Debbie Brown Cake Decorating Workshop in Brisbane

Squeee - this is the sound of me squealing in excitement. I have just booked in for a Debbie Brown Cake decorating workshop to be held in Brisbane, Australia in a couple of weeks time.

Debbie Brown is the author of numerous amazing cake decorating books. I just had a quick peek in my bookshelf and saw I have 50 Easy Party Cakes, Enchanted Cakes for Children and Cartoon Cakes, and I can't say this about all my decorating books I have actually used these books to make at least 4 different cakes I can remember with pretty good results. 

and when I just popped into the online bookstore to get these pics - I saw a new book on the way pictured below Gorgeous and Gruesome cakes for children. Wahoo! looks fabulous.





Anyhoo back to the workshops, there are 4 different workshops with a different cake to be made each day, I wish I could attend them all but I had to contain myself and just pick one.

If your thinking of attending  you will need to bring some of your own equipment a rolling pin, cake smoothers- a turntable and a small knife.

At the end of the day you get to take home your very own made with your own hands and love creation.

Bookings are via debra.brown@btinternet.com

Here is a link to her website Debbie Brown

Mocha Macaron Melodramatics

So Borders had a 40% off cook book sale and I went a little crazy. I can't tell you how many books I bought or you will never be able to think of me as a sensible person again, but one of my purchases was a book devoted to Macarons.

It is gorgeous to look at and I was swept away by the exciting sounding flavour combinations and beautiful photography.

Then after I got the book home I noticed the basic recipe for each macaron is quite different from the one I use and does not require a sugar syrup to be made.

Well I thought to myself, I can give this a try, it seems much simpler than the recipe I normally use.

I kept reading..... whoa 2 to 6 hours of resting before cooking. I live in a house with 3 kids 5 years old and under including a very able and active climbing toddler. Oh well, I thought to myself I'll just have to stand guard in the kitchen for as long as it takes (only just over 2 hours luckily and most of that time the toddler was asleep, yay for me)

and so it began, I followed the recipe and made macarons, they were ok, they rose and gained the little frill/ feet, I was able to remove them from the paper. If I had never made macarons before I might have been jumping for joy, but instead I was a bit cranky I had wasted all that almond meal on mediocre macarons. Melodramatic much???

The recipe I usually use is a little more complicated - it requires more equipment. But for me I think the extra effort is worthwhile and results in a better macaron.

For some the recipe below might be perfect as it requires little more than a bowl, spoon, spatula, sifter and hand held electric mixer and way less mixing time (although more resting time). Also everyone has a different taste preference and I admit to being a little harsh. My trustee tasters who received the macarons thought they were lovely and some preferred the bitter coffee to the sweet rose. So I will share the recipe with you, but I do recommend clicking here to see my other macaron recipe which for me would win hands down in a macaron bake off every time.


This recipe is adapted from Macaron by Alison Thompson, it is a beautiful book and I would buy it again (and at 40% off like I got it in a heatbeat). As I said before it has many gorgeous pictures and wonderful flavour combinations and as a bonus many of the fillings use up the egg yolks. I actually used a different filling than recommended.

So what lessons did I learn today. Don't judge a book by it's cover. Easy is not always better. Stick with what you know.

Well none of the above, I'll still be buying cookbooks for the beautiful photography and life would be too boring if I never tried anything new. But I did learn to love my other macaron recipe just a little bit more.

Macaron Shell

(US conversion in brackets)

225g (8oz) pure icing sugar (powdered)
140g (5oz) almond meal (ground almond or almond flour)
100g (3 1/2 oz) egg whites

Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.

Optional step - Combine icing sugar and almond meal in a food processor and pulse a few times.

Sift icing sugar/almond mixture and discard anything remaining in the sieve. If you are discarding a lot of almond, try to replace it with a little more sifted almond.

Whisk egg white with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Fold in sifted almond and sugar. Fold until the mixture is glossy and moves slowly when the bowl is lifted.

Spoon mixture into piping bag and pipe 3cm rounds onto the trays, spacing them approx 3 cms apart. Tap the trays firmly to remove any air bubbles (eek at this stage the macarons had a couple of largish air bubbles which disturbed me so I burst them with a toothpick and smoothed the macaron over - not sure what the macaron fanatics would say about this behaviour).

