Piping skills and cookie decorating class

Even though I was slightly disappointed with the painting on cakes class I took recently, I booked myself into another course - again using a Livingsocial voucher - shortly after. I now had slightly reduced expectations and, as this class was only £19- about half the price of the last one - I anticipated that it would be quite short and probably quite basic. Even so, I was attracted by the opportunity to learn piping skills - I can just about pipe buttercream onto cupcakes, though the roses on this neapolitan cake left a little to be desired. I've piped onto cookies before but with limited success (you can see a few at the end of this blog post here) so I was looking forward to learning how to do it properly.

The class was held at Deelicious Nazish's Kitchen in Tooting; it was very easy to find (right next to the tube) and the class was in a room behind the cafe - I had a quick look at their menu and it looked like a really nice place, so if you're ever in the area, I recommend it!

The tutor, Janet, started by showing us how to make our own piping bags or cartouches (I learnt a new word!). These are good because you can make them very small - if you are doing fine piping work, a full-size piping bag is a bit big and unwieldy. Janet also pointed out how expensive disposable piping bags are if you need several for the same project (e.g. you are using different colours of icing) and I've long since given up on reusable ones that you have to wash. There's a particular technique to rolling and folding a piece of greasproof paper, which is very simple when you know how - Janet could make these in seconds. Unfortunately I had a bit more trouble, and even after she showed me a couple of times I still found it quite tricky. I eventually got the hang of it but I think I might still end up using bags from Lakeland!

Here you can see a piping bag Janet made, my attempt that I gave up on, and a few of the piping nozzles that we used.

We started by trying to pipe straight lines with royal icing- not as easy as it sounds! I always thought you needed to keep the nozzle on the cake or cookie - or in this case the circle of greaseproof paper that I was piping on to. But in actual fact, you need to touch the tip of the nozzle to the paper as you start squeezing, then lift it up and pull it away so you create almost a long string of icing, several inches in the air above your surface, and then touch down at the end. If that explanation makes no sense, there are probably good YouTube videos you can watch!

While this method sounded instinctively wrong, I discovered that it is actually very hard to pipe in a straight line if you keep the nozzle on the paper, as for some reason you have much less control over it. Bringing the nozzle up allows you to make a smooth movement that gives you a straight line - or almost straight, I obviously need a bit more practice!

We then moved on to piping circles and wavy lines....

... I had a go at combining the two with some musical notes

We then switched to a star nozzle and Janet showed us how to do the pattern you see around the edge of this cake board. It's very easy to do, but looks very effective!

I amused myself for a few minutes by piping pretty patterns onto my cake board!

I even managed to write "Merry Xmas" at the top and pipe some mini Christmas trees

So moving on to the cookies themselves.... these are Janet's creation, don't they look good?

She had baked the cookies before the start of our lesson, so there were plenty of plain cookies for us to help ourselves to and decorate. They were mostly in the shape of Christmas decorations which was great, though we were encouraged to decorate them however we liked.

I started off with some red royal icing and tried to make these both look like the sort of decorations you would see hanging on your tree. I wouldn't have had the confidence to try such detailed piping before this class.

I also sprinkled some of my cookies with edible glitter.

This one is intended to look like a snowflake - it's one of my favourites. Unfortunately I was only able to make one of these as there weren't enough round cookies!

More Christmas decoration designs

Here is my finished selection of cookies!

I then started thinking about what I would do with my cookies, as I didn't want to eat them myself. I decided they would make a nice gift, and would probably hold up fairly well in the post (better than sending cake, anyway). I immediately thought of a friend who lives a couple of hundred miles away, so I don't get to see him very often. He had recently joked that my cakes look so nice, he wished I could send him a slice - so I thought I would go one better and send him his very own box of Christmas cookies! So as a final touch I decorated one with the word Xmas and one with his name - it's lucky he has a short name!

One of the other girls in the class was really creative and had the idea of sandwiching a round cookie together with two of the Christmas decoration shapes, to make the face and antlers of a reindeer. I asked her if I could take a photo - isn't this cute?

As we left, Janet gave us two different sized cake boxes for our cookies and also a small bag, which has a flat bottom big enough for the larger cake box to sit completely flat. This meant I had no problems getting my creations home on the tube and bus, and I really appreciated it. In fact, I just want to say what a brilliant class this was, and if you get the chance to take a lesson at Deelicious Nazish's Kitchen in Tooting then I highly recommend it (this is not a sponsored post and I paid for my own class). The class was scheduled to last 2 hours but we were there for 2 hours 45 mins, so I really felt like I had got my money's worth; as well as the cake box and bag we were also offered tea, coffee or a bottle of water, and were given a mini cupcake to eat as we arrived. All that for £19 (on the Livingsocial deal) was great! My only small complaint would be that we were standing at a table the entire class, so after nearly three hours of standing in one spot piping my legs really ached. It would have been nice to have a chair!

