Sunday, December 11, 2011

Santa nesting doll cookies


So finally the Santa nesting doll cookie, and this is where the Christmas nesting doll set all started.

A little over a year ago just after I had posted my original babushka cookies Jody R sent me an email with an attached picture of a nesting doll Santa suggesting I make it.

Which I did, although really it doesn't look like the original picture and it did take over a year, but I have to say it was awesome inspiration Jody so thanks very much.

It inspired me to make a whole set of Christmas themed nesting doll cookies.

I have already posted tutorials for the snowman, nutcraker and the penguin which were also part of my swap cookie set, you can find the the tutorials as well as some other helpful links below:

Snowman Cookie tutorial Click Here

Penguin Cookie tutorial Click Here

Nutcracker Cookie tutorial Click Here

In Australian I got my nesting doll cookie cutters from Bisk-art HERE

In the US I have noticed that Fancy Flours have an ok priced nesting doll set and Ecrandal have a super pretty copper 5 set.

The cookie recipe I used is from my newly released book Sweets on a Stick available here at Amazon, the book also has a recipe for Marshmallow Fondant.



Or the book depository (Click HERE)

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!

You can find similar recipes for vanilla sugar cookies, chocolate sugar cookies and marshmallow fondant on my blog by using the search function :)


Nesting doll news update - while I was doing up the tutorial for Santa I whipped up some little elf nesting doll cookies using the smallest of the nesting doll cookie cutters.

Santa nesting doll cookies
These instructions use the medium nesting cookie cutter, follow the exact same instructions for small or large nesting doll cutter.

Sugar cookies made using medium nesting doll cookie cutter (CLICK HERE for you tube cookie recipe)
Red, White, Skin tone, black and yellow rolled fondant shop bought or home made marshmallow fondant (I used shop bought fondant colored with black americolor gel)*
small oval cutter with ruffled edges(around 5cm or 2ish inch) - I picked this up on Ebay in a set of 4
Medium/Large piping tip (I used #195)
small rolling pin
medium nesting doll cookie cutter (around 9.5cm or 3 3/4 inch)
small sharp knife
clean brush and water
black edible writing pen
pink dusting powder plus dry clean brush
*Fondant dries out very quickly. Use small amounts work quickly and when not in use place the fondant in an airtight container or ziplock bag to minimise the chances of it drying out and cracking.

Roll out the red fondant onto a clean benchtop dusted with cornflour/ cornstarch until a couple of mm (1/8") in thickness. I like to lift my fondant frequently and turn it like pie dough to ensure it does now stick to the bench while rolling it out.

Use the nesting doll cookie cutter to cut out a shape. Do the same with the black colored fondant.

 
Place the red and black fondant next to each other to use as a guide and using the sharp knife cut out boots and a belt from the black fondant, at the bottom of the red fondant cut a matching piece off that will be replaced with the black 'boots'. Use a small amount of water to adhere the red body and black boots to the cookie, using the rolling pin to press into place as necessary. Attach the belt to Santa's middle using a tiny amount of water and press in place.


Roll out a small amount of skin tone fondant and using the large round end of a piping tip - I used a Wilton #195 which is a bit bigger than the regular piping tips. Cut a little bit off the top of the round as per picture, this is where the hat will sit. Using a tiny amount of water attach the skin tone face to the cookie (use completed cookie picture as guide). You will need to roll out a bit more of the red fondant and use the nesting doll cookie cutter to cut out the head area, then use the sharp knife to cut out a beanie/hat and attach it to the fondant covered cookie. Take a little bit extra of the red fondant and  press into a small round to make a mouth. Attach it to the bottom of the skin tone face.


Roll out some white fondant and cut out a shape using the oval ruffle cutter. Then use the piping tip to remove the 'face' to make a beard- see the picture. You can then remove a small amount of the top and fit the white 'beard' around the skin tone face which you have already attached to the cookie.
 

Roll out a little more of the white fondant and once again using the ruffled oval cutter make the ruffle on the edge of the hat and the mustache. You will need to cut out the oval and then use the knife to trim a long thin ruffle to make the hat trim, attach it with a small amount of water. Use the same technique to make the mustache and then attach it using a tiny amount of water on top of the red mouth on the skin tone face. Pinch a little bit of the excess skintone fondant shape into a tiny nose and attach to the face right above the mustache.

