Sunday, March 18, 2012

How to make a Pastel Rainbow Ruffle Cake


Wow, the pictures of that Pastel Rainbow Ruffle Cake that I posted last week were pretty popular. I had something else planned for today's post but I have pushed it back to show how I made the cake seeings as y'all asked so nicely.

Now some of you are going to be disappointed as although the cake was frosted and filled with delicious Buttercream frosting, the actual ruffles are fondant.


I know some of you do not like fondant at all.

Me - I don't mind a bit of it and I kinda like it on cookies, I use Bakels brand which tastes quite nice, before I started using Bakels I was with the not a fondant fan club as well, so I get where some of you are coming from. Some of the fondant brands taste really awful.


If you really hate fondant and you are not so great with piping, check out my post on this pink rainbow ombre cake for Real People HERE. You could cover your rainbow cake in this way following the instructions for the buttercream layers and using pretty pastel colors instead of all pink for a totally achievable rainbow cake. It is way easier to make and you don't need a lot of equipment.


For the rest of you the steps I followed to make the cake follow and as always ....this is just the way I did it, if you are a decorator and you have a different way of doing any of the steps that is fine, you can follow your regular steps.

Pastel Rainbow Ruffle Cake instructions

To make this cake you will need 5 cakes in rainbow colors
Buttercream (or ganache)
Fondant*
Pink, purple, blue, green and yellow gel food color (I used Wilton, although for the purple fondant I used Americolor)
Large rolling pin
cornflour (corn starch)
Small Rolling Pin
Large knife for trimming the cake
Small sharp knife
Cake smoothers X 2
Frilling tool - if you do not have a frilling tool a toothpick can be used for a similar result
Not stick flower molding mat
Small brush and water
*Fondant dries out really quickly - keep it in an airtight container or ziplock bag in between use and work really quickly. 


Make the cakes.....The recipe I used to make the cakes is the Quick and Easy Vanilla Cake from page 9 of my book Sweets on a Stick. I mixed up a couple of batches, divided it into 5 and colored each batch using Wilton gel food colors. You only need a small amount of these gel colors for the cake to be a pretty vibrant pastel color. Start with 1/4 tsp and add more if your cake batter batch is large until you have your desired color.



Make sure you grease, flour and line the tins to make removing the cake easier. I only had 2 tins the size I wanted so I cooked a couple of cakes wiped the baking pans clean, regreased and floured, lined and popped the new batch of cake batter in.


Pop the baked cakes onto a wire rack to cool.

I trimmed the top and bottom off each layer to make the cake flat and remove the thin brownish crust. If your not taking photo's I would only worry about trimming the top to make each layer even. I started with yellow as the base. I took a cake board and popped a little of the buttercream in the center to secure the cake and then I stacked the cakes up with Italian Meringue Butter cream in between each layer.

In between each layer I popped the cake into the fridge to chill to make sure the whole thing didn't slide off the plate.

The Italian Meringue Buttercream recipe I used was from the Whimsical Bakehouse cookbook.

Once the final layer was in place and chilled I spread buttercream around the edges and made the cake as smooth as possible. Well as smooth as possible without going overboard remember there will be lots of ruffles covering this cake. Chill the cake again until the buttercream is firm.


At this stage I got a piece of paper and marked on it where each layer ended/started.

Now you need to cover the cake with the fondant underlayer for the ruffles to stick on - I just used plain white for around the side. Measure around the cake with a piece of string to work out how long your fondant will need to be and then measure the height.

You will need to roll out a piece of fondant that you can cut into a rectangle the size that you have measured.

Roll out the fondant on a workbench dusted with a little cornflour, turn and lift the fondant often to make sure it does not stick and try and roll out in a rectangular (ish) shape.

Once the fondant is big enough trim along the top to get a straight line. Take the cake out of the fridge and lay it sideways onto the fondant so that you can wrap the fondant around the cake. Where the fondant joins at the back you can wrap one layer over the other and then using a sharp knife cut down in a straight line. Lift up the fondant and remove any excess underneath and smooth the cut line together with your finger. Don't get too uptight about it, it's all going to be covered with ruffles.

Pop the cake upright and use the sharp knife to trim off the fondant from around the bottom of the cake, and use fondant smoothers to make sure that the cake is smooth.

