And the winners are...

Congratulations to the winners of the cake push pop containers competition!! 

The winners are:  Janet Hudson, Lauren Richards, Kate McD, Choclit D'lites, Simon and Sugar Daze/Cat 

Please email me your details through my blog www.thelonebaker.com using the subject line "cake push pops" and I'll posting you off 6 cake push pop containers each on Saturday.

Thank you everyone for participating in my first competition, fabulous entries and  so much fun that I thought I should run another competition later this week... stay tuned to enter :)  

Happy Baking :)

Seahorse cupcake and bubbles in silicone moulds

                                     seahorse cupcake

Join me on Facebook

Goodness, sorry I'm sooo behind in answering mail... I'm answering one today, and I can hear many saying "about time!!!". It's a question about using a gas torch to remove the bubbles created in pieces of isomalt when you are using silicone moulds. 

hi, I tried to use a butane torch like you did on the butterflies on my isomalt pieces but I couldn't get rid of the all the bubbles and created a melted mess. What am I doing wrong? 

Vicki

Hi, Vicki you didn't say what moulds you were using but I presume it's something small or with finer detail? I thought I do an example piece today to illustrate... 

An isomalt seahorse straight from the silicone mould. Tiny air bubbles cover the surface of the piece. 

To remove the air bubbles wave the flame of a chef's gas torch over the surface of the piece.

You can see in this shot I'm part way through torching, I've lost a little of the detail but not much. The fin of the seahorse is thin, I give it another quick flash of flame but I won't keep going to remove all the bubbles as I would be risking melting the piece. 

Note the photo on top of page, I photograhed in front of white card so you can see how there still is few small areas of bubbles. However to the naked eye they are difficult to see. 

Finally, my torch is very small it is possible your torch is more powerful? If that is the case, perhaps invest in a small chefs torch as they are relatively inexpensive nowadays. Hope this helps you Vicki.

Happy Baking :)

You might also be interested in Sugar Glass Butterflies 

Mars Attack!! No bake Mars Bar "planets".

mars attacks!!! push pops

Have you entered the cake push pop container competition yet??  I have sample packs of six push pop cake containers to give away to six lucky people.   All you have to do is leave a comment here or on facebook explaining in 25 words of less "your idea" for pops... could be for the cake part or perhaps an event idea. Hubby Mark and Step son Dan will choose two winners each and I'll choose two winners. Competition drawn the last weekend of October. 

Last minute non-scary Halloween treats for the little ones, fun no-bake Mars Bars Planet push pops.  A versatile quick and easy mix that can be pressed into cupcake cases, roll in balls to make "planets" and either pop two in each push pop cake container or insert a lollipop stick for planet pops. 

Give the kids assorted coloured fondant to make simple aliens, a food marker can be used to draw the eyes, mouth or nose if desired. Encourage simple shapes and supply a small paint brush and a glass of water so arms and legs can be attached. 

simple shapes, easy for little hands to manage

Mars Bar Planet Balls

adapted from no-bake chocolate cakes Australian Women's Weekly 'Cupcakes' 

Ingredients 

265 grams  ( 9.34 oz) Mars Bars....  (5 bars)

60 grams (2.11 oz) butter 

3/12 cups Cocoa Pops (Cocoa Krispies) 

Topping

200 grams (7oz)  milk or dark eating chocolate (melted)

Assorted small lollies/candies ... I used choc rocks

Method 

Slice Mars Bars and place them in a medium saucepan with the butter. Melt over low heat, stirring until smooth.

 Stir in Cocoa Pops until well combined and roll firmly into 24 balls (about 2 heaped teaspoons per ball).

Top each ball with a little melted chocolate and a few lollies. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until set.

Top with fondant aliens and package in cake push pop containers or in cellophane bags. 

Other Ideas; Mars Bar mixture can also be used to replace LCM's (Rice Krispie Treats) as structural elements in your cake decorating. Easy to carve, shape and it's not as sticky as the marshmallow mixtures.

