A White Fondant Cake for Special Occassion

A sponge cake filled with cream and jam covered with marshmellow fondant and decorated with roses, pearls and ribbon for occassions like weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, holidays or other special celebrations which requires an elegant looking cake.


For the very special occassion at the end of august, a special cake was a must. And as the self-appointed cake deliver at all the occassions, I could not disappoint anyone this time either. Due to a lot of confusion I thought I was not supposed to make any cake this time as we were going over to someone, but things got cancelled without prior notice and I had no time for an instant cake baking. However, I had to change my mind after hearing "would not it be any cake for tomorrow?", "so boring without a cake" and etc. I mean who would not? A lot of people to please, and perhaps the cake was like a highlight of the occassion.

I spent the night before making chocolate heart bonbons and this night was dedicated to cake baking and french macaroons. Around 12 am midnight I prepared the cake sponge, filled it with jam, cream and covered it with marzipan. I had doubts if I could manage to decorate it properly the next day, as I the schedule was so tight. Fortunately I managed it in no time. I was pretty much satisfied with the result, even though I had planned to make it a two-tiered cake decorated with royal icing at the very beginning.

Cakes with soft and delicate colors attracts me and especially white toned ones. I just love them. There is something pure and elegant about this color which makes everything look more decent and beautiful. 

A pink ribbon all around and pearls to give the cake some color and beauty.
This is a simple sponge cake filled with jam and cream, topped with marzipan and decorated with marshmellow fondant. (Marshmellow fondant is thousand times better in taste and texture than rolled fondant which only taste sugar and is too stiff. In addition, it is much more pliable and easier to work with. My rolled fondant last time was just breaking apart and was difficult to cover and get smooth).

No step-by-step pictures (remember it was midnight!) this time.


Sponge Cake

3 eggs, at room temperature
120 g sugar
120 g allpurpose flour
1 tsp baking powder

Follow instructions here (Basic Sponge Cake recipe)


Jam Filling

1 dl strawberry or raspberry jam
(or choose any flavor according to taste)

Cream Filling

4 dl cream
0,75 dl vanilla cream, instant
1 tbsp icing sugar


1. Prepare the vanilla cream according to packets instructions (keep it a little stiff)
2. Whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks
3. Keep aside about 1/4 part of the whipped cream for later use
4. Fold in the vanilla cream in the remaining whipped cream

Marzipan


300 g marzipan or almond paste

Marshmellow Fondant 

(Covers a 22 cm / 9 inch) cake and enough to make about 10 roses and a drape)


150 g marshmellows
1,5 tbsp water
1 tbsp coconutfat / vegetable fat
ca. 375 g icing sugar


1. Have the marshmellows and water in a large bowl and warm it up in the micorwave on full temperature for about 1,5 - 2 minutes till they starts to puff up.
2. Add the fat (and color if you wish to) and stir until well combined using a wooden spoon
3. Add the icing sugar, little by little and stir well
4. When it starts to form a dough, turn out on a surface and knead in rest of the icing sugar until it forms a smooth ball
5. Wrap in a plastic wrap and keep in fridge (can keep long in fridge, just knead it before use to soften it up)
6. Use flour when you work with the fondant


In addition you will need

0,5 dl apricot or orange jam
1-2 tsp water
edible pearls
ribbon
icing sugar


Assembling the Cake

1. Divide the cake in three bottoms and have the first one on a serving plate
2. Soak the bottom with milk (sprinkle)
3. Spread the jam followed by the cream filling
4. Cover with a second bottom and repeat
5. Cover with the last bottom, spread jam and cover all around with the remaining (1/4 part) whipped cream
6. Roll the marzipan to the size of the cake plus the height and cover the cake trimming the edges
7. Warm a little apricot or orange jam in a saucepan along with a teaspoon of water until it just gets warm, brush all over the marzipan
8. Roll the marshmellow fondant the same way as the marzipan and cover the cake, smooth it out and trim the edges
9. Decorate with fondant roses, pearls and ribbon as desired

For the roses, please see tutorial here, I might post my tutorial some other time (the roses and pearls were glued on with icing sugar combined with water to a medium thick paste)

Fondant rose..

and a piece of the cake..

