How to make Chocolate Truffles?

Want to make some quick and easy treats that look and taste real good, why not try to make some Chocolate Truffles?

HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

I always thought it was really difficult to make Chocolate Truffles, but once you get the ganache right (don't worry ganache is just chocolate melted with double cream,) the rest is easy, and the ideas are unlimited. I had a lot of fun playing around with different flavours.

This recipe can be used to make all sort of truffles, the basis stays the same, only the flavourings and chocolate type will change.

200g Milk Chocolate/Dark Chocolate/Milk Chocolate
1/4 cup Double Cream
flavouring (anything from teas, coffees, spices, liqueur etc)
Nuts/coconut/coco powder etc. to roll truffles in
(if you use liqueur or alcohol to flavour the ganache, don't use more than 3 tsps)

Grate or break chocolate into small pieces. Place in heatproof bowl.
Heat up the double cream in a pan till just about to boil (the edges will starts boiling). Pour the cream over  the chocolate pieces.
Stir gently till all the chocolate have melted and is smooth. If there is still solid pieces of chocolate, put the bowl over simmering water (not touching the water) until all the chocolate have melted.
Stir in the flavouring.

Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Allow the ganache to firm up in a container, preferably deep rather than shallow. Using a teaspoon or melon baller, scoop up room temperature ganache and roll the balls between your palms to round them off. Roll in nuts/Coconut/coco powder etc. and place on tray till set. Once set you can put them in small cupcake papers.

Makes about 20 truffles.


CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER TRUFFLES


Use Milk Chocolate and 3 tbsp Crunchy Peanut Butter. Coco Powder to roll truffles in.

 WHITE CHOCOLATE NOUGAT AND COCONUT TRUFFLES

Use White Milk Chocolate. Chopped nuts (macadamia, pecan, cashew) and chopped nougat pieces. 1 tbsp Coconut extract. Grated coconut for top.

CHOCOLATE MACADAMIA TRUFFLES

Use Milk Chocolate. Blend White Chocolate, Tobelerone and Macadamia nuts to fine and use for rolling.

HOW TO MAKE HONEYCOMB COVERED IN CHOCOLATE
(CHOCOLATE CRUNCHIES)


1 cup Granulated White Sugar
3 tbsp Runny Honey or Golden Syrup
3 tbsp Water
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

Put the sugar, honey/syrup and water into pan and gently bring to boil. Do not stir. Gently boil till all sugar has dissolved, it takes about 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda, work quick. The mixture will bubble up when you add the bicarbonate of soda. Pour into heatproof dish that is lined with parchment paper. Let completely dry before you cut or break into pieces.

Can be enjoyed just like it is, or dipped in chocolate. Makes about 10 honeycombs.

 

 


I decided to dip mine in chocolate as it reminded me of a favourite South African chocolate of mine called Chruncies.

Now this was a true "Death by Chocolate" experience  for me, thank you ladies for a great challenge. I cannot wait to start with the September 2011 Challenge!

SpongeBob Birthday Cake

I made this Spongebob Cake for my son's 7th Birthday Party. He wanted SpongeBob with his Pineapple House, his pet snail Gary and his friends Patrick Star and Squidward Tenticles. I decided to make the whole scene into a birthday celebration, with little party hats, cupcakes, cake and party blowers.

I decided to add a bit of irony and let Squidward jump out of a birthday cake. I also made Plankton who is seen running away from the party with a Krabby Patty.

It took me 35 long hours to complete the cake, but at the end it was worth it, just for the look on my son's face!

SpongeBob and Friends Birthday Cake

The square cake is a Vanilla Cake with Vanilla Buttercream icing and covered with fondant. The pineapple house is a Vanilla Cake with Coconut Buttercream icing and covered with fondant. I baked it in a giant muffin pan and then sculpted it into a pineapple.


