Purple and Black Baby Shower

So for my friends baby shower we wanted to do something a little different. She was having a girl and we didn't want to stick with the generic pink. To me I find pink plain boring and often tacky. So we opted for a change in colour theme.

Purple, Black and White. So I thought up and designed the perfect theme and layout for such colours.
I decided on a two tier circular cake. the bottom tier white and top tier black in which I used a quilted effect with silver sugar balls. I then incorporated the purple by making a ribbon and bow and decorated this with silver sugar balls and edible purple glitter as seen below.



I then made some purple and black baby converse just to incorporate the baby theme. I made these following a Wilton template
 

I then used black cherry laces and used black holographic and lavender purple edible glitter  to decorate and placed them on top of the cake wen dry.


And now onto the cupcakes...

I made two types of cupcake. the first was a vanilla sponge with cherry compote and vanilla butter cream. the second was a mild chocolate sponge with white chocolate ganache.

I used black and white large Demask cupcake cases. I smoothed the icing/ganache to create a smooth surface in preparation for my decorations.

I brought some premade royal icing. Teddy bear brown, Chocolate dark brown, Pink and Yellow. I used these to create various skin tones and made a variety of fondant babies



I coloured the hair using black food colouring paste and cinnamon. I also left them to set for a couple of hours as the fondant sweats before it goes.

once I placed them onto the cupcakes I went about creating quilts for the sleeping babies. Following the theme I went with Black and purple.










I then displayed the cupcakes on a Demask themed classy candle stick holder. I think this created a very classy tasteful theme. The babies went down a treat and were a great conversation starter.

Make your own impression mat

courtesy of http://www.lilaloa.com/2013/01/make-your-own-impression-mat.html 

Will you hate me if I admit that I don't like love heart candies?  They taste okay. They're not fantastic... but they are definitely higher on the list of things I'd like to eat than say... chalk or dirt. It's kind of a weird colour combination if you ask me, and above all... the grammar... I just can't get past it. My eye starts twitching and my tongue gets stuck in the top of my mouth. And then on top of that, my 3 year old wants me to define "Babe" and "Be my icon." 

So... these happened.  I tried this out because I wanted to know if it would work. And it did. Mostly. But don't try this until you read the whole post. It's not without limitations. But it is fantastic for what it is.

Remember when you were in college and you were dating two people at the same time, only they didn't know it so you asked your roommate for advice and they told you to just enjoy it all until it blows up in your face? It's kind of like that. Except nothing should blow up in your face. And if it does, then you clearly did not read my instructions.

Things you will need -- 

Piping gel. Get any color you want. I mean, get a color that doesn't annoy you. (Do some colors annoy you or is it just me? Orange kind of annoys me. And turquoise. And putting them together would be like giving my children drums and water balloons. Please don't do it.)

Flexible cutting boards. Mine look a little old because they are. They have never been used (this is important for food safety) but they have been sitting in a box for nearly 3 years. (Why in the world would I do that? Please don't judge me.)  I got them at a dollar store when I still lived in America. Basically, you want thin, flexible, food safe plastic.

Printed Message. Find a nice font you like. Find a fancy scroll pattern. Create your own unique artwork. Just make sure you scale it to the right size and then flip the image. Unless of course it's already symmetrical, or you don't mind the reverse pattern. For words... you're going to need to flip it.

Piping bag and tip. For lettering, I would recommend a #1.5 tip. For any other pattern or design, a #2 or #2.5 tip would be give you more durability in the long run. But you can't use that size of tips for letters this small. It would just turn out to be a giant blob. And, I could be wrong, but I don't think you need an impression mat for giant blobs. Those are pretty easy to do on your own.

TIME. (Not pictured) It takes a long time to dry. We're talking 10-15 days here. A long time.

This could not be more simple. Tape your mirror image to a flat surface. Tape a cut up piece of the plastic cutting board over the top. Squeeze your piping gel into the piping bag and pipe over the top of the design. If you are using the #1.5 tip, let it dry for an hour and then pipe a second layer of piping gel on top to make it taller. Then put it somewhere you won't see it for 10 days. Resist the urge to poke it every 3 hours just to see how it is doing.

