Marshmallow Fondant

I am impressed and truly fascinated with 3d cake and cupcake toppers. They look so beautiful and it gives a special look to a simple cake/cupcake.
I read and researched online on how to make a fondant (using marshmallows) before I jumped into the wagon. I was really hesitant at first but later on decided that I should really give it a shot. There are so many online sources where you can get recipes and tips on how to make MMF (Marshmallow Fondant). I got mine from Bake Happy, although I made some revisions here and there to finally come up with a good MMF  considering weather conditions here in the Kingdom plus the marshmallow brand that I used. Btw, I only used half of the recipe.
So, here we go!

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo Powdered sugar/confectioner's sugar/icing sugar

250 grams marshmallows

1tbsp water

Cornstarch

 Procedure:

1. Grease a big microwavable bowl with shortening. Add your Mallows then add water. Depending on the brand of your Mallows, initially microwave it for 2 minutes at 30 seconds interval. But I tell you, for me, it took more than that. So I microwaved it for an addt'l 1 more minute with 30 seconds interval (still didn't melt) I added 30 seconds more (with 10seconds interval) Now, the mallows are soft but turning brownish and still not melted (compared to baker's happy melted mallows) I stopped from here and I just mixed it with a greased spatula.

2. Grease working area with shortening then sift the flour.

4. Make a well and dump your mallows. Be careful because it is still hot! See the color of my mallows?? It's a bit brownish. Using a scraper, let the mallow and sugar come together.

5. Once it is starting to come together, grease you hands and start kneading. Add more sugar when it is still sticky. As for me, I didn't finish the whole icing sugar in the recipe. Like what baker happy mentioned in her blog, you can either use less or more icing sugar based on the weather.

At this point you can add color to your fondant. When finished, dust it with cornstarch for a smoother surface then cover with clear plastic wrap and store in an airtight container.

Note:

• I tried using the MMF few hours after i made it.Oh boy! mind you, it was still quite soft. The best time to use it is a day AFTER it has been made or longer for the sugar and mallows to be well incorporated.And that will make the fondant more sturdy enough for you to create figurines etc.

Here are some of the cupcake toppers that I made. Honestly, it wasn't easy as I thought it would be. It takes a lot of patience, creativity and God given talent to create such a beautiful and detailed designs. So, please bear with my very novice looking fondant toppers. I am still learning *wink*

 Hello Kitty

 Bag

 Buzz Bee..Spot the difference

 Another bee with white wings this time

 Kerokerokerropi

Only Hello Kitty's head ended up as a cupcake topper

your@email.com
http://www.yoursite.com

Almond Pretzels

I love Auntie Anne's Almond Pretzel. I usually pair it with Caramel Dip and a Freshly Squeezed Lemonade.
I wanted to bake something new today, but not desserts or anything sweet. And I came up with Pretzels Auntie Anne's Style *smile*
I used the recipe from CD Kitchen

Note:
I am still looking for a bread flour though APF can substitute the ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup bread flour
3 cups regular flour
2 cups warm water
2 tablespoons baking soda
to taste coarse salt
4 tablespoons butter (melted)
chopped blanched almonds

PROCEDURE:

1. Sprinkle yeast on lukewarm water in mixing bowl; stir to dissolve. 
2. Add sugar, salt and stir to dissolve; add flour and knead dough until smooth and elastic. Let rise at least 1/2 hour.
3. While dough is rising, prepare a baking soda water bath with 2 cups warm water and 2 Tbsp baking soda. Be certain to stir often.
4. After dough has risen, pinch off bits of dough and roll into a long rope* (about 1/2 inch or less thick) and shape. 
5. Dip pretzel in soda solution and chopped almonds , place on greased baking sheet. 
6. Allow pretzels to rise again.
7.  Bake in 450 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes or until golden. 
8. Brush with melted butter and enjoy! 

Almond Biscotti

Almond Biscotti Recipe:

3/4 cup (110 grams) blanched wholealmonds

2/3 cup (135 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups (230 grams) all-purpose flour

Note: 

This is actually the recipe for a Chocolate Almond Biscotti . Since I only want to make 20 pcs (or less) of it, I followed the ingredients above. The original Almond Biscotti Recipe from the same site would yield to around 40pcs. (Joyof baking.com)

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Toast almonds for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely. Set aside.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the sugar and eggs on high speed until thick, pale, and fluffy (about 5 minutes). At this point beat in the vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the egg mixture and beat until combined.

 Fold in the chopped almonds.

Transfer the dough into a well floured counter and roll into a log shape, about 12 inches long and 3 1/2 inches wide. You may have to flour your hands to from the log as the dough is quite sticky.

