Fondant Icing

For the first time I tried to use fondant icing to decorate a cake for my friend's birthday, after seeing it used so frequently on the cooking shows I watch so earnestly. The design itself came from a videogame series that my friend is a big fan of and features a logo that's heavily used in the games.

In the past I had looked at making fondant icing before but I was completely put off by the extensive list of ingredients that some recipes called for, but I managed to find one that was actually really simple:

Fondant Icing
1 Egg White
450g Icing Sugar
50g Liquid Glucose [I found this in Morrisons, it's vital]
Flavouring + Colouring

1) Sift Icing Sugar into a bowl.
2) Add glucose, egg white and any colourings/flavourings into a well in the centre.
3) Beat to a stiff paste
4) Turn into a board [sprinkled with icing sugar] and knead to a doughy consistency.

You'll have to make sure that you keep the board sugared (I doubt that's even a word...) because fondant, as I found, likes to stick to anything and everything it can (including hands).
When you're finished kneading the dough you can wrap it in clingfilm and put it in the fridge or even freeze it, both are good ways to store it but you must remember to cover it in clingfilm because if any air can get to it then it will set and you won't be able to use it.

Fondant's relatively easy to use, the hardest part for me was having enough ingredients to make the amount of fondant that I needed for my cake but just as long as you work carefully and confidently you should have no problems using it- it's a lot like playdough!

Sidenotes:
1) If you're covering a cake with fondant icing, you'll need to ice the cake with something so that the fondant can 'stick' to the cake. I used a cream cheese frosting but I'd completely recommend buttercream, it's far more stable, or you could even use marzipan- the choice is yours!

2) If you're wanting to put fondant on fondant (to make a design or cover a mistake, perhaps) then the best thing I found was to cut out the pieces needed and, using a brush, use water as a kind of glue to stick the pieces together.

A Slice Of Honest Pie

If any of my readers are still alive, it may be worth noting that my blog has undergone a name change. I felt that, after a year of not posting, picking back up where I left off after so much has happened without any changes at all would be a very awkward thing to do.

Henceforth, 'Two oranges and a banana' has been renamed 'A Slice Of Honest Pie' (naming and blog header are credited to Rachel and her creative genius, evening boredom and photoshop trial) in order to better reflect what I want this blog to be about:

1) Cooking - That's a given though, it is a cooking blog.

2) The truth about cooking - How many times have people followed a recipe to the very letter of a textbook and still managed to mess it up? I know it's happened to me more times than I can remember, so my goal is to give you my real life experiences with cooking and to tell you what actually happens, what really works and what's necessary as opposed to what gives it a different taste.

So having a slice of honest pie, as opposed to a slice of humble pie, is very apt for this blog and I hope that through my experiences that anyone that reads this blog can benefit and learn... or at least have fun reading!

Lemon Cheesecake (Serves 8)

Indeed it's been a while since I've posted but while I'm posting on a blog that I co-own/co-write I thought I should post a new recipe seeing as I have done a large amount of baking this week. Unfortunately I did not get pictures of everything that I baked but in total I made a Lemon Cheesecake, Banoffee Pie, Profiteroles and a decorated sponge cake, taking pictures of the cheesecake, cake and profteroles (in a tin though, the presentation of them left much to be desired!). For my Lemon Cheesecake base I used a spongecake with chocolate chips but for this recipe I'll explain how to make the more traditional biscuit base. Here are also a few extra sidenotes:

• If you want to make a branded biscuit base (malteaser, oreo, bourbon, etc.) crush about 90g of your biscuit along with 60g of Digestives.
• If you're worried about your cheesecake not setting or if it's going to be in a warm place for most of the time it's on display then it may be worth adding a small packet of gelatine (vegetarian gelatine is available also, I believe) so that it will hold a firmer shape.
• It's important to chill the base otherwise it will absorb the moisture of the cream cheese and you'll have a soggy base that won't set.
• Sieving the icing sugar is also very important otherwise you'll end up with lumps of icing sugar in the cheesecake, which isn't nice!

