Tag Archives: dessert

Happy 50th Birthday, Doctor Who!

23 Nov

50TH CAKEy50th picChalk Big

In honor of the big day, I am reposting how to make Dalek cake toppers.  Who doesn’t want an edible Dalek?

IMG_0258 IMG_0256 IMG_0257

Dalek Cake Topper

Ingredients:

  • 6 flat bottomed ice-cream cones
  • 1 Wilton White Rolled Fondant 1.5lb
  • 1 Black Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Brown Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Golden Yellow Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Black Pearlized Sugar Pearl Sprinkles 5oz
  • 10 pieces of black taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 4 pieces of white taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 1 pieces of blue taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 1 small package of thin pretzel sticks
  • 1 small package of powdered sugar (This is used to keep the fondant from sticking to table, rolling pin and pretty much anything.)

Directions:

It is a good idea to wear gloves on your hands for steps 2 – 9 to prevent turning your hands blackish brown.

  1. Stack 2 flat bottomed ice-cream cones into each other and turn upside down on a plate.
  2. Separate the fondant into 1 lb and 1/2 lb balls.
  3. Add black icing color to 1/2 lb ball of fondant and knead to desired grey color. (Note: You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  4. Add brown icing color and just a touch of golden yellow icing color to the 1 lb ball of fondant and knead to desired golden color. (Note: You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  5. Make 3 balls of golden fondant the diameter of a quarter and place to the side.
  6. Separate golden fondant into 3 even balls and then roll out the golden fondant with a rolling pin. (Note: You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  7. Place the golden fondant ball in top of the bottom of each ice cream cone and then carefully cover the whole thing with the golden fondant. you can tuck extra fondant under and into the cone to secure it. (Note: Have a small cup of water handy to use to seal the ends by rubbing it with water.)
  8. Roll out the grey fondant ball with a rolling pin. (Note: You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  9. Cut 3 – 1/2 inch strips of grey fondant. Wet the golden fondant on fattest part of the cone and wrap the grey fondant strip around it to form the Dalek base.
  10. Pour the black pearl sprinkles into a bowl. (Good time to remove gloves.)
  11. Do these next steps one cone at a time: Using your fingers, moisten the bottom of your Dalek just above the grey base to the dent where the cone tapers in.
  12. Carefully place the pearls onto the cone in 4 rows creating columns of “Dalek bumps” on your Dalek.
  13. Unwrap 2 pieces of white taffy and knead them until they are soft.
  14. Roll the taffy and cut into 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then form the lights on the top of the Dalek’s head. Moisten the area you wish to place the lights and the bottom of the lights. Press into place.
  15. Do the stripes one at a time. For each, unwrap 2 piece of black taffy and knead until soft.
  16. Roll the taffy into a thin string and cut it into 3rds. Wrap each piece around the base of your Dalek’s head.
  17. Unwrap a black piece and a white piece of taffy. You will need to pull them together over and over to create a grey piece of taffy.
  18. Break 3 pretzel sticks in half. Wrap one end of each with the grey taffy and shape into a eggbeater. Stick the other end, downward into the left side of the Dalek above the “Dalek bumps”. (The Dalek’s left but your right.)
  19. Unwrap the remaining black taffy and knead until soft. Mold the taffy to make 6 suction cups, 3 slight larger than the other 3.
  20. Stick a pretzel stick into the back of each suction cup and mold the taffy onto the pretzel.
  21. The larger suction cups are inserted on the opposite side from the grey beater shaped pretzels. These make up the Dalek arms.
  22. Unwrap and knead the blue piece of taffy. Form 3 small balls and place them instead the 3 remaining suction cups to be lights.
  23. Unwrap the knead the last piece of white taffy. Roll very thin, almost string like, and wrap around the middle of each suction cup pretzel remaining.
  24. Insert the last suction cup pretzels into the Dalek’s head, dead center.

stackedconesfondantcoveredconedalekbaseDalekbumpsheadlightdalekstripesDalektrio

 

Here is to 50 more years!!!!