Place on your baking sheet

Bake fro about 20 minutes or until firm to the touch

Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack fro 10 minutes

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C)

Transfer the log to a cutting board and cut into about 1/2inch slices, on the diagonal

Place the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, turn slices over,bake for another 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have to admit,  I am not fond of eating cookies. I still prefer cakes and cupcakes for an afternoon snack *smile*
But today, I tried baking a Chocolate Chip Cookie. I downloaded  2 different recipes but I decided to follow a tried and tested recipe from my online guru Joy of Baking.

Note:
I didn't know that the cookie dough will spread so much that is why my cookie turned out to be  gigantic hehehe.

Ingredients: 1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar 3/4 cup (160 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar 2 large eggs 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 2 1/4 cups (295 grams) all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups (270 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips 1 cup (100 grams) pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional) Procedure: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) with rack in center of oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Add the white and brown sugars and beat until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in eggs, one at a time, making sure to beat well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and beat until incorporated, adding the chocolate chips and nuts (if using) about half way through mixing. If you find the dough very soft, cover and refrigerate until firm (from 30 minutes to two hours). For large cookies, use about a 2 tablespoon ice cream scoop or with two spoons, drop about 2 tablespoons of dough (35 grams) onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake about 10 - 14 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges. Cool completely on wire rack.

Mango Mousse Cake

Last Friday, we went to the Filipino grocery store to get our weekly "Asian" groceries. I got half kilo of Philippine Mangoes because I use it  to make my California Maki. Ang half kilo ay 3pcs lang hehehe..quite expensive ~ SAR30.00 (330.00 pesos/kg)
I used one of the 3pcs for my Maki while the rest I used it to make my Mango Mousse Cake. This is actually my first time to make this, and honestly, sponge cake palang panalo na!
I got the recipe from a fellow Pinoy. Check out her website: Kusina ni Manang for the recipe.

SPONGE CAKE RECIPE

A) Meringue
Whip up until firm but soft peaks form:
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar ( I omitted this)
1/4 c white sugar
Set this aside and prepare the batter.

(B) Liquid Ingredients

Beat until creamy yellow:
2 egg yolks
1/8 c white sugar

Then beat in the following:
1/2 Tsp vanilla essence + 1/4 tsp McCormick mango extract   (I omitted this) 
1/4 cup milk 
2 tbsp of vegetable oil

Then mix in the dry ingredients.


) Dry Ingredients (Sift together before adding to the liquid ingredients)
1/2 c + 2 tbsp cake flour (1/2 c will do as well; I tried both)
1/8 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp baking powder

Once batter is ready, fold in the meringue.

Bake at preheated oven 325ºF for 30 minutes.

Test for doneness, invert, and cool completely on a rack for at least 30 minutes before removing from the pan. 

(Note: If you do not invert, the middle of the cake immediately sinks in as the cake cools off and contracts. Inverting the pan while cooling prevents sinking.)

MANGO MOUSSE RECIPE

1 packet gelatine powder 
in 1/4 cup cold water

Let sit for 1 minute.

Meantime, puree 1 mango.

Heat gelatine mixture by 10-second increments (2x to 3 x) in microwave and mix to fully dissolve gelatine powder. When gelatine powder is fully dissolved, fold into mango puree. 

Add 1/4 cup condensed milk ( I dded Nestle Cream for a creamier taste) . Set aside.

Get the chilled bowl and whisk and start whipping 1 cup heavy cream.
When foamy, add 3 tbsp powdered sugar. Keep whipping these ingredients until cream is fully whipped. 

Fold the whipped cream into the mango-gelatine mixture.

Mango bits:
Roughly chop 1 mango flesh. Fold this into mango mousse. 

ASSEMBLY

Cut the cake in half. Place half of the cake at the bottome of a springform pan. 

Put half of the mango mousse on top of bottom cake layer and distribute well over and to the sides. 

Repeat with the other cake layer.

Note:

My mousse didn't set because the whipping cream wasn't cold when i whipped it. Still, it turned out delish! It tasted like an ice cream cake hehehe. The sponge cake tasted like "Goldilocks mamon".

Next time, I will double the sponge cake recipe for a fluffier cake.

