Princess Castle Birthday Cake

A cake I made for a friend's niece. Her name is Paris and she is turning 7!

I was planning on taking photos of the process, but alas, I did not. I'll describe it as best I can for anyone who would like to make this cake! I looked all over google for inspiration and this cake from Bee's Cake Design caught my eye. I couldn't find details or directions other than that she made the towers from PVC so I had to estimate sizing and whatnot.

The bottom tier is an 8 inch square. I cut off the corners at a slight angle. Once frosted and stacked, is 4 inches high. The top tier is a 6 inch circle, also 4 inches high once frosted and stacked.

The cake is frosted in a shortening based crusting butter cream. The great thing about this recipe is that you don't have to spend too much time fussing to make the icing perfect. After you have frosted your cakes, let them sit for about 30 minutes. The frosting will dry out just enough so that you can smooth it out using a paper towel and a fondant smoother. Gently press a cobblestone impression mat all over the tops and sides of the cakes. 

I used cardboard rounds and wooden dowels in the cake for extra support since it needed to be transported. 

The towers are made of PVC pipe, covered in fondant. The 4 large towers are attached to the cake board with royal icing, which holds them surprisingly well. The 3 smaller towers on top are supported by more wooden dowels. The measurements for the dowels are:

Four 2-inch wide PVC pipes, 8 inches tall.

One 1-inch wide PVC pipe, 8 inches tall

One 1/2 wide PVC pipe, 7.5 inches tall

One 1/2 wide PVC pipe, 5 inches tall

The rooftops are waffle cones, covered in royal icing and fondant circles. They are attached to the PVC pipes with royal icing.

The door, cobblestone walkway, hearts, windows and flowers are made of fondant. Grass and name are butter cream. Doorknobs are pink dragees.

This cake took me only 1 day to complete and was actually much much easier than I anticipated. I hope Paris likes her Castle Cake!!!! Happy 7th Birthday Paris!

Red Velvet Hot Chocolate

Happy Valentine's Day!

A delicious and heart warming way to end a perfect Valentine's day is this decadent red velvet hot chocolate topped with cream cheese whipped cream and homemade marshmallows.

Red Velvet Hot Chocolate
Serves 2 :)

Ingredients:

1 to 2 red velvet cupcakes, frosting and all, depending on how sweet you want it!

• Store bought is perfectly good for this. I used Trader Joes!
  
• Save a small piece to crumble and use as garnish if you'd like!
  

2 cups skim milk
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Combine all ingredients in a blender till smooth. Let sit in refrigerator until ready to use. The longer it sits, the more intense the red velvet flavor will be.

Cream Cheese Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons softened cream cheese
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Whip the heavy cream until stiff and set aside. Combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth. Gently fold with the whipped cream.

For the Marshmallows, I used this recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

I cut the recipe in half, made them red, and instead of spreading the mixture into a 13 by 9 inch pan, I rolled it out between 2 sheets or greased parchment paper to get a really thin even layer. Let it sit for about 2 hours and cut into heart shapes!

When you are ready for your hot chocolate, warm the red velvet mixture in a small saucepan until hot. Add a splash of brandy for a nice kick! Strain through a sieve. I like to pipe the cream cheese whipped cream so it looks just like a cupcake. Sprinkle on the reserved cake crumbs, top with the marshmallows, and enjoy!

Merry Christmas!!

It is Christmas!!!!!

One of my favorite times of the year! And it just isn't Christmas in my household without a gingerbread house. My sister and I have loved watching the professional gingerbread house making contests on T.V. for years and they always inspire me to make one of my own. In the past, as my mother will tell you, I have let my imagination go way above and beyond my mediocre gingerbread house making skills, resulting in a gigantic, lopsided, unfinished mansion, complete with sticky sugar glass lake and a molded marzipan swan like creature.

This year I have taken a different, much simpler approach and I stayed in the "quality over quantity" state of mind. I love how my quaint little woodland cottage turned out!

I used this Martha Stewart Tutorial for the entire project. The recipe, the template, and the methods. One thing I did change was the size. I printed her template on 60% instead of 100%. Each individual piece looks so small but once you put it all together it makes such a nice manageable sized house.

I made a few changes here and there that I will touch on as well.