1. So... about those limitations I was talking about earlier. You have to use this just a little bit differently than a regular impression mat. And by that I mean you need to dust the top of the cookie dough with flour. This was a little excessive. It really only need a very light dusting, but I was a tad paranoid after it stuck the first time and I started hyperventilating because I assumed my two weeks of waiting had been wasted in a careless moment.

2. Place the impression mat with the dried-up-piping-gel side down. Gently roll over the top with a rolling pin. Try to use light pressure, and only on the part with the pattern.

3. Use a food brush to remove the copious amount of flour you dumped on your cookie dough in your moment of self doubt.

4. Cut out the cookie. And then bake it. And eat it. Or give it to someone if that's what you do with cookies.

Some helpful tips --

**Use a brush and toothpick to clean the impression mat. If you try to wash it, it will get sticky and weird.

**Consider extending the plastic further out from the design so it doesn't leave marks on your cookie.

**If one of your lines is a little bit wonky, let it set up for a day and then take a toothpick and gently nudge it into place. 

Taken from http://www.lilaloa.com/2013/01/make-your-own-impression-mat.html 

I love you more than....

I love you more than....Heart Biscuits 


These are so sweet and you can use your imagination when it comes to the details. They would be a great unique gift for any partner.

Ingredients

650g Plain Flour
1 tsp. baking powder
250g Butter
260g Caster Sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract or chosen flavouring
1/2 tsp. salt

you will need a heart shaped cookie cutter and coloured icing of your choice.

• Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Mix in the egg and vanilla.
• Combine all the dry ingredients and add to butter mixture a little at a time.
• There is a lot of flour in this recipe so it is important to take your time to ensure all of the flour is absorbed. Keep working the dough until it comes together with no crumbs.
• Roll the dough into flat slabs cover and place in the fridge to chill for 30 mins.
• Pre heat the oven to 180c Gas Mark 4.

When your oven has reached temperature roll dough to approx. 1cm thick and using your cookie cutter, cut to shape. Using a non-stick baking tray, bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges of your cookies begin to turn brown. Leave to cool on a cooling rack before decorating.

V-day Cupcake Decorations

Chocolate cupcake vanilla frosting and red heart shape fondant


Red Velvet cup cakes with icing stencil


Sponge cupcakes with Strawberry frosting red sugar sprinkles and cut strawberries


Sponge cupcake with strawberry icing and love heart sweets

Cinnamon cake

Yummy Cinnamon Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting


The abundant amounts of cinnamon in both the cake and icing may be too much for some, but I think the balance is just right. The orange peel packs a refreshing punch that really shouldn't be skipped--I've gone without it and been left wanting. Be forewarned: It's a dense cake, but the texture is fabulous and the degree of moistness is pretty near perfect. The thick layers of that sweet and tangy frosting complete this fabulous creation.

Ingredients

Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 large eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cinnamon

• Preheat oven to 180°c. 
• Butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans. Sift first 4 ingredients into small bowl. Stir milk and butter in small saucepan over low heat just until butter melts; set aside.

• Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until thick enough for batter to fall in heavy ribbon when beaters are lifted, about 5 minutes. 

• Beat in orange peel and vanilla. Add flour mixture; beat just until blended. Add warm milk mixture; beat just until blended. Divide batter between prepared pans.

• Bake cakes until tester inserted into centre comes out clean and cakes begin to pull away from sides of pans, about 24 minutes.

• Cool cakes in pans on racks 20 minutes. Cut around pan sides and turn cakes out onto racks. Turn cakes right side up.

• For frosting, mix the butter and cream cheese together with an electric mixer until very smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

• Add the vanilla extract and cinnamon and mix. Slowly add the powdered sugar. Keep adding until you get to desired sweetness. Spread one cup of frosting onto first layer. 