The Hummingbird Bakery - Brownie Cheesecake with Raspberry Mousse

Creamy, dreamy and silky smooth. A trio of the best cakes emerged in one - melting in your mouth. These words gives justice to describe this brownie cheesecake with raspberry mousse topping.


I was so happy to see a new baking book at the library (they rarely buys new books in this category, really) for a while ago and borrowed it right away. The hummingbird bakery cookbook had a lot of great recipes, but I have to say I was a bit disappointed of the images in the book. Not that they were not good, but I did not find them really appealing and up-to-date. I was expecting more by a professional bakery cookbook. Anyways, one of the recipes that caught my attention was this brownie cheesecake with raspberry cream. I decided to try this recipe (and I think it was the only recipe that really appealed to me - the cupcake recipes had a strange procedure of mixing everything together and did not really convince me) from the first time I saw it, and now finally I completed it last weekend. 

Did the recipe disappoint? No, not at all. But it was obvious, for how could brownies and cheesecake and raspberry mousse go wrong together if they tastes amazing seperate as I told my sister when she started to become skeptical (well now that is typical her). But using my own brownies recipe made it go a little wrong. The cheesecake was baked fine, but the brownies was still like a runny fondant on the sides after being in the oven for over 40 minutes. And that made me realize that I should have used the brownies recipe of the hummningbird bakery as it was made with chocolate while mine was not. And perhaps the consistency of the brownies needed chocolate to be able to hold the cheesecake batter and bake evenly along with it. Yea yea, a small bagatelle which did not affect the taste at all and I will remember to use the proper recipe next time. 

I love brownies, I love cheesecake and I love cream. And I would not say no to these goodies coming as 3-in-1. I hope to get the brownies right next time (I actually took step-by-step pictures of the brownies procedure, but as the recipe did not work out, I am not posting them. Try this brownie recipe and tell how your results turns out). This is a great recipe which I recommend highly. 


Makes about 24 pieces


Brownies


200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
200g unsalted butter
250g icing sugar
3 eggs
110g plain flour


Preheat the oven to 170°C / 325°F / Gas 3


1. Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water (do not let the base of the bowl touch the water). Leave until melted and smooth.
2. Put the butter and sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition.
4. Gradually beat in the flour, mixing well after each addition, then turn the mixer up to high speed and beat for a little longer until you get a smooth mixture.
5. Slowly pour in the melted chocolate and mix thoroughly. Pour into the prepared baking tray and smooth over with a palette knife.


Cheesecake


400g cream cheese
150g icing sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

1. Put the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on slow speed until smooth and thick

2. Add one egg at a time, while still mixing. Scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula after each addition. The mixture should be very smooth and creamy

3. The mixer can be turned up to a higher speed at the end to make the mix a little lighter and fluffier, but be careful not to overmix, otherwise the cheese will split. Spoon on top of the brownie and smooth over with a palette knife

Bake in the preheated oven for about 30–40 minutes, or until the cheesecake is firm to the touch and light golden around the edges. The centre should still be pale.


Leave to cool completely, then cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, or overnight if possible.


Cream Topping

300 ml whipping cream
100g icing sugar
150g raspberries, plus extra to decorate


33 x 23 x 5-cm baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper


1.Put the cream, sugar and raspberries in a freestanding electric mixer with a whisk attachment and beat until firm but not stiff.
2. Turn the brownie out onto a board and turn the right way up.
3. Spread the topping evenly over the brownie and decorate with more raspberries.

Three layers of goodness! 

A bite of brownie cheesecake with raspberry mousse.. mmm..

Raspberry & Pistachio French Macarons

I literally loved to bite in these small french macaroons with a crunchy meringue shell and soft almond layer sandwiched together with pistachio and raspberry butter cream ganache. I promise, there were many bits..


