Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Mini Mousse

I have a bit of a thing for little mini mousse cups.

Mini always makes everything cuter.....and when I found these super sweet little disposable square verrine cups I knew I had to use them on my next dessert table.

Ok who am I kidding, I want to use them on EVERY dessert table I ever do from now on cause they are sooo cute.

Anyway as my next planned table after I picked up the cups was a pie and slice table I came up with an idea to make some chiffon pie mousse cups. They worked out pretty well, rather than layering different flavors I just made the one type of mousse and then added extra flavor and texture with the garnish. It meant I could make all the components in advance and then I just assembled on the spot to ensure maximum crunchiness for the pie bites and macarons.

It was something new for me and I didn't have a recipe handy so I found some on the internet, tried out a few, threw out quite a few icky batches and then finally tweaked this recipe I found here.

The gorgeous photography is by Naomi V Photography. at her studio.

Printables are by Style Me Gorgeous.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Mousse with mini macarons and pecan pie crust bites were created for the Blissfully Sweet Oh Sweet Mum E-vent for this rustic pie table...more pictures of the pie table available in the online E-Zine or here on the Bubble and Sweet Blog.

Ah-Tissue created the amazing display of paper and hessian wall pom poms.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie Mini Mousse - (makes around 24 mini mousse cups)

3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cream (heavy)
1 cup cooked well mashed pumpkin (you may use tinned if you like)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups cream (heavy) extra

In a heavy based saucepan at medium low heat cook the yolks, sugar and 1/2 cup cream whisking continuously until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Remove from the heat and mix in the pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Place in the fridge to chill for around an hour.

Place the 1 1/2 cups cream in a large bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Mix in 1/3 of the pumpkin mixture with a spatula to lighten the mixture. Add the remaining pumpkin mixture to the cream mixture and gently fold in until combined.

Place the mixture into a large disposable piping bag (I use biggish kee-seal ones).

Line up the mini mousse cups (or what ever type of container you are using) on a large tray.

Snip off the end of the piping bag with scissors and squeeze the mixture into the cups until it nearly reaches the top.

Place the tray in the fridge and chill overnight or until set. Best prepared day before serving although you can prepare a few days ahead and store in an airtight container in the fridge.

I decorated the mousse cups with mini macarons and Pie bites.

Pie Bites

To make the pie bites roll out some chilled sugar crust pie dough or vanilla sugar cookie mixture. Cut into small squares around 3cm (1"), place on trays lined with parchment paper and press chopped pecans into the dough. Bake at the recommended oven setting until golden and allow to cool before using (can be prepared around 3 days ahead).

I used the sugar crust pie dough from my book Sweets on a Stick, It's the same recipe I use for the pie pops. But you can just use store bought or even this sugar cookie dough recipe CLICK HERE.

Mini Macarons

To make mini macarons you can follow this recipe CLICK HERE and just pipe the macarons smaller.

For more of my recipes including the Pie Crust recipe for the pie pops check out my book Sweets on a Stick. You can pick it up online at Amazon here:

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

I popped this on Skip to my Lou's Linky Made by you Monday.

and Kitchen fun with my three sons crafty Friday

Oh Sweet Mum - A rustic pie buffet party table

I love my mum.

Without a doubt she has been the hugest female influence in my life. She taught me to cook, to love and to be the best I can be, she made me who I am and if my own children end up loving and respecting me as much as I do my own mother...then I'll be pretty happy and call my time here a success.

So when Jacki from Blissfully Sweet asked if I would like to be involved in an E-vent being organised in memory of her own mother I was honored to participate.

When I signed on I had no idea how gorgeous the Oh-Sweet Mum E-vent would be. Jacki co-ordinated a group of super talented stylists, artists, florists, florists, cake decorators and more from within Australia and around the world to come up with a day of amazing events.

I would highly recommend that you CLICK HERE to read the E-Magazine that was created to showcase the E-vent. It includes so many beautiful images, information about the contributors, recipes and diy ideas including my recipe for Caramel Slice.

Want caramel slice to rival these babies

....click over to the E-zine it includes my recipe

Anyway......my mission (if I chose to accept it) was to create a Pie, Tart and Slice E-vent and I decided the best way would be a dessert buffet.

That little Mission Impossible pun is due to the fact that Pies are not really my thing.

But I think I met the challenge and came up with a rustic inspired pie and slice table with my own Bubble and Sweet spin. Although there are a couple of traditional pies on display I have included 'Pie' Macarons, Whoopie Pies, Pie Pops and pretty little Chiffon Pumpkin verrines with mini macarons and pecan pie crust bites.

I'm pretty happy with the end result which I'm going to admit is only this good due to the contributions of Naomi V Photography and Ah-Tissue.