Color some of the fondant pink and roll out until very thin and using the cake tin that you used to bake the cakes in press down to cut out a round the approximate size of the cake. Place it on top of the cake and use the fondant smoothers to make the top as smooth as you can. I used the smoothers in a kinda T shape around the top edges to make a moderately sharpe edge.

Take that piece of paper from before where you marked the colors and using a knife make a little indent so you will know where each color ends/starts.

Now time to start making the ruffles.

Color your fondant by kneading a small amount of the gel food color into the fondant. You should not need a large amount of colored fondant for each color, about the size of your fist should do if you are making a smallish cake, obviously more if you are making a large cake.**Remember fondant dries our really quickly so keep it in an airtight container or zip lock bag while you are not using it.


To Make the fondant ruffles dust the workbench with cornflour (cornstarch), take a piece of fondant about 1 1/2 tsp and shape it into a rectangle, using the small rolling pink roll in out into a long strip. As you roll you may need to press the sides in carefully with the sides/heels of you hands to stop it from getting too wide. (or if you find that is not working you can always use a sharp knife to trim it back to size) Keep rolling until the strip is quite thin. I like to pick the strip up after each roll to ensure it is not sticking to the bench and when necessary dust underneath again.


When you have rolled out as thing as you can on the workbench, pick up the strip of fondant and place onto a nonstick foam (the type you use for making fondant flowers) and using the middle section of the frilling tool roll back and forth (like using a rolling pin) to make the strip even thinner, you will probably get it to double in length.


Then use the pointed edge of the frilling tool rolling back and forth along one edge of the strip a little more to make it a little ruffly.

Attach this strip of fondant to your cake starting at the top. Brush on a very small amount of water to the cake along the top and press the fondant strip onto the cake. I tried to gather the strip to make it appear more ruffly (see picture). When you have finished attaching one strip make another and attach it to the cake starting where the last strip finished. Go back and press the lumpy bottoms of the ruffles down as you finish attaching each strip.


Continue making pink strips of fondant and attaching them to the cake cone working your way down the cake until you reach the indent that indicated you should start with the next color and follow the instructions this time making violet ruffles. Follow this process for all the remaining colors until the cake is completely covered with ruffles.


As you work your way down, some of the ruffles may fall down and look floppy, I usually brush a tiny amount of water around the middle section and press the ruffle up so it is upright, but this look is not about perfection so some floppy areas will work just fine.

At the very bottom I rolled out a strip of yellow around 1/3 the width of the regular strips and without ruffling it adhered it around the bottom to cover any of the uneven ruffle bottoms.

Phew all done, now you can relax and have a piece of cake: )



Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go! Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:




Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!


Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Pastel Rainbow Ruffle Cake for Easter - sneak peek


 Just a quick sneak peek of the pastel rainbow ruffle cake I made up for an Easter Dessert Party table.



I'll do up a tutorial for it in the next week or so, but I couldn't wait to share a couple of photo's with you.

.

Rainbow ruffles :)



The actual cake is the easy one bowl Vanilla recipe from my book Sweets on a Stick. It's really super dooper easy, you just pop all the ingredients into the bowl at once and mix it for a couple of minutes. It's in the cake pop section, but as you can see it's just as good not crumbled up on a stick ;)


UPDATE - I have now popped up instructions on how I made the cake HERE

Sweets on a Stick is available at most online stores including.....


Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!



Sunday, March 11, 2012

Blue Speckled Robin Egg Cake Truffles (cake pops without the sticks) for Spring or Easter


Ok I'll admit it, I have been making a lot of bird themed stuff lately.

I'm blaming the bird baby shower I made stuff for late last year. 'Cause while I was thinking up stuff to make I came up with lots of other ideas. Like when I made up the speckled 'bird egg' macarons I thought, hmmmm......they sure would make pretty cake pops.


And then once I've thought that it's not like I could stop thinking it. It's like a done deal.

Also I blame the birds, or rather the graphic designers who make birds look so cute. In real life birds aren't really that cute. Well around here anyway, they are pretty swoopy in the spring time. specially when they are nesting, more kinda the Alfred Hitchcock type deal.

But in my mind they are protecting cute little chicks that will grow up to be whimsically pretty with rosy cheeks so I can forgive them all the swooping and still pretend they are adorable.

And this is what their eggs will look like :)



I used blue Wilton Candy melts to make these delicate looking speckled eggs, but you could use any color you like including plain white chocolate, which would give a lovely creamy colored egg.


