Only a Time Lord knows what season it is cupcake

'Only a Time Lord knows what season it is' Doctor Who cupcake

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You haven't even got time to put away your Christmas hat and it's time for Easter, well that's according to Australias major retailers. Hot Cross Buns and Easter Eggs have been on sale since January 5th. Easter Sunday is April 5th, Easter now runs a quarter of the year???

Waiting in the queue at the supermarket... on the right of me a clearance rack of candy canes, on the left of me freshly baked hot cross buns, not forgetting the racks of foil wrapped chocolate easter eggs and the gaudy (or romantic... but it's the supermarket queue and romance isn't in the air) Valentines day cards.  

But I did love Peter Capaldi in his first season as the Doctor in BBC's Doctor Who. So today we have a Time Lord figure. He started when I was practicing figure modelling and ended up being a center display cupcake for a Doctor Who cookie platter. 

"Practice" it's boring I know, but it's how you get better. 

I started with a print out of Peter Capaldi photos as the Doctor.

Here is an earlier model of Peter Capaldi when I was toying with the idea of full caricature. The day was warm and he was still very soft and his hair is not attached as I was checking height.  I chickened out on the over blown features and went for a partial caricature... even then he had an eye removed and replaced after it looked, umm well I think the technical term would be "squiffy":) 

You have to be fast!!! When working with fondant you have to be fast, drying time is in minutes for modelling. I used a 3 parts fondant to one part modelling chocolate to give me another 5 to 10 minutes to finish face. 

Green: the green fondant here shows you the basic "eggish" shape most heads start with. I get ready with all the other pieces, such a nose, ears, eyebrows etc. You will have a series of wedges, beans, ovals and snake shapes. Then you start putting together and sculpting your head. I apply pieces with a small damp brush then use modelling tools and fingers to shape. You can give yourself a few more minutes by keeping pieces covered in glad wrap.

If you don't use modelling chocolate mixed with fondant you might find yourself with the dreaded "elephant skin" as the fondant icing dries. 

I use Bakels white fondant almost exclusively, colour with gel paste. CMC powder was mixed in the black and red fondant to firm.  

Have fun, happy baking and do give modelling a figure a try :) 

Proving I'm a bit of a sucker for a huge topper ... make  Eric the Valentine Emu

or try a 'Love Caramel Cupcake' 

Heston Mince Pies with Pine Sugar review

               pack of six Heston mince pies with pine sugar

Heston Blumenthal, is an English celebrity chef and owner of The Fat Duck, a three-Michelin-starred restaurant in the UK. Heston has written many cookery books, appeared in many TV cookery shows including regular appearances on MasterChef Australia. 'Heston' is a ready made range of food produced for Waitrose an upmarket range of British supermarkets .

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Oh, I missed out on these pies last Christmas so I was excited to see them in the local supermarket today. Straight home to open the pack and popped them into the oven to warm. Ahhh, tragic I know that I'm excited about fruit mince pies but I do love Heston Blumenthal, the theatre, the magic, the great food. 

Lets start with the pastry on these little fruit mince pies, puff pastry replaces the regular short crust. Now being a lady (I am so!!), my first bite contained pastry, just pastry. It's not particularly buttery, it is umm, nice and "puffy" ;) Back to the "being a lady" your last bite is all pastry too. The kind of pie you need to have a drink with or provide cream/ice-cream to get it down.

Hmmm, the side of the box promises fruit mince filling with 'the added ingredients of lemon curd, rose water and apple purée'.... the ingredient list includes citrus oils, juices and zest. This is sounds lovely and I want that fruit mince pie, what you actually get tastes pretty much like the filling of any good commercial fruit mince pies... I missed the citrus and the promised rose water.

The pine sugar for sprinkling does deliver a "fun factor", when sprinkled on the oven warmed pies the aroma is "Christmas" and it provides a much needed flavour boost.  The sugar alone (ok I put it on a spoon and ate it which you aren't going to do) is heading towards loo cleaner... not that I have eaten loo cleaner but you know what I mean. 

All in all, the pies are just ok, they look pretty and the sugar element is fun. 

In Australia from Coles Supermarkets

You might also be interested in fruit caviar 

Or make some Nutella dust 

Cherry Eton Mess

cherry eton mess

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Tis the time for lots of macaron's that haven't quite "footed" and meringues that didn't quite, ummm "meringue?". What to do? Why make Eton Mess for dessert of course.

