Although I am not a big fan of Valentine's day, this year I decided on a Valentine's theme, since it was weekend anyway and I was baking as usual. It was also a chance to try this heart design on a cake that I saw on pinterest.
For the hearts:
1 egg
30 g sugar
40 g flour
20 g butter
food colouring
For the roll dough:
2 eggs
60 g sugar
40 g flour
10 g corn flour
40 g butter
pinch of salt
For the filling:
340 g greek yogurt
250 g mascarpone
1 vanilla bean
1 tbsp of confectioners sugar
fruit of your choice
Ingredients are enough for one baking sheet (mine is 30 cm x 37 cm), but the dough will not be very thick. If you like it thicker, than add an egg and increase the other ingredients by a third.
Separate one egg and save the egg yolk for later. Mix the egg white with the sugar and flour to get a thick batter.
Mix in the softened butter and in the end a bit of food colouring. Put the batter into a decorating bag with a small round tip or just cut the tip of the decorating bag.
The smaller the tip, the easier is to be more precise and the hearts will look more beautiful. My tip was a bit too large and the hearts came out less neat. Yeah well, it will be better the next time... Hearts are easy to pipe freehand, but if you find it easier just put a stencil under the baking paper.
Put the pied hearts into the freezer for an hour or so. You only need to pipe a half of sheet of hearts, enough to cover the outside of the roll.
Put the pied hearts into the freezer for an hour or so. You only need to pipe a half of sheet of hearts, enough to cover the outside of the roll.
Use a real Greek yogurt for the filing since it is thick and you will not need gelatin for the filling.
I made a bunch of sea creatures for the Sea theme cake of my little one. Most of them are really easy to make, so let's just start. First up - starfish, shell, seahorse and octopus.
STARFISH
Roll out the orange fondant around half a centimeter (around 1/5 inch) thick. Then take the star cutter and cut out little stars. You will get better results, if you use a plastic wrap as described below. That way the star won't be thick at the edges, which will slope down.
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| The difference - left is cut out with cling film, right one without |
Just place the cling film over the rolled out fondant and use the cutter over the film. You will need to press down a bit harder than usual,but the shape will be a lot prettier than otherwise. Draw the mount and the eyes with a toothpick or a modelling tool. Make little holes all over the star's body with a toothpick to give it a textured look.
Put a bit of white and black fondant into the eye sockets to make the eyes.
SHELL
Roll out the fondant; how thick depends on the size of the shell you are making. Cover with cling film the same as with the starfish and cut out 2 circles. Because you are using the film, they will have a dome shape.
Flatten the back of the shell with your finger, so that we can later glue together the bottom and top part. Use a knife or a modelling tool to draw lines over the top. Repeat with the other half.
Leave the shell to dry at least a bit so that it won't lose its shape, when you turn the bottom half, but it should also not be completely dry, because it will be harder to glue together the bottom and top half. In the meantime shape two little balls out of white fondant and add black fondant dots (or just draw them with a black food marker) to make the eyes. Attach the eyes with a drop of water and add the top half, attaching it at the flattened back again with a bit of water.
SEAHORSE
Shape the fondant into a roll and leave a bit on the sided. Roll your finger to make part of the roll thinner; approximately a quarter of a way from the top and a quarter from the bottom. Bend the top quarter down and shape it into a tear drop shape to form a head.
Roll out the bottom quarter to make a thinner roll and roll it into a spiral. Shape most of the leftover fondant into a ball and flatten it with the modelling tool to the fin and attach it to the body with a bit of water.
Draw a mouth and an eye socket with a modelling tool and add some white and black fondant for the eye. Roll out the rest of the leftover fondant, cut out a small strip and use small scissors to make the edge jagged. This will be the horse's mane, which you attach with a bit of water.
All that is left now is to make the body scaly looking. The easiest way is to take a round piping tip and imprint little scales over the horse's body. You must hold the tip a little tilted so that it leaves half circles in the fondant instead of circles.
OCTOPUS
Shape a ball and then roll it out. Pinch the oval shape in the middle to make an eight shape. Cut and divide the bottom part of this shape into the tentacles.
Imprint the mouth and the eye sockets with a toothpick or a modelling tool and add the eyes the same way as with other little creatures. My octopus was supposed to be sitting so I bent the head part vertically and let it dry in this position.
Trying to decide whether to raid your pantry for something salty or something sweet to nibble on while watching late night tv? Well, these cookies are the best of both worlds.
For approx. 30 cookies:
180 g peanut butter
120 g butter
150 g white sugar
50 g brown sugar
1 egg
1 vanilla bean
190 g flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
