Mini Chocolate Cake Doughnuts - and Home Made Cake Release - Perfect for use with Silicone Moulds

These iced (or chocolate dipped) mini cake doughnuts are really easy to make and a huge hit with kids. My little boy is now 7 years old, and can easily devour several of these as fast as they can be dipped / iced.

 Have a few disposable piping bags to hand to pipe the batter into the cells of your mould - otherwise this ends up a VERY messy job !

HOMEMADE CAKE RELEASE 

First up has to be the easiest and cheapest recipe you'll ever make. This stuff is AWESOME. If you are used to greasing and flouring baking pans, tins and silicone moulds - you'll just love this. IT saves so much time and works like an absolute charm.

Make some homemade cake release and your cakes will never again stick in your silicone moulds. This stuff will keep in jar in your fridge for a good month or two. Just lightly apply inside any baking tin or silicone mould (when making cakes) lightly with a pastry brush. Those cakes will literally just flip out the pans when done.

Mix equal WEIGHTS of plain cake flour, white vegetable fat such as TREX (UK) or CRISCO (USA) and vegetable oil and then mix together with a hand mixer. I find that 75grams of each is a perfect amount and will treat dozens of moulds :-)

I've absolutely always got this in the fridge.

Anyway - here is the recipe for the mini chocolate cake doughnuts. I'll warn you now - you need at least two moulds and the recipe makes tons (around 40)

Prepare your silicone mini donut / doughnut pans but either greasing and flouring or with a very light coating of cake release. If you can't be bothered making your own,  Dr Oeteker does an aerosol one and Wilton's comes in a little bottle. Cake release is so fast and easy for prepping pans.

Place mould on baking tray for support. I can get two of these pans on one tray at the same time.

Preheat the oven to 200deg C / 180deg C fan

Recipe 

1 cup (250ml volume) white granulated sugar

2.1/2 cups of self raising flour *

1/2 a cup of cocoa powder

2tsp of baking powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

300ml milk (warmed)

3 eggs

2 tablespoons of  golden syrup

115g melted butter or use vegetable oil

can be substituted for 2.1/2 cups normal plain (cake flour) plus 6 tsp baking powder

Sieve dry ingredients together, then mix with a whisk to make sure properly combined.

Combine wet ingredients together.

Add wet and dry ingredients together and then mix with a hand or stand mixer just until you have a smooth mix.

Put a disposable piping bag into a small jug or large glass to hold upright and fill 3/4 with the cake batter. Twist the top and then cut off the point of the bag. You can now pipe the batter into the prepared cake pans which is both quick and relatively mess free.

Do not over fill. You want to fill the cells to approx 1mm BELOW the raised part in the centre. This way, your cake doughnut will rise and retain the hole in the centre.

Bake for approx 7 > 8 minutes or until done. Remove from oven and allow to cool for approx 5 mins before turning out

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - January 2016

Fondant Fancies - Cutest Little Teatime Cakes (Recipe) - Made the Easy Way !

Fondant Fancies are great little British retro / vintage style teacakes that commonly grace cake stands that used to be typically served on Sunday afternoons many UK households.

Afternoon tea isn't something most people do these days - it's far more common to go out for afternoon tea as a special treat or to purchase a "tea" at a cafe / restaurant / event.

Saying that - fondant fancies remain as popular and well loved as they have ever been. Most of us tend to buy them in packets these days and they are not a popular choice for home bakers.

Why ? Well - if you watched The Great British Bake Off (GBBO) last year - you'll realise why these pretty little cakes aren't made at home by more bakers..... They're renowned for being tricky little blighters to make.

Doing them my way makes it so so much easier ! 

Mary Berry is one awesome woman and don't forget that GBBO is a competition and a real challenge. I wanted to make fondant fancies and have them turn out perfect - with minimal mess and minimal fuss. If you've ever tried cutting a whole cake into squares and then dipping the mini cakes into gloopy fondant, you'll realise it's a messy, crumby affair and there can be a number of casualties !

Well - none of that here. I made 14 fondant fancies and every single one of them turned out just great.

To make these, you will need 2 x 6 cell silicone cube moulds, a small metal spatula (or flat granny knife), a cooling rack and a massive silicone mat (or a big tray to sit the rack over)

RECIPE - enough to make 12 large fondant fancies.

• 200g  self-raising flour
• 200g soft butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla or lemon extract
• 3 large eggs

Cream the butter and sugar with a hand mixer. Beat in the eggs one by one, and then follow by adding the flour and extract.

