Merry Christmas!! I hope everyone has a wonderful day with their families, and eats lots of yummy cakes! I just wanted to share some Christmas treats that I made this week.
I made this cake for my sister-in-law’s birthday. Her birthday is four days before Christmas, so I figured her cake should be extra festive:
For our building staff, I made mint Oreo cheesecake truffles. I got the recipe from Brown Eyed Baker, and they are sooo good! You crush an entire bag (minus a handful) of Oreo cookies in the food processor, mix it with 8 oz of cream cheese, and roll into balls. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or until firm. Then, melt semi-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave (add some vegetable oil or shortening chips to make it smoother; microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between), and dip the cheesecake balls in the melted chocolate until fully covered. Take out with a fork and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Chill for another 30 minutes. Then drizzle with melted white chocolate and sprinkle with red and green sugar.
I found these great little plates in my supermarket and had to get them, since I love all things that have to do with birds:
Then I wrapped them with cellophane and curling ribbon. I think they came out really cute!
You’re probably wondering, what’s an Octopart? Well, it’s the company my husband started working for a little over a month ago. Octopart is a search engine for electronics components, so basically a google for geeks. They have a really cool logo, and I thought it would be fun to make them some company cupcakes to have in the office.
Their logo is a blue gear, with 8 cogs (hence OCTOpart), with a letter O showing underneath. I figured the best way to showcase their logo would be to make the gears out of blue fondant, and place them on top of white frosted cupcakes. Then I could use black gel to make the letter O underneath.
A quick search online showed that the only commercially available gear-shaped cookie cutter had 7 cogs, not 8. Luckily, I know a guy who makes custom cookie cutters. Even more luckily, he’s my dad. A little bit before he retired, my dad acquired a South Bend Lathe, which I’m told is the Cadillac of lathes. The man can make anything. He made my mom a circular cookie cutter a few years ago when she needed a specific diameter and couldn’t find it in any stores. I gave my dad the specifications, and he even made it so the center circle is cut out automatically.
I made lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting. After frosting all the cupcakes and smoothing them with a hot knife, I went to work on the gears. Normally I pop the cupcakes in the fridge to harden up, but this time I left them out. I wanted the buttercream to be soft so that the gears would stick to it.
I made blue marshmallow fondant the previous day, and left it out on the counter top (wrapped in plastic wrap) since I was using it early the next day. I like this better than putting it in the fridge, since it is easier to roll out. I used my silicone mat and fondant rolling pin to roll out the fondant to 1/4 inch thickness. Then I cut out the shapes with the cookie cutter and placed them on the cupcakes. Lastly, I used Wilton black glitter gel to make the letter O that appears underneath the gear.
A few weeks ago, I was reading People Magazine’s holiday issue, and saw a page on Christina Tosi’s ideas for making fancy frostings. I don’t know who this chic is, but she’s an absolute genius! She suggested adding instant coffee powder to buttercream frosting to give it a cafe au lait flavor. What a great idea! Since classic buttercream is so sweet, I’m always looking for ways to flavor it without adding more sweetness. She had her own recipe, but I decided to experiment and just add it to my own favorite buttercream recipe.
Since this was just an experiment, I decided to make a small batch. A couple of years ago, my sister-in-law brought back some Juan Valdez freeze dried coffee from Columbia. I figured it would be the perfect java kick for my frosting. We had never opened the jar, and I was very curious about the taste.
As you can see, the coffee granules are quite big. I decided to taste one alone, and boy was it strong! Not only was it strong, but it was BITTER! I knew I would end up with the perfect coffee frosting…nice coffee flavor and just the right amount of sweetness.
To get a fine powder, I took a few spoonfuls of the granules and placed them in a ziploc bag. Then I hammered them with a meat tenderizer until they were all broken up into a uniform powder. I decided to make 1/4 of a batch of buttercream frosting (1 cup of confectioners sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 1 TBSP milk, 3/4 tsp vanilla). I started with 1 teaspoon of coffee powder to see how the whole thing tasted.
The result was actually perfect…a nice light brown frosting with coffee bits incorporated throughout. It tasted great! It had a full coffee flavor with just an undertone of sweetness from the buttercream. This frosting goes especially well with chocolate cake. For bigger batches, I would use 1 tsp of coffee powder for every cup of confectioners sugar that is used. So 2 tsp coffee powder for a 1/2 batch and 4 tsp for a full batch. Here is the recipe for a full batch:
Coffee Buttercream Frosting (modified from a recipe that appeared in People Magazine
Makes about 3 cups of frosting
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 TBSP milk
4 tsp instant coffee powder
Instructions
Cream room temperature butter with a hand mixer, the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, or a wooden spoon until smooth and fluffy. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until fully incorporated. Beat in vanilla extract. Pour in milk and beat for an additional 3-4 minutes. Add in the coffee powder and beat for another minute or two.