• Top with second layer. Smooth the rest of the frosting onto the top and sides using your preferred technique.

Oreo Cookie Butter

Oreo Chocolate spread 

Yes, I made Oreo cookie butter... Like peanut butter that tastes like Oreos and has no peanuts. Spreadable Oreo chocolate fudgy goodness.
If you've ever had an Oreo cookie (and who hasn't?) you know that flavour. It's the perfect cookie to transform into something else, and have people say HUH? and wonder how you did it.

It's so easy, it's embarrassing. It's almost not a recipe. It's magic.

What can you do with this magic cookie butter goodness?

Well, to start with, I spread it on Graham crackers. You could spread it between other cookies to make sandwich cookies .You could eat it with a spoon. You could mix it into ice cream. So many options, so easy to make ...

Oreo Cookie Butter

12 Oreo cookies*
2 tablespoons water


Put the cookies in your food processor and process until you have a very very fine powder. Scrape down the sides and make sure you don't have any chunky pieces left. Keep processing until it's all a fine powder.


Add the water a teaspoon at a time until you have a thick, shiny, fudgy spread.

And that's it. Pure magic.

*Note: I haven't tried this with the double-stuffed. I suspect it would take less water - maybe none.

Santa Hat Brownies

Christmas Special Santa Hat Brownies


Now here's a great idea for the family. Kids and adults will love these. They look and taste fabulous and you can also use the recipe for white chocolate brownies as a substitute for the chocolate http://forbakessake.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/white-winter-chocolate-brownies.html
You can use ready-made brownie bites or bake a pan of your favourite brownies. I whipped up some vanilla-mascarpone buttercream to simulate the white trim on the hats But you can use your own flavour buttercream if it suits. Voila! A festive dessert to get everyone into the spirit of the holidays. It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!

Ingredients:
1 pan of your favourite brownies, cooled and cut into desired size and shape (I used a round cutter)
12-16 small strawberries, cleaned and hulled
vanilla-mascarpone buttercream (recipe below)
Mascarpone Buttercream
Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
8 ounces mascarpone cheese, room temperature
2-1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Method:

• Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and mascarpone cheese until light and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla extract and salt. 
•  Add 2-1/2 cups of sugar, half a cup at a time and continue beating until smooth. 
•  Add more sugar, if needed to reach desired consistency and sweetness.
• To assemble, pipe a ring of vanilla buttercream on top of each brownie. Cut off the base of a strawberry so it is flat and place it upside down on each brownie, pushing slightly to secure in place. 
•  Top the tip of the strawberry with a dot of buttercream to finish the Santa hat.

Strawberry Shortcake Muffins

Sweet Smelling Strawberry Shortcake Muffins

This is one for the strawberry lovers. These taste amazing and will fill your house with the mouthwatering smell of strawberry shortcake. They are pretty simple to make and contain no flour...that's right these babies are made from oats and yoghurt.  I will give you the option of adding sweeteners instead of sugar in the recipe below. I personally prefer sugar as I generally as a rule don't like to use artificial sweeteners, but for those on a diet looking for something low cal the sweeteners work just as well.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cup Oats (old fashioned kind, not quick cooking)
1 cup Plain low fat greek yogurt
2 Eggs

1 cup sugar OR
1/2 cup Baking stevia OR 1 cup sweetener of choice that measures like sugar 1

1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 1/2 cup Strawberries, diced, and patted dry + (optional 1/2 cup strawberries, diced to place on top of muffins)

Optional 1 tsp lemon juice

*Note The paper liners don’t work well when baking with a base that does not include flour (which is the case with this recipe), they always seem to stick to the paper. If you don’t have a silicone muffin tin or liners, I recommend buying the foil cupcake liners at the store, and removing the paper inserts so you are only using the foil part of the liner! That way no sticking will occur!

