Fluffy candy

A Brazilian blogger published a text about what’s worth posting and what’s not. A friend of mine, who also has a blog, read it and wrote about it, too.

My turn: I’ll tell you something about my family and some may think it’s blogging material and some may think it’s not. I lost a very dear uncle in a car crash in 2006. He was very close – also my brother’s godfather – and for a couple of days I kept wondering if that had really happened; it was really hard for me to deal with the fact that I would no longer see him.

His girlfriend was pregnant and this week we celebrated my cousin’s first birthday. The party was held at my grandmother’s house and I was in charge of making the candy. I prepared beijinho, brigadeiro and bicho-de-pé – things the sweet Linda is an expert in making – and also this chocolate powdered milk candy.
I tried filling each ball with a piece of glacé cherries, but the moisture in them ruined the candy texture; I had to drop the idea.

It was pure joy to know my baby cousin and also to notice that she looks just like my uncle – the resemblance is amazing. One cycle is over but another has begun; life goes on and that fills me with hope.

Fluffy candy
from Nestlé’s Brazilian website

200g instant chocolate powder*
400g whole powdered milk
1 can (395g) sweetened condensed milk
½ cup (120ml) whole milk, room temperature
granulated sugar, for dusting**

In a very large bowl, place the chocolate powder, powdered milk, sweetened condensed milk and milk and mix well – you’ll need some elbow grease, since it’s a very thick and firm mixture.

Make balls using ½ tablespoon of the mixture and roll them into the granulated sugar; transfer the candy to small fluted paper cups.

* I believe that one could use 100g of cocoa powder instead; I haven’t tried it with this particular recipe, but I have tried that substitution in a number of other recipes with great results

**you can dip the balls in tempered semisweet chocolate, instead of rolling them in sugar; 500g chocolate would be enough

Makes 90

Three tier chocolate cake

Wow, I haven’t been here for a while - Happy New Year, everyone!

I haven’t visited your blogs either – I had a few days off from work and took a short break from the computer; I organized many things at home and also did a sort of “summer cleaning”. And because of that – and also the 33-35ºC (92-95ºF) days were were having here in Sao Paulo – I didn’t cook much. But I did bake a birthday cake for Joao on Dec, 27.

I got the recipe from the Woman&Home Christmas Food Valentina sent me – the cake was on the cover of the magazine and it looked so beautiful… I really wanted to try it. His birthday was the perfect excuse – everyone in this family ate the cake, so I spread the calories around. :)

I decided to use a different filling and went for a refreshing passion fruit truffle filling, made with white chocolate. You can use the original filling if you want.

We were in a hurry and the photos don’t do this cake justice – it is absolutely wonderful. I highly recommend it!

Three tier chocolate cake

Cake:
6 large eggs
175g (6oz) caster sugar
185g (6.5oz) plain flour
15g (0.5oz) cocoa powder

Filling:
500g white chocolate, finely chopped
400g whipping cream
¼ cup (60ml) concentrated bottled passion fruit juice

To brush the cake:
½ tablespoon concentrated bottled passion fruit juice diluted in 4 tablespoons water

Ganache:
175g (6oz) dark chocolate, 55% solids
130ml (4.5oz) double cream - I used a thick kind of cream we have here in Brazil, so my ganache was not so spreadable

Decoration:
chocolate curls, cherries or whatever strikes you fancy

Start by making the filling: place the cream in a saucepan and heat until it is nearly boiling. Remove from heat and add the chocolate all at once. Whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is silky and smooth. Add the juice, mix well; refrigerate it, well covered, for 4-6 hours or until set.

Make the cake: preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. Oil a 25cm (10in) springform cake pan and line the bottom with baking paper.
Put the eggs and sugar into a large heatproof bowl and, using an electric hand whisk, beat until tripled in volume, pale and thick (I used my Kitchen Aid, with the whisk attachment). The whisk should leave a trail in the mix. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and fold in with the whisk. Pour the mixture into the tin and bake on the centre shelf for around 20 minutes, until risen and springy to the touch. Let the cake cool in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack.

When the cake is cool, split into three horizontally. Separate them carefully. The top of the original cake in the tin will be the top of the finished cake. Brush the bottom cake very lightly with the juice then spread over half the filling. Add the next layer and do the same with the juice and filling. Add the top.

Finish with the ganache: put the broken-up chocolate into a saucepan with the cream and heat gently. Stir well until the chocolate has melted. Spoon on to the centre of the cake a big spoonful at a time then spread with a palette knife, letting it drip down the sides. Do this at a reasonable speed as it will set in around 15 minutes.
Decorate as you like.

Serves 12-14

My blog turns 1!

Today is this blog’s birthday and I’m glad for having had the time to prepare a cake to celebrate!

It has been a great thing in my life to be able to share my passion for food with so many others who love cooking and baking like I do – and I want to thank you all for being constant inspiration and for supporting my blog. You really mean the world to me!

