Halloween2014- Cup Cake- very Chocolaty and spooky

Hello!  Spooky cup cake for Halloween 2014! I hope you enjoy the Halloween. 

These cup cakes were chocolaty! The chocolate hand is made with Candy melts from Wilton formed in the Wilton Chocolate Mould.  You could buy out of the box chocolate cup cake mix or use a chocolate cup cake recipe of your own.  When the cake was cooled down, I got some crunchy cookies from Chips Ahoy sprinkled over a homemade chocolate ganache on top of the cup cake.  I wanted to add a crunchy texture. I added extra ganache in the middle of the cake before inserting the chocolate hand on top to make the entire cake more moist. 

Cup Cake - This time, I used store bought chocolate cake.  You may prepare the cup cakes and cool them down to room temperature.  Set aside.

Chocolate hands:
You need to prepare the chocolate hands and let them set before using them.  I used Wilton candy melts this time.  They come in various colour.  It save me buying another colouring ingredients.  I do not have a big collection of oil soluble colour or many people call them candy colour. How to melt the candy melts?  Using a new piping bag without a hole on the top. Depending on how many trays you are making.  Fill 1/2 a bag with the melts.  If you want the purple together with the dark chocolate, you could use mostly the back colour ones and put 1/4 of the purple ones in.  Microwave 20 seconds first, massage them a little, you could feel the chocolate is still hard, microwave another 15 second and so on until all candies are melted.  DO NOT OVER DO this!  Depending on the power level of your microwave and how much you are in the bag, it various.   If your microwave is powerful, reduce the time.  I have a 800 WATT and I did that 3 times (25 sec, 15sec, 15sec). 

Piping in the candy melts on your mould - Cleaned and dry your candy mould well.  Please make sure no water drops in side.  Water and oil do not mix well together.  There will be a missing finger tip on your chocolate hand if water is there.

Like the instruction says on the package, pipe/tap the tray on the table/or surface to let the chocolate settle in and remove the air bubbles. You will see bubble surfacing to the top.  Since it is a clear colour mould.  You may look at the bottom of the tray and check.  Be careful not to tip the tray sideway too much; otherwise, the chocolate will slid out.
  

Cookie Crumb:
You may buy Chips Ahoy cookies and use a fork or put them in a bag to crumble them.  Need to be fine crumbs.  Otherwise, too much cookies will be sticking to the cake.  You may also use the cookies that you have in your house.  I like to put the crunchy cookies instead of the soft one because I want to create different textures.

 

Ganache or chocolate icing:
Ganache Recipe: I chose 60-65% cocoa content real chocolate this time.  I think 70% cocoa content is a little too bitter for kids. 

80g chocolate (coverture chocolate - the real deal one).
80g whipping cream or cream (35% fat content)
Sugar 8g or 1 1/2 teaspoon.

Heating method:
Put them into a microwavable container (small bowl). Heat them together for 15 sec.  You will see they are melted yet when you stir it. Microwave another 10-15 sec depending on how powerful your microwave.  Please do not over the cream.  If you see the cream bubbling or overheat, the fat from the cream will separate and you will not like the taste.  Let the heat in the cream slowly melts the chocolate slowly. No rushing please. You may have to heat only 2-3 times (10 seconds interval).  Stir in between.    

Please do not let the ganache sit for too long.  It will thicken up.
Use a small spoon and spread ganache on top of the cake and cover the entire surface.  If you want to use icing, you are welcome to do so.  This will also protect the cake from drying out.  Please make sure the cakes are cooled to room temperature before applying icing or ganache.

 

Sprinkling the crumb:

Sprinkle the chocolate chip crumb or other cookie crumb on top of the ganache before it sets.  Otherwise, the ganache will not stick to the crumb.  Then you may have to put another layer of ganache.  After sprinkling the crumb, press them down gently with your figure.  Some of the cookie crumb are bigger pieces and they stay on better with a little pressure.



Making an opening for the chocolate hand:
Make a cup in the center about 1 cm deep.  If you like more chocolate ganache in the center of the cake, you may pipe a little bit into the opening.  It will make the cup cake very chocolaty and more moist.  Then insert the chocolate hand that you prepared a head of time.

Wala! Here is your spooky Halloween cup cake.  You can serve this right away! You may also let the chocolate set a little and the crumb will stay on better if you need to take them to a party.

P.S. I will also post a chocolate cup cake recipe later in case you do not like store bought mix.

If you have other parties for kids with different theme, you may buy different shape of chocolate moulds such as animal or heart shapes to make the chocolate top.  You may also use different colour of crumbs or sprinkles to match the theme.  

Enjoy making delicious treats!

MBE/MLI

Daisy Flower cookies - Great Gift for teachers and co-workers!

 

Found this pictures from my phone. These are the cookies that I made for the teachers of my son last year. There were over 10 teachers taken care of my boy throughout the day.  I did not know what to give to them on TEACHER APPRECIATION DAY.  At the end, I made these daisy flower cookie for every teacher.  They all loved the little gifts and commented on how colourful and tasty they were.  YUM! YUM!  Of course, they were made with butter!  Not vegetable shortening!  I enjoyed making them.    