How to make them

• Preheat oven to 200 c  195 c for fan assist. Line 12 muffin tins with silicone or foil liners, (or just use a silicone muffin pan)
• Place all of the ingredients (except the strawberries) in a blender or food processor, and blend until oats are smooth. Pour mixture into a medium sized bowl, and stir in strawberries. Divide remaining 1/2 cup diced strawberries over the top of each muffin. (This step is optional, but it really makes the strawberries burst with colour and flavour on top of each muffin!)
• Divide batter among cupcake liners, and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Yummy enjoy!!!

Marshmallow snowmen cupcakes

These are great little festive cakes to really get the children excited about Christmas. Eye catching and really cute they are fantastic for Christmas fairs or parties or even just to entertain. The kids can get stuck into decorating these little snowmen as well,

To make just follow the basic cupcake recipe of your choice in the links below:

Vanilla cupcake recipe
http://forbakessake.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/simple-vanilla-cupcakes.html

Chocolate cupcake recipe
http://forbakessake.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/simple-chocolate-cupcakes.html

Once your cakes are baked leave them on a wire rack to cool down.  Once cooled they are ready for decoration. You will need:

• Icing of your choice, I find a marshmallow buttercream frosting works great (recipe at bottom of page) or simply marshmallow fluff which you can by from Asda and other leading supermarkets. You can also use a basic buttercream or cream cheese frosting as long as it is white in colour.
• 1 pack of white large marshmallows
• Black writing icing pen to pipe >>>
• Colour of your choice writing icing for buttons
• Orange fondant

How to decorate

• Pipe your frosting in a circular motion up into a peak. 
• make your snowman's nose with orange fondant icing and attach to each marshmallow by dabbing into the icing and glueing to the face.
• Place a single marshmallow on top of each cupcake and leave to set for 25 mins or so in the fridge.
• Once removed from the fridge you can begin to detail. Start by drawing the eyes, nose and arms with the black writing icing pen. then draw your snowman's buttons with a contrasting colour such as red, green ect...
• you can also use flavoured laced to make a scarf if you like. 
• Another great quirky idea would be to place a marshmallow inside the cupcake before baking so there is a soft fluffy centre surprise, kids will love it.

Marshmallow buttercream recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup room temperature butter
• 1 (7-ounce) jar marshmallow creme/fluff
• 2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 vanilla bean (optional)

Instructions

1. Cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the marshmallow creme.
2. Whip for 2 minutes.
3. Add the confectioners sugar and continue to beat for 2 minutes. Add vanilla extract and vanilla bean.

Simple chocolate cupcakes

Super Simple Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 100g butter
• 2/3 cup caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa, sifted
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
• 125ml (1/2 cup) milk

Chocolate buttercream frosting
60g unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp cocoa, sifted
1 tbsp milk
Method:

• Preheat oven to 180°C conventional or 160°C fan-forced. Line cupcake tins with cases.
• Using a mixer, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until creamy and fluffy. Gradually add eggs and mix until just combined.
• Combine flour, cocoa and bicarbonate soda. Add to creamed mixture with milk. Beat until just combined.
• Spoon mixture into liners until each case is one third full. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

To make the chocolate butter cream

• Beat butter until light and fluffy. Add icing sugar and cocoa and combine well. Beat in milk until mixture is fluffy.

Notes:
These cupcakes are super quick and have a light fluffy texture.
Do not overfill the cases otherwise you won't get 18 cupcakes out of this recipe.
If you want a thicker dollop of icing on top then you'lll need to increase the amounts in the buttercream recipe.

Candy cane cheesecake

Christmas Candy Cane Cheesecake


2 pkgs 8 oz cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanillaSprinkle of cinnamon
1 graham crust

1 bar white chocolate
1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Tip: Sprinkling cinnamon on a store bought crust, makes it taste more like homemade :)

• Beat together softened cream cheese and sugar.  Add eggs and vanilla and continue to beat until pretty smooth (a few lumps are okay).
• Melt chocolate over a hot saucer of water, Crush candy canes or peppermint candies and add to the melted mix with 1/2 tablespoon of peppermint extract. 
• Mix together batter and melted chocolate and pour into prepared crust (don’t forget to sprinkle some cinnamon on your crust!)
• Bake on 180 degrees for 35 minutes or until centre is firm.
• Let cool and freeze.  Best served frozen with a dollop of whip cream!