I sprinkled some finely ground coffee onto the tops at this stage, but it is optional.

Rest at room temperature until a crust forms, that is until you can lightly touch the uncooked macaron without it sticking to your finger. This will take between 2 to 6 hours depending on humidity in your area.

Ok, I am officially not in love with this recipe at this stage

Preheat oven to 150 C (300F). Once heated place macarons into the oven and reduce temperature to 130C (265 F). Bake for 10 -12 mins until firm to touch but not coloured. Remove from oven and cool on the baking tray. When macarons have cooled carefully remove from parchment paper.

Match macarons in like sizes and sandwich together with filling.

Filling
50ml cream
100 gm (3 1/2 ounces) 70% dark chocolate
1/2 tsp instant coffee


Bring cream to boil, dissolve coffee in cream. Pour over finely chopped chocolate and stand 5 mins. Stir until all chocolate has melted. Allow to set a little and use as required.

Cinnabon like cinnamon scrolls with coffee cream cheese frosting

Warm cinnamon scrolls with coffee cream cheese frosting - Mmmm melty deliciousness

When I traveled in the US I loved the smell coming from the Cinnabon stores baking warm delicious cinnamon scrolls and a while ago a came across a knock off version on My Tartelette. They were pretty delicious.

Then I came up with the idea to add coffee to the icing, and now they are not just delicious they are super dooper delicious.

I made these ones this morning with no special equipment in 2 hours (most of that time is resting time) and they were a perfect breakfast, just imagine them on a chilly morning with a cup of hot coffee.

Sadly my coffee machine broke a few months ago and I have yet to buy a new one so I have used instant coffee in this recipe and had to eat the scrolls on their lonesome. I am hoping my luck is about to change however, Not Quite Nigella has a competition at the moment to win a Nespresso coffee machine at her blog and I have my fingers crossed.

The recipe make 12 scrolls, in the past I have reheated the scrolls a day later in the microwave and they are still good. This recipe adapted from My Tartelette. It does use a lot of bowls so be prepared for a bit of cleaning up.

Cinnabon™  like cinnamon scrolls with coffee cream cheese frosting
as usual the recipe is suitable for Australian measurements any US conversion is in brackets

Rolls:
1 pkg active dry yeast approx 7 - 8 g (US 1/4 oz. size or 2 1/4 tsp)
1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
76g   (2 5/8 oz or 1/3 c) melted butter
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs room temp
4 cups plain (all-purpose) flour

Filling:
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 TBS cinnamon
76g   (2 5/8 oz or 1/3 c) melted butter

Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting:
57 g  (2 oz 1/2 stick) butter, softened
57 g  (2 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 c icing (powdered) sugar
3 tsp (1 TBS) whole milk
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tsp instant coffee


Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl, let rest for 5 mins while you sift flour and measure out other ingredients.

Mix together the yeast mixture, sugar, butter, salt &  eggs. Add flour and mix well.
Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands lightly dusted with flour.

My 5 year old daughter kneading the dough

If you have kids let them at it, my 5 year old daughter helps out with kneading all the time. I break the dough in half and we each knead for a while and then I swap the halves over so they get kneaded evenly.


Put in a bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size. It's winter here at the moment so I popped mine into the oven at the lowest setting with the door ajar.

Preheat oven to  200º C (400º F).
Once doubled in size roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface flat until it is approximately 54 cm (21 inches) long and 40 cm (16 inches)  wide. It should be about 1/2 cm (¼) inch thick.

Clockwise from top - 1. spread the softened butter all over the rolled out dough, 2. sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture and 3. the rolled up dough ready for cutting

For the filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Spread the softened butter evenly over the surface of the dough, and then sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar evenly over the surface.
Working carefully from the top (the long side ), roll the dough down to the bottom edge.

Cut the rolled dough into 4 cm (1 1/2 inch) slices and place 6 at a time, evenly spaced, in a lightly greased baking pan. Let the rolls rise again until doubled in size (about 30 min.). Bake for 10  to 12 minutes, or until golden on top.

While the rolls bake, make the frosting by mixing the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. Add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until the sugar is incorporated. Dissolve the coffee into the milk and add to the cream cheese mixture with the vanilla. Mix on high speed again until the icing is smooth and fluffy.