VANILLA CAKE

2 1/2 cups (625ml) Self Raising Flour
2 cups (500ml) Sugar
4 large Eggs
1 cup (250ml) Milk
1/4 cup (65ml) Vegetable Oil
1 tsp (5ml) Pure Vanilla Extract

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Mix the eggs and sugar together till thick.
Add the flour, milk, oil and vanilla
Beat till smooth and creamy. Pour into two prepared round cake tins (20cm)

Bake for 30-40 mins. It is done when a test pin comes out clean.

LET THE CAKE COOL COMPLETELY

VANILLA BUTTERCREAM ICING

2 cups (500ml) Icing Sugar
125g Unslated Soft Butter
1 tsp Vanilla extract

COCONUT BUTTERCREAM ICING

2 cups (500ml) Icing Sugar
125g Unslated Soft Butter
1 tsp Coconut extract
You can add a tbsp schreded coconut

All figurines are hand sculpted and totally edible.

 

SpongeBob with fondant

To set the party mood I made Spongebob with a funky party hat and a plate of yummy cupcakes.



SpongeBob's Pineapple house from fondant

Patrick made with fondant

Instead of giving Patrick a party hat, I decided to put a dripping ice cream cone on his head. If you watch Spongebob, you will know why ;) I thought this just added to his personality.



Squidward made with fondant



Squidward jumping out of a birthday cake, now isn't that something! I thought it would be a funny twist. The cake was made with covering a small round plastic container with fondant. Let dry. If you want this to be edible, remove the container. I decorated the cake with royal icing, which basically dries instantly and hard!

Gary the snail made from fondant

Gary the Snail

I made a little bowl for Gary, so he can have his piece of cake too!  

Plankton with Krabby Patty

Plankton with Krabby Patty and Jelly fish

I just love Plankton, so I decided to invite him to the party, little did I know he was going to run away with a Kraby Patty! Maybe the jellyfish stung him on his way out....anyway we all know Plankton is 1% evil and 99% hot gas :) so he might still return the patty!

I must say I really enjoyed creating the cake, it was hard work but it was worth it in the end.

SpongeBob Party Invites with SpongeBob Cookies

I just wanted to show you how the finished SpongeBob Party Invites looked like that I made for my son's Birthday Party. Each child recieved a cool SpongeBob cookie with their invite!

SpongeBob Sugar Cookies with fondant

SpongeBob Cookies

I made these SpongeBob Squarepants Cookies for my son's class as part of his invites for his SpongeBob Birthday Party. They were such a hit among the kids and the parents wished they got some too... ;)

I know this blog is all about easy, and this is pretty easy to make but I must admit it is time consuming, so do start early and also remember the fondant/sugar paste parts can be made in advance and stored in a airtight container till later.



Spongebob Cookies with fondant

SPONGEBOB COOKIES

2 1/2 cups Self Raising Flour
1 cup Butter, softened
1 1/2 cups White Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Preheat oven to (190 degrees C (375 degrees F) C
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.
You can use immediately!
Roll out the dough on a well floured survice till about 3mm thick. Use cookie cutter to cut out rectangular shapes.
Place on prepared baking tray and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden. Cool on wire rack.

Fondant SpongeBob Cookie

 DECORATING SPONGEBOB COOKIES

You will need premade fondant in Yellow, White, Red and Blue. I flavoured the Yellow fondant with banana flavouring. You can also use sugar paste for this - it will dry harder.
A black edible marker
Edible glue

SpongeBob's body
Roll out your yellow fondant about 2mm thick, cut into rectangles with knife or cookie cutter - preferably the cookie cutter that you used for your cookies.
Using a tool with round tip, make some "sponge holes" in his body.

SpongeBob's face
Take some yellow fondant and form a nose by rolling a small ball into a small "log"
Roll out the red fondant 1mm thick and cut out circles. Then cut the circles in half and attach to SpongeBob' body with edible glue. This will be the mouth.
Cut out little ties from the red fondant.
Roll out white fondant till 1mm thick and cut out small strips and then cut it into small squares for his buck teeth. Stick teeth on mouth with edible glue.
Cut out small circles from white fondant and attach to SpongeBob's face with edible glue.
Take a small piece of blue fondant and roll into a little ball, flatten slightly. Stick onto the white of SpongeBob's eye with edible glue.