Cutting and Baking the Pieces
The best tip I can give you throughout the entire process is utilizing your freezer! After you roll your dough, pop it in the freezer for 5 minutes. It is so much easier to cut out your pieces when the dough is frozen. Right before you bake them, freeze for at least 10 minutes. The tiny windows wont close up and your cut outs will be the exact same shape once you bake them. I moved the door from the long horizontal piece to the taller pointed piece and made that my front. Just a personal choice!

The Shingles
The Martha tutorial does not make individual roof shingles like I did. She pipes them on with royal icing. I really love how the gingerbread shingles look but they were by far the most time consuming thing. I wish I had taken pictures of this process but it is still fairly easy to explain. Roll some gingerbread dough over a silpat. I used a small 10 by 6 silpat. You want to roll the dough as thin as you can possibly get it. It doesn't matter if it sticks to the silpat, in fact it definitely WILL stick. So you roll and roll and roll until it is paper thin. With a knife, cut long crossing horizontal and vertical lines to create 1/2 squares. Freeze for 15 minutes. Bake at 350 for 3 to 6 minutes, depending on your oven. I let mine go a little into overdone territory because I wanted the roof to be dark. Once it cools, you can carefully break the pieces apart. You will have many casualties here and only about 3/4 will make usable shingles so make more than you think you need. I used about 75 per side. Another thing to look out for is the direction. I put my roof shingles on the opposite way than they should be. Does it really matter? No. But when you have a super "do it yourself" Dad who pretty much built your REAL house and will notice every inaccurate construction element, save yourself the lecture and put them on right! I also left out the chimney. Not by choice, I just forgot! I'm pretty sure my dog got a hold of the tiny chimney cutouts and ate them. I absolutely love how it looks on Martha's house though and would recommend making it!

The Sugar Syrup
Alright onto the next thing. In Martha's tutorial, she uses caramelized sugar to glue the pieces together instead of royal icing. Slightly more dangerous, but brilliant! This worked like a dream. You just carefully brush it along the edges and it hardens within a few seconds. Once you get the house put together, it is not going anywhere. I began to attach the roof shingles using the sugar and for the first 2 rows, things were looking good. But after a few minutes, the sugar syrup was starting to get hard. The syrup would harden before I could even get the shingles to to roof. After lots of reheating and a bunch of broken shingles I decided that the sugar syrup just was not the right medium for such a slow tedious job. I made a quick batch of royal icing (1 egg white, 1.5 cups powdered sugar) and finished the job that way. Much better.

With the leftover royal icing, I added a few details around the roof and windows, a festive sprig of rosemary above the door and a silver sprinkle doorknob. My favorite little trick here is the pathway! I used ground coffee mixed with a little powdered sugar and it looks just like gravel.

I'm so happy to be posting again. The new year always brings new inspiration. I hope everyone is having a wonderful day with their families and friends! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Cinnamon Almond Horchata

This recipe makes for a richer and thicker version of traditional horchata. To lighten it up a bit, substitute a couple cups of the milk for more water, or use skim milk!

Horchata
Makes about 1.5 gallons


Ingredients:

1-3/4 cups long grain white rice
1 cup blanched almonds
9 cups water
4 cinnamon sticks
4 cups milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons vanilla extract

Blend rice, almonds, cinnamon sticks and as much water as you can fit in a blender or food processor until rice and cinnamon is broken down into a sand like consistency. Combine with remaining water in a bowl and refrigerate at least 5 hours, preferable over night. The rice starts to release its starches and settles at the bottom so give it a good stir every so often!

Combine milk, sugar, sweetened condensed milk, salt and vanilla till sugar is dissolved.

Strain the rice mixture through a fine mesh sieve. Combine with the sugar milk mixture.

At this point, I funnel the horchata back into empty milk jugs and continue to flavor to taste; a little more cinnamon or a little more vanilla. Whatever you like! Make sure to give it a good shake every time you pour to stir up all the good stuff that settles on the bottom!

Spanish Flan with Candied Blood Orange and White Chocolate Coconut Crunch

This flan recipe is as easy as it gets!! The white chocolate coconut crunch adds a wonderful texture and tropical flavor. It is pretty much that same thing as the chocolate hazelnut crunch from my chocolate panna cotta post. For more detailed instructions on how to make the crunch layer, go here! The candied blood orange has just the right amount of tang and bitterness to really balance out the sweetness from the rest of the dessert. This flan can be served as is for a delicious simple custard. And with a few extra special touches it is transformed into a wonderfully complex summer dessert!