The first time I got to know about french macaroons, I literally fell in love with the small cute colorful mouthfuls filled with cream. However the sad thing is that I have only managed to make them only three times since then. I remember I was really excited the first time and colored them in pink, green and brown, but the result was not as expected. Actually they turned out great when it comes to taste and texture, but the problem occured removing them from the baking sheet. The macaroons had stuck to the sheet and I had to scrape them off which made them quite crunched looking and not at all as the lovely smooth macaroons you see in pictures. It is over a year ago and they were appreciated though. The second time I dared myself to make the french macaroons again was before christmas holidays if I do not remember wrong and I "thought" I had found the perfect failproof recipe in a magazine which made them look so easy to make with step-by-step pictures. The result? Disaster. A catastrophe! I mean they could seriously not have turned out worser. They were looking like everything, but macaroons! The purple color seemed to disappear in the oven and they got cracks allover. I was sooo disappointed and squeezed them together and they went for the birds garden party (wonder if they bothered to eat them).
Finally, my third attempt on these oh so delicious french macaroons was for about over a week ago for an occassion. I challenged myself to get them right this time and reassured me a recipe from my favorite baking blog "Passion 4 Baking". This recipe was different from the two previous recipes, as it took base in the boiled syrup method. Half-sleep and tired at around 2 am midnight, I was standing in my kitchen challenging myself to make macaroons! How could it not get wrong?

It did NOT go wrong. Really. I was amazed and could breathe a sigh of relief. Some of them was not really round and the color seemed to appear more pale even though I added a lot of color, but they were all smooth and I could see no cracks and they easily came off the baking sheet. Finally, I mastered the french macaroons. But to perfection? I would say no. I will definitely need more practice to make them to perfection. A challenge I will definitely love to dare.

I love this recipe, so I am sharing it with you. I have no step-by-step pictures since I was in a hurry, but you can see them here (norwegian text). Search for 'Pure Vanilla Macarons'.


PS! These are extremely dangerous, because I ended up eating over half of them all alone. Having one bite of these, means you are addicted! Actually I forgot to bring them for the occassion (bad for them, good for me).

I n g r e d i e n t s


Makes about 30 sandwiched french macaroons


120 g egg whites (about 4)
35 g sugar
150 g almonds, finely ground
0,5 vanilla pod (or 1 tsp vanilla sugar)
150 g icing sugar
150 g sugar for syrup
0,5 dl water for syrup


PS: You can buy ready made almond flour or you can cook and scald almonds for then to ground them superfinely or you can ground them with their shell on just as they are. The last mentioned method will give a more intense almond taste.


NB! Line your baking sheet with bought greased baking paper or else you may have trouble with sticky macaroons. It is not enough to grease some regular baking paper!


Divide the egg whites equally in two bowls and set aside for atleast one hour at room temeperature, or preferably overnight


1. Combine ground almonds and icing sugar in a bowl
2. Add the egg whites (60 g) from one bowl and mix until they form a paste, set aside


3. Have the sugar and water in a saucepan and cook on high temperature until it reaches about 118C or till the sugar has dissolved (ca. 2 minutes)
4. Scrape off the beans from vanilla pod
5. Have the egg whites from bowl 2 (60 g) in a large bowl and whisk along with the vanilla beans to a soft meringue
6. Add sugar (35 g) little by little while you are whisking
7. Add carefully the sugar syrup while whisking the meringue and whisk for about 15 minutes, or
until the meringue becomes glossy
8. Mix the meringue with almond paste (the consistency of batter has not to be runny or too thick)
9. Add color as desired and fill a pastry bag with a round nozzle and press small circles (around 4 cm) on a lined baking sheet


Let them rest for about 30 minutes (this makes them become more glossy and there are less chances for developing cracks)


* Use an extra baking sheet below the baking sheet with macaroons while baking them


Bake in the middle of oven at 160 C / 320 F for about 12 - 18 minutes


Let cool on the baking sheet for atleast 30 minutes or preferably overnight to prevent them from sticking to the sheet


Sandwich the cooled french macaroons together with ganache using a pastry bag and serve!


* You can use buttercream ganache to sandwich the french macaroons together or you can use sieved jam of choice. There are a lot of different and delicious ganache recipes to be found on google.


Buttercream Ganache


75 g butter
75 g icing sugar
1-2 tbsp milk
green and pink coloring / coloring of choice
30 g pistachio nuts, finely ground
30 g raspberry jam, sieved
or
flavoring of choice


(I added finely ground pistachio nuts and green coloring for half of the macaroons and sieved raspberry jam and pink coloring to rest of them who were pink)


1. Beat the butter until it becomes soft and creamy
2. Add the icing sugar and continiue beating until it becomes fluffy and pale in color
3. Add a little milk if required for smoother consistency
4. Add coloring and flavoring of choice

Filled Chocolate Hearts ~ The Daring Bakers Challenge August 2011

Dark chocolate heart bonbons filled with marzipan & nougat, salted caramel and coconut. Indulge in chocolate!