With those finer points laid out, on with the recipe!

Ingredients
150g Digestives
75g Margerine
50g Icing Sugar
400g Cream Cheese
Lemon Juice (add to taste)
Optional: Gelatine (see sidenote above)

1) Crush the digestives in a bowl or, if you have one, put them through a food processor.
2) Stir in 75g of melted margerine until the mixture is even.
3) Press into a regular cake tin and leave to set for half an hour in the fridge.
4) Soften the cream cheese in a bowl before sieving in the icing sugar.
5) Add the gelatine, if using.
6) Add the lemon juice, tasting as you go along until you reach a taste you like.
NOTE: The more liquid you add, the less solid the cheesecake will be at room temperature. This may mean that you're forced to use gelatine.
7) Pour the mixture on top of the base, smoothing it out until it's level and leave it to set for a few hours.

You can add whatever fruit juice you like to this cake or even melted chocolate to get whichever flavour you like. As always the motto here is to be creative and experiment, really make the recipe your own and enjoy making it. I'll also attach a picture of the sponge cake I made for my Mum to this post, it's decorated completely in glacé icing that I had to make quite thick in order to pipe it. I hope you like it!

Chocolate Truffles

Unfortunately I was unable to take pictures of my own truffles so I apologise. There was a big rush on the day of the christening to get all the food up to the venue and my poor truffles had to be stashed in a plastic box because there wasn't room on the table, so they wouldn't have even been set out nicely for a picture anyway! I can assure you, however, that they were very well received by the guests and were polished off faster than anything else there (though, to be fair, they were also smaller than anything else there). These truffles are rich and indulgent yet very simple to make, you've just got to be sure to set aside enough time for refrigeration and freezing otherwise they'll never form as you want them to!

Difficulty: ***

Pros: Rich and indulgent yet simple to make.

Cons: Takes time to refrigerate, freeze and set.

Ingredients:

150ml double cream

1 egg yolk

25g caster sugar

150g plain chocolate, broken into pieces

25g unsalted butter, softened

Optional: 1 tablespoon of liquid Coffee (as opposed to coffee granules)

For Decorating:

1 bar of grated chocolate (I use milk chocolate, though you can use whichever you like)

Method

1) Bring the cream to the boil before immediately reducing the heat to a low temperature.

2) Whisk the egg yolk and the sugar together before adding to the cream.

3) Break up the chocolate into its individual pieces before adding to the cream and stirring until it has all melted.
NOTE: It will take constant stirring for a short while before the chocolate fully melts and combines with the cream to form a velvety ganache sauce.

4) Add the tablespoon of coffee to the chocolate, it brings out the flavour more.

5) Refrigerate for an hour or until it has all set.

6) Whisk in the butter, I find it easiest to do with an electric whisk, before returning to the fridge until set once more.

7) Take teaspoons of the mixture, form them into ball shapes in your hand and then roll them in the grated chocolate until covered. This step is very messy!

8) Once the truffles have been formed and coated set them to freeze for a whole hour. This helps them to further firm up and they can be eaten straight from frozen, so you can keep them in the freezer right up until serving.

I hope this recipe works for you all and produces truffles that gain many compliments from people, for me it makes cooking completely worth it when people compliment you. It's not because they compliment me that makes it worthwhile, it's the fact that to want to compliment me they truly must have enjoyed what they've had to eat.
One extra point for this recipe in regards to decorating the truffles, this is another recipe that you can truly make your own in terms of presentation. If you want to coat the soft truffles with melted chocolate to give them a hard chocolate coating when it comes to eating or if you want to perhaps drizzle melted white chocolate on them etc. there are thousands of ways you can personalise and make these truffles unique. So don't be afraid to do so!
I have no idea what my next recipe will be about but, from the looks of things, it's most likely going to be another sweet treat. I apologise to any dieters that read my blog and I do hope you forgive me :P

Christening foodz!

