Whimsical Cakehouse - Introduction to Designer Cupcakes

Yesterday, I attended a two hour Introductory Designer Cupcakes workshop at Whimsical Cakehouse in Malvern.  I have done cupcake decorating classes before, but they are all different, and you learn new things at each one.  I was also lucky enough to pick up a bargain by only paying $50 instead of $140 for the course as a special introductory offer.

We decorated 6 cupcakes in different ways with fondant.  Our teacher was Michelle and our facilitator was Anita.

During the first hour, we prepped the pre-made cupcakes.  First, we had to cut the tops of the cakes away to produce a dome shape and a dam around the edge of the cake for sealing the cuts with ganache.  The trick was to "peel" away the cake like an apple until the desired shape was achieved.

Next, we sealed the cut cakes with white chocolate ganache.  Whimsical's white chocolate ganache is 3 parts chocolate to one part cream, while their milk chocolate ganache is two parts chocolate to one part cream. After getting the ganache as smooth as possible using a spatula, we "hot knifed" them using a cranked spatula - ie dip the spatula in hot water for around ten seconds, then effectively press the ganache smooth with the warm knife.

Finally, we brushed the top of each cake with a mixture of apricot jam and water, and placed a circle of white fondant on top of each cake.  The trick was to place the circle "good" side down in your palm, then place the cake in the centre of the circle.  Smooth the fondant over the top of the cake so that it comes right up to the paper case, first using your finger tips to lightly massage it over the top of the cake, then using a thin piece of book binder's perspex or OHP transparency to buff the fondant on top and around the edges so that the fondant surface is smooth.

Having prepped our cakes, it was time to decorate them.  One of our first decorations was to make an outline on the top of the cake using a small cookie cutter, then to paint the outlined shape with piping gel.  The top of the cake is then dipped in silver cachous, and any gaps in the shape are filled in by hand with more cachous:

Our next cake had a quilted look. You start by making a faint line down the centre of the cake with the back of a small knife.  Next, you make two evenly spaced lines to the left and the right of the centre line with the back of the knife.  Next, you make a line from the top of the furthest left line to the bottom of the furthest right line.  This then becomes your new "centre" line, and you repeat the process of marking two lines on the left and right of the new centre line.  Your cake top should now have a faintly marked diamond pattern.  Next, take a small pattern marking tool, and run it lightly down the lines you have marked.  In each diamond intersection, use the handle of the paintbrush to lightly make a small indent, and pop a silver cachous into each indent.  Tap the cachous in lightly using the side of the blade of a small knife:

Our third cake involved cutting out shapes from coloured fondant (in my case, hearts), and "gluing" them to the top of the cake by brushing the back of the shapes lightly with water.  The silver heart was made by painting a white fondant shape with a mixture of lustre dust and cake maker's alcohol:

The little present cakes were made by taking small strips of fondant made by rolling fondant through the fettuccine setting on a pasta machine.  Using part of a strip about 5 cm long, "good" side down, paint a small dab of water in the centre of the strip, then flick each end of the strip into the centre of the strip with the blade of a knife to just join.  Then take another small strip of fondant and paste it with water parallel to the join, and cut each overhanging end of it off with a knife at a 45 degree angle to make the "knot" of the bow.  Take another strip of fondant and paste it onto the top of the cupcake with a little water painted onto the cake, and lay the strip over the top of the water, and cut off the overhang at 45 degrees.  Finally, glue the bow on top of the strip with a little more water:  

The next cake repeated the same techniques from the last, but this time, we piped royal icing dots into the centre between two strips of fondant "ribbon":

Finally, pre-made flowers (cut from coloured fondant with a blossom cutter and rounded with a balling tool) were glued onto the cake using royal icing, and little dots of royal icing were then piped into the centre of the blossoms:

All of these ideas were simple but effective - just the kind of cakes I like to make.  I also loved the flavour of the ganache against the fondant on the cake - it is a delicious addition to the cake flavour.

FFwD - Crunchy Ginger-Pickled Cucumbers

I have to confess that I faced this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe with trepidation.  Crunchy ginger-pickled cucumbers is something that, left to my own devices, I would never have made.  Cucumber doesn't rank up there as one of my favourite vegetables in the first place - pickling them sounded even worse.  However, it was a popular selection with the punters, so crunchy ginger-pickled cucumbers it is as first cab off the rank for FFwD for July.

"Cucumbers" is a misnomer, as the recipe only calls for one cucumber, cut into pieces.  I used a seeded cucumber, so I had to scoop out the seeds. It seemed that half the cucumber was gone after that.

Instead of red pepper flakes, I chopped up a half a dried chilli, figuring that the flavour is there for a reason.  Otherwise, I made the recipe as directed, even chilling the cucumbers overnight.

I served these cucumbers with a couple of other Dorie recipes for the month, the salmon and the barley pilaf, as it is definitely not picnic weather here, so I could not take up Dorie's suggestion of taking the salad to a picnic.

