Alexanders baptism - mud cake and cup cakes

Big cake:

Chocolate mud cake - 30 cm for 28 people, but 1/4 was left over (http://www.kagekonen.com/2007/05/mud-cake.html)
Note: baking time was slightly too long - check earlier

Truffle mixture (http://hubpages.com/hub/Best-Ever-Mud-Cake-Recipe)
Note: too sweet - use max half amount of sugar

Fondant decoration - 1,5 package (36 oz) used to cover and decorate


Cup cakes (max 10 were eaten)

Vanilla cup cakes (Amos book) - a bit too compact

Caramel filling - can of condensed milk cooked for 6 hours at low temperature in the can

Cream cheese frosting with blue (!) colour (equal parts butter and cream cheese plus icing sugar as desired)

Brownie and latte

smør 175 g
chokolade 175 g, mørk, finthakket
æg 3 stk.
sukker 250 g
vanilje korn fra 1/2 stang
Hvedemel 115 g
groft havsalt 1/3 tsk.
hasselnødder 75 g, grofthakkede

Beklæd en kageform med bagepapir. Varm ovnen til 180°. Smelt smør og chokolade i en kasserolle. Pisk æg, sukker og vaniljekorn sammen. Bland mel og salt i en skål. Lad chokoladen køle lidt af på køkkenbordet, og pisk æggeblandingen i. Vend derefter nødder og mel i. Bag kagen midt i ovnen i ca. 20-25 minutter. Lad den afkøle. Servér opskriften lun med en kugle vaniljeis med hindbær- og vaniljesauce på toppen.

Inspiration fra Bo Bedre

"Mud cake" cup cakes with ganache or pink cream cheese frosting

For these cup cakes I used the chocolate mud cake recipe below (but without the truffle mixture and chocolate glaze). Decoration is chocolate ganache (see recipe in other post) and cream cheese frosting (cream cheese, icing sugar, pink colour).

Chocolate Mud Cake
1.  350 grams dark chocolate pieces
2.  225 grams butter
3.  600 ml water
4.  3 eggs
5.  400 grams castor sugar
6.  400 grams self raising flour
7.  Grease and line a 23cm/9" round cake tin. Preheat oven to 170C/325F.
8.  In a saucepan over low heat, heat chocolate, butter and water. Stir frequently until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
9.  In a large bowl, lightly beat eggs. Gradually beat cooled chocolate mixture into eggs.
10.  Whisk sugar and flour into chocolate mixture, continue beating until smooth and well blended.
11.  Pour mixture into cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.
12.  Turn cake onto wire rack to cool.

*Please note: This mixture is quite runny, use a solid cake tin not a springform tin.
*Tip: Line tin with baking paper, this will make the cake easier to remove from the tin, no sticking to the sides.

Truffle Mixture
•120 grams dark chocolate pieces
•100 grams butter
•300 grams sifted icing sugar
•4 tbsp double or whipping cream
1.  In a bowl over a pan of simmering water melt chocolate, stirring frequently.
2.  Cool slightly, then stir icing sugar, butter and cream until well blended.


Chocolate Glaze
• 225 grams dark chocolate pieces
• 165 ml double or whipping cream

In a saucepan over low heat, heat chocolate and cream, stirring frequently until melted and smooth. Keep warm.


Assembling The Cake
1.  Cut cooled mud cake into layers.
2.  Spread truffle mixture between layers with a palette knife. Reserve some mixture to finish round the edges of the cake.
3.  Position cake on wire cake rack and pour warm glaze over the top.With a palette knife to spread glaze to cover top and side evenly.
4.  Put remaining truffle mixture into a piping bag with a star nozzle. Pipe a decorative border around the edge of the cake.


