Baby Animals Cake

This adorable Baby Faces Cake, designed by Mame Recckio-Wolfe, was a finalist in the 2007 American Style Competition. It was featured, along with the tutorial, in the October/November Issue of American Cake Decorating Magazine.

Supplies Needed:

Patterns (Follows Tutorial)
Cookie Sheets or Cake Boards
Tape
Waxed Paper
Royal Icing (2 cups)
Paste/gel coloring: brown, red
Deep pink and yellow
Parchment or Pastry bags
Piping tips: #3, #5, & #12
Art Brush
Water
Gumpaste
Rolling Pin
Textured Pin (optional)
Ribbon Cutter (optional)
Ruler
Craft Knife
Unused hair roller
Corn Syrup (glucose)
Orchid Luster dust (optional)
Lemon Extract (optional)
Black food-coloring marker

1. Make several copies of each animal face pattern and the Onesie. Attach them to a firm, smooth surface that can be set aside. Cover the patterns with waxed paper and tape the in place. Prepare a batch of royal icing, reserving 1/5 of the icing as white. Then divide the remainder into 4 portions, tinting beige, brown, deep pink and yellow. Load a small handful of icing into a small piping bag fit with tip #3, and then pipe the outline of each figure, beginning with the detail colors first. Do not leave any gaps in the outlines. Use a damp brush to help correct mistakes and join lines together. Leave off the noses on the lion, cat, and giraffe for now, as well as the pink in the rabbit’s ears.

2. Add a drop of water, one at a time, to the remaining colored icing until a ribbon of icing melts into the icing below it within 10 seconds. Use top #2 to flood each outline, building it up until the icing has a puffy, raised appearance. Allow the decorations to dry at least 24 hours. If you choose to flood the backside of each face, do that now. Otherwise, add the remaining facial detail with undiluted royal icing


Handy tip- remove the dried floodwork from the waxed paper with a thin, flexible spatula. Alternatively, pull the paper to the edge of a table or countertop. Pull the paper slowly down over the edge, catching the piece as it comes free with your other hand.


3. Dilute a small wad of gumpaste with water until it becomes thin enough to apply with a brush. Pour the “gum glue” into a small container and cover until needed. Roll out a thin layer of gumpaste. If a texturing pin is available, you may apply a pattern to the gumpaste at this point. Cut two rectangular strips 7 by 2 inches in dimension. Flip the strips over and brush the ends with gum glue.


4. Place a hair roller (dedicated for food use) at the center of the strip. Pinch each end to taper the strip, then bring the ends together and press to attach. Allow the bow loops to dry for 24 hours.





5. Fill and stack the cake layers on the cakedrum, using a dab of buttercream to secure. Ice the cake smoothly with buttercream icing. Allow the icing to crust, then mark a diamond pattern into the icing using a diamond impression mat or a straightedge to create the lattices of parallel diagonal lines.





6. Prepare a bag with light red royal icing, adding a small amount of corn syrup ( glucose) to keep it from setting hard (about 1 tsp per cup of icing). Fit the bag with tip #12 and pipe a bead border around the base of the cake. Next, using tip #5 and white royal icing (with the corn syrup added), pipe a small dot at each of the places where the lines cross in the side design. While the icing sets, make a pair of light red gumpaste ribbon tails measuring 2 by 9 inches. Trim one end of the first strip at an angle. Trim the second strip’s end in the opposite direction. The white dots should now be set enough to flatten with fingers 


7. Arrange the bow pieces on top of the cake, with the tails tucked under the loops, flowing toward the front. Prepare another strip of gumpaste to match the bow, measuring 3 by 4 inches. Invert the piece, brush the 4 inch edges with gum glue, then fold the edges up about 1/8 inch width and adhere them. Gather each the unhemmed edges and brush with a dab of gum glue to hold them. Tuck one end under the front of the loop ends and tuck the end underneath the ends on the backside.




Handy tip- At this point, you may choose to color the bow and border with a mixture of pearl dust and clear alcohol. Use royal icing for the border only if you plan to brush it with coloring. Otherwise, use buttercream. For this cake, orchid luster dust was mixed with lemon extract.

8. Use a black food-coloring marker to add any remaining detail to the animal faces. Position the Onesie and animal face on the cake with a dab of buttercream for each. Finish the cake by adding a complementary ribbon the edge of the cake drum, using a glue stick to adhere it.

Patterns

Enlarge baby faces by 200%
Enlarge Onesie Pattern by 120%
Cake Design and Tutorial by Mame Recckio-Wolfe.
all rights reserved 2008
This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.

Photography by Katie Hilbert. 2008

Blueberry Muffins

I am always on the look out for new and Amazing recipes.

With the nice weather finally here it was time to start making some dessert's with fresh fruit.

