Black Marshmallow Fondant vs. FondArt

I was at a cake supply store buying some things I needed to make my daughters Lil'panda cake and spotted a 2 lb pouch of Albert Uster's FondArt Black Fondant and thought I would give it a try.  I've been making my own fondant for a couple years and it doesn't hurt to try something new and different for a change.

To my surprise, the FondArt Fondant was more of a very dark, green.  It looked black from a distance and under different lighting but up close and right next to my homemade black marshmallow fondant, it looked green.

FondArt Black Fondant (left) vs. Homemade Black Marshmallow Fondant (right)

I'm sticking to my homemade black marshmallow fondant - not only does it look black but it tastes like a chocolate tootsie roll too.  Yummy!

I did mix them together to cover the cake with.  Workability was great, texture was great, color and taste were better once mixed with MMF.  Used alone, I don't know, haven't tried it that way yet.

Tip:  When making black royal icing or buttercream, it always look a bit on the green side or a deep gray at first.  Add a tiny drop of burgundy coloring to it and let it sit overnight and it'll darken and deepen as it rests.  For MMF, chocolate chips are already a little brown so there's no need to add the burgundy to it.

If you want to know how I make dark colored marshmallow fondant (MMF), use my recipe HERE (for tips, visit my Marshmallow Fondant MMF Recipe page).  It's super easy.  You can make any color you like; red, green, blue, and even white if you want.  For black, don't fret if you can't find black candy melts.  I prefer using regular, semi-sweet chocolate chips to make black MMF.  Using candy melts or chocolate to color your MMF with works like a charm.  Give it try.

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

This is a change from cake decorating, but I wanted to share with you one of our favorite cookie recipes.  We eat quite a bit of Oatmeal Cookies and I make them almost weekly.  This one is the perfect recipe to use up those really dark, well ripened banana's.

So when life gives you some really ripe banana's, bake them into some delicious Oatmeal Cookies...they are so melt-in-your-mouth delicious!  And also a perfect little snack or a quick breakfast bite to grab on the go.

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
approximately 30 cookies  (adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies)

1 Cup Bleached All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup (packed) Light Brown Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Mashed, Banana's (approx. 2 large banana's but you can add only 1/2 cup if preferred)
1 Cup Old Fashioned Rolled Oats/Oatmeal
8 oz. Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts (or pecans), toasted

1) Preheat oven 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper

2) Spread out the Walnuts in a single layer over the cookie sheet and toast them in the oven for about 2-3 minutes.  Remove and cool completely.  I like to use walnut halves and break them down by hand for chunkier pieces once they're toasted. Toasting the walnuts gives them a really nice flavor but it's completely optional.

3) In a bowl, mix together the Flours, Salt, and Baking Soda

4) In a separate mixing bowl, beat the butter until fluffy, add the sugar and continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).  Reduce the speed to low, add the egg and vanilla, and mix until just combined.  Add in the mashed banana and mix for about 30 seconds.  By hand and with a wooden spoon or spatula, add the flour mixture and lightly mix it together.  Add the walnuts, oatmeal and chocolate chips, fold it all in until just combined.

4a)  We like our cookies fat so I chill the batter for at least 1 hour in the fridge or 1/2 hour in the freezer before baking.  You can store it in the fridge for a couple days or in the freezer for a few months and bake a few cookies at a time.  If you don't chill the batter, the cookies will spread out thinly when baked.

5)  When ready to bake, scoop out about 1 tbsp full of batter and place it on the cookie sheet 2 inches apart.  Bake them for 12 minutes or until golden brown around the edges, let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes (they will continue to cook) then move them over to a wire rack to completely cool down.

If they don't all get eaten up right away, you can store the cookies in an airtight container for no more than 2 days (these cookies are really moist and will soften up while stored).

Enjoy!

How to Make Modeling Chocolate

Modeling Chocolate (Candy Clay)

I have started to work with modeling chocolate quite a bit recently and I'm loving the texture and workability it has.  It's great for covering rice crispy treats up with and filling in all the grooves giving you a smooth surface to work with and perfect to making modeled figures with - seams are easily blended away and it dries instantly so no down time in building up a sculptured piece.  Here are photo's of the step by step to making modeling chocolate using Wilton White Candy Melts (I know, it's not really chocolate but the candy melts works marvelously - no worrying about tempering the chocolate correctly)....

