We were asked to make a Guinness cake, in the shape of a wooden keg, it sounded like fun and let us try out new recipes to get it right! In the end we settled on the Nigella Lawson Guinness and chocolate cake, it was rich and flavourful, a definite winner! With the cream cheese icing to balance it it was wonderful!

We didn’t want to do a full keg, but it ended up being more of a half-a-keg, I guess it was a 3/4 keg! We stacked 6 layers and then carved the sides.

To create the wood effect we marbled the fondant, and then scored in the graining. The sides were all done as individual planks, the top as one circle.

I took a look at actual Guinness kegs, but they looked pretty boring, so I took some artistic license. Two metal bands at the top and one at the bottom (if it was a full keg it would have had two) and then a plaque with the Guinness logo on it.

It’s January again, Epiphany has passed and it’s King Cake, sorry, Mardi Gras season. *grins* Though I do tend to think if it more as King Cake season.

The end of the season – Mardi Gras day itself is early this year, coming along on February 21st. That still gives you 5 more weeks of eating king cakes though.

The past two years I have talked about the history of king cakes, and how to make them. This year I’m going to stick with just letting you know that we think we’ve gotten that recipe just about nailed and so we are selling them, to you.

We’ve been playing about with fillings now and we’re proud to say we have seven different flavours of king cakes to offer!

So, starting with the traditional filling, (cinnamon sugar) you can get a small (8-10 servings) for $10 or a medium (16-20 servings) for $20.

The filled king cakes are $12 for a small and $24 for a large and you have the choice of -
- Apple
- Cream Cheese
- Lemon Curd
- Pecan Praline
- Chocolate Hazelnut
- Berry

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’re interested in trying one!

It’s hotter than hell down here in Texas at the moment, making a devil’s food cake more than appropriate. Maybe I can bribe the heat with the cupcakes to go away and not return!

Sadly I can’t claim this recipe as my own, I made no changes (excepting making cupcakes rather than one big cake and that doesn’t really count). The honour of this wonderful recipe goes to Alton Brown.. not my favourite cooking personality, but occasionally he pulls out something good!

Whisk the boiling water and the cocoa powder together and set aside. I’ve been told this helps the flavour of the cocoa be more fuller.

Combine the sugar, flour, baking soda and salt. Then in a separate bowl combine the oil, sour cream, eggs and yolk, whisk in the cocoa mix (this won’t look too pleasant but it’s ok!).

Add all the liquids to the dry mix and beat until the batter is smooth. It is a very loose batter for a cake so don’t be surprised.

Bake at 325F until it springs back to the touch.

I didn’t however stick with Alton’s frosting for the Devil’s food cake, I much prefer my own fudge icing recipe. Butter is melted and  the cocoa is mixed in with it. Then powdered sugar and milk are added alternately and it is beaten to consistency.

I piped the icing onto the cupcakes, it becomes reasonable firm at room temperature so if you’ve done a single cake make the icing when the cake is cool and decorate immediately other wise you’re going to have to put it in the microwave for short bursts to soften it up.

I took these to work to share… they didn’t last long at all!

That time of year that calls for the mass genocide of that little bug called a crawfish is almost at an end. I’m going to leave the boil details to the Southern boy but I couldn’t let the event pass without making a little something.

When we were buying king cake babies earlier in the year we saw some themed cookie cutters; gators, masks, fleur de lys and of course a crawfish. Well, we couldn’t pass them by… I think I may have a “thing” for random cookie cutters, you never know when you’re going to need one shaped like a margarita glass!

My lemon sugar cookies are my favourite for cut-out cookies, they hold their shape well when baked out. This time I decided to change things up a little by using lime instead of lemon, a minor difference but a tasty one!

The cookies were baked out and left to cool, I had a lot of them!

Next I made a deep red royal icing and piped my outline round each one of them. They’re really a simplified crawfish, doing all the details would be exceedingly fiddly and take a long while.. these took long enough!

Keeping a little bit of the dark red icing to one side thin the rest out and make it a little lighter. Flood inside the borders, using a cocktail stick to spread the icing to fill the gaps.

When that’s dry come back with that thicker dark red and pipe some spots on the crawfishs’ backs. As you can see an actual crawfish has these lumps all over, but that made the cookie look too busy and not so good. Again, this is a simplified crawfish.

Leave to set fully then store in an airtight container until you want them. Of course, I couldn’t let the crawfish get boiled without the “cousins” getting to meet each other!

So, as before, I’m practically begging everyone to call and/or email your Senator and ask that they support SB 81 — specifically supporting it “as is” with the current crop of amendments, as there is little to no time to make any more.  The passing of this bill is the best chance for home-baking Texans to get a legal baking business off the ground without having to scrape up  thousands of dollars in additional fees.  If you would like to help, I ask that you do so very, very soon.

Find out who your Senator is HERE.  More info on the progress of the bill is HERE.

