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

Butterfly Cupcakes in Edible Wrappers (Using Chocolate Transfers)

I've not done much baking recently and the blog has got rather out of date. The weather has been really humid and it's been too hot to want to bake out of choice even in the evenings. Saying that, I've still got some backlogged things that were photographed a few weeks ago yet to go on the blog !

This week, we've got a nice selection of chocolate transfer sheets come into stock and of course, I HAD to play with some. The range we have available will be extended in the next couple of months.

You can find them here. Chocolate transfer sheets are such good fun :-)

I decided to make some cupcake wrappers using chocolate transfer sheets.  Chocolate transfer sheets are basically an edible buttercream coating on a plastic backing sheet. Simply spread on your tempered chocolate (see blog post here about tempering)

I used a cupcake wrapper as a template, taped on to a transfer sheet and cut the transfer sheet to size, leaving a few mm extra as an overlap. If you don't have any, use google - stack of printable templates out there.

Have some cupcake wrappers made up ready - as if to accept a cake.Spread your chocolate over the cut out chocolate transfer sheet. As soon as the chocolate is starting to crystalise  - but still soft and flexible - (taking on a slightly matt finish), carefully lift the transfer piece and pop it inside a cupcake wrapper. The cupcake wrapper will hold it in position until it sets. Pop in the fridge for about 15 minutes to properly harden.

When ready to use, remove the plastic backing film. The transfer will now be on the chocolate wrapper. Pop a freshly baked and totally cooled cupcake (without paper case on !) inside your chocolate wrapper, then frost as normal with buttercream.

These chocolate cakes shown are made using my FAVOURITE chocolate cake recipe and you can find it here

The chocolate butterflies were made by piping tempered chocolate over a hand drawn butterfly pattern. I did each wing separate. Once hardened, prop up one wing against the other and join by piping a couple of lines of chocolate between the two. 

Easy and quick decorations that taste great too :-)

Spent a lovely afternoon with my friend Victoria today doing some chocolate making whilst out kids had great fun playing and dressing up and then demolishing what we made.

Here is Emma dressed as a mermaid and Oliver as a ballerina popstar doctor !

The terrible twosome checking the fridge to see if the chocolate dinosaurs are ready yet.....

Did I say DINOSAURS ? Yes - we've got a whole new collection of silicone chocolate moulds about to launch in the next two weeks which have been designed by yours truly. Look out for my next blog entry for some sneak previews.

Have a great weekend

Sarah-Jane Nash, www.siliconemoulds.com   7th July 2012

White Chocolate and Lemon Layer Cake - Clandestine Cake Club

Last night (25th June) was my first Clandestine Cake Club meeting. It's been highly publicised in the UK over the last few months. The club was founded by Lynn Hill in 2010 and there are now clubs in several countries.

 Basically, it's a cake club where members meet at a location only disclosed just before the date to share bountiful amounts of cake. Each member takes a cake to share - it can't be cupcakes, or brownies, pies or tarts. It has to be a "proper" cake. What's left, everyone shares to take home.

I made the white chocolate and lemon layer cake pictured above That meant that last night it was cake for dinner. JUST CAKE. I think I managed about 3 pieces !

All in, there were around 18 cakes on the table and about 25 people (members and guests) present. I got quite a number of photos - but unfortunately not photos of everything. Quite and achievement by Beccy the new area organiser.

What cake is left over, gets divided up, shared out and taken home. 

Oliver had cake for breakfast. During the day at work for cake there was lunch too. Oops ! I think my brain is in cake over-ride. There was STILL cake left over and it got passed on to another company near by..

By the time I show you the photos I do have, I think this could be a really long post !

The theme was Jubilee - something traditional, something sparkly or something red, white and blue.

Lucy made this lovely maple and pecan cake. I'd love her recipe. Just the right amount of nuts and the classic maple hit without being too overpowering.

Frances made a Victoria Sponge, topped with a flag of berries. Can you BELIEVE that this is the first cake she's ever baked ? Very well done.

Penmy made this enormous meringue cake. It was massive and very impressive to look at. The outside was meringue, inside was cake. I'm sad to say - I don't think I tried this one.

