Halloween sugar cookies

Today I baked sugar cookies. I used these Wilton 101 cookie cutters. They have many Halloween shapes like a cat, a witch, a haunted house, a ghost, two sizes of pumpkins, a bat and a moon. I used the ghost and small pumpkin mainly because I didn't want to use too much black colouring for things like the black cat and the black bat. A pink kitty just won't have the same Halloween effect... :)



Anyway, when rolling out the dough, I placed the dough in between 2 sheets of cling film (a trick I saw on tv). It made the process so, so much easier! I would recommend everyone to do this, as there is no more sticking to the table or the rolling pin. It makes all the frustration and hair-pulling disappear!

After the cookies were baked and cooled, I frosted them with cookie icing. I used a thicker icing to pipe out the outline. Then I flooded the inside with thinned icing. After that I added the details with black icing. This was all quite a bit of work and there was also quite some waiting; for the icing to dry.

The cookies turned out very pretty, but it took a lot of time and effort! So, I don't think I'll be using my cookie cutters for quite a while!

Shortcrust pastry

Last night I made some sugar cookie dough for baking cookies today. You can get the recipe here.

I also made some shortcrust pastry to freeze, because I intend to make some pies and quiche next week. I love puff pastry, but just looking at the recipe makes me feel tired! It's so much work, I'm too lazy to attempt it! Anyway, here's the recipe for shortcrust pastry which is so simple and straight forward.

I used all butter and no lard though, because lard is not very healthy, but mainly because I didn't have any! :) I'm hoping it will still turn out okay when I bake it!

Shortcrust Pastry

Ingredients:
225g flour
50g lard
50g butter
1/2 tsp salt
40ml water


Sift the flour together with the salt, high above the mixing bowl to incorporate more air.


Place fats onto flour and cut fats into flour with round ended spatula. Continue cutting until fat pieces are pea sized and coated in flour.

Use fingertips (so as not to introduce unnecessary heat from palms of hands) to rub fats and flour together. Lift high and let mixture drop into bowl while rubbing.


When mixture resembles uniform sized breadcrumbs, add 10ml water and stir with spatula.

Add another 10ml water and stir with spatula.

Add another 10ml water and this time press down with spatula.

Add the last 10ml of water and bring dough together with hands.


Knead dough lightly for a few minutes on a floured surface until smooth.

Wrap with cling film and refrigerate for at least half an hour (for the gluten to develop) before use.

Princess Castle fondant cake

Since I messed up the Belle princess cake topper, I decided to make a castle cake for my niece Michelle's 7th birthday instead.


I baked a chocolate mud cake for the 9" square base and a 6" round strawberry butter cake for the castle's main building. For the four towers, I used small swiss rolls purchased from a bakery. As for the roof of the towers, ice-cream cones were perfect.

After covering all the parts in white fondant, I stacked the circle on top of the square. Then I placed the four rolls upright on the four corners of the base cake and secured them by sticking a bamboo skewer right through, down to the cake board. I tinted some white chocolate with purple colouring and used it to coat the ice-cream cones. Then I placed the cones on the towers.


The windows and doors are made from purple fondant and the writing from buttercream. To top it all off, I stuck the purple feathery boa thingy on the cake board, around the base. That added to the whole girly princess feel.


The sparkly candle made the cake look like the Sleeping Beauty Castle with fireworks overhead!

Beauty or the Beast?

Last week I was itching to try some more fondant modelling. Since niece Michelle's birthday was coming up , I thought I would try making one of the Disney princesses which all little girls love so much. I chose Belle from Beauty and the Beast, because she has one of the prettiest and grandest dresses and it is only one colour, yellow, so I save time! :)

I was having fun getting into the groove of things, when I realised that my Belle was growing shorter by the minute! Apparently, my fondant was way too soft and the poor princess was sinking and sagging!

So, I ended up with a princess who looked like she had a growth hormone disorder and no neck!

*sigh*

Will try again when I have the energy and this time I'll use a plastic cone or something as a frame on the inside to provide some support. I'll also make sure the fondant is not too wet.

Shaun the Sheep fondant cuppies

I love this blog http://thefrostedcakencookie.blogspot.com/ Every Tuesday she will come up with a fondant cupcake topper and there will be a tutorial to teach us how to do it.

I really love the Wallace and Gromit cake and cuppies she made for her husband's birthday. So I tried making Gromit and Shaun the sheep (I'm assuming Wallace is the bald guy and Gromit is the dog) just for fun.

Her instructions made it really easy to make these two guys. I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

Here Annie tried her hand at modelling and made a birdie.



One set packed and ready to go.

Baked Mango Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce

This Food & Travel magazine has been in my loo for ages and I've been wanting to make the mango cheesecake in it for just as long! I finally made it last weekend. I added my own raspberry sauce just because I've never tasted raspberries before and needed a reason to use them ever since I saw that they were available at the supermarket! I'm glad I did make this because it wasn't as hard as I thought all cheesecakes were to make. It tasted great too, though I personally prefer chocolatey types like Oreo Cheesecake to fruity ones.

Baked Mango Cheesecake
serves 8

200g digestive biscuits
1/2 cup butter, melted
500g (2 pkts) Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup mango yoghurt
225g sugar
5 eggs
1 fresh mango, cut into small cubes

for the raspberry sauce:
1 cup frozen raspberries, thawed
1 cup sugar


Place biscuits in a plastic bag and crush with rolling pin until they become fine crumbs.
Combine biscuit crumbs and butter.
Place crumb mixture into 8" springform pan and press down to form a base. (I find a potato masher comes in handy here)
Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes.
Place cream cheese, yoghurt and sugar in a mixing bowl.
Beat on medium sped until well combined.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed after each addition, until just blended.
Mix the mango into the cheese mixture.
Pour batter into tin.
Wrap the bottom half of the tin in double layer aluminium foil.
Place tin in a larger tray filled with about 3cm of water.
Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for about 50-55 minutes or until top is slightly brown.
When done, use a butter knife to run around the rim of the cake to loosen the cake from the pan.
Allow to cool, then chill in refrigerator for at least 6 hours before serving.