I’m always a sucker for fresh bread and focaccia is a firm favourite in my book. There’s something about the texture of it that wins me over every time… and when it has the sprinkling of sea salt, and herbs on the top, then it’s amazingly wonderful!

Then somebody mentioned garlic focaccia.

Garlic… and focaccia… together. The ray of light shone down, music played. Garlic in focaccia would be heaven in a loaf!

It has taken me a couple of tries to get this recipe where I like it, it’s a good starting point now, but I would not say no to more garlic!

I started by roasting the garlic (well, why not!) and putting it to one side to cool a little.

Flour, yeast and sugar were mixed together, then the garlic, water and salt were added. Focaccia is a very wet dough. Really wet. Any other bread and I’d be shovelling in more flour and worrying that I had mis-scaled something, so don’t be scared. “Knead” it for 5 minutes. Yes, it’s slop, practically impossible to knead, this is where a mixer comes in handy – set it going with the dough hook and it’ll do all the work for you.

Lightly oil a bowl, olive oil if you can, and pour in the dough. Spoon a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over the top and make sure that the dough is covered. I add cling wrap over the top of the bowl too, just in case I missed a spot. Let it double in size.

Rub olive oil all over a quarter sheet tray (or whatever tray you’re using). Make sure every bit of it is covered, you’ll have fun trying to get the bread out the tin if not. Pour the dough into the tin, it doesn’t need knocking down per se, as pouring it into the tin will knock all the air out for you.

Grease up your hands (I wear gloves and then grease them up) and spread out the down, press and spread until it’s relatively even and filling the tin. Using your fingers create the dimples that will collect oil in a minute.. I’m not sure what the benefit of that is, but apparently it’s  good thing!

Drizzle the olive oil over the top of the bread, and for this loaf I like a sprinkle of sliced garlic and fresh oregano. And since it’s focaccia it of course needs the sprinkling of sea salt.

It doesn’t necessarily need another rise at this point but I like to let it sit half an hour on top of the oven (a nice warm spot in our house), it lets it rise a little more and creates a nice light texture.

Place it in the oven at 380F and bake until lightly golden. Turn out of the pan while it is still a little warm, I found it easier that way. I’d leave off slicing it until just before serving.

I always like playing about with macarons, coming up with new flavour combinations. It’s one of the many reasons that they’re so great, they can be so many different flavours.

These were a product of two different inspirations, I had a salted caramel macaron from a little cafe in town called La Boite. Secondly, I found a tutorial on how to make macarons using the Italian meringue method, supposedly more stable and easier to handle than the French meringue method I had been using (demonstrated with these raspberry macarons last year).

Start by whipping the egg white until they’re foamy while also cooking the sugar to soft ball (240F). When the sugar is cooked turn the mixer to low and slowly pour the sugar in. Take care to get it between the whisk and the bowl, if you hit the whisk the droplets will fly off and set around the bowl, possibly falling in and giving you hard lumps of sugar in your macarons (or even fly out and hit you.. painful!). If you drizzle it down the side of the bowl a large proportion of it will set there and not make it into the macarons.

Once the meringue has formed stiff peaks add in some more egg white and then the exceedingly well sifted powdered sugar and almond meal. Add the sugar and meal in stages, folding it in carefully. At this point the mix will still be firm.

Using a process known as macaronner we will beat some of that incorporated air our of the macarons until it forms the consistency we want. The common guide is it should look like “flowing magma” but since I have not visited any flowing magma… at all. In more easily recognised terms, a ribbon on the top should take about 30 seconds to disappear.

Pour into a piping bag and pipe into small circles. They will spread a little, but hopefully not too much. My mix was ever so marginally overmixed, you need to be careful! Being overmixed meant that mine browned a little more than desired (odd how that works) and were a little out of shape. Their feet were also a little sticky.. Too overmixed and you’ll have fun trying to get them off the parchment. This is when I added my sprinkling of sea salt on the top.

Leave to sit, preferably in a nice air conditioned (or cool, dry room) to form a skin, this helps the foot develop and they bake off better.

Bake at 330F, too low or two high will result in that undesirable air pocket in the top of the macaron. Quoting the tutorial “At the 5 minute mark the shells should have lifted and developed ‘feet’. At the 6-7 minute mark they should be starting to colour just slightly. Rotate the baking sheet if the colouring is uneven. The outermost shells often have to be sacrificed in order for the centre ones to be cooked, but the majority should be no more than the palest cream colour. They are probably ready if a shell moves only reluctantly on its foot when you lightly nudge it with a finger.”

After they’ve cooled a little you can start removing them from the parchment.

This batter is a little more forgiving than the French meringue and can be covered and left to one side for a while, for example if you have multiple batches.

Next make the filling, I made a rich, dark caramel with butter and a splash of cream. Sat in the fridge it was pliable but firm.. in the 90F weather it melted pretty quick so I was sure to keep it in a cool box.

Macarons really are best if you leave them at least a day. I’ve heard a French method describe leaving them 3 days in the fridge.. that long may be a bit excessive, but leave them overnight at the very least, it improves the flavour and texture to no end!