Technicolor Kitchen cake
white cake recipe from here;
chocolate glaze recipe from here

Cake:
120ml milk room temperature
3 egg whites
½ teaspoon almond extract
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
158g cake flour
175g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
85g butter, softened

Filling:
¼ cup dulce de leche

Icing:
58g unsalted butter, softened
140g dark chocolate, chopped – I used 60% cocoa

Make the cake: preheat oven to 175ºC/350ºF.
Grease two 15cm cake pans with butter, line the bottom with parchment paper, grease the parchment paper and flour the pans.
Combine milk, eggs whites and extracts in a small bowl with a fork. Set aside.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in an electric mixer and mix at slow speed with a paddle attachment – I have done it with regular hand mixer beaters and it worked fine.
Add butter. Continue beating at slow speed until mixture looks like wet sand (If you're doing this by hand, sift the dry ingredients together and rub in butter).
Add all but 60ml (¼ cup) of milk mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 ½ minutes. Add remaining milk mixture and beat for an additional 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl if necessary. Do not overmix.
Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and gently shake to smooth batter. Bake 30-35 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cakes cool in the pans for 15 minutes then invert onto racks to cool completely before frosting.
Unfrosted cakes can be frozen for 1-2 weeks.

Assemble the cake before making the icing: place one cake on a plate and spread the filling. Place the other cake on top. Chill the cake for a couple of hours to make icing easier.

Prepare the icing: place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water and melt. Mix well to combine.
Spread it over the cake immediately because it hardens pretty fast.

Serves 8-10

Melting moments (or how I can’t pipe to save my life)

Before I tell you guys about the cookies above, I’d like to answer one question made by a lovely friend of mine (too bad her blog is in Portuguese, she writes beautifully) – she asked me which are my all time favorite songs. I have been thinking of it for almost a week now and came up with the following list - which I think I’ll regret the moment I hit the “publish post” button:

- Reel around the fountain - Smiths
- A new flame – Simply Red
- Loving you hating me – Soft Cell
- The 7th stranger – Duran Duran (the Arena live version)
- Walking on broken glass – Annie Lennox

Now, the food: I made these small boxes of cookies for my sister’s birthday party – she gave them away as gifts for her guests.
Everything was going well until I had to pipe the cookies onto the baking sheet. I had never seen so many deformed cookies in my entire life. They looked awful!
I baked the first batch anyway, somehow hoping they would morph into something pretty while in the oven – which of course never happened, since I’m not telekinetic.

I shaped the rest of the dough using 2 spoons. Everybody loved their little gifts and kept saying how cute they looked and how delicious they tasted and all I kept thinking was “you should have seen my face by the time I finished these…”

If you want to see some really beautiful melting moments, check the ones the sweet and talented Valentina made the other day.

Melting moments
adapted from Modern Classics Book 2

175g (6oz) butter, softened
¼ cup (32g) confectioner’s sugar
grated zest of 1 lime
1 cup (135g) all purpose flour, sifted
¼ cup (25g) cornstarch, sifted

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF. Place the butter, icing sugar and zest in a bowl and beat with electric beaters until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour and cornstarch until combined.
Place the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a fluted nozzle. Pipe 3cm (1in) round onto a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper, allowing room for spreading.
Bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden. Cool on trays.

Makes 32

Brazilian candy in tiny cups: brigadeiro, beijinho and bicho-de-pé

Brigadeiro and beijinho are very popular types of candy served in parties here in Brazil - bicho-de-pé is a bit less usual, but equally adored.

They all start with a can of sweetened condensed milk - something we love around here. Many of our dessert/candy recipes call for it.

The difference is in the flavors: beijinho is made with coconut, brigadeiro is chocolatey and bicho-de-pé is (artificially) strawberry flavored.

After the candy is cooked and left to cool down, it is shaped into balls and rolled on some sort of coating (granulated sugar, desiccated coconut, chocolate sprinkles) and then placed into very small fluted paper cups (don’t mind the horrible photo, I made these for her birthday last year):
Since I was making all the candy without any help - my sister/birthday girl/sous chef had another birthday party to go to that afternoon - I decided to spare some time and use an idea I'd seen in a couple of websites - to serve the candy inside small cups. I bought tiny plastic cups (15ml each), poured the candy while still hot inside them (before the mixture starts to firm up) and served with small wooden spoons.

The candy was a huge hit at the party – a lot more than the cake! :)

Beijinho

1 can sweetened condensed milk (395g)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
5 tablespoons unsweetened desiccated coconut

Mix the condensed milk, butter and coconut in a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly – when the bottom of the pan starts to show and the mixture is a bit thicker, remove from heat and immediately pour the candy into the cups.
After it’s completely cool, sprinkle with unsweetened desiccated coconut and decorate with a clove.
If you want to shape the candy into balls, pour the mixture onto a greased plate and let it cool completely before using. Lightly coat your hands with butter, grab small portions of candy and roll into balls. Roll them in unsweetened desiccated coconut or granulated sugar and place in small fluted paper cups. Decorate each ball with a clove.

