Happy Birthday Cupcakes

Audrey is bringing these cupcakes to school tomorrow to share with her friends. Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and Fondant letters.

Cinderella's Castle Cake

Audrey wanted a Cinderella Castle cake for her birthday this year. At first, this would sound like an impossible task...but big THANKS to Wilton & Joanns, I found a kit to make it- Wilton's Romantic castle cake set.

As per the kit's instruction, I was supposed to ice the turrets (cones) with royal icing and add sparkles to it and for the rest of the outlines & leaves with more buttercream icing. That would mean piping, icing and more piping! Frankly speaking, I never liked piping, just can't seemed to get the 'feel' of it...I did take the Wilton Decorating 101 class some years ago but I have no recollection of it at all..well, I don't even remember completing the course either...that's probably why I sucked at it.

So, instead of piping, I came up with the idea of using fondant to cover those plastic stands/cones. I have a great fondant recipe that I love. I also used fondant to make the flowers for this castle.

I tinted the fondant with Royal Blue and Sky Blue icing color until I got the Cinderella blue-ish color I wanted. Then I rolled it out really thin and used the precut shapes that came with the kits to make the turrets and wrapped them around the cones. I tried using the Cake Sparkles as per the kit's instruction, problem is that it would probably be great if used on icing..but not on fondant. Well, I opted for granulated sugar instead..I just slightly roll the turrets on a flat sugared surface.

After the turrets were done. Next came the stands. The individual stands for the turrets are pretty flimpsy by itself, esp. with the heavy fondant turrets on the top. The instructions said to put melted candy on the base of turrets. The ones that will be inserted into the cake even required melted candy on the dowel rods.

**Dowel rods are thick wooden sticks inserted into tiered cakes to hold the weight of the top layer cake.**

The cake

You will need 2-10" and 2-6" size cake pan. Bake the cake as per the box's instruction and after they are completed cooled down, brush with syrup water..and then wrap them up individually with plastic wrap, then with foil and a plastic bag to be kept in the freezer until when ready to use.

I remove the cake from the freezer on Thursday night (Party was on Saturday) and let it thawed till the next morning. I start working on the cake when its completedly thawed.


step 1

Use Wilton's tip 5 to pipe buttercream icing around the outer layer of the bottom cake.



Step 2.

Spread strawberry jam filling.




Step 3.

Stack the cake, cut side face down. Press it down firmly but don't break it. :)




Step 4.

Spread buttercream icing all over the cake.



Step 5.

Make an indentation on the bottom cake using the smaller size cake board you are using for the top cake. Then, insert the dowel rods around the inside of the indentation.

Step 6.

Roll out the fondant into a thin layer.




Step 7.

Cover the bottom layer cake with the rolled fondant and smooth it out. Then, trim away excess.



Step 8.

Repeat step 1,2,3,4,6,7 with the top layer cake. You do not need dowel rods for the top layer cake.

Step 9.

Begin stacking the cakes, make sure top layer cake & cake board is sitting on the dowel rods that were previously inserted into the bottom cake. Put some icing on the front of your cake to hold the Main castle roof.

Step 10.

After securing the main roof with icing, place the 4 pillars/turrets as shown. That will determine where your front entrance will be. Insert Main Gate exactly below the main roof.

Step 11.

I used Wilton's tip 67 & Kelly green colored icing to make the leaves. (instructions said to use tip 349). Pipe along the outer circle of both cakes, windows for now.

Step 12.

Placed the fondant flowers on the greens. Pipe Wilton tip 2 Royal Blue & Sky Blue Icing on the outlines of all windows and the main gate.

Step 13.

Pipe some icing along side of the cones and secure them to the turrets. Finish the cake by inserting the rest of the turrets on the cake (Top layer: 1 large, 1 medium and 1 small), (second tier: 2 medium in the front and 1 small and 1 medium at the back), (Bottom tier: 2 small in the front, 2 large on the side).

Pipe Wilton tip 5 round dots around the bottom of each turrets. For the bottom turrets, just finish it with more green icing and decorate with the flowers.