This months daring bakers challenge was quite fun and different. We were supposed to make candies; chocolatey and non-chocolatey. And I can not remember to have made any thing near to candies since I was in my teenagers and loved to experiment with caramels and stuff. I was really excited at first and decided to make french nougat or fudge for the non-chocolate candies and chocolate bonbons filled with marzipan, raspberry jelly and nougat for the chocolate candies. But as expected I ran
out of time at the end of august and keeping too many balls in the air, I ended up with making only chocolate filled bonbons with three different fillings. I must admit myself, I am pretty much satisfied with the results and tempering chocolate for the very first time in life (even hearing the term for first time), it did not turn out wrong (although I would want them more shiny and smooth at them bottom)!

These beautiful chocolate heart bonbons were garnished with royal icing and almonds to give them a more professional and elegant look, for then to be packed into a black selfmade giftbox with my very own logo on and wrapped in pale pink ribbon to finish a elegant look. A cute cardnote with text was attached on.

Most of the recipes in here are from the daringkitchen and I have just copied and pasted, perhaps halfed some of the recipe. Although the marzipan and nougat filled
bonbons is my own recipe. I know it seems like a lot of text and instructions, but it is not as difficult as it looks like when you have read through it all. Homemade chocolates, bonbons or any other eatable gifts are a pleasure to give and a joy to receive.

How to temper chocolate using the “seeding” method


Tempering Ranges:


Celsius
Dark: 45°C-50°C > 27°C > 32°C
Milk: 45°C > 27°C > 30°C
White: 45°C > 27°C > 29°C


Fahrenheit
Dark: 113°F-122°F > 80.6°F > 89.6°F
Milk: 113°F > 80.6°F > 86°F
White: 113°F > 80.6°F > 84.2°F


Chocolate is melted and heated until it reaches 45°C / 113°F. Tempered un-melted chocolate is then stirred and melted in until it brings the temperature down to 27°C/80.6°F. It is then put back over heat and brought up to its working temperature of 32°C/30°C/29°C /// 89.6°F/86°F/84.2°F depending on the chocolate you’re using. It is now ready for using in molds, dipping and coating.


• Finely chop chocolate if in bar/slab form (about the size of almonds).
• Place about ⅔ of the chocolate in a heatproof bowl
• Set aside ⅓ of the chocolate pieces
• Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (make sure the bowl does not touch the water)
Tip: Make sure that your bowl fits snuggly into the saucepan so that there’s no chance of steam forming droplets that may fall into your chocolate. If water gets into your chocolate it will seize!
• Using a rubber spatula, gently stir the chocolate so that it melts evenly
• Once it’s melted, keep an eye on the thermometer, as soon as it reaches 45°C / 113°F remove from heat (between 45°C-50°C / 113°F-122°F for dark chocolate)
• Add small amounts of the remaining ⅓ un-melted chocolate (seeds) and stir in to melt
• Continue to add small additions of chocolate until you’ve brought the chocolate down to 27°C/80.6°F (You can bring the dark chocolate down to between 80°F and 82°F)
• Put it back on the double boiler and bring the temperature back up until it reaches its working temperature of the chocolate (milk, dark or white) as seen in the above chart. (32°C/89.6°F for dark, 30°C/86°F for milk and 29°C/84.2°F for white)
• If you still have a few un-melted bits of chocolate, put the bowl back over the simmering water, stirring gently and watching the thermometer constantly.
• IMPORTANT: You really need to keep an eye on the temperature so that it doesn’t go over its working temperature


It’s now tempered and ready to use


Tip: Another way of adding the "seed" is by dropping in one large chunk of tempered chocolate (the seed). That way you only need to fish out one piece of unmelted chocoalte and don't need to fish out several small bits of unmelted chocolate once the chocolate has reached temper.

