Week 9 : Baking for a wedding

Cupcake and cake pop bonanza!

 

Very late post this week, but it was a special week. I was asked to bake for my brother in law wedding.

They wanted cupcake to use as place setting and cake pops for the sweet table.

Earlier on in the year, I had arranged a tasting with them and they decided on three flavour: lemon, vanilla and caramel. 

As I am working full time I tried to be as organised as possible. I took one day of work and did all my order online. Food arrived on the Wednesday as planned but unfortunately the boxes didn't... So on the Friday morning, after dropping T boy at nursery  I had to rush to the shop  before getting back home and starting a 6h baking Marathon.

This is the basic recipe I used for all three. 

Recipe from The hummingbird bakery, cake days

For the lemon I added the zest of three lemon, and for caramel I added 100g of dulce de leche. You can also used caramel sauce.

I was planning to core them and add caramel sauce or lemon curd in the middle but time was getting tight so I left it out. Instead for the caramel cupcake I mixed it with the icing.

For the lemon cupcake, I put some spoon of curd on the side of the icing bag before putting the icing and got a nice yellow and white swirl.

Unfortunately I don't have picture of most of the preparation as I was rushing so much.

For the cake pops, I made the red velvet one. 

Same one made in this post: http://theweeklybaker.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/week-4-part-1-red-velvet-cupcakes.html

 

 I used two different brand for the coating and added some vegetable oil for a smooth finish. One chocolate was a lot easier to use and gave a smoother result. I got it from Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008E9BIWS?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00

I was quite proud with all the hard work and relived when all was packed.

 Unfortunately some didn't travel as well as I wished. Some where a bit crushed when we arrived at the hotel. I couldn't quite face it so a and them in the fridge and only faced it the following day. I did have the good idea to take some spare icing with me. Most if them were fine and I just re-iced the other one. And here is the result:

Everyone loved them and the cake pop were also a success. Especially by T boy who keep going back for more!

Week 8 part 2: Banana and cinnamon scones

Banana and cinnamon scones

About two weeks ago, I was asked to bake for a coffee morning at work. I did some red velvet cupcakes but also decided to do something that people could actually eat for breakfast. I wanted to do some scones but wanted to avoid traditional English one, as then you also need jam and clotted cream!

I was also having a lazy day and didn't really want to go to the shop again so l was looking for a recipe that I would be able to do with things I had in the cupboard.

I scrolled the internet and found the recipe below for banana and cinammon scones. It was really easy and quick to do. They turned out really nice. I didn't do the glaze as I didn't want them to be overly sweet.

The recipe is from:

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-banana-bread-scones-wit-155500

Banana Bread Scones with Brown Sugar Glaze

Makes 8 scones

2 very ripe bananas (about 8 oz or 1 cup once mashed)
2-4 tablespoons milk, whole or 2%
1/2 cup (4 oz) plain yogurt, whole or 2%
2 1/2 cups (12.5 oz) all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons (1 1/2 oz) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons (2 oz) unsalted butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

For the glaze:
1 tablespoons (1 oz) salted butter
2 tablespoons (1 oz) milk, whole or 2%
1/4 cup (2 oz) packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4-1/2 cup (2-4 oz) confectioner's sugar

Mash the bananas and then add enough milk to make one total cup (if necessary). Stir in the yogurt and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Cut the butter into several pieces. Work it into the dry ingredients using a fork, pastry cutter, or your finger tips until there are no pieces of butter larger than a pea.

Pour the banana-yogurt mixture into the bowl with the flour and stir just enough to incorporate all of the flour. Fold in the walnuts, if using. This will make a fairly wet dough.

Line a dinner plate with a piece of wax paper and turn the dough out on top. Pat it into a disk about 1-inch thick and cover with another piece of wax paper. Freeze the scone dough for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Peel off the top layer of wax paper and invert the scones onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Peel off the second layer of wax paper. Slice the scones into eight wedges and pull them apart a little to give them some room to expand. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the scones are firm to the touch and turning golden-brown on the edges. Cool completely and cut apart any scones that baked together with a sharp knife.

To make the glaze, melt the butter and the milk in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add the brown sugar and vanilla, and stir until the sugar has melted (heat for an additional 30 seconds in the microwave if necessary). Whisk in the confectioner's sugar, starting with 1/4 cup. Add more confectioner's sugar if desired to make a thicker glaze.

