Sugar Flowers

I have been desperate to have a go at piping some flowers, so on Saturday, the sunniest day of the year so far, I ended up making a big batch of Royal Icing, and experimenting in my kitchen! Bliss!

It was real fun! I thought they could come in handy for topping cupcakes, and will also be using them to decorate J's party cake this coming Wednesday.

J's bday cake

J is pony mad, and specifically asked for a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, so I had to get a pony squiggle in there too!

Homemade Easter Chocolates

This was my fourth mini-batch - milk chocolate shells filled with milk chocolate ganache.

The first batch was an experiment: white chocolate half-eggs filled with milk chocolate ganache which ended up being eaten at D's party; the second batch was a complete failure and impossible to unmould (think I must've botched the tempering), and the third batch was a success - white chocolate flower shapes filled with rose-flavoured ganache, but they disappeared before I could take any piccies (will definitely make some more!).

I need to remember to tap the moulds though, to get rid of any air bubbles.

Drum-Kit Cake

It was my D's 13th birthday yesterday, so I made him a drum-kit cake!

The cake base was rich 50%/50% dark/milk chocolate cake with a milk chocolate ganache topping, and the drums were made of the same, but cupcakes, brushed with apricot jam and covered with fondant. Next time I will wait for the drums/icing to set properly before assembling, as it was all a bit squishy! It was fun but incredibly tricky making the little marzipan figure - the best bit were the little Converse sneakers, but I forgot to take a photo of them and they ended up drowned in chocolate ganache hehe arms and torsos were a little unruly too haha

Pate d'amandes roses

I've been meaning to try making some chocolate roses, but just haven't had time to get round to it, and so last night I found some "pate d'amandes" in my larder so had a go at marzipan ones instead...

I'm really happy with how they turned out. I kneaded the marzipan to make a little cone-shaped base, then used a little modelling tool my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas, and worked the marzipan in between two sheets of cling film to make the petals.

I also had a go at making teeny tiny rosebuds as well and they look really sweet!

Here is my first rose:

My Jamaican Christmas Cake

Yay! It worked!

This was a real experiment as I had no idea how it would turn out, but I was so pleased with the results. The cake was rich, heavy and moist - it tasted just how I remembered it as a kid! Felt really nice, sort of comfort memory food. I will definitely make it again! I think it will become another new tradition hehe. I had enough mixture to make one big cake, and two mini cakes which I gave to friends.

Recipe:

Soaked fruit from

http://sherrytruffle.blogspot.com/2008/11/rum-and-raisins.html


Batter:

9 oz butter
5 eggs
1 tsp Madagascan vanilla extract
9oz dark brown sugar (I used vergoise brune)
9 oz self-raising flour
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of salt
2oz chopped pecan nuts

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Add the beaten eggs.
Sieve the flour, salt and spices over the butter/eggy mixture, and stir well to combine.
Add the soaked fruit and pecan nuts. Stir thoroughly.

Pour the mixture into a double-lined tin, and bake at 140 degrees for 3 hours, then cover the cake with double greaseproof paper and bake for another hour.

Allow the cake to cool completely, then wrap in greaseproof paper and foil until it needs to be marzipaned and iced.

I used Delia's recipe for the Almond Icing - it was surprisingly easy and really delicious too!
And also used her Fondant Icing recipe as well, and kept the leftovers to make decorations.

Cool Yule

I rolled out my traditional yule log again this Christmas - well, a new tradition for me really... I discovered this recipe 3 years ago and it was voted "Favourite Yule Log Ever" by the kiddies, so have stuck with it ever since! It's a Joconde base, brushed with sugar syrup and rum, and filled and iced with French chocolate buttercream, dusted with icing-sugar snow and sprinkled with edible white snowflake-like sprinkles. The kiddies always help decorate the yule log, so this year we cut out some ivy leaves, and D made a herd of tie-dye green rhinos out of the leftover icing hehe

I always make two as they disappear pretty quickly, and it's not much more work. This year I popped the extra Joconde sponge and the extra buttercream in the freezer for a week, and then defrosted and assembled it for our New Year's Eve party.