Baking Post 2016 No.35- Icing/piping techniques part two

Hiya guys! 

This week's post is a lead on from a few posts from the past, based on icing and piping techniques. As well as this blog being a pleasurable activity for me, it also is a place where I share my passion with others. In my opinion, the way to do so is teach them what you know or what you've learnt. And what better way to do that then to showcase my way of practicing my icing and piping skills?!😊😀

First of, below is the  common recipe I use in order to whip up yummy buttercream!

250g of icing sugar,sifted

80g of unsalted butter, at room temp

2 tablespoons of whole milk

a couple drops of vanilla extract

Method:

Beat the icing sugar and butter with either a handheld or freestanding mixer with a paddle attachment or a electric whisk on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.  Turn the mixer down to slow speed.

Combine the milk and vanilla extra together,then add in into the butter mixture gradually. Once all the milk has been incorporated, turn the mixer up to a high speed. Beat until the icing is light and fluffy. Minimum time would be at least 5 minutes.

This is the typical vanilla-flavored buttercream. However, to make the brown sugar buttercream, I adjusted the recipe by firstly adding 125g of brown sugar along with the butter and beating for a really long time,using only halve the quantity of icing sugar.

Now onto piping bags. I believe I haven't touched up on piping bags in my posts but it's very important and the main part of actually piping.😜

So the many three sizes of piping bags which would be the most essential to have are: small Piping bags, medium-sized piping bags and large piping bags. Whenever I'm piping icing, I usually opt for the medium-sized ones, depending on what I'm piping and what pattern I'm aiming for. With there being a variety of piping bags sizes, there is a HUGE collection of piping nozzles. There are literally hundreds of them. Below are the nozzles which I own and the ones I reach out for the most.

To begin with is my absolute favorite nozzle: Open star tip,which is usually used to pipe onto cupcakes, cakes,biscuits,pastries-the list is endless. They can create lightly textured ruffles when swirled continuously. Used at an angle, these tips create small shell -type dollops of buttercream or royal icing — perfect for adding cute borders at the base of iced cakes. Otherwise, piped directly overhead and in short bursts they make "gems," which are great for piping out meringue kisses, mini-cupcakes or tiny bursts of buttercream on top of a home made cake.

Next up is the "closed" star nozzle. This type of nozzle is perfect for piping ruffled buttercream on top of cupcakes as well as adding borders onto cakes,cookies, depending on their size. It has a more defined texture then open star tips due to the ridges being tighter.

Following on is the plain round nozzle. This is mainly used to pipe simple,rounded swirls onto cupcakes. In slightly smaller sizes, they're great for adding dots of detail onto cakes as well as being perfect for piping Swiss dots onto cakes with royal icing.

This succeeds to the "petal or ruffling" nozzle.

The,what I call the "ruffling nozzle" is ideal for adding extraordinary buttercream ruffles to cakes or for piping out impressive flowers,such as the famous rose, on top of cupcakes and cookies. 

Volia! Those you are your top 4 nozzles. So onto practicing. I had used this tip from my favorite baking vlogger, Cupcake Jemma, about practising piping. This is to just to practise on grease-proof paper first, therefore, when you feel confident enough to pipe onto your cupcakes or cookies, you can just scrap the icing back into the bowl for piping! It's a simple as!

This really worked for me as I could practise as many times as you want and make an excuse to make buttercream!😋😋😋😋

So to put my piping skills to the test, I  remade the previous recipe post of Apple Crumble Cupcakes and here are the results:

Before

 




When practising.....

 





Prior to ending this post...

I've updated the Apple Crumble Cupcake Ending pictures with this week's re-take. If you want to take a look, click here!

Favorite song of the week: Cashmere Cat- Trust Nobody ft Selena Gomez,Tory Lanez

For more help in making the "perfect" buttercream, click here!

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Thanks for reading and I'll hopefully see you next week!

#sweetreats xxx

Baking Post 2016 No.34- Cookbooks I'm crushing on at the moment

Hey guys!!😁

The inspiration behind this week's blog post came from the website "The Simple Sweet Life"- a link will be left below.

Throughout the past few months of Autumn, I've been reading non-stop. After all,it's a pleasure to get lost within the words inside a book instantly. Yeah OK, not all of that reading has consisted of cookbooks but at times, it is somewhat interesting flicking through cookbooks, discovering new recipes that I never knew even existed as well as see the aesthetic photographs of the ending result. 

First things first, I've been scouring into the good old cookbooks, coming across a few cookbook titles such as 

•Meringue Magic
• Lily Vanilli's Sweet Tooth 
• The Hummingbird Bakery: Cupcakes and muffins

Meringue Magic:
Over 30 recipes ranging between simple crisp and chewy confections sandwiching whipped cream, to wild combinations such as meringue sushi. This recipe book seriously great from great meringue recipes to improving technique. Once you've finished this book, meringues will be your next favorite thing,next to Autumn.

Snapshots from " Meringue Magic":

 

Meringue sushi!!

Lily Vanilli's Sweet Tooth:

In Sweet Tooth, Lily Jones( a.k.a Vanilla) takes you behind the scenes at her thriving East London bakery,present in you how to master some the core skills of baking. Sweet Tooth is the essential cookbook for anyone like myself, who is passionate about making something sweet. In opinion, this review cannot be more accurate. This cookbook is not only great for reference but constructing your own recipes as well as moving on from the cupcake once and for all.