How to make filled chocolate with molds


Tempered Chocolate
Various Colored Cocoa Butters (optional)
OR Food Grade Cocoa Butter colored with powdered food coloring


Other Equipment:

A small brush
Chocolate molds
A Ladle
Bench or plastic scraper
OR
A small brush or spoon


Directions:


1. If using colored cocoa butter and plastic molds, paint designs at the bottom of the wells in each mold. Let dry. You can also use lustre dusts mixed with a bit of extract, instead of colored cocoa butters for a nice sheen. Let painted molds dry.


2. When coating the molds with the tempered chocolate, I like to do it how the chocolate pro’s do it (much faster and a lot less tedious). While holding mold over bowl of tempered chocolate, take a nice ladle of the chocolate and pour over the mold, making sure it cover and fills every well. Knock the mold a few times against a flat surface to get rid of air bubbles, then turn the mold upside down over the bowl of chocolate, and knock out the excess chocolate. Turn right side up and drag a bench or plastic scraper across so all the chocolate in between the wells is scraped off cleanly, leaving you with only chocolate filled wells. Put in the fridge to set, about 5 to 10 minutes. Alternatively, you could take a small brush and paint the tempered chocolate into each mold, or spoon it in if you’d like.


3. Remove from refrigerator and fill each well with the filling of your choice. Again take a ladle of chocolate and pour it on top of the filled chocolate wells, knocking against a flat surface to settle it in. Scrape excess chocolate off the mold with the bench scraper then refrigerate until set.


4. When set, pop your beautiful filled chocolates out of each well and enjoy!

Caramel Filled Chocolate Bonbons


Makes about 20 - 25 medium bonbons


Dark or milk chocolate melted, preferably tempered, about 1 lb / 450g
1 cup (225g / 8oz) Granulated White Sugar
1/2 cup (125ml / 4 fluid oz) Light Corn Syrup
1/2 cup (125ml / 4 fluid oz) Water
4 Tbsp (60g / 2 oz) Unsalted Butter
2 Tbsp (30ml / 1 fluid oz) Heavy Cream
1/4 cup (60ml / 2 fluid oz) Passion Fruit Puree
1/2 Tbsp salt


Equipment

2 or 3 quart, heavy-bottomed pot
Candy thermometer
Whisk


Directions:


1. Place the sugar, corn syrup and water in a medium saucepan.
2. Set over medium-high heat and stir to combine.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until dark amber in color 310°F-315°F / 155°C-158°C, about 5 minutes.
4. Use a pastry brush, dipped in water, to wash down sides of pan to prevent crystallization as the mixture boils.
5. Remove saucepan from the heat and gradually whisk in the passion fruit puree, heavy cream and butter.
6. Transfer to a medium bowl and let cool.
7. Transfer cooled caramel to a pastry bag fitted with a medium plain tip or a squeeze bottle.
8. Coat the molds with chocolate using the method mentioned above.
9. Fill chocolate coated molds with caramel. You can use a spoon too but it’s less messy and goes a lot quicker with either of the two aforementioned methods.
10. Finish off with a layer of chocolate as mentioned in the method above for making filled chocolates with molds
11. Once fully set, carefully knock the chocolates out of the mold




Marzipan and Nougat filled bonbons


Makes about 10 bonbons


150 g marzipan
50 g nougat


1. Follow the first three steps on "How to make filled chocolate with molds"
2. Fill 3/4 parts with nougat and press down a piece of marzipan so it covers the mould hole
3. Follow from step 3 on "How to make filled chocolate with molds"

"Bounty" Coconut Filled bonbons


50 ml heavy cream
150 g sugar
125 g heavy cream flavored margarine (you can substitute it with regular margarine)
125 g dessicated coconut
75 g dark chocolate
1 Tbsp oil (for chocolate)


1. Put cream, sugar and diced margarine in a saucepan and heat everything until it comes to a boil
and let boil for about 5 minutes
2. Remove from heat and stir in coconut
3. Line rectangular baking pan with a baking paper and pour the mass inside. Leave in the fridge for atleast 2 hours or overnight
4. You can cut it in cubes and dip them in chocolate the next day, or you can take a small spoonful of coconut mass and press
it into the moulded chocolate holes and follow step 3 and 4 on "How to make filled chocolate with molds"




A great gift for any occassion..