Hazelnut and coffee crescents on a sunny Sunday

So at three o'clock on Sunday I thought, "I NEED a biscuity something."

I was in a contrary mood. Couldn't be bothered to make macaroons, always my first choice. Didn't feel like melting moments. Could have gone a cupcake but (as you can see) that can be a long process in my house. So these crescents were invented to fill the gap.












They took 20 minutes to make and 10 to bake. They are moist and dense rather than crunchy, a bit like ricciarelli or amaretti morbidi (soft amaretti) but instead of an almond/marzipan flavour they are strongly hazelnutty with a coffee undertone - a rich mix of flavours.

They smelled rather nice when in the oven so even Jade (Mr Cupcake) had his eye on them as soon as they came out, and he's not much of a sweet tooth.

This is an original Dr Cupcake recipe!

200g ground hazelnuts
100g chopped hazelnuts
200g icing sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp apricot jam
1 tsp coffee flavoring (I used cafe trablit)
2 tsp caster sugar
2 tbsp milk

 Preheat the oven to 160C. Mix the icing sugar and ground hazelnuts together. Make a well in the centre and add the jam and one beaten egg, stirring to combine, then add the coffee flavoring. You should have a fairly moist mixture that you can ball up and shape with your hands. If your mixture is too sloppy, add more nuts and sugar; if it's too stiff, add a little more beaten egg.

 Break off walnut-sized pieces of the dough and roll them into sausages, using a little sugar to stop them sticking to your hands. Using a pastry brush, paint the top of each sausage with the reserved beaten egg and roll it in the chopped hazelnuts to coat. Bend the roll into a crescent shape and place on a buttered baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, the biscuits should be soft but firm and starting to brown at the edges when they're cooked.

As they are cooling, heat the milk and stir the caster sugar in to dissolve.
Paint this mixture on the tops of the crescents to make them develop a slight shine.

Be careful not to move them until they are cool because they need to firm up while cooling.

Store in an airtight container between layers of baking paper.

Enjoy!

A penguin birthday cake for Mr Cupcake

As Mr Cupcake's birthday approached I asked him, predictably, what he would like in the way of a cake.
Not being as obsessed as I am with cakes, Mr Cupcake did not know what he wanted.

"Anything," he said. He then specified that he would like a Sacher torte as the kind of actual cakey substance but that he wouldn't mind if I paired that with a fondant icing rather than the normal glossy chocolate icing of true Sacher tortes.
The weather in Tasmania has turned very cold so suddenly that a icy penguin tableau seemed quite apt for a March birthday. I decided to try something I had seen in Planet Cake Cupcakes.

This was only the second time that I have decorated a full size cake with fondant icing. Planet Cake definitely wouldn't give me a job based on the end result, but as a beginner I was reasonably happy with it.







After I had baked the Sacher torte, I split it horizontally and filled the centre with blackcurrant jam. Then it was time to ganache and hot knife for a smooth finish.

It took an awful lot of ganache to cover all the top and sides, because it needs to sit in every little uneven crevice and be built out to an even edge. This is the ganache finish.

 For some reason Mr Plums was fascinated with the whole decorative process and every time I got up from my chair he took a front seat to watch the proceedings.

I measured the cake (top and sides) so that I would know how large a piece of rolled fondant I would need to cover it. Then I rolled the fondant to about half a centimetre thickness and draped it evenly over the cake. I smoothed it by hand from the middle to the top edges and then down the sides, and trimmed around the base. 

The penguin took a while. I modelled him from a single large ball of fondant, but had to lie him down to dry out because his head kept drooping forward. He looked crushed and sad. However, he hardened up nicely while lying down with his little head supported by a foam pillow to keep his back hunched.

His flippers were rolled and hand cut, then left to dry completely before moving them. I cut deep slots in penguin's sides to stick the flippers in.

Penguin had to be painted. I used a black gel food colour and a fine brush to do his head, back and one side of his flippers, leaving his tummy white.

The white side of one flipper got a bit of black on it - I thought this was terminal but managed to remove the stain by wiping with a damp cloth - good to know for future reference.

When penguin was dry, I stuck tiny white fondant balls on for eyes and dotted a black pupil in each with a paint brush. I stuck his flippers into their slots and put him on the cake, then placed his feet in front of him.

It was time to cut a hole in the 'ice'-ing to go fishing! I made the hole with a small circle cutter, going right down to the ganache layer.