Recipe Ratio:
16 oz Candy Melts (weighed)
3 oz Light Corn Syrup (4.5 oz weighed)

Line a tray with wax paper

Measure or weigh out the ingredients
(I used about 6 oz of candy melts to a little over 1oz syrup here)

Melt the chocolate
(In the microwave in 30 sec increments stirring in between until melted) 

Add the Light Corn Syrup

Note:  Once the corn syrup is added, do not stir too much.  It should only take about 4-5 stirs around the bowl before it comes together.  I usually stir once around folding the candy melts over the corn syrup.  Wait for about 4-5 seconds and give it one more stir folding the chocolate over.  Repeat for about 1-2 more times before it all comes together and that's it.  Don't worry about completely blending it all in, you will be kneading the whole thing together later and can blend everything in then.

The corn syrup reacts with the chocolate and siezes it a little - give it time, be patient and avoid overstirring or else the cocoa butter (when using real chocolate) separates and you get a very greasy ball of modeling chocolate.

Fold #1:  Fold the Chocolate over the corn syrup going around the bowl once

Fold #2:  Wait 4-5 seconds and go around the bowl a 2nd time folding the chocolate over

Fold #4-5:  Now it's ready.  It looks and feels like thick batter or like soft dough

Scrape the bowl clean and place the modeling chocolate over a piece of wax paper

Note:  I've noticed that with using wax paper, it helps absorb any grease and dries out the modeling chocolate perfectly.

Using the spatula, spread the modeling chocolate over the wax paper.

Add another layer of wax paper over it and smooth out flat & let it sit overnight
(I throw a dish cloth over this and let it sit on the kitchen counter  to set)

Peel the wax paper off, break off small pieces and knead it all together.

Your modeling chocolate is now ready to use.  If you want to color it, you can add it now and knead it in or use colored candy melts.  I've used Chef Master, Wilton and AmeriColors to color the modeling chocolate with and they all work well.  If you work the chocolate too much, it will get really soft and melt a bit so just put it down for a minute to cool and set before working it some more.

PS - You can also do a 50/50 mix of modeling chocolate with MMF to do figures or flowers with.  The fondant makes the modeling chocolate a little bit stiffer - the possibilities are endless.

Here are some of the things I've made with modeling chocolate:

Barney, Baby Bop, BJ, Standing #1

Woody and Jessie from Toy Story

Korean Hanbok Dol Cake Topper

Kai-Lan and Yeye Cake Topper

Head Cakes:  Toothless (left), Harry Potter (middle), Pokemon Haunter (right)

Korean Hanbok Dol Cake

A very cute cake for such a cutie, Olivia.  My cousins best friend's daughter was turning 1 and celebrating it with a traditional Korean 1st Birthday Party.  The mom asked for a figurine of her daughter, Olivia over a 6-inch cake while my cousin baked the cupcakes to go with them.  She sent me a couple pictures of Olivia's outfit, a traditional Hanbok dress and hat in silk with flowers and butterflies.

3 inch tall Hanbok Dol Figurine (modeling Chocolate)

Olivia's Hanbok Dress, close up of details on sleeve and Hanbok Hat

I made the figurine out of modeling chocolate and she stands at 3 inches tall.  Some of the details were added in MMF and some in modeling chocolate.   The flowers on her shirt and sleeves were painted in with gel colors and the skirt was dusted in red luster dust to look like silk.

I used a 6 inch popsicle stick and stuck half of it into a 6-inch cake dummy to help with getting the sizing correct then built up the dress to look like the outfit in the photo.

Making the stripes for the sides of the cake to match the ones on the sleeves

The cake was sectioned off with 3 sets of stripes that matched the ones on her sleeves.  I made the stripes separately by color attaching them side by side with a little bit of water over a flat surface.  I then cut each set of stripes down to the height of the cake and attached them to the side of the cake - repeating the pattern 3 times around.

