Saturday, 18 May 2013

Mini Oreo Sprinkle Cakes

If these little party cakes look familiar, it's because they were inspired by this sprinkle cake I made a few years ago. The minute I spotted Birthday Cake Oreos (!) at the grocery store, I knew they were destined to crown little chocolate sprinkle cakes. I baked one inside each cake, too!

A few people have asked how/where the pugs are lately, so I decided to include them in this post! They make regular appearances on my Instagram feed if you'd like to keep up with their curly tails (and antics) there.

To answer the question - they are well. Sweet and spoiled and all-around stinkers!

Oreo surprise inside!

I baked these in straight-sided paper muffin cups (found here) then unwrapped the cakes and leveled the tops before frosting. These could certainly be made in a jumbo muffin tin, but I think they're pretty cute as mini cakes.

For the sprinkling of these cakes, I mixed together equal parts multicolored jimmies, jumbo nonpareils and regular nonpareils. You'll need about 2 cups of sprinkles for coating, so be sure to have plenty on hand before you begin. Getting the sprinkles on evenly can be tricky, but I found that frosting and coating the sides of the cake first works best. Then you can frost the top of the cake and sprinkle on more nonpareils with a spoon (see above).

This recipe uses Swiss buttercream, and if you've never made this icing before you can check out my how-to video in this post. It's not as sweet as a quick confectioners' icing, and it doesn't crust so you can take your time applying the sprinkles after frosting.

The Oreos inside are a nice surprise when you cut into the cake, and if you can find the Birthday Cake variety, the middles are dotted with sprinkles, too. A perfect match!

Mini Oreo Sprinkle Cakes
[click for printable version]
Source: Basic recipes from the SprinkleBakes book
Yield: 10 mini cakes
Prep: 2 hours

Cakes
10 Oreo cookies (Birthday Cake Oreos, if you can find them!)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup hot water
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp. canola or other vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place 10 straight-sided muffin cups on a large baking sheet, or line a large capacity muffin tin (often called “Texas” tin) with paper liners. Place an oreo in the bottom of each cup.
Sift together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, water, heavy cream, oil and vanilla. Mix with a hand held mixer until smooth.
Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool before frosting.

Swiss buttercream/sprinkle decor

5 egg whites

1 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1 pound unsalted butter, cubed, softened (room temperature works too, but takes longer to come together)

3 teaspoons clear vanilla extract

2 cups various multicolor nonpareils

10 Oreo cookies

Allsorts

Set a saucepan filled one-third full of water over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer.
Whisk together the egg whites, sugar, and salt in a large heatproof bowl ( I suggest a stainless bowl). Set over the simmering water and whisk until the mixture is hot to the touch and the sugar has dissolved (120-140 degrees on a candy thermometer, to be sure).
Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
Beat on low speed for 2 minutes. Increase to medium-high until stiff peaks are formed.
Continue beating at medium-high speed until the mixture is fluffy and has cooled (the mixing bowl should feel cool to the touch).
Turn the mixer off and switch from the whisk attachment to the paddle. Turn the mixer on medium-low and add the butter, a few cubes at a time, beating until well incorporated before the next addition.
Add the vanilla extract. Divide batter and tint with food coloring, if desired.
Beat until the frosting is thick and completely smooth.
Place the mix of nonpareils in a shallow dish. Frost the sides of a cake and roll in the sprinkles until completely coated. Place the cake on the shallow dish and frost the top of the cake; cover top of cake with nonpariels using a spoon to sprinkle them over. Lift cake with a spatula onto desired serving plate. Repeat with remaining cakes.
Transfer remaining icing to a piping bag fitted with a large star tip. Pipe a mound of frosting on top of each cake. Place an Oreo standing upright into each icing mound. Garnish further with Allsorts candies, if desired

A Birthday Trip to Narnia: White Witch Cake and Turkish Delight

Every now and then I will get an email from a young aspiring baker who gets a real kick-start from this blog. Shealey is one such person. She's a dessert enthusiast who loves photography, puppy dogs and painting pictures - sound familiar? She's definitely a kindred spirit. Last Christmas she emailed me to share how much she enjoys reading Sprinkle Bakes, and I thought that was so very nice of her.

