Brush Embroidery Cookie Tips

Last week we spoke about tips -  piping tips.
But the brush-embroidered cookies I used too illustrate the points (aha  - points, get it!) brought to mind another tip - the brush tip that works well for brush embroidery... (and yes - there's another word-play opportunity there with tip, but I'm fighting the urge to point that out too.
Ooops...!)

A few tips for brush embroidery 

1. the background should be flooded and dry
2. use outline-consistency icing for the petals  (not too stiff, not too soft)
3. work on one petal at a time
4. use a firm, flat tipped brush
5. keep the brush just-damp, not wet. 
6. clean the brush frequently
7. try the brush side-on and flat-on for different effects

                                       

I don't consider myself a brush-emboidery expert, by any means. Have a look at Sweetambs tutorials and videos on the technique. And practice, practice, practice!

Happy decorating 😊

xxM

Tools of the Trade - Piping Bags and Clips

It's been interesting to see the discussion that this Instagram post created:

I posted this picture to show the new bag-ties I was trying out. 

My trusty clips, which I've used for years and years, and countless classes, have finally started  giving out at the hinge. 

These have done me well, though.

They're easy to put onto the bags, easy to take off and, as anyone that has come to a class or two will know, are colour-coordinated with the icing consistency and size of the nozzles we use.  Unfortunately, I'm battling to source similar ones of good quality.
 
I've looked around locally, but haven't found anything promising. So I decided to go to straight to the source of all things plastic - China!
Thankfully, I didn't have to make the trip in person. Are you familiar with Wish? Pretty much anything that you can imagine ordering from China is there. It is a bit of a quality-lottery, and the items take about 6 weeks to arrive  (6 months if the South African postal service goes on strike!), and then you're hit by a handling fee when they do arrive. But for the most part, I've been happy with my orders.

What was interesting for me, though, was the piping bag discussion that the post prompted.

What started it was the comment that the tip-less bags that many people are preferring now, can simply be tied in a knot at the top to seal them off.
I just haven't quite got my head around using a bag once, and then discarding it. Especially for classes, where we use between 30-40 bags!

So, I thought I'd highlight some of the pro's and con's of the two different "disposable" bag types.

Pro's of tipless bags:

• disposable
• cheaper set up - no need for icing tips or adaptors (see below)
• quicker set-up 
• tie-able - no need for clips
• don't clog up as easily as piping tips (especially useful for very thin streams of icing; tiny nozzles clog easily)

Con's of tipless bags 

• not always seamless - the seam creates an asymmetrical line of icing 
• thinner plastic can pop 
• cutting the right sized tip can be tricky (no going back if you cut off too much)! 
• once-off use 

Using a bag with tip and adaptor:

                                   

This is the set-up that I traditionally use. Yes, it is a disposable bag, but it's a hardy plastic so is very re-usable. Royal icing is easy to clean because it's  grease-free. Soap and warm water does the trick.

You cut off the end of the bag, place the adaptor in (that's the white bit), and screw the piping nozzle in place.   

Pro's :

• re-usable 
• easy to refill
• easy to squeeze out left over icing (for storage and re-use)
• using an adaptor means you can change nozzles without having to fill another bag 
• graded piping tips give a precise diameter of icing - no guesswork 

Con's :

• have to be washed
• have to be stored
• tips clog up
• bags needs clips 

I'm sure that there are advantages and disadvantages that I've forgotten to mention - please comment with your thoughts! But I think my conclusion is that I still prefer using nozzles/ piping tips and adaptors for classes - another advantage is that bags with tips can be kept neatly upright in glasses  (if you want to see what I mean, have a look at this very old post with very ugly pictures 🙈

http://teacakeandcreate.blogspot.com/2012/11/cookie-decorating-basics.html )

I also like beginner cookie decorators to get comfortable with different consistencies of icing and become familiar with different diameter piping nozzles. Going topless tipless takes confidence!

When I'm doing a quick cookie project / icing demo's, however,  I've been choosing the convenience of tipless bags .... and  feeling very guilty about throwing them away once I'm done!

Now, back to bag clips!! I liked both the two new types I tried out. 
Back to Wish to order more... 

These are the cookies I made while trying out the new bag ties...

... using a set of brushes I also acquired on Wish!

