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    Entries in butterflies (2)

    Tuesday
    Oct282014

    Halloween Cake Lace Butterflies

                                   metallic cake lace butterflies 

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    Can butterflies be creepy? I thought so when I was saying to a friend I was planning on making butterflies for Halloween, they disagreed but hey, I was determined to get more use out my gorgeous but expensive Claire Bowman silicone butterfly mat.

    Claire Bowman making cake lace butterflies

    As seen in the video, butterflies made the Claire Bowman way usually have a *first layer of pre made metallic icing and after baking a second layer of white cake lace icing. The second layer is to prevent brittleness, but since I haven't had a problem with the butterflies being brittle I just used one layer of silver.

    I baked the mat/butterflies for 5 minutes at 60 cel (140 F) . Leave to cool for a few minutes, check a butterfly by lifting a corner... they should peel off easily. If your butterfly still seems to soft, return to oven for a few more minutes.

    Once baked, I placed my butterflies on the back of an egg carton covered with plastic wrap to add shape.

    When fully set, a soft brush was used to dust on cake decorating black shimmer dust. The finished butterflies reminded me of vintage marcasite brooches. Attach the butterflies to cocktail and dessert glasses with a *tiny dab of cake glue and of course the butterflies make the perfect toppers for your Halloween cupcakes, chocolate truffles and cookies too.

     *for use on the glasses the single layer cake lace worked perfectly, staying firm and in shape all day. If you need to manipulate the butterflies further then I would recommended following Claire Bowman's instructions. 

    *make sure you only use a dot of cake glue if the butterflies become wet they will dissolve. 

    Happy Baking :)  

    You might also be interested in an attack of the swamp zombie cupcake

    or perhaps Poe is more to you liking with The Raven and Black Cat cupcakes

    Wednesday
    Aug252010

    Make your own tuile cookie templates

     an ice-cream container lid is turned into a butterfly template for tuile and chocolate decorations

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    Need a particular shaped template for a tuile cupcake toppers? You could hit the craft stores and buy small plastic templates or you can easily make you own with margarine or ice-container lids. I prefer the plastic ice-cream lids as they are sturdy enough to wash and use over and over. 

    To make you template you will need....

    a craft knife or small sharp scissors

    a cutting mat 

    clean and dry ice-cream or margarine container lids

    To start with cut the edges away from the lid, leaving you with the flat middle section. Either draw or trace the image you want onto the lid. I chose a butterfly clipart image. 

    Cut your image out with a craft knife, leaving enough plastic on one side to act as "a handle". That's it, your template is ready to use.

    tuile cookie butterfly cupcake topper with the help of my new template.

    To make the butterfly tuiles I used a vanilla batter, flavoured a little of it with cocoa to pipe the details on the butterflies. If your prefer you can pipe melted chocolate details on the cooled baked tuiles.

    Whatever template pattern you have, only bake a few tuiles at the time as you will need to shape them whilst they are still hot. Wear rubber gloves if your hands are heat sensitive. 

    I just use my fingers (but I can handle heat that causes my husband to say "yikes") to bend the hot tuiles, you can lift them quickly off the trays and fold them over the edge of a bowl. 

    Simple Vanilla Tuile Batter

    Ingredients 

    115g (4oz) unsalted butter softened

    115g (4oz) plain flour (all-purpose)

    115g (4oz) icing sugar (confectioners)

    1/2 cup egg whites, room temperature

    1 teaspoon vanilla extract/essence

    2 teaspoons of cocoa powder (optional)

    Method

    In the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and icing sugar together. Add the egg white a little at a time until incorporated. Add vanilla. Remove bowl from mixer and fold through flour until it is just incorporated. 

    If you want chocolate batter to pipe details, remove 1/6 of the batter to a separate bowl and mix in two teaspoons of cocoa powder until smooth.

    Lay your template on a non-stick baking mat (or grease and flour a baking tray); holding/pressing down the handle part of the template, spread over a little of the batter as evenly and thinly as possible.

    Lift the template and repeat, until you four to five butterflies on your tray.

    Pipe details with the cocoa batter if using and bake for 6-7 minutes or until the edges are browned. Remove from oven and quickly remove a butterfly from tray and create fold in the centre. Repeat with the next butterfly. If butterflies start to become too brittle to fold, reheat for a minute to soften again. Use butterflies as cupcake toppers or for plated desserts.

    The same template can be used to along with a chocolate transfer sheet to create stencilled chocolate butterflies.

    Happy Baking & Crafting :)