I recently received another email from Shealey saying that she is turning 13 years old this month, and asked if I would consider featuring Turkish Delight on my blog. She and her friends plan to watch the Narnia movie trilogy on her birthday, and instead of popcorn they'll be having Turkish Delight. I love the Chronicles of Narnia and was more than happy to oblige. In fact, I've wanted to make a White Witch cake ever since I saw the Snow Queen cake in the book Enchanted Cakes by Debbie Brown. This was a perfect opportunity! Although the cake structure is much the same as the one in Debbie's book, my White Witch cake was scaled down to one 9" layer and the rest of the decorating was very much improvised.

"It is dull, Son of Adam, to drink without eating," said the Queen presently. "What would you like best to eat?"

"Turkish Delight, please, your Majesty," said Edmund.

The Queen let another drop fall from her bottle on to the snow, and instantly there appeared a round box, tied with green silk ribbon, which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very centre and Edmund had never tasted anything more delicious.

--excerpt, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

I was intrigued (and skeptical) when I heard that Turkish Delight can be made in the microwave. I've only sampled the treat one other time from the shelves of Williams-Sonoma, so my comparison is limited. This version has a less sticky texture than the store-bought stuff, and it is delicately soft - a bit like a fruit jelly crossed with a soft gummy snack. I adapted a recipe- almost beyond recognition- from this New York Times article and was pleased when everything went according plan.


Little details: birthday candle-turned-magic staff from Bake it Pretty; a queenly side-braid.

Happy birthday Shea! I hope all your birthday wishes come true.

Microwave Turkish Delight [ printable version ]

Yield: 40-60 pieces of candy

Note: Make candy the day before serving so it will have time to set.

Equipment:
4 qt. microwave safe glass bowl - such as Pyrex
Whisk
8x8 pan or standard loaf pan
Two pot holders
Knife or scissors

Make the candy:
2 1/2 cups of cold water
3/4 cup cornstarch, plus 1/2 cup for dusting candy squares
3 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 tbsp. pure lemon extract
2 drops red or pink liquid food coloring
Cooking spray, or cooking oil (light taste, like canola) for greasing pan
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Ground pistachios *optional

Pour the water into a 4-quart glass bowl. Whisk in the 3/4 cup cornstarch 1/4 cup at a time until dissolved. Microwave mixture for 2 minutes; whisk smooth. Return to microwave and heat for 2-3 more minutes, or until the mixture starts to turn opaque. Whisk again - mixture should have the appearance of white paste.

Add sugar and corn syrup. Heat for 5 minutes in microwave. Remove bowl with pot holders and whisk smooth. Heat for 5 more minutes; remove and whisk smooth again. At this point the mixture will be thick and translucent. Heat for an additional 5 minutes and whisk in lemon juice and food coloring. Whisk until mixture is smooth and color is evenly distributed. Heat 3 more minutes in microwave. You'll know when the mixture is done when you try to whisk the mixture and a large portion of the candy batter holds in the balloon of your whisk. Mixture will be very thick. You can check consistency by letting a small bit candy batter sit for a few minutes in a condiment cup. When cooled a little, you should be able to pick it up and roll it into a ball without it being tacky. If your batter has not reached consistency, heat at 3 minute intervals until consistency is achieved.

Grease the 8x8 or loaf pan with cooking spray or oil and pour in candy batter. Spray/grease the back of a spoon -the batter doesn't spread well, so just do the best you can to spread it evenly with the back of greased spoon. Let candy set up at room temperature until firm enough to handle. This may take several hours - mine set up in about two.

Cut candy with a sharp knife or scissors into even squares. You can do this in the pan or turn the block of candy out on a cutting board dusted with cornstarch. I cut mine a little larger than usual at about 1 1/2" square. In a bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup cornstarch and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Roll candy in mixture. Serve candy topped with pistachios on a tray with cocktail picks, or in individual paper cups.

Variations:
Rosewater may be used in place of the lemon extract - though you may want to start with 1/2 tsp. and increase amount to taste.

Seeds of one vanilla bean may be added to both rosewater and lemon batters.

A Birthday Cake for Jane Austen: Twelfth Night Cake

I hope you'll pardon my digression from the merry-making of Christmas goodies in order to celebrate a beloved literary figure. Happy Birthday Jane Austen! Jane captured my heart long ago with her sharp satire and humor. And with the handsome Mr. Darcy, of course.

