Cake nineteen - Father Xmas's House

Get Inspired

There are a few things you should consider before making a biscuit house, time, patience and possibly help. You must also change your point of view: you’re not making a cake, you’re building a house! Yes! You’ll be more like an architect in the first phase and then you need the expertize of a bricklayer to make it stand. If you, for example, don’t use the appropriate materials to stick all the parts together your house will  collapse. 

It’s going to be a real project. You’ll have to design the house starting from its size including all details: windows, doors, roof, a chimney, the garden around, with trees and paths; you’ll have to prepare the stencils of each part of your house; you’’ll have to choose the materials, i.e, what kind of biscuit dough to use for the sinlge parts; you’ll have to make and bake the doughs; to cut all the parts, to build your house and surrounding park and finally to decorate it.

It’ll take quite a long time to see it ready but all your efforts will be rewarded! Consider at least four days from project making to decoration.

Step 1: Design 

A very importatnt step| Decide what your house will look like. Prepare the cardboard templates of the house: walls, roof, and door, choose the cookie cutters for the trees and reindeers and decide the choco decorations for doors and windows.

Here are my templates.

Step2: Dough

I usually make two different doughs, one for the house and one for the decorations. when I want my house to look like a wooden mountain chalet. The dough I use for the house is made with a lot of honey which gives the structure the look and strength of real wood while the gingerbread dough is good for the trees and the decorations.

Honey-based dough (for the house)

1 kilo honey

1/4 l water

1,250 g flour

200 g candied orange and citrus 

40 g cinnamon, ginger, muskat nutmeg

30 g baking soda

Combine the honey and water in a saucepan and heat to boiling, stirring continuously. Let cool. Put the flour and the candied fruit on a pastry board, make a hole in the middle, pour the honey mixture and knead well. Add the baking soda and knead until smooth. Cover and let rest at room temparature for one or two days. 

Gingerbread dough (for the decorations)

100 g butter

250 g honey 

250 g sugar

1 tsp ginger

1tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp cocoa powder

500 g flour 

1/2 packet baking powder

one pinch of salt

2 eggs

Combine the butter, honey, sugar, spices and cocoa in a saucepan, and heat to boiling, stirring continuously.. Let cool. Add the flour mixed with the baking powder,, the salt and the eggs. Stir with a wooden spoon at first then pour the mixture onto a floured surface and knead well. Wrap in aluminium foil and let rest overnight. 

also visit: 
http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2013/01/cake-nineteen.html

Cake eighteen - Gingerbread decorations

Get inspired

I’m sure you’ll find more than one recipe for gingerbread cookies, but all in all they’re more or less the same: some use golden syrup, others honey or treacle. Most of them must be prepared a day ahead and rest for the night. I’ve also found one recipe though which can be made in one day. Anyway, this is my favourite one and it’s the German recipe for "Lebkuchen" - Gingerbread cookies in German. 

200 g butter

500 g honey

250 sugar 

2 teaspoons spices (ginger, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon)

15 g cocoa powder

1200 g flour 

1 packet baking powder

a pinch of salt

2 eggs

Combine butter, honey, sugar, spices and cocoa powder in a saucepan and heat to boiling. Let cool. Add flour, baking powder

and eggs to the honey mixture. Mix well using a wooden spoon and then turn the dough into a foloured surface and kenad well. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it tightly in aluminum foil and cover it with a bowl. Let rest at room temperature overnight.

Turn dough onto floured surface. Knead until smooth. Roll the dough into a thin sheet and cut out different shapes with cookie cutters. Place then on parchment paper-lined baking sheets and bake for around 8 min. 

Let cool on the baking sheets. 

Simple icing 

125 g icing sugar

food colours to your taste

 2 teaspoons water

Mix sugar and water well, then add some drops of colour until you reach the shade you want.