Eton mess is a traditional English dessert consisting of a mixture of strawberries, pieces of meringue and cream, which is traditionally served at Eton College's annual cricket game against the students of Harrow School. wikipedia

Oh my, I couldn't resist the boxes brimming with sweet dark cherries that fill the Australian fruit shops in December, plus I had macarons "oddments" and end of batch meringes from Christmas gift baking. So lets make a delightful mess... albeit a bit "girlie" today, I'm afraid I went too far with the 100's and 1000's (nonpareils).

Cherry Eton Mess 

(by all means go traditional and use strawberries instead if preferred) 

Ingredients 

*2 cups of chilled whipping cream

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 vanilla pod scraped of seeds (use vanilla extract to taste if you don't have pods)

700 grams (25oz) of fresh cherries 

leftover macaron shells, meringue pieces or buy a packet of meringue shells

Method

Pit most of the cherries, leaving a few whole ones for decoration. Place the pitted cherries and one tablespoon of the sugar in a small bowl and give the mixture a gentle squeeze to release a little of cherry juice, stir to combine. Refrigerate until serving time.

Whip the cream, with the remaining one tablespoon of sugar and seeds from the vanilla pod until soft peaks form. Refrigerate until serving time.

Assembly

When you're ready to serve, in no particular order, spoon cream, cherries, broken pieces of meringues and macaron's into serving glasses. 

Top with whole cherries dipped in melted white chocolate if desired. 

*variations; try adding plain yoghurt or creme fraiche to the whipping cream. I often use 1 1/2 cream to half yoghurt, it will lighten the mouth feel and is more refreshing in summer. 

Macerate the cherries or strawberries with sugar and a juice or alcohol of choice before assembling, brandy, grand marnier or a favourite dessert wine are good choices.

Have fun and happy baking :)

Want to make your own meringues? Here is a recipe for 4 individual pavlova shells that you can break up for your Eton Mess... omit or change colour as desired. 

More desserts in glasses? How about Peach Verrines in Minutes

More cherries? A quick cherry cupcake decoration

                      Snow Cherries

Chocolate Oreo Fudgy Peppermint Christmas Treats

chocolate oreo fudgy peppermint treats

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Melt, mix, pour, chill and eat.

A quick, easy recipe for chocolate Christmas treats... they taste yummy and are perfect unadorned for gift giving or decorated with mini Oreo's for your Christmas get together.

makes 36 to 40 squares

23x23cm (9x9in) cake tin lined with non stick baking paper... as there is no baking involved don't worry if you don't have the exact matching tin size.

Ingredients

360g (11.5 oz) dark eating chocolate... just pick one you like the taste of and roughly chop. 

1 can sweetened condensed milk

30g (1oz) butter

I pack Oreo's, lightly crushed

1/3 cup crushed candy canes

Optional decoration; more crushed candy canes, mini Oreo's and a dab of pure cream or ganache or frosting to hold the decorations on. 

Method

Place the roughly chopped chocolate, butter and sweetened condensed milk in a medium large saucepan. Stir over low heat until about 3/4 of the chocolate is melted, remove from heat and continue to stir until the *chocolate is fully melted. The mixture should be barely warm at this stage.

Stir in your lightly crushed Oreo's and crushed candy canes. Pour into prepared tin and smooth top with a dampened spatula. 

Refrigerate for 2-3 hours before cutting into squares. Decorate if desired. 

Store in an airtight container for up to a week in the refrigerator.

Happy Baking :) 

*Note: I know it's tempting but do melt the mixture slowly, if you turn up the heat the chocolate risks overheating and becoming grainy and you want smooth and creamy :)

adapted from Christmas 'AWW little Christmas treats' 'dark chocolate nougat fudge bars'

Try your hand at making your own fruit mince

star fruit mince pie pops 

or how about traditional shortbread... wonderful crushed and added to melted chocolate too!

Gingerbread Custard Ice-Cream

             you'll fall for gingerbread custard ice-cream

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If you haven't been raised with packet custard (or at least the cartons of pre made custard in the supermarket dairy case) you'll wonder what I'm waffling on about... but, but, but, even though it's not in the least bit "cheffy" there is something about the flavour that satisfies your inner child.

And that is what I'm going for today, by using a traditional custard ice-cream technique combined with packet custard and crumbled gingerbread men.