It was a shame too that we didn't get to try flooding, as this is a technique I wanted to learn, but Janet pointed out there wouldn't be enough time for the cookies to dry and us to take them home. Instead she demonstrated the technique, but as I was trying to finish my cookies at the same time I'm not sure I fully took it in!

This is the cool bag we got to take our boxes of cookies home:

When I got home I transferred my cookies to the smaller of two boxes (I could stack the cookies now they were dry) and added some tissue paper, wrote in a homemade Christmas card, and packaged them off to send to my friend Guy. He sent me a nice message after he received the cookies, saying how nice they were and how pleased he was to receive them.

I think it's lovely being able to send someone a little surprise in the post so I will have to start thinking if there are any other edible gifts that will travel well! Let me know if you have baked anything and successfully sent it in the post.....

Patchwork cutters and painting on cakes

I recently bought a Livingsocial deal for a cake decorating class that was described as "applique" and painting on cakes. I was hoping to learn a new technique as this is something I haven't tried before, and didn't really know how to go about it.

The class was at The Place of Excellence in south London.

We started off covering a small cake board in fondant - this meant we could keep our designs for ever if we wanted, and was a good idea, though I would have liked the chance to have a go at painting on a fondant-covered cake as well. The class catered for all levels, and some people had never used fondant or covered a cake or board before, so the tutor - who I think was called Shola, apologies if this isn't right but the course was a while ago now! - talked us through how to do this.

She then emptied a huge bag of patchwork cutters onto the table and allowed us to choose the one(s) we wanted to use. Even though it was only October, I thought it would be nice to make something I could potentially use as a Christmas decoration or give as a gift, so I chose this pair of bells and a sort of Celtic knot design.

The technique turned out to be very simple - we used the cutter to press down on the fondant gently enough to leave an outline.

Then we took some edible dusting powder and mixed it with a little liquid - you can use a clear alcoholic spirit such as vodka, or a flavour extract like vanilla or lemon extract. You can't use water, as it would be too runny and won't dry properly. Here you can see a small amount of gold lustre powder that I took out of the pot, before I mixed it with the spirit.

We were then told to simply dip a fine artist's paintbrush in the mixed colour, and paint onto the fondant, following the lines from the cutter.

We could also use the cutter again to cut out the same shape in flower paste, and then layer it onto the fondant to build up the picture in 3D. I started doing this but then changed my mind - the flower paste was so thin the picture was almost as flat as if I just painted straight onto the fondant, and we only had white flower paste so I would have then had to paint it in the same way I was painting the picture directly onto the fondant.

Here is the finished picture - very festive!

This beautiful one is the handiwork of Ros from The More Than Occasional Baker -
we took the class together. Ros did a particularly good job on the dove I think!

We were given a box to take our cake boards home, though as I had quite a long journey on the tube then bus, I found it impossible to keep this flat and it did get a little bashed around in the box, so I decided I couldn't really give it as a gift, though I will display it somewhere in my house for Christmas.

The class was advertised as lasting three hours, but doing all this only took two and a quarter hours - and I have to say I didn't feel it was particularly good value for money as the teacher explained the technique - which was basically "use a stencil to make an outline, mix the lustre dust with some liquid and paint on your outline" - and then we sat there for an hour painting. The sort of classes I prefer, and where I really feel like I've got my money's worth, is where there is a lot of interaction from the tutor - they show the class how to do something, then help each individual improve their technique and so on.

To fill the extra time we made roses by rolling long strips of fondant, and the tutor also showed us how to cover a round cake with fondant (though we watched rather than doing it ourselves). I'd done both of these things before so I think it would have been quite good for people who hadn't done it. The tutor also demonstrated "lace work" which was also done with a particularly delicate patchwork cutter. If you use flowerpaste it dries hard enough that you can stand the piece of 'lace' up around the sides of a cake, and make some really nice designs.

It was interesting to learn a new technique that I'd never thought to do before, and when I went to Cake International in Birmingham not long after, I bought some patchwork cutters (though I haven't used them yet). It would have been nicer for the class to be a bit more interactive, especially as it wasn't very cheap even after the discount, but for people who hadn't done any sort of cake decorating before I think it would have been particularly good.

The Place of Excellence also offers balloon modelling classes, which I thought looked really interesting, and quite an unusual combination with the cake decorating!