For the raspberry sauce;
Cook the raspberries with the sugar over low heat for a few minutes.
Strain the puree in a metal strainer and force pulp through with a spoon.
Serve cheesecake with raspberry syrup generously poured over the top.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

With the lack of birthdays in the near horizon, I thought I'd bake something easy with which the kids could 'help'. They haven't 'helped' in the kitchen for a while because birthday cakes are too delicate to have too many cooks! So, I decided to make cookies since they can't go wrong much! Seeing as the kids like chocolate chips, and I had plenty of yucky oatmeal gathering dust in the cupboard, I went with chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.

It was a hit with the kids. At least there was plenty of nutritious oatmeal in it, so I didn't feel too guilty when they gulped down dozens at a time... 

Here's the batter which the kids helped mix.
 

All in a row, ready for the oven...  

Smells heavenly... 

Here's a jar for Cousin Amanda. I bought these lovely glass jars simply because they were nice! Now I have a reason to actually use them!

Delicious with a tall glass of cold milk.




Here's the recipe I used:

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups uncooked oats
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
In a large mixing bowl, combine sugars and butter and beat until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, milk and vanilla and mix till well blended.
Add flour, baking soda and salt.
Beat at low speed until soft dough forms.
Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 9-10 minutes.
Let cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets.
Cool completely before storing.

Warning: There might not be any left to store!

Classic Rolled Fondant

I've got some requests for the recipe of the fondant that I use for covering cakes. I've tried recipes off the internet, as well as from books, and this is a hybrid of these recipes, with some tips I learned through trial and error. Here's wishing you plenty of fun with fondant!

Classic Rolled Fondant

Ingredients:
1 kg icing sugar
1 tablespoon gelatine powder
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup glucose water (sometimes labeled as glucose syrup or maltose syrup)
1 tablespoon glycerine
2 tablespoon Crisco (vegetable shortening)

Method:
1. Sift the icing sugar into a large mixing bowl and put around 1/2 cup aside.
2. Place cold water in a metal bowl and sprinkle gelatine over the water. Leave for 5 minutes.
3. Fit metal bowl with gelatine mixture over small pot of simmering water. Make sure bottom of bowl is not touching the water.
4. Stir gelatine mixture until totally dissolved and liquid is clear.
5. Add in glucose water and glycerine. Stir until well mixed.
6. Add in Crisco and stir till totally melted. Remove from fire.
7. Make a well in the centre of the icing sugar and pour in the liquid mixture. Mix thoroughly with a lightly greased spoon. It should form a sticky dough.
8. Move dough onto a clean, greased surface and knead with lightly greased hands.
9. Gradually add leftover icing sugar by sprinkling onto dough and kneading.
10. Stop when the right consistency is reached. Fondant should resemble a smooth stone and when dropped, it should spread slightly, yet keep its shape.
11. If the fondant is too dry, add warm water, if it is too sticky, add more sugar.
12. Wrap twice with cling film and store in an airtight container in a cool dry place. Do not refrigerate. Fondant can keep for weeks.

Eva and Solomon's Birthday - Mickey & Minnie cake

Eva turned three on 4/8/09 and Solomon one on 13/8/09. So we had a combined celebration on Sunday. Since I dropped Eva's last cake, I thought I'ld make the same design again, with just a few small changes. Then hubby suggested a similar one for Solomon, except in blue (of course).

So, I made two 7" round cakes; chocolate fudge for Solomon, filled with chocolate ganache and strawberry butter for Eva, filled with fresh strawberries and cream. Then I made strawberry and also chocolate mud cupcakes.

The cakes were covered with pink and blue fondant and also white polka dots. Then I stuck in a Minnie sticker (recycled from the last disaster) for Eva and a baby Mickey one for Solomon. The cuppies were topped with simple fresh cream swirls and decorated with sprinkles, mickey shaped cut-outs and whole strawberries.

Eva's 3rd Birthday - Pink Minnie Mouse cake

Today is Eva's birthday. I decided to make a smaller cake accompanied by cupcakes because I find large cakes are so much more work. Eva loves Mickey and Minnie mouse, so I made a pink Minnie mouse cake for her to bring to school.

First, I had to make a cake stand to accommodate a cake and also cupcakes. So I nailed two cake boards onto a piece of sawed off broomstick and... Viola! No need for a RM100++ cupcakes stand from Wilton!

Anyways, I didn't have much time, so I made a chocolate mud cake which was easy and I didn't have to waste time waiting for the butter to reach room temperature. I made a 7" round cake and 9 cupcakes.


I covered the cake with pink fondant and put white dots. Then I wrote with fresh cream and stuck a Minnie Mouse sticker on the top with the aid of a bamboo skewer. I piped a shell border with fresh cream. I'm still quite crappy when it comes to piping.

For the cuppies, I just did big swirls of fresh cream and stuck in Mickey Mouse shapes cut out of a black plastic/paper sort of material which I found at the stationery shop. Then I tied pink ribbons round the cups.

I loved the final assembled product. However, while transporting it to school, I dropped the tray of cuppies! It was a grand mess.. *sigh* Luckily the top tier was salvageable so Eva still had a cake to cut in the end! Poor thing, I'll make another for her this Sunday when we celebrate her's and Solomon's birthday with the family.