Happy 4th of July!
The above picture is fondant-covered brownie (all 9 x 13 of it). I made spice brownies by putting a couple pinches of cayenne pepper powder into a batch of dark chocolate brownies. The fondant is leftover from a friend of mine's cupcake-making extravaganza. I have a tile counter top and no rolling pin, so I forwent making cool cut-out shapes. Instead, I used the fondant like stretchy clay, dying clumps at a time, elongating them, and flattening them in my hands until I had what looked like an American flag. No stars on this one, but the colors exist. I have discovered that lining the glass pan with aluminum foil makes the brownies easier to lift out. It also reduces cook time, or temperature, or both.
For the most part, people took the fondant off and piled it in a corner of the aluminum foil. Good to know.
Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes!
These gloriously fuzzy photos were taken with my cell phone camera. Not too bad. The cupcakes are Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes, linked to me by another culinary friend. The recipe can be found here: Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes. The photos on the original site are much better, but here are mine anyway.
Cupcakes:
The Belgian dark chocolate I used to make the ganache and the Guiness Extra Stout I used to make the cupcakes:
Cupcakes, cored and ready to be filled:
Dark chocolate whiskey ganache, just after mixing:
I used 2 (perhaps 3) tablespoons of whiskey in the ganache and only later discovered the recipe had called for teaspoons. Whoopsies. Turned out delicious, just needed some extra cooling time.
Ganache after cooling in the fridge:
Filled cupcakes:
I had a terrible time trying to use parchment paper to pipe the ganache. I finally zipped off to the grocery store to pick up a re-usable plastic piping bag and finished the cupcake filling and icing.
Blue buttercream icing with Bailey's:
The Irish cream slightly dulled the blue color, but the taste is worth it.
Beating in the Bailey's:
And tada, some iced cupcakes:
Bonus picture: part of the mess I made in the kitchen beating powdered sugar into butter to make icing:
The cupcakes flew off the tray once enough people discovered how tasty and alcoholic they are. A surprising amount of brownies vanished as well. This was the third batch of brownies I made using cayenne pepper powder and I think I got the amount just right on them. The first batch came out way too spicy -- half a teaspoon of pepper powder. The second batch was a bit too spicy -- two big pinches. This batch got two little pinches -- delicious!
Next batch of brownies will have, as suggested by two of the 4th of July partygoers, melty chip of some kind -- chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, etc. -- and pecans instead of walnuts.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Independence Day Treats
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
If it was store-bought, Wilton brand fondant, then I don't blame them. That one is notorious for not tasting very good, and being scraped off of whatever it's on most of the time. I've only ever made poured fondant from scratch, but plan on doing the rolled fondant someday.
ReplyDeleteAh, so you actually cored the cupcakes! I was lazy and just used the cupcake filling tip to inject the ganache into the cupcake. Probably why I had so much left over. They look so cute! What icing tip did you use?
I think it was the Wilton brand one, from Michael's. It's... unpleasant to eat, but fun to play with. I bought circular fondant cut-out tools to core the cupcakes with, and ended up using a serrated knife to dig out the 'circle' from the center of the cupcake. I used an 8-pronged star tip, about half the size of the one you used with the chocolate frosting. One of the four tips that came with the reusable plastic piping bag I ran out to get =)
ReplyDeleteThere is a cake decorating store in the area that sells professional grade fondant. They have a few precolored ones, as well as chocolate fondant. They also have some unique cutters and whatnot that you don't see at Michael's, in addition to powdered food coloring. I need to go there soon to get some cake boxes (sold for almost half the price of the Michael's ones)
ReplyDelete