Cake thirteen - A Flowerbed

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Cupcakes are the most versatile of cakes to be used for any occasions and design. Close your eyes think of what you like most and there you are.... with some ability you can have your cupcake the shape you like! That’s what my daughters made for me. 

Choose your cupcake recipe, I often choose lemon cupcakes (see recipe - cake five simply add some grated lemon peel) as decoration and/or frosting are already rather sweet..

150 g white fondant (see recipe in cake twelve)

1 quantity yellow glacé icing (see recipe in cake twelve- add some yellow food colouring)

1 quantity choco frosting

5 cupcakes

yellow food colouring

Choco frosting 

100 g dark chocolate

2 tablespoons milk

50 g butter

75 g icing sugar

Put the chocolate, milk and butter in a small saucepan and heat gently, stirring frequently until the chocolate and butter have melted and are evenly distributed.

Remove fron the heat and stir in the icing sugar until the frosting is smooth and shiny.

1) Anemone petals

Crumple a sheet of aluminum foil and place on a small baking sheet (the folds of the foil will enable the petals to set in curved shapes). For each anemone rollout one-fifth of the white fondant on a surface lightly dusted with icing sugar. Cut out five disks using a 3,5 cm cookie cutter. Lift up one of the disks (lightly dust your fingers with icing sugsr before!) Press your thumb into the centre, mould the edges of the petal to look more realistic.Place on the cumpled alumium foil so the folds of the foil support the fondant petal. Repeat with the remaining 4 disks. Make four more sets of petals in the same way plus a few spares out in case of breakages. 

Beat yellow food colouring into a small ball of fondant. Make five balls, and flatten them into the shape of a corolla. Leave for several hour to harden.

2) Preparing the cupcakes

Spread the choco frosting generously over the cupcakes.

3) Finishing touches

Arrange five petals in an overlapping circle on each cupcake, leaving a small gap in the centre. Press the petals carefully down into the frosting, then pipe some yellow glacé icing in the middle of the flower. For the stamens, use some sugar decoration.

Happy Birthday writing

Use some yellow glacé icing to write Happy Birthday Mum or what you like.

also visit:
http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2012/10/cake-thirteen.html

Cake twelve - A solitary Penguin

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When decoration is more important than the cake itself.

Not all cakes need an elaborate decoration, some don’t have any at all and look gorgeous anyway, it all depends on the recipe and most of the times on the occasion we’re making them for. Cupcakes are very often the hidden structure of creative decorations which sometimes look like works of art. But here comes a big problem: how can you eat your creation after all your efforts? 

Any cupcake recipe is fine, I always choose vanilla cupcakes (see cake five) and add some grated lemon peel.

Decoration 

You need to make some fondant for the penguin, some royal icing for the penguin’s island and then some glacé icing for the nearby rocks and to cover all with snow.

I must say I was pretty scared to make fondant, I thought it was a kind of ‘mission impossible’, but with much patience and my younger daughter’s help I’ve made it! I’ve discovered kind of another galaxy of cake decorations: I’m a true fan of fondant now!

Fondant 

1 tablespoon egg white

1 tablespoon glucose syrup or light corn syrup

about 180/200 g icing sugar 

Put the egg white, syrup and about a quarte of the icing sugar in a bowl and mix to a smooth paste. Continue to mix in more icing sugar until it becomes too stiff to stir. Turn the paste onto the work surface and knead in more icing sugar to make a smooth, stiff paste. (don’t make it too soft or sticky, you’d have some difficulty when working it).

Add any coloring you need and wrap tightly in several thicknesses of plastic wrap, unless you’re going to use it immediately. It’s gonna be more difficult to work if it’s summer or you live in a hot country!

Royal icing

1 egg white - 200 gr icing sugar 

Put the egg white in a bowl or in a and whisk lightly to break it up. Work in the icing sugar until the icing has a thick and smooth consistency that just holds its shape.