Sachertorte

A Sachertorte is a chocolate cake invented by Franz Sacher in 1832 in Vienna, Austria, for Prince Wenzel von Metternich. Sacher was the 16-year-old apprentice to the Prince's chef, who had to step in when the chef fell ill one day, and invented this cake. Not bad for a teenager! Later Sacher's eldest son Edward opened a hotel and the cake was a speciality of the Hotel Sacher.

According to Wikipedia and other websites, December 5 is National Sachertorte Day - presumably in Austria, though it doesn't say. I didn't know that, but it's perfect timing for this blog post!

I hit upon the idea as soon as I saw Ros had randomly selected the letter S for this month's Alphabakes (a slightly easier letter for those of you who grumbled good-naturedly about J last month!). I've never eaten a Sachertorte before, let alone made one, and while I've spent a lot of time in Germany (including living there twice), I've never been to Austria. So I wasn't sure what this was supposed to taste or even really look like, though I knew that the cake always has the name "Sacher" piped on top in a scrolling script.

I found a recipe on the BBC Food website which is by Mary Berry - though strangely there wasn't a picture so I had to look it up separately on Google Images to check what it was meant to look like!

You need:
140g plain chocolate
140g butter, softened
115g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5 eggs, separated
85g ground almonds
55g plain flour

For the icing:
6 tbsp apricot jam, sieved
140g plain chocolate
200ml double cream
25g milk chocolate to pipe the word Sacher - though I used ready made chocolate piping icing.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 9 inch loose-bottomed cake tin and line the base with a circle of greaseproof paper.

Melt the chocolate in a bain marie or, as I did, in a microwave.

Beat the butter until soft then gradually add in the sugar - this is a cinch in a Kitchenaid.

Add the vanilla extract - it came out of the bottle much faster than I expected so I used a little too much!

Add the melted chocolate and beat again.

Separate the eggs and add the yolks

Fold in the ground almonds and the flour

Mix again - the mixture will be quite thick at this point

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff.

Fold in a third of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture, then fold in the rest.

Pour the mixture into the greased and lined tin. Bake for about 45 mins.

Pass the jam through a sieve so it is totally smooth, then heat it in a small pan. When it's fairly runny, use a pastry brush to spread over the top and sides of the cake.

To make the ganache, melt the chocolate in a pan with the double cream

 It will become thick but still runny

Allow to cool a little, then spread over the top and sides of the cake and leave to set

 To pipe the word 'Sacher' on top I melted some milk chocolate and put it in a piping bag with a very fine nozzle - but the chocolate was too thick to come out of the nozzle! Has anyone tried piping actual chocolate before and can give me any advice? Instead I decided to use this pouch of chocolate-flavoured designer icing from Dr. Oetker, but as I've said before, for the life of me I can't work out how to get the piping nozzle to stay on. Like last time, I had to hold it in place with one hand while I squeezed the icing bag with the other - not ideal but it did work!

I tried to copy the handwriting style that is traditionally used on Sachertorte; this isn't quite perfect but I was happy with it.

The finished cake. It was quite a dense texture but lovely and chocolatey, and the ganache on top was excellent.

I'm sending this to Alphabakes, the blogging challenge I co-host with Ros of The More Than Occasional Baker, as the letter she randomly selected this month is S. We've got a prize this month so it's definitely worth entering!

I'm also sending this to Tea Time Treats, hosted by Karen of Lavender and Lovage and Kate of What Kate Baked, as their theme this month is chocolate.

Meal Planning - Week 20

A slightly revised version based on a change of plans...
 

Monday
Breakfast Cereal
Lunch - I'll want a decent meal as I'm out tonight so will take a chicken breast with the rest of the Chicken Tonight sauce from last week with potatoes and veg (thank goodness for the office microwave!)
Dinner - Going to the youth club where I volunteer tonight so will take something with me (though may crack and go via the chip shop on the way home)
Update: the person I needed to see at the youth club wasn't there so I only stayed half an hour then went home, meaning I was back in time to cook dinner, so made the Pad Thai planned for later on this week.

Tuesday
Breakfast Cereal
Lunch Baked sweet potato with soft cheese/quark (if I can get hold of any), chilli flakes, feta
Update: As I made the Pad Thai last night and there was enough for three portions, I had some for lunch today
Dinner Going to Ikea with my boyfriend and his mum - which they see as a chore but I'm kind of looking forward to as it will only be the second time I've been to Ikea (though the first time, I was there for literally 12 hours - I'm not kidding. We furnished an entire house). So I expect I'll be having dinner at their house beforehand, as they strangely don't seem keen on Swedish meatballs ;-)
Update: So we didn't waste important shopping time (yay for Ikea!) we got dinner from the chip shop - so I'm glad I didn't do that on Monday night as well!