6 inch IMBC covered cake (upside down method)

To get the tall, straight sides with IMBC (ganache or BC), I use the upside down method and you can find more info about it here:

- Baptism Cake (square and round cake covered in IMBC including more links to other posts)

In between each set of stripes, I added butterflies, vines, and flowers to match the ones on her shirt and hat.  The butterflies were made using a PME Plunger and dusted/painted with various colors of petal dust and luster dust.  The blossoms were made using various blossom cutters.  The red/white flower was made using 3 different sized scalloped circle cutters - a larger one for the back petal, 2 medium circles for the middle, and 2 small ones for the bottom that are curling over (a left petal and a right petal).  With no professional flower making knowledge, I improvised and came up with my own interpretation of the flower and painted the petals with gel colors in white and red - they matched the ones on the dress perfectly!

photo courtesy of Stacy C.

Since my cousin was baking 3 dozen cupcakes and to have them match the cake, we got together a few days before and with their help, we made just over 5 dozen butterflies and 5 dozen blossoms.  They were used to top 3 dozen cupcakes with and displayed next to the Cake...Gluten Free Banana Cake with Cream Cheese IMBC. 

Cream Cheese IMBC:  I used my basic recipe for IMBC found here (under the Music Themed 80th Birthday Cake post) but added 1/2 dram of Cream Cheese LorAnn Oil to it.  For the filling, I beat some cream cheese until light and fluffy then mixed some IMBC into it.   I got the recipe idea from Jennifer, www.fromscratchsf.wordpress.com.  She also shared some really nice tips about making SMBC that you can also apply to making IMBC - I used her method at the very end with adding the butter in with the mixer on VERY LOW and it turned out perfect and was so much faster - I'll be doing this from now on!  See links below...

- Jennifer Bratko's SMBC Recipe and tips

- Jennifer Bratko's Cream Cheese SMBC Recipe

Mini Pastries - Cranberry Pecan Pies & Shortbread Cookies

I decided to make something different for the holidays and baked up these super cute, bite-sized treats for a Christmas Eve dinner with family.  I got the idea from another wonderful blog, Created by Diane.

Shortbread Cookies with Jam:
1 Cup (8oz) Unsalted Butter, Softened
1/2 Cup (113g) Granulated Sugar
2 1/2 Cups (300g) Unbleached All Purpose Flour

Mini Cupcake Mold
Mini Cupcake Liners (optional)

Powdered Sugar for dusting
Jam - either Raspberry, Strawberry, or any to your liking

Cream butter and sugar together, add the flour and mix with your hands until it comes together.  Chill the dough for a few minutes to cool down.

Scoop out about 3 teaspoons of the dough into each mini cupcake pan and gently press it down to create a well in the middle for the jam to sit in after baking.  As Diane mentioned, if you don't use the liners, you don't need to grease the pan either.  I got 30 pieces made with this recipe.

Bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes.

Once cooled, pop them out, dust them with a little bit of powdered sugar and drop a 1/2 teaspoon of jam in the middle.  I made half of them with raspberry jam and the other half with strawberry.  Super easy, super cute, and just the perfect bite to go with a nice cup of tea....absolutely lovely!

For the Mini Cranberry Pecan Pies, Diane's recipe called for Southern Comfort and in the midst of the pre-Christmas shopping chaos and 3 stores later, I had no luck in finding it.  So instead, I used Whisky.

The recipe is slightly modified from Diane's and it made 24 mini tarts.

Mini Cranberry Pecan Pies:

For the crust:
1 1/2 Cups Honey Graham Crackers, crushed
7 Tbs Unsalted, Softened Butter
1/4 C Granulated Sugar
Mix the crust ingredients all together then scoop out about 3 tablespoons of the mix into each mini cupcake mold pressing it down evenly and up on the sides to form a nice crust.

For the filling:

1 1/4 Cup Toasted and Chopped Pecans

1 1/4 Cup Fresh Cranberries

1/2 Cup Light Corn Syrup

Mix all together - so pretty!

For the roux:
1/3 C Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1/2 C Whisky (I used Chivas Regal Scotch Whisky)
3/4 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
Combine the flour, cinnamon and Whisky together then add it to the cranberry mix and stir.