Beccy's Raspberry Ripple Layer Cake .

I brought a bit of that back. Richard in the office ate it. Looked yummy !

They all looked scrummy- was impossible to get round for a close look at everything ! This photo is the other end of the table. I can see (clockwise) carrot cake top left, followed by raspberry ripple, cherry and coconut, layer cake of some description that was red, white and blue inside, something with raspberries, blueberries and cream cheese frosting and mine...

This was a sponge cake made a bit like a Battenburg, but so that it sliced like a Union Jack flag inside. Looked really tricky to assemble. Sliced it looked really fancy ! Oliver was right to the box in the fridge this am and picked this out for breakfast. I'd brought home a full width slice of this AND the flag.

Ssssh - don't tell. I know cake isn't meant for breakfast - but as a one off occasion, why not.

This is the other end of the table... and there photos were whilst people and cakes were still arriving ! Nothing had been cut at this point.

I can spot lemon drizzle cake at 11 o'clock and I think that's banana cake top right. Somewhere, there was a chocolate cola cake too.

RECIPE FOR MY CAKE

I used the same recipe as I did in October for Oliver's rainbow cake, but instead split it into 3 layers rather than 6 layers.

225g salted butter

400g caster sugar

5 egg whites

2tsp vanilla extract

400g self raising flour (sifted)

30g cornflour

350g luke warm milk

Weigh your mixing bowl.

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg whites followed by some of the flours, then some milk, more flour, more milk and vanilla until all incorporated.

Divide the mix equally into 3 bowls. 

Add a lots of gel paste food colouring to each until a very vibrant colour is achieved. I used yellow for two layers and left one layer white.

When you are finished, allow a little helper to scrape out the bowl !

Butter and flour (or grease and line) an 8" diameter silicone baking mould or standard tin for each bowl of mix. I made two cakes at a time. These cooked at 170deg C fan for about 13 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

For the filling, I made up some buttercream from salted butter, icing sugar and homemade lemon curd, with a couple of tablespoons of boiling water. Sorry - I didn't weigh it out !

This was mine with the layers stacked, filled and in the process of being buttercream coated.. Still had a bit of smoothing out to do.

The band round the cake is made from white chocolate on chocolate transfer sheets - pretty and 100% edible.

The chocolate transfer comes on an acetate sheet - about A4 size. Cut it to the size you require. I needed a really long band to go right round my cake, so had to match up the design and tape the join on the reverse with sticky tape.

You'll see there was a little bit of damage to this chocolate sheet which is why I had never got round to using it previously. It WAS just a tiny bit at the bottom though, and was so minor that it really wasn't noticable at the bottom of the cake. Unfortunately, I did not have enough sheeting to be able to discard that bit entirely...

The good news is that we'll be stocking chocolate transfer sheets in the very near future - in a variety of designs !

Turn your sheet so that the smooth side is down / textured side with the print on is facing up.

Spread over tempered chocolate. When you've smoothed it out and are happy with it, slide a knife blade underneath it and carefully move the transfer to a clear and clean piece of workspace. This gets rid of all the excess chocolate that is over the sides of the sheet. Wait a couple / few minutes until it is just beginning to set / turn matt finish and whilst still soft but not wet, wrap it round your cake.

I'll warn you - the bigger the piece, the more awkward to work with !

Pop the cake into the fridge for about 10 minutes to allow the chocolate to fully harden. When you remove it, peel off the acetate sheet to leave the chocolate with printed design.

I decorated mine on top with white chocolate shavings and handmade white chocolate roses.

Happy Baking !

Rhubarb and Orange Sorbet

My neighbour kindly passed me some rhubarb over the garden fence a couple of days ago.

I do love rhubarb. It makes awesome crumbles and jams and I also love it roasted or stewed alongside greek yoghurt. The last couple of days finally the weather has started to get a bit warmer. It's humid and over cast and trying to rain - I don't think it will be too long before we get a thunderstorm.

It's been a rather wet summer - could do with a little less rain so the local farmers can get their hay crops in.