Makes 25 tiny cups (15ml) or 40 balls (approx. 2cm each)

Brigadeiro

1 can sweetened condensed milk (395g)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Mix the condensed milk, butter and cocoa powder in a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly – when the bottom of the pan starts to show and the mixture is a bit thicker, remove from heat and immediately pour the candy into the cups.
After it’s completely cool, sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles.
If you want to shape the candy into balls, pour the mixture onto a greased plate and let it cool completely before using. Lightly coat your hands with butter, grab small portions of candy and roll into balls. Roll them in chocolate sprinkles and place in small fluted paper cups.


Makes 25 tiny cups (15ml) or 40 balls (approx. 2cm each)

Bicho-de-pé

1 can sweetened condensed milk (395g)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
½ package (40g) strawberry flavored gelatin powder

Mix the condensed milk, butter and gelatin in a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly – when the bottom of the pan starts to show and the mixture is a bit thicker, remove from heat and immediately pour the candy into the cups.
After it’s completely cool, sprinkle with granulated sugar – I preferred to use a tiny piece of strawberry.
If you want to shape the candy into balls, pour the mixture onto a greased plate and let it cool completely before using. Lightly coat your hands with butter, grab small portions of candy and roll into balls. Roll them in granulated sugar and place in small fluted paper cups.

Makes 25 tiny cups (15ml) or 40 balls (approx. 2cm each)

Walnut camafeus

For this Monthly Mingle, I wanted to make something Brazilian – brigadeiro crossed my mind. But I decided to make something a little bit fancier and prettier.



Camafeus are bite-sized sweets served in parties here, especially weddings - it is a Portuguese candy that has become part of our cooking traditions.
I tried to find more info about the origin of camafeus but didn’t – I read many, many years ago somewhere that its name comes from cameo, but I’m not sure.

I used a recipe from a Brazilian website.

Happy Birthday, Meeta! And happy blog anniversary!

Walnut camafeus

250g ground walnuts
2 cans (395g each) sweetened condensed milk
½ tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, room temperature
3 eggs
3 egg yolks

Decoration:
walnuts cut in 4 pieces – for this recipe I used 180g walnuts
fondant*
edible golden glitter
clear spirit – I used cachaça

Place all the ground walnuts, condensed milk, cocoa powder, butter, eggs and egg yolks in a large saucepan. Mix well. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly – when the bottom of the pan starts to show and the mixture gets thick, remove from heat. Pour into a large greased plate and set aside to cool. Don’t use it unless it’s completely cool.
Grease your hands with a little butter and grab small portions of the mixture. Form into small “sausages”, about 3.5cm long and 2cm thick. Set aside.
Place the fondant in a glass bowl and set over gently simmering water and until it’s melted – keep it warm otherwise it will harden again. Very carefully, drop each “sausage” into the fondant and remove quickly, covering it completely. Place over waxed paper. Place a ¼ walnut over each candy – you need to be quick and do this while the fondant is still soft.
Place the camafeus in paper cases.
I painted each ¼ walnut before using them: place some edible golden glitter in a very small bowl and add a few drops of clear spirit to dissolve the powder. Mix until a thin paste forms. Using a small paintbrush, paint each ¼ walnut and place on waxed paper. Set aside to dry for at least 2 hours.

*too complicated to make at home. I used store-bought – it’s not expensive and will last for a long time

Makes 120 camafeus

Gateau Saint Honore

I'm having a slice of the cake while I type this. It is good, but I can’t say it’s my cup of tea…
I love puff pastry and even used the amount I had left to make lunch today. The Saint Honore cream is so delicious that I was afraid there was not going to be enough to assemble the cake – I kept reaching for spoons in my drawer and dipping them into the smooth mixture, promising that it would be the last time I was going to do that. Caramel is caramel – the word itself makes my mouth water. Cream puffs are a classic – everybody likes them, even my-not--into-sweets husband. So, what’s wrong?

In my humble opinion, all these incredibly delicious things just don’t go well together – I know it sounds insane since this cake is such a big staple in patisserie and all, but for me it wasn’t all that.

I’m glad I could try making cream puffs for the first time – actually, João is way happier with it than me. :)
I still have a lot to learn and improve and I thank the two ladies behind this for making the opportunity I needed to start trying my hand on that.

I’m sure the other Daring Bakers have some interesting cakes and points of view to share – you can find their links on the sidebar.

Since I used store-bought puff pastry I’m not going to post the recipe for that – only for the rest of the cake.

Oh, and let's forget the fact that my caramel decorations suck.