Line your 2 x 6 cell 2" square cube moulds using two x 2" wide strips of baking parchment which have been lightly greased. This makes it SO easy to get them out later without any damage or loose crumbs and is honestly worth the effort !

Place the two moulds on a baking tray. Split the mix evenly between the 12 cells. Bake at 170 deg C for approx 20 minutes until lightly golden and a cake tester comes out clean.

Allow to cool. Once cooled, hold two opposite paper strips and your mini cakes will lift clean out the mould. When paper is removed, they will have lovely straight sides with sharp edges.

Use a serrated knife to remove the top. Pipe on a little blob of butter cream on to the flat top of each cake and then chill for at least 20 mins.

Take 750g of block fondant. You can buy this in any supermarket isle. Often also known as sugar paste, regal ice and others. Supermarket own brand is fine.

Make sure the fondant has been at warm, room temperature. Chop it up into small pieces. Add a couple of tablespoons of water and start to beat with a paddle attachment in a stand mixer. You can also do this by hand - but it takes a bit of effort !

If making these by hand, I'd suggest putting the chopped fondant and water in a glass bowl and sit over some hot water for 10 mins to soften before starting..

Add some more hot water, a tablespoon or so at a time and beat until a smooth, thick, runny, pouring consistency is achieved.

Have a glass of hot water to hand and a flat knife or small spatula.

Place the cakes on the rack over a large silicone work mat or tray (the mat makes for very easy clean up later !)

Pour or spoon the fondant over the cakes. If it does not totally cover the cake, dip the spatula in hot water and then use it to level out the fondant / cover any gaps.

Once done, leave for the fondant to dry before transferring to your cake stand or into paper cases. Our American Jumbo paper cake cases are a perfect size to pop your fondant fancies into !

Hope you find these as easy to make as I did - they're a true delight.

Happy Baking

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - September 2014

Snowy Mountains (Recipe) - They Knock The Socks Off Rocky Road !

I've never been a fan of rocky road - it sounds too good to be true, but for me never really delivers.

I think it's the teeny weeny commercially produced marshmallows that most people add in which are rubbery and lack any form of flavour, coupled with too much chocolate.... it's just not worth the calories.

I also don't like the pink and white mallow things tossed in coconut and sandwiched between two cardboard tasting wafers. The concept is great but they are such a let down if you've ever actually eaten one.....

Snowy Mountains are my idea of a hybrid version of those pink and white mallow thingies and rocky road. 

I must say, I'm delighted how they actually turned out...... Pillowy white clouds of soft and divine marshmallow on top of a crunchy chocolate and biscuit base.

This recipe could be really versatile. Feel free to try your own flavours of marshmallow and perhaps even add a dollop of jam or chocolate ganache (nutella even) before popping the biscuit layer on the bottom. If you are still scared of making marshmallow at home, watch me make these on the tutorial video at the bottom of this page.

RECIPE - makes 24

500g white, granulated sugar

2 egg whites

2 sachets of gelatine granules (1 sachet sets 1 pint of liquid)

1 (or 2!) tsp vanilla extract

100g desiccated coconut

400g of chocolate

360g coconut cookies

Prepare 3 x 8 rectangular recessed silicone bakeware moulds by oiling or lightly spraying with cake release spray and rubbing in.

Put the sugar in a large pan with 250mls of water and bring to a boil. There is no need to stir.

Empty the two gelatine sachets into 125mls of cold water, stir and set aside for about 10 mins to bloom.

Put the two egg whites in a large bowl.

You will need a sugar thermometer. When the temperature on the sugar thermometer reads 110deg C, start whipping your whites with a hand held mixer to firm peaks.

When the sugar syrup reaches 122deg C, remove from the heat. Let it sitt for a few seconds until it stops bubbling, then stir in the gelatine.

Pour the syrup into the egg whites, whilst running the hand mixer on high. It will look really soupy at this stage. Keep whipping the living daylights out of it until the mixture is almost cool and clinging to the beaters - but still pourable.

Put the marshmallow mixture into an 18" disposable piping bag. Pipe the mallow into the cells of all the moulds, to within approx 5mm of the top.

Set aside for approx 1 hour to firm up.

Melt 500g of chocolate (in 30 second bursts) in the microwave. Crush 360g of coconut cookies and mix into the chocolate. Use a spoon or a fork to put this on top of the mallows and fill the remaining space in each cell of the mould.

Pop in the fridge for 10 > 20 mins.

When the chocolate has hardened, pop the mallows out of the moulds. Roll in desiccated coconut for a finishing touch,

Enjoy ! 

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cupcakes (Recipe) and Peek-A-Boo Chocolate Bears

It's been a cold snowy month here in Norfolk. We've had 6" of snow and temperatures down to -14deg C.

