A watermelon “cake”

I’m neither a “Paleo/caveman diet” follower, nor a health fanatic, but this was too good NOT to try

I wish I could take credit for this awesome idea, but it came from PALEO CUPBOARD – you can read their full recipe version on their site, via my Paleo-lovin’ baby sis, Jax.  I hope to be able to give you a few more details on how I did this & some hopefully helpful images.

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 large seedless watermelon
- 3 cans full fat coconut milk (left in fridge for 6 hours or more)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 cup sliced almonds (toasted/browned in a skillet)
- Fresh fruits of your choice

The only things you really need to prepare ahead of time are the watermelon (so it can dry out a bit,) and the coconut cream.  Paleo Cupboard‘s instructions are as follows/below, but please note that I used 3 cans of coconut milk, which produced enough of the cream to make the ‘whipped coconut cream.’  I also used vanilla bean seeds instead of extract.

TO MAKE THE COCONUT WHIPPED CREAM
1. Make sure to place the can of coconut milk in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours (or overnight). This will cause the cream to separate from the milk. The cream will be at the top of the can.
2. Open the can of coconut milk and scrape out the cream into a medium sized bowl. Hint: I always open the can from the bottom and pour the milk out into a separate container before scraping out the cream. You can use the saved milk for smoothies and other recipes.
3. Add the vanilla and raw honey to the mixture. Whip the cream with a hand mixer on medium speed and work your way up to high speed until the cream is fluffy. Place the bowl of whipped cream in the fridge until ready to use.

Start with a large-ish watermelon, preferably seedless. My friend, Laura of Enchanted Cupcakes, brought this one over for me (all the way from West Sussex!)

Cut off the sides of the watermelon, so you have the middle section as the biggest piece.

Cut off the rind, keeping a circular shape – like a cake.

I also cut out one of the ‘cake layers’ from one of the smaller ‘end pieces.’ I put both layers onto a cooling rack to dry out a bit.

I ended up using 3 cans of coconut milk, refrigerated for 2 days, to separate the cream from the milk.

I added honey & vanilla once the coconut cream whipped up nice & light.

I then used a rubber spatula to ‘frost’ the layers of watermelon, then refrigerated for about an hour to let it set. (just the smaller watermelon ‘cake’ on top of the other, doweled just down the middle)

& then decorate as you wish, with toasted almonds, your fruits of choice, etc. & then, just enjoy!

This will make about 6-9 CUP-SIDE-DOWN-CAKES & you can easily double the recipe to make more. You will need:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 350 degrees Farenheit

• about 3 tablespoons of soft/room temp unsalted butter
• about 1/3 cup of sugar (I used the Tate+Lyle Golden Syrup Sugar, which was YUM!)
• 2 large eggs
• about 1/2 cup of self-raising flour
• dash of vanilla
• dash of salt
• 2 tablespoons milk
• any fruit you wish – I used canned pineapple, mango, and black cherries
• dark brown (or muscovado) sugar for the caramel topping
• some more slivers of butter for the caramel topping

You can use cupcake liners, or spray your cupcake pan with cake release spray. I tried both methods.

Start by putting about a teaspoon or more of muscovado sugar + a ‘sliver/slice’ of butter (I guess about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon) at the bottom of the cupcake liner or cupcake hole bottom.  Then layer your fruit on top of this sugar & butter combo.

Next, mix your batter and then spoon it on top of your fruit & sugar/butter base til about 1/2 to 2/3 full, depending on how much cake/sponge you prefer.  (I filled the cases about halfway full;  the mix directly in the pan about 2/3 full).

TIP: for the mix that you pout directly into the pan, I would use a baking parchment round to prevent the fruit & caramel from sticking to the pan.

Place pan into the oven – lower oven rack -  for 18-20 minutes.  You will see the batter in the cupcake cases rise into a dome; whilst the batter in the pan will raise with a flat top.

As the cakes cook, you will see the caramel oozing over the sides or even through the middle.