Wednesday
Breakfast Quorn sausages
Lunch Ham sandwich ideally on homemade bread (if I get round to making it on Tuesday that is... which isn't all that likely).
Update: Was home too late to make bread but in any case there was another portion of the Pad Thai left so that is today's lunch.
Dinner Sea bass with citrus-dressed broccoli and sweet potato http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9111/panfried-sea-bass-with-citrusdressed-broccoli


Thursday
Breakfast Quorn sausages
Lunch Ham sandwich ideally on homemade bread
Dinner Pad Thai with peanut butter - The Branded Cookbook
Update: as I had this on Monday I will cook something different, though at the moment I'm trying to sort out when to go to the youth club again and it may be this evening.

Friday
Breakfast Cereal
Lunch Leftover Pad Thai
Update: Ham sandwich
Dinner Dinner with my boyfriend - spiced bbq glazed chicken from the Branded Cookbook,  p122, with homemade potato wedges

Saturday
Breakfast Cereal
Lunch Soup with any leftover homemade bread
Dinner Possibly out with my boyfriend, or might eat at his house. If we're at my place I'll make the sausage hot pot with Lea & Perrins on p.112 of the Branded Cookbook
Update: I'll be having dinner at my boyfriend's house and there is some steak in his freezer which we really enjoy so I will cook us steak and chips and we'll have a cosy night in with a DVD.

Sunday
Brunch At my boyfriend's house so probably a bacon roll
Dinner  Sea bass with sloe gin shallots from a recipe I copied out from a magazine years ago. I was going to make this last Sunday and totally forgot and did roast chicken instead!

Queen of Puddings

 

 

Truly a great British classic!

 

Over the past few months, the Best of British challenge has chosen a particular part of the UK - including Scotland, London and Devon - and invited us to submit a recipe from that area. For the grand final, Fiona at London Unattached has challenged us to enter our overall Best of British dish. So I wanted something that wasn't necessarily specific to one town or county, but that was resoundingly British and ideally a classic. I also wanted to make something sweet as I have made a few savoury recipes for this challenge and wanted to end on a dessert, cake or pudding.

So I give to you... Mary Berry's Queen of Puddings. This is my Best of British entry because:
- It's a traditional British dessert also known as Monmouth Pudding and Manchester Pudding
- The name also brings to mind our royal heritage
- The recipe comes from Mary Berry, who is something of a British classic herself!
- The standard uses breadcrumbs and jam which are typical English ingredients.
- However, I don't like jam so didn't want to use it; instead I used a layer of lime curd. English people are sometimes known as "limeys", a name that originally comes from sailors adding lime juice to their food to prevent scurvy, but is now a slang term particularly in America. So I would say lime curd adds a further British slant to this pudding!

I used this Mary Berry recipe and adapted it slightly.

First you make the custard, by heating the milk with the butter, lemon or lime zest and 50g of the sugar, until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.

Separate the eggs and gently whisk the yolks in a bowl and then gradually whisk in the milk and butter mixture.

Make the bread into breadcrumbs - you can do this in a food processor but my mum, who was helping out in the kitchen, decided to do it by hand.

Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the base of the buttered dish. Pour over the custard and leave to stand for about 15 minutes so the breadcrumbs can absorb the liquid. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160 C/325 F/gas 3.

Put the dish in a large roasting tin and pour hot water in the tin so it comes half way up the sides of your pudding dish, and bake for 25-30 mins.

Allow to cool, and turn down the oven temperature to 150 C/300 F/gas 2. At this point in the recipe Mary Berry gives instructions to make your own jam; even if I was using jam instead of lime curd I don't think I would have made my own! Far too time consuming I fear...

So once the base was cooled, I spread an entire jar of Tesco Finest lime curd on top.

Put the egg whites into a bowl and whisk until stiff. Whisk in the remaining sugar a teaspoon at a time, to make a very stiff and glossy meringue. Spoon the meringue into the piping bag fitted with the plain or star tube.

Pipe the meringue over the top. Mine was a little too soft to pipe into the swirly patterns in the Mary Berry picture, but I still like the way it looks.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until the meringue is pale golden and crisp.

My Queen of Puddings was delicious, though with the lime curd it reminded me more of a lemon meringue pie - but the breadcrumb base was a nice change. I really liked this and think it is definitely up there among the Best of British puddings!

So I am sending this to Best of British for their grand final. The challenge is hosted by Fiona of London Unattached and is sponsored by New World Appliances.

 

I'm updating this post to enter this month's Alphabakes challenge, as the letter I have chosen this month is Q.