Then I peeled the fondant away, but replaced it with a very very thin layer of white fondant, just so that the blue gel would really shine.

I squirted a thin layer of blue gel into the hole using Wilton's cake decorating gel - it comes in a range of colours, very useful for water effects.

Then I modelled a fishy from white fondant (actually, I only needed half a fishy), and painted him using 'ivory' gel colour (it looks light brown when concentrated), decorating him with green dots and black ridge along his fins. I stuck white balls of fondant on for his eyes and dotted black paint for the pupils, as with penguin. Then I placed fishy in his icy pond and piped another layer of blue gel around him.

In photographing the cake I thought this pic which was taken in direct sunlight seemed to make the 'icy' setting more realistic. The sun gleams off the water beautifully!

I finished up with Happy Birthday candles in green and orange to go with the fishy and a matching green ribbon at the base of the cake, which apart from providing a bit of colour to what was a very pale cake, also served to hide some little imperfections at the base.

Mr Cupcake was somewhat bemused by the choice of decoration. This is his bemused look.

Happy birthday Mr Cupcake... just like the penguin's successful fishing expedition,  may this year present you with many delicious surprises!

White chocolate mud cupcakes - Moon and Stars and Stripey with bows

After a boring week at home recuperating from the worst cough in the universe, I was definitely in the mood to experiment with some white chocolate mud cupcakes and some free form fondant decorating.

These are some 'Moon and Stars' cupcakes of my own design.

To make the Moon and Stars cupcakes, I started with a very bright light blue fondant which makes up the sky.

I was much more careful with my edging this time around and I got a neater result which I was pleased with.

I used a larger circle cutter than I needed and this gave me enough 'extra' at the edges to wrap the fondant down to where the paper wrapper starts.

You can see in the picture at the top that this gives you a nice neat domed look. Yay!

I used my smallest circle cutter to cut the moon by first cutting a full circle, then moving the cutter inwards and cutting a crescent shape out of the circle.

I was delighted to be able to use for the first time a little set of three star-shaped punch cutters (they have a button on top that you can press to remove the cut-out fondant when you have cut the shape- you need this because the pieces are so small and fiddly to remove by hand).

I freeformed the star patterns but you could do real constellations if you are able to (I would have liked to do this but I only know the Southern Cross and Orion's Belt, and I'm a bit shaky on the Belt one). 





I also did some stripey 'presents' with black bows. Sally Alps showed me how to make this pattern in my fantastic Alps & Amici cupcake decorating class in Launceston last November.

To make the stripes, you roll out one colour of fondant - here, the light pink - to slightly thicker than normal.

Separately, roll out the other colour and cut it into think stripes using a ruler and a sharp knife.

Lay the stripes out on top of the first rolled fondant piece and gently roll them in, in the direction of the stripes.

Then cut circles from the stripey fondant.

The lines go a bit crooked but the effect is still good, especially if you then put a darker coloured bow across at an oblique angle.

This is the 'production line' of cupcakes getting their bows.

Firstly you put a plain strap of black fondant across the cupcake.

Then you make a little bow from another strap, by folding both the ends over into the middle and fastening them by wrapping another small strap over the join.

Finally, make a small hole in the top of the bow and press a silver cachou into it.

The final product ready to go.

I had baked the cupcakes in some new bright coloured wrappers (thanks, downsizing Mum!) and I tried to match the icing colours to the wrapper. This worked particularly well with these bow cupcakes because by chance the wrappers were a very close match to the dark pink stripes.

How to make the perfect chocolate macaroon!

... Well maybe not perfect, but it will impress your friends and taste super!
I've tried a few different recipes, and there is conflicting advice out there on the best methods to use.

I have had multiple failures and some successes so I can give some great tips on what *not* to do :-)

Even Jade (Mr Cupcake) is rather fond of these despite his not-very-sweet tooth.











I think a good macaroon has three textures (the hard macaroon shell, the soft squidgy macaroon inner, and the soft creamy filling);  a flavour that is rich and full but not too sweet;  and an appearance which is consistent in terms of size and shape with a smooth, flat surface and a rough 'foot' on the base that gives them a little height.