Once cooked, allow to cool on a wire rack, and mix the buttercream/frosting/icing of your choice. I used a cream cheese buttercream, made of:

About 3 tablespoons butter + 2-3 tablespoons of full-fat Philadelphia cream cheese + about a cup of icing/confectioners sugar. Mix together until light and fluffy.

You then invert the cakes from the pan; they should pop out easily.

Then, you can frost the ones in the cupcake cases…

…before you flip them upside down to reveal the fruit & caramel layer… hence the “CUP-SIDE-DOWN-CAKES.”

Enjoy!

PS – I did not frost the ones that popped out directly from the pan, as they were lovely just as they were…

You should have most of these ingredients/supplies at home & these quantities will make 20-24 squares/bites:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened/room temp
• 1 cup brown sugar (I used a mix of dark & light soft brown sugars)
• 2 1/4 cups plain flour
• 9 x 9 inch square baking pan, lined with parchment paper
• Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius / 375 degrees Farenheit

Mix the butter & brown sugar until well-combined, then add in the flour. Mix the flour into the softened butter & sugar combo until  a crumbly batter results. You may also want to use your fingers to crumble out any big lumps.

Use your fingers to spread the mix into the pan, and press it in well…

I also used a small rolling pin to flatten out/smooth the batter into the pan.

Bake the base for about 15-20 minutes, or until the top looks like a cooked cookie.  In the meantime, while the base is baking, prepare the topping:

• 1 1/2 – 2 cups pecans, whole or chopped, your preference, but take the time to toast them for a few minutes
• 2 large eggs, room temp
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 3/4 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 tspn vanilla paste or extract
• 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup
• Sea salt / fleur de sel

Mix all of these together in a bowl, adding pecans last…

Then pour the mix over the baked base, and cook in the oven for a further 20 minutes.

You’ll know it’s done when the top looks firm/set/crunchy.  Add your sea salt or fleur de sel to taste (just enough so each bite has some salt).

I would eat them ooey-gooey from the oven, but the caramel will be runny. You should leave them to set for a few hours at least, and I promise they’ll be worth the wait… What you’ll end up with is a sweet & chewy brown-sugar biscuit base, with a yummy & salty caramel/pecan topping. I was going to drizzle some dark chocolate on these, but they actually were perfect without…

An alternative to Valentine’s Day chocolates

As I write this, ‘Snowmageddon – the January 2013 UK remix’ has mostly melted away, & up until this morning, I had literally been stuck indoors for a week, unable to get my car out of the garage/driveway/cul-de-sac because of snow and ice. Talk about cabin fever!  I’d agreed to provide a few online publications with photos /ideas /recipes by today’s due date (eek! – talk about procrastination!), but as of yesterday, I literally only had like 7 eggs & two & a half thingies of butter.

Then I remembered I had egg whites left over from my custard-ing & curd-ing, so macarons were definitely an option. So, for the MACARONS, my original recipe & technique can be found here, & information on how to colour & shape them, here. So as not to overcomplicate things, these are basic macs, flavoured with just a dash of vanilla, & coloured with a bit of Sugarflair Ruby & Wilton Neon Magenta gel pastes until my fave shade of hot pink was achieved.

You can see the colour & consistency of the macaron batter here.

& I think most of you know that I normally just freehand pipe, so this is what the hearts looked like piped onto the baking parchment. Just using a 1 cm round piping tip/nozzle (or actually just snip the tip off a disposable piping bag): start at the bottom point, pipe to the left; then from the top right, pipe downwards back to the bottom point. The shape when you pipe it should be quite exaggerated, as it will spread a bit.

They will all match up eventually, she says

Then, pop them into the oven & watch FEET magically develop!

Yup, FEEEEEEEET!

Once the macs are baked & cooled, then you can pipe your messages on them using royal icing, or even store-bought icing gel thingies (but careful because the icing gels don’t dry in the way royal icing does). The royal icing recipe I use is here – just add enough water until it’s a thick enough piping consistency. I used a 1.5mm tip.