3.1.07
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I get a lot of my qualities and preferences from my dad: my need to check restaurant silverware meticulously, my habit of talking to strangers, and my love of peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Seriously, if you have never tried one, you have no idea of what you are missing. It’s one of my favorite food combinations. So when I saw a recipe for roasted banana cupcakes in a cupcake book, I knew I had to pair it with peanut butter frosting (the original recipe called for honey-cinnamon frosting, which would have been good too, I guess).
This baking project was a nod to a lot of people in my life. I made it for my friend’s birthday, using a recipe that reminded me of my dad, and using the giant cupcake cake pan that my brother and sister-in-law bought me for my birthday. In case you haven’t seen this giant cupcake pan, it is adorable. It’s made by Wilton, and it is very easy to use. The only thing is that you have to be careful to fill the pan so that the two halves of the cupcake line up. You should put more batter in the bottom half of the cupcake, since it is larger in volume than the top. I think the ratio is roughly 2/3 of the batter on the bottom and 1/3 on top. After filling the pan, the levels of both halves should be approximately the same. If your cooked cupcake halves do not fit together, make sure to cut away some cake BEFORE assembling it. Otherwise you will have a frosted mess.
Here’s how mine turned out:
Once the cake was cool, I removed it from the pan and frosted the top surface of the cupcake bottom before putting the top on (this makes it like a layer cake with frosting in the middle). Then I piped the frosting using a #32 star tip and then topped with peanut butter malt balls and Reese’s Pieces candies in concentric circles all the way to the top. It was a relatively easy cake to make, and very cute.
Roasted banana cupcakes (from Martha Stewart Cupcakes)
Makes 16 cupcakes, or one giant cupcake
Ingredients
3 ripe bananas
2 cups cake flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Prepare the cupcake pan by greasing with either Pam, Crisco, or Wilton cake release.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place 3 whole unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes. The peels will darken. While you wait, sift together the cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Remove bananas from the oven and let cool before peeling.
For the remainder of the recipe, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
With an electric mixer, on medium to high speed, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating until each egg yolk is incorporated. Add the roasted bananas, and beat to combine. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with two additions of sour cream. After each addition, beat until combined. Add the vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft beaks with an electric mixer. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter to lighten. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites in two batches.
Pour the batter into the giant cupcake pan, putting slightly more batter in the top half than in the bottom half. Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Since this is a giant cupcake, it may need more time, but I would start with 20 minutes and then just keep checking until the tester comes out clean. As soon as it comes out clean, the cake is done.
Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.
3.1.07
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I’m slowly catching up with all of my old content, and I am almost up to date. This cake was from Halloween, when we visited friends in Maryland and attended an awesome costume party. This was my first fondant project.
Of course, i used my handy Betty Crocker Bake ‘n Fill pan to make the spherical shape. I used the Perfect Pound Cake recipe. This cake is nice and rich, and held the shape nicely. Since we had to travel to Maryland, I couldn’t make a filled layer cake like I wanted. The original plan was to fill the cake with custard that had been colored red. That way, when the first person cut into the cake, it would be a bloody, gooey center. Instead, I had to make a frosted layer cake that would be able to travel 4 hours without refrigeration. If you are making this cake locally, definitely fill the center and watch the reactions!
Any cake decorated with fondant should first be covered with a layer of buttercream. Not only does this help the fondant stick to the cake, but it makes it taste a little better as well. I made white marshmallow fondant, and colored a small portion blue, and an even smaller portion black. I rolled out the white to the desired thickness (about 1/4 of an inch) and draped it over the cake. I cut the excess away and then rolled out the blue and black. I used cookie cutters to cut out the blue iris and black pupil. I cut a tiny circle out of the excess white fondant for the reflection. To attach the iris, pupil, and reflection, I used a small pastry paintbrush and painted water on the back of the fondant. Then I gently pressed onto the cake. Don’t use too much water or it will get soggy. First I attached the iris, then the pupil, and at last the reflection. The rest of the cake details were done with Wilton glitter gel. I radiated blue glitter gel outward from the pupil onto the iris, and then used the pastry paintbrush to smooth the gel so that there was a subtle radiating pattern on the iris. I made the blood vessels with red glitter gel and just made up the pattern as I went along. Since this was my first time working with fondant, I did have some cracks. Luckily, I was able to fill those in with red gel and make it look like part of the vasculature of the eye.