Roll out more of the red fondant and again cut out the nesting doll shape. Using the sharp knife cut out the arms from the nesting doll shape as per the picture.

The rest is pretty much rolling out the small shapes by hand and attaching them to the cookies. Once again super fiddly like the nutcracker so don't say I didn't warn you.

Take a small piece of black fondant and shape a couple of small mitten like hands and attach them to the cookie at the ends of the arms.

Take a tiny amount of yellow fondant and shape little rectangles to make the belt buckle. If you like you can roll out tiny little ropes and make a more realistic looking buckle like I did for the original cookies but if your doing lots of them it would be easier to do the rectangles.

Take a small amount of white fondant and shape into a small ball for the top of the beanie/hat and attach with a little water and then do the same for a couple of eyebrows and trim on the arms where they meet the black mittens.


Allow the fondant on the Santa to dry a couple of hours and then using the edible pen draw on 2 eyes. If you like use a clean brush to brush on a couple of circles of pink dusting powder to the cheeks.

 
The End 


Sunday, December 4, 2011

Christmas Tree Cake pop - Yup double sided cake pops


 Double sided Christmas cake pops.

Yes this solves that age old dilema of what to serve your cake pops in, no running around trying to find the right size Styrofoam block, these pops hold themselves up.



All jokes aside these pops do stand up by themselves as long as you manage to set them to dry on a parchment paper lined tray before the candy coating has dried so they set flat. Also you need to make sure that the bottom pop is a bit bigger than the top pop to weigh it down, and finally as you can not hold onto the stick you need to make sure the coating is the type that sets hard like regular Wilton melts and other types of candy coating that I usually suggest for cake pops. I just know sometime people like the taste of regular chocolate better but in this instance y'all will end up with sticky fingers.


These little trees are decorated with candy writers (melted candy coating in a tube), green sanding sugar, pink sugar pearls and pink sugar sprinkles (for the star topper).

I cut regular 6" sticks in half so that makes the sticks 3" (of course, I know you can work it out I just couldn't help myself).

So anyway time is running out to get a copy of Sweets on a Stick in time for Christmas, you all know I like to be helpful so here are a couple of links to a couple of the online shops:

It's available here at Amazon.



Or the book depository (Click HERE)

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!

and I noticed that the publishing house has it for a really great price (HERE) as well.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Festive Macaron Rocky Road - or things to do with failed macarons


Yeah well this is one of those things that I thought of after a minor baking mishap.

I have been trying to work out a new recipe for chocolate macarons that is a bit more stable, I can't get the chocolate I used to use and so now sometimes the tops of the macarons go a little bit wrinkly.

And that makes me a little bit sad.


But only just a little bit sad because I am going to share something with you all about macarons. They don't have to be perfect (well unless your selling them to people then they should be). If you bake up a batch and you, your friends or family think they taste good I say that's a success whether they have perfect 'feet' or shiny even flat tops or not.

Anyway totally disregarding that little gem of wisdom I have just shared I was looking at my wrinkly macarons thinking hmmm, you know I wonder what I could do with all these not completely perfect macarons.

So this is what I came up with.

Rocky Road is so easy that the kids can help you make it, and don't despair if you don't happen to have any macarons sitting around I do have a macaron free version in my newly released cookbook Sweets on a Stick which is available here at Amazon.



Or the book depository (Click HERE)

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!



Festive Macaron Rocky Road - makes around 30 large pieces

350g (12.2 oz) melted white chocolate - I melt mine in the microwave on 50% heat for burst of 90 sec
150g (5.3oz)white marshmallow cut into pieces with kitchen scissors

1/2 cup pistachio nuts unsalted, shelled
2/3 cup dried cranberries
150g (5.3 oz) green macarons (unfilled or filled)

Line a 20cm square tin (8") with tin foil.

 In a large bowl mix the melted white chocolate, marshmallows, pistachio nuts and dried cranberries until evenly coated. Add the macarons and carefully mix in.