True, this is Jane's birthday cake, but I made it especially for I Heart Classics, my publisher's Tumblr site that celebrates all things pertaining to classic literature. If you are a Janeite, or any-sort-of-classic-literature-ite, then you'll enjoy browsing IHC.

To celebrate this birthday properly, I chose a Regency era cake called Twelfth Night Cake. The cake's meaning has changed over the years, but essentially Twelfth Night was a celebration that marked the end of the Christmas season in Jane's time. This cake was always present at the occasion. It is somewhat fruitcake-like (don't be scared) and I've completely updated it by removing those weirdly green candied cherries, and adding dried cranberries, orange zest and pecans. See? That sounds delicious, and not at all scary. It also gets a dose of Cointreau simple syrup. No dry fruitcake on my watch!

Perhaps the neatest thing about this cake - the bean. A dried bean gets baked into the cake. If you find the bean in your slice of cake then you are the Queen (or King) of the celebration. Doesn't that sound like fun? I may have to bring this (and a paper crown) to our Christmas Eve party this year.

I knew exactly how I would decorate this cake when I found a set of Jane Austen themed rubber stamps from Etsy seller Oxford Impressions. The decorations are stamped wafer paper (the "ink" is black food coloring) adhered to pastillage. Everything is completely edible, right down to the pink and silver dragee quote marquees.

Twelfth Night Cake
One 12-inch cake, serves 8-10 [click for printable version]

Make the cake:

1/2 lb. (1 cup or 2 US stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 lb. (2 cups) granulated sugar
5 eggs
2 oz (1/4 cup) orange liqueur (I used Cointreau)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 lb. (2 cups) all purpose flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1/2 lb (about 2 cups) dried cranberries
8 oz (about 2 cups) roughly chopped pecans
Zest of 1 large orange
1 dried bean

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until pale.
2. In a small bowl, beat the eggs and add orange liqueur and vanilla. Mix well then pour into the butter mixture. Beat until combined, scraping down the bowl as needed.
3. Add the flour, salt and spices. Mix thoroughly.
4. Add the cranberries, pecans and orange zest. Stir to combine.
5. Grease and line a 12-inch cake pan with parchment paper - bottom and sides. Pour cake batter in and use a fork to press the dried bean down into the batter. Cover top of cake with aluminum foil. Bake for 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Remove cake from oven and let cool in the pan while you make the simple syrup.

Note: You may also insert the dried bean AFTER the cake is baked. This will ensure that the bean doesn't cook during the 3 hours in the oven. The dried cranberries re-hydrate quite a bit, so this worries me about the fate of your bean, especially if it is small.

Orange simple syrup:
8 oz (1 cup) water
1/4 lb. (1 cup) sugar
2 tbsp. orange liqueur (such as Cointreau)
1 cinnamon stick

1. Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved and liquid is very hot. Remove from heat and add cinnamon stick. Let steep 5-10 minutes.
2. When liquid has cooled somewhat, remove the cinnamon stick and add the orange liqueur.
3. Pour syrup over cake a little at a time, allowing it to soak in before the next addition. Do this until all the syrup is used. Turn cake out on a serving plate when it is completely cool.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Today I'm sharing my favorite chocolate sugar cookie recipe that is ideal for decorating. It contains no chemical leavening so it bakes up evenly for a perfectly smooth decorating surface. I use this recipe for decorating Christmas cookies, but they're also good sandwiched with a little buttercream.

A biscuit cookie (or biscuit biscuit?)!

Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Yield: Approximately two dozen [click for printable version]

1/2 lb. (two US sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 scant cup dark cocoa powder
Pinch of salt

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar together until just incorporated. Do not over-mix at this stage, or the cookies may spread while baking.
Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix again on low speed, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl intermittently as needed.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Add to the butter and egg mixture. Mix on low speed until a dough is formed and there are no longer any streaks of butter in the mixing bowl. The dough will often clump around the paddle attachment while being mixed. This is normal and a good sign that your dough is the right consistency.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Turn the dough out onto a sheet of wax paper and top with a second sheet. Roll dough into an oblong disc between the paper with a rolling pin. Transfer dough - wax paper and all - to a large cookie sheet. Wrap the dough tightly onto the cookie sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Remove top sheet of wax paper and roll dough a little thinner. It should not be sticky. You may dust the surface lightly with flour if it is sticky, but not too much! You don’t want streaks of white flour baked onto your pretty dark chocolate cookies.
Roll dough to a ¼-inch to ½ -inch thickness.
Cut out desired shapes from the dough and transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Be careful not to stretch the cutout shapes or they will be distorted after baking.
Refrigerate the cutouts for 30 minutes. This will help the cookies maintain a crisp shape during baking.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes.
Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack. Decorate the cookies when completely cooled

