Cookies for Easter

It's that time of the year again when I get to bake these cookies....

Before baking

Even if I've made them in different moulds many times now, the outcome never ceases to fascinate me! The details are just amazing!

After baking

Springerle cookies differ from most cookies as it uses baker's ammonia as the leavening agent.  (Baker's ammonia was the primary leavening agent used before baking soda and baking powder came to being. ) They have to be air-dried for about 24 hours before baking in order to keep the integrity of their design and are baked at quite a low temperature, resulting in a white cookie.  They are soft and cakey, rather than crisp or crunchy. They are traditionally flavoured with anise but since I don't like anise, I use vanilla extract as flavouring instead.

Springerle moulds are quite expensive and hard to find here in Australia. I have 7 of them now but I bought them one at a time over the course of three years 😉. I only make these cookies for special occasions like Christmas and Easter.

Last October, when two of my kids flew to the US to attend their cousin's wedding in NY, I sent over these...

I made sure I packed the cookies really, really well so they would make it to the US intact! Thankfully, they did!

Last Christmas season, I sent another batch overseas, this time to my family in the Philippines.  My brother, who also lives here in Melbourne, went home for another brother's 60th birthday.

If you would like to learn how to make springerle cookies, HERE is where I learned to make them from.  You can find a lot of moulds online especially in the US.  One of my favourite shops to get them from is this Etsy shop. In Australia, I found some here. I hope you will be encouraged to try them!

I wish you all a blessed and meaningful Holy Week. May you experience Christ's glorious Resurrection and be filled with true Easter Joy all the days of your life!



PS.  I have listed another four "Cakes from the Heart" softcover books in my Etsy.  As these copies were printed before the error on the Yema Cake page was discovered, I will be sending the corrected PDF along with the book. Anyone interested, just head on over to my shop!

Sneak peek (or not)

Where has all the time gone? In just 5 months, my grandson Lachlan will already be 2 years old!  It hasn't even been that long since I shared about his existence here! He is my world these days and everything I do seems to revolve around him. When he is with me (which is a LOT), I can't do anything much that doesn't involve him and I have had to adjust my own life according to his schedule. It is much like being a first time mother all over again! It has been a great challenge but I am not complaining.  I am happy!

When Lachlan is not with me, that is when I squeeze in my baking. I try to finish cake orders first. If by some miracle, I still have the time (and will) to do some experimenting then that is a huge bonus! Today, for instance, Lachlan is at daycare.  Guess what I am having for lunch? Cake 🙅!!  I made a Rocky Road cake this morning,  the recipe of which I intend to include in my "I don't know if it's ever going to get finished" second book.

It's another copycat of a Red Ribbon bakeshop cake.

Truth is, I have been making new cakes for the past several months with the same intention of putting all of them in the book. Sometimes I have to time it when there's an occasion, like this Chocolate Pistachio cake which I made for my husband's birthday last November...

Or this Biscoff (or Speculoos) cake for my sister in-law's birthday in December.

Other times I make cakes just because it makes me feel guilty not to exert more effort...

Mocha crumble cake

Coconut almond (Rafaello) cake

Chocolate mousse cake

There are still more but I am going ever so slowly with the writing and drafting 😢 And I still have this whole list of ideas for cakes to do!

I know I have been real unfaithful to this blog. But I do hope you are all still out there.  And I hope you are still willing to wait patiently for me. Motivate me, please 🙏 If you have any request for cakes that you want me to "copy", let me know! Make my list even longer 😄!

Ok that's it for now!  I have to go and clean up everything I used to make my Rocky Road cake.  I just dumped them in the sink so I can update this blog while I still can.  Till next!

Cake Decorating Tip: Buttercream polka dots

This weekend, I was coincidentally asked to make both Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse-themed birthday cakes.  These cakes were for two separate parties for two different birthday celebrants!

When thinking about this Disney pair, what comes to my mind apart from the round black ears and Minnie's big bow is the polka dots. Cutting circles from fondant would make the perfect polka dot, but since I don't use fondant anymore, I had to think of a way to make them as good with my Swiss meringue buttercream. Using buttercream usually meant that the dots would look like small mounds or would have peaks and that was not what I wanted, of course.

