My last round up was back in February (check them out clicking here), so it is time to share the designs I’ve made since the last post. Without further ado, here they are…
One of my favorite ways to decorate is adding discs of chocolate decorated with transfer sheets. It is quite convenient because normally I have some leftover melted chocolate after filing the molds, so I use that to spread a thin layer over the transfer sheet, let it set in the fridge and then cut circles. Those last forever at room temperature, so normally I make them and save them to use the following week.
FLOWERS ON WHITE
FLOWERS ON PINK
STRIPES ON TURQUOISE
SWIRLS ON BROWN
This series had a new technique, I used textured parchment paper to spread the chocolate and after setting, cut circles. I need more practice, it was hard to avoid bubbles, but I got a few to work ok. The background used the tie-dye technique I shared in my previous post about Oreos (link in first paragraph).
TEXTURED CIRCLES ON TIE-DYE BACKGROUND
Moving on, some designs relied on Royal Icing…
GOLD BRUSH EMBROIDERY
MINIMALIST BLACK ON WHITE
LITTLE FONDANT FLOWER
As I always say, making Chocolate-Covered Oreos can be addictive. I am always thinking about the next batch, as I try to make them every single week… I hope you enjoyed this series, and stay tuned for more soon!
I am beyond excited about this! Wax seal stamps are made to add charm and elegance to documents, love letters, envelopes. They are designed to use with special types of wax, often dyed bright red. But, guess what? They work with chocolate – both real and compound – and although there is a little bit of a learning curve to negotiate, it is totally worth it! I’ve made a few different designs and used to decorate chocolate covered Oreos. First thing you need are of course the stamps. Many available, look on etsy or amazon. These are the ones I used on my first time.
I also have this slightly larger one…
To work with chocolate, they must be frozen, so I store mine in the freezer inside a plastic bag. Then you need to work fast. Melt the chocolate and add small puddles over parchment paper. I had better luck with that instead of acetate. Since the bottom part won’t show, it does not need to be shiny, so parchment is totally fine. Once you add the melted chocolate, immediately set your frozen stamp over it, and allow it to sit for a few seconds, maybe 10 or so. Of course, it is dependent on many factors and you need to try to move the stamp gently to see if it releases ok. When the chocolate is set, it will release nicely. Once you get the gist of it, you might be able to make three designs before the stamp gets too warm. Yes, a labor of patience and love…
I need more practice, but so far I’ve been quite happy with my productions! I used white compound chocolate for these, with a very small amount of oil-soluble pink dye.
Then it is all a matter of placing them over chocolate covered Oreos, or anything your imagination comes up with. I want to use to decorate cookies, maybe cupcakes also. Stay tuned!
It is really a lot of fun to make them, and a little diamond dust can add sparkle…
For this sourdough boule, I made a decoration using wafer paper and food safe pens, with a little stencil to help me out. Then a bit of scoring with my Sonic blade, and into the oven it went…
I love how the colors stayed during baking, it was my first time using food pens, until now I have relied on colors designed for air-brushing.
.
HAPPY EASTER CHOCOLATE-COVERED OREOS
I had so much fun with these! First, I made fondant decorations as little Easter eggs, and used a new set of food pens to paint them (they will be featured in my upcoming In My Kitchen post). Then I dyed white compound chocolate with oil-based green food color, and covered the Oreos. Once that set, I used thick Royal icing and a grass tip as the base to glue the eggs on the surface.
This is the full batch, donated on Good Friday…
EASTER EGG LEMON MACARONS (recipe as published here, filling as published here)
Sometimes a bake goes exactly the way I plan. It is rare, but it happens. These macarons turned out this way. I used a mixture of three colors (yellow, pink and blue), added them to the same piping back to get a tie-dye effect. After baking the details were piped with Royal icing, and in some I added sparkling sugar right away. Most were left plain, and got just a little spray with PME luster for some shine. That step is optional. They look nice without it.
I hate to pick favorites, but I must say of the three bakes I shared today, these macs might very well be the winners for me!
I hope you enjoyed this trilogy of bakes… The macaron design can be used on regular round macarons, piping flower shapes for a springtime version, so keep that in mind. I might just have to re-visit the method soon!
I make them weekly because they are very popular with the homeless dinner, and as you might imagine, I don’t like to repeat designs. I love variety. These can be decorated in countless ways, some easier than others. In fact, I have tried a few things that quickly went into the “Never Again Folder”… For previous collections, click here and here. Without further ado, here are some of the designs I made in the past couple of months, starting with perhaps my very favorite!
. THE JAPANESE-MODERN
To make this design, all you need is some different colors of luster powder and a bit of vodka. Make a suspension and add small blotches on the surface of the mold. Let it dry for a few minutes and pour the melted compound chocolate. They will look good just with the colors, or you gild the lily with a small disc of chocolate decorated with a transfer sheet, in this case I used a cherry blossom pattern.
.
The same exact method works with white chocolate… In this case I added some fondant sunflowers I had from last year’s cookie projects. I have quite a few ideas for color combinations in the near future, so stay tuned!
Luster powder can also be used to paint the surface of the chocolate after it sets, as I did for the set below… It does not go into the “Never Again Folder”, but it is a bit time-consuming.
Another great way to decorate is Royal icing… For the ones below I made straight lines in black and before they set I glued a little sprinkle heart in the crossed section. I love their minimalist look.
You can also pipe thicker lines of Royal icing coupled with a little sanding sugar… For added contrast, I dyed the white chocolate poured into the mold with fat-soluble sky blue dye. These were a good match for some macarons I made in that same week (see post here).
