MARZIPAN FRUITS

A few fruits made from Marzipan. What an easy medium to work with, and tasty too! These make lovely gifts for Christmas. Marzipan is an almond flavoured candy paste that can be used like chocolate clay or rolled fondant to cover cakes, make figurines or fruits. Here follows is a very easy recipe.

Marzipan Ingredients

1 lb almond paste (available in most grocery stores)
1 lb 12oz confectioners sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
3 tblsp water

Method

 Break the almond paste into pieces and put them in your mixing bowl. Add the confectioners sugar and mix on a low speed. Mix until a sandy texture is achieved. This may take 5-10 minutes.

Once the almond paste and confectioners sugar are well mixed start adding the corn syrup and water. Mix until liquids are well incorporated. Scrape down the sides of your mixer half way through to make sure everything is mixed well.

Once the marzipan is well mixed take it out of the mixing bowl and form into a ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 24 hours before using to allow it to achieve the proper texture.

Once rested it is ready to use. Dust with a little confectioners sugar if it becomes sticky.

Who doesn't love Tom and Jerry? This cake was created for a couple who have been married for 50 years and still going strong. I made a beautifully rich and moist Chocolate Mud Cake with Chocolate Swiss Meringue Butter Cream. Tom and Jerry were inspired by Debbie Brown http://www.debbiebrownscakes.co.uk/. 

FERRARI

This red Ferrari was carved out of chocolate cake and filled with chocolate butter cream. Covered with red fondant (sugarpaste) with white and black fondant accents. The windows were painted with silver lustre dust and vodka.

CAKE RELEASE

Here is a wonderful recipe I use all the time to coat my cake pans before I pour in my batter. It is really easy to make and saves you time.So the traditional method to grease your cake pans would be to coat them with white vegetable shortening and all purpose flour. This cake release cuts out a step. It does it all in one! All you have to do is "paint" the cake release on the inside of your pans with a pastry brush and you are done.How easy is that! I also find that I have less crumbs on my baked cake, which makes icing the cake easier.So here goes!

Cake Release
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white vegetable shortening
1 cup canola or vegetable oil

Method
Put all the ingredients in a mixer and mix till smooth.
Put the release in a container with a lid and you can keep it at room tempreture for at least three months.
I would check the sell by date of your shortening, that is a good indicator.

ROSE SIMPLICITY

Hand piped roses adorn this cake. The bottom tier is a Chocolate Mud Cake, filled with a Chocolate Cream Mousse. The top tier is a Yellow Butter Cake filled with a Lemon and Wild Blueberry Mousse. Swiss Meringue Butter Cream covers the entire cake. Ribbon is then added as a finishing touch.