Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Ombre Wedding Cake

The first wedding cake of the season was an 'ombre' wedding cake. The cake itself was a vanilla butter cake, with french vanilla butter cream frosting. The frosting was my fabulous crusting butter cream, so the top of the cake is actually just really smooth icing. The stripes were made from marshmallow fondant that was dyed pink, and then as I went up the cake I added more white fondant to the pink to lighten it. It turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself. 

Sorry for the kinda crappy pictures. I forgot my camera and only had my phone. I'm hoping the bride and groom got a good picture of it and will be able to send me a copy.


Tutorial for how to do the ombre effect.

The recipe for marshmallow fondant is super easy, and I was quite proud of myself for making it. It tastes so much better than that crappy Wilton stuff.. .sorry Wilton.

Marshmallow fondant found here, or just read below

All you need is:
  1. Marshmallows - they can be big marshmallows or mini ones
  2. Icing sugar - You'll be mixing the icing sugar into the marshmallows to make a dough, have an entire bag on hand, but I didn't use the whole bag
  3. Food colouring
  4. Flavoring oil - This is optional. If you don't add this your fondant will be sweet and flavorless which works well if your got all the flavors your want in your cake already
Step One:
Take a couple of handfuls of marshmallows and put them in a microwave safe bowl. Add a couple of drops of water and toss the marshmallows in it until they are all a bit damp. If you are going to just make one colour then put the whole bag of marshmallows in the bowl and add a couple of teaspoons of water. If you're going to put flavoring oil in, add it now and add less water
If you want to make a bunch of colors, melt the marshmallows in batches as it is easier to add color to the melted marshmallow than to actually add the color to the dough.
Step Two:
Stick the marshmallows in the microwave for ten seconds at a time until the are puffed up and easily stir into a goo with a wooden spoon. Tip: Grease your spoon with butter, things can get a bit sticky. (Even with the butter I still found it quite sticky)
Step Three:
Add food colouring  to the melted marshmallows until you get the colour you want. The icing sugar with dull the color a little, so make it brighter than you would actually like it to be.
Step Four:
Start folding icing sugar into the marshmallow goo until it becomes a soft and fluffy dough. Grease your hands with a bit of butter and turn the marshmallow out onto a table sprinkled with icing sugar. Continue to knead in icing sugar until the fondant is stiff enough to roll out.
If you add too little icing sugar the fondant will be very sticky- Just add more icing sugar
If you add too much icing sugar the fondant will be very stiff and hard to roll out - knead in a little bit of butter. (I used shortening)

And there you have it. Super easy to follow instructions on how to make fondant that actually tastes good and doesn't get solid as a rock. Thank you again Pinterest. You led me to the wonderful link (I have at the top of the instructions) and then allowed me to learn something new!

Doughnut Cupcakes (Muffins.... toe-MAE-toe, toe-MA-toe)

Hello. My name is Tiffany, and I am addicted to Pinterest. Yep. I had told myself I wouldn't cave, but I did. You can follow me here. Hee hee. Shameful plug.

I found this recipe for 'Glazed Doughnut Muffins'. I say cupcakes. They are more muffin tasting, but I feel the sweetness of the glaze makes them a cupcake.


Recipe:

Ingredients for Muffins (Cupcakes)

1/4 C. butter
1/4 C. vegetable oil
1/2 C. granulated sugar
1/3 C. brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 2/4 C. all purpose flour
1 C. milk

Ingredients for Glaze 

3 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 C. icing sugar
3/4 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. hot water


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups or spray with non stick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a mixer, fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter, oil, and sugars until smooth. Add eggs one at a time. With mixer on low add the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla extract until just combined.
3. Add the flour alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with flour until everything is combined.
5. Spoon batter into cups and smooth tops. Divide equally among the tin. Bake for 15-17 minutes* until they are a pale golden brown and springy to touch. Rotate the pan half way through baking. Cool for 5 minutes in tin, then 10 minutes on a wire rack.
6. To make glaze mix together ingredients and whisk until smooth.
7. When cupcakes have cooled slightly, dip the top in the glaze. Allow the glaze to harden and dip again.

*I only put mine in for 15 minutes and the bottoms were a tiny bit burnt, so make sure you are watching them!

I feel these would be perfect with a nice warm glass of hot chocolate, and with the rainy days ahead of me, I guess I now have some yummy treats to keep me warm!

Happy Baking!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Wedding season!

Wedding season is upon us! I have one done, 2 more to go (and who knows, maybe that number will increase!)

I'll try to get the first wedding up over the next week. Life's been a little hectic lately!