Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Baked Bakebook


Chefs and owners Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito of Baked in Red Hook published a great bakebook of their bakery's most popular's recipes. The book was published sometime last year, but I just recently got a copy. Everything looks so amazing that I want to try everything (!), but I started with their Vanilla Marshmallows to compare it to the recipe I normally use from culinary school.

The result (see above) was sweet and fluffy and I encourage everyone to try them. Stack them on a skewer and toast them over the BBQ this holiday weekend!

Ingredients
12 sheets gelatin
2 cups sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting

Instructions
1. Grease a 9 by 13 inch pan with shortening.

2. Put the gelatin sheets in a medium or large heatproof bowl, fill the bowl with very cold water and set aside; add a few ice cubes to keep the water cold.

3. In a medium saucepan, gently stir together the sugar, 1/2 cup of corn syrup and 1/2 cup of water. Put over medium-high heat and attach a candy thermometer.

4. Put the remaining corn syrup in the bowl of a mixer with whisk attachment and set aside.

5. Check the temperature of the sugar mixture. When the thermometer reaches 220 degrees, it is ready. Drain the water from the bowl. Place the bowl of gelatin over the simmering water and stir the sheets with a heatproof spatula until the gelatin is completely melted. Remove the bowl from the pan.

6. Turn the mixer on low speed and slowly pour the melted gelatin into the corn syrup. Keep the mixer on low.

7. Bring the sugar mixture to the soft ball stage on the candy thermometer (235 to 240 degrees), then remove from heat. Take out the thermometer. Turn the mixer up to medium for 1 minute then slowly pour the sugar mixture into the gelatin mixture. When all of the sugar mixture is added, turn the mixer to medium-high and beat for 5 minutes. The marshmallow mixture will bein to turn white and fluffy. Add the vanilla and salt and turn mixer to highest setting for 1 minute.

8. Pour the marshmallows into the pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with confectioners sugar and let sit for 6 hours.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Fancy Food Show

Pastry Girl Cakes attended the Fancy Food Show at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan today and we got to see (and taste) amazing food and innovative ingredients for cooking and baking. Since we only use the highest quality ingredients in our pastries, we're always on the hunt for new and delicious products.

Today, we sampled artisan oils that enhance the flavor of baked goods the way extracts and powders do. La Tourangelle is a company that specializes in these oils and we sampled their yummy Roasted Pistachio Oil and biscotti that was infused with it.

Here are instructions for La Tourangelle's Roasted Pistachio Oil White Chocolate Biscotti

Ingredients
3 Tbsp. La Tourangelle
Roasted Pistachio Oil
2 cup Toasted Pistachios,
salted or unsalted—rolled in flour
i cup White Chocolate Chips
2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter,
room temperature
1 cup Sugar
1/2 Tbsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 Large Eggs
2 cups All-Purpose Flour (plus
a Tbsp. for the pistachios)
1/2 Tbsp. Vanilla Extract
1 Tbsp. Lemon Zest

Instructions

In a blender or food processor, mix the sugar, Pistachio oil and butter. Gradually
add the eggs and blend, then gradually add the flour, baking powder and kosher
salt. Take the toasted pistachios and roll them in a pinch of flour. Now mix in
the lemon zest, vanilla, white chocolate chips & floured pistachios and blend for
another minute or two until the dough is brought together. You may have to
work it with your hands to bring it all together into a ball of dough with the nuts
and chips and then form it into four equal size logs of dough and place into the
refrigerator wrapped in plastic wrap for at least an hour.

Heat your oven to 35O° and then place the dough logs onto greased cookie sheets
and leave them some space to spread out and bake for 2O—25 minutes until
golden brown. Remove them from the oven once browned and let cool slightly.
Carefully move the cooled, baked logs onto a cutting board and slice into 1 inch
diagonal slices while still warm. Using a spatula pick up the delicate slices and
place them back on the baking sheet and bake for another 5—10 minutes. Remove
from oven and cool. Store in an airtight container up to one week.