Book photography

 

 

And finally, my book from the beginning of this entire blog, the hummingbird Bakery!!!

"You can queue along the pavement at the Hummingbird Bakery or you can stay at home with this luscious new cookbook and make some yourself!" The Observer. 

This book literally has EVERYTHING you would want to bake. From chocolate hazelnut cupcakes to blueberry muffins ,all are a delight to make.

Images from the book:

 

 

That's all from me,then.  Although all photograph from the book had been taken by other professionals ,which shall be listed below, I had taken the time and effort to take the photos from the books, reliving the photographer's work. 

Before I conclude this post...

• New blogger to check out: Cupcake Jemma 

Books I've come across: 

Flawed. 



Holding Up The Universe

Photography for the Lily Vanilli's Sweet Tooth: Romas Foord

Photography for Meringue Magic: Deirdre Rooney

Photography for the Hummingbird Bakery: Peter Cassidy


For access to the website, named above, click The Simple, Sweet Life !!




Thanks for reading and I'll see you next week!!!!

#sweetreats xxx

Recipe Post 2016 No.33- 2nd Bonfire Night Special!!

Hiya!

Firstly, thank you ever so much for your comments on last week's post. It's not everyday you stumble across a post based on the blogger's 1st birthday so thank you for reading.

Secondly, in honour of Bonfire Night, I'm making Brownies. If I'm being honest, Brownies aren't exactly an typical Bonfire Night recipe. However, brownies are best suited to ANY season really and whenever you feel like it!

In order to make the BEST BROWNIES EVER, you'll require:

185g of unsalted butter

185g of the best dark chocolate

85g of PLAIN flour

40g of cocoa powder

50g of white chocolate (as I don't like white chocolate,obviously, I skipped this ingredient; this may be different for you).

50g milk chocolate 

3 large eggs

275g of golden caster sugar

Method:

Firstly, cut the butter into small-ish cubes ,tip into a medium sized bowl. Break your dark chocolate into fragments, dropping into the bowl with butter. 

With that done, fill a small saucepan, up to about a quarter full with hot water, afterwards sitting the bowl on top of the saucepan. Leave the chocolate and butter on a low heat until melted, stirring occasionally.   Leave the chocolate to cool to room temp.

In the meantime, turn the oven onto fan 160C/ conventional oven 180C/ Gas Mark 4. Using a shallow 20cm square tin of non-stick baking parchment to line the base.

Tip the plain flour, cocoa powder into a medium sized bowl using a sieve.

With a large sharp knife (if underage, ask an adult to do this step), chop the white chocolate as well as the milk chocolate into chunks.

Crack the eggs into a large bowl, followed on by the golden caster sugar. With an electric mixer (handheld or free-standing), on a maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar together until they look thick and creamy like below, in similarity to a milkshake. This may take up to 3-8 minutes.

Pour the now cooled chocolate over the "eggy mousse", gently folding together with  a rubber spatula using the "figure of eight". If unsure, type of the figure of eight mixing method.


Using a sieve once more, re -sift the cocoa and flour mixture, once again gently folding into the mixture, doing the figure of eight action as before.


Pour the brownie mixture into a prepared tin, scraping every bit out of the bowl with a spatula,ensuring the mixture meets all the tin's corners,leveling equally. Set your timer for 25 minutes, checking onto the brownies every 10 or so minutes.

When the buzzer goes, open the oven, pull the shelf out a bit and gently shake the tin. If the brownie wobbles in the middle, it’s not quite done, so slide it back in and bake for another 5 minutes until the top has a shiny, papery crust and the sides are just beginning to come away from the tin. Take out of the oven.

Leave the whole thing in the tin until completely cold, then, if you’re using the brownie tin, lift up the protruding rim slightly and slide the uncut brownie out on its base. If you’re  using a normal tin, lift out the brownie with the foil. Cut into quarters, then cut each quarter into four squares,which I prefer. But if you like cutting your brownies into triangles, you can.

According to the recipe, you can keep the brownies in a airtight container for at least two weeks or in the freezer for up to a month. That won't be necessary for me as I'll probably eat THEM all without any trouble!


So, the verdict- are these the best ever brownies? I definitely think it should be up for appeal against the fudge-like brownies and cake like brownies. These are a combination of the two!

Photographs of brownies...

 

  

"Eggy mousse"

Decorated brownies with this pretty pink bunting in celebration of Bonfire Night

 Prior to ending this post...

I had taken some aesthetic photographs of a couple pathways I walk up when I'm on my way to school and can't be bothered to catch a bus. 

😛😆😆😆😆😆😆😆I'm CRAZY about CRZY!

For more help on making this week's recipe click here for a video!




5 recipes to use up any leftover Hallowen candy/sweets

Favorite quote:

If you have any ideas for future posts, want to collab,etc,etc, let me know at:
chcocolatecupcakes@gmail.com


Happy Bonfire Night!!!

To check out my other Bonfire Night edition from last year, click here!

Once again, thank you so much for your kind comments!







Au revoir!!!