Strawberry truffles

Strawberry truffles (makes 35)

Ingredients
400g white chocolate drops
6 tbsp double cream (heavy cream)
100g strawberries blended to a puree
Bowl of strawberry flavoured sugar for rolling them in.
Edible white glitter

Cooking instructions

1. Place the chocolate drops and cream in a medium sized saucepan on a medium heat.
2. Stir until chocolate has completely melted and has a smooth texture.
3. Remove from heat and whisk in strawberry puree.
4. Pour into small bowl and refrigerate for about 1 1/2 hours, or until set.
5. Scoop tsp of chocolate mix into your hand and roll into a ball shape.
6. Roll in strawberry flavoured sugar to coat.
7. Sprinkle with edible glitter
8. Refrigerate to store, for up to a week (but best served at room temperature).

Here they are with my bubblegum flavoured truffles and dark chocolate & orange

Have a sweet day!

Snowy village Christmas cake

I left deciding what my Christmas cake should look like till the last minute! Not my brightest idea as fruit cakes taste better when they have time to mature but I just couldn't decide what to do. So on the Friday before Christmas I got up at the crack of dawn and made a simple round Christmas cake. Later that afternoon after the cake had cooled I covered it in a layer of marzipan and decided to decorate it with little houses inspired by my vintage house Christmas tree decoration and my Christmas cake from 2009 that had four little houses on. So I started making the little houses out of roll on icing whilst I let the marzipan on my Christmas cake set a little. I also made some fondant white Christmas trees like the ones on my gluten free mint choc chip cupcakes. Unfortunately as I finished decorating my cake in the wee hours of the morning I didn't get to take any photos's along the way. So I have just included a link to my gluten free Christmas cake recipe and the decorations and tools I used.

Snowy village Christmas cake

Ingredients

• Gluten free Christmas cake covered in a layer of marzipan and iced
• Royal Icing
• Ready to roll white icing
• Pink food colouring
• Aqua food colouring
• Pink, mint and white edible glitter
• Mint and pink edible dust
• Sugar snowflakes
• Pink and mint edible balls
• Silver and gold edible sequins

Equipment

• Rolling pin
• Square cutter used to make houses
• Triangle cutter used to make houses
• Holly leaf cutter
• Star cutters used to make Christmas trees
• Snowflake cutter
• Piping bag fitted with small star nozzle

Have a sweet day!

Raspberry & Chocolate mousse filled chocolate houses

Last year I made chocolate snowflakes filled with chocolate mousse that were yummy! so when the lovely peeps at Wholeport sent me a houses mould I knew I wanted to fill them with chocolate mousse but as they were deeper than the snowflake mould I decided to also fill them with a raspberry mouse so they were not to rich. I tried to make the layer of chocolate thinner on the houses than the snowflakes but sadly I got it too thin at the bases of some of the houses which caused some of the chocolate to break off, so I have adjusted the recipe to include a little more chocolate.

Chocolate House mousse (makes 6 Houses)

Ingredients

• 100g white chocolate drops
• Aqua chocolate colouring (must be chocolate colouring as regular food colouring will cause chocolate to seize and ruin)
• 300g double cream
• Pinch of caster sugar
• 300g milk chocolate drops
• 200g double cream
• Pinch of caster sugar
• 200g fresh raspberries blended into a puree
• Icing sugar for dusting

6 Cavity silicone house mould

Cooking instructions

• Melt white chocolate and stir in food colouring.
• Pour coloured white chocolate into moulds and, using a brush, coat sides of moulds in chocolate and leave to set.
• Place 300g of cream in a bowl with a pinch of caster sugar and whip until soft peaks form.
• Melt 200g of milk chocolate in the microwave on a low heat or in a double boiler on the hob, continuously stirring so as not to overheat.
• Stir melted chocolate into whipped cream until you have an even coloured mousse.
• Spoon mousse into chocolate coated house moulds and place in fridge to firm.
• Place 200g of cream in a bowl with a pinch of caster sugar and whip until soft peaks form.
• Stir blended raspberries into whipped cream until you have an even coloured mousse.
• Spoon mousse into chocolate coated house moulds on top of chocolate mousses and place in fridge to firm.
• Melt remaining 100g of milk chocolate and coat the top of the mousse with milk chocolate to seal in mousse.
• Place in fridge to set.
• Turn out house filled moulds just before serving and dust with sieved icing sugar.

Old fashioned glitter gold tart server

Have a sweet day!

Gluten free Mint choc chip Christmas cupcakes

I was recently asked if I would like to review some of new online store, Just Bake's cupcake decorations. Ooh! Yes please! After much consideration I chose Antique white foil cupcake cases, White snowflake cupcake wrappers, Edible silver sequins and Pearl white edible silk. I was thinking I could decorate my cupcakes with mini peppermint cream pearl white Christmas trees, decorated with the edible silver sequins to match the snowflake and white cupcake wrappers I had chosen. So I decided to make choc chip cupcakes with a mint chocolate ganache icing to sit my iced Christmas trees on...



Gluten-free choc chip cupcakes (makes 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients

• 2 large eggs
• 185g (1 1/4 cups) gluten-free self raising flour
• 125g unsalted butter, softened
• 150g (2/3 cup) caster sugar
• 80ml (1/2 cup) milk
• 150g dark chocolate chips
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla essence

Cooking instructions

1. Heat oven to 170C (fan 150C)
2. Line baking tray with cases
3. Line a baking tray with baking paper
4. In a food mixer, beat the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla essence and cocoa powder
5. Stir in sifted flour, chocolate chips and milk
6. Divide batter between the cases
7. Bake for about 25 mins until cakes bounce back when lightly pressed
8. Place on rack to cool

To decorate (for 12 cupcake sized cakes) Ingredients

• 142 ml Double cream
• 100g chopped Chocolate
• 1 tbsp golden caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• Ready to roll icing
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• Sieved icing sugar
• Pearl white edible silk
• Edible silver sequins

Equipment

• Rolling pin
• Star cutters in different sizes

Instructions

1. Ganache: In a medium pan heat the cream and sugar until it is about to boil
2. Remove from the heat and pour over chopped chocolate and stir until chocolate has melted
3. Add 1/2 tsp peppermint extract and mix till you have a smooth consistency
4. Pour chocolate ganache over cooled cupcakes and leave to set
5. Add a few drops of peppermint extract to roll on icing.
6. Dust icing sugar onto a hard clean surface and roll out icing to 3mm thick.
7. Cut out 8 stars in different sizes, for each cake.
8. Layer up the stars, to form a tree.
9. Dust the top of the cakes with sieved icing sugar and place iced tree in the centre
10. Dust tips with edible silk using a damp brush
11. Sprinkle trees with edible sequins and glitter

For more beautiful cupcake decorations and cases check out Just Bake.

Have a sweet day!