Even easier is just making a random drizzle with icing, fast and straightforward..
Sharing perhaps my second favorite of this set: Royal icing in circular piping plus a disc of chocolate decorated with transfer sheet, also saved from a project last year. The Royal icing was dyed with Americolor Gold. And once all was set, I sprayed some gold dust all over because.. why not?
Finally, the method that I don’t recommend and it truly drove me crazy: spread the Royal icing with a stencil. It was very very tricky to hold the stencil over the small surface, I had to scrape it all and start all over many times, as it would smear and end up quite messy. I managed to get three reasonably good ones, but as I said before…. never again!
.
.
BEWARE: Making chocolate-covered Oreos can be addictive!
Valentine’s Day is almost here! Some don’t care for it, some enjoy each minute. Whatever team you are on, here are some bakes that you can try this week, or anytime love is on your horizon… Without further ado, one recipe and eight ideas for you. Read on…
. BLUEBERRY CURD SWISS ROLL CAKE (filling adapted from Caroline’s blog)
for the decoration: 50g butter, softened 50g powdered sugar 50g egg whites 50g all-purpose flour black and red gel colors
for the cake: 130g cake flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 5 large eggs, at room temperature 200 g granulated sugar Zest of 1 lemon 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract ¼ teaspoon kosher salt 2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
Make the piping decoration by beating the butter with powdered sugar in a small bowl until fully combined. I used a hand-held electric mixer. Add the egg whites and beat for a couple of minutes. Add the flour and mix by hand with a spoon, divide in one small portion to dye black, one larger portion to dye red.
Make a diamond pattern with a Sharpie pen on parchment paper, and add heart shapes. Flip the paper so that the writing is at the bottom, and pipe the outline black. Freeze for 10 minutes. Quickly fill the hearts with red paste. Freeze again while you make the cake.
Heat oven to 350°F. Sift the flour and baking powder into a small bowl. Reserve. Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until the mixture form ribbons, about 12 minutes. Add the lemon zest, lemon extract and vanilla. Beat until combined. Sift the flour mixture over the beaten eggs, fold gently. When the flour is mostly incorporated, add a little bit of the mixture to the melted butter, whisk well. Pour that into the cake batter, whisk gently to disperse. Pour over the frozen parchment paper placed in a half baking sheet, and smooth the surface.
Bake the cake until it begins to pull away from the sides, 12 to 17 minutes.
Transfer the pan to a cooling rack, cover the cake with a towel and let it cool for 10 minutes. Remove the towel, sift a little powdered sugar over the surface and flip it over parchment paper. Gently peel off the paper with the design, flip the cake again over a clean towel. Starting with a short side of the cake, roll the cake gently, using the towel to support the cake as you go. Let the cake cool all rolled up in the towel, seam side down.
Carefully unroll the completely cool cake, spread the blueberry curd filling, then roll it again. Wrap the cake in plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, overnight is best. When ready to serve, slice a small piece of each of the ends, so that it looks more polished.
Comments: I haven’t made a patterned roll cake in a while, so I really enjoyed this little adventure. I messed up while making the curd (sorry, Caro!), did not cook it enough, so after 10 hours in the fridge it was still too loose. Lesson learned. I made a gelatin mass with 1 tsp gelatin + 5 tsp water, warmed it to dissolve in the microwave. I heated up the curd to about 60 C and added the melted gelatin. Mixed well and allowed it to cool slowly, then placed in the fridge overnight. It was perfect to use next morning. Huge thank you to my friend Gary for the advice to deal with the curd. I added a very small amount of pink gel dye to the cake batter, but that is optional. I did not include in the recipe, as the cake will look perfectly ok without it.
The cake was moist and tender, the blueberry curd absolutely delicious! The combination of orange and blueberry is a real winner, thank you Caro!
And now, time to share a few ideas, you can use any recipe you like, or some that are already in my blog
.
CHOCOLATE-COVERED OREOS
I used white Wilton candy melts to cover Lemon-flavored golden Oreos, and once that was set I made the heart decoration with Royal icing. First piped the black outline, let that set a bit and flooded the center with pink.
.
COMIC-STYLE HEART COOKIES
Comic-style, so popular these days! I followed a recent tutorial from Amber (join her club here) to make these babies. Some steps shown below.
.
POLKA-DOT HEART COOKIES
Super simple design, just flood, air-brush with a stencil and add some Royal icing transfers. A little bead border is of course more than welcome…
.
ZENTANGLE HEARTS, TWO WAYS
For a modern look, just flood with any color of your choice, and then use a food safe pen to draw the design…
For a modern but romantic look, just play with flowers…
.
BICOLOR HEART COOKIES
For those who do not care for icing, these will be a huge hit. Just mix two recipes, chocolate and plain, cut shapes and mix-and-match the centers. Bake and you are done!
.
MINI-BONBONS WITH MARSHMALLOW FILLING
I used candy melts to coat tiny silicone molds with heart shapes (available here). Placed a mini-marshmallow in the center and covered the molds with melted chocolate. Once that set, I un-molded the bonbons and drizzled white chocolate for the decoration, adding a little sprinkle heart on some of them.
.
POLKA-DOT HEART SOURDOUGH
For the recipe, check my blog post with a click here.
I hope you’ve found some inspiration in this post for your future bakes, and please enjoy the weekend ahead, particularly if you are a football fan!
Bewitching Kitchen 