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 eleven - Dough friends

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This is a delicious sweet dough you can easily mould into any shape you like. You can use it for wrtings too, like my ‘Benvenuti’ for example! I personally love dough writing... It makes me feel like a child playing with Dido!

Your ‘dough friends’ can be brownish, the colour of bread, or you can have fun colouring them with the brightest colours. What you only need is to set your fancy free!

600 gr flour

40 gr yeast

1/4l lukewarm water

100 gr butter (melted)

2 eggs

a pinch of salt

60 gr sugar

grated lemon rind (1 lemon)

1 extra egg

Put flour, yeast and sugar in a large bowl, add milk. Combine yeast, milk, some sugar and some flour. and mix to a small dough ball. Cover, stand in warm place for about 15 min. Stir in the melted butter, eggs, salt and lemon rind. Mix all the ingredients very well, cover and stand in warm place fur further 15 min.  

Make your own your paper templates, use parchment paper and it won't stick to dough!
(You'll find my templates in the page)

Turn dough onto floured surface, knead until smooth. Roll dough to about 1 cm thick. Cut out your ‘friends’, whisk egg and brush them. Stand in warm place for 15 min. 

Bake at 180° for 10-15 min.

Decoration 
Icing 

You can choose between two types of icing: 

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.. This icing is very good for details.

Beat in any food colouring adding a little at a time until the desired shade is reached.

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. This is the simplest icing to make and can be used for broader surfaces before adding further decorations, but it doesn’t hold its shape as well as royal icing.

Parchment paper templates

Here are the two stencils I've made for my 'Dough friends'

also visit:
http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2012/09/dough-friend-i-wouldnt-call-this-cake.html

Cake ten - Black Forest

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There’s something both fascinating and intriguing in the name of this cake. A thick forest which suddenly opens to a sunny clearing, wild berries and cream on top disclosing a secret delicious chocolate sponge with a whipped cream filling!

You can set your creativity free and decide for a two-three layer or a checkered cake depending on the time and patience you have. 

I chose the checkered cake for my son’s 18th birthday as I wanted to make it look special!

100 gr butter

100 gr sugar

4 eggs, 

70 gr almond meal

100 gr grated chocolate

50 gr cocoa

50 gr flour

50 gr cornstarch

2 ts baking powder

4 tbs vermouth

1/2 l cream 

1 kg cherries or 1/2 kg wild berries - if you use cherries stone some of them 

Grease 26 cm round cake pan. 

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, beat in eggs, almond meal and grated chocolate. Stir in flour, cornstarch and baking powder. Spread mixture into prepared pan. Bake about 30/40 min at 180°. 

Stand cake 3 min before turning onto wire rack to cool.

Cake assemblage

Cut the cake into three layers and sprinkle each layer with vermouth. Cut 2 layers into five 2 cm wide circles. Separate each circle with care. Let’s number them 1 to 5 starting from the outside.

Whip cream until soft peak forms. Spread a thin layer of cream onto the uncut cake layer. Then lay one of the circles n 1 on top, leave 2 cm space, lay circle n. 3, leave 3 cm space and lay circle n. 5. Fill the empty spaces with whipped cream and add some of the cherries (without the stone!) or berries. Repeat the same operation twice swapping chocolate circles and whipped cream. 

Decorate the cake with whipped cream and cover the top with cherries or berries.

also visit:
http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2012/09/cake-ten.html

Cake nine - Cupcakes: Variation on a theme

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White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

125 gr butter

100 gr white chocolate

240 gr icing sugar

2 tablespoons milk

Beat butter until as white as possible, add icing sugar, then add milk in two batches. Cut white chocolate into small pieces and put them in a small heatproof bowl over small saucepan of simmering water.. Quickly stir into mixture.

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.

 Red Heart Candies

Follow same recipe as in cake 5
We couldn't find coloured candies, so we've used food dyes to give them the colour we wanted. We've found out you can also reuse the melted candies leftovers, the only thing is the colour gets darker.

Green Buttercream Frosting

125 gr butter

100 gr white chocolate

240 gr icing sugar

2 tablespoons milk

some drops of green

Beat butter until as white as possible, add icing sugar, then add milk, in two batches. Cut white chocolate into small pieces and put them in a small heatproof bowl over small saucepan of simmering water. Quickly stir into mixture. Add some drops of green colouring until you have the shade you want..

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.

Sugar decoration

Decorate as you like with red heart candie, small meringues or pink sugar hearts.

When you use buttercream in summer keep cupcakes well refrigerated!

  
also visit:      
http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2012/08/cake-nine.html                

Cake eight - Pavlova with strawberries

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This chiffon- like cake needs a couple of hours to make it. The recipe's quite simple, only baking time's rather long and you need to follow the instructions exactly. 
Your patience will be rewarded the cake's splendid! 

