German Biscuit Baking Event

Here are some pictures of the four day event that I hosted on behalf of my lovely German clients- Estrel Berlin, The Ellington Hotel, AXICA, Regent Hotel and Conference & Touring Berlin.

They invited their events company clients to learn how to bake and decorate a variety of delicious, traditional German biscuits using Berlin landmark cookie cutters. they then had great fun piping on icing and decorating with gold sprinkles.

The whole event was deliciously catered for by Salt & Dry. They also made sure that everyone was kept well lubricated with lashings of bubbly. The whole event was brilliantly managed by our lovely German clients with a wonderfully informal atmosphere which ensured a fun filled few hours for everyone involved. 

Gingerbread Tipee & Cactus Cupcakes

I am so excited about hosting this unique, fun and original Christmas workshop with Habitat. It is taking place on December 14th at 7pm and we have a limited number of places available. If you're quick you may be able to grab some early bird tickets at the incredible price of 48pp. ou will each leave the event with your very own hand crafted Gingerbread Tipee, covered in edible lace. And these brilliantly quirky cupcake cactuses. 

i promise I will post the full details of how to make these once I have a minute!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gingerbreadtepee-cactus-cupcake-workshop-tickets-29739593926

What's the most unique edible Christmas treats in your repertoire?

Neon Lace Biscuits

I was thrilled when Stylist Magazine got in touch to ask me to create a cookie decorating workshop for their 'Handmade Christmas' event in conjunction with Pinterest.  http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/hand-make-your-christmas-with-stylist-and-pinterest. To be frank since having two small children I've felt like my profile has fallen off a cliff. The business has been ticking over but it seems like ages since I've been asked to do anything in the public eye. As I only had an hour and most attendees would be inexperienced, I knew that I had to create something that was fairly simple to get to grips with. Any of you that have worked with piping royal icing will know that it is not a skill that you can take from 'zero to hero' in an hours class. So using edible cake lace felt like a real breakthrough. Especially now you can get pre coloured mix. i also made some sugarpaste cherubs as decoration. I needed to do everything in neon colours to fit with Stylist Magazines vision of the event. They wanted to get away from traditional colours and do something really modern and funky.  I'm really pleased with the way they came out.

Here's how I did it- 

You will need-

Cookie Dough

Ingredients:

(makes 15 - 20)

350g plain flour

100g self raising flour

125g sugar

125g cold butter, cubed

125g golden syrup

1 large egg 

Mix together the flours and the sugar. Use your fingertips to rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add the syrup and egg. Mix well and then turn the dough onto a clean work surface.

Pull the mixture into a ball and divide it into two even sized discs. Wrap in cling film and chill for half an hour or until ready to use it.

Once you are ready to make the biscuits first preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Then roll out each disc between two pieces of parchment (grease proof) paper until they are 5mm thick. Use your cutters to cut out a variety of bauble shapes. Space them out on a baking paper lined oven tray and cook for 15 to 20 mins. They are ready when they are golden brown. If in doubt check the cookies underneath where it should be easier to see that they are cooked. 

Put the cookies onto a cooling rack and make sure they are fully cooled before you ice and decorate them. If you want to hang them on the tree then this would be the time to make the holes for the ribbon. I find the easiest way to do this is with an electric drill. Alternatively you can use a chopstick or similar to create the hole although you should do that while the dough is still soft.

Now you are ready to ice them

Icing Recipe

150ml cold water

900g royal icing mix

Whisk the water and icing sugar together with an electric for 5 minutes on a low speed. The icing should have to consistency of toothpaste. This is perfect for piping outlines but if you want to keep it simple and use a palette or butter knife to cover the cookies then add water a drop or two at a time until it is spreading consistency*. 

Split the icing into smaller bowls and tint each one a different colour.

Use a palette knife to spread a layer across the biscuit and whilst still dry add on sprinkles and/or edible lace and sugar paste adornments if using. Once the icing has set you can pipe dots of contrasting colour using the thick ‘outline’ icing. 

Mixing bowl/mixer

Wooden spoon

Rolling pin 

Grease proof paper

Bauble cookie cutters (dotcomgiftshop.com)

Baking tray

Electric whisk

Food colour paste

Palette knife

Disposable piping bags

Neon ribbon

To decorate- 

These are what I used for my cookies as I have a lot of these things amongst my stock.

If you don’t want to invest in so much then pick and chose what you ant or try something completely different-

Edible paint 

edible cake lace (order on ebay or buy your own kit to make it from thecakedecoratingcompany.co.uk

Cherub moulds thecakedecoratingcompany.co.uk

Lustre dust thecakedecoratingcompany.co.uk

Tips on icing-

The easiest icing for beginners to work with is thicker than the usual ‘flooding’ consistency so you don’t have to pipe an outline. When you do want to pipe outlines you can rest your arm on the table or use one hand to steady the other. 