Chalk Sky

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dalek Cake Topper

22 Apr

My son’s 10th birthday is tomorrow and last night he springs on me that he wants a Dalek birthday cake.  So I do a search all over the internet for different types of Dalek cakes, cupcakes, etc to see what I like and nothing really looked the way I wanted.  I had already gotten him his triple chocolate cake mix with the triple chocolate frosting so I came up with the idea to make an edible cake topper instead.  For his class, we ordered a cookie cake so I made sure to have an extra Dalek to put on top of that as well.  This is the first time I have ever tried using fondant so I don’t think I did too badly for a first try.

IMG_0258 IMG_0256 IMG_0257

Dalek Cake Topper

Ingredients:

  • 6 flat bottomed ice-cream cones
  • 1 Wilton White Rolled Fondant 1.5lb
  • 1 Black Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Brown Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Golden Yellow Wilton Icing Color 1oz
  • 1 Black Pearlized Sugar Pearl Sprinkles 5oz
  • 10 pieces of black taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 4 pieces of white taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 1 pieces of blue taffy (sold by the piece – 15 for $1 at Party City)
  • 1 small package of thin pretzel sticks
  • 1 small package of powdered sugar (This is used to keep the fondant from sticking to table, rolling pin and pretty much anything.)

Directions:

It is a good idea to wear gloves on your hands for steps 2 – 9 to prevent turning your hands blackish brown.

  1. Stack 2 flat bottomed ice-cream cones into each other and turn upside down on a plate.
  2. Separate the fondant into 1 lb and 1/2 lb balls.
  3. Add black icing color to 1/2 lb ball of fondant and knead to desired grey color.  (Note:  You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  4. Add brown icing color and just a touch of golden yellow icing color to the 1 lb ball of fondant and knead to desired golden color.    (Note:  You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  5. Make 3 balls of golden fondant the diameter of a quarter and place to the side.
  6. Separate golden fondant into 3 even balls and then roll out the golden fondant with a rolling pin.  (Note:  You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  7. Place the golden fondant ball in top of the bottom of each ice cream cone and then carefully cover the whole thing with the golden fondant.  you can tuck extra fondant under and into the cone to secure it.  (Note:  Have a small cup of water handy to use to seal the ends by rubbing it with water.)
  8. Roll out the grey fondant ball with a rolling pin.  (Note:  You need powdered sugar to keep fondant from sticking.)
  9. Cut 3 – 1/2 inch strips of grey fondant.  Wet the golden fondant on fattest part of the cone and wrap the grey fondant strip around it to form the Dalek base.
  10. Pour the black pearl sprinkles into a bowl.  (Good time to remove gloves.)
  11. Do these next steps one cone at a time:  Using your fingers, moisten the bottom of your Dalek just above the grey base to the dent where the cone tapers in.
  12. Carefully place the pearls onto the cone in 4 rows creating columns of “Dalek bumps” on your Dalek.
  13. Unwrap 2 pieces of white taffy and knead them until they are soft.
  14. Roll the taffy and cut into 6 pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball and then form the lights on the top of the Dalek’s head.  Moisten the area you wish to place the lights and the bottom of the lights.  Press into place.
  15. Do the stripes one at a time.  For each, unwrap 2 piece of black taffy and knead until soft.
  16. Roll the taffy into a thin string and cut it into 3rds.  Wrap each piece around the base of your Dalek’s head.
  17. Unwrap a black piece and a white piece of taffy.  You will need to pull them together over and over to create a grey piece of taffy.
  18. Break 3 pretzel sticks in half.  Wrap one end of each with the grey taffy and shape into a eggbeater.  Stick the other end, downward into the left side of the Dalek above the “Dalek bumps”.  (The Dalek’s left but your right.)
  19. Unwrap the remaining black taffy and knead until soft.  Mold the taffy to make 6 suction cups, 3 slight larger than the other 3.
  20. Stick a pretzel stick into the back of each suction cup and mold the taffy onto the pretzel.
  21. The larger suction cups are inserted on the opposite side from the grey beater shaped pretzels.  These make up the Dalek arms.
  22. Unwrap and knead the blue piece of taffy.  Form 3 small balls and place them instead the 3 remaining suction cups to be lights.
  23. Unwrap the knead the last piece of white taffy.  Roll very thin, almost string like, and wrap around the middle of each suction cup pretzel remaining.
  24. Insert the last suction cup pretzels into the Dalek’s head, dead center.

stackedconesfondantcoveredconedalekbaseDalekbumpsheadlightdalekstripesDalektrio

Tristan Cake 1Tristan Cake 2

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

ANZAC Biscuits (Cookies)

18 Apr

IMG_4075For the multicultural event that I mentioned in earlier posts like Homemade Girl’s Kapa Haka, I made ANZAC Biscuits as my food sample for New Zealand because ANZAC Day is next week on April 25th. I did research online to modify the recipe to American standards. I was lucky to find golden syrup at our local supermarket because we have a large Irish presence in our town but for most Americans you will have to use the substitution. I baked 266 cookies but somehow only 240 made it to the event. My family wouldn’t stop eating them.

