White Chocolate Cranberry and Pistachio Rocky Road

Join me on facebook... 2012 is going to be a great year!!

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 :)

Christmas Rush Raspberry Tuiles

Two ingredients (rasberries and sugar) Rasberry Tuile Topped mini cupcake

Good griefl, I swear I had black and silver cases in "medium", but all I find was mini's. This left me with toppers that were far too large and since I'd already applied silver leaf to black choc candy coated balls I had to come up with a different topper. 

Two ingredient 'Raspberry Tuiles' have a long oven drying time, but other than that were simple and quick to make fitting in perfectly with "Christmas rush" mode that I'm well and truly in!! 

Now I did burn the first batch, second batch I reduced the cooking time by 20 minutes and they worked perfectly. I used a metal ruler and a sharp knife to cut strips; I then bent the strips and pinched ends whilst still warm.

The strips dry quickly to produce a crispy tuile that is intense in flavour, colour and is also vegan and gluten free. They are best made close to serving and perfect to top a range of desserts.

You just need raspberries and sugar for these... do give it a try and watch chef *David Carmichael the Executive Pastry Chef at The New York Palace demonstrate how the make the tuiles (recipe included).

*Note: chef Carmichael uses 4 pints (8 cups) of raspberries, I halved the recipe.

 if you use a silpat you will end up with a waffle pattern on the shiny side.

Happy Baking :) and Christmas preparations!!  

Snow Cherries

                                         snow cherry cupcake

Join me on Facebook... I'd love to see you there.

A quick little fresh cherry decoration today, that I think is so pretty... hope you do too.

It's summer in Australia and fresh cherries are in season. "Snow cherries" are a lovely decoration for your cupcakes, cakes and plated desserts for all your Christmas occasions. 

You'll need...

room temperature cherries with unbroken skins

white fondant

white disco glitter

small dry artists paintbrush

small piece of dampened new foam

Thinly roll out your white fondant, cut small sections and shape. Dampen one side of your fondant shapes with the foam. Pop a cherry in the centre of each piece of fondant and fold up to  attach. Using the dampened foam again, dampen the outside of the fondant and sprinkle with edible disco glitter. Brush off excess glitter that falls on the cherries with the dry brush. Allow to dry.

Cherries will keep at room temperature for 6 hours (though I have held them as long as overnight). 

Happy Baking :)

or what about making mini choc pudding cupcakes?

you might also be interested in...

Ode to Bounty Bars Coconut Chocolate Cupcakes

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.

Art by D.L. Giles

                                   'We three' D.L. Giles

We weren't hillbillies... but when I was small, my Mum, my Uncle and my cousin would doodle and draw on the loo wall. It was an outside toilet at my Grandparents house that was sort of built into the house (I repeat we were not hillbillies I swear!!), the toilet itself had a rusted chain that you pulled to flush and wooden boards for the walls. It scared me as a child as there were always "giant" (or so they seemed) spiders spinning their webs just waiting for chubby little blonde girls to enter. 

If only I had overcame my fears and "doodled" on that wall and I might have come away with at least some of the talent for drawing my cousin Debra possesses!! 

More art works by cousin D.L. Giles can be viewed here 

Frosty the Snowman Cookie

  Frosty the Snowman Christmas cookie; fondant, jersey caramel and coconut top a chocolate sugar cookie

Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul,
With a corncob pipe and a button nose
And two eyes made out of coal.
Frosty the snowman is a fairy tale, they say,
He was made of snow but the children
Know how he came to life one day.
There must have been some magic in that
Old silk hat they found.
For when they placed it on his head
He began to dance around.
O, Frosty the snowman
Was alive as he could be,
And the children say he could laugh
And play just the same as you and me.

A touch of retro today with a 'Frosty the Snowman' cookie... a present for my husband Mark who has been grumbling about "you never make a snowman". Mark does love a snowman, I'm sure something to do with the fact that he has never actually seen snow!!

To keep with the retro theme Frosty's round tummy & the snowballs are made from a Mark's favourite childhood lolly 'Jersey Caramels'. With a fudge like texture it was easy to shape and roll into small balls, I dipped the balls in melted white chocolate and rolled them in desiccated coconut to form the snowballs.

   jersey caramels being rolled into snowballs

I am feeling the time pinch and it's just about my last post for the year. For those who haven't seen my earlier posts; for the first seven months of 2011 I'll be assisting my husband setting up his landscaping business and will only be able to blog sporadically. I'm sure there will be months in that time frame where I'll be able to do more and times when I won't, like "June" tax time!! 

But for now "Happy Baking" :)

Baking Straight Cupcakes

                          peace on earth cupcake

I was thrilled to be invited to give a ten question interview on the gorgeous blog "Haniela's", pop on over and read the interview here and whilst there don't miss Haniela's too, too beautiful Christmas cookie collection!! 