Spread into the prepared tins and leave until set. Once set turn out of the tray, remove the tin foil and use a sharp clean knife to cut into pieces.


Update - in my rush to share this great idea with you I missed saying that I did this up with MacTweets in mind, I have missed contributing to the month macaron MacTweets challenge quite a bit lately but with challenge Mac Attack #25 Seasons & Holidays Macarons was one not to be missed.

You should pop over to the site and check all the other lovely Mactweeters contributions to Challenge #25 in the new year.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Nutcracker nesting doll Christmas Cookie


OK - I'm going to have to admit something kinda embarrassing here.

I only know the story of the nutcraker as told by Barbie and even then I have pretty much failed to sit through the whole thing.

But I do know that nutcracker decorations are totally cool, and cookies doubly so, which meant when I was making up the Christmas cookie swap set of nesting cookies I posted over to Kiss Me Kate I had to include a nutcracker cookie.

In case you have missed my previous posts I was involved in a lovely Christmas cookie swap a few weeks back with some very talented cookie artists. It was super fun and I have posted most of the cookies from the swap in this post HERE.


I have already posted tutorials for the snowman and the penguin which were also part of my swap cookie set, and as far as fondant cookies go they are pretty simple, in fact way simpler that the one below for the nutcracker. I would recommend starting with one of them first if your not overly confident with fondant cookies:

Snowman Cookie tutorial Click Here

Penguin Cookie tutorial Click Here 
In Australian I got my nesting doll cookie cutters from Bisk-art HERE

In the US I have noticed that Fancy Flours have an ok priced nesting doll set and Ecrandal have a super pretty copper 5 set.

The cookie recipe I used is from my newly released book Sweets on a Stick available here at Amazon, the book also has a recipe for Marshmallow Fondant.



Or the book depository UK (Click HERE)

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!

Or you can find similar recipes for vanilla sugar cookies, chocolate sugar cookies and marshmallow fondant on my blog by using the search function :)


Nutcracker nesting doll cookies
These instructions use the medium nesting cookie cutter, follow the exact same instructions for small or large nesting doll cutter.

Sugar cookies made using medium nesting doll cookie cutter
Red, White, Skin tone, black, navy and yellow rolled fondant shop bought or home made marshmallow fondant (I used shop bought fondant colored with black americolor gel)*

small square cutter with ruffled edges(around 2cm or 3/4 inch)

small rolling pin
medium nesting doll cookie cutter (around 9.5cm or 3 3/4 inch)
small sharp knife

clean brush and water
black edible writing pen
gold non toxic food glitter (optional) plus dry clean brush
pink dusting powder plus dry clean brush

*Fondant dries out very quickly. Use small amounts work quickly and when not in use place the fondant in an airtight container or ziplock bag to minimise the chances of it drying out and cracking.

Roll out the red fondant onto a clean benchtop dusted with cornflour/ cornstarch until a couple of mm (1/8") in thickness. I like to lift my fondant frequently and turn it like pie dough to ensure it does now stick to the bench while rolling it out.


Use the nesting doll cookie cutter to cut out a shape. Do the same with the navy colored fondant and the  skintone colored fondant (the navy you can just cut out the bottom half of the shape and the skin tone you can just cut out the top half of the shape).

 
Working very quickly lay the skin tone on top of the red and cut along the neckline to make the head. Remove the excess skintone and red fondant.


Then lay the navy fondant over the red fondant and cut out the legs. Remove the excess navy and red fondant
.


Lightly brush a cookie with water and place the 3 different fondants onto the cookie, using the rolling pin to lightly press down to adhere the fondant to the cookie. You don't really need to worry about the joins looking perfect as they will be covered with other details.

Roll out the black fondant to a couple of mm (1/18th ") and cut out the nesting doll shape again.


Place it next to the fondant covered cookie to use as a guide and using the sharp knife cut out boots, a belt and a hat as per the picture. Use a small amount of water to adhere the boots and belt to the fondant covered cookie.