Gateau Saint Honore

Pate a Choux – Cream Puffs Dough:
135g (4 ¾ oz) all purpose flour
240ml (1 cup) water
58g (2 oz) unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon salt
240ml (1 cup) eggs

Sift the flour and set aside.Heat the water, butter and salt to a full rolling boil, so that the fat is not just floating on the top but is dispersed throughout the liquid.Stir the flour into the liquid with a heavy wooden spoon, adding it as fast as it can be absorbed. Avoid adding it all at once or it will form clumps.
Cook, stirring constantly and breaking up the lumps if necessary, by pressing them against the side of the pan with the back of the spoon until the mixture comes away from the sides of the pan, about 2-3 minutes.Transfer the dough to a mixer bowl. Let the paste cool slightly so that the eggs will not cook when they are added. You can add and stir the eggs by hand but it requires some serious elbow grease.
Mix in the eggs, one at a time, using the paddle attachment on low or medium speed. Do not add all the eggs at once. Check after a few, the dough should have the consistency of thick mayonnaise – I ended up using only 4 out of 5 eggs.
Transfer the dough to a piping bag and use as desired.

Saint Honore Cream (Rapid Chiboust or Diplomat Cream):
7g (1 envelope) unflavored gelatin
60ml (¼ cup) cold water
130g (½ cup + 2 tablespoons) sugar
70g (½ cup) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 egg yolks
480ml (2 cups) whole milk
1 tablespoon rum – I used vanilla extract
60ml (¼ cup) whipping cream
3 egg whites
dash of salt
100g (½ cup sugar)

Soak the gelatin in the ¼ cup of cold water.
Put the sugar, flour, and salt into a saucepan and stir together with a whisk. Add the yolks and enough milk to make a paste. Whisk in the remainder of the milk.Place over low heat and stirring constantly, cook until thick. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and the gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.Stir in the whipping cream. Set the mixing bowl in cold water and stir until the cream is cool. Place the egg whites in a clean bowl and using clean beaters, whip them with the dash of salt. As soon as the whites begin to stiffen, gradually add the ½ cup of sugar and beat until they are very stiff.
Fold the egg whites into the cooled cream.

Caramel:
240g (8 oz) sugar

Decoration:
240ml (1 cup) heavy cream
1 teaspoon sugar - I used 1 tablespoon

Assembly the cake:
Roll the puff pastry out to 3mm (1/8 in) thick, 30xm (12 in) square. Place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate covered at least 20 minutes.While the puff pastry is resting, make the pate a choux and place it in a pastry bag with a #4 (8mm) plain tip. Reserve.Leaving the puff pastry on the sheet pan, cut a 27.5cm (11 in) circle from the dough and remove the scraps. (An easy way to cut it is to use an 11in tart pan as a “cookie cutter”). Prick the circle lightly with a fork.Pipe 4 concentric rings of pate a choux on the pastry circle – as I made a smaller cake, I piped only 2 circles. Pipe out 12 cream puffs the size of Bing cherries onto the paper around the cake – I used only 8 cream puffs.Bake the puff pastry circle and the cream puffs at 205ºC (400ºF) until the pate a choux has puffed, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 190ºC (375ºF) and bake until everything is dry enough to hold its shape, about 35 minutes longer for the cake and 8 minutes longer for the cream puffs (just pick them up and take them out as they are done).
Place about 114g (4 oz) of the Saint Honore Cream in a pastry bag with a #2 (4mm) plain tip. Use the pastry bag tip or the tip of a paring knife to make a small hole in the bottom of each cream puff. Pipe the cream into the cream puffs to fill them. Refrigerate.Spread the remaining cream filling on the cake. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to set the cream. Caramelize the 240g (8 oz) of sugar. Fill a bowl that is large enough to hold the pan used for cooking the sugar with enough cold water to reach halfway up the sides of the pan. Set the bowl aside. Place the sugar in a heavy bottomed pan and cook until the sugar until it has caramelized to just a shade lighter than the desired color.Remove from the heat and immediately place the bottom of the pan in the bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process. Dip the cream puffs into the hot caramel, using 2 forks or tongues to avoid burning your fingers. Place them on a sheet pan. The caramel must be hot enough to go on in a thin layer. Reheat if necessary as you are dipping, stirring constantly to avoid darkening the caramel any more than necessary. Also, avoid any Saint Honore cream to leak out of the puffs and get mixed in with the caramel while dipping as the cream can cause the sugar to recrystallize.
Whip the one cup of heavy cream and teaspoon of sugar to stiff peaks. Place the whipped cream in pastry bag fitted with a #5 (10mm) star tip. Pipe a border of whipped cream around the top of the cake. Arrange the cream puffs, evenly spaced, on top of the filling, next to the cream – I decided to secure them using caramel.

Option: Before filling the cake, take care of the cream puffs, dip them in more caramel, hook them up to the base. Fill with the cream filling and fill the holes with the whipped cream.

Corn fudge

I had to make a recipe with corn to take part in one event for blogs written in Portuguese. You guys might think “Corn? So easy!” – but that’s the whole point: I wanted to make something different, unusual. Something new.

It took me forever to choose something but I finally did: this corn fudge, which I found at the Brazilian Nestlé website.

It’s similar to brigadeiro, but flavored with corn instead of chocolate. A pinch of cinnamon reminds us of curau – a sort of corn pudding I’ll be making soon to share with you here.

