Ladybird Cake Pops

  

18th May 2013

Ladybird Cake Pops

Cake pops, lolly cakes, cakes on sticks, cakesickles. Call them what you will but they are one of the ‘in’ things at the moment. I call them a nightmare. I have attempted making cake pops on several occasions. The first time I made them they turned out great, they looked reasonable, they tasted fine and the whole process was fairly straightforward. I was so proud my photographs became the icons for this blog and my social media feed. It all went steadily down hill from there on, regardless of how many books, articles and videos I looked at. Literature all points towards them being really easy to make…providing you have patience (which at times I will admit I forget what this word even means, let alone being able to practice it). They are meant to be ideal if you have small children interested in baking and yet I’m 26 and I struggled immensely. They are great to use up left over cake, providing it didn’t get munched during the carving. And they are meant to be beautifully moulded into any shape imaginable and decorated to match; ladybirds i.e. not spherical was the best I could manage when it came to moulding.

It’s officially been a whole year since my last cake pop incident. Time for another go. The last time Mr. Egg and I literally spat them out; they tasted of lard. How you can achieve this without adding any lard is beyond me. I mean, I can bake a reasonably good tasting cake and if it doesn’t taste great it would probably still get eaten. It’s cake. ‘Nuff said. This post is about my attempt at ladybird cake pops. I say ‘attempt’ as the reaction to the ‘finished’ product from Mr. Egg was “What are they meant to be? [long pause] Oh. Ladybirds. [long pause] Well…what do they taste like?”. Not exactly what I was going for, but an improvement on the year before. Seen as I didn’t have any spare cake bits casually lying around my kitchen (undoubtedly the reason I can’t shift these last few pounds; kitchen pickers wear big knickers etc. etc.) I resorted to baking one. Lemon, my favourite. Given past issues with the popping of cakes I used a recipe from a cake pop book, and followed it all 100%, definitely no substitutions going on in my kitchen today. Once cooled you go against everything you think is right and crumble it up into teeny tiny pieces. You then add a small quantity of buttercream and smush it all together. I should point out that there are implements that you can buy that make the cakes ready popped. I don’t have one, but I imagine the person that invented it had a similar experience to me, and rather than giving up they persevered and made a few people’s lives that little bit easier. I refrigerated when instructed, and when told to ball I got out my meatball scissors (exactly what they sound like; two halves of a sphere on the end of scissors, bought specifically for the cake popping process and only £3; bargain) and made what I thought would look like ladybirds once covered.

Cake pops can be coated in liquid fondant or melted chocolate. Sounds straightforward? Last year half my pops fell of their sticks, so I made sure the sticks were dipped in the melted chocolate before I stuck them into the cake balls. But to make them smooth it was advised to add a few drops of sunflower oil to make it a bit runnier. I also did this, got into my cake pop stance (similar to my fake tan stance, but that’s not really a story for today) and began with the dipping. Success! It wasn’t smooth, no where near, but it was covered. Brilliant. The next three fell off their sticks, and the rest of the batch was a long battle to stop them falling off the sticks and get them reasonably covered. Easy for children? Well technically I am still a child; I have parents.

Granary loaf with a scattering of sunflower seeds and lashings of butter

The lesson for today: if something says it’s ‘easy’ it probably won’t be. If something says you need to be patient, you probably should. And if all else fails…make a loaf of bread.

Happy caking, One Egg xxx

Steampunk Top Hat

6th April 2013

Steampunk Top Hat

I never really understood the notion of ‘Steampunk’; it sort of arrived, or perhaps it was there and I was oblivious to it. Most probably the latter. It’s like ‘yolo’ or ‘texterity’ or ‘being full stopped’ in a text message (for my equally minded readers I will now permit you five minutes or so to look these up); they were invented by someone and all of a sudden everyone was saying it or doing it whilst I was off minding my own business in cakey land. Needless to say, Steampunk is here and I have recreated it in cake form. My version anyway!