Edible ice-cream bowls can be made by turning smalls bowls upside down, cover each bowl with plastic wrap and spray with oil in a can. Press Mars Bar mixture over the bowls to cover, trim edges if necessary and refridgerate for 30 minutes. Ease off the bowl moulds, peel away plastic wrap and you have "edible ice-cream bowls".

Happy Halloween and Happy Baking :) 

Blossom Cupcake Toppers

                             sour cherry cupcake with blossom toppers

It's raining, it's pouring... it must be Spring in Melbourne!!

Today we are making blossom toppers, a little bit fiddly but easy to make. You can go for a natural look or try a more Asian approach with a glossy black finish. 

You'll need:

black modelling paste/or black fondant with CMC added

white modelling paste/or white fondant with CMC added

leaf flower glaze

lustre dusts 

Roll out small "snake" shapes from the black modelling paste (I've used brown modelling paste in the demo because it was easier to see the steps). With a small pair of sharp scissors cut nicks into the snake shapes, move the shapes to replicate branch shapes. Allow to dry. 

branch shapes drying

Once dry paint on leaf/flower glaze with a small brush, allow to dry and repeat. You may need to repeat this step several times until you have a high gloss finish. Allow to dry.

glazed branches drying

To make a blossom, roll six small balls of white fondant. Five of the balls will become petals, the sixth the centre of the blossom. Squash a ball lightly with your finger and in forward pulling motion to form a petal. Once you have your petals made, join together by squeezing together the narrow ends with dampened fingers. Add the centre. Repeat until you have desired amount of flowers. Create buds with small balls of modelling paste. Allow to dry. 

squash a ball lightly in a forward motion to create petals

Once dry dust the blossoms with lustre dusts of choice, attach the to branches with a small of amount of dampened black modelling paste. Allow to dry before using to top your frosted cupcakes.

For those who ask about where do I find "inspiration", it really is all around you... today's toppers were inspired by my kitchen tissue box.

Happy Baking :)

You might also be interested in Green Tea White Chocolate Cupcakesor go savoury with Bacon and Egg Noodle Omelette 

Peach Verrine in minutes

           stem-less red wine glass holds a Peach Verrine

A verrine is a confection, originally from France, made by layering ingredients in a small glass. It can be either sweet or savoury, making a dessert or snack. Wikipedia

Join me on Facebook

Goodness, sometimes you just have one of "those weeks!!" A week when the faithful Apple Mac computer broke down, the puppy discovered it can rip stuffing from every chair and our new landscaping business 'Mark Paxton Landscapes' has taken off with a pre-Christmas frenzy of work. A week where there was no baking going on ):

Time to raid the pantry to see what I can whip up in the 5 minutes I have to spare!! Tinned peaches (in mango puree), ginger nut biscuits (cookies), Peach Schnapps and white chocolate curls. Ok, now to the fridge, whipping cream and mascarpone... it must be time for a verrines! 

There is no amounts for this recipe, just start by putting chilled peach slices in the bottom of your glasses. Whip some cream (sweeten to taste), fold through a few spoonfuls of mascarpone and add a glug of Peach Schnapps. Top the peaches with a spoonful of the cream mixture, add crumbled gingernut biscuits (cookies) and chocolate curls. Serve immediately.

For verrines in minutes; think fruit, crunch, cream and chocolate.

You do have that jar of pitted morello cherries lurking in the pantry somewhere don't you? Divide the cherries between glasses. Top the fruit with a kirsch cream mixture, crushed chocolate biscuits (cookies) and dark chocolate curls. 

So remember when you having one of "those weeks", there is always time for dessert!!

You might also be interested in Combed Chocolate Curls

or a quick Toblerone dessert

Win!!! Cake Push Pop Containers

six cake push pop containers

Cake push pops are all the rage, have you been thinking about giving push pops ago? I have six sample packs of six cake push pop containers to win. That's right... 6 people will win a pack each!