Different and new, indeed, and also delicious.

Corn fudge

1 can (200g) corn kernels, drained and rinsed
1 can (395g) sweetened condensed milk
1 ½ tablespoons milk – I used low fat
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
butter, for greasing
granulated sugar, to coat the fudge balls

Place the corn kernels and the milk in a blender or food processor and purée them. Push the purée through a sieve and place it in a medium saucepan. Add the condensed milk, cinnamon and butter and mix well.
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the bottom of the pan starts to show – it will be thicker and bubbly (20 minutes). Remove from heat, pour in a greased plate and set aside to cool completely.
Grease your hands with a bit of butter and roll portions of fudge into balls – this will be easier if you refrigerate the fudge.
Roll them in the granulated sugar and place in small fluted paper cups.
Decorate them as you wish – I had some extra kernels so I used them (an idea I saw at the website, too) and I also used cloves.

Makes 40-45

Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake

I want to start by thanking my dear fellow Daring Baker Brilynn for choosing this recipe – it was a challenge, indeed, and one of the most interesting recipes I have ever made. Joao kept telling me how beautiful the cake looks – and he’s not into sweets, I have to say.
I guess I would never have chosen something like this to prepare and I’m so glad I have made it.
Not only it looks superb, it also taste delicious – I must confess I ate 2 crepes that remained after the filling was over. If the crepes alone were yummy, what to say of them combined with a filling made with whipped cream, meringue and Nutella, a ganache icing and hazelnuts dipped in caramel?? Heavenly.

I was worn out after standing up for 2 hours preparing the crepes but it paid off – beautifully.

If you liked my cake, go check the other cakes prepared by the lovely Daring Bakers – the links are on the side bar.

Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake
recipe by Martha

Crepe batter:
170g (¾ cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus melted for pan
225g (8 ounces) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped – I used a 51% cocoa solids chocolate
210g (1 ½ cups) all-purpose flour
67g (1/3 cup) sugar
½ teaspoon salt
600ml (2 ½ cups) whole milk, room temperature
6 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Bring ¼ cup water to a rolling boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, whisking to combine after each addition. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate until completely melted. Set aside.
Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla in another medium bowl. Gradually add milk mixture to flour mixture, whisking until smooth. Add chocolate-butter mixture, whisking until smooth. Pour through a fine sieve into an airtight container; discard lumps. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to overnight.
Lightly coat an 8-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet with melted butter - the three crepes that were torn were made with greased pan. The minute I stopped brushing it with butter I gor all the crepes perfectly shaped. Heat over medium heat until just starting to smoke. Remove pan from heat; pour about 2 tablespoons batter into pan, swirling to cover bottom – here I used a ladle that holds 3 tablespoons batter. Reduce heat to medium-low; return pan to heat. Cook, flipping once, until edges are golden and center is dry, about 30 seconds per side.
Slide crepe onto a plate. Repeat process with remaining batter, coating pan with butter as needed. Crepes can be refrigerated, covered, up to 1 day.
Place a crepe on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Spread with about 3 tablespoons hazelnut filling. Top with another crepe. Continue layering with hazelnut filling and crepes, using about 32 crepes and ending with a crepe on top. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

Spoon ½ cup glaze on top of the cake, spreading to edges. Spread remaining glaze around sides of cake, coating completely. Refrigerate until glaze is firm and set, about 20 minutes. Cake can be refrigerated up to 3 days. Garnish with toasted and candied hazelnuts.

Makes 32 crepes – I got 28 OK and 3 completely torn (which I gladly ate straight from the crepe pan)


Hazelnut filling:
160ml (2/3 cup) heavy cream
6 large egg whites
330g (1 2/3 cups) sugar
395g (1 3/4 cups) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
100g (1/3 cup) hazelnut cream – I used Nutella
pinch of salt

Put cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; beat on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Refrigerate 1 hour.
Whisk egg whites and sugar in the clean bowl of mixer set over a pan of simmering water until sugar has dissolved and mixture registers 70ºC/160ºF, 2 to 3 minutes.
Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the clean whisk attachment; beat on high speed until slightly cooled and stiff (but not dry) peaks form, about 5 minutes.
Fit mixer with paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low speed, add butter, several pieces at a time, mixing well after each addition (meringue will deflate slightly as butter is added). Add vanilla, hazelnut cream, and salt; mix until mixture comes together, 3 to 5 minutes. Fold in whipped cream with a rubber spatula. Use immediately.

Makes about 8 cups


Chocolate glaze:
300ml (1 ¼ cups) heavy cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
pinch of salt
280g (10 ounces) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped – I used the same 51% chocolate

Bring cream, corn syrup, and salt to a boil in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium- medium-high heat. Remove from heat. Add chocolate; swirl pan to cover completely with cream. Let stand about 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Let cool completely.