ANZAC Biscuits (Cookies)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup white flour
  • 1 cup oatmeal (not instant)
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  • ½ cup butter
  • 2 TBSP golden syrup (You can substitute 1 TBSP light corn syrup & 1 TBSP molasses)
  • ½ TSP baking soda
  • 1 TBSP water

Directions:

  1. Sift flour into bowl.  Add the sugar, oatmeal, and coconut.
  2. Melt butter in a saucepan and then add the golden syrup and water.
  3. Stir baking soda into the liquid mixture.
  4. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and mixture thoroughly.
  5. Place walnut-sized balls of mixture onto a greased cookie pan.
  6. Bake at 350° for 15-20 minutes.
  7. Biscuits will harden when cool.

Yields:  10 – 15 3-inch cookies or 20 – 30 1 ½-inch cookies

(Note:  I used a mini ice-cream scoop to help keep my cookies the same size.)

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Lego Cakes

12 Jan

legocakeSomehow I found myself in the position of the one person who brings the unusual and fun dessert the kids all love.   In keeping up with this tradition, this past Labor Day I made Lego cakes. Using the basic recipe idea from Betty Crocker.  I modified it a little because I find the Wilton dyes to be a bit more stable in frosting.

Lego Cakes:

Ingredients:

  • 2 box of cake mix – the flavor is your choice but we used white vanilla
  • 2 cans of white frosting
  • 1 bag of standard sized marshmallows
  • 3 – 1oz Wilton icing dye bottles – Golden Yellow, Red-Red, and Royal Blue
  1. Bake the cakes according to the packaging in 13×9-inch pans.  Be sure to grease the pans well because you want it to be easy to remove without any cracks on the bottom.
  2. While the cakes are baking, cut at least 20 marshmallows in half.  You want to make sure you have enough so going a little high is okay.
  3. When the cake are finished baking, wait 20 minutes and then carefully remove the cakes from the pans and onto a flat surface.  I used cookie sheets for this.
  4. Freeze both the marshmallow halves and the cakes for at least two hours.
  5. Take two bowls and put half of each frosting can in each.  This leaves you with 4 portions of frosting.  Put 1 portion to the side.  In the other 3, add dye to each to reach the desired Lego colors(red, blue, yellow).
  6. Cut the tops of the cakes where it domed off using a serrated knife to give you a flat surface.  Cut the cakes each into rectangular portions.  (As you can see some of my cake had an accident so one of my rectangles is smaller than the others.)legobaseplate
  7. ***I made a special display for my cakes using printed images of the Lego green baseplate on top of cookie sheets and covered them with cling wrap.  You can display yours how you wish but it made the Legos look more Lego-like to be on their own base.
  8. Place the 4 pieces of cake neatly upside down on the display you are using.  Lightly frost the outside of each cake the color they are going to be and then put the cakes back in the freezer for an hour.  Then finish frosting each cake.
  9. Nolegoblocksw the fun and messy part, take you marshmallow halves from the freezer.  Carefully frost the halves to match each cake and place into location to look like a real Lego building block.   When you are finished the cakes should look like several Legos.  This step can be really messy so be careful.

Now, sit back and watch the smiles because every kid loves to eat a piece of Lego cake!

 

 

 

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Rainbow Magic Birthday Party Idea

11 Jan

Rainbow Magic PartyAs I try to get things hammered down for Suuki’s birthday this year, I realized that I really should share what we did last year.   They wanted a theme that was not really made from items you would find in your regular party store so I had to get creative.  They wanted a Rainbow Magic party.   The A.C Moore had a deal that for $50 and supplies, we could use their party room and they would clean up all the mess.  The party would transform the guests into their own style of fairy.

