefully fold in half of the meringue that was prepared in Step 1. Pipe batter onto a lined cookie sheet.

Step 3 (Plain Batter). Grind 75g almond slivers with 75g powdered sugar. Combine with 30g egg whites. Fold in the rest of the meringue to this mixture and pipe batter onto a second cookie sheet.

Step 4. Bake at 320 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

Step 5. Attach pieces together with buttercream frosting.

Lace-Stenciled Ceramic Plate

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:18:00 +0000

Painting things at the ceramics shop is one of my favorite crafts because no matter how the painting turns out, it always looks nice once it is fired.

This method of taping/lace-stenciling is an easy way to make a clean pattern.

To make this pattern, you'll just need painters tape, lace and two colors of paint (one dark and one light.)

Since there was only a small piece of the lace I wanted to use, I painted this two sections.

Painting with Lace

Step 1. Apply 2 thin coats of white paint with a large paint brush; let the paint get tacky between coats.

Step 2. Apply 1 thick coat of white paint, then immediately position the lace on the paint. (The lace should be stuck in the paint.)

Step 3. Apply 3 thin coats of blue paint over lace with a sponge. Be careful not to lift the lace with the sponge. I used a rolling motion with the sponge to prevent the lace from moving.

Step 4. Carefully peel off the lace.

Step 5. Repeat steps 1 - 4 on the other half of the plate. Make sure the seam lines up correctly.

Step 6. Peel off all of the painters tape.

Step 7. Wait a week for your plate to be fired.... this is the hardest part!

Penguin Cake Pops

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:23:00 +0000

Update: I've added a new post with a full Cake Pop tutorial with some changes to the process. Check out the post here.

I've been reading Bakerella's blog for a while now and I've finally made a batch of cake pops - pink penguins and icebergs!

The key ingredients for cake pops are a boxed cake, can of frosting, lolly pop sticks, and candy melts. I picked out some different sprinkles and candies for decorations.

Cake balls are simple to make. Just bake the boxed cake, let it cool, break it up into crumbs, then mix in the frosting. Roll the dough into balls and put them in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Dip the sticks in chocolate, then stick them half-way into the cake balls. I used a chocolate melter from Wilton that made the process really simple (the chocolate didn't get too thick.)

Then dip the cake pops in the chocolate, rolling the pops as they are removed from the chocolate, to smooth the surface.

The penguins were dipped in pink melts, and the icebergs in blue and white melts. Some of the icebergs also got blue sprinkles.

To make penguins, dip a small section of the pink balls in the white chocolate to make penguin bellies (after dipping, I tapped the sticks against the counter to smooth the peak that formed on the belly.)

Use large confetti sprinkles for wings and feet, and cut Starburst candies to make the beak. The eyes are drawn on with food-safe pens.

Third Quilt

noreply@blogger.com (Carolyn) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 01:58:00 +0000

This is the third quilt I've made. Penguins and baseballs aren't exactly a classic combination, but I'm really enjoying the fun design.

These are the two basic squares.

Matching squares are in diagonal lines. I wish I had taken more pictures while I was in the process of making this quilt - next time!