I added some Cinderella themed figurines around the cake. It was a dream 'castle' come true for my little princess..

Special THANKS to my friend Jessie for the great pictures!

Super Sweet Valentine's Day Treat

French Vanilla & Chocolate Fondant Cake with Chocolate dipped Strawberries

This is my very first tiered & fondant cake. I made this as a testrun for my daughter's upcoming birthday cake. I was leary about transporting this 2 tiered (4 layers) cake..Well, not only did it make it to the party without collapsing, the kids love the fondant layer (they said it's like eating play-doh!). Special Thanks to my friend, Caroline for showing me this fondant recipe!

I have to admit that the top tier fondant looked ugly. I was running out of fondant and I probably rolled it out too thin and thus that flmsy look. Oh well..

The bottom layer is made of 2- 10" size vanilla cake filled with strawberry jam. The top layer is made of 2- 6" size devil's chocolate cake, also filled with strawberry jam filling.





I spread on a thick layer of butter cream icing to the cake before covering with the rolled fondant.

Both tier are supported by 6 dowel rods inserted to the bottom cake.

Garnished the cake with chocolate dipped strawberries. I melted Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate chips and dipped each cleaned & dried strawberries into it. Let it air dried & served.

**To make the fondant, I used a bag of store bought marshmallow. Melted them in microwave and slowly stir in 1 lb of powdered sugar. Grease hands in vegetable shortening and knead into dough**

Cupcake Pops

Few days ago, my friend told me about thses cake pops on Bakerella's blog. I have been thinking about them since then... they are so cute and it seemed really fun to make as well. If you are wondering what in the world are cake pops..well, they are made of cake crumbs mixed with icing and dip in melted chocolate and candy. (Yes, sweet, sweet and more sweets!!!)

There is not an actual recipe. You just need to bake a cake from any store bought cake mix as per the box instructions, then after they cool down, crumbed them with a spoon and just mix in about half a can of store bought icing. (I used Devil's chocolate cake & cream cheese frosting)

Roll the mixture into little balls, use a round crinkled-shape cookie cutter and push half of the ball into the cutter..flattened the bottom, rounded the top and then push them back out from the top. This is how you make it to look like little cupcakes/muffin tops. When done, put them in the freezer for about 15 mins.

At the meantime, melt chocolate chip in a double boiler (DO NOT add water/ milk to the chocolate). Remove little cupcakes from the freezer. Hold the muffin top and dip the bottom part of the cupcake into the chocolate dip, coat evenly and turn them over. Muffin top down (chocolate dip facing up), let it cool.

While chocolate coating is still hot, dip the tip of a lollipop/cookie stick into the chocolate dip and insert into the bottom of the cupcake (2/3 the way). Then let it dry. Repeat the same for all the cupcakes.

When chocolate dipping is done. Replace it with candy melts (any colors of your choice). Then dip the muffin top into the melted candy by holding the stick. Add some sprinkles and a mini M&M to top it off.

Insert the lollipop sticks into foam block to let it air dry.

These are really fun & easy to make and kids just love them!!

Beignet (French Donut)

We had some really good Beignet (French Donut) and coffee in New Orleans many years ago..Yesterday, while strolling down the grocery aisle, I found this premade beignet mix. Although it's a premix, I will still need to knead, roll and deep fry it (not to mention the cleaning part :P) Well, it's worth the work..it tasted very much like the chinese crullers but the sweetened version. Had it with a cup of Cafe du Monde's cafe au lait to complete the crave. Yumm...

Chinese New Year Cookies

Chinese New Year is coming up in about a couple of weeks (maybe 3). Because we are so far away from home and when the Malaysian food urge hits, I had no choice but to make my own... CNY cookies, i.e. pineapple tarts & peanut cookies. I have been making them every year, religiously for 4 years now. I made them in bigger batches and gave them to close friends and families here. Originally, I got the recipes from my mom and after checking out other recipes online, I tweak it up a little and came up with what I called-- my own. Have fun making them!