The containers are easy to assemble, slip in the base, slide in the plunger... fill with your cake/dessert of choice, top with a lid if desired. To eat push the plunger upwards. They are washable, reusable or disposable... your choice. Wide enough to hold mini cupcakes.... your thinking of ideas now aren't you?

What can you make in them? Layered cakes, jellies, ice-cream (oh, that's sounding very "Alice" isn't it?), from retro to your most sophisticated concoction. Layered brownie cheesecake perhaps? Or what about an English trifle or is green tea cake and Yuzu juice jelly more your cake of choice. Don't forget pops can be  frozen, ice-cream, ices or semifreddo's, the possibilities are endless.  

Open to all countries (ok, do know you customs laws... will these get through??) all you have to do is leave a comment here or on facebook explaining in 25 words of less "your idea" for pops... could be for the cake part or perhaps an event idea. Hubby Mark and Step son Dan will choose two winners each and I'll choose two winners.

I'll be posting my own cake push pops next week, plus making your own stands and where to buy pre-made stands. Competition will be drawn the last weekend of October. 

Good luck, have fun and Happy Baking :)

Leave your comment below or on Facebook.

Cupcakes Cases, Liners, Papers & Wrappers

Cupcake liners can just be pretty, act as an inspiration or match your theme like these Robert Gordon foil polka dot chocolate cases

So very sweet, these teeny, tiny polka dot foil chocolate cases are by Robert Gordon. Package your truffles and hand made chocolates in these gorgeous cases for gift giving; perfect for Spring racing events, baby showers and celebratory occasions. 

These cases have been spotted on clearance at a few stores, pick up a few packets online at Kitchen Discounts (AU) before they are gone! 

Happy Baking :)

White Chocolate Plastique (Modelling Chocolate)

chocky rocky, fondant, modelling paste and white chocolate plastique

Join me on facebook, don't miss the give-aways... starting next week!

Well it's happened, after 18 years of marriage my husband Mark has a new and younger love; gone is his "man crush" on the looking slightly worse for wear Sylvester Stallone, replaced by the much younger action star... Jason Statham.

For his birthday this weekend Mark wants a slew of "Jason" movies ... hence a teary farewell cupcake for Rocky, Rambo and all that is Sly. Well that and I wanted to show you what a 50/50 ratio mixed together modelling paste and modelling chocolate looked like.

white chocolate plastique rose, dusted with gold lustre dust

Today I have an easy and excellent icing sugar (confectioners sugar) based white chocolate plastique for you to try. With no cooking involved you can whip this up in minutes, ready to create flowers or figures. This plastique can also be added to your precoloured fondant.

White Chocolate Plastique (Modelling Chocolate)

suitable for modelling figures and flowers, not for covering cakes. 

Ingredients

25g (0.88oz)white chocolate (I used couverture) 

100g (3.5oz) icing sugar (confectioners sugar)

75g (2.65oz) cocoa butter

100g (3.5oz) glucose syrup

Method

In the bowl of a food processor combine the first three ingredients, until well blended. Add the glucose syrup and blend. Depending how warm your kitchen is, you will now have a ball of mixture or coarse breadcrumb like mixture... either way, tip contents onto non stick mat and knead until smooth and elastic. *Your chocolate plastique is now ready to use. 

Uses

The chocolate plastique can be rolled paper thin, perfect for petals.

roll paper thin with a plastic rolling pin

Use it to create figures. Knead in food colours as desired.

Mixing half and half with pre-coloured modelling/flower paste will give you the flexibility of the plastique combined with the strength of the paste. Depth of colour is easily reached by over tinting your modelling paste before knead together with plastique. 50/50 is the ratio I usually use, however in hot weather I use 70 modelling paste/30 plastique. 

Storage

Keep leftover chocolate plastique well wrapped in plastic wrap and in an airtight container.

*Troubleshoot: if you have hot hands, your plastique might seperate a little... just leave to one side for 10 minutes & then try kneading again. A few minutes of refrigeration can also help.