Makes about 2 cups - sobrou cerca de 1/2 xícara


Candied hazelnuts
9 hazelnuts, toasted and peeled
200g (1 cup) sugar

Thread each hazelnut onto tip of a long wooden skewer; set aside. Place a cutting board along the edge of a countertop; set a baking sheet on floor next to edge.
Cook sugar and ¼ cup water in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved. Continue to cook, without stirring, until syrup comes to a boil, washing down sides with a wet brush to prevent crystals from forming. Let boil until syrup turns light amber, about 5 minutes; remove from heat. Let stand until slightly cooled, 8 to 10 minutes.
Dip 1 skewered hazelnut into syrup, coating completely and letting excess syrup drip back into pan. When dripping syrup becomes a thin string, secure end of skewer under cutting board, letting caramel string drip over edge onto sheet. Repeat with remaining hazelnuts. Let stand until caramel has hardened, about 5 minutes. Break strings to about 10cm (4 inches).
Carefully remove skewers.

Makes 9

Pink cupcakes with crystallized violets

The theme for this Sugar High Friday, hosted by Monisha, is Flower Power. I had a hard time trying to find a recipe for that!



I ended up making these cupcakes decorated with these lovely crystallized violets I received as a gift from a dear friend.

Recipe taken from Donna Hay Magazine, issue 29 - I used a conversion table from one of her books to get the amounts in both cups and grams.

Pink cupcakes with crystallized violets
from Donna Hay magazine

250g unsalted butter, softened
225g (1 cup) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs, lightly beaten
270g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
125ml (¼ cup) milk

Pink icing:
155g (1 ¼ cups) icing/confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon hot water – I added a little bit more and totally ruined it
1-2 drops rose food coloring

crystallized violets – as many as you want

Preheat the oven to 160ºC/320ºF. Sift flour and baking powder together and set aside.
Place the butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 8-10 minutes, until light and creamy. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Add the flour and baking powder, alternating with the milk, and beat until the mixture forms a smooth batter.
Spoon the mixture into ¼ cup capacity muffin tins lined with patty cases to ¾ full. Bake for 18-20 minutes – mine needed 30 – or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.
To make the icing, place the sugar, water and food coloring in a bowl and mix until smooth. Use a palette knife to spread the icing over the cupcakes.
Place 1-2 violets over each cupcake.

Makes 30 – I halved the recipe and got 12.

Hearts of palm empadinhas and Limeade with raspberries

I loved this Blog Party theme, hosted by The Happy Sorcerer: picnic food!!! Yay!!!

My parents, my brother and I used to have great picnics when I was a kid. We spent great days in a park in São Paulo. My brother and I would play and run around and after all that “work out” we’d have the wonderful snacks prepared by my mom. That was great!

To take part I decided to make a very Brazilian recipe: empadinhas. These are my first empadinhas so I still need to get the hang of it – some of them almost opened up while in the oven.
Besides that, they are wonderful – the crust is flaky without being too crumbly and the filling completes it perfectly.

I got the dough recipe from a very talented Brazilian foodie and the filling was adapted from a Brazilian website.

Step-by-step photos by João.

Hearts of palm empadinhas

Dough:
450g (3 ¼ cups) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
120g unsalted butter, cold and diced
100g shortening, cold and diced
1 large egg, lightly beaten
70ml ice water

Filling:
4 tablespoons vegetable oil – canola would be great 2 medium onions, chopped2 tomatoes, seeds removed, finely diced580g (4 cups) hears of palm, finely chopped60g (½ cup) olives, chopped4 tablespoons cornstarch 240ml (1 cup) milk salt

Egg wash:
1 egg yolk – I wasn’t paying attention and used the whole egg :S
1 tablespoon water

Place the flour, salt, butter and shortening in a food processor and pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and water and process until a soft and smooth dough forms. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Since my food processor is tiny, I made the dough by hand: place the flour, salt, butter and shortening in a bowl and rub with the tip of your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and water, mix well and knead until a soft and smooth dough forms. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

For the filling: in a large pan over high heat, heat the oil and add the onions. Cook until golden. Add the hearts of palm, tomatoes and olives and cook for 8-10 minutes.
In a cup, place the cornstarch and milk and mix well using a fork. Add this mixture to the hearts of palm and stir constantly until creamy. Season to taste, remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/355 ºF.
Grab a small amount of dough and flatten it. Place it inside an empadinha pan - or use a muffin pan - and line the bottom and the sides with the dough. Repeat the process with other pans.

Place tablespoons of filling inside the prepared pans.

Roll portions of dough and cut circles. Place the circles on top of empadinhas and seal well.
Brush with the egg wash and bake for 30 minutes or until golden – in the last 5 minutes I raised the oven temperature to 200ºC.

Remove from the oven and set aside it cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the empadinhas and serve.

Makes about 45 empadinhas, about 5cm each

Limeade with raspberries

1 large lime
200ml water
1 ½ tablespoons frozen raspberries
sugar
ice

Squeeze the lime, add the water and sugar to taste. Pour in a nice glass and add the raspberries and ice.
Serve immediately.

Makes 1 glass.