4 egg whites
220 gr sugar
1/2teaspoon vanilla extract 
1/4 teaspoon white vinegar
3 tablespoon homemade strawberry jam
250 gr strawberries

Beat egg whites with electric mixer until soft peaks form, gradually add sugar, beting until sugar dissolves. Add extract and vinegar. Beat until combined. 
Line oven tray with baking paper, grease it, dust with cornflour and shake excess.

Spread meringue into circle on baking paper, trying to make it look like a small mountain of about 8cm in height.
Smooth side and top of pavlova gently and mark decorative grooves around its sides using spatula blade. Smooth top again.
Preheat oven at 120°. Bake 11/2 hours. Turn off oven. Cool cake in oven with door ajar. 
When pavlova is cold, cut around top edge.  Top Pavlova with strawberry jam and strawberries. Dust lightly with sifted icing sugar, if desired.

also visit:
http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2012/08/cake-eight.html

Cake seven - Ice Cream Bombe

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This cake is a bit long to make but it’s certainly worth the effort! It’s not at all complicated anyway...  

You need to make the sponge first and then the ice cream (you can buy some good ice cream to make things easier..... ). 

All in all it's best made one day ahead.

If you want to try and make the ice cream yourself see the next page. 

Step 1 Sponge cake 

I'm using the recipe of a ‘Swiss Roll’ which I find much more suitable for two reasons: it takes shorter to bake and it’s thin enough in height. So we save time....

150 gr sugar

3 eggs

150 gr flour

some baking powder

a pinch of salt

Beat eggs and sugar with electric mixer until thick and light. Fold in flour, baking powder and salt. 

Line swill roll pan with paper. Grease paper. Pour mixture into pan. Bake at 180° for about 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile prepare a sheet of paper same size as sponge. When sponge is cooked, turn immediately onto paper, quickly peel away lining paper. Cool cake. 

Step 2 - Home made ice cream 

You can use one or two ice cream flavours, any flavour is fine. I myself have used ricotta cheese with choc buttons and Malaga (raisin) ice cream.

Here are the recipes, if you want to try:

Ricotta Cheese Ice cream with choc buttons

180 gr sugar

1 egg

400 gr milk 

250 gr ricotta cheese

150 gr choc buttons

Beat egg and sugar with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in ricotta cheese. and then milk.. Pour mixture into ice cream maker bowl. Start the machine. When ice cream is ready stir in choc buttons. 

Malaga (raisin) Ice Cream

125 gr sugar

1 egg

250 gr milk

150 gr cream (or milk)

80 gr raisins 

some rhum or vermouth 

Soak raisins in rhum for 1/2 hour. In the meantime beat egg and sugar with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in milk and cream. Pour mixture into ice cream maker bowl. Start the machine. When ice cream is ready, drain the raisins and stir them in with some liqueur.

Step 3 - Cake assemblage

Here we are! We're nearly finished! We only have to assemble the cake. 

Line 5-cup (about 1 1/4 L) capacity pudding basin with plastic wrap, extending plastic 5 cm over edge of basin. 
Trim edges from cake. Cut out a 10 cm and a 20 cm rounds to fit the bottom and top of basin  and finally a one 10 cm wide slice, lengthways. 

Place bottom and sides into basin, pressing all parts firmly.

Spoon Ricotta cheese ice cream into bowl and flatten out. Then pour Malaga ice cream and do the same. Top with cake round. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. 

also visit:
http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2012/08/cake-seven.html

Cake six - Apricot Dreamin'

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This cake's easy to make and it's delicious with a meringue topping, but it's also very good without. Everybody loves it!

70 gr butter

70 gr sugar

2 eggs, separated 

120 gr flour

1 tablespoon vermouth

a pinch of salt

1 packet of baking powder

1/2 glass milk

600 gr apricots

110 gr sugar mixed with cinnamon 

1 lemon, grated rind and juice

Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add yolks one at a time, beating in some flour after each egg, then stir in vermouth and grated rind. Fold in remaining flour mixed with salt and baking powder and finally add milk. Beat well until combined. 

Lightly grease 24 cm ring cake pan. Wash apricots, cut them in half lengthwise and remove pits. Place half of apricots into pan, sprinkle with lemon juice and sugar mixed with cinnamon. Stir remaining apricots into butter mixture and beat gently. Drop mixture into cake pan. 

Bake in the oven at 180° for 30/40 minutes. 

 Decoration

Meringue topping

Meringue gives most cakes a special effect and a delicate flavour.

2 egg whites

125 gr sugar

Beat egg whites with electric mixer until soft peaks forms, gradually add sugar, beating well until stiff peaks form. 

Meringue is ready when you put a fork inside and it stands up!

Top cake with meringue. 

Bake in moderate oven 5 minutes or until meringue is lightly browned. Serve cold.

also visit:
http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2012/08/cake-six.html