Tant pour tant:                    
180g ground almonds              
200 g icing sugar                      
30g cocoa powder  
*note: if making a different flavour, use 200g of ground almonds and leave out the cocoa)


Italian meringue:        
200g caster sugar
75ml water
 2 x 80g egg whites*
*Measure out the egg whites to get 160g (usually about 4 egg whites). You will use this in two separate stages, hence, 2 x 80g.
Chocolate buttercream: 
125g unsalted butter
75g icing sugar
50g dark chocolate - I used Lindt 70%

To start off, measure out your 'tant pour tant' (this fancy term just means equal quantities, and refers to the icing sugar and ground almonds that are the basis of your mixture).

Just to make things confusing, the 'tant pour tant' in chocolate macaroons is not actually equal quantities at all, as you can see in the recipe quantities, but is still called 'tant pour tant'. Got that? :-)

This needs to be whizzed in the food processor and then sieved. The double-combining and sifting is necessary to get a really smooth texture. If you don't do it, your macaroon tops will be lumpy and there's nothing worse than a lumpy macaroon top, as we all know.

 At the end of the sieving you should have a smooth fine powder mixture like on the right.

To the 'tant pour tant' you add 80g of the egg whites, very lightly beaten - just until they are foamy.

Make a well in the centre of the tant pour tant and pour them in, then stir well to incorporate.

You will get a very firm mixture which takes a bit of muscle power to stir - seen here in the larger metal bowl.

Leave this to one side while you make the meringue.

To make the Italian (cooked sugar) meringue, put the caster sugar with the water in a small heavy saucepan on medium to high heat and boil for a few minutes until it reaches 'soft ball' stage,  at 115C.

While you are doing this, beat the other half of the egg whites (80g) to stiff peak while keeping your eye on the syrup. Multi tasking!!

You can tell by the look of the syrup what stage it's at. If it is boiling hard and looks as thin as water, it's not ready. When you see the consistency start to change, watch carefully. It gets more syrupy, and the boiling bubbles look glossy and sticky and slower to burst and re-form. Take it off the heat when it gets like this because it can quickly go past soft ball and into the cracking stages of caramelisation - if it starts to colour, for instance, it's gone too far into the caramel stage and you need to start again.

OK so you have taken your syrup off the heat and your egg whites are all whipped up to great heights. Now pour the syrup in a thin stream onto the egg whites, beating all the time. This is a bit counter intuitive to me because I thought the heat of the syrup would cook the eggs and make them scramble, but it doesn't! Magic! Instead, you end up with a luscious glossy smooth meringue, above.
Keep beating until the meringue cools slightly (and beware if you are using a metal bowl the syrup will heat up the bowl, the benchtop, your implements, etc).

Stir a quarter of the meringue into the tant pour tant mixture, to lighten it up a bit; then fold all of the remaining meringue into the tant pour tant, making sure it is well combined.

You will end up with a light, mousse-like mixture.

One of the benefits of Italian meringue as opposed to French (uncooked) meringue is that its greater stability means it is not as susceptible to 'sinking' when stirred. This means you can stir and combine this mixture thoroughly without fear of destroying its lightness.

Now for the exciting bit where you get to play with a piping bag!!

I use disposable piping bags from the supermarket. Life is too short to wash out and re-use a piping bag.

I have a sneaky way of filling my piping bag, I sit it inside a large china mug (see pic), this makes it 'stand up' while being filled and makes it a much tidier procedure than trying to stuff it like a dead turkey when it's lying on its side.

Cut off the end of the piping bag with scissors and pipe circles onto the baking trays lined with baking paper. I find it effective to cut a fairly large hole (say 1cm diameter) and pipe straight downwards, holding the bag still, letting the mixture spread evenly out the sides to form the circle.

Try to be consistent with size: it really helps when you come to sandwiching and filling the cooked macaroons.

There's a bit of magic to a piping bag, it gets easier with practice and it's really worth the effort it takes to learn.

If your piped rounds have obvious peaks on them (like in the one at the bottom of this pic) you can dip your finger in water and gently push the peak down again. The water prevents the mixture sticking to your finger.

Give the trays a bit of a tap on their bottoms to knock out any stray air bubbles and leave them to sit for half an hour. This helps a skin to form over the tops of the macaroons, helping them to get that perfect flat-topped, rough-footed macaroon shape when they are baking.

Preheat the oven to 150C while they're sitting.

When they've half an hour to sit and think about themselves, put them in the oven for exactly 14 minutes.

When you come to take them out, lift the whole sheet of baking paper off the tray and slide it onto a wet benchtop - this stops them cooking and makes it easier to get them off the baking paper.




