Details On a Cake

This is a problem that I know a lot of people come across when they are trying to be creative with cakes. Fine details on cakes as shown in the picture are difficult to do well and I know from personal experience that deciding what to use can make all the difference.

When I made this cupcake I used cut up marshmallows for the hands and feet then wondered what I could use for the black detailing of the paws. There are a number of things you can use to do this - the reason I want to go through all the options is because when other bits of detailing are needed on larger cakes then different things will be better to use.

1) Edible pen:
This is what I used for this particular cake and for this particular job it was definitely the easiest option. Firstly there is basically no skill needed because it is just like using a normal felt tip and colouring on top of the marshmallow. It is also really quick because you don't need to prepare anything. You could also use this on ready to roll icing as long as you are gentle.
The only trouble is that it isn't very pigmented so you need to move really slowly over the marshmallow (a bit like when a felt tip is running out and you have to colour really slowly over the paper to get the colour to show up). Another thing is that this would be a really tiresome thing to use if you were drawing something onto a big cake because you would be there all day. And obviously you couldn't use this with butter-cream so if you were trying to put detail on that you would be better going with another option.
 You can find these at most craft shops but they are only about £3 online. Have a gander for yourself here.

2) Licorice:
I know that a lot of people (like myself) are not a fan of licorice but it can be quite handy for cake decorating. This probably wouldn't be suitable for the polar bear cupcake but if you are making a large cake and need strong, reasonably straight lines then I would use licorice wheels. It doesn't need to be the Haribo wheels but this is just an example. If you unravel them they will be good for thinks like outlining a shape you have made. If you wanted a shape to be filled with sprinkles then making the shape with licorice first would make it easier to stay within the lines. Licorice works best on top of butter-cream so that it has something to stick to but if you need to use it on fondant then look at option 3) and I will explain how to do that. I am sure you can find this at your local supermarket or sweetshop for less than £1 but if not, let me know and I will put on a link for where you can buy them online.

3) Chocolate.
This is certainly the most tasty option and my personal favourite. It can be used on any cake, big or small with either fondant or butter-cream icing. This is something that is great to use but requires practice because it can be really messy to start with.
I melt the chocolate in a bowl (let me know if you want a post on how to properly melt chocolate) then pour that into a zip-lock bag. Then I push the chocolate into a corner of the bag then twist the bag just above where the chocolate ends to stop it coming back out of the top of the bag. My advice would be to use a rubber band to tie that up in case you let go of the twist (this is where all left over loom bands come in handy). Once you have all this done then you can cut a TINY hole in the corner. If you cut the hole before any of the previous steps then the whole thing just gets too messy. The chocolate is really difficult to control because it is melted so the smaller the hole in the bag the better!

These are the options that are available other than the obvious black icing. If you would like me to go into more detail on any of these or have any other suggestions then please don't hesitate to let me know.

Cookies For Beginners

Recently I have been trying to master the art of cookie making and surprisingly enough, the majority of my attempts were edible. I don't think they could be classed as cookies but they were edible.

In this post I shall explain what little I know for those that wish to be successful when making a cookie. If you are a master baker, this post is not for you. If you are looking for someone who can tell you the properties of flour and the reason why eggs curdle in some mixtures, this is not the post for you. If you don't really care about any of that and just want to make some damn tasty cookies then proceed to the rest of this post.

I personally find that when I bake anything, they never look how they do on the picture that goes with the recipe. This is a good thing in some ways because it means that no one else will go near them, so you get 20 cookies for yourself. However if you plan on presenting said treats to your peers, then they probably won't appreciate a burnt splodge, especially if it is their birthday cake.
With cookies I always found that I couldn't get the right consistency of biscuit and by the time they had cooled, they would all be solid as rocks. In my opinion, cookies should be soft and chewy on the inside, so it became my goal to achieve this! (Not a life goal... or a monthly goal... just my goal of the day). With those words of widow I shall continue to the step by step guide:

First of all you will need the following ingredients:
4oz  (that is ounces for those who are unsure... I myself have been confused by this in the past) of butter (this needs to be a block of butter)
4 and a half oz of caster sugar. (apparently you could use normal granulated sugar but the reason most bakers use caster is because it dissolves faster)
4 and a half oz of light brown sugar (this makes the cookie dough look golden brown... not really important but just a little fun fact).
2 large eggs, lightly beaten. (when I say large, I basically mean normal chicken eggs, as in not the size of a cadbury's mini egg. If a recipe says lightly beaten then just take a fork and stir the eggs quickly until the yolk- the orange bit- and the egg white- the clear bit- are mixed together quite well.)
1 tsp of vanilla extract  (tsp = tea spoon)
10 oz of plain flour (self raising is for cakes)
1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda (no idea what this does but I know it is important)
11 oz of chocolate chunks  (you can add a cheeky extra ounce or two)

Before you start:
Take out your butter and eggs from the fridge and leave themaybe for at least 15 minutes because they need to be room temperature. The butter is going to need to be quite soft so that it mixes well with the sugar.
Take some greaseproof paper and measure it out roughly so it stretches just beyond the baking tray. (For this recipe I ended up using four baking trays but I will explain more about that later.) Take a small sliver of butter on a small piece of greaseproof paper and rub that on the baking tray  - think of it as though you will be glueing The paper to the tray, the most important parts of the tray to grease are the edges and the corners because that will automatically stop the centre of the paper from moving. But if you have enough butter then grease the whole tray.)
DOUR NOT GREASE THE TOP OF THE PAPER! This was something that I always used to do but what this actually does is make the cookie spread much quicker and so the edges get burnt easily and you lose the chewiness inside.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. / gas mark 4/ 350 degrees F.

1) Put the sugar into a big bowl (that is suitable for using a whisk in) then put in the softened butter.
2) use an electric whisk to mix the two together but try to combine them with a knife or large spoon first because otherwise bits of butter will be flying everywhere! Also make sure you whisk until the mixture is reasonably pale even though it will naturally be a golden tone because of the brown sugar. Basically whisk until your arm is hurting and you think it might be done and then whisk for at least another three minutes.
3) Add in the vanilla extract and whisk again.
4) Add in roughly half of the beaten eggs - if you add them in all at once your mixture might separate and look... well not nice (curdling).
5) Once that has been whisked for about 10 seconds add in the other half of the egg and whisk until it looks smooth.
6) Get a sieve and sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into the mixture - you do this so that you don't get big clumps of bicarb in your cookies.
7) Use a wooden spoon to stir this mixture otherwise you will have no air in your cookies.
8)Add in the chocolate (don't hold back).
9) Spoon them onto the baking sheets in whatever size you want but these cookies WILL SPREAD so make sure you leave enough room in between them.
10) Bake them in your preheated oven for 15- 20 minutes. I tend to set a timer for 15 then check if they look properly cooked and if not set another timer for 3 minutes.
11) Take them out of the oven and leave them on the hot tray for 3 minutes then transfer them onto a cooling rack.
12) ENJOY!!

I hope that someone out there found this helpful. If you have any questions no matter how silly they may seem then don't hesitate to ask :).


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