Spongebob's clothes
Cut small rectangles out of the white fondant attach onto SpongBob's body for a shirt. Stick the red tie onto the white shirt with edible glue.

Finishing touches
Use black edible marker to draw eye lashes and a dot on the blue fondant for his pupil.
Let dry overnight and enjoy!

SpongeBob Cookies

Quick and Easy Vanilla Passion Fruit Cake

Are you looking for a delicious cake that is quick and easy to make and fit for any occassion? Well look no further. My Vanilla Passion Fruit Cake is easy to make, taste heavenly and it will look like you have spend hours in the kitchen.



Cake fit for a tea party

Vanilla Sponge Cake

2 1/2 cups (625ml) Self Raising Flour
2 cups (500ml) Sugar
4 large Eggs
1 cup (250ml) Milk
1/4 cup (65ml) Vegetable Oil
1 tsp (5ml) Pure Vanilla Extract

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Mix the eggs and sugar together till thick.
Add the flour, milk, oil and vanilla
Beat till smooth and creamy. Pour into two prepared round cake tins (20cm)

Bake for 30-40 mins. It is done when a test pin comes out clean.

LET THE CAKE COOL COMPLETELY

Icing

2 cups (500ml) Icing Sugar
125g Unslated Soft Butter
100g Passion Fruit pulp (fresh or canned)

Mix the butter and icing sugar together till light and fluffy, add the passion fruit pulp and beat lightly.

Wait till the cake is completely cool, assemble and ice with Icing.

Now this is where the fun part comes in, the cake is already wonderfuly decadent, but if you are making it for a special occassion then you have to add something to make it look like you have spend hours working on it (get my drift). I added some different sugar flowers that I have made and experimented with, you can either make a few or alot of sugar flowers before hand (they keep well in an airtight container) or you can buy some, whatever works best for you.

Add the flowers and voila! you have a cake fit for any occassion.



Summer Flower Garden Cake

Fondant Hibiscus Flowers

Fondant Roses

Lekker Easy Koeksisters

If you are South African, you probably have many fond memories of Koeksisters. These delicious, mouth-watering deep-fried plaited dough, soaked in syrup that runs down your chin when you bite into them are totally irresistable. Every South African loves them, but nobody ever wants to make them. I don't really know why this is, I think somewhere down the line we were all led to believe that they are really difficult to make?

I thought the same, a Koeksister was something I ate only when someone else baked or when they had some left at the bakery or home industy, but that was before I found a very easy recipe, so easy I made it twice in one week! Not recommended as Koeksisters are not calorie friendly! So after you have induldged go for a walk....a long walk.

Here is my Easy Koeksister Recipe...

LEKKER EASY KOEKSISTERS

Dough

240g Flour
4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Butter
1/2 cup Sour Milk or Buttermilk

Syrup

1 kg Sugar
2 cups Water
1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar
a pinch of salt
Grated peel and juice of 1 Lemon
1 hand full of bruised fresh Ginger

To deep-fry

Canola Oil or Sunflower Oil

Sift all the dry ingredients together and rub in the Butter. Add the Sour Milk or Buttermilk and mix into a soft dough. Knead well and leave to rest for about 15 minutes.

Put all the syrup ingredients into a pot. Heat and stir till the sugar has disolved, simmer for a few minutes. Take off the heat and chill in the frigde or freezer.

Roll out your dough to thickness of about 5mm and cut into strips of 5mm wide and 7cm long. Create plaits with three strips. Make sure you press the ends together very firmly, if you dont it will fall apart in the oil (this happened to me!)

Deep fry the Koeksisters in hot oil until golden brown. Drain quickly and dunk into the cold syrup till saturated. Remove and put on a wire drying rack. The secret here is to have the syrup ice cold and the Koeksisters as hot as possible, this way it soaks up the most syrup.

Best eaten when cold. Take a bite and let the syrup run down your chin......mmmmmmmm.

This makes about 18 Koeksisters, but you will have enough syrup for another batch. Syrup freezes well!