One of our best men (we had two; two amazing friends that we couldn’t choose one over the other, so picked both) celebrated his birthday last week. This particular half of the duo is acquainted with the slightly alternative style that is Steampunk. I declared, to no-one in particular, that I was going to make a cake in the style of Steampunk for his birthday: “I will make a cake, cogs and all and it will be good”. I had at this point done some internet searching and was ‘getting myself into character’ – I think one should put one’s all in every project…Annnyway. Being of the fairer sex I slightly wished our best man was too – the corsets and dresses worn by some of the Steampunk ladies are simply stunning with gorgeous material and incredible detail. In cake it definitely has potential, but would also be a very steep learning curve! But he’s a he and whilst all the women are wearing Victorian style finery the men wear top hats and tails. Idea for birthday cake: sorted. All that was left was to actually make it….

Fondant cogs and screws

Fondant time piece; very basic detail

My attempt at making fondant goggles

Cogs and metal work and goggles. My research resulted in these three things being of importance when it came to Steampunk. I tried to make all these things, armed with my paintbrush and several pots of metallic edible lustre dust. Improvisation was at its best here readers; circular cutters made simple cogs, but piping nozzles, straws and ravioli  cutters made the cogs into cogs. There is probably a better way, but I hadn’t done that much research and when it came to making the cake and its details my mind was very much in the ‘idea phase’ and reality hadn’t yet kicked in. I think it worked out ok? I made goggles, although if there is a next time I might try to give them some ‘glass’,  screws, a clock face which could also do with a bit more detail, and a few more cogs. When dry they were made metallic with the lustre dust and I discovered just how fragile fondant can be. I broke a few and I made silent vows to myself that I will look into techniques that make fondant objects stronger, or another method entirely.

The cake itself was six lovely layers of caramel sponge; a vanilla recipe I adapted. A birthday cake? Yes. An experiment? Yes. It will be no surprise, given most posts I write are “I tried this…” “I had a go at that…” that my experiments are with flavour also. My friends are given cakes, and they generally come with a warning of “It’s a new recipe…I made it different to what it should be…how about being my guinea pig?”. I went all out for this and even made caramel. Something else I haven’t done before (surprises?!). Mr. Egg made a caramel not so long ago for a Valentine’s Day desert and it was divine. I could do it too surely? Trying to boil sugar, eagerly waiting for that crucial moment when it goes from transparent to golden without forming a solid burnt mess*, is made more difficult when you have a dark pan. Tip for next time: find a light coloured pan. Eventually I didn’t burn the sugar and made a caramel that I could of eaten on its own with a big spoon when no-one was watching. The caramel went into a chocolate ganache which I will admit I may of gotten the quantities wrong as it took hours to set properly. I filled each layer with this calorifically tasty sauce and a sprinkling of fudge pieces and then gave the whole thing a caramel crumb coating. Mouth watering much? For saying I only made this the other week I am now craving cake as I type. Torture!

Front view

Back view

I employed the same covering technique I used in my keytar cake to cover this mountain of caramel goodness; covering the sides first and then adding the top piece. I wasn’t too worried about stresses in the fondant as it would all add to the material texture effect. I did however mix some colouring paste with a tiny amount of vodka and then brushed this on in sweeping motions to make it look almost wooden. The cake I should add at this point sat on a ‘brim’; a circular disk of fondant (which at the time of cutting I thought was big enough, but looking back proportionally should of been a bit bigger) with pieces of scrunched up kitchen towel underneath some edges. This would give a lip to the brim of the hat and when completely dry the towels were removed. I added the cogs and goggles with royal icing and my Steampunk top hat cake was complete. Our best man was really pleased with his sort-of birthday surprise (we’d already told him I was making him a cake, but not what it would be), and he knew what it was meant to be which is always a good sign!

Happy caking, One Egg xxx

*Readers, I tried to make a chilli sauce once, forgot to add vinegar to the sugar syrup and ended up with a very black, very solid piece of what I can only describe as rock. Spicy rock. I was nervous once more as I turned on the hob!