There have been a few days when the postal service and courier networks ground to a halt, schools shut and most people stayed home due to some rather nasty winter weather. After you've made snowmen outside, and come back in to thaw out.... these rib sticking cupcakes do down rather nicely with a hot cup of tea.

I couldn't resist adorning mine with these gorgeous chocolate Peek-A-Boo bears. These little bears were made in one of our new Chocolate collection silicone bakeware moulds from www.siliconemoulds.com and are due for release early March 2013. You can find the new PEEK-A-BOO silicone chocolate mold here

Recipe - Makes 15 

180g plain (cake) flour

2.1/2 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

90mls corn (or sunflower) oil

150g light brown sugar

150g chopped and pitted Medijool dates

Add the chopped dates to a bowl with 180mls of boiling water, then pop in a microwave for a further minute. Remove and mash with a fork until thick and pulpy

Whisk sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until thick and foamy. Sift flour and baking powder and fold into the whisked mixture, followed by the mashed dates.

Spoon equally into silicone muffin moulds, placed on a baking tray and lined with paper cupcake cases. Bake for approx 15 > 18 mins at 160deg C Fan / 180deg C normal until the tops are golden and springy and a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove and leave to cool.

Meanwhile, prepare the toffee frosting..... You will need to excuse me here as I tend to make most of my buttercream by eye rather than by weight !

Salted Toffee / Caramel Frosting

quick toffee sauce :

Put equal amounts of salted butter and golden syrup in a pan. Bring to the boil for approx 2 mins.  Remove from heat and add to a mixer bowl with 500g powdered icing sugar.

Start to beat and then add in about 150g of softened salted butter. Beat thoroughly until it comes together and is smooth and glossy. If too runny, you can add some more powdered sugar.

This frosting is quite slack and suitable for spreading or dolloping on cupcakes. It's not the sort that you can pipe into big ice cream swirls.

If at any point, it turns into something that looks really curdled and horrid or starts to sieze- do NOT panic. Simply put the bowl over a pot of hot water and keep mixing until it becomes smooth.

You do need to apply it to cakes whilst still a little warm.

The adorable little chocolate feet were made in another silicone chocolate mould from my Spring 2013 collection. A registered design from www.siliconemoulds.com

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - January 2013

Nutty About Madeleines - Bite Size Little Sponge Cakes (Recipe)

Do you like Madeleines ? You know - those little French teacakes that are normally a pretty shell shape ? Oliver ADORES madeleines. They are his favourite cake at the moment and I believe his face light up if he is lucky enough to find one in his lunch box at nursery !

Above is some madeleines I made from this recipe in the classical shape using this silicone bakeware mould. The rest of the batch, I actually baked in an almond / nut style silicone chocolate mould to create dainty autumnal petits fours.

Believe it or not, they were quite quick and not at all fiddly to make. These were demolished by customers coming into Natural Heating to view stoves a couple of weeks ago. The couple of little children that came in with parents particularly adored them !

Recipe - adapted from Allrecipes.co.uk

Use either our 20 cell nut shape silicone bakeware moulds or 3 x standard madeleine pan (or a mix of both !). I like to spray the moulds with cake release before use, or grease with butter and then dust with flour (tapping off any excess).

• 2 eggs
• 2tsp Frangelico hazelnut liquer
• 125g icing sugar
• 100g plain flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 125g butter, melted and cooled

Preheat your oven to 170deg C Fan / 190deg C normal and prepare your pans / moulds.

Beat together the eggs and Frangelico. Add the icing sugar and continue to beat for about 4 minutes until thick and creamy. 

Sift flour and baking together and then fold this in in 2 > 3 batches, then fold in the butter.

Spoon or pipe into the moulds. The nut moulds are shallow, so fill those full - but only fill the madeleine moulds 3/4 full.

Cook until the tops are golden and the sponge springs back under your fingers. Takes about 12 mins for std size and 9 mins for the nut size.

For large size : Allow to cool, them dust with icing sugar.

For the nut size : carefully trim the tops and then sandwich together with some melted chocolate mixed 50:50 with nutella and allowed to cool until thick enough to spread

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - November 2012

Mincemeat Streusel Muffins (Plain Muffin Recipe Vamped Up)

This was one of last Saturday's bakes that I took to work.

Saturday mornings in the showroom at Natural Heating  can be stupidly busy at this time of year. The other side of our company sells wood burning and multi fuel cast iron stoves. Lets face it, if we weren't busy selling fires and heating in the Autumn and Winter - there really would be something wrong !

