Posts
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
'The Most Wonderful Thing I've Ever Tasted'
'The Most Wonderful Thing I've Ever Tasted' - that is a direct quote from my 10 year old son regarding the dulce de leche sauce that I make.
Translated, dulce de leche means 'milk candy', it is a combo of sugar and milk that when heated and stirred for a very long time, caramelizes and becomes an incredible addition to your favourite desserts.
You can buy it off the shelf at the grocery store, you can hang around your stove top for a very long time - stirring, stirring, stirring, or you can do this super simple method.
Translated, dulce de leche means 'milk candy', it is a combo of sugar and milk that when heated and stirred for a very long time, caramelizes and becomes an incredible addition to your favourite desserts.
You can buy it off the shelf at the grocery store, you can hang around your stove top for a very long time - stirring, stirring, stirring, or you can do this super simple method.
All you will need is a crock pot, a couple cans of sweetened condensed milk, and water.
Peel the labels off of the cans, place in your crock pot, fill crock pot with water, enough to fully cover the cans.
Place crock pot on low, cover, and cook for 7 hours. (Today I set it on high and cooked for 4 - 5 hours)
Remove cans from water, let cool. I opened one to show you but you can just put these cans back in your cupboard and save them for when you need them. You can find a lot of recipes that include this - cheesecake, blondies, cookies etc. Have a look and give them a try, the addition of the dulce de leche flavour to your desserts is incredible!
The kids love to dip fruit in dulce de leche (not that I don't). Delicious!
Here is a cupcake I like to make - a real favourite for those that have had it. Coconut cake, filled with a dab of dulce de leche, topped with vanilla buttercream with coconut and dulce de leche drizzled on top. Yum.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Look What I Found!
I was out shopping (again) and came across this handy little fondant and gum paste mold.
I couldn't wait to try it out and luckily enough, Sunday was a very rainy 'stay inside because it's raining' kind of day. So ..... I made a lemon cake (one of my favourites) and made a puree out of the fresh raspberries I had in the fridge for the filling. As always, I evened out the layers so they were the same size, put them together and iced the cake with a thin layer of vanilla buttercream. Then the decorating began.
This mold is the handiest thing I may have come across. It is easy to use, just dust a little cornstarch in the mold before using and it won't stick. I put little bits of fondant in at a time them used the ball of one of my tools to press it all in. I made sure there wasn't any extra over the edges so I could get a nice clean line on each one, bent the mold and peeled it out. EASY!
I stuck them on with a little water/sugar paste glue:
At this point, it was still raining out so I thought I would see what it would look like if I added a little more detail:
I loved the way it came out! I could just imagine a two tiered cake with this design.
Here is a picture of the inside - we had it for dessert that night. It was a fabulous cake - inside and out!
I couldn't wait to try it out and luckily enough, Sunday was a very rainy 'stay inside because it's raining' kind of day. So ..... I made a lemon cake (one of my favourites) and made a puree out of the fresh raspberries I had in the fridge for the filling. As always, I evened out the layers so they were the same size, put them together and iced the cake with a thin layer of vanilla buttercream. Then the decorating began.
This mold is the handiest thing I may have come across. It is easy to use, just dust a little cornstarch in the mold before using and it won't stick. I put little bits of fondant in at a time them used the ball of one of my tools to press it all in. I made sure there wasn't any extra over the edges so I could get a nice clean line on each one, bent the mold and peeled it out. EASY!
I stuck them on with a little water/sugar paste glue:
At this point, it was still raining out so I thought I would see what it would look like if I added a little more detail:
I loved the way it came out! I could just imagine a two tiered cake with this design.
Here is a picture of the inside - we had it for dessert that night. It was a fabulous cake - inside and out!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Cupcake testing
Sorry I haven't posted anything lately - time seems to get away on me more and more as the weather becomes nicer. Walking the dog, riding a bike and sitting on the back deck in the sunshine are starting to take priority over sitting at the kitchen table trying to be creative and witty with a new blog entry. This week, was the first time I got to drive around the city with the windows down, sunglasses on, and Jack Johnson singing on my stereo.There is something about the summer that makes me feel so free, and gloriously happy. (sigh).
While I ran my errands last Tuesday, I stopped by the downtown market and picked up four cupcakes from a local cupcakery. My plan was to conduct a taste test and see just how my cupcakes measured up to the competition. I picked up a Chocolate Mint, Vanilla Bean Vanilla, Pina Colada, and a Red Velvet, all similar to cupcakes I have made in my own kitchen.
When I got home, I cut each cupcake up into four sections, and brought the kids in to get their opinions - they were more than happy to help out! I began with the icing on each. I preferred the vanilla bean icing - it was tasty - but the other three were nothing special. My son liked the chocolate mint, and my daughter liked the vanilla too.I am going to start using a vanilla bean in my icing - it was a really nice flavour. The cake for each one was okay - again, nothing special. The chocolate was a favourite with all of us. I was surprised the red velvet wasn't anything special - I had high hopes for that one. The vanilla, was a little dry, but it could have been baked a few days ago, and the pineapple was bland, and you could hardly taste the pineapple.
In the end, we were all disappointed - I had expected great things from an actual cupcakery that had a store front. I will never walk by their place and crave a cupcake from them. On the other hand, it made me more aware of the quality of cupcake I offer - which made me happy and gave me some confidence when it comes to my product.
While I ran my errands last Tuesday, I stopped by the downtown market and picked up four cupcakes from a local cupcakery. My plan was to conduct a taste test and see just how my cupcakes measured up to the competition. I picked up a Chocolate Mint, Vanilla Bean Vanilla, Pina Colada, and a Red Velvet, all similar to cupcakes I have made in my own kitchen.
When I got home, I cut each cupcake up into four sections, and brought the kids in to get their opinions - they were more than happy to help out! I began with the icing on each. I preferred the vanilla bean icing - it was tasty - but the other three were nothing special. My son liked the chocolate mint, and my daughter liked the vanilla too.I am going to start using a vanilla bean in my icing - it was a really nice flavour. The cake for each one was okay - again, nothing special. The chocolate was a favourite with all of us. I was surprised the red velvet wasn't anything special - I had high hopes for that one. The vanilla, was a little dry, but it could have been baked a few days ago, and the pineapple was bland, and you could hardly taste the pineapple.
In the end, we were all disappointed - I had expected great things from an actual cupcakery that had a store front. I will never walk by their place and crave a cupcake from them. On the other hand, it made me more aware of the quality of cupcake I offer - which made me happy and gave me some confidence when it comes to my product.
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