Easter Baking

31st March 2013

Simnel Muffins

If out-doorsy is a word then I would say I am probably it. To a degree. I want chickens (for the eggs, I don’t want to deal with all the poop) but I am yet to convince my family I am capable of such a task. I also love camping; we went camping a lot when we were children and being grown up is no exception. Although camping in my book is now more like ‘glamping’ and I scout out new campsites the second we arrive to find the nearest plug sockets for our various pieces of technology. This is after all the 21st Century and as such modern life calls for modern comforts; why deny ourselves these things under canvas? Plus we have a car, and if there is space I will most definitely fill it, so why shouldn’t I bring my fairy lights (solar-powered, naturally) and straighteners and five or more pairs of shoes just in case we go out ‘somewhere posh’. You must ALWAYS be prepared. Inevitably I don’t use/wear any of these things and spend the entire holiday in boots. Apart from the fairy lights; they are almost as important as the tent.

Simnel muffin with orange juice icing and chocolate eggs

Mr. Egg and I have recently upgraded our tent to one that is a bit bigger and a bit more sturdy. Sturdy being imperative and now ties in my ramble about camping with my Easter baking. One Easter a few years ago we went camping, I had brought some left over simnel muffins and one or two hot cross buns. The weather was even warm enough to melt our Easter egg. Sound perfect? This was the beginning of a camping trip I will be muttering about well into my ninety’s.  After a long day of walking up hills we walked some more miles to the nearest pub and had a wee drink, and when the weather turned we headed back. Cold and wet we tried to cook some tea. The camp cooker decided to stop working and after frantic calls to my camping-pro parents we gave up and ate hot cold cross buns for fear of gassing ourselves or worse, the gas bottle blowing up. That night the snow came and we were woken in the very small hours with the roof of our tent touching our noses. Long story short, the tent was haphazardly bundled into the car, along with most of the mud on the campsite, and me still in my pyjamas I was that desperate to go!

Keeping in tradition with the addition of marzipan

So with this year’s forecast of snow for the Easter weekend my thoughts went back to that fateful camping trip and I made up a batch of simnel muffins. I also made hot cross buns, but they didn’t last long enough to have their photograph taken. I am told they were tasty, I only had half of one as they went so quick. Although this pleases me as I have since found out if you share a bun your friendship is guaranteed for the coming year. Bonus. Simnel cake I have learnt is traditionally made on Mothering Sunday, which falls in the middle of Lent. Given we are meant to fast from any luxuries during this time I don’t really understand why a light fruit cake is allowed an exception. Perhaps it’s to use up that last packet of marzipan you’ve had since Christmas. Stick it in a cake they said. No one will know the difference.

I can say my memories of THAT Easter weren’t far away when I ran out of mixed spice, dropped an egg and then stood in it, and to top it off tipped the jar of what I thought was a whole nutmeg into my hand and then realised it was ground nutmeg. Gah! Mishaps aside I had another dilemma: when baking simnel muffins, do we ball the marzipan to be in keeping with the tradition? Or do we do something different? I balled. Bad move; to start with not everyone knew what simnel cake was, but Mr. Egg was asked what the hard ball in the middle of the muffin was and if it could be eaten. Bad move indeed. For the second attempt I flattened the ball and put it between two layers of batter before baking. Much better. So if Friday 13th is some people’s nemesis, it would seem I am becoming increasingly unlucky during the Easter period. A time of rebirth? The start of all things new and a sign for what the year has in store for us? Perhaps it is time I start to worry…

Happy Easter readers, and happy caking,
One Egg xx

Madeleines

17th February 2013

Madeleines

Just lately I have been a bit poorly. Not poorly-sick, more getting old before my time sick. I have the back of someone three times my age and it’s been giving me a bit o’ jip. I hurt it a year or two ago and was in agony for weeks and weeks, despite being on heavy pain relief and physio. But in true British fashion I battled through and was doing OK apart from the odd creak here and there. A few weekends ago I was putting up a cake stand for a spot of Afternoon Tea (for my big brother’s birthday) and it gave way. Trip to the doc and I found out I had partially torn the muscles again. Sadface. I thus spent a week propped up with a big stack of tablets (these ones made me feel like I’d been doing shots, I hadn’t slept so well in ages!) and the boredom box aka Mr. television.