Anyway, it can get crazy busy on Saturday mornings. People come along knowing they may need to wait a little while to be seen. During that time, it's a nicety to be able to offer a warm, home baked cake and a hot cup of coffee or tea.

Freshly brewed Italian coffee and home baked muffins and the scent of burning wood in the air just before you come in our door must be some of the best smells on earth.

This is a very basic muffin recipe I've been using for years. It doesn't stop me changing it around and vamping it up. Last Saturday, I actually made 24 muffins. Half of them were the mincemeat streusel and the others had a great dollop of raspberry jam in the middle and the tops had been brushed with butter and then dipped into caster sugar. The muffin equivalent of a jam doughnut.

The recipe for the mincemeat can be found in a previous blog entry here. For this vamped up version, I put a couple of teaspoons of the mincemeat on top of the batter in each paper cake case and them sprinkled some crumble topping over each one.

RECIPE - Makes 10 - or 12 if you vamp them !

240g plain flour
3 > 4 tsp baking powder

175g caster sugar

250mls milk

100mls oil

1 egg

pinch salt

vanilla

Sift dry ingredients into one bowl. Mix wet in another and then combine the two together. It will be lumpy, and you want to mix briefly - only until dry ingredients cannot be seen. Don't worry about the lumps !

Put into paper cake cases in a 12 cell silicone muffin bakeware mould on top of a baking tray.
 Bake at 180deg C for approx 20 mins or until a cocktail stick comes out clean.

October Visit to Oxburgh Hall

 The following day, Steve and I took Oliver out for a wander round Oxburgh Hall and it's stunning gardens. The last time I was at Oxburgh Hall, was just a few weeks before Oliver was born. They were having a re-enactment day, and when the cannons went off - Oliver certainly must have had a bit of a fright (it was very loud)  it as he kicked 10 bells out my insides !

My cheeky monkey got a handful of stones when we were not looking, then threw then in the moat....

14/10/12 - Oliver and Ellie take a break outside Oxburgh Hall

Looking back at Oxburgh Hall from the Woodland Walk

By the huge wooden doors at the entrance to Oxburgh Hall

Coming down the spiral staircase

Unfortunately, photos were not allowed inside the hall - but Oliver thoroughly enjoyed sliding down the old toilet shoot into the hiding place (priests hole) in the middle of the castle wall. Steve went down too, but had a bit of a struggle to get out. If he had a struggle, I think I'd have been wedged tight !

Tending to the bugs in the gardens at Oxburgh Hall

Mummy and Oliver have a game of "Run and Hug"

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - Silicone Bakeware Specialists - October 2012

Bake A Little Sunshine - Sunflower Cupcake Bouquet

I made this pretty cupcake bouquet early this evening. To me, it just oozes sunshine. Our new green paper cupcake cases (available in mini and standard size) are a fab complimentary colour for flowery cupcakes. These work really well in cupcake bouquets.

Vanilla cupcakes - makes 12

115g butter (soft - room temperature)

1 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp good vanilla extract

3/4 cup plain flour

1/2 rounded cup of self raising flour

1/2 cup of milk

Cream butter and sugar until white and pale. Beat in egg.

Mix in 1/2 sifted flours followed by 1/2 the milk. Repeat with remaining flour and milk.

Bake for approx 20 minutes at 170deg C, or maybe a bit less time if using a silicone bakeare muffin mould as I do.

Frost with your favourite frosting recipe and then decorate !

Vanilla frosting shown here was 125g salted butter, 4 cups sifted icing sugar, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/4 cup of milk. Add some more icing sugar if desired consistency is not thick enough (mine shown here was perfect first time).

That's was enough to frost 6 cupcakes with a little left over.

I split the buttercream into two batches and coloured one lot yellow and the other lot green. An oreo went on top of  the green buttercream before three layers of petals were piped on.

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com - August 2012

Blueberry Financiers - Pretty Little French Almond Teacakes

If you have never before eaten a financier, you don't know what you are missing !

These are actually quite simple to make. They have a shocking amount of butter, which when browned, makes them very luxurious with a rich nutty taste. Highly calorific too I'm afraid .... that's the bad bit.

For these financiers, I used our 12 cell sponge finger silicone bakeware mould.

I sprayed the inside with a little cake release spray and rubbed it in to the corners before pouring in the batter

Recipe

70g ground almonds

105g icing sugar

35g flour

92g of salted butter - that way I needn't bother adding salt !

92g of egg whites (that worked out exactly on 3 eggs)

1/2 tsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp of vanilla extract

small double handful of fresh blueberries

Preheat fan oven to 230deg C

Brown the butter to a nut brown.