 
Roll out some white fondant and cut out the nesting doll shape using the cookie cutter (you will only need the top half. Take the square cookie cutter with the ruffled edge and cut out 2 side pieces of hair as per the picture. Place the black hat on top of the white hair pieces and using the sharp knife trim off any of the white fondant that will be under the black fondant hat. Adhere the hair to the fondant covered cookie and then adhere the black fondant hat on top of the hair.


Roll out a little more of the white fondant and once again using the ruffled edge of the square cookie cutter cut a small rectangle which will be the nutcrackers beard. Adhere it to the fondant covered cookie with a tiny amount of water.

Sorry about this super blue photo umm it's the best I could do tonight (shrugs shoulders)

Roll out more of the red fondant and again cut out the nesting doll shape. Using the sharp knife cut out the arms from the nesting doll shape as per the picture.



The rest is pretty much rolling out the small shapes by hand and attaching them to the cookies. I know super fiddly don't say I didn't warn you.

Flatten a small piece of red fondant and adhere it to the face right above the beard for the mouth.

Take a small piece of black fondant and roll out a couple of short thin logs to make the mustache and press them onto the face on top of the red mouth. While you have the black fondant out shape a couple of small mitten like hands and attach them to the cookie at the ends of the arms.

Roll out a very small oval of skin toned fondant and attach it to the face above the mustache to make a nose.

Phew nearly finished take the yellow fondant and shape little ovals to go onto the shoulders and thin straps for the wrist and attach them carefully with the tiniest amount of water. Roll out a couple of very thin logs of the yellow fondant to make the details on the front of the jacket and attach using the picture as a guide. Make 6 small rounds and attach them to the end of each short log. Shape a final round a little larger than the buttons and adhere it in the center of the black fondant hat.


Brush on a very tiny amount of water to the yellow details and using another clean dry brush dab on the non toxic food glitter.


Allow the fondant on the nutcracker to dry a couple of hours and then using the edible pen draw on 2 eyes and eyebrows. If you like use a clean brush to brush on a couple of circles of pink dusting powder to the cheeks.
 
The End

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Giveaway - Win a copy of Sweets on a Stick

Boston Cream Pie Pops

Update This Giveaway closed on the 28th November 2011

To celebrate the release of Sweets on a Stick I'm giving away a copy of the book.

Plus if you live in the US I'll throw in a gift certificate to the value of $40 US from Kitchen Krafts so you can pick up some baking supplies to help you along.

Or if you live in Australia I'll throw in a gift certificate from Cakes Around Town to the value of $40 AUD.

All you have to do is comment here on this blog post with your name or something else that identifies it as you. The giveaway will close at 12pm Monday the 28th of November 2011.

If you would like a second entry you can mention this giveaway on your facebook page or blog, just make a second comment here on this blog post stating that you have done so.

I will randomly select a comment and post the winners name on the blog on Tuesday the 29th of November, the winner will need to contact me with their details within a week of the name being posted to claim their prize.

Sweets on a Stick is a kid friendly recipe book. The cakes and other treat recipes have been created with kids in mind so they are mostly easy mix and all the treats are on a stick. However they are suitable for all ages and can be made without sticks if you choose. Here are a couple of places online that you can pick it up from:

Amazon have it of course:



Or the book depository UK (Click HERE)

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!


Giveaway Guidelines:
  • The competition for a copy of the book is open to any country that Amazon will post to.
  • If you live in the US and you are the winner of the book you will win a bonus gift certificate to the value of $40 US
  • Or if you live in Australia and you win the book you will win a bonus gift certificare to the value of $40 AUD
  • Entries into this giveaway will close at 12pm Monday the 28th of November 2011. 
  • The winner will be selected at random on Tuesday the 29th of November 2011 from the comments on this blog post. The winner will need to contact me within a week to claim the prize.
  • One entry per person, a second entry can be obtained by mentioning this giveaway to your friends on facebook or a blog.
  • You do not need to join this blog or follow my page on facebook to enter
Good luck

Update 29th November 2012
WINNER ANNOUNCED


Karyn - Pint Sized Baker

Monday, November 21, 2011

Pretty Layered Ruffle Christmas Tree Cake - the anti-fruit cake

Cake stand from Tracey Lau Art & Soul

I pretty much hated Christmas cake growing up, which many years ago consisted of fruit cake covered with marzipan and hard fondant.