Happy decorating

xxM 

Black and Gold Marbled Wedding Cake

So, taking off from where we left the conversation last time (what - a month ago, no?!), I don't bake for orders. But I do frequently get requests. And - just saying - WhatsApp messages and DM's asking for quotes on cakes at 10pm are a little annoying when your day frequently starts at 4.30am.
Those I just refer onto bakers I recommend - with a side note to contact them in the morning during working hours... 😜
But anyhoo...
When it comes to family and friends, it's not that easy to say no. And often, it's something that I'd like to do for them anyway. (Instead of buying you a birthday gift for R200, let me make you a cake worth R800 😅).
Often though, I think I'll have the time to make the cake, because it's due during a hiatus in the classes, but Murphy's Law, I'll get super-busy at the hospital or it's a jam-packed week of school activities. And then it's a scramble to get it done, and I curse myself for saying yes!
But such is life!

This was a cake I did for a my sister's friend's wedding.

Black fondant isn't easy to work with, and I wouldn't imagine it's the most palatable. So I incorporated a lot of dark chocolate modelling chocolate into the mix, and used the panelling technique to cover the cake.
Another option would have been to use a base of chocolate marshmallow fondant.
Why? Because if you start with a dark chocolate colour, you get away with adding less food colour to your mix.

Thin strings of white are kneaded into the paste before rolling out, to create the marbling, and the gold veining is painted on afterwards, using a mixture of gold lustre dust and alcohol.

The bride's choice of flowers were St Joseph lilies. I worked out a way to make them without having to wire individual petals. So when I have a gap, I'll make a video of that process. 

I added in some black calla lilies and yellow filler-flowers. Both super easy to make. (More future videos!)

The cake itself was layers of carrot cake, sandwiched together with cream cheese icing, all covered in white chocolate ganache underneath the fondant / modelling chocolate. 

Despite cursing myself for saying yes, I actually enjoyed making this wedding cake and the opportunity to try out new techniques.

Be assured, though - I still haven't changed my mind about taking on orders; no 10pm messages please!

Happy baking!

xxM

Pop Art Cookies

As much as I try keep on top of everything, sometimes something has to give. Unfortunately it's often here... These pages.
While I prioritise making sure homework is done, children are fed, and wedding cakes are made (wait what?! I don't bake for orders! More on that next time...) keeping up with social media is a constant niggle in the back of my mind. And it shouldn't be, right? I mean I'm  generation-before-they-started-giving-them-cute-labels and I wouldn't be caught dead taking a selfie unless someone else was in it. Why this pressure, then? Because I am a keep-on-top-of things kind of person, and seeing as I have an IG account and a FB page, I feel I need to post pretty things, pretty regularly. So I hope you've spotted the things that I have posted there the last month, while I might not have managed to keep up on the blog.

Let's back track a little now, though ...

I can't remember when I first came across Romero Britto's art, I must have been searching for inspiration for something else. But it immediately caught my eye - how could it not?!

The bold bright, designs with their black outlines are visually so appealing.
For these cookies, though, I changed the colours to be more suitable for a Mothers Day theme. Pinks, purples, greens and blues.

Something to note is that, although the patterns are busy, if you limit the colours to a dark and light shade of each, its not visually overwhelming - light green with dark green spots; light purple with dark purple stripes. 

Here's a video of the apple being decorated. 

Adding the last details with an edible marker makes a huge difference. That really puts the pop in the pop art cookies!

Happy decorating!

xxM

Butterfly Cookie Cupcake Toppers

Tomorrow is Mothers Day!
Now, don't say anything out loud, just nod if... the best gift you could get would be your husband getting up at dawn with the kids, and quietly - without waking you - whisking them off for the morning, leaving you to sleep in and get up at your leisure?
No breakfast in bed, no burnt toast and cold tea - just a morning of peace and quiet?
Do you cringe when you think of that - of wanting a lie-in instead of a family morning? Yes, because you're a mother, and when that baby is passed into your arms in the delivery room, a lifetime's supply of guilt gets handed to you at the same time. So you are going to choose the burnt toast and cold tea every time instead of robbing your children of the opportunity to spoil you on Mothers Day, aren't you? And you'll cherish every moment of it!

But you can at least ask your family to clean up the kitchen after they've made that breakfast - and don't feel guilty about it!