*custard powder; is a sweetened flavoured cornflour product that when milk is added and heated to correct temperature it becomes a custard sauce. Also used in baking, particularly shortbread type biscuits (cookies).

custard powder

Gingerbread Custard ice-cream

Ingredients

2 cup (500ml) whole milk (one cup for the packet custard, one cup for the traditional custard)

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

2 tablespoons of custard powder

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup (250ml) heavy cream

4 large egg yolks

1/4 to 1/3 cup of crushed up gingerbread men

Method 

1. Make the packet custard mixture by placing the custard powder into a small saucepan with a 1/4 cup of the milk to form a smooth paste. Gradually add 3/4 cup of milk and stirring constantly bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. It will be very thick.

smooth paste stage; you can see from the colour why you end up with a yellow ice-cream!

2. Make the traditional custard by heating the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan until small bubbles appear around the side of the saucepan. Remove from heat, stir through vanilla extract. 

3. To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Place the made up packet custard in the bowl and place a strainer over the bowl.

4. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

5. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

6. Strain the custard into the prepared packet custard. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly.

7. Freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Stir through crushed gingerbread and freeze in an airtight container overnight to allow the ice-cream to 'ripen' and flavours to fully develop. 

Homemade ice-cream is firmer than store bought and can be difficult to scoop, remove ice-cream from freezer and place in refrigerator 20 minutes before serving to aid "scoopability".

We served it here with a warm toffee sauce, I thought it would great with fresh poached or roasted peaches... try omitting the gingerbread and pairing the custard ice-cream with your favourite dessert.

Happy Baking :)

You may also be interested in Mini Chocolate Cake Christmas Puddings

Caramel Cashew White Chocolate Cookies

caramel cashew white chocolate cookies

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Mini cookies with a big caramel flavour today :) 

I love the Christmas season; minimalists decide there is no such thing as too much tinsel, elegant women don flashing ruldolph pins (there might be Christmas cocktails involved in this), ditto with baking where your famous 85% chocolate fondant will be replaced with more than one can of sweetened condensed milk in some Christmassy treat.

For me, I don't usually shop the commerical lollies isle... but at Christmas if it can be crushed, melted or thrown in whole it's included. 

Today I utilised hard butter candies (Werther's Original) for their unmistakable caramel flavour and Nestle caramel bits, which are new to the Australian market. Oh, plus white chocolate and cashews "just because". 

Nestle caramel bits and Werther's Original butter candies

Caramel Cashew White Chocolate Mini Cookies 

makes 4 to 5 dozen, plenty to pack up for Christmas gift giving

Ingredients

1 cup of Nestle caramel bits (caramel choc chips)

1 cup white eating chocolate chopped into small chunks

2 Werther's Original 50gram (1.75oz) rolls of butter candy  *ground to a fine powder

1 cup dry roasted unsalted cashew nuts, roughly chopped

2 cups plain flour (all purpose)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

250g well-softened unsalted butter (1 cup)

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract or essence

2 tbsp water

1 egg

*I thought it would nice to include "bits" of candy, but as you can see from batch one... the candy melted/popped. Batch two; I ground the candies to a powder in the food processor to get the result I wanted. 

 Method

Preheat the oven to 180C (360F).

Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl.·

In a mixer, cream the butter and the three types of sugar. Add the vanilla extract, water and egg. Beat together until just incorporated.

Beat in the flour mixture until just combined.

Stir in the crushed/powdered candies, chocolate chunks, caramel bits, cashews. Drop small teaspoons of the mixture, well spaced, on to non-stick baking parchment.

 

Three types of sugar used, dark brown, light brown and granulated white, you can replace dark with light if you can't find any at your local store.

Bake for 6-8 minutes until golden around the edges. Cool on tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Happy Baking :) 

You might also be interested in brown sugar and making your own 

White Chocolate Cranberry and Pistachio Rocky Road

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Busy, busy, busy in the lead up to Christmas? I know I have, with barely the time to bake it's time for a super quick idea!! This rocky road recipe is easily doubled... and if you need more make seperate batches. There is a splash of liqueur in it, but if making for the kids just leave it out. 

White Chocolate Cranberry and Pistachio Rocky Road with Grand Marnier 

makes 12 to 16 pieces

Ingredients

300g (10oz) white chocolate 

25g (0.90oz) unsalted butter

100g (3.5oz) pistachios

100g (3.5oz) dried cranberries 

50g (1.75oz) pink and white marshmallows cut in half with oiled scissors

1 tablespoon of Grand Marnier (optional) 

Method

Line a brownie or slice tin with plastic wrap or non stick baking paper. If using Grand Marnier, mix the Grand Marnier and dried cranberries in a small microwave safe bowl. Microwave on medium low 10 seconds at a time until cranberries begin to plump. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl melt chocolate and butter over a pan of simmering water until just melted. Be careful not to overheat. Stir in pistachios, marshmallows and cranberries. Pour into lined tin and smooth top with spatula. Chill for 2 hours in the fridge. Turn out and cut into squares. Package in cellophane treat bags.