"Ignorance is bliss"

Wow, if you use gmail you'll know it stacks your emails under what google call "conversation" view. I turned off conversation view today and now I'm feeling sick! I've only answered the first and second mail from each batch coming from The Lone Baker, I didn't realise there was more mails in the "stack". I think we can safely say that I'm being cursed all around the world for not answering the July wedding emergency emails! Sorry ):

One of the most popular questions is "how do you bake your cupcakes to look so straight". I do like the look of straight sides on a cupcake and really came across how to do it when I was tackling the other most asked question "cupcake case fall". 

There is three elements to baking cupcakes with straight sides; 

Firstly the cupcake tin/pan... I use Wilton, it's not the heaviest/best quality tin on the market but the cup holes have straighter sides.

                    Wilton cupcake tin

Secondly the liner... You're looking for liners that have straighter sides, higher too if possible.

 

            the centre liner has higher sides

the centre liner is less flared & perfect for straight cupcakes

                

                           the fit of the liner

These cupcake liners in the pan demonstrate liners "fit", the black fox run liner fits perfectly into the tin, the donna hay liner will drop into pan hole with the weight of the batter and the last one is a Wilton case that does not fit the Wilton pan! Note the folding around the edges that happens once it is weighted, this is exactly how they bake with over half the cupcakes I baked with these liners having folds around the side. 

Thirdly the batter... You need a cupcake batter that isn't too high in fat, (butter, cream, oil, chocolate) so the double choc sour cream cupcake won't be as straight as a sponge or standard cupcake batter. Also avoid the liquid batters that you pour into the cases if you are after straight cupcakes. 

All these elements will also reduce to eliminate "case fall" too. Other tips for reducing case fall is to remove the cupcakes from the tin as soon as possible to reduce "sweating"; moisture from being left to cool in the pan and humidity can both lead to case fall. Also you might be tempted to under-fill the cases with cake batter so you have more decorating room once baked, however under-filled cases can lead to case fall simply because the case doesn't have enough cake batter to grip onto. 

Those dreaded minis and that "case fall"

Alas too late??  I've found a type of mini cupcakes cases that don't fall... I've tried three batters in them, left them to dry, tested refrigerated and froze/defrosted and they've stayed in place. They are the "minis" part of the High Tea range.

Since they have the same base diameter, it has to be the height of the case that is keeping the case on. 

Now we come the "alas" part; I went to buy more and I can't find them now, the standard sized 'High tea' range is everywhere but not the mini's... if you have spotted them please let everyone know. 

It's always nice to get thank you emails and this is an especially nice one from Sophie;

Subject: Thankyou
Message: Hi,
 My name is Sophie,
 I am 11 years old,
 I would just like to say thank you for giving me this great advice on how to clean my toffee pan because I couldn't find any other way.
So Thank you
Bye

Thank you Sophie, glad I could be of some help :) 

Clean you toffee pan the easy way

 You may also be interested in Twirly Swirly Chocolate Decoration ... fab for New Year & Celebrations; 

Lastly, thank you everyone who phoned/text/messaged/emailed condolence messages on the passing of our beloved 'Marvin the Pug'. He was our darling boy. 

Back mid week with more Christmas goodies. Happy Baking :)

Stockists:

Dove cupcake pick by Birchcraft has now been discontinued... a shame, their metal cupcake picks were lovely... today's dove I painted the toothpick with blue lustre edible paint. Do look for metal charms, scrap booking pieces or metallic dresden's to turn into cupcake picks, you'll end up with something unique & perfect for gift giving. 

Wilton cupcakes tins ; Australia Everten Online  UK Cakes, Cookies and Crafts  US  

Martha Stewart makes Cookies App Review

              variations of Martha Stewart's chocolate crackle cookies

UPDATE: February 9th.... please note the glitch in the text display with the Martha Stewart make Cookies App has been fixed. Plus more cookie recipes were added with the last update. We can presume at this stage cookies will be added to the app at regular/holiday intervals :) Don't forget to sync your ipad! 

As a self declared Martha Stewart fan (or insert "fanatic" perhaps?), I just had to get the 'Martha Stewart Makes Cookies' app for ipad! 

welcome screen "Martha Stewart Makes Cookies" ipad app

Pros; well it's "'fun and gorgeous", but I guess you want to hear about the features... 

It's easy to choose any of the cookies with the apps intuitive navigation methods; either scroll sideways through the images and "touch" to make your selection, or use the selection wheel to dial a flavour/type of cookie and of course you can always go old school and type the cookies name or ingredient into the search box.

scroll sideways then touch to select 

dial a choice with the selection wheel

Helpful pre-set timers are built into the recipes to aid with preparation and baking times.

setting the timer for 11 minutes for beating meringue

Ready to share; Loved the recipe you just baked? You can share any recipe through email, Twitter and on Facebook with a touch of a button.

share a recipe

emailing a recipe, the full recipe arrives in your inbox complete with small colour image of the cookie.