Verdict - these cucumbers tasted fine, but were nothing special. They tasted best after a couple of days, even though Dorie says to eat them within a day for crispiness.  The cucumber was still pretty crisp at the three day mark (when I finished off the last of mine).  If you are keen to eat cucumber salad, this may be for you, but it won't be appearing again at my place.

To see what the other FFwD members thought, visit the LYL section of the FFwD website.

Oasis Bakery, Murrumbeena

Last week, my friend Jess introduced me to one of the most exciting places I have been to recently - the  Oasis Bakery in Murrumbeena, Victoria.  Murrumbeena is a little out of the way unless you live or work down that way, especially as public transport to the area is pretty thin on the ground, but luckily for me, I work there three days a week, so getting to Oasis Bakery is not a problem. 

Oasis Bakery specialises in Mediterranean food.  It has sweet bakery treats of Mediterranean and other origins (eg fabulous macarons!), but the highlight is the Mediterranean cafe food, including baked specialities and hot meals.  Oasis Bakery is very popular and seating is limited, but you can take away as well.

When I went with Jess for lunch last week, we each had Mediterranean pastries - pizzas and foldovers.  My pizza had chicken, spinach, halloumi and zaatar.  The pastries are all $5.90, and if you eat there, are served warm.  I also ordered a scrumptious salted caramel macaron for afters.

I went back again this week with Lee,  and this time, we ordered meals.  At the top of this post is Lee's choice - a harissa chicken, chickpea and barley hotpot served with flat bread.  I ordered Persian jewelled rice, comprising brown rice, nuts, pomegranate seeds and raisins, served with a pot of tangy yoghurt and flat bread:  

Both meals cost $13, and were sensational.  I think the rice needed the yoghurt to give it some lift and make it moist, but it was delicious. The window display of the rice dish was so beautiful, I almost felt like it was sacrilege to destroy it so that I could have some.  The harissa chicken was mildly spiced and a good choice for anyone who doesn't like hotly spiced food.

There are also shakwarma (wraps), falafels, kebbeh (lamb meatballs) and salads.

At Oasis, you enter the bakery, and look in the case windows to choose what you want.  You then walk up to the counter, order and pay, and are given a buzzer:

When your food is ready, you go and collect it from the counter near where you walked in.  Simple!

My very, very favourite part of Oasis Bakery is the Mediterranean grocery store attached to it.  It is foodie heaven!!!  I have spent way too much there each time I have been, but the range is fabulous and the prices are generally good.  I am in love with the place.
If you are over Murrumbeena way, you can't go wrong with a visit to Oasis Bakery. 

Oasis Bakery

9/993 North Road

Murrumbeena VIC 3163

Phone +613 9570 1122

Fax +613 9570 1322

Red White and Blue-berry Buckle

Happy 4th of July to everyone in the US!  I wanted to celebrate with you, even though I am in Oz, so I made Red, White and Blue-Berry Buckle.  You can see the red, white and blue better in this daytime photo:

The recipe that I used for this Berry Buckle was from p222 of Sugar, Sugar  by Kimberley Reiner and Jenna Sanz-Agero, and was originally the recipe of one Dolly Dougherty, a commercial aviation graduate, which is pretty cool and trail-blazing for a woman who was born in 1920.  Instead of just using the traditional blueberries, I used mixed berries so that I ended up with the red, white and blue effect.

This berry buckle is absolutely delicious, with a crunchy topping on a soft, berry laden sponge cake base.  It is very easy to make, but because it is in two steps and involves working with butter, it takes a little time.

Basically, the topping is made by grating 55g of butter into a bowl, and adding 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup plain flour and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.  You rub the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips, then put the topping aside.

The base is made by beating together 55g butter and 3/4 cup of sugar.  You then beat in an egg.  In a separate bowl, combine 2 cups plain flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.  Fold half of this mixture through  the butter and sugar mixture, then stir in half a cup of milk.  Finally, fold in the remaining half of the dry ingredients, followed by 2 cups of berries (I used frozen mixed berries). 

Press the batter into a greased and lined 9 inch square baking dish.  Don't leave out the lining or the berries are likely to stick to the tin.  The batter is quite thick, so pressing it out evenly takes quite a bit of muscle.  Once the base has been pressed evenly into the pan, sprinkle the reserved topping evenly over the top, then bake the buckle in an oven preheated to 190 degrees Celsius for approximately 50 minutes or until cooked through. Remove the buckle from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin completely before cutting it into 2 inch squares. Eat and enjoy!

BWJ - Hazelnut biscotti

It seems that the poor old hazelnut is a much unloved nut, having regard to the comments on this week's Tuesday with Dorie/Baking with Julia forum.  I had never given it much thought, as hazelnuts are nuts like any other to me, and I rather like them.  But there you go - for this week's Baking with Julia recipe, Hazelnut Biscotti, hosted by  Jodi of Homemade and Wholesome and Katrina of Baking and Boys, you will see many variations and substitutions, so that non-filbert-o-philes can still make it.

This recipe taught me a new way of skinning hazelnuts - by boiling them with bicarbonate of soda for a few minutes then running them under cold water.  It is a pretty neat technique, and much easier and cleaner than roasting them off.