When the rolls come out of the oven, let them cool for about 10 minutes, then coat generously with the icing.

Chocolate modeling paste and making butterflies

Cupcake decorated with Chocolate modeling paste butterflies and Italian Meringue Buttercream

I thought I would show you one of my favourite decorating mediums Chocolate modeling paste.

It tastes just like chocolate but is pliable and easily molded into shapes, in fact sometimes it is called chocolate plastic, (but that just doesn't sound very enticing does it).

It's great, you can make ribbons, roses and like above cute little butterflies. It can be used to cover whole cakes. It's delicious and best of all it's easy to make.

Chocolate Modeling paste recipe

Take 454 g (1 pound) of dark chocolate and 1 cup (240ml) of glucose or corn syrup. Melt the chocolate gently in short bursts in the microwave, warm up the syrup and mix together, not too much or it will start to separate and get oily.

Yup - that's it, too easy.

I halved the recipe and it worked out fine, you can also use milk or white chocolate (just use 680g or 1.5 pounds to 240ml/1 cup syrup ratio for white choc). Leave it to set and it should look like this and be very pliable.

Here are some pics of how I made the butterflies. I feel a bit embarrassed showing you, because it's soo easy.

The butterfly cutters I used are PME butterfly plunger cutters (you can easily find them via google or ebay). If you have trouble finding them email me I'll send you where I got mine from.

See how they plunge in and out.

So roll out the chocolate modeling paste to the thickness you require. Only use small batches as it dries out quickly. One press down will cut out the shape,  then without lifting the cutter up plunge down the middle to indent the pattern on the cut shape. See embarrassingly easy.

If you want butterflies with flat wings just leave them to set on parchment paper. If you want folded wings, once they are cut out  pop them onto some parchment paper folded into a V and then onto cardboard also folded to a V.

Mmmmm - fly into my mouth little butterflies. This gorgeous dress and hair clip are from Tea Princess, available from LaToriana.  If you have little girls you have to check out the latest winter range.

LaToriana also carries the gorgeous Robert Gordon cupcake papers shown in the pic above. Or if your in the US you can get them from Bake it Pretty

I'm making Whoopie - Pies that is

Whoopie Pies - are these the next big thing? They have been around for a while, but they seem to be gaining some popularity at the moment.

Pink vanilla raspberry, omit choc chips add colour and pop raspberry extract in the frosting.

They look a bit like a big macaron and have a lot of frosting like a cupcake - intrigued yet?

Pretty much a whoopie pie is in between a cake batter and cookie dough baked on a cookie tray, and then sandwiched together with a good dollop of frosting/filling.

Have I sold you yet? Well they are easy to make, delicious and you can make them in so many different combinations your sure to find one you love.

Whoopie pies cookbook by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell 

I have a whole cookbook just dedicated to these delightful treats.

To start off showing you the delights of Whoopie Pie I have made a chocolate chip version, with a traditional frosting center using crisco and marshmallow fluff. Now if you live in Australia you may have trouble finding these ingredients so check out the notes at the bottom.

Now this here is an example of not following the recipe exactly again. I made my whoopies a little too big, probably about double the size and I think mine are just a tad too browned. But still super delicious.

Also the recipe said it would make 48, and I only ended up with 19 doubles (38 singles) and that's even before I ate a few warm unfilled ones
.

Whoopie Pie and milk - Mmmmm

Oh well will just have to make the sacrifice and try again in a couple of days.

Ok on to the recipe, these are adapted from Whoopie Pies by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell

Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies

2 1/4 cups plain (all purpose) flour                                   
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
56g (2 oz) unsalted butter at room temperature
56g (2 oz) vegetable shortening (if not available use butter * see below on where to find crisco in Australia)
1/2 cup granulate sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 Tbsp milk (US - 2 Tbsp)
1 tsp bicarb soda (baking soda)
1 tsp white vinegar
1 cup choc chips, mini if available

Preheat oven to 190 C (375 F). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a mixer bowl beat butter, shortening and both sugars until light and creamy. Approx 3 mins.