Sift the dry ingredients together and mix in the egg whites and vanilla. I used an electric hand held mixer. Add the hot butter, mixing in quickly followed by the blueberries in the last few strokes.

Cook in the oven for 5 mins, then turn down the heat to 200deg C. Cook for a further 5 mins. Turn the oven off and leave for 4 mins more before removing from the oven.

I dusted the tops with some icing sugar as soon as they came out the oven for some nice sugary tops.

Allow to cool until about hand hot before releasing from the moulds.

These are actually best served the next day. They seem to mature when left overnight

Happy Baking !

Sarah-Jane Nash - July 2012 - www.siliconemoulds.com - silicone bakeware molds / moulds

Coconut Macaroons (NOT Macarons !) - The Cookie Type

Not to be confused with Macarons....

Both are truly delightful - but in very different ways.

Macaroons are kind of coconut heaps. Crispy on the outside and still soft on the inside. Rustic looking Childs play to make. Make these and I promise you, they'll stay in your recipe book forever and ever and ever.

Macarons are made with ground almonds and are a meringue like shell which is crisp on the outside, but chewy when you bite in. Typically filled with some kind of buttercream or ganache. Known for being pretty, petite, daunting to make and easy to ruin - and often really bright colours. Actually - they aren't that bad ! I've got loads of recipes on this blog.

Recipe

225 > 250g dessicated coconut

175g caster sugar

2 large egg whites

75g milk chocolate

75g plain chocolate

zest of 1/2 a lemon, finely grated

Whip the egg whites with the sugar to combine. They won't fluff up - but will look a bit foamy.

Combine the 200g of dessicated coconut. Add enough to combine with the egg whites until it looks dry and holds together when you squish it in your hands. I needed 240g this time.

Form into semi-flattened balls. This batch made nine macaroons.

Bake in a fan oven at appxo 160deg C (180deg C for normal ovens ) for 10 > 12 minutes until golden. Allow to cool.

Once cool, remove from the silicone sheet.

Melt the milk and plain chocolates together. I use half and half as good plain chocolate is too bitter for my taste, but milk can make them a bit overly sweet.

Dip the bases in the chocolate and leave them sat upside down until the chocolate hardens. Drizzle or pipe some more chocolate over the top and if desired top with a glace cherry.

These keep well in an air tight container for several days.

It's been a busy couple of months and I'm very behind in blogging. Ironically, I'm blogging my new stuff just done before the other things I've photographed and not shown you yet - so things may get a little out of season shortly !

Here is Oliver 15/4/12 with his new training bike.

No pedals - it's to promote balance and no need for stabilisers. He was whizzing around on it with his feet off the floor inside a few minutes. Despite the sunshine, it was bitterly cold and a very windy day !

Having Fun With Simple Cake Pops !

I've got a lot of blog catching up to do !

The last few weeks have been really tough with a horrendous work load, but finally the new website at www.siliconemoulds.com is live. It went online yesterday afternoon.

Though not yet complete, it's functional and up and running with a lot of new features. I need to continue to work on it, so missing images etc will be appearing over the course of the next week or so as I get them all added. Once it's completed, I can then start to add some more new stuff which I might decide to tease you all with on the blog first.

Well - I decided to have a play at some cake pops a few weeks ago. Actually - I couldn't have told you HOW long ago it was until I took a look at the youtube upload date - so I can only guess it was around 3rd March.

I used this silicone bakeware mould - our 15 cell semi sphere which is only £4.25 and will easily roll up and store in a kitchen drawer.

My intention had been to made a standard sponge mix ( 175g each of butter, self raising flour, sugar and 3 whole eggs), but I'd made macarons a day or so before and had 5 yolks sitting in the fridge. Instead, I used 1 whole egg  plus 5 yolks and some milk to loosen it up a bit.

Worked really well and made a really rich cake.

Typically, it was a project I STARTED at almost 3am, and also created a dodgy YouTube video of the process which you can view further down.

Just the thing for two little friends on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Oliver and Zach adored these ones with coloured chocolate beans. I'd taken a plain coated cake pop and stuck the beans on with little dots of extra candy melt. Made for enormous cake pops and took them an eternity to pick (and eat) all those chocolate beans !

A very late night making cake pops at an unsociable hour made every minute worthwhile when these two got their hands on the goodies. There was a lot of excitement and shrieking !

Hmm - you get the idea. It worked really well, but the lighting was dire with these low energy lightbulbs and videoing yourself never works very well ....

Sarah-Jane Nash - www.siliconemoulds.com