Friday, June 25, 2010

Cupcake Centerpieces


I delivered these cupcake bouquet centerpieces to Shelly's Trattoria in Manhattan. I piped flowers onto red velvet, vanilla and chocolate cupcakes. I took this picture while I was putting them together in the walk in refrigerator at the restaurant - brrr!!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Grilled Pound Cake

With the temperatures rising, everyone is less inclined to leave their oven on to bake desserts. The next time you're firing up the grill for a summer BBQ, throw some pieces of sliced pound cake on there for a quick and easy treat.

Directions:

Slice pound cake (homemade or store bought) and lightly brush each side with butter.

Cook the pound cake until lightly toasted

Serve with ice cream and fresh, summer fruit!

Photo courtesy of www.sizzleonthegrill.com.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Festive Cupcake Wrappers

A delicious and beautifully decorated cupcake is extra special when it's baked in a fun wrapper like the ones I found online at Sur La Table. The patterns range from gingham to jaguar print and they come in a variety of colors.

Pro tip: If you want a grease free appearance, bake the cupcakes in a plain white wrapper and put the cupcake in a fresh, decorative one after it's cooled. Not every wrapper shows grease the same way, but the mark of a super moist cupcake is often a wrapper stain.


Gingham Red Cupcake Papers, Set of 40

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Christening Cake



Last weekend, we delivered this Christening cake and cross cookies to Lynbrook, Long Island for baby Kyle's christening. The simple two tier white cake had gold rope borders and a cross made out of sugar. The cake was lemon with strawberry buttercream.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Big Apple BBQ Desserts

The Big Apple BBQ signifies the official beginning of the summer and this past weekend Madison Square Park was overflowing with foodies ready to start the season! In addition to the various meats for sample, there were also a few super desserts on display.

I had the blueberry crisp with vanilla ice cream from Blue Smoke. The blueberry taste was explosive and the ice cream (which tasted homemade) complemented it perfectly. This is no surprise since everything at Blue Smoke is excellent!



Tabla was selling a sophisticated take on the Chipwich. Pecan chocolate chip cookies bookending Indian ice cream and covered with chocolate chips. What is Indian ice cream? Ice cream infused with Indian spices like cardamom, cinnamon and saffron. After checking out the other final course creations from Pastry Chef Rachel Binder online I'm excited to pay a visit to the restaurant.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

New East Village Desserts

This past weekend, I journeyed into the East Village for Momofuku Milk Bar & Bakery's newest additions to their menu. My dining companions and I sampled their Confetti Cookie, Birthday Cake Truffles and Banana Cake Truffles.

The Confetti Cookie was another hit (that bakery can do no wrong!) and a great spin on something as simple as the sugar cookie. Like all of their desserts, the cookie had a nice mix of sweet and salty flavors.


The truffles were like cake bites and are the perfect little dessert, especially if all you want is just a taste. The birthday cake truffles were super delicious and made me want to try their limited edition birthday cake.


Monday, June 7, 2010

8th Birthday Cake


We recently delivered this colorful birthday cake to Bayside, Queens. The birthday girl only had one request - flowers! We covered the cake with different floral patterns in pink, orange, purple and yellow. The cake flavors are lemon with strawberry buttercream and vanilla with chocolate buttercream.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Invitation Inspired Cakes

Coordinating a cohesive event can be as easy as using complimentary colors and tying your theme into several key elements. One way to express a theme is using your party invitation as inspiration for your cake design. Here's an example of how we did just that for a recent Bar Mitzvah cake.





Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Pie Crust Cutters

We're back after a little break from posting and a busy week of decorating! We'll be sharing our latest creations next week, but for now we wanted to kick off the first of what will be a series of pie postings!

Pies are wonderful pastries that evoke comforting memories and can change with the seasons. Williams-Sonoma just unveiled a new line of pie crust cutters that will really dress up any pie crust. You can also use any small cookie cutter to vary your design. Just cut out shapes from the excess dough and attach them to the perimeter of the crust or the center with a little bit of egg white.

Here's an example of a mini apple pie we made using small apple cutters.