Have fun!
Also visit:
http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2013/01/cake-eighteen.html

Cake seventeen - Christmas Fruit Cake

Get inspired

This is undoubtedly my favourite cake! It’s good, easy to make and can take any shape you want. I usually make three or more of them for Christmas: a square one decorated as a gift, a star, a Christmas tree and smaller ones in the shape of trees, stars or snow flakes.You can make it one month ahead, you only have to wrap it up well in aluminum foil and then decorate it the day you need it. The longer you keep it wrapped, the better all the ingredients blend together.                         

In my family, we love to have the smaller Fruit Cakes at breakfast during the whole Christmas holidays. 

I also make some smaller ones with margarine as my daughter is intolerant to lactose and they taste delicious anyway!

250 g butter

250 g sugar

5 eggs

juice and rind of 1 lemon

2 cl rhum or vermouth

250 g flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamom

1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg

150 g cherry candies

400 g raisins

100 g.  finely cut candied oranges

100 g. finely cut candied cedar

100 g chocolate chips

(if you don’t like candied fruit you can put more chocolate)

Beat butter and sugar in a bowl with electrtic mixer until creamy, and white. Add eggs one at a time and don’t forget some flour after each addition. Beat in rest of flour cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins, cherry candies, candied oranges and cedar and chocolate chips. 

Pour mixture into lightly greased mould. Bake at 180° for 1 hour or more depending on the size of mould. 

Decoration

You can decorate the cake as you like or simply leave it without any decoration, as it looks nice too. It all depends the day you’re making it for. 

For Xmas Day I like it all white (glacé or royal icing- at your choice) or all black (ganache).

Glacé icing

320 g icing sugar

1 teaspoon butter

2 tablespoons hot water, approximately

Sift icing sugar into small heatproof bowl, Stir in butter and enough of the hot water to make it a thick paste. Place bowl over small saucepan of simmering water. Stir until icing is spreadable

Royal icing

240 g icing sugar

1 egg white

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Lightly beat egg white in small bowl with electric mixe, add icing sugar a tablespoon at a time. When icing reaches frim peaks, beat inn juice.

Dark Chocolate Ganache

200 g dark chocolate, chopped coarsely

125 ml cream

Bring cream to the boil in a small saucepan, remove from heat. When bubbles subside, add chocolate. Stir until smooth.

also visit: http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2012/12/cake-seventeen.html

Cake sixteen - Prince Charming & Fruit crumble

Get inspired

It’s a kind of love at first sight with this cake. You don’t know why exactly you like it but if you try it you’ll be charmed, I’m sure. 

You can make it with fruit and jam, or you can add some cream cheese. The result is in both cases delicious! 

100 g sugar

125 g butter or margarine

1 egg

190 g flour 

3 teaspoons baking powder

a pinch of salt 

apricot jam

4 apples 

(250 g cream cheese)

Beat butter and sugar in a bowl with electrtic mixer until creamy, Add the egg with some flour. Beat in the rest of flour, baking powder and pinch of salt. (Add cream cheese if you want.)

Line a 24 cm round cake pan with parchment paper. Spread mixture into cake pan. Warm up apricot jam and spoon over mixture. Peel core and cut apples into small pieces. Spread apples evenly over jam. Grate crumble mixture over the cake. Bake at 180° for about 40/50 minutes.

Crumble topping

100 g butter or margarine

100 g sugar

170 g flour

Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer. Add flour. 

If you like the taste of the topping you wanna love this lighter and quicker version of the cake.

Fuit crumble

5 large apples 

or for a richer taste: 2 apples, 2 peaches, one apricot and two pears.

Grease 24 cm round oven-proof dish. 

Wash and peel fruit. Cut it in small pieces. Spread fruit into prepared dish, sprinkle evenly with crumble mixture. Bake at 180° for about 30 minutes.

also visit: http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-sixteen.html

Cake fifteen - Early Autumn Cheesecake

Get inspired

It’s a delicate cake, which marries beautifully cream cheese and grapes. You should use white grapes as dark ones taste a bit sour sometimes. Meringue on top gives the cake a festive look and a richer taste. It doesn’t take too long to make it but you have to bake it twice and then you need the time to whip the egg whites until stiff, so all in all consider two hours’ time.