Tips
•This cake is firm enough to cover with rolled fondant if using as a wedding or special occasion cake.
•To appreciate the full, rich flavour that this cake offers it is best eaten at room temperature.
•This cake is suitable for freezing.
Enjoy!

http://hubpages.com/hub/Best-Ever-Mud-Cake-Recipe

Chocolate cup cakes with ganache

Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes from The Essence of Chocolate

Recipe found at a friends blog http://foodandthoughts.blogspot.com/2009/07/cupcakes-for-grown-ups.html

Cup cakes:
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
3/4 cup whole milk

Frosting:
1 cup heavy cream
8 oz. 62% semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

For the cupcakes:
Turn your oven to 350 F and position a rack in the middle. Line 12 muffin cups (3/4 cup capacity) with liners.
In a small bowl, stir together flour and cocoa. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment fitted, combine butter, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt - beat on medium speed for 5 minutes or until pale, light and fluffy. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl as necessary.
Add the egg, beat until incorporated. Alternately add flour/cocoa mixture and milk, again scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Fill muffin tins to about 2/3 full. Bake for 15-20 mminutes.
Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a cooling rack, then turn out and allow to cool completely on the rack.

Meanwhile, make the frosting:
Heat the cream in a small saucepan - it should just begin to simmer. Add the chocolate, whisking until it has melted completely, the take of the heat and transfer to a small bowl. Let cool for about two hours or until the ganache is thick enough to constitute a frosting. You can speed up this last part by putting the ganache in the fridge, then stirring it every five minutes or so.

Once the frosting is thick enough and your cupcakes cool, invert the cupcakes into the ganache-frosting, using a twisting motion of the wrist to load as much frosting as possible onto the cupcake. Be careful - they are delicate little creatures, and break easily into the ganache.

Comments
Cake made from cocoa powder is kind of boring - use a recipe with real chocolate next time e.g. mud cake
Ganache took me longer time to get stiff.
Leftovers of ganache can be stored in freezer.

Profiteroles, chocolate eclairs, cream puffs, vandbakkelser...

Dough

2 dl water

100 g flour

80 g butter

3 eggs

Cook water and butter until melted, mix in flour until dough is smooth, cool down slightly and add eggs one at a time. Put cakes on pan with a spoon (or piping bag) and bake in oven at 200 degrees for 20-30 minutes (oven must not be opened first 15 minutes). Take out one cake and test if it collapses.

Chantilly cream

1/4 liter cream

1 tbsp vanilla sugar or one vanilla bean

1-2 tbsp icing sugar (flormelis)

Whip all ingredients.

Chocolate sauce

200 gram good dark chocolate

30 grams unsalted butter

3 tbsp. honey (if chocolate is not sweet)

Melt ingredients in microwave.

Video inspiration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWm7ltQHYMQ

"Kartoffelkage"-version
Instead of chocolate sauce, put a thin layer of marcipan on top of the cake and sprinkle with cocoa powder
http://politiken.dk/tjek/tjekmad/tjekopskrifter/916081/kartoffelkage/

Banana nut muffins with peanut butter frosting + jungle decoration for the boys :)

Cake
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (2 1/2 medium)
2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup finely chopped nuts
2/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs

Frosting
1/3 cup peanut butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 to 1/3 cup milk

Mix all ingredients for cake and put in form - if muffins, then bake at 200 degrees for 15 minutes. If cake then 175 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Mix all ingredients for frosting and put on when cake is cooled down.

From www.bettycrocker.com

My first fondant cake

Marshmallow fondant for coating the cake is based on this recipe:

http://www.fam-broe.dk/typo3/uploads/media/Opskrift_paa_glasur__mmf_og_kage.pdf

20 big marshmallows

2 tbsp water

400 gram icing sugar (flormelis)

Melt marshmallows in microwave with water. Mix sugar in until the MMF can be kneaded. MMF can be used as sugarpaste but is slightly more sticky. Use corn starch (maizena) when rolling out on table.

MMF can be coloured with colour paste.

My first cup cakes

Maizena ready to bake chocolate cake...
Frosting: 1/2 package cream cheese, 2-3 tbsp icing sugar, 1 tbsp vanilla sugar, 1/2 tsp fresh ginger

Ghost cake for summer party in kindergarden

Chocolate cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting and marshmallow ghosts. Frosting was 2 packages of cream cheese mixed with 1 cup of confectioners sugar (flormelis).

Inspiration from
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/chocolate-marshmallow-ghost-cake-and-mini-cupcakes