Hay, Hay, it's Donna Day: Passion fruit mousse in tiny chocolate cups

When Helene announced the theme for this HHDD I was petrified – despite playing around in the kitchen for as long as I can remember, I haven’t made many mousse recipes so far. Panic.

I wanted to make 100 mousse recipes and 10 seconds later I wanted to make none. And then I remembered little chocolate cups filled with ganache I had seen in some weddings and also in some websites. I thought: I’m filling the cups with mousse!

In theory everything sounded wonderful, but in the real world things didn’t work out the way I expected them to. The cups weren’t beautiful as the ones in my head and, camera in hand, I couldn’t find a nice way to photograph them.

As I missed Peabody’s HHDD about cheesecakes and I don’t want to miss another one, there you go.

One thing I must say in my defense: the condensed milk balances well the tart flavor of passion fruit – so you won’t look like her when you take a bite.

Passion fruit mousse in tiny chocolate cups

Chocolate cups:
200g chocolate – I used white and dark, 100g each
25 small fluted paper cups (the ones used for petit-fours, truffles, etc.)

Mousse:
90g sweetened condensed milk
65g cream
65ml concentrated passion fruit juice

Decoration:
pulp of half a large passion fruit – I think that mini chocolate curls would work fine too

For the mousse: place all the ingredients in a blender and blend well. You can place them in a bowl and beat well with a whisk – the key here is to incorporate air into the mixture to make it light.
Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Make the chocolate cups: melt chocolate using a double-boiler or the microwave oven. Temper it – click here to learn how.
Using a small spoon, spoon chocolate inside each paper cup, spreading evenly and almost up to the edges – leave a thin line free of chocolate so you can tear the paper cup and remove the chocolate from it easily.
Place the cups on a plate and refrigerate until chocolate is firm (10 minutes or so).
Carefully, start tearing the paper molds unmolding the chocolate cups. Set aside.

Remove the mousse from the refrigerator and with a small spoon pour amounts of it inside each chocolate cup. Top with the passion fruit seeds and serve.

Chocolate cups can be made ahead and stored in a dry and cool place – never in the refrigerator.

Makes about 25 – I got 12 with the white chocolate and 13 with the dark chocolate.

Nigella’s vanilla cupcakes

I made these cupcakes a while ago, as part of an “experiment” – I’d seen lovely cupcakes decorated with rolled fondant on the Internet and felt like making them at home.
It was my first attempt at cupcakes and I really liked the result!!

The flavor was wonderful!! The cupcakes were so delicious I had 2 right out of the oven… I’m not the one to blame – the smell was so tempting, I couldn’t resist!! :D

Recipe taken from Nigella’s website.

UPDATE: I forgot to write that I used dulce de leche to as "glue" to stick the rolled fondant to the cupcakes.

Nigella’s vanilla cupcakes

125g self-raising flour
125g caster sugar
125g soft unsalted butter
2 eggs
½ teaspoon real vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk, approximately

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/ and line a 12-muffin pan with paper cases. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs one at a time with a little of the flour. Then add the vanilla extract and fold in the rest of the flour, adding the milk to get a dropping consistency. It will look as if the scant mixture is not enough to make 12 cupcakes, but it is. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cupcakes are cooked and golden on top. As soon as bearable, take the cupcakes in their cases out of the tin and let cool, right way up, on a wire rack. Decorate the cupcakes after they’re completely cool.

Makes 12

White cake

I made this cake last year for my mother-in-law’s birthday party. Since she used to work as a seamstress, the cake was a pillow with sewing gadgets and a small rose.

I used Nic's white cake recipe, which is just fantastic. When I took the cakes out of the oven I felt like taking a big bite of them. Seriously – the smell was wonderful!

The recipe is perfect: the cake is delicious and firm enough to be covered with rolled fondant. I’ve made it several times with different fillings/icings and the results have been great.

The cake was lightly brushed with my traditional sugar syrup and filled with dulce de leche beaten with a dash of heavy cream - I do this to make it a bit less sweet and also to spread it more easily.

It was a hit at the party and the kids ate all the sugar decorations. :D

White cake

240ml (1 cup milk) room temperature
6 egg whites
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
315g (2 ¼ cups) cake flour
350g (1 ¾ cups) sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
170g (3/4 cup) butter, softened

Preheat oven to 175ºC/350ºF.
Grease two 22cm cake pans with butter, line the bottom with parchment paper, grease the parchment paper and flour the pans.
Combine milk, eggs whites and extracts in a small bowl with a fork. Set aside.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in an electric mixer and mix at slow speed with a paddle attachment – since I don’t have it, I used the regular beaters of my mixer.
Add butter. Continue beating at slow speed until mixture looks like wet sand (If you're doing this by hand, sift the dry ingredients together and rub in butter).
Add all but 120ml (½ cup) of milk mixture and beat at medium speed for 1 ½ minutes. Add remaining milk mixture and beat for an additional 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl if necessary. Do not overmix.
Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and gently shake to smooth batter. Bake 30-35 minutes, until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cakes cool in the pans for 15 minutes then invert onto racks to cool completely before frosting.
Unfrosted cakes can be frozen for 1-2 weeks.