Just before serving, drizzle the glaze over the scones. The glaze will harden after setting for a minute or two, and can be served right away or packed for a later snack. The glaze can make the scones a bit sticky if kept for longer than a few hours, so store any scones to be eaten later un-glazed. Extra un-glazed scones can also be frozen and re-heated in a microwave or toaster oven.

Week 8, Part1: double chocolate chips cheesecake

Double chocolate chips cheesecake

So this week, back to the great british baker cookbook. Last week, I was asked to bake for a bridal shower. I decided to do something different from the  usual cupcakes. I did the yogurt cake and decided to do a cheesecake. I actually had never done a baked cheesecake.

So got all  the ingredients out, got ready to weigh all of it, turned on scale and "error" message came up! Desperation and panic washed over me until I remembered that I now live in a country that use different way of measuring (try measuring in cups or lb in France...), so I grabbed my measuring cups and spoon, got my phone and Google on,  managed to find good website for conversion and problem sorted!

The recipe from the book was pretty simple to follow. But this was a stressful baking as I was not sure if the measures were exact and if it was going to turn out ok.

Mine ended up with a big slit in the middle, probably because I was impatient and opened the oven.

The other issue I had was that because of my wonderful organisation (not) I baked the cheesecake on the morning of the party then read the full recipe and realised I should have let it rest in the fridge overnight! But it was still lovely!

Week 7, part 2: icing and yoghurt cake

 Yoghurt cake and icing

Ok, yes this one is late! But that means more post this week!
Lately on top of the baking I have been trying to improve my piping icing techniques. I always look at pictures of cakes and think how do they do it... My one never look that good.
I have been watching different you tube video and then I got it, the secret to nice icing is.... A bigger nozzle.... Yes, as simple as this. So went to the shop and bought two big nozzles, a round one and a star one. I found it even easier to use as I put them directly in piping bag and it make it quicker to ice cakes.
On Saturday, I was going to a bridal shower and decided to put my new skills to the test. I bake a simple cake and used a buttercream with pink food coloring, I used the star nozzles to make some pretty roses. Ended looking fairly impressive.

 The cake is a yogurt cake, it is really easy to do and great to bake with children. Once you have the basic batter you can add anything in it. I sometimes add fruits, cocoa powder or will split the batter keep one simple or vanilla and the other one chocolate. To have a nice marble effect you need to put the chocolate mix on top.

Here the recipe for the yoghurt cake:

1 pot of Yoghurt  (You can use any type of yoghurt. The size of the pot is a small pot, activia type.)
Using the yoghurt pot to measure:
2 pots of flour
2 pots of sugar
½ pot of oil
3 eggs
½ packet of baking powder

Put all the ingredients in a bowl, mix and put in a tin. (Oil or butter up the tin first) 

Bake for about 30 minutes at 200°c .
Then enjoy!

Week 7, part 1: Brandy snaps

 Brandy Snaps

Another late one... Sometimes it is just quite difficult to find the time to sit and write the blog...
This week I decided to attempt a more technical recipes and the brandy snaps looked pretty good. The recipe is not that complicated but need a lot of concentration. Which is probably why it might not have been such a great idea to attempt it hungover after a night out in the town with some crazy work colleague . And this is the result:

But after I realised that no, the recipe is not wrong but my oven was set too high, I persevered and got some pretty good result.
The difficulties I had was with size and timing... I found that a rounded teaspoon made it too large. Then they collapse in the middle if it was too hot or not cooked enough. To avoid it, I rolled it around the spoon then waited that it felt harder to slid it down.
I made some changes in the main ingredients mainly because it's all I could find in the corner shop and didn't feel like walking to the next shop... So I put light brown sugar instead of demerara and golden syrup maple syrup instead of the normal one.
For decoration I used 75%cacao chocolate left over from the cookies but everyone found it too strong and you could not taste the nuts or the brandy snap. It can also be served  with whipped cream piped in the middle but to be honest I tried to whip some cream but gave up as I didn't have the strength!
I personally found them just OK but others loved it...

Week 6, part 2: Bread

 Week 6, Part 2: Bread

Late post this week. Week has been pretty busy until now and with late evening at work, there was no time for writing the post.
This week, I decided to do one of the basic recipe. I was actually quite surprised of how easy it was. It does require a bit of planning, because there is a lot of resting time. But you only need some bread flour, yeast and water and a lot of kneeding!

Making bread was a lot easier than I thought and those were nicer than the one from the bread machine. It is also quite relaxing to make bread, kneeding help to relieve all this accumulated tension!

The recipe make 2 nice round loaf. They keep very well and taste like proper bread! Husband and T boy loved it.