I mixed Blue and White candy melts together to get a more subtle light blue color for my eggs, and y'all might think, well why didn't you just color your own chocolate.

So I thought I might share my reasoning with you:
  • Regular food color can not be used on chocolate - Water is chocolate's nemesis and most regular food color is water based, even those gel colors. You need to buy special oil based food colors or get a special product (like AmeriColor™ Flo-Coat™) which somehow magically allows you to mix in the regular color.

  • I prefer to use the candy coating for cake pops for a couple of reasons - it sets way quicker than regular chocolate. Also once set it doesn't leave fingerprints as easily as regular chocolate.

  • I actually like the taste of the Candy melts/ coating when paired with the cake truffle. It's not really chocolate and from the name you can tell it's not pretending to be. It has a kind of vanilla flavor which is really sweet and I feel lends the finished treat a bit of a lighter taste.
  • Plus that's what I had in my pantry (probably for the reasons listed above).


and in case you missed my earlier post. I noticed Fishpond having a 24 pre-order sale on Peggy Porschen's new book boutique bakery, for $21.97 including free postage in Australia - nice!



Boutique Baking: Delectable Cakes, Cookies and Teatime Treats



Blue Speckled Robin Egg Cake Truffle

1 batch Oreo Cookie Truffle or Cake pop mixture#
Blue candy melts
White candy melts
Chocolate
Copha or Paramount crystals
Toothpicks
Clean brush/ toothbrush

# cake pop mixture is cake crumbled up with buttercream or other frosting mixed in until it is moist enough to hold it's shape.

Line a tray with parchment paper. Take around 3 teaspoons of the cake pop mixture and roll it between your palms to make a smooth ball, then using your fingers and palms turn the ball into an egg/oval shape. I find that shaping the mixture into the ball first makes it easier to get a smooth finish.


Place the egg  shaped truffles on the tray in fridge to chill until firm


Melt the chocolate. To get the color I desired I mixed the Wilton Blue Candy Melts and Wilton White Candy Melts at a ratio of 2 parts white chocolate to each 1 part chocolate (eg 400g Blue to 200g White or 14 oz Blue to 7 oz white). Mix in quite a bit of copha or paramount crystals during the melting process until the mixture is very fluid (but not so much that it is watery). The mixture should be like condensed milk.

This is NOT how the finished melted blue/white candy melt mixture should look - this is just showing how I mixed a couple of colors together. It should be a consistent color and much more fluid than this bowl.


I melt my chocolate in the microwave on medium low, medium is too hot and high is way too hot. If you heat your chocolate at too high a temperature it will burn and not be salvageable for dipping .Remember medium/low for short bursts of 60 to 90 seconds.

Grab a bunch of toothpicks. Holding one end of the stick dip the other end into the melted chocolate/candy coating and insert it into a egg shape so the stick is sitting in the larger rounded bottom side of the egg (see picture) and the stick is parallel to the tray. Repeat for remaining eggs.


Place the tray back into the fridge to chill for 10 minutes or until the sticks are secure.

Make sure the chocolate/candy coating is still melted, if needed remelt in the microwave at medium low. Holding the end of the stick dip the whole egg truffle into the melted chocolate/candy coating. Lift it up and allow as much of the candy/chocolate mixture to fall off as possible. Place upright in a stryofoam block to set.



Once set you can lay the cloud pops back down on a tray to work on.  Holding the toothpick securely twist and pull the toothpick out and repeat for all the eggs.



Make sure you still have some of the melted chocolate. For this step I like the chocolate to be nearly set, but not quite.Make sure your hands are really clean (I know you would be doing that anyway) or pop on gloves and stick your finger into the melted chocolate. Then press the chocolate into the hole left by the toothpick and smooth it around with the tip of you finger.


Next melt up very small amount of the dark chocolate you can add a little copha or paramount crystal if you like.

Place one of the eggs away from the others on a clean workbench (like your kitchen bench). Dip your brush in the chocolate and then holding the brush by one hand, run your fingers through the bristles sot that the chocolate splatters onto the egg.


Yup just like you used to do when you were a kid.

I like to hold the brush down just under the larger rounded bottom side so that the flicks of chocolate are larger down there and graduate up to less at the top of the egg, but that's just my preference.

Repeat for remaining eggs.

Eggs can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days.



If you enjoy cake pops, my book Sweets on a Stick has lots of recipes for making cake pops from scratch and more fun ideas is a US Release however there is a conversion chart in the back of the book for metric.It's available from bookstores in the US and here online at:


Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!