Maybe hate is too strong a work but just sayin.........I'm not a fan of fruit cake.

So I decided to create an Anti-fruit cake this year and in doing so I think I've made a cake that is so much more Christmassy than fruit cake could ever be.


Yup this is an actual Christmas Tree cake made from white chocolate mud cake, layered with white chocolate ganache, covered with rolled fondant and decorated with strawberry bon bons and glittery fondant decorations.

Which I guess is nothing special, because you know, people have made Christmas Tree Cakes before.

But this one is covered with layers of pretty fondant ruffles- which looks pretty cool.



Someone less determined may have given up on this cake halfway through, perhaps when their daughter told them it looked like a lovely dress.

When I mentioned it was going to be a tree she replied, It's OK mummy, don't worry your just not so good at Christmas Trees, your great at other stuff, you just need more practice (Now I totally know how annoying that must sound when I say stuff like that). However when all the ruffles were attached she conceded it did in fact look like a tree and I had done an OK job.

The recipe I used for the inside of the cake was the white chocolate mud cake from the Planet Cake: A Beginner's Guide to Decorating Incredible Cakes cookbook.

Sorry everyone I can't share the inside of the cake recipe - apart from a couple of early posts before I knew any better I don't post other people's recipes here on my blog - it's all original Bubble and Sweet stuff.

I'm sure if you google white chocolate mud cake you could find a lovely recipe, or maybe a nice peppermint or even lime version. I colored the cake green using Wilton moss green and Wilton leaf green, halved the batch and baked 2 X 16 cm round tins, and then made up another batch and did the same. In all I ended up with 4 X 16cm green mud cakes. I used white chocolate ganache to fill in between the layers (in all  about 850g white chocolate mixed with 1/3 ratio of cream).

Mudcake is quite sturdy and is great for carving shapes

And as an update to my previous post, I have confirmation from quite a few of the stores that my book is in fact being shipped right now so I say the US Release is official. If you like the things I create here on the blog my new book Sweets on A Stick is out now and available to purchase here at Amazon.



Barnes & Noble (Click Here)

Or the book depository UK (Click HERE)

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!


Fondant Ruffle Christmas Tree 
If you don't have non toxic food glitter to make the decorations just use candy, or plain fondant, or maybe some premade sugar decorations, you know just what ever you like or have handy.


4 X 16cm green mud cakes - brown edges, tops and bottoms trimmed, ensure that the cakes are level
Cake board (16cm)
White chocolate ganache set at room temperature (make the day before assembling the cake)
large knife
offset spatula
Green Ready Roll Fondant (I used Bakels brand coloured with Wilton moss green and Wilton leaf green)
white Ready Roll Fondant (I used Bakels brand)
large rolling pin
small sharp knife
small rolling pin
ruffling/frilling tool
non stick petal pad/foam (see here for example) optional for thinner ruffles
cornflour/ cornstarch
small brush and water
small star cookie cutter
toothpick
Small amount of pink fondant
pink non toxic glitter
small snowflake cutter
silver non toxic glitter
strawberry bon bons (or other favorite candy) - my yummy bon bons from Sharnel Dollar Designs
royal icing

* Fondant dries out very fast. You must work quickly and keep in an airtight container when not in use. Knead well before use.
**Some people may prefer to use a pasta machine to roll the ruffles very thin, that is more than ok, I say do what makes you happy and works :)

Using a small amount of ganache adhere one of the cakes to the cake board, spread a generous amount of ganache evenly on the top of the cake and then place a second cake on top of the first cake layer. Place into the fridge to set. Once set remove from the fridge and spread on an even layer of ganache on top of the second layer. Place the 3rd cake on top and pop the cake into the fridge for the ganache to set.

Remove from fridge spread an even layer of ganache onto the third cake layer and pop the 4th layer on the top, quickly pop a skewer or dowel in the center of the cake pushing it thru all 4 layers and return the cake to the fridge to set.