Merry Christmas!!!

Back second week of the New Year, safe and happy festive season to everyone... and happy baking :)

Jingle Bells cupcake pick

                                      jingle bells cupcake picks

          Jingle bells, jingle bells,

Jingle all the way.

Oh! what fun it is to ride

In a one-horse open sleigh.

Jingle bells, jingle bells,

Jingle all the way

 Jingle Bells; written by James Lord Pierpont,  first published in 1857 as a Thanksgiving song.

I've officially start my Christmas baking this week :) Usually I start *cough *splutter... Septemberish (though there was one June when I made puddings) but with the landscaping business running this year the schedule is a little tight.

Yes, I am one of those annoying "organised" people and the presents are wrapped and ready to go. Though, I still like a handful of emergency quick things just in case and cupcake picks fit the bill.

I do love a cupcake pick and I love SilverCrow Creations a online store full of all sorts of odd assortments and sundries like the "jingle bell bottle caps" I used today :)

The *caps are pins that you can wear, (scoff now but after three of those cranberry cocktails and you'll be wearing light up reindeer ears!!) and double as a Christmas keepsake. 

Whether you decide on a message bottle cap or another Christmas pin that takes you fancy, attach to a toothpick with a little ball of fondant. Let dry, dust or paint over the fondant piece with edible colour and voilà you have yourself a cupcake pick!! 

Happy Baking :)

*search "jingle bells" on SilverCrow Creations to find the bottle caps

You might also be interested in Tia Maria mini pudding cupcakes

Three French Hens Cupcake

                               

On the third day of Christmas, 

my true love sent to me...

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

Goodness, birds were just "the gift" in the 1700's if the English carol 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' is anything to go by. As a lady in the 1700's your true love brought you geese, hens, doves, turtle doves, calling birds, swans and a partridge of course... but wait you thought at least there was jewellery?? The "golden rings" most likely referred to golden ring necked birds. But at least you also got some "leaping lords"! All the birds were eaten in era so could have been destined for the pot. 

Whilst where here, verse four is actually "colly birds" not "calling birds" as often sung; colly birds are a smallish blackbird. French hens in the era were either the Crevecoeur, Houdans or the La Fleche breeds.

Alternative lyrics: There is Australian versions of the song using Australian animals such as "dingo's dancing", a religious rewrite of the lyrics, though there is no documented religious link to song. I even had the pleasure of hearing a heavy metal version of the song on the weekend... unless you are a Twisted Sister fan I'd give it miss. 

Want to make your own hens? 

Black fondant is rolled into egg shapes then shaped into nesting chickens.

With fondant or modelling paste use red to make wattles and combs and orange for the beaks. Black rolled out thinly is used to cut feathers from. White is rolled into small egg shapes to make the eyes and thinly rolled mauve is used to make the eyelids. Attach all pieces to hens bodies with water using a small paint brush, starting with feathers, then comb/wattle, then beak and eyes. Use a black food marker to finish the eyes. Allow to dry.

Happy Baking and Singing :) 

An Australian Kind of Christmas Cupcake

                an Australian kind of Christmas cupcake

Without a large showing for Halloween and no Thanksgiving, Australians go into "Christmas mode" very early. Christmas work parties are on, shopping centres are crowded and puddings are being boiled. 

Blue skies promise a hot and sunny Christmas and your not Australian if you haven't sat outside perspiring on a 40 Celsius (104 F) Christmas day, swatting away flies and eating a steaming hot bowl of your Aunt's special Christmas Pudding. 

Regardless of the hot weather we hold onto our British heritage, so along with the BBQ prawns and couscous salad there will be a hot roast turkey dinner or two, puddings, shortbreads, fruit mince pies and national dishes from the many different nationalities that make up Australia. 

It can all make for a hodge podge type of meal, but I love it and it's "us"... we have hot roast turkey and duck fat roasted potatoes and all the trimmings plus we have cold seafood and salads. Chocolate peppermint ice-cream pudding for dessert, with left overs and hot puddings to be served on Boxing Day. 

Today's Koala holding onto a Christmas pudding cupcake is topped partly with fondant and part fondant/modelling chocolate. The 50/50 fondant modelling chocolate is easy to work with when making figures, I do like white fondant for the white details. Happy Baking :)

The modelling chocolate recipe I used is here

Hubby Mark is 41 and still hasn't seen snow... but he does love Frosty the snowman.