 

 

 

I could post how to make these cookies if anyone is interested.

 

MBE-MLI

Cookie Monster Cup Cake

Do you like Cookie Monster?

I made this Cookie Monster Cup Cake for my son and he loved the blue colour and the spiky hair.  I also made cup cake with lots of sprinkles.  They are very simple to make and kids love them.  If you are interested in seeing step by step video.  Please let me know.  I am making a few videos for other products at the moment. I might be able to move around the schedule and make this video sooner if there are more interest in this one.

Each Cup cake, you need:

 

Ingredients:

1 chocolate cup cake

2 white chocolate wafer for the eyes

2 chocolate chips for the eyes

Blue icing (together with blue sprinkles if you want) 



a mini chocolate chip cookie

 

Tools:

a knife

Piping tip (Wilton #2 tip - if you want to pipe the black chocolate eye)

1 Piping bag for the eye

1 Piping bag for the blue icing (if you make your own icing)

Blue colour (Wilton Royal Blue colour) and icing or (ready to use blue icing from Wilton)

Piping tip (Wilton #233 - to pipe the blue hair)

 

 

1.) The first step is to make the eyes. Get 2 white chocolate wafer (for Candy one) and glue 1 chocolate chip on top of the white wafer like the picture. To make the eye ball smoother texture, you may melt some Dark chocolate wafer and put it in a small piping bag. Then pipe a small dot on the wafer to make the eyes of the cookie monster.  (Please only be careful not to cut the hole too pig. You can always make the hole bigger but not the other way around.  

 

2.) Have a chocolate cup cake ready at room temperature.

 

 

3.) Put a thin layer of icing to cover the top of the cake.  If you pipe the icing with the tip directly, you will see black colour showing up between the blue icing.  After covering the top with icing, you could put the tip (Wilton #233) on the ready to use icing tube and start piping from the center.  Then pipe around the center to the outer edge until.  Try to pipe close to each other.  Otherwise, it will not look hairy enough. The piping motion is to hold down the piping tip close to the cake, squeeze and squeeze til you see the icing coming out then pull and lift the tip.  You may try practicing that motion on a piece of paper first.  If you do make a mistake on the cake, that is OK. Use a knife and scrape off the part you do not like and try piping again.

4.) Before the icing is dried, put the eyes on the upper part of the cake.  Press down gently. Otherwise, the eyes will fall off.  Once you like the location of the eyes, you could use a knife and cut an opening for the cookie, slightly below the center of the cake.

 

Now there is an opening to insert a mini chocolate chip cookie.

 

That is it!  Here you go, Cookie Monster Cup cake!

 

I will add the step by step written procedures how to make it here.  Please check back later follow the blog for updated information.





 

MBE_(MLI)

Rich buttery flavour pound cake - Is it the Best Butter pound cake?

Hello !  I think this is my first recipe posting on this blog. 

First of all, I like using natural ingredients so you will see I use natural vanilla extract...etc.  I am thinking like a mom who want to feed simple and nutritious food to my young one and family.

 

 

 

Do you like buttery tasty pound cake?   I do.  I am in the search of the best pound cake recipe.  I have 2 recipes in mind to try last week.  The first one is from Cook's Illustrated and the second one is by Rose Levy Beranbaum's web site.  I really like the one from the Rose's web site because it uses a different mixing method.  This recipe: 1st - blend dry ingredients and 2nd - add the butter and wet ingredients into the dry ones.  However, the Cook's Illustrated pound cake recipe uses a creaming method (creaming the butter and sugar first).  The MIXING methods seem to make a difference in the final eating quality of the final product and the colour.  Is it? I am going to try one recipe at a time.  With my busy life, I have a short window to bake each time. Beside, I am also learning to assemble the video together from several pieces, so bare with me.  I will post the video when it is ready.  But I do think it is worth your time trying below recipe:   Rose Levy Beranbaum's Buttery Pound Cake.

Preparation:(Oven, Pan, and Ingredients)

Oven: Preheat conventional oven at 350 deg. F.  Set the rack on the second level from the bottom. (I did not need to cover the top with foil nor butter paper).

Baking time: approx.50-60 mins

Rectangular loaf Pan: approx. 8"x4"x2 1/2"  (4 cups).  I like smearing a thin layer of butter from the original butter wrap on the bottom and the 3 side walls of the pan, then line with parchment paper.
Why wasting more butter and dirtying more things?