Oh my days was I bored. I watched more day time television that I care to admit to, read endless magazines and hobbled up now and again to make myself cups of tea. No moving. No bending. No work. No fun. I have however an amazing husband who kept me entertained when he wasn’t at work; I had breakfast in bad, tea cooked every night. One might say I was (temporarily) a lady of leisure. Without the leisure…thinking about it, probably not the lady bit either. OK, I didn’t do much. I have equally amazing friends who dropped by one evening with flowers and choccies and most importantly, company. The best kind of medicine!

I also watched a film I had recorded over Christmas that Mr. Egg refused to watch with me, stating he watches too many baking programs! It was about a lady who decided to bake all the recipes in one cook book and blog about each one. Perhaps you have heard of it. It was amazing. I have since come to the conclusion that I am seriously lacking somewhat with my blog. I mean, is anyone actually reading this? And more to the point, are you enjoying it? Perhaps I need more focus. What to focus on…that is the real question!

I am now able to move much more than I could. I am still aching but at least I don’t have to plan my trip to the bathroom. I can also put on my own socks. This is an achievement believe me! This morning I thought I would try doing something productive, and inspired by the slight French theme of the film, I made madeleines. I have been searching for a madeleine tin for what seems like ages. I love a new tin; I have a list of things I want to buy (caking related of course) and a madeline tin has been near the top for a long while. Finally the Gods of baking smiled down on my apron strings and I found one! It was also a back-friendly recipe; the butter was melted so no vigorous stirring. I could sit down and do it all, apart from the transfer to the oven. Simple.

Divine. I can describe madeleines as absolutely divine. Light, fluffy and extremely more-ish. I added the zest of a lemon to mine as I had one that needed using up and I don’t think they even needed it. Quick and simple to make, hardly any baking time…hardly any eating time either! I read that you should eat madeleines the same day you bake them. I definitely do NOT see a problem with this! Baking the madeleines has cheered me up, and of course writing to my audience, whoever you are, wherever you are out there in the world, has too.

 

Hot from the oven, sprinkled with icing sugar and ready to eat

Happy caking, One Egg xx

Keytar Cake

25th January 2013

Keytar Cake

Have you ever been asked to do something, said yes to doing that something and then thinking what on Earth is that thing I have just said yes to? Well it happened to me! A friend asked if I would make a cake for her fiancé as he would be celebrating his big 4-0 this month. She wanted it to be in the shape of a keytar. What is this ‘keytar’ my friend speaks of?!

*Insert avid internet searching and video watching here*

It turns out a keytar is a cross between a keyboard and a guitar. Except it’s not. It’s more like a really awesome keyboard that you hold like a guitar, and instead of strings has a really cool button that makes what I can only describe in words as a ‘wowwwwwww’ noise. Hmm. I guess I can’t actually describe it in words. Needless to say my musical talent or more my ability to describe high-tech musical instruments is slightly amiss. My caking ability, well, I hope that’s slightly better!

I made a delicious 14 x 9.5 inch vanilla sponge which I cut as best I could into the right shape. Mr. Egg had to do me a wee template which we tried to make as scale as possible. Sadly when you try to squash something that is meant to be nearly a meter long onto a board that’s 35% smaller things start to get tricky, and the amount of cake isn’t going to really be more than a mouthful. Some slight adjustments later and I had a basic outline. I filled the cake with strawberry jam and vanilla buttercream, then crumb-coated with white chocolate ganache. Having tried dark chocolate ganache on my First Cake of 2013 I wanted to give white chocolate a go; despite reading lots of scare stories about splitting I didn’t have any trouble.

Mini man with mini keytar

I covered the sides of the keytar first, trimmed all the edges and made sure they were stuck down then laid a large piece of fondant over the top. Slightly fiddly, but possible safer than rolling out a humongous piece and draping it over the cake in one big swoosh (I predicted this would mainly involve ripping and possibly cursing of the gods of fondant). For the keys I weighed identical balls of white fondant which I then shaped and stuck on. I attached a ribbon to act as a strap and added the finishing details with royal icing; I didn’t have a nozzle small enough to do ‘proper’ detail i.e. numbers by the keys.

Band name hand painted with edible silver paint on the back of the shirt of the mini man

Last but not least I sat a mini-man atop his keytar throne and gave him a mini keytar to play. I think I can safely say the keytar cake was a success from the tears in the eyes of the birthday boy.