Pineapple Tarts

Ingredients:

Pineapple Jam:

2 Large Pineapples (as ripe as possible)
2 Cinnamon sticks
2 whole star anise

2-3 dried cloves
1 cup brown sugar
up to 1/4 cup granulate sugar (as needed, taste the jam after you mixed in the brown sugar, some pinapples are sweeter than the others)

Option 1 Crust:

500g All Purpose Flour
100g Milk Powder
50g Castor Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 egg yolk + 1 egg white (room temperature)
1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp water (egg wash)
400g unsalted sweet cream Butter (room temperature)

Option 2 Crust:

300 g unsalted sweet cream Butter (room temperature)
130 g Margerine
100 g Icing Sugar
80 g Milk Powder
1 egg
600 g cake Flour/Superfine flour ***
30g Custard Powder

***if you do not have cake flour at home, substitute can be made with sifted bleached all purpose flour and cornstarch. For every ¾ cup sifted bleached all purpose flour, add two tablespoons of cornstarch to it***

Method:

Making the Jam:

Remove the skin and all the "eyes".

Grate the whole pineapple. (I find it easier to grate the whole vs. cutting it up..plus the texture is more consistent this way). Then, strain the juice.

Add in cinnamon sticks, star anise and brown sugar to grated pineapple into nonstick skillet and cook over medium heat for 45 mins to 1 hr, stirring continuously until mixture is dry and turned golden brown.

Remove from skillet, let it cool down, then store in air tight container in refrigerator for 24 hr.

Crust/ Pastry:

Sift together all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, castor sugar).

Double sift for smoother pastry.Rub in room temperature butter into the dry mixture.

When butter is completely rubbed in, the mixture should feel sandy.

Add in slightly beated eggs into the sandy flour mixture and until it forms into a dough.

Then chill the dough in refrigerator for an hour.

Pic 1: Pineapple Tart Mould, Flower shaped Cookie Cutter and Cookie Dough Pipe

Pic 2: Pineapple Tarts using Crust 2 recipe.

Assembly:

Remove chilled jam from refrigerator, roll them up into 1/4 inch size balls.

If using Crust 1 recipe,

Remove chilled dough from the refrigerator.

Dust some flour on clean surface, roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick.

Press with cookie cutter, add a small ball of jam in the middle, slightly press it down a little and brush it with eggwash then bake.

If using crust 2 recipe,

You will need a piping cookie dough maker because the dough is softer in this recipe. If you don't have one at home, you may also just roll out the dough on floured surface and cut it to 1 inch width and 2 1/2 inch length strips and roll up the jam in it. Just becareful handling the dough, as it's very soft and easy to break. Brush it with egg wash.

Then bake at 360°F for 18-20 mins

Peanut Cookies

by Amy Beh-Kuali.com

Ingredients

225g groundnuts (peanuts, with or without skin)
180ml groundnut oil
1 egg, beaten slightly

Sift together:
325g plain flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
3/4 tsp salt
150g castor sugar

Method

Grease baking tray and preheat oven to 180ºC (360º F).

Fry or toast groundnuts till golden brown, then remove the skin. (or get the ones with no skin) Blend until fine and set aside.

Combine groundnuts and the sifted dry ingredients together.

Slowly add in groundnut oil and mix into a fine dough.

Take a small piece and roll into the size of a small lime.

Place the pieces of dough on the greased tray.

Brush with beaten egg and bake at 180ºC (360ºf) for 15-18 minutes or until golden.

**make an indentation in the middle of the dough with a straw before baking to give it the store bought look :)**

My First Blog ever...

This is my first blog ever, not sure where I should begin. Oh well..I'm just a ordinary mom who had quit her job to stay at home full time (at least for now). I have a beautiful baby girl who's turning 5 yrs old in about a month. My little princess is such a girly girl and she inspired me to start this blog. I love cooking, baking, scrapbooking, crafts, yoga and pretty much all other girly stuff..I will be blogging about my girl,recipes, pictures and my work here. Can't wait to start!