Tuesday 24 January 2012

Cupcakes!

My best friend's birthday was yesterday, and my sister's birthday is today. 'Busy?' You may ask. Nope, it's quite convenient!
I set out to make two flavours of cupcakes and split the two batches between the girls.
As a practising chocoholic and knowing they're always a hit, I made one batch of super-rich, super-dense chocolate cupcakes. These were decorated with a dark chocolate ganache and stencilled icing sugar patterns of stars and hearts. The decorating, however, was somewhat halted when after sitting for an hour the icing sugar patterns dissolved!




Knowing that children usually prefer cooking with milk chocolate (rather than dark), I usually use a combination of half dark and half milk chocolate. This time I used all 70% cocoa chocolate, with a 45% ganache as my friend Audrey adores dark chocolate.
I was very pleased to find that my 3 year old nephew adored the chocolate cupcakes regardless.


Deliciously Decadent Chocolate Cupcakes
(makes approximately 20 cupcakes which do not rise considerably)
250ml thickened cream
450g dark chocolate
5 eggs
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 cup plain flour
1 tbs cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
METHOD:
1. Pre-heat oven to 160°C, prepare patty pans.
2. Stir cream and chocolate in a bowl over previously boiling water (do not let bowl touch water) until chocolate is melted and there is a smooth, even consistency. Cool slightly.
3. Place eggs and sugar in bowl and beat with electric mixer until pale and doubled in volume.
4. Slowly add the chocolate mixture into the egg-sugar, while beating.
5. Sift in flour, cocoa and baking powder, then stir with metal spoon until combined.
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes until inserted skewer comes out clean.


Chocolate Ganache for Icing
100g dark chocolate
80ml cream
METHOD:
Place chocolate and cream into a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until chocolate has melted.
If eating immediately, remove cakes from patty pans and serve covered with sauce.
OR
Let sauce cool completely in refrigerator. Ice cupcakes when both cupcakes and sauce are cooled.


I use silicon, non-stick patty pans which require no greasing and cupcakes fall out easily. I find these cheaply in supermarkets, baking and 2-dollar stores.
Along with the chocolate cupcakes, I made Orange and Poppyseed: The ultimate Audrey delight.
My friend Audrey has a health-crazed mother, and growing up was not allowed sweets.
At school when we children were treated with muffin bars, biscuits and other sugar-filled foods, Audrey had carrot sticks or occasionally sultanas!
The darling girl told me that when we were in school together she loved coming to my house to play in particular. She admitted that a huge reason for this was the Orange and Poppyseed supermarket cakes that my mother often had in the house, that we were allowed to have. Living in a sweet-free house this was quite a treat, and remembering this I realised that Orange and Poppyseed was her flavour.


Orange and Poppyseed Cupcakes for Audrey
(makes approximately 18 cupcakes)
1 tbs poppyseeds
2 tbs milk
2 cups SR flour
1 tbs grated orange rind
1/2 cup castor sugar
125g butter
1/4 cup orange marmalade
2 eggs
1/4 cup fresh orange juice 
(orange juice and rind equates to that of one orange)
METHOD:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C and prepare patty pans.
2. Soak poppseeds in milk, set aside.
3. Place SR flour and orange rind with castor sugar in bowl and stir to combine.
4. Melt butter and marmalade in saucepan over medium heat.
5. Stir marmalade mix into flour mixture with eggs, orange juice and milk mixture until combined.
6. Spoon into patty pans, bake for 20-30 minutes, until inserted skewer comes out clean.


Lemon Cream Cheese Icing
(Ideal for Orange and Poppyseed Cupcakes)
125g cream cheese at room temp
3/4 cups icing sugar
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
(lemon juice required equates to that of one lemon)
METHOD:
Use electric mixer to beat cream cheese and icing sugar until soft.
Beat in lemon juice until light and fluffy.
Place in fridge for one hour or until icing thickens.
Spread icing over cooled cupcakes!




I coloured half of the icing with red food dye, and a portion of it yellow and used a piping bag to create the hearts.
These cupcakes should be chilled or the icing will melt!


Both girls (and their children) adored the cupcakes! 


Happy baking!

Sunday 22 January 2012

If I began conversations with "I love to bake cakes for all the people in my life!", do you think I would have more friends?