Let's take a closer look at my polka dots again....

Yes. that's buttercream! Perfectly flat, perfectly round.  There is a super simple way to achieve this and I'm going to teach you how!

1. First, find a polka dot template online.  There are lots of free ones you can print out.  Choose the polka dot size that suits your need.  Mine were about 1/2" circles. This is what I used.

2. Position your printout on top of a tray or board.  Cut parchment or baking paper of about the same size and place it on top of your printout.  Secure both with tape.

3. Fill a piping bag fitted with a round tip (I used a #12) with buttercream.  Using the template as a guide, pipe rounds by holding your bag straight up and just about 1/4" away from the surface.  Don't place your tip too high or your dots will be fat!  Stop squeezing when you achieve the right size then pull away.  To flatten the mounds slightly, moisten your fingertip with a little water then pat them down gently.  Pipe as many dots as you need!

4. Place your tray in the freezer and use only when your dots are completely frozen and your cake has just been frosted.

5. To remove a dot from the baking paper, gently lift it out with a small spatula or just simply peel it away carefully.

6. Turn your dot upside down to reveal the flat side!  This is your right side now.

7. Now go crazy and place your dots on your freshly frosted cake! (Note: I say "freshly frosted" because the buttercream should be soft so the dots will stick and also, so you can push them down a bit.)

Hope this cool little tip helps!

Rainbow (Colour Wheel) Chiffon Cake

I have made rainbow cakes before but never with chiffon. Unless the 6 cake layers are quite thin, I would imagine that stacking a soft and delicate chiffon cake would most likely result in the bottom layers being pressed down and squished. One alternative to doing a rainbow chiffon cake (that I have seen other bakers do) is to bake it in a single pan. The cake batter is divided into 6 and each portion coloured. The portioned batter is then carefully layered one on top of the other in the pan.  When this one cake is baked, it will already have all the rainbow colours in it!

Yesterday, during one of those rare times that I had a bit of extra free time, I thought of doing a rainbow chiffon cake but in a different way.....

Something like this basic colour wheel....

Which, translated into cake will look like this....

Pretty cool, right?

The cake above is an 8" vanilla chiffon (recipe here).  Simple enough especially if you have been making this cake over and over again like me. To do this colour wheel effect though, the process is unfortunately not as simple.  It is actually quite tedious (and there is so much washing involved!). Doing it once in a while can be quite fun though........so......if you are interested in trying it, here's what you need to do.

Before you can begin making the cake, you first need to prepare your pan by making the cake batter separators.  No need to buy anything special here - we are improvising!

Cut out three 8" by 3" rectangles from thin cardboard.  Wrap each piece in foil to make it food safe. Fold two of them in half.

Insert the unfolded cardboard upright into the center of your 8" cake pan.

Position the two folded pieces above and below the center divider such that you will get 6 equally-sized wedges.

As my cake pan has a removable bottom, I did not line it anymore with baking paper.  I pretty much eyeballed the placement of my dividers.  However, if you need to line your cake pan, you can create creases in your baking paper to serve as a guide in placing the dividers. To do this, fold your 8" baking paper circle in half and then into thirds.  Open it up to reveal the partitions created by the creases.  Line your cake pan then place the foil dividers on top of the creases.

To make the cake batter, simply follow the vanilla chiffon cake recipe.  After you have made your eggyolk mixture, divide it equally into 6 bowls. (Weighing your cake batter will give you more accurate results.)

Colour each mixture with rainbow colours.  You will only need tiny amounts of gel paste (like a drop) or powdered food colour (a pinch).

Proceed to beating your eggwhites till stiff.  Divide this equally among the six bowls.  Again, it is best to weigh the mixture for accuracy.

You need to work fairly quickly in folding the meringue into each eggyolk mixture.  Be gentle but deliberate.  Spoon each mixture into your divided pan and push the cake batter into the corners. Give the pan a gentle tap to level the cake batter and to release any air bubbles.