This recipe is my new favorite for blueberry muffins..

Blueberry Muffins with Streusel Topping Recipe

Note: Coat the blueberries with a dusting of flour to prevent them from sinking to the bottom. Also remember to evenly distribute the blueberries across the muffin cups.

Streusel Topping Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, slightly softened and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Muffin Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

8 ounces sour cream

1/4 cup milk

3 cups (1 1/2 pints) fresh blueberries, stems removed

Directions

For the topping, in a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Add the butter pieces and combine the mixture with a fork until the topping resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place paper liners in muffin pans. In a separate medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

With an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. At low speed, beat one egg in at a time, and then add vanilla, sour cream, and milk until combined. Add 1/3 of dry ingredients at a time and beat until just combined. With a spatula, evenly fold blueberries into batter.

Scoop batter into muffin pans and fill each cup to the top. Sprinkle topping evenly over batter. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a cake tester or wooden skewer comes out clean.

Makes 24 muffins,

Blueberry coffee cake muffins adapted from Barefoot Contessa]……

Here is where I found this recipe.

http://sundaynitedinner.com/blueberry-muffins-streusel-topping/

Photography by Diane Marks

2010 All rights reserved.

Modeling Chocolate Roses- by Mame Recckio Wolfe

Dark Modeling Chocolate

1 lb. (454 g) semisweet or bittersweet dark chocolate

2/3 cup (8 oz. or 224 g) light corn syrup or golden syrup or Karo

White and Milk Modeling Chocolate

1 lb. (454 g) Mercken’s Super White Chocolate [or color candy melts of choice – i.e. Red for Valentine’s Day]

1/2 cup (6 oz. or 168 g) light corn syrup

 The higher chocolate : corn syrup ratio = the stiffer/stronger the clay

 Place chocolate in a micro-safe glass bowl, and microwave for 1 minute intervals, stir, microwave for another minute, and stir vigorously to completely melt the chocolate…if still a little lumpy, microwave for another 30 seconds

 Add the corn syrup and stir quickly to incorporate – stir until the chocolate follows the spatula around the bowl – about a minute

 Pour the chocolate into plastic wrap, or leave in glass bowl covered with plastic wrap, for 24 hours

 Taking small pieces at a time, knead the chocolate until just soft enough to shape

 If the chocolate starts to stick to your fingers, lightly dust your fingers with cornstarch

 Procedure for making roses follows

 Any remaining chocolate should be triple wrapped in plastic wrap, place in a Ziplock bag and freeze indefinitely

Rose making procedures:

Knead small portions of chocolate clay as needed, until soft and pliable

Weigh out chocolate paste:

 5g for mounds = 3/4" or about 2cm ball

 3g for petals = 1/2” or 1-1/2cm

 …mound = ball on the left / petal = ball on right

Rose bud = bud + 2 petals

Small rose blossom = bud + 3 petals

Medium rose = bud + 3 + 5 petals

Full rose = bud + 3 + 5 + 7 petals

Rose Mound or Bud:

 Make mound or bud with a fat-rounded bottom, tapered to a point at the top

 Approximately 1-1/4” long or 3cm

Using a piece of plastic wrap, dust with cornstarch, place the 1/2" ball of clay on the plastic wrap and fold the plastic wrap over the ball:

 Press out to about an 1-1/2” diameter oval, using your thumb or finger

 Make the top 2/3’s of the petal/circle thinner than the bottom 1/3

 Flatten/shape all the 1/2" balls/petals required for your rose, before applying them to the bud/mound – this allows a little drying time , making them easier to apply – less sticky…I have hot hands!!!

 Latex gloves can also be used for this application, if you have very hot hands!!!

 Dust the plastic wrap each time you flatten out the ball

 Note: If when pressing out the ball you feel small pieces of un-melted chocolate – roll it back into a ball, rolling it firmly in your palm…this will melt the tiny pieces of un-melted chocolate

 …this was made with a double layer of scrap chiffon material, with a pastry bag tie…use dust puff gently – the cornstarch comes out very easily…

Small Rose Blossom:

 Wrap the 1st petal around the mound/bud

 Wrap the 2nd petal, tucking it under 1st petal, having the 1st petal overlap slightly

 Continue adding petals, tucking under previous petal…and shaping petals as you add them…

 Mound or bud + wrap + 2 petals

Medium Rose Blossom:

 Mound or bud + wrap + 2 petals – small rose blossom

 Plus 5 more petals

Full Rose Blossom:

 Mound or bud with wrap + 14 petals

Tutorial and Photography by Mame Recckio Wolfe.

Copyright. 2010 All rights reserved.

This material was used with the expressed permission of Mame Recckio Wolfe and may not be

reproduced without written permission from the author.