I've noticed the popularity of culinary photography on pages like facebook.
Many of my 'friends' have albums named "Culinary Adventures", "Domestic Life", or just "Food I Cooked". Today, as I baked and decorated birthday cupcakes for my best friend and sister's birthdays this week I wondered if this is because my friends have reached an age where cooking is exciting and interesting. Does this happen in every generation? When teens enter their twenties does the 'cooking' gene switch on? Or are we products of the Masterchef generation?

My mother (and many of my relatives in her generation) dislikes cooking. She has never found pleasure in it and does the bare minimum. Does she well represent the baby boomers? And if so, is this a product of the strong feminism that developed during her young life? Perhaps her removal from the kitchen is assert her difference from the housewife her mother was.
If this is the case, am I following the trend? My mother insisted she did not belong in the kitchen, so is it now my task in life to show that yes, cooking is enjoyable and women are great at it? And will my children dislike cooking, shows like Masterchef and Hell's Kitchen go out of fashion and then return as the next generation come into the world?

Or my family may be the exception.
Age 20: /cooking gene on?

Thursday 19 January 2012

Lily's Boots

My niece looooves Doc Martens. 
A month or so before her 14th birthday she told everyone about an amazing pair of Union Jack Doc Martens she had seen online. Knowing she could only have one pair for her birthday she selected her other all time favourite: a shiny cherry red pair that were available in a local store. Listening to her drool about the boots she adored online I decided to give her the next best thing: an edible pair just the same!

I selected a dense marble cake recipe I found online (unfortunately I cannot find the exact recipe I used) and tried to make marshmallow fondant like I had for my birthday cake. I left the fondant to cool and it got stickier and stickier. After two frustrating attempts to make it work it was tossed in the bin and I had to resort to supermarket bought fondant.

The dream Doc Martens are a navy blue colour with Union Jacks on the toes. The navy colour was difficult to attain and I managed a grey-navy using blue and black food dye. 

I borrowed a pair of very old Doc's from my niece claiming they were for a (very vague) 'art project' and used these for my scale.

The boots were somewhat uneven and a little over-chunky, but they tasted delicious and with the "AirFlex" tags and yellow stitching could be made out for Doc Martens.




As a perfectionist I was hoping for much more, but couldn't have been more pleased when my niece said "This is the coolest present EVER!!".

The Beginning

Inspired by photos, videos and my new found love of cooking I set out to create my first decorated cake. 


I share my birthday with my Aunt and decided that for her present I would attempt to make the fanciest, craziest cake to share with her on our special day.


I was keen to make everything from first principles - the cakes, the fondant, the decorations, the lot! However, as the big day approached the amount of work that would be required became quite daunting (preparing for my first year of university at the same time didn't help, either!). Convinced by my mother that the decorating was the important part, I cheated and bought nine supermarket cakes: 3 x chocolate mud, 3 x white chocolate mud and 3 x caramel mud cakes.


I made my own fondant following this recipe, creating pink, blue and purple fondant for each level of the cake. My mother, grandmother and I spent an afternoon creating colourful butterflies (my Aunt's favourite) with both my fondant and some supermarket bought fondant. I'm embarrassed to admit the supermarket butterflies worked much better..


A couple of days before the big party I was set up with turning table, cake board, dowel rods (thick skewers), spatulas and all the tools I'd need for my Topsy Turvy Butterfly Cake.


Following a tutorial I found online by janellscakes (youtube) I began the process:


Using my home made buttercream underneath we covered each layer and once chilled began to build..



As the top tier was added securely the cake immediately began to collapse on itself (note the creases in the bottom layer!), quickly adding dowel rods to the top layer the top two tiers were saved from collapse but the entire cake began to tilt. A lot.

Rushing to get the camera before the whole thing ended up in a pile on the floor we snapped a couple of shots to show that yes, we made it this far. 
The decorating began and the tilting continued. As I decorated my delightful mother held the cake upright.

Until we had a genius idea of a make-shift cake stand, and.. voilĂ  we have cake!

And the real decorating could begin


After many hours into the night we created the finished product:






The cake was a hit, collapsed layers and all. While it isn't the perfect picture I had been imagining I was quite pleased with my first attempt. Both birthday girls couldn't have been happier :)