Other main features include a dozen short videos showing a cookie being made or technique, shopping list and the ability to bookmark favourites. The new recipes featured and twists on classic recipes are delightful.

Cons; first up the price at $7.49 (US) or $9.99 (AU) is high for an app. I'd definitely like more packaging ideas (the same two come up over and over again) and more recipes!! If you already own Martha Stewart's Cookies book or are a Martha fan you will find a lot of familiar territory covered; traditional shortbread, sugar cookies, mexican wedding cookies, and yes... biscotti. No metric!!

There is a small programming glitch (that I'm sure that will fixed in an update) that blurs the third line of each cookies intro page. 

double blur on third line of all the cookie intro pages

Personally, I'm loving this app for the share and timer abilities, ease of use, the twists on Martha's classic cookies plus the gorgeous photography. This app would suit Martha fans and those ipad carrying people that are new to cookie baking. Whilst there is room for improvement, for a first app it's fantastic and I'm looking forward to future Martha Stewart apps. 

'Martha Stewart Makes Cookies' app from the iTunes store

In the 'Martha Stewart Makes Cookies' app you will find a variation of the classic Martha Stewart 'Chocolate Crackle' cookies, this one containing ground almonds... with only a half cup of wheat flour this recipe would be ideal to convert to gluten free.

Chocolate-Almond Crackles using Martha Stewart Makes Cookies for iPad

8 ounces (225 grams) bittersweet (dark eating chocolate), finely chopped

1 cup blanched almonds, toasted

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon coarse salt

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup packed light-brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup confectioners’ sugar 

1 Melt chocolate in a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water, stirring. Let cool slightly.

2 Pulse almonds in a food processor until very finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl, and stir in flour, baking powder, and salt.

3 In a separate bowl, beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in chocolate. Reduce speed to low, and add almond-flour mixture. Cover and chill 1 hour.

4 Preheat oven to 175 celsius (350°). Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar to coat, then in confectioners’ sugar. Arrange on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until surfaces crack, 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Coloured Sugar: I made coloured batches of icing sugar by whirling icing sugar and either powdered food colour or gel paste colour in the food processor. You do get tiny dots of intense colour with both powder or gel. I wanted them to match the flavour variations I had planned....

I made one batch of these Chocolate-almond Crackle cookies and rolled them in white icing sugar.
Then I made a batch of the traditional Chocolate Crackle cookies from Martha Stewart's website. I divided that dough in half adding a 1/2 cup of chopped dried blueberries to one half (rolled in blue) and 2 teaspoons of raspberry liqueur to the other half to be rolled in the pink.

*note if you are using the recipe for Chocolate Crackle cookies from Martha's website there is one step missing that is included in the cookie book. Roll your cookie dough balls in granulated/white sugar before rolling in icing sugar... this step ensures a pristine finish for when you need to package your cookies as gifts.

Happy Baking :)

you might also like Martha's Baking Handbook review

today's main photo Daniel Paxton-Zahra

Gold Chinese Dragon Cupcake and Gold cupcake wrappers

 

                                            Enter the Dragon cupcake

Chinese Dragon; this mythological symbol dates back to 3000 BC and stands for happiness, immortality, procreation, fertility and activity. Chinese Dragons were believed to ward off evil spirits. Take a look at a Chinese city and you will see dragons decorating ancient monuments and buildings, sometimes playing with a pearl or thunder-ball.

Boy, the old Mac computer doesn't like the heat & has been constantly crashing today... I'm a bit behind schedule because of it, but I just had to show you my new cupcake cases!

Love these free standing gold crown cupcake wrappers that come with removable white cupcake liners to bake in. Fabulous for potted plant cupcakes, Christmas tree pots or do as I did and swap the white case for another colour. The cakes sit at a slight angle in the square wrappers, but are still stable enough to transport.

Available in square or round, I got mine from Bake it pretty (US)

The Chinese dragon hand modelled from leftover white/grey modelling paste I had on hand. 

Partially made dragon, cornflour (corn starch) dusted cardboard supports are in place for the drying process.

After leaving to dry overnight I gave the dragon a coat of antique gold food paint & finished it off with a dusting of red & antique gold dust. 

Happy Baking :) 

Cupcake Cases, Liners, Papers & Wrappers

Cupcake liners can match your theme, just be pretty or act as an inspiration like these pretty ruffled cupcake cases from Wilton.

I received a couple of requests last evening about the cupcake cups I used in the 'I'm not in Paris Wombat Cupcake'. The cases are from Wilton and are available in three colours; teal, white and rose (which is red).

My husband immediately thought of "Christmas" when he saw them, I thought of Paris! They would be gorgeous for baby showers and weddings too.

They are lovely baking cups, bake beautifully & are best used with light coloured cake batter.

close up of ruffling

I got mine from Fancy Flours (US), elsewhere request them from your local cake decorating store, Wilton stockist or check Ebay.