Serves 16-18

This recipe was posted on the Portuguese version of my blog on Sep. 27, 2006.

Arthur’s cake (or the weirdest Mickey Mouse you've ever seen)

We went to Joao’s nephew’s birthday party a while ago and I was responsible for baking the cake.
After finishing the cake I decided I was NOT going to post it – that Mickey Mouse looked so weird…
After hearing all the guests’ comments at the end of the party, I changed my mind. J

I used store-bought rolled fondant to make Mickey Mouse.

The cake and sugar syrup recipes I got from the teacher I took two cake decorating classes with.
It’s not a decadent and rich cake – in my opinion, its simplicity makes it perfect to be paired with many types of fillings and icings.

The filling is a very traditional candy here in Brazil called beijinho – made with coconut and condensed milk and rolled in ball shape, it is a big hit in birthday parties. This is a creamier version of it.

The glaze was taken from here – let it dry completely before adding the rolled fondant decorations (I was short on time and skipped this, but this is important advice).

Arthur’s cake

Cake:
5 eggs
200g caster sugar
230g all purpose flour
50g cocoa powder
200ml hot milk
1 heaped tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
1 can sweetened condensed milk (395g)
50g unsweetened desiccated coconut
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons milk

Sugar syrup:
50g caster sugar
240ml water
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Hard chocolate glaze:
115g unsalted butter, softened
280g dark chocolate, chopped

For the cake:
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease and flour 3 round cake pans, 20cm each.
Sift the flour and the cocoa powder and set aside.
Beat the eggs and the vanilla extract until they double in volume. Add the sugar and beat well.
Start adding the dry ingredients and the milk and beat well.
Gently fold the baking powder, pour into prepared pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the cakes come away from the sides of the pans. If you prefer, test with a skewer – if it comes out clean, the cakes are ready.
Cool in the pans.

For the filling:
Mix the condensed milk, the coconut and butter in a small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly – when the bottom of the pan starts to show, remove from heat, pour in a greased plate and set aside to cool.
When you are ready to fill the cake, add the milk and beat well so you’ll have a runnier consistency.

For the sugar syrup:
Mix sugar and water in a small saucepan and cook over high heat. When it boils, remove from heat and add the vanilla extract. Set aside to cool.

For the glaze:
Place chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water and melt. Mix well to combine.
Use immediately because it hardens pretty fast.

Assembling the cake:
Place one cake in a plate and brush it lightly with the syrup. Spread half the filling. Place another cake on top, brush it lightly with the syrup and spread the remaining filling. Top with the last cake and brush it with syrup, too.
Chill the cake for a couple of hours to make icing easier.
Prepare the glaze and spread on the cake evenly, using a spatula. Let it harden.
You can smooth the icing again: dip a palette knife into hot water, dry it quickly with a tea towel and run it around the cake.
Let it harden again before placing

Serves 16-18.

Make Mickey:

Roll out a sausage of black rolled fondant, fold it in half and cut into equal lengths for the legs. Place them on the cake.Roll two small balls of yellow rolled fondant and then give them an egg shape - they're the shoes. Stick them to the legs using a tiny drop of water. Press them lightly with the back of a small knife, marking the heels - that will make them more attached to the legs, too.

Using red rolled fondant, make a square - you'll make the shorts, now. Cut half the square in order to separate the legs. Fold it a little and stick it to the legs.
Make two small holes with a toothpick and brush it really lightly with water. Make 2 tiny balls with yellow rolled fondant and stick them to the holes, making buttons.

Roll black rolled fondant into a ball and then into an egg shape. Stick it to the shorts using a little water.
To hold everything together, insert a barbecue skewer and sink it until the end of the cake, touching the plate. Cut off the excess leaving a bit to hold the head.
Roll out another sausage of black rolled fondant, this time a little thinner, fold it in half and cut into equal lengths for the arms. Stick them to the body.
Grab two small amounts of white rolled fondant and roll into two ball shapes - these will be the gloves. Flatten them down a little, mark the fingers using a small knife and stick them to the arms.

Don't forget Mickey's tail! :)

For the head, roll a ball of peach rolled fondant and set aside. Roll a black portion of rolled fondant thinly and cover half the peach ball with it, making the back of Mickey's head. Finish the details around the face with a small brush and black paste food coloring - this is difficult, I must confess. :)
Roll some white rolled fondant into two very small balls, then into egg shapes, flatten them a little and stick to the face to make the eyes. Finish them by sticking to tiny black balls.
Make 2 balls with black rolled fondant, flatten them a little to form the ears. Stick them to the head - I secured them with toothpicks to hold them firmer.
Make a tiny black ball and stick to the face to make the nose.
With a small knife, make Mickey's mouth. Paint it on the inside with a small brush and paste food coloring.