Ingredients:
Prepare the dry mix and blend them together and set aside:
Flour (cake and pastry- store bought)              150g
Sugar (castor or grind it in a little processor)       150g
Salt (1/4 teaspoon)                                                 1.4g
Baking powder (store bought) 3/4 teaspoon             3g                       

Wet ingredients:
Butter (room Temp, I like salted, unsalted is fine) 184g
(calling for unsalted; I used salted)      

Blend below liquids together and set a side:
Large size eggs (approx. 50g each, room temp)    150g
Milk (HOMO or fat:3.25%) 3 tablespoon               45g
Vanilla Extract  (1 1/2 teaspoon)                               7g

Mixing instruction:
1.) Combine the dry ingredients together.  Put it in a mixing bowl and mix them with a whisk for 1 minute.  If the whisk is not touching the bottom of your dry ingredient and mix well (like mine mixer).  Mix them manually as well.  Combine the liquid ingredients: egg, milk, and vanilla extract.
Now you have 3 parts: Dry, liquid and butter.

2.)   After the dry ingredients are mixed, add all butter and 1/2 of the liquid into the dry mix.  Mix them at low speed until the dry is moistened.  Again, scrape the bottom of the bowl if necessary.  This batch size is a little small for my mixer.  So, I often have to scrape the bottom of the mixing bowl; flour and sugar usually stuck at the pointy bottom.    Then, increase mixing speed to medium and mix for approx. 1 minute to aerate the batter and develop the structure of the cake.

3.)   Scrape down the bowl again.  Slowly, add the remaining egg mixture in 2 bataches (or 2 separate additions) at low speed. (Note: If the left over eggs added all at once, it may take longer to mix everything in. Consequently, it might developer too much structure and make the cake tough.)  Mix approx. 20 seconds per after each addition of egg mixture.  Scrape down the bowl again.

4.)  Checking the cake if it is done by inserting a wooden toothpick.  If the batter still stick to the toothpick, bake a little long and check again later.   Also check the top if it spring back when pressing the center.  It might look done from looking at it.  However, the top might just need a little more.  It is a thick and dense batter and it does take time to bake it thoroughly. Otherwise, you might have gummy spots instead of a fine and tender crumb.

Note:

• Please use a cake flour without self leavening agent.  It might throw the recipe off.
• Try to use very fine sugar. Grind granulated sugar with a little electric grinder or chopper.
• If you use a big pan, it might not colour well. 
• Try to make sure you use large eggs, otherwise, it might change the proportion of the recipe.
• Baking powder (regular single acting powder).  I noticed that there are some double acting baking powder available.  I am not using the double acting baking powder (DABP) here because it is not commonly available in supermarkets.  DABP does make a different in some of the recipes - bigger.

Again, I will try to add some pictures and video asap!

If you have questions about this recipe, please feel free to post here. I will try my best to find the answer for you.  I am hoping this is a GOTO web site for bakers, both professional and leisure bakers to share information.  I do not know everything but I am learning from you and with you all.

Enjoy and share your picture and baking tips with us all!
My Baking Expression (MBE)

My most popular Wedding Cookies - Wedding dress

I am not sure people eat these wedding dress cookies.  Most people like the wedding dress cookie and bring it home after the wedding.

Easter Cookies 2013 and preserving them in a box or bag

When I was organizing some of the cookies that I made in the past, I have found these.  I rarely take pictures of the cookies or cakes that I made.  Occasionally, I saved some decorated cookies in a clear bag or a special box.   I rarely put anything special in the package to preserve the cookies.  However, I would put those SILICA-GEL pack to help preserving the decorated cup cakes.  The first step is to air dry the cup cakes; otherwise, they would go mouldy.  Then store away the samples with the SILICA_GEL pack in a plastic container.  My containers are neither special nor air-tight container.

Where do I get those SILICA-GEL?  After snacking the Korean or Japanese sea weed, a pack of SILICA-GEL usually comes in the package. 

Baking Expression (MBE).

Great resouce for measuring ingredients - Part II: Butter Weight/Volumn Conversion

Again, I have prepared another ingredient conversion table to share with you all. This time, it is the butter weight/volume conversion table and attached a link for you to calculate for your recipes.  I am a little sick of weighing 1 cup or 1 tablespoon of butter every time I test out a new recipe.  I will keep this table on my blog for you and I to use.  Hopefully, mybakingexpression blog could be a great resource for bakers.

Butter weight/volume conversion Table

Butter Volume Weight Chart
	Cup	Gram	Ounce	Pound	Kilogram	Tablespoon	Teaspoon
		14.18 g				1	3.17 (approx. 3)
		30 g				2	6.35 (6 1/3)
		42.5 g				3	9
teaspoon	1/50	4.7g	0.16 oz	0.01 lb	0.004kg	0.33	1
			0.33 oz			0.67	2
tablespoon	3/50	14.2g	0.5 oz	0.03 lb	0.014kg	1	3
		18.9	0.67			1 1/3	4
		23.6	0.87			1.67	5
		28.35 (approx. 28 1/3)	1 oz			2	6
		56.7	2 oz			4	12
		85.1	3 oz			6	18
stick	1/2	113.4g	4 oz	0.25 lb	0.113kg	8	24
half stick	1/4	56.7g	2 oz	0.125 lb	0.056kg	4	12
double stick	1	226.8g	8 oz	0.5 lb	0.226kg	16	48

 Source: Butter Weight/Volume Conversion Table and Calculator