With the original concept of the Oh Sweet Mum E-vent in mind and in the interests of women's health, I am going to donate a dollar for every comment on this pie table post up to $100 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  (I know that there are many other important aspects of women's health and other great organisations I have just chosen this one this time).

Also as a mother to 3 young children myself I know that sometimes my own health takes a back seat to everything else going on. But regardless of what is happening I do make sure I always keep any of my regular doctor's check up appointments and I try to remember to keep up my own self-examination routine. Please if you take anything from this post today I hope that it how important you are to your friends and family and that you should look after your health.... and the same applies to all you men out there as well :)

OK now that I've got off my soap-box, back to the yummy treats:



Rustic Pie and Party Table menu included:

Sky High Apple Pie
Rustic Cherry Pie

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie with mini chocolate macarons and pecan piecrust bites

Pie Pops (recipes from Sweets on a Stick)
Peanut Butter Boston Cream Pie

Rustic Chocolate Pecan Pie

 Chocolate Cream Mousse Pie with mini chocolate macarons and Hazelnut Tart Shell

Whoopie Pies

Assorted Slices (Rocky Road (recipe from Sweets on a Stick), Mum's Sweet Caramel Slice and Cheesecake Slice)

 Chocolate chunk fudge brownie Slab; and

 Apple Pie macarons

The table theme was inspired by the chocolates and caramels in the treats with some gold and teal highlights.

Ah-Tissue created an amazing display of paper and hessian wall pom poms which I can only describe as wall art.

The gorgeous photography is by Naomi V Photography. and the photo's are taken at her studio

(This was my favorite photo of the day - apart from the girls of course - 

I think because they were my favorite treat - super yum)

Printables are by Style Me Gorgeous.

The dresses and hair pieces that Bubble and Sweet are wearing are Tea Princess purchased from Tea Princess and Vintage Ladybird.

Recipes for the Pie Pops, Boston Cream Pies and the Rocky Road are from Sweets on a Stick

Sweets on a Stick 0ver 150 Kid Friendly Recipes available from Amazon and Fishpond 

(and lots of other places too)

Pretty Easter Pastel Rainbow Party

I know I say it a lot but my daughter (Sweet) was the inspiration behind this pretty little party.

Her favorite color is rainbow......which suits her personality perfectly.

It's quite a simple party as it was for Easter and there would be lots of chocolate eggs soon to follow.

I made a pretty pastel rainbow ruffle cake (CLICK HERE FOR HOW TO MAKE IT) as the center piece of the party. It is actually also 5 layers of rainbow cake inside to match the outside ruffles and adorably pretty.

Then I made up some Oreo Eggs (CLICK HERE FOR OREO TRUFFLE RECIPE) and dipped them in a rainbow of candy melt colors.

I also made up some simple chick cookies in rainbow colors. The cookies are all about the cute cutter which I picked up at Ecrandal.

I found a pretty Easter printable range at The TomKat Studio which was in soft pastel colors that worked in well.

The Candy are actually Yogurt Gummy type lolli's. I know it sounds totally weird but they actually taste nice. They are 99% fat free, 50% fruit juice with yogurt powder and milk solids - Oh my goodness it's nearly like a health food (saying that mockingly). But I was really pleased I found them as they are a super pretty pastel color and they were so reasonably priced. They came in a huge packet which also had orange and white and I just popped on some gloves and separated them. They are made by vitabite and also come in frog and snake versions. In the US I found some on a site called Yogurt Gums that looked the same.

I filled pretty mini baskets I picked up last year from Sharnel Dollar Designs with jelly bean eggs and chocolate eggs and decorated the baskets with The TomKat Studio printables and a ribbon as thank you gifts.

The pretty mini pom poms are from Ah-Tissue,

and I popped some on hand made card rosettes and some on hand dyed pink paper doilies.

To hand dye doilies pop on some gloves, mix up some food color in water in a shallow bowl. Hold on to the edge of the doily on the right side, dip the left half and then hold on the other side and dip the right side. Place on Viva or paper towels until dry and then iron inbetween a couple of paper towels.

 Suppliers

Cake, cake pop and cookies by Bubble and Sweet (see post for instruction links)
Printables by The TomKat Studio
Mini Easter baskets by Sharnel Dollar Designs
Mini Pom Poms by Ah Tissue

Tahlin's Safari party, Safari Cupcakes and making black fondant

 
One of the best things about doing what I do is some of the amazing people I have met.

I have been really lucky through my work to meet a bunch of other party and sweet minded people who I have worked with on various projects and I can honestly say that to date I have yet to meet anyone I didn't like and quite a few of them have become friends I've worked with many times.

Like Daneve from Ah-Tissue who is genuinely lovely, and oh my goodness so super talented and inspirational.
A little while back I made some cookies and cupcakes for her son's Safari party. The designs were created by Daneve and her partner to work in with the theme.