Keytar cake completed

Happy caking, One Egg xx

First Cake of 2013

12th January 2013

First cake of the Year

Christmas has sadly left us for another year and we are spring cleaning the house ready for the new year, wishing we had just a few more lie-ins before work starts again, and not even mentioning the new year diets for fear of upsetting that last piece of Christmas cake. Well, it would be a shame to leave it now wouldn’t it? This new year wasn’t to start with too much gloom for some; my uncle-in-law was out to impress his girlfriend and asked me to make a little cake as a token of his affection. May I add that when I met Mr. Egg I was very shy and his enormous family scared the yolk out of me (He has eight uncles and three aunties. Not to mention all the nieces/nephews/cousins/second-cousins and of course all their children!). This uncle probably scared me the most, but is a bit of a softy now I’ve gotten to know him, so I was more than happy to turn on my oven and get baking.

Button detail on the back side of the cake

I made a simple 4-inch chocolate sponge which I split into three layers and filled with dark chocolate ganache. There was a bit spare so I made a few truffles. I got an edible-lace mat from Mr. Egg this Christmas and this was the perfect opportunity to try it out. On my second attempt (the first went a bit sticky as I was a bit of an eager-beaver and didn’t let it dry enough) I managed to successfully cut out some details and wrap it around the fondant-covered cake. I added some pearlescent nonpareil for detail and fondant buttons. The top was decorated with piped royal icing which I painted with lustre and a fondant flower. Simple, but effective and most definitely putting those of us who struggle around Valentine’s Day to shame!

First cake of 2013

Happy caking, One Egg xx

Leopard Print Cake

28th December 2012

Leopard Print Cake

I am a firm believer of giving everything a go, well, when it comes to caking that is. I’m not really one for jumping out of planes or flinging myself off buildings with only dental floss to save me from near death. Going above two rungs on a ladder is probably at my maximum level of fear factor! But when it comes to learning new techniques I will definitely have a try. After all, every expert was once a beginner at some point. And why stray from the norm; I’m still fairly new to blogging (or the blogosphere as I recently learnt) and it would seem the theme of my blog posts have mainly involved me trying something I haven’t done before. So when my cousin-in-law asked if I could make a cake for her 21st birthday, in leopard print, I naturally said yes.

By the way, her birthday is the day after Boxing Day. That’s being a daredevil right there! Fortunately the party was the day after and that’s when the cake would be required so I spent a lovely ten hours baking vanilla sponges, slicing and sandwiching with buttercream and strawberry jam before they were iced with pink and beige fondant icing. I left them to harden overnight before attempting the painting of the leopard print. I have heard about transfers that can be used in cake decoration, my Aunty in-law even offered to find some on the internet and get them for me, but I was adamant I wanted to paint the pattern. I have never painted a pattern on a cake, let alone leopard print and although  a pre-made transfer seemed an option, it wasn’t the one for me. Hand-made in my eyes means everything, even if it isn’t the easiest route. The ‘paint’ consisted of edible lustre dust mixed with a small drop of vodka. I painted on the dark brown outlines first and then highlighted with a light creamy-yellow. I noticed if the paintbrush was too heavily loaded the paint bled into the icing a bit much, but all added to the effect. I managed to find a reasonable amount that didn’t bleed too much, but didn’t look ‘too painted’ at the same time. I expect the bleeding might be lessened with more hardening time, but I wanted the cakes to be as fresh as possible.

Hand-painting the leopard print

Close up of the fondant birthday girl

Fondant model atop her leopard print throne

Painting and assembling took around four hours, not including the time to make the fondant birthday girl model which I had made a few days before Christmas. The real birthday girl had given me a fluffy cake topper which she wanted on top (she didn’t know about the fondant model which was a surprise addition) and that was securely attached too. Matching ribbons on the board and cakes completed the look. Myself and Mr. Egg got equally dressed up and headed off to the party. We had a  fabulous night (and a bit of a sore head in the morning) but all the lovely comments from people totally made my night, and best of all was the smile on my cousin-in-law’s face when she saw her cake!

Happy caking, One Egg xx