Coconut Blood Orange Flan
Makes about 6 3-inch round individual flans

For the flan:

1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat over to 350 degrees F.

Place baking dish of choice into the oven to preheat. This helps to prevent the caramel from hardening too quickly. I baked mine in an 8 inch square glass baking dish. You are going to bake the flan in a water bath (or bain-marie). All you need is another baking dish large enough to hold the flan, with sides high enough for about 2 inches of boiling water.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, sweetened condensed milk. evaporated milk, and vanilla extract till completely combined. This can be done in a blender or food processor as well.



In a heavy bottomed saucepan, cook the sugar over medium high heat. After about 7 minutes, you will notice the sugar start to melt. Try not to mix the sugar too much, as you don't want to create sugar crystals in your caramel. Once the majority of the sugar is melted and begins to turn a light caramel color, stir with a wooden spoon. Once completely melted, pour caramel into the bottom of your preheated baking dish. Immediately pour custard over caramel.

Place custard dish into the water bath and place in preheated oven. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour, or until the flan is mostly set with a slight jiggle in the very center. Cool on the counter for about 45 minutes. Place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, up to overnight.

You can turn the custard out on a large plate and cut any way you like. I used a 3 inch round biscuit cutter.


For the White Chocolate Coconut Crunch:

2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cold water
1 cup flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sweetened coconut, lightly toasted
3/4 cup white chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine eggs, milk, water, flour and melted butter. Heat a sauce pan over medium low heat. Coat with cooking spray. Because these crepes are going to be baked and broken up, it really doesn't matter how they look. They can rip and tear, they can be underdone or over done. This is the most relaxing crepe experience you will ever have!!

Once you have cooked all your crepes, lay them on sheet pans, careful not to overlap. You will need about 4 separate sheets or you may need to work in batches. Bake at 350 for about 20 to 30 minutes. This can turn on you quick so keep an eye on them. If you notice the edges start to brown, carefully break them off with tongs. Once all the crepes are a nice golden color, place in a food processor and pulse till ground.

Heat heavy cream and butter over medium heat to a simmer. Pour over white chocolate and let sit about 5 minutes till chocolate is melted. Whisk till smooth. Add coconut and stir to combine. Spread in a parchment lined 13x9 inch pan and cool in refrigerator. When ready to use, cut into whatever shape you would like, I used a 3 inch round biscuit cutter, to fit underneath the flan.


Candied Blood Oranges:

2 cups sugar
1 cup water
2 to 4 small blood oranges, thinly sliced

Combine sugar and water in medium heavy bottomed sauce pan. Heat till sugar is dissolved. Add blood orange slices. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat. Let oranges sit in the mixture till completely cool, about an hour to 2 hours.


To assemble, place white chocolate coconut crunch round on plate. Top with flan. Garnish top with blood orange. This would also be great with a little whipped cream or possible some vanilla ice cream on the side!

These sugar decorations from Alton Brown always add a nice little touch as well!

Iced Rose and Mint Green Tea

Well, we are just about halfway through summer now and it is hotter than ever. Nothing cools you down better on these days than a big glass of something icy cold to drink. I am such a big iced tea drinker so this one was a no brainer for me. I wanted to add a little something whimsical and fun to my iced tea this time. I love mint in my tea and I have it growing fresh in the garden so that was first on my list. Remember that rose petal sugar I used for the rose and pistachio macarons? I used the last bit of it up in this refreshing iced tea!

Iced Rose and Mint Green Tea
Makes about 7 cups of tea

Ingredients:
5 green tea bags
4 cups water
3 cups ice
1/2 cup rose petal sugar
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Pour over tea bags and steep for 3 minutes. Remove tea bags and add ice.

For the simple syrup:
Combine rose sugar and mint leaves with 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil. Cook until sugar is dissolved. Add to iced tea to taste.

Wedding Cake Tasting

Wow!! Has it really been almost 3 months since my last post? Man, time has been flying by so quickly, it is almost scary. Life has been so busy, it seems I have been neglecting my blog a bit! But I managed to capture a few photos from a wedding cake tasting I did recently. A long-time family friend is getting married this fall and she has given me the honor of creating her wedding cake.

Raspberry Jam, White Chocolate Ganache, and Meyer Lemon Curd

Almond Cake with Crushed Almond Butter Cream, Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Icing, and Yellow Cake with Vanilla Bean Butter Cream

I am so excited to be working on this cake and I can't wait for the final outcome!