For those who don’t know, Rainbow Magic is a book series that comes in sets of 7 that are all written under the pen name, Daisy Meadows.   (Tip: To find the real author just look at the back of the title page for the “Special thanks to” and you will see the true author’s name.)  After learning one of our neighbors wrote one of the books, Suuki became a bit obsessed and collects as many of these books as they can.  We are fortunate that to have found many at the local library on sale as part of a “Fill-A-Bag” special for $2 a bag.

As the guests arrived, they received their pair of wings and had glittery eyeshadow applied which were bought at the Dollar Tree.   I sprayed their hair with glittered hairspray from Party City and topped their heads with wreaths that I made from silver garland from the clearance bin from Christmas items at the Dollar Tree.

Rainbow Magic WandCraft 1 – Magic Wand:

Supplies per child:

  • 1 Heart Shaped Wooden Wands
  • Opalescent Glitter
  • White School Glue
  • 2ft strand of Colored Ribbon – pink, purple, or aqua(I picked spools from the clearance bin)
  1.  Paint the heart end of the wand completely with the glue.
  2. Sprinkle the opalescent glitter all over the glue.
  3. Tie the ribbon at the middle around the base of the heart around the wand stick.

Craft 2 – Fairy Tutu:

Supplies per child:

  • 3 ft strand of Colored Ribbon – pink, purple, or aqua
  • 25 – 2 ft strips of 6″ Colored Tulle – it comes in 25 yard spools (We used Dark Rose, Wisteria, Aqua, and Purple)
  1. Fold the tulle strips in half and knot them around your ribbon strand.  You may alternate colors or do it all in one color.  It is really up to the wearer’s preference.
  2. When all the tulle is tied to the ribbon, tie onto the wearer using a traditional bow at the back.

rainbowmagicparty2Rainbow Magic Cupcake Toppers:

Supplies:

  • Small package of wooden cocktail forks
  • Wood glue
  • Color printer
  • Laminator (If you do not have access to a laminator then clear packing tape can work as a substitute.)
  • Print Paper
  1. Search and print pictures of the various rainbow magic fairies you wish to have on your cupcakes.  Great websites for this are Rainbow Magic and Rainbow Magic UK.  Paste them into MS Word making the graphics about 2 inches tall and print.  For standard box of cake mix you will need 24 fairies.
  2. Cut around the fairies leaving some of the white boarder.
  3. Laminate the fairies using the laminator.  If you are using packing tape, just place a piece or packing tape on either side of the fairy to laminate each inside the tape.
  4. Once again, cut around the fairy and leave some of the clear laminate around the edges.
  5. Glue one cocktail fork to the back of each laminated fairies.

rainbowmagicparty3Cupcakes:

  • Wilton Pearlized Silver Sugar Crystals Sprinkles
  • White cake mix
  • White frosting
  • Flowery cupcake cups
  • Rainbow Magic Cupcake Toppers
  1. Bake the cupcake according to the instructions on the package using the flowery cupcake cups in the pan.
  2. After the cupcakes are cool, frost them with the white frosting and sprinkle the silver sugar crystals all over the tops.
  3. Stick the fairies into the top of the cupcakes.
  4. They can be displayed on a cupcake tier platter.

rainbowmagicparty4Finishing Touches:

I used the same fairy images to print and glue to plain white paper bags to make goodie bags.  The plates, napkins, cups, and all other cute party accessories all came from Dollar Tree.  It seems the trend to have a meal at birthday parties right now.  Most have pizza but with Suuki being lactose intolerant that was not for us.   I simply bought 2 20-pience chicken McNugget boxes from McDonalds, a few cans of Pringles, and 2 cases of Caprisuns.

Note:  At the time of the party standard Caprisun products contained real sugar with the exception of their Roaring Waters line.  Sadly, in the last year, they have changed this to High Fructose Corn Syrup.  The  Caprisun Super V and Caprisun 100% Juice Blends are still all natural but my kids aren’t really found of most of the flavors, especially the Super V Apple.  At this time, I have yet to find an alternative that the kids like.   They hated Honest Kids juice after trying both the Super Punch and Tropical Tango Punch.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Time to Make the Cookies

2 Jan
Peppermint Swirl Cookie

Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookie

All through the holiday season my sister was on a serious baking kick from cookies to cakepops.  Her cookies came our amazing and she used a simple resource to find all of her recipes.  Each cookie was made from scratch using recipes she found at the Food Network’s 12 Days of Cookies and in their cookie recipe database.