The main problem people have with icing is getting the consistency wrong. If you want to cover the cookies withouthaving to do any piping then you want the icing to be thicker than ‘flooding’ consistency. When you take a spoonful of the ’spreading’ icing and drop it back into the bowl it should take between 10 and 15 seconds to settle back into a smooth surface. Flooding icing is thinner and will settle in 5 to 10 seconds and outlining icing should be very thick (about the consistency of toothpaste). Don’t beat your icing on high speed as this will create air bubbles. Once the icing is mixed leave in a bowl with a damp cloth over it for 15 mins to settle.

The most common reason that biscuits come out heavy is due to the dough being overworked. As soon as the ingredients are combined turn out the mixture and quickly bring it together into a ball. Handling the dough as little as possible will ensure the best results.

The easiest way to make the hole in the cookies is to use an electric drill. Make sure that you put the whole in the top part of the oven but at the widest point. If you do this to near the ‘neck’ or in the small ‘hook’ part of the bauble there is a good chance that your cookie will break. Be prepared that some of the biscuits will get broken so make a few more than you need.

Do this once the biscuits are decorated and dry. (You can speed up this process by popping the biscuits back into the oven at a low temperature (70 degrees). 

Duck Cake

This is the cake that I made for my little girls 2nd birthday party. It was a Old Macdonald farm theme so I decided to do a duck cake which she loved. As much as possible I like to use pudding basins to make animal cakes as I prefer the 3D effect to doing a flat cut out type. The base of the cake was a mud cake recipe which was not that great (as you can see from the photo) so I'd probably stick with a basic sponge next time.

I used a 2 litre pyrex bowl for the body and a 0.5 litre pyrex bowl for the head. I distorted a few cake cases in order to make cupcakes that were suitable for a beak, flippers and tail. I carved these to make them look right. I covered the mud cake body with ganache icing and once that had set I piped on buttercream feathers using a leaf tip (   ). I covered the head and tail with white cream cheese frosting (the cake was banana flavoured) and once that was fairly dry I fixed it on to the body using flat ended skewers which you can twist once they are inserted to stay in place.  As you can see from the pic at this point I realised that the head was too high so I sliced of the top third of it. Then I covered the beak and flippers with orange buttercream and covered the head and tail with yellow butter cream feathers. A couple of chocolate Minstrels made perfect eyes. I'm really pleased with how it came out and I hope you give it a try. Let me know how you get on....

If you would like to create this or something similar in a one to one private lesson with me then call- 020 3573 9135

Marble Cake

Cake:

225g/ 8oz butter, softened

225g/ 8oz sugar

4 eggs

225g/ 8oz self raising flour

50g/ 1.5oz cocoa powder

35ml/ 2 tbsp sour cream

Icing:

150g/ 5oz butter, softened

100g/ 3.5oz plain chocolate

200g/ 7oz icing sugar

Sprinkles to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Grease an 8/9” baking tin and line with grease proof paper (unless it it loose based in which case coat with flour).

1. Cream together the butter and sugar. And add the eggs one at a time. 
2. Once fully incorporated add the flour and stir until combined.
3. Separate the mixture into two bowls.
4. Add the cocoa powder and sour cream to one bowl.
5. Use a spoon to create a layer of mixture alternating between plain and chocolate. 
6. Add another layer so that you have contrasting colours on top until all the mix is used.
7. Use a skewer or knife to swirl through the mixture creating a marble effect.
8. Gently shake the tin to even out the depth of the mixture.
9. Place in the oven and bake for between 1hr and 1hr 20. Check after 50 mins just in case your oven is very hot!
10. The cake is cooked when a skewer comes out of the top clean.
11. Leave to cool in the ten for 10 mins.
12. Use a knife around the sides of the tin to loosen the cake before turning out onto a cooling rack.
13. Using an electric mixer beat together the butter, icing sugar and melted chocolate for 2-3 mins.
14. Using a rose tip nozzle and a disposable piping bag pipe chocolate roses onto the cooled cake.
15. Finish by decorating with the sprinkles of your choice.

Client Event for 02 and Samsung

There is pretty much nothing I like better than coming up with a new idea. So when Samsung asked me to create an experience to celebrate the launch of the Samsung Note I thought that icing and decorating gingerbread men would be ideal. The 02 staff had so much fun, popping down in their lunch break and throughout the day between meeting etc. I was very impressed by the standard of some of the biscuits. Particularly the mermaid, the children and the Halloween characters.

CARAMELISED PECAN & BANANA LOAF

Ingredients:

 Topping:

100g butter

100g brown sugar

100g pecan nuts

 Batter:

6oz plain flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

4 medium free-range eggs

9 oz sugar

5 floz sunflower oil

2 ripe bananas, mashed

 Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Butter a 2 litre loaf tin or similar

 Method:

 Melt the butter and sugar in a pan and cook for a few minutes until it has turned into a toffee sauce. Turn off the heat and add the pecan nuts, stir until covered with the toffee sauce. Tip the pecans and sauce into a buttered ovenproof dish.