200 g flour 

125 g butter/margarine

100 g + 75 g sugar

2 eggs

250 g cream or ricotta cheese

2 tablespoon semolina

500 g white grapes

75 g apricot jam

2 egg whites

80 g sugar

Sift flour and sugar into bowl, rub in butter. Add one egg yolk. Press dough into a ball, knead lightly on floured surface until smooth. Cover refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

Combine ricotta or cream cheese with semolina, add one egg yolk. Beat egg whites with electric mixer until soft peaks form, gradually add sugar and beat until stiff. Fold into cream cheese mixture in three batches.

Line 23 cm round pie plate with parchment paper.

Roll dough on floured surface until large enough to line 23 cm pie plate. Lift dough into pie plate, gently ease into side of plate, trim edge. Bake at 180° for about 10 min. Cool. 

Poor cream cheese mixture into pastry case, Bake at 180° for other 30 min. Cool.

Meringue

Beat egg whites with electric mixer until soft peaks form, gradually add sugar and beat until stiff.

Wash grapes and place on the cake. Warm jam in small pan, brush evenly over grapes. 

Spoon meringue on top. Bake in very hot oven for 5 min. until lightly coloured.

also visit:
http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2012/11/cake-fifteen.html

Cake fourteen - Scary Halloween

 Get inspired

I’d have never thought a graveyard could have been a cake decoration! But it is and it also tastes  delicious! I find the tombstone particularly good and the grass is incredibly yummy....

Cupcakes really set your imagination free!!! 

For this cake we’ve chosen two recipes: lemon and choco cupcakes.

I think chocolate is the best choice both for the colour - as brown as the ground - and for the flavour combinations.. 

The cream cheese frosting we’ve used here is definetely my favourite topping.

Quick Choco cupcakes

150 g self-raising flour

75 g plain flour 

35 g ccoa powder

165 g sugar

185 g softened butter

3 eggs

125 ml milk

Put all dry ingredients into a medium large bowl, add remaning ingredients. Beat with electric mixer on low speed until ingredients are combined.. Increase speed to medium and beat until mixture is smooth and has changed to a paler colour. 

Fill paper cases to 2/3 full so as to have nice mound-shaped cakes. Bake about 20 min at 180°.

4 choco cupcakes

1 quantity cream cheese frosting

80 g white fondant (see recipe in cake twelev

green,, yellow and red food colouring 

8 ‘Pavesini’ cookies

100 gr chocolate

Cream cheese frosting

100g cream cheese

50 g icing sugar

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon until smooth and creamy. Cover and chill for at leat an hour to firm up slightly before using..

1) Grass

Put two tablespoons of the cream cheese frosting in a small bowl, you’ll use it to decorate the tombstone.

Beat green food colouring into the remaning frosting, add a little at a time until the desired shade is reached. Spread the frosting over each cupcake. 

2) Tombstones

Carefully cut two straight sides off each Pavesino. In the meantime melt 80 g chocolate in a bain-marie. Dip each Pavesino in the chocolate both sides, leaving the bottom end free.. Refrigerate them for at least half an hour. Put the reserved frosting in a paper bag and pipe a thin line of frosting around the edge of each cookie, then a second line and a small cross in the middle of the ‘tombstone’.

3) Arms

Take a little piece of fondant and mould it into a sausage shape about 3 cm long. Flatten one end to shape a hand, pinch in at the wrist. Cut out finger shapes using a toothpick. Make a hole into the middle of each cupcake. with the back of a teaspoon or your finger and then press the arm into this hole.

4) Finishing touches

Make a hole into the frosting behind the arm and press a tombstone there. Grate some chocolate over the grass mound, pressing it down gently. Sprinkle more chocolate over the hand area. 

Colour some of the remaining fondant in yellow and red and make tiny balls for the flowers, which you will position on one side of the mound. Use some green cream cheese frosting to decorate the edge of each cupcake. 

also visit:

http://time-for-a-cake.blogspot.it/2012/10/cake-fourteen.html

Cake thirteen - A Flowerbed

Get inspired

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