** I don't have CAKE FLOUR available. I used substitution instead**

1 cup cake flour = 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour + 2tbsp Cornflour/cornstarch

Hello Kitty Sugar Cookies

For the past week, Rania has been asking me to make a Hello Kitty Cake for her birthday. She's a big fan of Hello Kitty. Anything that she sees with a Hello Kitty on it she would ask me or her baba to buy it for her.~ shoes, shirt, pencil, notebook, perfume, toy and even candies!!!
I was actually set to make her a birthday Hello Kitty cake with fondant, but her baba surprised her with a 6 days trip to Dubai...yipeeee! I am more excited hahaha! that's is why no birthday cake for her because we will be out of the Kingdom.
Today, I decided to make her a Hello Kitty Sugar Cookies, instead. She was so happy to see this cutie little cat turned into a yummy cookie (",)
You can check out the recipe HERE

So Cute!!

 Fresh from the oven

After Piping and Flooding

I still need to practice more but I am happy with the end result *wink*

 Hello Kitty Sugar Cookies

Mommy's Labor of LOVE!!

  She likes it!

Happy Birthday, Rania!!

I Love You!!

The Birthday Girl a.k.a Ms. Hello Kitty

French Macaron

FRENCH MACARON

It took me sometime to finally try baking French Macarons. Knowing its 75percent failure rate, this took a back seat. I was honestly scared to make it but what the heck if I fail?
I read through the net on how to make a perfect French Macarons and one of the many things they have in common is having correct and exact amount of ingredients. And since most of the recipes I've tried calls for measurements that requires only cups and teaspoons/tablespoons, I have to get a digital scale to measure the ingredients for this particular recipe since it is all in grams and ounces.

Fast forward...as I am determine to make this today, I asked Abdul to buy me a digital scale and food thermometer. As usual, I ended up buying more than that hehehe. I got parchment paper (it's quite hard to find it nowadays) and I also got a cooling rack.

As for the recipe I used the Multicoloured French Macaron Recipe from Delicious Magazine.
but for the procedure, I used the Italian Meringue technique from Dessert First Girl.
I've read that the Italian Meringue technique has a lower percentage of cracking.

Ingredients

1. 175g icing sugar
2. 125g ground almonds ( I used blanched Almonds)
3. 3 large free-range egg whites
4. 75g caster sugar

For the filling

1. 150g butter, softened
2. 75g icing sugar

Procedure/Method:

(I stacked 2 parchment paper to avoid browning/ burning)

Process almond meal with confectioners’ sugar in a food processor. Sieve out any large bits of almond.

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan. Heat on medium until all the sugar is dissolved.

Meanwhile, place 75g of egg whites in a mixer bowl with the whisk attachment.

Continue cooking until the sugar syrup reaches 118 C/245 F. While the sugar is cooking, begin whisking the egg whites. They should reach stiff peaks by the time the syrup is at 245 F. If it whips too fast, turn down or turn off the mixer.

Turn the mixer speed to low. Carefully pour the sugar syrup in a slow stream into the mixer.

Turn the mixer speed to high and let the meringue for several minutes until it has cooled and appears glossy and firm.

In a large bowl, combine the almond meal mixture with the remaining 75g of egg whites until partially combined.

Scoop the meringue on top of the almond meal mixture. Using a spatula or dough scraper, carefully fold the meringue in, trying not to deflate it.

The final batter should be thick and flow slowly like magma. Do not overmix.

Scoop the batter into a piping bag fitted with a ½” diameter plain tip.

Pipe 1 ½” rounds of batter onto the prepared baking sheets. Let the sheets sit for about 20 minutes to let the shells harden.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160 C/320 F.

Bake one set of macarons for 15 minutes, rotating once. ( I baked mine around 10-12 minutes)

Let tray cool for a few minutes before removing from the parchment paper. Let finish cooling on wire racks.

This is how my French Macaron Mixture turned out. 

I added food coloring to make it bright pink as per Rania's request

 Bang the baking pan a little bit to remove excess air. Let it rest for 20 minutes

After baking for 12 minutes. I am so happy that they didn't collapse. 

They also have feet :-) yipeeee!!!

I used the bavarian filling. Hopefully next time I will be able to make a vanilla filling.

Ready to serve!

**Happy Eating**

Sugar Cookie

I am truly fascinated with sugar cookies decorated with Royal Icing because it doesn't only look good but it tastes good.

That is why I thought of making a ladybug cookie for my daughter's party. It is a big challenge for me since this will be my first time to decorate a cookie and also my first time to use Royal Icing.

Well, I have to perfect my sugar cookie first before anything else.So, here is the delish SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE from my favorite baking site www.joyofbaking.com

Sugar Cookies:

3 cups (390 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

** I omitted the baking soda and vanilla extract** 

 I tried Cookie Pop too. Rania ate it all

My stack of cookies.

I made roughly 50 pieces from the recipe

I am satisfied with the outcome of my cookies. The thickness is just right and no spreading (common complain and problem with sugar cookies) The trick is to chill the dough after cutting.