Glucose syrup if you haven't used it before is extremely sticky, have a scrapper on hand if any adheres to the inside of your bowl to make sure you get it all out and incorporated into plastique. 

Happy Baking :)

You might also be interested in liquid sweeteners and syrups

Evil Egg and Egg Shell Food Containers

evil egg fondant topped vanilla custard, caramel sauce and brioche cinnamon toast dippers

Join me on Facebook

Bake a lot and go through a whole lot of eggs? Well, you might as well put those empty egg shells to use, they make fabulous serving containers for sweet and savoury dishes. You can dye the shells to match your theme, use them for amuse-bouche scrambled eggs, to hold lollies and candies, filled with piped chocolate mousse or as I have done today "evil eggs" for Halloween. 

Guests spoon off the evil fondant toppers to reveal vanilla custard, I served them in shot glasses with caramel sauce to add to the custard and toasted brioche batons tossed in cinnamon sugar for dipping. Because the custard needs refrigeration and the fondant doesn't like refrigeration, these have to be made no longer that one and a half hours before serving. 

The easiest way to get a neat cut on your eggs is to use an egg topper, but a knife and steady hand will suffice.

there is two main types of egg toppers; scissors or the one I use the plunger type.

My egg topper works by first placing your egg on a folded dish towel, positioning the bowl shaped end on egg and lifting the plunger handle, release the handle and ta-da you have a topped egg. As you top each egg, slide the contents into a bowl to use for your cooking needs. 

Preparing you shells

Place your emptied shells in a saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil. Reduce heat to simmer and simmer for 3 minutes. Turn of the heat and with a slotted spoon remove eggs shells from water and transfer to a baking rack to dry overnight. Dried shells can be stored indefinitely. 

dried shells ready to use

To make evil eggs, you will need white fondant, egg yellow, red and black coloured fondant and a black food marker for the eyes. Optional; cake decorators clear gel or leaf varnish to add shine to the yolk. 

Fill your shells with vanilla custard (home made or store bought) until it's three quarters full. Roll and shape pieces of the white fondant and one by one top the custard filled eggs, attaching the fondant to the top of the shell so it's not touching the custard. Shape a pieces of the yellow fondant to form yolks, attach to the white fondant with water.. don't forget to add a few drips! Add eyes the white and red fondant, eyebrows with the black fondant, attach with water. Draw a black dot on the eyes. Glaze if using. 

Refrigerate one to one and half hours before serving. 

Happy Baking :) or today it's not baking it's... lol, not sure "egging"?

my egg topper from The Red Spoon Company (AU)

more in the mood in for ice-cream?

Baci ice-cream

or run out of time for Halloween cupcakes... pop these together in seconds.

Along came the Spiders

Donna Hay Magazine ipad App

donna hay 10th anniversary edition for ipad

Join me on Facebook

Extra! Extra! Out now the Donna Hay ipad app!

Last week saw the launch of the Donna Hay magazine App and it is absolutely fabulous!!

Not only it is the 10th Anniversary edition with it's 100+ sweet and savoury recipes, there is also "how to" videos, animations, cook mode (oh, I love the giant print) but wait, I'll show you... 

Lets say you want to make the 'Little Black Forest Cakes', on the bottom left of the page just touch "recipe" with your finger.

Ready to bake? Then touch cook mode, this gives you giant easy to read print.

 Need extra help with those chocolate shards? Watch the Donna Hay video demonstration.

Or get a few extra tips-tricks.

Use the easy and intuitive navigation system to get around the magazine.

Use the table of contents or page viewer to find your recipes. Touch the bookmark icon to bookmark your page.

There is a table of contents too, so you'll never be flicking, and flicking and flicking through pages trying to find "that recipe" again.

Oh, there is a handy measurement conversion chart too.

The first edition is free! Go on, what are you waiting for? Download the Donna Hay app from Donna Hay or search Donna Hay in the iTunes store. 

Happy Baking :)

You might also be interested in the  Super Food Ideas ipad app