Soundtrack: Cinema, Benny Benassi
perfection meets confection.
next up: peppermint meringues
inspiration
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Monthly Archives: January 2012
fondant class
Venue: Sur La Table
fondant cake
went to a fondant based cake decorating class at sur la table. fondant is a concoction of sugar, water and corn syrup – but it’s best bought in a tub rather than made at home (aside from those who are super ambitious). it tastes like a cross between candy corn and marshmallows, so pretty much it’s right up my alley. most well know for adorning wedding cakes or crazy Ace of Cakes style masterpieces.
as evidenced by my makeshift flower above, we unfortunately did not spend enough time learning how to make decorative accents…
crumb coating
the majority of the class was spent prepping the cakes – cutting into layers, filling with buttercream, crumb coating.
coloring
..and then learning the best ways to work the fondant to ensure even coloring and cake covering.
'ironing'
this is an awesome tool to use in order to ensure a smooth fondant layer. this would further be helped had i payed greater attention to leveling my crumb coating initially.
not correct
seeing as the class was already running over time, i didn’t think that we’d get around to learning how to make flowers so i threw this together from my leftover scraps. i still kind of like it though.
correct flower prep
luckily i was able to stay late to learn the proper flower making technique – cutting into rounds – rolling the first round into a tight spiral and then wrapping with remaining rounds.
rose
the edges of the cut rounds are flattened and fanned out with your fingertips to make a more delicate petal type appearance.
nommeow
my finished creation.
Butterscotch Candies
Inspiration: 2012 Golden Globes – ie. pretty gold colored candy treats
finished butterscotch
Supplies: 3qt saucepan measuring cups/spoons silpat lined cooking sheet various molds candy thermometer Ingredients: 2 c sugar 2/3 c heavy cream 2/3 c water 1/8 tsp cream of tartar 6 Tbs butter (cut into small pieces) 1/2 tsp vanilla
ingredients
combine sugar, water and cream in saucepan. stir to combine. wash down sides with pastry brush and turn on heat to medium low.
cooking
slowly bring to boil until thermometer reaches 240degrees. drop in cut up pieces of butter – do not stir!
cooking
continue to boil (again not stirring! do not let the left in spoon confuse you!) until mixture reaches 280degrees. turn off heat and stir in vanilla.
molds
pour mixture into lollipop, silicone, plastic molds – that have all been sprayed with nonstick spray. yes it’s a messy step.
cooling
pour remaining butterscotch mixture onto silpat and let cool. once cooled remove from molds (carefully) and break up butterscotch block into pieces.
noms
Lessons Learned:
- just be patient when letting mixture reach it’s final temperature. it’s tempting to stir once the butter is dropped in…but don’t. i stayed strong and managed not to stir.
- the candy worked really really well in the molds, much prefer that to the broken up pieces.
- for some reason when i was getting all of the butterscotch mixture out of the pan the final pour looked like this:
not pretty
i’m not sure if it had cooled too much and i should have poured left to right rather than straight down into one big pool o’scotch…once broken up the outer smooth sides of the candy were a lot harder, whereas the milky looking center had more of a grainy fudge (but still kind of hard) consistency.
Review: really rich and buttery tasting. like i said the molds turned out awesome and are really pretty. reminds me of the amazing butterscotch candies in the gold foil. the softer center parts from the big pour are tasty but i like the harder smooth consistency best.
inspiration
nails
makes me wanna dip my nails in sprinkles
Peanut Butter Cups
Soundtrack: Sail, AWOLNATION
finished peanut butter cups
Supplies: 3qt saucepan 2qt saucepan measuring cups/spoons cooling rack mini cupcake cups Ingredients: 2 c milk chocolate chips 2 Tbs shortening 1/2 c butter 1/2 c crunchy peanut butter 1 c powdered sugar 2/3 c crushed graham crackers
ingredients
combine chocolate chips and shortening in saucepan.
melted
melt over medium low heat – turn off heat once melted.
cups
put small spoonful of melted chocolate into cups – swirl around so that it goes up sides of cup, but is still a bit thick on the bottom. place in fridge to harden up.
ingredients
in second saucepan combine peanut butter and butter until melted.
filling
remove from heat and stir in powdered sugar and crushed graham crackers.
filling
once chocolate cups are firmed up add in small amount of peanut butter mixture. flatten with your fingers to form an even layer. top with another layer of melted chocolate and refrigerate until hard.
noms
Lessons Learned:
- be careful when filling cups with chocolate – the little cups have a tendency to smoosh a bit and loose their perfectly circular shape.