Carefully remove the dividers by lifting them straight up. Do not bend them sideways or any other way - just pull straight up. Some of the cake batter will stick to the dividers in this process.  Don't attempt to put them back into the pan as you might risk messing up the colours!  You can reuse the cardboard pieces for next time.  Just remove the foil wrapping!

Bake and cool the cake inverted as per usual.  (My 4-egg chiffon cake recipe usually bakes up to the top of the pan.  However, in this case, as some of the batter was lost, my cake was slightly shorter.)

As with any cake, there will be some browning on the cake top and sides.  I find that simply rubbing my fingers gently back and forth against the cake removes this caramelized layer rather easily.  When you do this, you will reveal all the vibrant colours! Yey!

I wasn't planning on frosting this cake but here's one idea of what you can do.  Cut the cake horizontally in half.

Spread your filling on your bottom layer.  Before topping with the other cake layer, rotate it one colour to the right so that the top colour will be different from the bottom.

This way, you will have six different colour combinations in your cake slices!

You can also combine slices to make up a taller slice with all the rainbow colours!

As with most rainbow cakes, the "wow" factor lies mostly on the appearance.  The cake itself is pretty much very basic.  To take this cake up a notch, you can flavour each colour differently - strawberry for red, orange for orange, lemon for yellow and so on and so forth.  Alternatively, you can fill each cake segment with something different.  Maybe different fruits or different flavoured frostings?  I know it will even be more work than it already is, but it will add some element of surprise to eating this cake, don't you think?

Hope you learned something new today and get to try this yourself! Enjoy the rest of your week :)

Piping stars

I don't buy fondant or gumpaste anymore.  For my purpose (which is just to mould simple figures or cut out letters), it's simply a complete waste of money.  I buy a whole packet, use up only a little bit, then keep the excess, which in most likelihood will be past its expiry date before it's to be needed again. So, I'm not buying that thing ever again.

Lately, I've taken a liking to piping stars with buttercream instead! The process is a bit back-breaking BUT the results are as effective and beautiful as using say, an edible image or fondant cutouts.

Spongebob Squarepants

Minecraft creeper

George Pig

Deadpool

I have actually done this technique several times before (ex.  this Hello Kitty cake and this Octonaut cake) but it is only lately that I have really come to enjoy it plus I think my piping has gotten a little better too!

To do this type of cake, all you really need is an image to copy from. Also, a small star tip (#16) is best as it will give a more even and not too thick layer of icing on top. For more detailed designs, it might be good to trace it into the crumb-coated cake.  But for simpler ones, like the Deadpool cake above, doing it freehand is no problem at all.  I used to think this was difficult but really, once you have outlined the image, all you will need to do is fill them in with stars, much like colouring by numbers.  How hard can that be?

Try it sometime.  You will love it!

Watercolour buttercream cakes

Over the weekend, I had to make the cakes for my niece's big 18th birthday party. Just as with her older sister's cake, I was given free rein with everything, from the cake flavours down to decorating. Sometimes I find it hard when I am not given any idea of what I exactly need to do.  When this happens, I always look for inspiration from the invite design.

Unfortunately, I can't show the actual invitation here but to describe it simply, the background had splashes of watercolours in violet, electric purple and olive green. I've seen watercolour cakes on Pinterest, so I thought, why not do that! Admittedly, although it seemed easy enough, I was afraid to try this technique because I've never done it before.  What if the colours don't blend properly? What if it turns out messy? What if my niece doesn't like it?

Well, after all that was said and done, I'm soooooo happy that I decided to it.

Instead of doing a 3-tiered cake, I made three separate ones, all in Neapolitan flavours of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate, and frosted in Swiss meringue buttercream.

Here is the 6" cake...

...the 9" cake

...and the 12" cake.

All in all, it was a great experience doing these cakes and I won't hesitate to do something like this again in the future.  The three cakes looked beautiful together and everyone loved them!

If you'd like to try this technique, there are loads of tutorials on the web.  These are the ones I found most helpful - here and here.

A good week to all of you!