Peggy Porschen Boutique Baking 1 day special deal

OK this post is interrupting your normal reading......

Peggy Porschen's new book due out at the end of May is on super special for $21.97 1 day only preorder offer over at Fishpond with Free Shipping to Australia (different rates apply to other countires)

Boutique Baking: Delectable Cakes, Cookies and Teatime Treats


Boutique Baking: Delectable Cakes, Cookies and Teatime Treats

This new book is apparently filled with lots of lovely baking recipes and has 150 colour photographs. I have added it to my pre order at this fabulous price and I can't wait for it to arrive.

If your not in Australia you might like to pop over to Peggy's website to order directly and see all the other fabulous items she has available.

Bubble and Sweet's normal regular Sunday post will occur at 6pm tonight, but this was too good for me to wait :)

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

On my wish list - Clara French, Green Gate, Lanterns, Camera Bags and pretty marshmallows

I've been doing a little bit of online browsing lately and here are some things on my wish list.


Clara French Cake Stands.

Are these some of the prettiest cake stands you have seen?


I've had my eye on these Clara French Stands for quite a while, but a word of warning, if you love them as much as me make sure you plan ahead. These stands are hand made and so popular that it's not uncommon to wait quite a few months for your special ceramic masterpiece to arrive.


Pictures from pintrest

Epiphanie Camera Bag

I have a little bit of camera stuff now, a couple of lenses, stacks of accessories I don't know how to use or what they even are for and I've been looking for somewhere to store them.

Pictures from Epiphanie Blog

I love the look of this camera bag. I might not know how to use my camera, but at least I'll look great doing it (or not doing it as the case may be), I'm a bit of a fan of the Clover style, but they all look pretty good.

Check out all the little padded pockets inside, perfect for storing all those little bits and pieces.


Oh and a photography course is pretty high on my wish list as well ;)

Green gate

I am sooo in love with the table wear and linen and pretty much everything else they create and design at Green Gate Denmark. I already have a bit of a collection but this is staying on my wish list.

You can get Green Gate online at a number of UK and European stores. In Brisbane Just Plain Gorgeous at Bulimba stock some items and they have new stock arriving soon.


Pretty Fabric lanterns from TLBC

How sweet are these fabric lanterns from The Little Big Company, I think they would look adorable at the kids next party, or just pretty much anywhere.

Image from The Little Big Company online store

Marshmallow Madness

OK maybe it is a bit of madness to want a whole book on marshmallow.....but it just looks so pretty. I don't have this book yet and so haven't tried any of the recipes but homemade marshmallows are super duper yummy and the cover of this book has me wanting to make them in every color and flavor.



So do tell......is there anything you have on your wish list at the moment?

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache Blue French Macarons


What flavor do you think of when you pick up a blue sweet?

I bet it's not Peanut Butter, and you might also think that peanut butter is a strange pairing for a french macaron.

But not so surprisingly when you think about it the filling, which has a touch of saltiness, balances out the sweet almond shells quite nicely.

This is the same peanut butter chocolate ganache that I used to top the If This is Wrong I don't want to be right Peanut Butter Mini Cheesecakes I made up a few weeks ago.


Oh and just in case you missed it, I did a tutorial for some plane cookies over at Polkadot Prints Blog, click over and have a look, they are based on the super lovely Flying High printable range.



Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache filled French Macarons

Macaron Shells makes around 20 filled macarons

190 gram (6 5/8 oz)almond meal (almond flour)
190 gram pure icing sugar (6 5/8 oz powdered sugar)
190 gram granulated sugar (6 5/8 oz)
48 grams water (1 5/8 oz)
140 gram egg whites aged split into 2 lots of 70grams each (5 oz split into 2 lots of 2 1/2oz each)*
dark blue food colour
*ageing egg whites refers to separating the yolks from whites and then leaving the whites to age for a few days. This can be done on the counter if your countries climate permits or in the fridge, wrap the bowl with plastic wrap and then pop a few holes in the top. Alternately you can pop the egg whites in the microwave on high for 10 seconds or so - I used the microwave method in this batch pictured.

1. Mix the ground almonds and icing sugar together and pulse a few times in food processor to make almond meal finer. Do not over process as the meal can become oily. Sieve into a large bowl. Add colour and 70g (2 1/2 ounce) of the egg whites to the sugar/almond mixture but don’t mix in.