Fill each mini tart shell with the Cranberry Pecan mixture, pile it high, really high since it will settle down and the cranberries will cook down.  I made 24 pieces with this recipe.

Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes.  Once cooled, remove and plate - Now these were remarkably delicious!  Just the perfect amount of tartness from the cranberries and sweetness from everything else - I could have eaten the entire batch!

I'll be making these again soon!

Toy Story Cake and Cupcakes

I loved making this cake!  7 Toy Story characters:  Woody, Jessie, Mr. Potato Head, Slinky the Dog, Buttercup the Unicorn, Ham the Piggy Bank, and Rex the Dinosaur.  Plus, 2 dozen assorted cupcake toppers, 2 cubes with their ages on it, a wood grained board, a name banner, a bracelet, and Happy Birthday piped in the Walt Disney font...phew!

Woody's and Jessie's head and torso were modeled using RKT (Rice Krispy Treats) and the recipe I used can be found here under the Barney and Friends Cake as well as under the How to Make Modeling Chocolate post.  They were then covered in modeling chocolate and molded into shape by hand.  Modeling chocolate works wonderfully in filling in all the grooves and creveses from the RKT and at the same time, gives you a smooth surface and easy surface to mold and model.

 

The bodies were covered in modeling chocolate then decorated with MMF mixed with Tylose.  The stripes on Woody's shirt were painted with gel paste food color mixed with almond extract (you can use vodka).  I used bamboo skewers down the body and into the dummy to dry (and into the cake later) to help support them in place.

 

Woody's boots were hand molded (I made it up as I did them trying to find a way to make them light weight since they were going to be attached to the side of the cake...They turned out and worked perfectly).  Woody's legs slid right into the boots and I used clear piping gel to attach it to the legs and up against the cake.

I also made 24 Cupcake Toppers using a 1.5" round biscuit cutter.  These were done 3 days prior to allow plenty of time to dry hard.

Made Mr. Potato Head piece by piece with MMF mixed with Tylose...same thing with each of the other characters.

Covered the board with MMF.  I marbled MMF in different shades of tan and brown then cut it out into 3" wide panels and laid them side by side to look like a wooden floor.  Once it was all dried, I dusted it with Dogwood Brown Petal Dust to give it more depth which you can see in the final photo below in the assembled cake.  I also have another post about wood panels named, Wine Bottle in a Crate Cake.

 

The red tier is a RKT rather than a cake since they originally didn't need much cake (4 days before the due date, we added 2 dozen additional cupcakes and I just kept the top tier as a RKT).  The top tier is also covered in Red MMF made with candy melts.  See post called, Red Marshmallow Fondant.

I was not happy with how the blue MMF on the bottom tier turned out.  It was very humid and the pieces were rather heavy.  I had covered the cake and let it sit for about 4 hours before decorating it but it was still really soft and the decorations stretched the MMF and made it look saggy and wrinkly - I had never had this happen before and was really bummed out (the back of the cake looked perfect).  Luckily the cubes were placed on either side of Mr. Potato Head and helped to disguise it a little bit.  The cubes were made with RKT and covered also in modeling chocolate.

The cake was a 9" round Chocolate/Vanilla marbled Sour Cream Cake filled with Oreo Buttercream.  The top tier was a 6" round RKT.  Chocolate and Vanilla cupcakes were topped with Oreo Buttercream.


Recipe:  Oreo Buttercream is one of my favorite.  Just take Oreo Cookies, scrape off the cream center and crumble the cookie in a food processor (the more cookies you use the stronger the flavor).  Fold into your buttercream or IMBC/SMBC, spread and enjoy!

Tip:  I also crumb coat the entire cake with the Oreo Cookie Buttercream then add a final layer of plain buttercream over it (as you can see in the photo above) so that any crumbs of the cookie won't show through the MMF - you don't have to worry about any "chunks" showing through.  For tips and photo's on how to get the tall, straight sides and really flat tops, see my post named, Covering a Cake in Ganache.  I use this same technique with buttercream, IMBC, and ganache.