Her top favorites that made it to Christmas Eve, Christmas, family visitors from out of the country, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day parties are:

Florentine (Italy)

Florentine (Italy)

  1. Throwdown Chocolate Chip Cookie from Bobby Flay – These cookies were the favorite of most with their light and crispy texture.
  2. Snickerdoodles adapted from Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen by Trisha Yearwood (c) Clarkson Potter 2008 – A favorite among the non-chocolate eaters.
  3. JIF® Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookies by JIF® – My mom kept sneaking these cookies when we weren’t looking.
  4. Triple Chocolate Cookies by Bobby Flay – Please note that this recipe contains pecans.

    JIF® Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookie

    JIF® Irresistible Peanut Butter Cookie

  5. Ginger Snaps from Alton Brown – These spicy cookies have a little kick to them but go great with pumpkin pudding.
  6. Coconut Macaroons from Copyright 2002, Barefoot Contessa Family Style – They were perfectly moist without being mushy.
  7. Chocolate Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies from Alton Brown – Be sure your extract is peppermint as general mint extract can contain spearmint and alter the flavors.
  8. Florentines (Italy) from Food Network Kitchens – These were my personal favorite.
  9. Hazelnut Tea Cookies by Aida Mollencamp for 12 Days of Cookies 2008 – These were my daughter’s personal favorite.
Ginger Snap

Ginger Snap

Snickerdoodle

Snickerdoodle

Hazelnut Tea Cookie

Hazelnut Tea Cookie

Triple Chocolate Cookie

Triple Chocolate Cookie

Coconut Macaroon

Coconut Macaroon

Throwdown Chocolate Chip Cookie

Throwdown Chocolate Chip Cookie

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lactose Free Pumpkin Pudding

25 Dec

Merry Christmas!PumpkinPudding

Lactose hurts Suuki’s stomach something fierce so we avoid it as much as we can. They loves pumpkin pudding and at the holiday time it is hard to find anything made without milk. I adapted several recipes I found online to make a pumpkin pudding for Christmas day that not only tasted great for everyone else but was lactose free.

One of the major ingredients is sweetened condensed milk which by its name alone implies lactose. I have a simple recipe for a Lactose Free Sweetened Condensed Milk that can be adapted to many allergy types. You can find it at my Lactose Free Sweetened Condensed Milk blog. A search on Google will bring up many other methods as well.

Ingredients:

  • 1 package of Jell-o Instant Pudding – Vanilla, French Vanilla or Cheesecake(We used French Vanilla)
  • 2 cups of Lactose-Free Milk(If you are using any other milk alternative you will be using 1 1/2 cups.)
  • 1 29 oz can of 100% Pumpkin Puree (You don’t want anything else in there to mess up the flavors.)
  • 8 oz Lactose Free Sweetened Condensed Milk(You can use any type but this link is to mine)
  • 16 oz of Whipped Topping – like Cool Whip(If you are looking for the healthy alternative try TruWhip. It comes in a 10 oz which would work fine but your pudding will be less creamy.)
  • 8 oz tub of Whipped Topping(Once again, the healthy alternative is TruWhip. This is to top off your pudding so you can sacrifice some for the recipe itself if using the alternative.)
  • 1 tsp of cinnamon(You can use pumpkin pie spice as an alternative. You may also add more to taste if you wish.)
  • 1 package of ginger snaps

Directions:

  1. Mix the pudding powder with 2 cups of milk alternative.  If you are using Lactose-Free milk then use it cold.   If you soy or nut based milks then heat them first before mixing.  (Jello Instant Pudding and Soy Milk)
  2. In a large bowl, combine pudding, pumpkin, lactose-free sweetened condensed milk and cinnamon.  Stir until mixture is uniform throughout.
  3. Slowly fold into the mixture, the 16 oz tub of whipped topping.
  4. Transfer to your serving bowl. (I made individual portions using 9 oz clear, plastic cups and garnished the serving platter with mini-marshmallows.)
  5. You can top the pudding with the 8 oz tub of topping or serve it on the side.
  6. Serve the pudding with ginger snaps for dipping.

Tags: , , , , , ,