2. Place remaining 70g (2 1/2 ounce) of egg whites in bowl of mixer fitted with the whisk.

Yup - I really use this super old fashioned thermometer I have had for about 20 years to make my macarons

3. Pop granulated sugar and water into saucepan stir to combine and cook without stirring to 118C (245 F). Once the mixture reaches 115C (240 F) start mixing the egg whites on high. Make sure you have a pouring shield on your mixer, when the sugar syrup reaches 118C (245 F)remove from heat and immediately pour in a thin stream down the side of the mixer bowl continuing to whisk on high.

4. Continue to whisk the meringue on high until the side of the bowl is only a little warm to touch, around 50C (120 F).
.


5. Add meringue mixture to almond mixture and using a large spatula fold the mixture together until it starts to shine and forms a ribbon that disappears back into the mixture after about 30 seconds.

6. Add the mixture to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip (or just cut the end of a disposable piping bag) and pipe in lines onto parchment lined baking sheets. To make the macarons as even as possible I apply a constant slow pressure to the piping bag and count a few numbers like up to 3 for each one.


7. Set aside for about 30 minutes or until the macarons have formed a skin so that the macaron mixture does not stick to your finger when gently touched.

8. Meanwhile preheat oven to 140C (285 F). Once ready bake the macaroons for around 13 to 15 minutes depending on size, they should not be browned. Remove the baking trays and immediately slide off the macarons and the parchment onto the work surface and let cool completely before removing the shells.

9. Once cooled match disks into like sizes and sandwich together using the ganache.



Peanut Chocolate Ganache


1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar) sifted
3 tsp or 15g  unsalted butter (1 US Tbsp or 1/2 oz)
4oz Dark or Semi Sweet Chocolate 
1 oz cream 
 pinch salt
1 Tbsp or 20g (1 1/2 Tbsp US or 3/4 oz) unsalted butter at room temperature

Chop the chocolate into fine pieces. Place in a microwave safe bowl with the cream and heat in the microwave at medium low heat for 1 minute bursts until melted. Make sure you do not overheat the chocolate. 

Cover and allow to set at room temperature until firm.

Place peanut butter, sugar, 3 tsp (1 US Tbsp) unsalted butter and pinch of salt into a bowl and mix until well combined set aside until required.

Beat the chocolate mixture on high for a couple of minutes until it lightens in color. Add the Peanut Butter Filling and mix well at medium speed, add the 1 Tbsp ( 1 1/2 US Tbsp) butter and continue to beat at medium speed until the mixture comes together, do not over mix.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Yogurt Push Pops - and now for something healthy for the kids


 OK - I'm gonna go right out and say it. Push Pops are gimicky.

Yup that's me here calling the kettle black.

I've been playing around with the push pops for a little while now and what I can tell you is that kids like them. Sometimes they don't quite have the fine motor skills to stop pushing in time, but boy oh boy do they like them.

So I'm all for letting that little fact work for me and I've been making up these yogurt, fruit and muesli push pops for the kids to have for breakfast or an afternoon snack.


and there's no guilt, cause it's healthy, fun and these little plastic babies while not great for the environment are washable and reusable.......and dishwasher safe as well.

Now I know your thinking, but can't you just scoop some yogurt into a bowl, and it's true I could, but around here we have a bit of a struggle every school morning to get breakfast eaten. If I say there is yogurt they want cereal, if I offer cereal they want pancakes (which is strictly a weekend thing here)......constant struggle.

Some days when I know that I will be focusing on other stuff this is a perfect breakfast as the kids think they are getting a treat and I can prepare it before hand and have it sitting in the fridge ready to go.


Pretty yellow print Greengate tea towel from - Just Plain Gorgeous Bulimba QLD Australia(07) 3399 2002
Push pops and Push pop stand from Popular Treats (Australia)

Also available here in the US



Yogurt, Seasonal Fruit and Muesli Push Pops -You can make it up any way you like but this is what I did:

Yogurt (I used The Original Greek Yogurt Co Passionfruit and Lemon Curd yogurt)
Muesli (I used cranberry toasted)
Seasonal fruit (peach, blueberries and raspberries)

Spoon in some yogurt until 1/3 way full, sprinkle in a couple tsp muesli, add some finely chopped peach.

Add more yogurt until nearly at the top of pop, sprinkle another tsp of muesli and garnish with some more fruit.