& there you have it… Valentine’s Day macarons

Then, the MOCHA CAKE – this part was purely experimental, again, given my lack of ingredients.  (Not gonna lie, the supermarket is only like a mile away, but I didn’t fancy walking back in the snow/ice with hella heavy bags full of eggs/butter/sugar/flour/milk – yeah, why ARE baking ingredients so heavy!?!)  I knew I wanted to save whatever remaining 5 egg whites & most of the butter for the IMBC: Italian Meringue Buttercream. I didn’t have any soured cream or buttermilk, but DID have some left over dulce de leche & some not-so-fancy cocoa powder, & some vegetable oil… so chocolate cake was a possibility.  Ooh but then I remembered the Starbucks espresso powder in the corner. So here’s what I threw in the bowl, and hoped for the best:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit /180 degrees Celsius.

Grease & flour (spray/line, whatever) 2 x 8-inch baking pans

• 1 cup caster / superfine sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup whole / full-fat milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste / or extract to taste
• 3 tablespoons dulce de leche (mine was the runnier variety made with Carnation condensed milk, but I suppose you could just use the condensed milk)
• here’s how you can easily make dulce de leche
• 2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda / bicarbonate of soda
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder (I used Bourneville)
• 1 tablespoon espresso powder

Mix the wet ingredients until fully incorporated & then sift in the dry ingredients.

Bake for 25-30 minutes until done.

I actually used 2 x 7-inch heart-shaped pans & used the spare batter for cupcakes

Allow the cakes to cool completely & whip up your IMBC: Italian Meringue Buttercream. (Or you can use Swiss, or any buttercream really… I just like how stiff, yet light & fluffy meringue buttercreams are). Colour as you wish…

Once the cakes are cooled, you can decorate the middle with IMBC like so…

… & so when you cut into it, your cake will look like this! Stripes on the inside – woohoo!

Well, after the cake & macarons, I did have like a third of a thingie of butter left (I dunno what you’re supposed to call them in the UK? – a pack? packet? 250g butter square thing), & 2 eggs & a little milk, leftover royal icing from the macarons, & some coloured fondant that had gone hard.

The cupboard was bare…

Then I remembered my new iddy-biddy-hot-diddy-donut moulds from Lakeland for DONUTS!

Ahh, donut batter with cinnamon & nutmeg

OK, so as with the mocha cake recipe, this was an experiment on measurements/ratio of wet/dry ingredients, so here goes – this will make enough for like 40 mini-donuts:

Preheat oven to 340 degrees Farenheit /175 degrees Celsius.

Grease & flour (spray the silicone version with cake release spray) your mini-donut baking pan(s).

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• dash of vanilla
• dash of salt
• dash of nutmeg & cinnamon
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup milk

Mix butter & sugar together until light & fluffy, then add egg & mix some more. (You can use a wooden spoon or stand mixer).

Add vanilla & salt, & nutmeg & cinnamon.

Add flour & milk & mix until fully incorporated.

Only fill the donut moulds about halfway full. Bake for 10 minutes.

Be sure to liberally spray your pans so the donuts just pop right out

Once the donuts are cooled, you can use this recipe/process for POURING FONDANT. (It may seem complicated, but this one works for me!)

Work from lightest colour to darkest colour (plain white fondant to precoloured fondant)… then it’s literally just a case of dipping your donuts in the fondant. You can mix in food colour gels to get other colours, adding more fondant as needed

& then voila! Valentine-y coloured diddy donuts!

You can pipe on whatever messages you want using royal icing.

Nothing says HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY like diddy-donuts

And there you have it… three different ideas for Valentine’s Day bakes, made with just a few ‘leftover’ ingredients. Enjoy!

This is a great way to use 3 large eggs: whites for the meringues & yolks for the custard.

FOR THE MERINGUE ROSES (recipe yields approximately 20 roses)

3 large egg whites
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons egg white powder (I used Dr. Oetker)
dash of vanilla extract or a few squeezes of lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 80 degrees Celsius, rack in the middle.

