A small collection of bakes to celebrate the occasion… Cupcakes, cookies, bonbons… Let’s start with cupcakes, shall we?
For the cupcakes, I went with chocolate, and used this recipe which is simple and wonderful. Frosting was a simple American buttercream, but the gilding of the lily was the little nest made with rice noodles broken up in little pieces, coated with melted chocolate and assembled in mini-muffin tins. I have tried other methods to make the nests and this was by far my favorite.
This is really a very very messy process, and there was some colorful language going around The Bewitching Kitchen, I won’t lie to you. But aren’t those nest super cute? Totally worth the trouble. Get the noodles and cut them with scissors in small little pieces. It will make a Royal mess in your kitchen and you will find pieces of noodles in unexpected places. Melt chocolate, coat them well (gloves are mandatory), and while everything is still pliable and warm, stick little portions inside mini muffin tins. Add the eggs and let it all set.
TRI-DIMENSIONAL EASTER EGGS
These are not made of chocolate, the shells are my favorite chocolate cookie (click here for recipe, I omitted the chipotle powder for this version) baked into these cute little molds. Once they are baked, I brushed them with luster powder mixed with vodka, decorated with Royal icing and filled with mini peanut butter eggs.
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BUNNY BONBONS
A little labor of love, you’ll need a special mold for these babies, found at one of my favorite stores, Evil Cake Genius. It is a three component mold, so you make the top, let it set, fill with whatever you want (I used lemon brigadeiro), then close the bottom with more chocolate. A very detailed video is available here.
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EGG NESTS CHOCOLATE COOKIES
Very little icing on these cookies, I brushed them with Americolor White + a touch of turquoise before baking. Then just added a few details with piping consistency icing, and placed mini eggs on top. They went together nicely with the cupcakes!
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THE GOLFING RABBIT
Same cookie, made with the help of AI-generated image, and a mini-projector… Love these goofy fellows!
If you celebrate the date, I wish you a Happy Easter! Hope you have a wonderful day…
Back in July last year, I shared my first adventures with cake pucks (for a flash back, click here). I’ve made quite a few since then, some with boxed cakes and home-made buttercream, some with cakes crushed into crumbs while still warm, skipping the addition of buttercream. In my opinion, the texture of the cake component suffers a bit if you don’t use a little buttercream, but I am sure that is a matter of personal taste. Some bakers swear by the warm crumbled cake. Today I want to focus on a different recipe, one that uses a peanut butter fudge instead of cake for the center. And I also want to show you a new type of cake puck, made with a smaller mold. So, without further ado, let’s go over the peanut butter version.
2 cups granulated sugar 1 + 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter 1/2 cup milk 2 tsp vanilla dash of salt melting chocolate (such as candy melts)
Bring sugar and milk to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, whisk for 1-2 minutes. Add in vanilla, peanut butter and salt and mix until smooth. Working quickly, fill your small molds with the mixture. The peanut butter fudge should set up pretty quickly at room temperature, but I prefer to stick in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.
Melt 17 ounces chocolate and a spoonful of refined coconut oil gently in the microwave at 50% power. for 1 minute. Place larger mold (with the Benty Cakes logo on the bottom) on the plastic tray and fill one cavity half full with melted chocolate.
Place chilled center on melted chocolate. Gently apply even pressure as you slowly press the center down until chocolate comes up from the sides and covers the top of the center. Scrape off any excess chocolate. If there is not enough chocolate to cover the center. Add chocolate and scrape away excess. Tap the mold tray on the counter to eliminate air bubbles.
Let the pucks set in the fridge for 20 minutes or so, then gently un-mold. Decorate as desired.
Comments: If you are a peanut butter lover in desserts these will blow your mind! The texture is creamy and luscious, and of course, the peanut butter with the chocolate around it is a perfect match. I will now show you mini-pucks, which I find even better than the original ones because they turn out as a two-bite thing, one is enough and not too much. You can order the set of molds by clicking here. Below, a comparison in size between this new version and the original.
This batch of minis was also made with the peanut butter fudge center…
As to decorations, I’ve been using several different techniques, one of them which I really love is painting the bottom of the mold with luster colors, then adding the chocolate on top
I love the way the surface turns out…
And using chocolate discs made with patterns using transfer sheets never gets old…
They also look pretty nice with just a drizzle of melted chocolate…
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!
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
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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.
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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!
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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.
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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!
These are absolutely luscious and not that hard to make as – believe it or not – you won’t have to temper chocolate to make them. The silicone mold is also optional, you can use mini-muffin tins, although I am not sure how easy or tricky it might be to get the bonbons out.
VEGAN CASHEW BUTTER BONBONS (inspired by Vegan Treats)
If using gold luster powder, brush the inside of the molds with it. Reserve.
Melt the cocoa butter in the microwave using very low power. As soon as it melts, stop heating it. Stir the cocoa powder and maple syrup. Pour the mixture in the molds filling it halfway. Place the mold in the fridge for about 15 minutes to set.
Remove from the fridge, spoon a small amount of cashew butter in the center of each cavity, then pour the remaining chocolate on top to cover completely the cashew butter. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before un-molding the bonbons. For added safety, I like to place the mold in the freezer for 5 minutes.
Store in the fridge for about 10 days. They stay well at room temperature for at least a couple of hours.
Comments: This is really super easy and the results go beyond the effort by a long shot. I do not have a link for the mold which I’ve had for a long time, but many different shapes and sizes will work, just do a search online. They will stay good in the fridge for a long time, but won’t melt at room temperature, I actually left them sitting over a counter for a couple of days and nothing bad happened. The best option if you make them is to store them in the fridge and bring them to room temperature for one hour or so before indulging.
Bewitching Kitchen 