The whole party was totally amazing! If you haven't seen it yet you should pop on over to her blog to see all the shots.

Here is the link to Tahlin's party on the Ah Tissue Blog.

and the photo's used in this blog post (apart from the one in the cupcake instruction section) are by Katie takes a picture.

How I made the cupcakes

The cupcakes were inspired by the beautiful invitations and were giraffe and zebra print disks of ready made fondant.

As you want them to be firm enough to hold their shape, plan to make these a few days before the party. In ideal conditions they will firm up in a day but with humidity or rain you might need a little bit longer.

Knead the fondant until pliable and add any colours then place them in a airtight container. For my safari toppers I used white background with black stripes and the giraffe was a mixture of ivory and light brown background and brown spots. Dark colours need to be made a day or so before to allow the colors to settle. (see end for black and brown fondant).

Dust your workbench with a little cornflour(cornstarch) and using a small plastic rolling pin roll out the fondant until it is a few mm thick (1/8 inch). Cut out a round shape in the size you would like the cupcake toppers to be, mine were around 6.5cm (2.6"). If you don't have a suitable round cutter you can always use the rim of a glass or cup.

Place the round cut shapes onto a parchment paper lined tray.

Now roll out the black fondant and cut out another round shape and using a sharp knife hand cut stripes. Make them messy not just straight up and down. If you are working along the circle the stripes should kinda fit into each other like mine do. When you have enough to cover the white circle (you will not use the whole black circle) arrange them onto the white disk, if needed use a really tiny amount of water* and then roll on with the plastic rolling pin very gently so you do not ruin the circle, although if you do you could just reuse your circle cutter to even it up. Cut any excess black overhang off with a knife.

*I dip my clean, for fondant use only paintbrush in the water and then dry most of it off with a paper/absorbent towel. especially when using black, red or other strong colors that easily bleed.

 (this photo by Darren Frankish - thanks Darren)

For the Giraffe print toppers, cut out a round of the ivory colored fondant, place it flat onto the parchment paper. Cut out the round of brown fondant and hand cut the spots, make them uneven and work in together. If you do not mind if the sides are not so sharply defined you could just pinch off pieces of the brown fondant and shape them into the spot shapes with your fingers which is much much faster.Adhere the spots with a small amount of water and gently press on using a plastic rolling pin.

Yup really that's how I made them and it does take a long long time. Alternately you could paint on the stripes with edible black paint or food colour.

Then I made up a batch of vanilla cupcakes and baked them in brown paper cases and topped them with vanilla buttercream piped in a swirl with a 1M tip. It was a flat swirl starting in the middle and working out to the edge. Toppers can be pushed carefully onto the top just before serving.

Colouring Fondant Black

I'm going to share a little trick with you on how I colour my ready made fondant black.

Start with chocolate fondant, yup they make chocolate fondant which I think tastes great (I use the Bakels brand), knead until pliable and then add Americolor superblack food colour until you reach the desired color. Store at least overnight to allow the colors to set.

I like this method for 2 reasons. Well technically one reason which has 2 benefits.

You use less colour which means:
1. the fondant will not get sticky (if it does get sticky you may need to add a little cornflour to the mixture and knead it in); and
2. There is less risk of a bitter food color taste.

Don't get me wrong it's still a messy process but you will use way less color and I think the fondant tastes waaaay better.

Here are a couple of places you can buy the Bakels chocolate fondant in Australia online:

Baking Pleasures

Cakes around town

and in the US I noticed that Michaels sells Wilton chocolate fondant and you can get Chocolate Satin Ice online from Sugarcraft



Oh and you know if your totally sensible and your using a lot of fondant you could just buy ready made black cause they sell that as well........but then it wouldn't taste like chocolate.

Cupcake pom picks from Ah Tissue Loving them

 

Thought I would share some pictures of these cute new Australian hand made cupcake pom picks from Ah-Tissue,
how gorgeous are they...... look how effortlessly they add height and colour to the cupcakes.

I was lucky enough to be able to make up the cupcakes and fondant toppers to help showcase this new product.

I sooooo love it when someone who actually knows what they are doing with a camera takes photo's of my treats they always look 100% nicer.

Cute Christmas cupcakes


sweet little ladybird topper

 Baby boy and girl perfect for a baby shower.....


and it goes without saying that I love the pink cupcake pom pick, but I think this one below is my favourite


It makes me think of a delicious neapolitan ice-cream.

Cupcake pom picks - Loving them!

Ah Tissue has a wide range of pom pom products available which are perfect for dressing up your party table


Cupcake pom pics from Ah-Tissue

Cupcakes and fondant edible toppers Bubble and Sweet

Cupcake wrappers by The Cupcake Wrapper Co

All images belong to Ah Tissue and used with permission.