The skinned hazelnuts are then toasted in the oven, before being chopped and added to the easy peasy biscotti dough.  Alice Medrich's original recipe included Frangelico in the dough - I used Kahlua instead, because that is what I had to hand.

I was pleasantly surprised by these biscotti - normally I am not a fan, but this recipe made the nicest biscotti I have ever tasted.   Normally, I find eating biscotti rather like chewing on bits of old cardboard, but these were tasty.

To see what the other BWJ members thought of these biscotti, and for the variations they chose, visit the LYL section of the website.

San Francisco Ferry Building Marketplace

While I have been told that San Francisco is often foggy and cold in summer due to the "June gloom", for the three days that I was there on vacation recently, the weather was sunny, and on two of those days, it was quite warm.  This allowed me to see San Francisco at its brightest and best, and I was seduced by its charms.

As a food blogger, I was lucky to visit the Ferry Building Marketplace.  That was not due to my tour director, who didn't mention it, but rather to Patty of Patty's Food.  I contacted Patty before I went on leave, and she kindly agreed to meet with me when I reached San Francisco - which thankfully was on a weekend, making it easy to arrange.  (I had also contacted Elaine of California Living, and we had a wonderful telephone conversation while I was in the States, but we could not meet because my bus was in her home town for a mere hour on a working day.) 

The Ferry Building contains a wonderful food marketplace, so is a food blogger's heaven:

There is also a famous farmers market there, but alas, I was not free on the Saturday morning to be able to visit:

I had fun wandering around the market finding lots of brand names that I had read about on other blogs.  For example, there was the Scharffenberger chocolate stall:

Nice chocolate, but rather pricey:

There was also the famed bakery, Miette:

Miette's stall is gorgeous and packed with all kinds of goodies to appeal to my girlie baker heart:

From their cupcake collection, I bought a gingerbread cupcake:

Patty also gave me a mini guided tour of the marketplace, and introduced me to Far West Fungi:

I have never seen so many different types of mushrooms:

She also showed me the Recchuiti Confections stall, which stocks many gorgeous and unique chocolate creations:

Wouldn't you like to try some?

There were many other stalls at the marketplace, including Acme Bread:

and the San Francisco Fish Company:

Patty took me to lunch at Ferry Plaza Seafood, which overlooks the San Francisco Bay:

I had expressed an interest in having seafood, as it would be crazy to be in the Bay area and not try some of its fabulous local produce.  Here is there menu - if you like seafood, you'll have a hard time choosing:

We started with a half dozen oysters, served with a variety of dipping sauces:

For my main course, I chose this Seared Ahi Tuna Salad: 

Isn't it gorgeous?  I have never had anything like it before, and it tasted as good as it looks.

Afterwards, Patty and I went on a shopping trip to the Ferry Building branch of my new favourite homewares store, Sur La Table. I bought some lovely things there, including some napkin rings in the shape of bicycles - adorable.

It was wonderful to meet Patty and to have her show me around the marketplace from a local's perspective.  Thanks to Patty for her hospitality - this day was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.  Also, thanks to Elaine for trying so hard to catch up with me it was much appreciated.  

If you are ever in San Francisco, I highly recommend dropping into the Ferry Building for some food shopping and a bite to eat - it's a fun way to spend a couple of hours.

Queen's Gingerbread - belatedly for the Diamond Jubilee

I am a hoarder of recipes that I see online.  Some of them I print, some of them I email to myself.  I have so many of them that I will never make them all.  If I don't act quickly, I forget about them and never end up making them, and discover them years later in a heap of papers or in my email box.

When I saw Dan Lepard's recipe for Queen's Gingerbread in The Guardian online, I knew that I had to make it.  It intrigued me because Dan said that it was what the Elizabethans would have called a sweetbread.  I was also hooked because it contained crystallised ginger - one of my favourite things in all the world. To ensure that I didn't put the recipe in a drawer and forget about it, I printed it off and left it on my kitchen bench until I got around to it.  The first attempt at making it was aborted as I lacked a crucial ingredient - ground ginger. Not to be thwarted, I left my lined cake tin on the counter and bought the ground ginger the next night.

This gingerbread is not a cake or a cookie - it is more like a slice (or what Americans call a bar cookie).  It is very substantial, so a small piece goes a long way.  For this reason, I ended up chopping the pieces in the photograph in half again for serving purposes.

The gingerbread is quite dense, and contains sugar, honey and treacle (or in my case, golden syrup).  It is studded, not only with crystallised ginger, but dried apricots, and features almonds on top.  The spices in this gingerbread are ginger, cinnamon,  nutmeg and mace.  I left out the mace as I didn't have any.

I really enjoyed this gingerbread for a change. I won't say that I loved it so much I would hurry to make it again, but I think it would be a great edible Christmas gift.  Dan published the recipe as Diamond Jubilee baking, so that is the occasion that I dedicate mine to - congratulations to Queen Elizabeth II on a stellar achievement of 60 years on the throne of the United Kingdom.