Anyway, I decided to have a go with the ice cream machine attachment that came with my new KitchenAid mixer. There is a recipe book that comes with it which has a few basic recipes for ice creams and sorbets. Using it as a guide, I came up with this recipe of my own

500g rhubarb

90ml water

zest of an orange

300ml of stock syrup*

Put these three items in a pan and simmer with the lid on until soft and pulpy.

Remove the zest pieces and then strain the juices from the pulp using a sieve.

To the resulting juice, add the juice of a fresh orange, to take the volume to 450ml and then add 300ml of stock syrup. Allow to cool and then refrigerate overnight until nice and cold.

*to make the stock syrup, boil 200g of sugar and 200g of water together for 5 minutes and allow to cool.

Remove your ice cream drum from the freezer - this needs to be in your freezer for at least 15 hours before use.

Fit to the mixer and turn on to the lowest setting. Slowly pour in your rhubarb and orange mix. It needs to churn for around 20 minutes. It will be a bit on the soft side.

Transfer into a plastic 2litre tub or into cells of a silicone bakeware mould and freeze for at least 3 hours or until required.

Serve and eat immediately !

 Sarah-Jane - www.siliconemoulds.com

Nacho Baked Chicken Breast and Salsa Salad

It's not often I blog about normal meals - generally just about baking ! 

However, this looked so bright and summery I thought I would share it - even if the photo wasn't so good.

I was rather bored with chicken and decided to oomph it up a bit for an evening meal.

Ingredients

chicken breast fillets

chorizo

cheese

Tortilla chips (I used Cheesy Doritios)

egg

for the salsa salad

cherry tomatoes 

a red onion

a green bell pepper

some salt

chilli oil

a lime

First of all , put the cheese and chorizo on top of the chicken breasts. Add some jalapenos if you like.

Smash up (in a plastic bag) 1 good big handfull of tortilla chips per person

Dip the bottom of the chicken breast in some beaten egg and then onto the bashed up tortillas. Brush some beaten egg over the top and cover with more bashed up tortilla chips.

Put on a baking tray and bake at about 180deg C fan oven for 25 mins.

Serve with a salsa salad of green bell pepper, red onion and cherry tomatoes dressed with chilli oil and lime on the side. 

Easy Peasy !

Hot Chocolate with Cinnamon / Chocolate / Vanilla Marshmallows and Chocolate Spoons

Typically, I'm cooking out of season. Then again, my entire world revolves backwards. The best working time of day for me is about 10pm until 4am. I get a lot of email done at home and it's also the quiet time for doing website work and prototyping for new silicone bakeware mould development.

Despite getting up around 7.45am, I'm practically dead to the world until just after 10am. I have a couple of quality hours with Oliver and then it's off to work again (though in the office this time rather than my desk at home) when I drop him off at nursery at noon. I collect Oliver again at 6pm, tend to the horses and chickens... get dinner ready, family fed.... sometimes doze for an hour.

It's that time of night once everyone else is in bed, that I like to get creative in the kitchen (if time allows). Am I the only one that makes marshmallows at 2am ?

I made my marshmallows in two different silicone moulds. I used a Tray Bake Swiss rectangular silicone bakeware mould and I also used this floral and fancy silicone mold - which is ideal for tiny cakelets and large filled chocolates.

Marshmallow is THE stickiest stuff ever. Lightly (but thoroughly - don't miss any bits !) oil the inside of your silicone mould before use. Alternatively, you can use cake release spray.  You don't need much - just enough to give a film coating. Too much and the oil will pool on the inside. If you over do it, remove any excess with DO NOT dust the inside with cornflour / icing sugar. Trust me - for this, it's easier if you don't

RECIPE

Adapted from River Cottage

2 egg whites

500g white granulated sugar

25g gelatine granules (or 2 sachets Dr Oeteker brand)

1/3 cup of cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

cake release spray - or a tiny amount of flavourless oil
1tsp ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons each of icing sugar, cornflour and cocoa powder, sifted together

Soak the gelatine granules in 125mls of cold water.

Put the 500g of granulated sugar and 250g . Bring to the boil When temperature reaches 110deg C, put the egg whites in a stand mixer and whisk to stiff peak.