Once the ganache is set securely, use a sharp knife to shape the layers of cake into a cone. (I actually used some of the off cuts to make another layer which you can try if you feel confident with your carving)

Does that carved shape make my layers look really uneven?

Reserve any offcuts of the cake to make cake pops :)

Using an offset spatula spread the remaining ganache on the sides of the cake cone, making the sides as smooth as possible. I popped the cake into the fridge for the ganache to set and then smoothed on a final layer.
Smooth ganache all around the sides of the cake

Tip - although with most cakes you need a really super smooth finish on the ganache you can get away with a little roughness on this one as all of it will be covered with ruffles.

Dust the workbench with cornflour (cornstarch) and using the large rolling pin roll out the green fondant large enough to cover your fondant cone. I shaped my fondant into a rectangle which was tall enough in width to cover the cone from the bottom to the tip of the cone and wide enough to wrap around the base of the cone.


Pick the fondant up and wrap it around the cake cone (I'm using a fake styro one for these pictures), smooth the fondant down along the whole edge opposite where the seam will meet (that would be the middle of your large piece of fondant). Work quickly and carefully. The fondant will rip and tear if you are not careful. Once again the fact that you are covering the whole cake with ruffles will work in your favor here. If the fondant does happen to tear, pull it back together and press it in until it kinda holds.

Anyway, keep working the fondant onto your cake until you get to the seam at the back, wrap one layer over the top of the other and using a sharp knife cut a straight seam down the back through both layers. You can then easily remove the top layer of overhang from one side. Then pull back the fondant to get to the underlayer of overhang and remove that. Push the seams together, once again do your best but it will be covered.

Neatly trim any fondant overhand from the bottom of the cake using the sharp knife.

To Make the fondant ruffles dust the workbench with cornflour (cornstarch), take a piece of fondant about 1 1/2 tsp and shape it into a rectangle, using the small rolling pink roll in out into a long strip. As you roll you may need to press the sides in carefully with the sides/heels of you hands to stop it from getting too wide. (or if you find that is not working you can always use a sharp knife to trim it back to size) Keep rolling until the strip is quite thin. I like to pick the strip up after each roll to ensure it is not sticking to the bench and when necessary dust underneath again.


Roll out some white fondant into a long thin log and press in onto the edge of the thin green strip of fondant. Using the small rolling pin roll up and down until the white fondant is securely pressed into the green strip
.

(Optional for thinner ruffles) Pick the strip of green/white fondant up and place it onto the non stick foam. Using the middle section of the frilling tool roll back and forth (like using a rolling pin) to make the strip even thinner, you will probably get it to double in length. Then use the edge of the frilling tool rolling back and forth to frill the white edge of the strip a little more.


Attach this strip of fondant to your cake cone starting at the bottom. Brush on a very small amount of water to the cake cone and press the fondant strip onto the cake. I tried to gather the strip to make it appear more ruffly (see picture).

Continue making strips of fondant and attaching them to the cake cone working your way up until the whole cone is covered, starting a new strip at the same spot you finish off the last strip.

Using a toothpick push a small hole into the top of the cake (this is where the star will sit).

I allowed the fondant ruffles to set a little while I made the decorations.

Roll out the pink fondant and cut out a star shape (for the top of the cake) and lay on a tray covered with parchment paper. Carefully insert a toothpick into the side of the star, so when the star is laying flat on the tray the toothpick would be parallel with the tray. Brush the star with a small amount of water and sprinkle the non toxic pink glitter over the top of the star. Allow to set and remove excess glitter.


Roll out some white fondant and using a snowflake cutter press out about 20 small snowflakes, lay on some parchment paper, brush each snowflake with a small amount of water and sprinkle on the non toxic silver glitter over the top of the snowflakes. Allow to set and remove excess glitter.

Once all the decorations are set you can insert the star into the top of the cake by gently pressing the toothpick into the hole you made earlier at the top of the ruffle Christmas Cake.

Carefully cut the bon bons in half using a sharp knife and adhere them and the silver snowflake decorations using the royal icing as desired.

Xx


The pretty cake stand in the pictures is from Tracey Lau Art & Soul