After a few minutes remove them from the paper with
a spatula and put them on a baking rack to cool while you make the buttercream filling.

Melt the chocolate in a small bowl placed over the top of a saucepan of simmering water. When it's smooth and melted, set it aside.

Use an electric beater to beat butter with icing sugar -easier if the butter is at room temperature.

When the butter/icing sugar mix is smooth and well combined, keep beating while you pour the melted chocolate in a thin stream into the mixture.

You will end up with a smooth velvety mix, about the consistency of mascarpone - see pic.

Use a small spatula or a knife to spread this buttercream onto the base of a macaroon, then press another macaroon base onto it to create a 'sandwich'.
Repeat until you have completed all your macaroons.


Store macaroons in the fridge in a sealed container - they keep better, and taste better, cold.

When things go wrong... FAQs

Macaroons can look pretty strange and gruesome when things go wrong.

They can crack on the top or bubble up from the inside like a volcano. Pic on the left shows a couple of monsters from a recent batch. 

They can fail to rise and just be really flat and kind of wrinkly on top like a balding old man. Pic on the right shows you what I like to call the 'flabby skin' look. 

Or they can be too puffy and rough and inconsistent in size and texture. 

These are classic examples of what happens if you reckon you don't need a piping bag to form circles on the tray - because you're so neat at doing that with a teaspoon :-/

Why did my macaroons crack on top?

You may not have rested them long enough before baking. Resting for half an hour before baking causes them to form a skin on top, which protects them against cracking. 

Why didn't a crust or 'foot' form on the base of my macaroons?

You may not have rested them for long enough (see above). You may have over-beaten the mixture, causing it to have little air in it and consequently it didn't rise when baking (this happens more when you use an uncooked or French meringue). Try the Italian meringue method shown above and you may find this problem goes away. 

Why are my macaroons all bumpy and rough on top?

You may not have ground or sieved the tant pour tant finely enough. The dry ingredients need to be very finely ground and sieved in order to get a flat smooth surface. 

Why are my macaroons puffy/rough/too hard/too flat?

You may have been careless with the quantities of your ingredients. Too much dry ingredient will result in a mixture that is too thick - your macaroons will be very high and rough and chewy; too little dry ingredient and the macaroons will be sloppy and spread too far on the tray, making them very long and flat. 

Why didn't my egg whites beat up to soft/hard peak?

You may have accidentally got some egg yolk or oil into the mixing bowl. Egg whites are very sensitive to fats and won't foam up if they have been exposed to them. Make sure your beaters are washed well with detergent, not just hot water, and dry them thoroughly with a clean tea towel before beating your egg whites. When you are separating your eggs, take special care that you don't puncture a yolk into the egg whites. If you do, you must start again with new ones (make a nice omelette for dinner with those ones :-)). 

Why did my buttercream separate?

For some flavours of buttercream (like coffee) you may be tempted to add a liquid flavour (a shot of coffee) to the buttercream. You must always add liquid flavour to the icing sugar and make a paste first, then combine the butter with that. Don't pour a watery liquid onto the butter, or the mixture will separate. 

When I tried to get my macaroons off the baking paper, they stuck to it and all I got was hard shells with no base. Why?

You may have tried to remove the macaroons before they had 'set' - they need 5-10 minutes once they're out of the oven to firm up a bit. Alternatively, you may have taken the macaroons out of the oven before they were cooked - in which case, they won't be able to firm up. Check your oven temperature and your timings. 

When you take your macaroons out of the oven, slide the whole baking paper sheet off the tray and onto a wet bench top or a cake rack. Leave the macaroons there for at least 5 minutes. Then gently peel the baking paper back from one of the macaroons on the edge of the paper sheet. If it peels off ok, repeat with the others, or use a small metal spatula to run under each macaroon to release it from the paper. It's normal to have some stickiness around the base. 

Why did my melted chocolate suddenly go grainy and rock hard, and how can I fix it?

Chocolate is a very bad-tempered cooking ingredient. Melting or melted chocolate 'seizes' because moisture gets into it. A tiny drop of water can cause this to happen; so can the substitution of incorrect ingredients with the chocolate (the classic one is substituting margarine for butter; whereas butter will melt smoothly into melted chocolate, margarine will cause the chocolate to seize). The only way to make seized chocolate usable again is to mix a small amount of Copha (solidified coconut oil) into it. When incorporated gently this will slowly un-seize the chocolate but beware, it also affects the purity and the taste.