Add caster sugar + egg whites + egg white powder into a glass bowl over a large saucepan of simmering water.  Use your hand blender and mix on low until everything dissolves together & there are no lumps, about 3 minutes.  Remove the glass bowl from the saucepan and place on your work surface.  Use your hand blender on high to whip the mixture to achieve stiff peaks, about 8 minutes.

A great way to use both the egg whites & egg yolks. AND the meringues are a one-bowl wonder

Use a large piping bag + 2D piping tip to pipe roses onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 90 minutes, then turn oven off & allow cooked meringues to dry out in the oven for a further hour.

You can also create other shapes/designs with this meringue mix & different tips…

EASY VANILLA CUSTARD RECIPE (makes about 1 1/2 cups of custard)

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup caster sugar

Add milk + vanilla pod (cut down the middle with the beans scraped out into the milk) into a saucepan & cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, and allow just to boil, then remove from the heat.

In a separate bowl, mix the egg yolks + caster sugar & whisk until thick and fluffy, then pour yolk mixture into the pan of hot milk.

Allow the milk & yolk mixture to simmer on medium heat for up to 10 minutes until thickened. Do not allow the mix to boil.

Once thickened, pour mix through a sieve into a bowl and serve immediately (hot!) or allow to cool & enjoy!

Cookies for a bridal/wedding shower. My homemade wedding cake cookies made out of brown sugar cookies, fondant (sugarpaste), royal icing, white chocolate roses & displayed on a fab cake by Cake Land by Nivia. My cookies in the “yumm-brellas” beneath are gingerbread decorated in all royal icing.

Cookie-making is a special process, & I have found some fab tips/tricks to make it a little easier for me… like this JosephJoseph rolling pin with “training wheels” to ensure even/level cookie dough. Also, the cookie dough MUST be totally cold & firm. Even once you cut your shapes out & place them onto your cookie sheet for baking, pop them back into the fridge for at least 1/2 an hour to make them extra firm, so they keep their sharp edges once baked. These umbrellas are made out of gingerbread dough, which I have found bakes “flatter” & more uniformly. (I used Martha’s gingerbread cookie recipe & rolled them 1/4 of an inch thick.)

But what do you do when your cookies rise a little too much, or bake unevenly? These are brown sugar cookies, which did not bake as flat as the gingerbread umbrellas. I blame myself for these results because I thought I could just “tweak” a regular sugar cookie recipe by adding brown sugar. Anyway… this 1st batch was too good to throw away, so had to think about another way to decorate them.

I had previously made champagne cookies with a layer of coloured fondant, so thought I’d have a go at using a thicker, white version for the wedding cakes.

I used my JosephJoseph rolling pin again to get an even layer of 4mm fondant.

Then you simply use the same cookie cutter you used to cut out your cookie to cut out the shape out of fondant. ** Note: metal cutters achieve a much cleaner cut than plastic ones

Once your shape is cut out, use a fine knife to trim the edges.

To adhere your fondant shape to your cookie, moisten the fondant (or the cookie) with a little water, then carefully move the fondant shape to fit perfectly onto your cookie. It’s important NOT TO press down on the fondant, so you can retain a smooth, flat finish. I then lightly dusted them with a little edible pearl lustre dust. Allow to dry until fondant is dry to the touch, about an hour.

I saved a few extra fondant shapes to practice my design & my royal icing piping before I went to work on actually decorating the cookies. These roses are actually coloured white chocolate. I use Wilton’s oil-based candy colour to achieve the colour. Info on royal icing can also be found here: http://www.jensjustdesserts.co.uk/2012/11/29/royal-icing-run-outs-flowers-a-la-jo-mitchell/ * I used a no. 1.5 tip.