Beat together sugars, shortening and butter until fluffy

Add eggs and buttermilk and beat until combined. (I think my milk was not warm enough and mine did not completely combine so I moved onto the next step after a bit of mixing without detriment to the finished product)

Combine milk, baking soda and vinegar and mix. Add to the batter along with the flour mixture and beat on low until combined. Add the vanilla and beat on medium for approx 2 mins until completely combined.

Stir in choc chips with a spatula or wooden spoon until just incorporated.

Fold in the chop chips

Using a spoon drop about  3 tsp (US 1 tbsp) of batter onto one of the prepared baking sheets, continue leaving about 2 inch of space.

Bake 1 sheet at a time for appox 10 mins until the cakes just begin to brown. Let cool for at least 5 mins before transferring to wire rack to cool.

'Classic" marshmallow filling
(I only made half of the recipe listed below and had just enough to fill my whoopies)

1 1/2 cups Marshmallow Fluff (see pic below)
1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening (like crisco see pic below)
1 cup icing (confectioner's) sugar
3 tsp (US - 1 tbsp) vanilla extract

In a stand mixer beat together marshmallow fluff and shortening at medium speed until the mixture is smooth and fluffy.

Reduce to low speed and mix in sugar and vanilla, beat until well mixed, scrape down as required. Increase speed to medium high and mix until fluffy approx 3 mins.

To assemble pip or spread filling onto one whoopie cake and top with another cake.

Store in a single layer in a air tight container for up to 3 days. If you pile them on top of each other they will stick together.

* Where to find Crisco, Marshmallow Fluff and other US ingredients in Australia

Sometimes I have been lucky enough to find marshmallow fluff at coles in the same section as peanut butter, nutella and vegemite. But if your not so lucky here is a link to USA Foods where I get stuff from, they call it marshmallow creme there. If you live in Australia and crave US foods this is your link to an oasis of baking goods, cereals, sodas and chocolate bars.

In Brisbane Australia, Chocolate Boulevard in the Myer Center also has a wide range of US foods.

If your still having trouble finding crisco/shortening my local kitchenware store sells shortening in their cake decorating section, so you might try someplace like that. It is not crisco but it's a similar product.

As an alternative to the traditional filling, the lovely  Lorraine at Not Quite Nigella did a post on Whoopie's a couple of months ago and had a link to this easy version of filling at Taste.com.au

Or stay tuned to the blog I will be trying out a few different versions of whoopie pies and fillings over the next few weeks

♥ ♥ ♥ Heart cookie cupcake toppers ♥ ♥ ♥ - oh I ♥ them

Wheee look at these super gorgeous cupcake wrappers I got from The Cupcake Wrapper Co

Aren't they just the sweetest thing - Love Birds - Awwhhhhh.

Although I have another project planned with these super cute wrappers. I just had to do something with them straight away so I made these little heart cookie cupcake toppers with some cookie dough I had left in the freezer from the lollipop cookies (click here for cookie recipe)

 Turns out they were too delicious to resist.

"Help, no not me, eat my delicious friend next to me .... "

"Aaaargh no I'm too buttery, I'm no good for you, stop it."

Oooops


I shaped the uncoloured dough into a long heart shaped log by rolling a log, squashing out a point for the bottom of the heart and using a knife to indent the top and then wrapped around the pink

Pop the dough back into the fridge to cool and after at least an hour take out and slice to make cute little cookies.

Pop a long food safe pick into the bottom of the cookie and bake at 165 C (330 F) for approx 10 mins or until cooked.

Heart cookie cupcake toppers, decorative and edible.

♥  ♥  ♥

Yum.

and the winner is.......FROSTING!!!!!

c

Just a quick update posting.

A couple of weeks back we had a taste off between old fashioned frosting and Italian meringue buttercream and it seems like old fashioned frosting was the winner.

That's right, that simple go to recipe of sugar, butter, milk and vanilla won out over 40 minutes of boiling sugar syrups, mixing meringue and kitchenaid whipping.

Although it did only just win and most people said they would be happy with both. Some really disliked the frosting as too sweet, and others disliked the buttercream as too creamy. I guess as with most things its a matter of taste.

So if you like sweet and sugary go for the frosting. However if you like fluffy, creamy frosting which pipes beautifully I recommend the buttercream.(the roses on both cakes were buttercream as the frosting just would not hold up to piping)

BIG thank you to all the testers who tasted and got back to me.