When the sugar syrup reaches 125deg C, take off the heat. Stir in gelatine granules.

With mixer set to low speed, slowly pour in the sugar syrup / gelatine mixture. Once incorporated, add the cocoa powder, vanilla and cinnamon. Turn back up to full speed and whisk until cooled and thickened (though still pourable) - approx 7 to 8 mins.

Pour into your moulds and allow to set for a few hours. DO NOT refrigerate.

On removing from the moulds, cut into pieces, roll in the cornflour / icing sugar cocoa mix and store in a tupperware box. These keep nicely for about 3 days (if they last that long !)

Serve a handful on top of piping hot chocolate with a Belgian Chocolate spoon or two !

This is a new registered mould design by Sarah-Jane Nash and will be available from the end of July.

Sunday 17th June 2012 - Father's Day in the UK.

After visiting the Transport Museum near Lowestoft and having loads of rides on Trams, Trolley Buses and a little train, we all went a walk to Somerleyton Windmill .....

Oliver and Steve took photos and watched the sun go down. I took the photos of them on this blog entry with my mobile.

Once they were finished, we went to the pub at Reedham Ferry for a meal before heading home with a very tired but sleepy little boy.

Happy Father's Day to all the UK daddies !

Reflecting on Raspberry Macarons.....

This batch of raspberry macarons surprised me. They didn't behave the way I thought they would...

I've read so many times in various books that fruit juice can only be incorporated into macaron shells if in powdered form. I once decided to try making the syrup with apple juice rather than water. My batch was a flop ... cakey type shells that were very very cracked and distorted. I only ever had that one go to incorporate fruit juice and then gave up.

More recently, I actually found fruit juice powder (freeze dried raspberry, mango and pomegranate) and thought I'd have a go incorporating it into macaron shells.

Well..... I used a 1/4 cup / 60ml dry measure of the raspberry powder and incorporated this into my macaronage. The mixture had a lovely pale pink hue. I guessed if I baked it at a lower temperature than normal, I should be able to preserve the beautiful pale pink colour without the need for food colouring.

I GUESSED WRONG.

On opening the oven door, all I could do was STARE. The shiny smooth shells in front of me were not at all as I had imaged .... They'd turned out a caramel / toffee colour !!! 

Had I baked chocolate macarons or toffee .... or coffee - I'd have been as happy as a pig in mud BUT raspberry macarons just don't look right that colour !

Don't get me wrong, they smelled like raspberry and tasted like raspberry, they just didn't look raspberry. My attempts at salvation were in decoration. A (new) artists brush dipped in a little gel paste colouring with a couple of drops of alcohol allowed me to brush a pretty pattern on the tops and I filled the centres with some buttercream with added powdered raspberry juice. I don't know. They tasted good - but the macaron purist in me says they still aren't raspberry. I'll let you decide. The recipe is below.

200g ground almonds

200g icing sugar

2 x 90g egg whites

60g raspberry juice powder 

200g caster sugar

80g water

Blitz the ground almonds and icing sugar together until a very fine power. 

Put the ground almonds, icing sugar, raspberry powder and one lot of egg whites in a bowl. Mix to combine.

Boil the caster sugar and water until a temperature of 110deg C is reached. At this point, start whipping the whites to stiff peak. At 118deg C, remove the syrup from the heat. Slowly add it to the second batch of egg whites whilst beating at high speed.

When cooled, add to the sugar / almond / raspberry juice paste mix and fold in.

Pipe on to a Revolutionary Double Sided Macaron Mat. This volume did 50 of the large shells (25 large 2" / 50mm ) macarons and about 20 or so on the small side. Bake at 160deg C with the door open for 5 minutes, then a further 20mins with the door closed.

Wait until fully cooled before removing from mat. Fill with normal buttercream, with raspberry juice powder added to taste.

For full instructions on making macarons, see my YOUTUBE TUTORIAL

These photos were simply taken on a mirror in the garden, so the blue background is the sky.

Sarah-Jane Nash., June 2010 - www.siliconemoulds.com