nail art

nail art encyclopedia

Nail art has it's own "language", and this nail art encyclopedia will help you make sense of it all. As I started getting more into nail art I found myself wondering what the hell a "franken" was or what was the difference between a chrome and duochrome polish. Of course, I'm still learning just like everyone else so I'll keep adding and updating this encyclopedia with new terminology. If there's a term you think I should add, please email me!

talk the talk

B3F (or Big 3 Free) - B3F polishes are polishes that don't contain formaldehyde, toluene and DBP. Most of the "fancy" polish brands (such as Deborah Lippman, Zoya, Chanel, China Glaze, OPI) are B3F but you can always check on the ingredients label. If you want more information check this article at All Laquered Up. It's also good to keep in mind if you have kids who like nail polish.
Bundle Monster - Bundle Monster is a brand of nail stamps, similar to Konad but usually not as expensive. For more information, see the Konad entry or the nail art supplies page.
Calgel - A gel treatment for nails that can last up to four weeks. Calgel started in Japan and gives the artist the freedom to do some truly creative designs. Sadly, it's not DIY you have to get it done in a salon.
Chevron - Similar to a french manicure, but with an angled "v" tip instead of the traditional rounded french tip. I think the name is derived from the Chevron car logo, which is kind of v-shaped.
Creme - Your standard nail polish. No glitter, shimmer or other fancy additions. The finish is smooth and glossy.
Duochrome - A finish of nail polish that changes between two, or sometimes more, colors in the sunlight. A really cool color changing polish.
Dupe - A polish that is similar to another (usually more expensive) polish by a different brand.
Faux-Nad - A slang term used by artists for nail stamping image plates other than Konad like Bundle Monster or generic plates from Ebay.
Fimo - A polymer clay that is made into "canes" with designs in the center, then sliced and applied to nails. For more information check out the nail art supplies page.
Flakies - Similar to glitter polish, but small, irregular shaped, opalescent bits in a jelly base. Nubar 2010 is my favorite flakie polish.
Foil - Foil can refer to a finish of nail polish that has a metallic base with added glitter for a smooth, shiny look. Foils can also refer to actual pieces of foil that you apply to your nail. Check Dollar Nail Art for lots of cool foils.
Franken - The term applied to home mixed polishes. Making your own Franken polishes can be a lot of fun. If you want to give it a try, check out the amazing tutorial from the master, Dr. Frankenpolish.
Glitter Sandwich - A fun new polish trend. It's coats of glitter layered under sheer jelly polishes. Check out the tutorial.
Gyaru - A type of Japanese street fashion of completely decked out girls, including their fabulous, amazing nails. There's loads of different sub-cultures as well. Just google hime-gyaru nails and drool away!
Holographic - A finish of nail polish that has a rainbow metallic look, kind of like an oil spill!
Jelly - A finish of nail polish that is usually sheer with a high shine finish. They usually take several coats to be opaque but the pay off is that they're sooooo shiny! They're great fun for doing "glitter sandwiches".
Konad - Konad is a brand of nail stamps. The image plates are metal plates with images engraved on them. It's an easy way to apply intricate designs to your nails. Check out the tutorial.
Matte - A finish of nail polish that has no shine at all. They're a fun way to change up your look, but tend to chip easily as most top coats ruin the look. Essie makes a nice matte top coat so you can have a matte finish on any polish.
Minx - The newest celebrity nail trend, Minx are nail coverings made of a flexible polymer that is heated and applied to nails, and are only sold to and applied by salon professionals. They have finishes that we just can't achieve with polish no matter how good we are.
Ombré - A graduated fading color technique. It's a french word meaning "shade" or "shadow". Ombré nails are fast becoming a very popular trend. Try it yourself!
Suede - A finish of nail polish that is similar to Matte, but with the addition of some shimmer. Suede polishes are seriously sexy.
Water Marble - AKA Water Marbling. A very fun, sometimes messy polish technique. Creates amazing intricate marble designs.Check out the tutorial.