This is the result of a lot of support from individuals contacting their Representatives and the Public Health Committee, and showing up at the public hearing for the bill and putting their names down in support.  This is way further than the bill got two years ago.

Now that the bill is out of committee, the broader membership of the Texas House of Representatives needs to be poked by their constituents, to be let known that they should support HB2084 when it comes up for a vote.  Again, the power of individuals holds a lot of weight here, and if enough noise is made the Representatives may just get the hint that the people they represent think something is important.  An individual voice doesn’t make a lot of noise, but thousands of them added together can raise a din and will start to get attention.

I am asking that you guys email, call, write… whatever, just reach out to your Representative and let them know you want them to support HB2084.  You can figure out who your Rep is HERE . While you’re at it, ask them to sign on as a Joint Author or Co-Author to show their support.  Forward this info to anyone you think may be willing to help out.

If the bill passes the House, we get to start over again with the Senate, but it’ll be a slightly easier road as it will already have momentum.  You can look forward to us bugging you again when that time comes.  *grins*

If this bill makes it through the House and Senate, this opens up a greater opportunity for individuals to get their bakery businesses off the ground, legally and without the obnoxious start-up expenses it would take to operate out of a commercial kitchen environment – this would be a happy middle step on the way to that eventual goal.  If you’ve enjoyed any of the yummy baked goods your aspiring baker has fed you, consider being able to get them all the time, and having that deliciousness unleashed in Texas.  Consider those treats you’ve already consumed as a down-payment on your willing cooperation in this matter. *grins* A lot of you aren’t very civic minded, so don’t do this for the greater good… do it for the individuals whose lives will be changed for the better as a result.  It’ll only take a few minutes of your time.

These are the cupcakes that went with the Ponyo cake we showed you on Monday, vanilla with a vanilla frosting and sugarpaste figurines. Best of all – they’re completely vegan.

I picked up the book Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World a while back, it looked interesting and they had a lot of good looking recipes, I was happy to have an event where I could finally put it to use.

Start by curdling your soy milk, yes, curdling it. Since we can’t use buttermilk we have to find an alternative, so put the soy milk in a container and add the apple cider vinegar, that will do the trick.

Mix the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Cream the margarine and the sugar for a couple of minutes. Margarine is  much softer than butter so it won’t take you as long.

Alternate adding the flour mix and the soy milk. It makes a pretty loose batter, don’t be afraid!

Portion out into your liners and bake for 20ish minutes. I found they came out very anaemic, very pale, but they were cooked through. I also found that as they cooled some of them came away from the liners in places… strange!

I think next time I’ll fill the liners a little more, I wouldn’t mind them taller, they were just level with the top of the papers, I like at least a little dome.

Once they were cool I made the icing, I changed the recipe to use just margarine as I’m really not a fan of shortening in icing, this meant that I needed more powdered sugar, and no soy-milk. But make it however you like, I’ll put the recipe from the book at the bottom here.

The figures I made a day ahead so they would have time to dry out a little. If you haven’t seen the film they’re going to make no sense to you I’m afraid, and it’s most likely too complex for me to try and explain it, so I’m not going to try! It’s a ham sandwich, a slice of ham, a green bucket and one of Ponyo’s sisters.. that’s all I’ll say.

I was impressed with these cupcakes, they were light and fluffy, a fantastic texture and a good vanilla flavour. You wouldn’t even know they were vegan.

Cupcake Recipe – From Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World
—
Yields 12
Temperature 350F
8oz Soy Milk
1tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
155g AP Flour
2tbsp Cornstarch
3/4tsp Baking Powder
1/2tsp Baking Soda
1/4tsp Salt
4oz Non-hydrogenated Margarine
170g Sugar
2tsp Vanilla Extract

Icing Recipe – From Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World
—
Enough for 12 cupcakes
4oz Non-hydrogenated Shortening
4oz Non-hydrogenated Margarine
385g Powdered Sugar
1 1/2tsp Vanilla Extract
2oz Soy Milk

We had a fun cake to make this week, one we were looking forward to as soon as we knew what they wanted. We are both fans of the films of Hayao Miyazaki, so a cake based off of Ponyo his latest, more child friendly, film excited us.

They wanted the main focus to be based around the scene with Ponyo running on the waves…

So, off we got to baking, a moist chocolate cake, four layers tall, with our rich buttercream icing (chocolate of course!).

The cake was initially covered in a layer of white fondant and then the scene on the top was pieced together from fondant. We scored some of the fondant to make more details (like the creases on her dress) and painted a few accents (facial features).

The trouble was, the sides looked blank. So they got painted with “waves” in the style of the end credits from the film. Some royal icing borders were piped to neaten the cake up.

All that was left was the writing. The line “tiny little fishy, who could you really be?” is in the main theme song so to reflect the baby shower theme that was changed to “tiny little baby, who could you really be?”

There were 2 dozen cupcakes to go with the cake, you’ll see them later this week!