Once I was happy with my practice versions, I decorated the fondant-covered cookies. & Voila! But was this actually easier than piping & filling with royal icing? Actually NO! can you believe? You do save on some drying time, but it’s the same amount of effort in cutting & trimming the fondant shapes. The time-consuming part is in the detailed piping, which would take the same amount of time whether you use fondant or royal icing as the base. In this case, the fondant layer did produce a much smoother/flatter base that made piping the details much easier, in my opinion.

Well, this was one of my 1st “Cruffle encounters” … I won’t name & shame this time, though, coz I do love this spot in California, but these were definitely “just” cake balls, or cake pops without the sticks & I don’t even think they has any buttercream or frosting in them

So, what’s my definition of a CRUFFLE?  Well, they shouldn’t be just cake balls, otherwise, why call them cruffles at all? Just call them cake balls.  In any case, I have come up with an easy-ish way to make homemade cruffles, which I believe should be a proper cross between cakes &  truffles, & even with an optional yummy filling.  I hope the photos & links to my previous recipes are pretty self-explanatory, so here you go…

So you start with baking up your moistest cake, and crumbling it up. My recipe can be found here: http://www.jensjustdesserts.co.uk/2012/08/22/jens-salted-dark-chocolate-espresso-soured-cream-cake-recipe/  ** If you use this recipe, you should be able to make about 30 cruffles.

Then, make some ganache. I used 200g of Green & Black’s burnt toffee dark chocolate + 200 g double cream, per the usual method.

 

I then added the ganache whilst it was still runny, into the crumbled cake: about 75% cake + 25% ganache. Mix together well with your hands until the mix feels like chocolate truffle mixture, or until it binds together easily.

Roll your cake crumb & ganache mix into balls (mine are approx 1.5 inches in diameter), and place on a cookie sheet or other non-stick pan/parchment paper. Put into the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes.

Whip up some caramel. This time I used burnt-salted-whiskey-caramel.  (my easy recipe is here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=498712430138766&set=a.475488115794531.110363.270072873002724&type=3&theater), or you can use store-bought. Put it into a small piping bag.

Once your cruffles have set in the fridge, use a small fruit corer to remove a bit of the centre; hold the cruffle securely so it keeps its shape. Be sure to save the bits you remove.

They should look like this.

Fill the cruffle holes about halfway with caramel.

Use the centres you cored out to fill the holes back up, then reshape the cruffles back into round balls.  Place them back into the fridge for a further minimum of 30 minutes.

Dip your cruffle into chocolate & allow to cool on your non-stick baking tray or parchment paper.

Allow the chocolate to completely set, then place your cuffles in petit four or mini-cupcake cases to serve (& enjoy!)

PS: Other versions I have made include red velvet with cream cheese buttercream filling, dipped in white chocolate, or chocolate-Guinness cruffles, filled with whiskey or baileys buttercream

So here’s my revised recipe:

• 285 grams of dark chocolate (callets, or chopped up)
• 150 grams unsalted butter
• 30 grams fine, sifted cocoa powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 5 large egg whites
• 60 grams caster or superfine sugar

Preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius. You’ll be using the lower half of the oven.

& here are the instructions & pictures…

Be sure to coat your muffin/cupcake/or other special tin in cake release spray.

Melt your chocolate over low heat in a bain marie.

Once your chocolate has melted, remove from the heat & add your butter & sifted cocoa powde (though I actually didn’t sift mine). Stir until completely incorporated & smooth.  Allow to cool.

The secret to my melty PB middle: Lindt Lindor dark chocolate balls “wrapped” with a bit of crunch peanut butter. This is a fun but messy step. Pop in the fridge to “set.”

While your chocolate is cooling & your PB-choc balls are chilling, whip up your egg whites on medium-high until foamy. Then, gradually add the caster sugar & beat on high until you achieve a medium-peak.

Fold your medium-peak egg whites into your chocolate, about a half at first – fold, then fold in the 2nd half.

Once your egg whites are fully folded into your chocolate, put the whole mixture into a large piping bag. Cut off about a half-inch hole to pipe out of.