Glacé icing 

200 gr icing sugar - 4 teaspoons water 

Combine icing sugar and water until smooth. Add water a little at a time until the consistency is smooth and the icing just holds its shape.

Making the penguin

What we need to make one penguin:

4 vanilla cupcakes

one teaspoon of orange jam

1 quantity glacè icing 

80 g black fondant

small pieces of orange, white and red fondant

1 raspberry gummy drop

black food colouring

1) The Penguin’s Island

Take one cupcake and spread it with some orange jam using a small spatula. Spoon some royal icing on top of the orange jam and spread to the edges. Drag a little icing over the side to form an icile-shaped point and then continue all around the edge of the cupcake creating iciles of varying lengths.

2) The Penguin

Divide the black fondant into two pieces, a bigger one of about 60 g and a smaller one. 

Mold the biggest piece of black fondant into an oval shape (lighlty dust your hands with some icing sugar). Flatten the base lightly and put it on the cupcake..

Draw one wing on parchment paper. Then divide the rest of the fondant into two pieces and roll them out thinly on the work surface. Place the wing template on the rolled fondant and cut two wings. Secure the wings in place with a damped paintbrush.

Now take a pea-sized piece of orange fondant and cut in half. Flatten each half and make two indents using a sharp knife. Position the feet in front of the body. For the chest, thinly roll out the cut fondant and cut an oval shape (3 x 3 cm). Secure to the front of the penguin with a dampened paintbrush.

3) Face

Shape a small triangular beak in orange fondant and secure in place with a dampened paintbrush. 

Make two tiny balls of white fondant, flatten them a bit and push them into the black fondant either side of the beak for eyes. Paint the centers of the eyes using a paintbrush and black food colouring. 

4) Hat and scarf

Make a small ball out of the red fondant, flatten the base and secure it to the top of the penguin’s head with a little of the glacè icing.
Thinly roll out the rest of the red fondant and cut out the scarf. Wrap around the neck and press gently. in place. Cut out two shorter lenghts of red fondant for the scarf ties. Cut decorative tassels at one end of eacj lenght, then secure to the front with a dampened paintbrush. 

5) Rocks and Snow

Use the other three cupcakes to make other rocks around the penguin, leave some space around the penguin to give better the idea of the sea. Cover the rocks and the areas around them with glacé icing.

also visit:
http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2012/10/cake-twelve.html
                                               

Cake five - Red Heart Birthday Cupcakes

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Welcome to the  “Magic World of Cupcakes,” a rich and colourful universe of taste and looks! When you say ‘cupcake’ you only refer to the shape of your cake - a very small one, the size of a cup - and not to a specific cake. 

The secret ingredient is decoration: 
this time choco buttercream frosting with heart shaped candies.
150 gr self-raising flour
90 gr. softened butter
110 gr sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk 

Beat flour, butter, sugar and eggs with electric mixer for five minutes, then add milk and beat until mixture is of a pale colour. 
Preheat oven to 180°. Put mixture into paper cases and bake for about 20 minutes. 

 Decoration 

Choco Buttercream Frosting

125 gr butter

240 gr icing sugar

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Beat butter until as white as possible, add icing sugar and cocoa, then add milk. in two batches.. 

Use a piping bag with a large fluted tube, half-fill the bag with the buttercream. Pipe generoous swirls on top of each cake. Refrigerate.

Read Heart candies

30 hard candies, either clear or red

Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Unwrap hard candies and put them on baking sheet spacing them about 5 cm apart.

Preheat the oven to 200°. Bake for 5 - 10 minutes, checking
frequently after 3 min as some brands might melt quicker than others.

In the meantime dip the metal cookie cutters (hearts) into vegetable oil. 

Here they are! 

Remove the melted candies from the oven and leave for about 30 seconds to firm up slightly. 

Press the cutters firmly into the syrup and lift away immediately so clearly defined shapes are visible.

Let cool completely before lifting from baking paper and snapping away the excess sweets from the shapes.

also visit:
http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2012/07/cake-five.html