Last week I accepted a special challenge. A fondant cake. OMFG, I was so frightened. Fondant scares me. It won’t make the things I want it to, have not the right colour, be sticky, dry… I have a kind of phobia.
But to make the parents of a school mate happy, I tried to ignore these fears and started the project. Her parents are great formula 1 fans, this means the shape of the cake should be the most attracting thing – a racing car. Wew, this was really a challange. With a good basic chocolate cake I always use and a really yummy choc buttercream, it was possible to make a good shape. Then everything covered and decorated.
It would be quite tricky to explain how I exactly prepared the car as I have no pictures of the process, but I will give you the recipe of the chocolate buttercream that is not to be missed. It is pretty easy to make and has a strong nutty note that tastes good with chocolate cake. Mhhh…
Chocolate Buttercream
20 g (2/3 oz.) corn starch
2 egg yolks
50 g (1/4 cup) sugar
300 ml (1 1/4 cup) milk
250 g (2 sticks) butter
100 g (3 oz.) nougat, melted
50 g (1 2/3 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate, melted
Mix 50 ml (5 tbsp.) of the milk with corn starch. Add egg yolks and sugar and mix well. Heat the remaining milk until it starts to boil. Slowly add the egg mixture and stir until the cream thickens.
Cream the butter in a seperate bowl. Incorporate in cream.
Melt nougat and chocolate over a water bath, then incorporate as well.
Use for decoration, cake pops and much more :)
Recipe adapted from Chefkoch.de
On our trip to Dresden last weekend went past a cookie factory, lol. I am pretty sure this was no accident. :D
This shop was full of cookies, meringues and bars. This is just what I thought the land of milk and honey would be like.
Shelves with tons of cookies… Mhhhh… It is so hard to choose!
Oh and there was also stuff for our vegan, gluten-free and egg-free friends.
Imagine this large bowl full of cookie dough! (Placed my brother next to it to give you an idea of its size.)
These yould have been cute for Valentine’s Day… Should remember this.
And this is what I bought: A cookie with the sillouhette of the church in Dresden, its trade mark. Cookie cutters of other sights would be so great…
How can you make a cake look attractive to kids? Sprinkles is the answer. I cannot really explain to myself why so many people love these tiny coloured bits of sugar, but it is a fact. Well, these cuties have been dipped into chocolate and then into a large amount of sprinkles. They are ridiculously easy to make and are done in no time.
I hope my cousins we are visiting today will like them. :)
Sprinkle muffins
(makes about 16)
225 g (1 5/8 cup – 8 oz) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
125 g (1/2 cup – 4 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
175 g (7/8 cup – 6 oz) white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract or seeds from 1 vanilla bean
3 large eggs, room temperature
80 ml (1/3 cup) whipping cream, room temperature
180 g (6 oz.) chocolate
lots of sprinkles
Preheat the oven to 170° C (325° F). Oil a muffin pan or lay out with paper molds.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium-sized bowl.Set aside until needed.
In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar, until fluffy and white. Add vanilla. Add one egg at a time and whisk in between until fully incorporated. Now add the dry ingredients while you continue to mix. Stir in the whipping cream. Do not overbeat.
Fill the dough into the molds until they are 2/3 full. Bake about 30 minutes or until a toothpicker comes out clean. Let the muffins cool completely.
Melt the chocolate, dip each muffin first in chocolate, then in sprinkles. Let the chocolate harden, then have a bite.
Muffin recipe adapted from Cake Journal