While, I don't expect you to bake for yourself on Mothers Day,  you might be baking for your own mother. These would be a great option. 

Carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese icing  topped with cinnamon cookie butterflies. 

Cinnamon Cookie Recipe 

Recipe by Tea, Cake and Create

125g butter, at room temp. 

150g light brown sugar 

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbs golden syrup

1 large egg

310g flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract 

Cream together the butter, sugar, cinnamon and golden syrup. 

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

Add the vanilla. 

Sift in the flour and salt. Mix until just clumping, then form into a ball by hand. Place in cling-wrap, and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. 

Roll-out and cut out cookies on a surface dusted with cornflour. (See here for some tips).

Place them in V's of aluminium foil so that the wings fold upwards.  Make sure that they won't topple over while baking - rest them on the sides of the baking sheet. 

Bake at 180'C for 8-10 minutes, until the edges of the cookies start turning golden. 

Once cool, pipe a little melted chocolate onto the cookies to form the body of the butterfly. 

Keep left-over cookie dough in the freezer, and thaw it in the fridge the night before you plan to bake. You don't need much for mini cookies.  They're a great topper for cupcakes - it's a bonus little sweet treat, and unlike fondant toppers, don't get abandoned on the side plate!

Wishing you a very special Mothers Day - whichever way you choose to spend it!

xxM 

Dark Chocolate and Salted Caramel Macarons

So, I wasn't going to post this as a recipe, because you know - nothing new here; move along, folks...
But I got asked how I made these dark chocolate and salted caramel macarons a couple of times today, when I served them for tea.

It's my standard macaron recipe; and the salted caramel I often use for secret centres in cupcakes. It's handy to have a jar of it sitting in the fridge - it keeps for weeks and weeks.

Salted Caramel 

1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup fresh cream
Sea salt crystals.

Place the sugar and water in a medium sized heavy-bottomed saucepan.
Stir over medium heat until all the sugar has dissolved.
Brush the side of the saucepan with a damp brush often to remove any sugar crystals clinging there.

Bring the mixture to the boil. Leave to boil on medium-high heat until it is a rich amber colour. Don't stir - just swirl the saucepan occasionally. (Watch it carefully - once the colour starts to change it can rapidly go beyond "amber" , the sugar will burn and the caramel will be bitter).  

Once the sugar has turned amber, add the butter and stir until it has melted completely. 
(The mixture will froth up dramatically!)
Remove from the heat, wait a few seconds then add the cream. The mixture will froth up again.
Mix until smooth.

Grind in the sea salt - how much depends on personal taste. 

Allow to cool. Store in a jar in the fridge until needed. 

When you assemble the macarons, pair up like-sized shells. Pipe a ring of dark-chocolate ganache*  on one of each pair. (*100g dark chocolate and 50ml cream is more than enough for this) 

Then fill the salted caramel in the middle of the ring - if you don't make a "dam wall" with the ganache, the caramel oozes out. I learned that the hard way!

The ganache is not only a handy barrier, it is also a great flavour companion to the salted caramel. 

And if you're wondering how I achieved that gorgeous caramel colour  that the macarons have. Well, just colour them yellow to begin with and leave them in the oven a little too long. They'll bronze right up 🙈

But if you don't want to run the risk of burning your precious macaron shells, a touch of brown colouring in your batter should do the trick. 

Happy baking!

xxM 

Giant Oreo Cake

While I've been known to congratulate myself for spacing my children's birthdays (and ergo their parties) 6 months apart*, I didn't take into consideration my husband's birthday. That particular date has to squeeze itself into a small space between Sabrina's birthday and Easter. 

And because Easter cookie classes are always so busy,  baking anything for my husband's big day is usually a very secondary consideration. 

This year was a decade celebration, though, so we couldn't ignore it completely! 

(* You know I didn't really plan that. But I am always grateful that it worked out that way! )

We're planning an official celebration next month, but for now it was just a little family tea party at home. 

I used the not-quite-a-pound-cake chocolate cake recipe, and sandwiched the layers (which were baked in an Oreo silicone cake mould) together with cream cheese icing, chocolate cream cheese icing and real Oreo's... 

The result was a delicious dark chocolate cake with a bite of crunch and bit of cream... 

And now back to Easter baking!

xxM