Enjoy the deliciousness :)

Christmas Chocolate Orange Swirls

Christmas cookies with a chocolate orange twist

For me Christmas is all about those winter flavours and spices such as cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, orange and spiced apples. Orange is a fantastic fragrant flavour that stands out and works fantastic with chocolate. Chocolate orange is so popular around Christmas time its one of the top sellers (Terry's chocolate orange segments).

So incorporating chocolate orange into a Christmas cookie just sends my taste buds whizzing. With a simple recipe and easy method there's no reason why you cant try these babies at home for yourself

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon grated orange rind 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons orange extract
• 2 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

• Beat butter at medium speed of an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well. 
• Add egg and vanilla; beat well.
• Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; stir well. Add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed.
• Remove half of dough from bowl. Add orange rind and orange extract to dough in bowl, and mix well. Remove orange dough from mixing bowl, and set aside. Return plain dough to mixing bowl; add melted chocolate, beating well. Cover and chill both portions of dough 1 hour.
• Roll each half of dough to a 15" x 8" rectangle on floured wax paper. 
• Place orange dough on top of chocolate dough; peel off top wax paper. Tightly roll dough, jellyroll fashion, starting at short side and peeling wax paper from dough while rolling. Cover and chill 1 hour.
• Slice dough into 1/4" slices; place on un-greased cookie sheets. Bake at 180° for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool.

For Chocolate-Cherry Swirls: Substitute 1/2 cup drained minced maraschino cherries for orange rind and orange extract. Add 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour to cherry dough if it is too soft.Note: To prevent flat-sided cookies, turn dough rolls halfway through the second chilling time. Dental floss makes cutting the dough easier.

Healthy Lemon and Raspberry Muffins

Luscious lemon raspberry muffins

I have great news...not all muffins and cakes have to be bad for you....*GASP* Even if you are watching your weight you should be allowed to divulge yourself into a treat or two right?..
RIGHT!
I have a serious love for muffins my favourite being my healthy low cal triple choc 
http://forbakessake.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/healthy-low-calorie-chocolate-muffins.html

The secret to the sparkling flavour of these delicately crumbed lemon raspberry muffins is the strips of lemon zest finely ground into the sugar. And they taste fantastic warm straight out of the oven.

A great treat for after a long day at work or morning boost...or even a post work out energizer, these really are worth trying...
Here's how you can make them yourself...

Ingredients

1 lemon
1/2 cup  sugar
1 cup  non fat buttermilk (you can make buttermilk by mixing 1 cup milk (non fat) with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice or vinegar)
1/3 cup Canola oil or vegetable if you cant find any
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup  white whole-wheat flour, or whole-wheat pastry flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen (not thawed) raspberries

• Preheat oven to 205 degrees C or gas mark 6. Coat 12 large (1/2-cup) muffin cups with cooking spray or line with paper liners.
• Use a vegetable peeler to remove the zest from the lemon in long strips. Combine the zest and sugar in a food processor; pulse until the zest is very finely chopped into the sugar. 
• Add buttermilk, oil, egg and vanilla and pulse until blended.
• Combine whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. 
• Add the buttermilk mixture and fold until almost blended. Gently fold in raspberries. 
• Divide the batter among the muffin cups.
• Bake the muffins until the edges and tops are golden, 20 to 25 minutes. 
• Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Serve warm

NUTRITION FACTS

Calories 185, Total Fat 7 g, Saturated Fat 1 g, Mono-unsaturated Fat 4 g, Cholesterol 18 mg, Sodium 245 mg, Carbohydrate 27 g, Fibre 2 g, Protein 4 g, Potassium 42 mg. Exchanges: Starch 1,Other Carbohydrate 1,Fat 1.5.

Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

And there you have it...fabulous low fat muffins, dig in :)