- silicone molds do not work – aside from my sloppy filling they wouldn’t pop out from the mold even when hardened because the chocolate layer is too thin:
Review: yum yum yum. the small version of these is perfect, i may put more peanut butter mixture in the molds next time around since there was a lot of that left over when compared to chocolate. i made two larger versions of this in proper cupcake sized paper cups which i think turned out pretty good as well – except for the fact that i should have gotten aluminum cups rather than just paper so they would peel out more easily. the idea of using shortening in anything kind of grosses me out, but it really makes for a smooth creamy chocolate.
Old Fashioned Mints
Screening: Tangled
finished old fashioned mints
Supplies: cutting board 3qt saucepan measuring cups/spoons serrated knife Ingredients:1/4 c butter 3 and 3/4 c powdered sugar, divided 1/3 c light corn syrup 1/2 tsp peppermint extract 1/2 tsp vanilla extract red food coloring
ingredients
cooking
melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. add 2 cups powdered sugar and corn syrup, stir to combine and bring to boil – about 4 min.
cooling
remove from heat and stir in 1 and 3/4 cup powdered sugar and flavoring extracts. pour mixture onto damp cutting board.
cooling
knead mixture until smooth and cooled with heat proof spatula – it is a tad too hot to do this step with just your hands so the spatula helps. divide in half and saran wrap one half (…grr…still need to buy clear plastic wrap).
coloring
tint one half with red coloring, knead until incorporated – you can use your hands now as it should be sufficiently cooled.
rolling
roll out into flat rectangle(ish) shape. next, roll out white half of mixture and place on top of red and cover with saran wrap. use rolling pin (or similar shape implement…) and flatten into combined sheet.
rolling
tightly roll up layers, squeezing as you go so that it all stays together.
cutting
using serrated knife, cut into slices, again squeezing and shaping to retain disk appearance as much as possible.
noms
Lessons Learned:
- make sure that you constantly squeeze the roll of candy as you roll it so that it stays tight and together.
- along the same lines rotate the roll as you are cutting it so that one side doesn’t flatten out too much.
- when you are using the spatula to smooth out the mixture right after it is off the heat try to mash out any lumps of powdered sugar – also maybe sift powdered sugar before starting recipe.
Review: texture is less like a hard candy mint and more like a soft candy corn consistency. the mint flavor isn’t too pronounced, which i actually prefer. i like the thin layers of color and think that they look really cute, aside from being a bit crumbly when observed under close inspection. i have a feeling that sifting the powdered sugar would have helped with this. the color looks a bit orange in some of the pictures but in real life it’s actually a pretty reddish-pink color.
best laid plans
Soundtrack: Shake it Out, Florence and the Machine
stress of the year end combined with an exhaustive workout on monday has left me bedridden the past few days. walking i resemble the Cryptkeeper, thanks to a past lower back injury that likes to rear it’s ugly head every now and then which renders me incapable of standing up straight. lucikly this gem came in the mail and i’m crossing my fingers that, this too shall pass…and i can cook up some delectable treats tomorrow. 2012 i’m not giving up on you yet.
inspiration
oh hai perseus.
supplies
supplies
new toys – bamboo kitchen scale and fun shaped fudge/marshmallow/jelly…cookie…cutters.
send me no flowers
chocolates
suffice to say that 2011 ended on an…off note. but i’m leaving that in 2011 and only taking forward with me lessons learned and life appreciated.
rang in my new years eating chocolate and watching old movies with my amazing parents (granted i was asleep for the actual clock countdown) and awoke today ready for 2012. i am so thankful for the exceptionally supportive people in my life and the freedom to do something as silly as make candy and blabber on about it over the internets.
happy 2012 everyone. xoxobb
my kind of present, noms.