 Sift together flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Whisk together the sugar and eggs until they thicken up, then beat in the oil. Add the mashed bananas and mix well.

 Tip the batter into the ovenproof dish to cover the toffee mixture. Bake for around an hour or until a knife comes out clean.

Leave to cool for 10 minutes then turn the cake out onto a plate or board.

Nutella Cake

Hazelnut Nutella Cake

This recipe is based one that was given to me when I was around 17. It was hand copied from a scribbled note into my beautiful Liberty recipe book that is stacked full of treasured recipes. In order to change what was a chocolate cake into a Hazelnut Chocolate Cake I switched the chocolate for the same weight of Nutella. I didn’t use any sugar the in the ganache, sweetening it instead with 2 tbsps of the Nutella.

I have to say the result was amazing light textured but rich in flavour with an icing that you could eat with a spoon. My husband says it may be my best recipe yet!

Ingredients:

100g butter, softened

250g sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

100g Nutella

100g cocoa powder

150g self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

250ml milk

Topping:

Gananche:

100g 70% plain chocolate (I like Green & Blacks)

100ml double cream

2 tbsp Nutella

Butter 1 x 9 inch cake tin.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.

Method:

Mix together the butter and sugar then add the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time. Stir in the Nutella followed by the sifted cocoa powder. Mix in the flour and baking powder followed by the milk. Give the mixture a good stir.

Pour mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for around 50 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.

Leave the cake to cool for 10 mins then turn out onto a cooling rack.

To make the topping:

To make the icing bring the cream to boiling point in a small saucepan then add the chocolate which should have been broken into pieces. Turn off the heat and stir until the chocolate has melted. Now add the Nutella and mix until combined. Leave to cool and thicken up. You can put it in the fridge to speed things up.

Once the ganache is spreading consistency you can spread it over the cake. Leave a thicker edge around the cake and fill the centre of the cake.

Bake 4 Refugees Launch

Fundraising

The launch of our fundraising initiative Bake 4 Refugees was a huge success. We were lucky enough to be joined by the wonderful Jess Mill from Help Refugees who gave a great talk to explain to everyone about how the different ways the money we were raising would be used to support refugees across Greece, Calais and the Middle East . The best thing about fundraising for this organisation is that ALL the money goes directly to those in desperate need. They don't spend money on advertising or CEO's.

Cake Sale

On this occasion I did all the baking myself. I think next time I will encourage people to donate some of them as it was a lot of extra work! We had a great turnout of around 20 adults and 10 kids. They were a mixture of old friends (some of whom I hadn't seen for ages, it's a great opportunity to get in touch with everyone), family, neighbours and soon to be friends (parents from my daughters school who I didn't know yet).  I baked; Chocolate Nutella Cake, Cinnamon & Salted Caramel Bundt, Caramelised Pecan & Banana Cake, Red Velvet Cupcakes, Vanilla Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, Wheat Free Brownies & Violet Blueberry Cupcakes. Recipes to follow....

Getting Involved

The idea of this fundraising initiative is to create a ground swell of people hosting their own bake sales. You can do one at work, school or even at home (like I did). It doesn't matter how much you raise the main thing is to spread the word. Every time one takes place it gives us all the opportunity to share the idea with other people. The idea is that at each sale at least one person takes the baton and goes off and does their own event. This way we can grow the movement exponentially. If we all work together we can create an ongoing fundraising movement that will make a huge difference to the lives of human beings that are being forced to live as refugees through no fault of their own.

What to do

Go to this page for all the information you need to get your own event up and running: http://www.cookiegirl.co.uk/bake-4-refugees-1/

Don't forget to keep us posted with pictures etc @RealCookieGirl (Twitter & Instagram) and Bake 4 Refugees (Facebook). Please use #bake4refugees as much as you can to help spread the word.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

red velvet cupcakes

red velvet cupcakes

Makes 12

140 g/5 oz plain flour

1½ tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

 a pinch of salt

4fl oz buttermilk

1 tsp vinegar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp red food coloring paste

170 g/6 oz sugar

55 g/2 oz unsalted butter, room temperature

2 egg

Soft Cheese Frosting

110 g/4 oz soft cheese, room temperature

110 g/4 oz butter, room temperature

450g/1lb icing sugar 

seeds scraped from ½ a vanilla pod

1 tsp vanilla extract

coloured sprinkles to decorate

 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line a 12-hole non-stick muffin tray with paper cases.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder (or cream of tarter), and salt into medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and food coloring together until blended.

In a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter until light and fluffy until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the flour mixture, a third at a time, alternating with a third of the buttermilk mixture until all is mixed in.

Divide the mixture between the paper cases. Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 20 minutes until springy to the touch. Remove and turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool.

To make the frosting, beat the butter and cheese until creamy. Add the icing sugar and beat until combined. Split the half vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds into the frosting. Add the vanilla extract.

Spoon the frosting into a piping bag with a star nozzle and ice the cupcakes. Start from the outside and work in towards the middle. Decorate with coloured sprinkles.