Okay, quick update for this week, it's my wonderful nephew's christening this Sunday so I'm going to be making some Butterfly Buns and some Chocolate Truffles. The latter I plan to be posting a recipe for on here, but if I get the extra time and motivation to make something else quite simple such as Jam Tarts or Maids Of Honour then I just might. It all depends on what's available ingredients-wise as well as the time I've got left, but I thought I would update my blog to let people know =P
I'll blog again soon, in the meantime I'll be slogging out exams at school. Sounds fun, doesn't it? Don't let jealousy take over too much though, 'cause I'm more than halfway through them all now (thank god).

Strawberry Pavlova

I've got a quick, easy recipe for a Strawberry Pavlova that's impossible to mess up (well, not literally, but you get what I mean) and will make you look like a very accomplished baker. If you don't like strawberries than you can use any fruit you like or, if you're feeling particularly indulgent, something like profiteroles!

Ingredients
3 Egg whites (you could use the yolks for scrambled eggs in another recipe if you dislike throwing food out)
175g Sugar
150ml Double or Whipping cream
400g Strawberries

Oven Temp: 160 degrees celsius

NOTE: For ease, an electric whisk is ideal for this recipe!

Method

NOTE: When making meringue the method is very important, if you get it wrong your meringue may come out with big sugar crystals or be one mushy mess all over your oven tray.

1) Whisk the egg whites until frothy, then (while still whisking) add the sugar slowly. You'll see the mixture become pure white.

2) Continue whisking until the mixture forms stiff, white peaks (i.e. peaks that stay up by themselves) when you take the whisk out (turn it off first!)

3) On a piece of greasproof paper, draw around a cake tin with a pen or pencil and then turn the paper over. You'll use this outline for the boundary of the meringue and you flip the paper over so that the meringue doesn't absorb any of the colour from the pen or pencil.

4) Using a butter knife, palette knife, spoon, spatula, whatever you please, form or mould the merginue however you please. If you've whisked it right, it should be very agreeable to moulding to the point where you can make a bowl.

5) Bake for around 40 minutes, but when the time is up don't take the meringue out of the oven. Turn the oven off and open the door just a crack. The meringue is very delicate and a sudden temperature change can cause cracks.

6) Once the meringue is cool, whisk your cream in a bowl until it is thick and whipped.

7) Cut your strawberries up in chunks or slices, however you prefer.

8) Spoon the cream onto the meringue and place the strawberries on top. Your pavlova is ready to serve.

This recipe is very satisfying to eat and is extremely customisable to your likes. Any fruit you like can be used, you can layer the cream/fruit however you wish and the meringue can be moulded however you like as well.
When I made this recipe a second time I shaped my meringue into a bowl with high sides and had 3 layers of strawberries and cream through it.
So don't feel you have to rigidly stick to the presentation I've descriped above!

Grandparents & A Fun Weekend

Righty then. I've recovered from my rather exciting weekend with my friends that involved a lot of Band Hero, some extremely weird scenarios and yorkshire puddings with custard (don't try it...just, don't). It was truly a weekend I shall never forgot for a number of reasons.
On a separate note though, my grandparents are visiting for a few weeks! For me, this is a very good opportunity to have a party because they live all the way on the other side of the Atlantic in Florida, so they don't visit very often. In fact, I think the last time they visited was 6 years ago. It's been nice to talk to both of them now I'm more mentally aware and mature because I can finally fully appreciate them for what good people they are ^_^
So for the next almost-month I'll be able to see my grandparents, which is nice, and there's also a good event around the corner that I may be making a small, culinary contribution to: My youngest nephew's christening! It's been planned for a while now and if my sister gives me a list of things she wants me to make then along with other members of my family I'll be working to get the food-side of things under control so that it's one less thing for my sister to worry about. I do hope it goes alright, I'll be sure to take pictures and post on here ^_^