I love the OH CUPCAKES site - and spotted this little cake decorating trick over the weekend … now how easy is that! Impress your friends folks x
DIY Rainbow Frosted Cupcakes
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Tag Archives: baking
Granny Square Cookies!
Oh my gosh… regular readers will know of my Granny Square addiction (hence design things like our popular Granny Square Cross Stitch Kit).. and whilst browsing the web yesterday I stumbled upon instructions for the most divine Granny Square cookies from Sugar and Meringue.
I am not the most patient cookie decorator – but I am so going to have a go at making these! But may just find them too cute to eat.
How to make Cake Pops
As promised here are the basic premise of how to make cake pops.. now the Americans love to use cake mixes and ready made frostings in a lot of their books on cupcakes and pops. I have used my own cakes and buttercreams – and Ange (aka BAKERELLA) does these in her CAKE POP book too.. but for the first attempt I used Betty Crocker Devils Food cake and a Betty Crocker vanilla Icing
You will need:
Betty Crocker Box of Devils Food Cake (9x13inch tin)
Betty Crocker Vanilla Frosting Tub (3/4 exactly)
I Bag of Coloured candy coating drops (>>BUY HERE)
48 lolly sticks (>>BUY HERE)
A flower oasis or polystyrene slab for drying!
Make up the cake mix and cook as instructed
Let the cake cool
Crumble in a bowl until super fine crumbs
Add in 3/4 of the frosting tub and mix
**do not add too much as the mix will be too wet
Mix well and roll into 48 balls
Put in the fridge for 2 hours
You take then take out and shape in other cutters (see my hearts) or you are ready to coat
Put the candy drops in a bowl and melt in microwave as instructed
Make sure bowl is not too wide as the deeper the dip the better!
Dip in the lolly stick and then put in a ball
Dip the whole ball in the coating **not real chocolate does not melt or coat as easily as the candy coatings and they taste delicious!
Put the stick in the oasis to allow to set ** you will see that I did not have an oasis so put holes in a box.. it worked but was not the easiest solution!
Ta da… simple cake pops. We also made some from our own cake recipes – and they were just as good but a bit harder to get the consistency right. Some ended up too moist so we couldnt have them on sticks 
As a lot of the cake ingredients and decorating bits are not available in super markets – we have pulled them together in a special section of our MIX TAPE store. Let us know how you get on. Prizes for our favourites on our facebook page.
>>SHOP BAKING ACCESSORIES HERE
Laduree Obsessions
For those of you who are regular readers… you will know that I am a fan of baking – and have had an obsession with Laduree Macarons since I first went to Paris aged 12 and thought they were the most glamorous things I had ever seen… The wonderful story of Ladurée began in 1862, when Louis Ernest Ladurée opened a bakery in the very heart of Paris at 16, rue Royale… starting the trend for the Parisienne Salon du The. Their website today is gloriously fabulous and a joy to visit.
The counters are like apothecaries and jewellers at the same time – and this school girl visit started my obsession with patisserie and I love that recently (like many old school crafts) the modern Parisienne Patisserie has a seen new breed of modern twists on old classics…
Laduree however still cannot be touched for their simple delights and the way that they over package them is not one for the eco-chic among you! But for me – I have kept every single box and upcycled it into a new use reminding me of their perma pleasure..
For my birthday my husband bought me their new cook book – which after many years they have disclosed a number of their until now super secret recipes! The book itself with its gold leaf pages is a delight – wrapped in glassine paper and boxed as if the most precious of jewels..
My first attempt at delicate orange flower and rose macarons however was not of the standard (see bottom pic) but they looked pretty enough and tasted divine.
I have a long way to go as a patisserie chef .. but am certainly enjoying the journey!
Laduree Sucre can be purchased here
Easter Bunny Baking
It has been a long sunny holiday.. which with lots of children in the house has taken its toll at times.. so yesterday we decided to make some little Easter Biscuits, which the kids took hours decorating, and I loved the results… so we thought we would share..
Easter Sugar Cookies..
You will need:
200g Butter
275g Caster Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 egg
400g Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
Cutters
Baking Trays (about 3) lined with baking paper
To Make:
Heat Oven to 180o C.
Cream Butter, Sugar and Vanilla together in a mixer until super soft and fluffy
Add in 1 egg and beat
Add flour and cream of tartar and beat in well until you have a soft and light dough
Lightly dust your work surface and roll out the dough to about 5mm thick
Cut out your shapes (lightly reknead and roll out any scraps)
Lay on the tray and bake for approx 10 mins – but keep an eye out so that the edges are just tinged gold and the inside still pale – otherwise they are over cooked!
Leave on a rack to cool
To Decorate:
Wait until cool – and you can eat as they are … or take your time decorating them as you will!
200g Icing Sugar – mixed with a dribble of water to make a thick paste
Sprinkles
and / or Set of icing decorating tubes from the supermarket for ease if required
Plus a little of whatever you fancy!
Then tuck in as quickly as you can!
Ben 10 Birthday for Baking Week
Last week my son turned 3 – and he is obsessed by Ben 10. Filled with alien forces, baddies and lots of monsters – its pure boy! He had not even seen it – but his friends are mad on the whole thing and he was thrilled with his OMNITRIX… a whole new learning curve for me!
Anyhow – the cakes were instructed to be Ben 10 which involved a LOT of black icing paste and dying sugar lime green!.. (my daughters idea) and seeing as it was BAKING WEEK we do love a challenge!
All a bit mad – but I have to say even the girls were thrilled with the rocket launcher OMNITRIX cake & candles and liked the sparkly mini matching cup cakes.
So for those of you who followed the “black tongue” palava on twitter (and no I am not posting a picture of that – far too surreal!) her are some pics!
Peow Peow – as Mr Finlay says!
PS – for those who asked to how to make the coloured sparkly topping – to dye granualated sugar you simply put a small amount of sugar in a plastic freezer bag and add a teeny tiny tad of dye (green and yellow for the lime!)
Toasty Tea Cosies & Baking Attire
Hurrah Hurrah! Our toasty tea cosies have finally arrived just in time for the chilly season. Available in our ever popular CAMPERVAN or UNION JACK prints, they will brighten up your kitchen, or someones Christmas stocking! £12.50 available online at www.pearlandearl.com
Also as it is National Baking Week – maybe you should invest in one of our new Lovely Aprons (£12) or Oven Gloves (£10) to match , and whip up our Weekly Recipe Simple Sponge to tuck into with your cup of tea!
Stick the kettle on!