Pipe some of the batter into your pan, about 1/3 full. Then add in your PB-chocolate balls. Add more batter until about 3/4 full. (Oops, mine went all the way to the top – don’t worry)…

Put your pan into the oven, and bake for about 8-9 minutes. They will rise & you can touch the cake part to see if it’s cooked.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool for about 10-15 minutes. then invert the pan on a cooling rack to release the cakes.

You can also use a mini-cupcake pan to make bite-sized versions. I did not add PB to these, but a few callets into the middle of the batter instead. These only need about 5 minutes in the oven. These are dusted with a bit of sifted cocoa powder.

This is totally optional, but this is the best caramel sauce I’ve made to date. I used Tesco’s salted caramel whiskey double cream. My easy recipe is here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=512518465424829&set=a.475488115794531.110363.270072873002724&type=3&theater

Once it’s cooled & thickened, drizzle (or pour!) your caramel onto your cakes.

AND ENJOY!

Well, all you need is royal icing, some clear cellophane, lightly wiped down with vegetable oil so your creations don’t stick to it.

So you have to start with royal icing…Here are Jo’s specific instructions: one packet ofeggwhite, mix first with 3 spoons warm water to a paste. Then add 7 teaspoons of water. Add 330g icing sugar and just a squeeze of lemon. Mix for 5 minutes before thinning with water. Have fun! xx

You will need 1 big bowl to mix up the royal icing, and other, smaller bowls to mix the colours. For these flowers, we used 3 shades of pink + 3 shades of green, but obviously you can use as few or as many colours as you wish.

Make 5-6 piping cones, or for however many colours of royal icing you want to use. One version of instructions can be found here: http://allrecipes.com/howto/making-a-parchment-paper-cone/

The first batch of royal icing should be quite stiff, for outlining, so be careful not to thin your icing with water too much to start with. The image below shows the consistency you should be aiming for. Colour a few tablespoons with a dark pink food colour to outline the petals in one bowl.  Colour a few tablespoons with a deep green food colour to outline the leaves in another bowl.  ** Be sure to keep your main bowl of royal icing covered with cling film to ensure it doesn’t dry out whilst you’re working.

Put your coloured royal icing into your piping bag

Place your image outline underneath your cellophane and use your thick royal icing to pipe around the outlines.

You can freehand your designs, or you can use an outline template for what you want to create. Here is an example of one you can find online: http://www.printfree.com/coloring_pages/Plants/ColoringPage21.htm

Here is what your outline should look like

Colour your next batch of royal icing a lighter shade of pink, and thin it out a bit with water so it is easy to blend.

This is what the lighter colour being piped in looks like

This is what the flower petals should look like. Remember, this is the “underneath” of the flower.

You can also do an even lighter shade of pink for additional accents. The consistency of your royal icing should remain the same.

Repeat the outlining, colouring, and shading with the leaves

It is important that you let your royal icing dry out completely, which may vary from 1 – 2 days.  Do a test flower that you can keep testing.  Once they’re completely dry, carefully peel the cellophane away from the flowers from underneath with one hand, whilst carefully holding the flower with another.

This is what the finished flowers should look like

OK, so here’s a close-up of the ones I made myself. They were not as “smooth” as Jo’s, and with a few air bubbles, but still, just goes to show even a novice like me can do them!

You can then adhere the finished royal icing run-out flowers into your cake with more royal icing. I have tried this onto sugarpaste/fondant covered cakes, as well as with buttercream covered cakes.

And, once you get the hang of royal icing run-outs, you can create other designs, or even fun letters.  Here are a few other ways that I have used this process.  THANKS, JO!!

You can actually skip the fondant part if you opt for the coloured/patterned cookie dough.

Here goes…

this is regular sugarpaste/fondant, dyed whatever colour you want

add a lil water to adhere your fondant to your cookie

use whatever stencil you want + some edible lustre spray to spray a pattern onto your fondant

You can also do a rainbow variation:

PS – the pinata cookies inspired these for me, and I hope I am giving credit to the original here: http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/958083/cinco-de-mayo-pinata-cookies