Amarula Cream Chocolate Cake

I think there is no better way to celebrate life than to indulge in a big slice of Chocolate Cake, and so much better if this Chocolate Cake turns out to be delicious Amarula Cream Chocolate Cake. Actually forget the slice why not have the whole cake! This naughty Chocolate Cake is filled with wonderful, creamy Amarula Cream Liquor and will leave you feeling totally guilty!

AMARULA CREAM CHOCOLATE CAKE

CAKE

2 cups (500ml) All Purpose Flour
1 cup (250ml) White Sugar
150g Soft Butter (unsalted)
2 tsp (10ml) Baking Powder
20g (4 tbsp) Cocoa Powder
3 Extra Large Eggs
200ml Amarula Cream Liquor
50ml Full Cream Milk

Mix the Eggs and Butter together, add the Amarula Cream Liquor.
Add the Flour, Sugar and Baking Powder to the wet mix.
Mix everything together till you get a medium consistency - not too thick and not too runny. Add more milk if it is too thick.
Fill two round prepared cake tins.
Bake at 180 degrees Celcius for 30 minutes or till a sharp knife comes out clean.

COOL DOWN COMPLETELY

AMARULA CREAM ICING

1 and half cups (375ml) Icing Sugar
15g (3 tbsp) Cocoa Powder
50g Soft Butter
200ml Amarula Cream Liquor

Mix Icing Sugar and soft Butter together, add a few drops of Amarula Cream Liquor to get it to the right consistency (easy to smear)

DECORATING

Place one layer of Cake on a cake plate. Pour the remaining Amarula Cream Liquor onto the cake layer, pour it slowly so that the cake can absorb the Amarula Cream. Then decorate with a layer of Amarula Cream Icing. Add the second layer and decorate with the remaining Amarula Cream Icing.

Sprinkle with grated chocolate and decorate with chocolate and pink fondant roses for a classy touch.

Come on indulge....I know you want too!!!

80's Theme Birthday Cake

A friend of mine recently had a 80's inspired Birthday Party and I offered to bake her a cake for the occassion. Thinking of the 80's, who can still remember Pac Man, the Rubbiks Cube, AirWolf, A-Team and Who's the Boss? And don't forget all the music that made the 80's what it was, Cindi Lauper, Men at Work, Prince, Michael Jackson, Madonna, AHA, The Cure, Depeche Mode and Queen just to name a few.

I wanted to bake a cake for her that  incorporated all the things we liked about the 80's and this is what I came up with...

I made a hip teenager that is chilling on her bed with a Vogue and her favourite Music Tapes and Walkman at hand (and her Rubbiks Cube of course!) Everything but the doll is edible.


80's INSPIRED BIRTHDAY CAKE


Vanilla Sponge Cake

2 1/2 cups (625ml) Self Raising Flour
2 cups (500ml) Sugar
4 large Eggs
1 cup (250ml) Milk
1/4 cup (65ml) Vegetable Oil
1 tsp (5ml) Vanilla Essence

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Mix the eggs and sugar together till thick.
Add the flour, milk, oil and vanilla
Beat till smooth and creamy

I used a square cake tin 20cm x 20cm for the bed

Bake for 30-40 mins. It is done when a test pin comes out clean.

LET THE CAKE COOL COMPLETELY

Decorate

500g Butter Icing
250g Royal Icing
Edible Glue
1 kg Ready to Roll Fondant - white
Ball of Sugar Paste - about the size of your fist
Gel Colours - Blue, Red, Yellow, Green, Black
Edible Food Markers - Red, Blue and Black
Chocolate sticks (Sticko) or round wavers

The day before

Colour a small piece of the Sugar Paste light yellow and make some flowers out of the sugar paste and let them dry,also colour a small piece of Sugar Paste bright yellow and cut out a circle (for PacMan) and lettering for Happy Birthday.

Colour a small piece of sugar paste red, orange, blue, yellow, green, black and grey. Cut into small blocks for your Rubbiks cube. Use black fondant to make some Tapes. Grey for Walkman and airphones and blue for magazine cover. Write in your magazine with edible markers, also make stickers for your tapes and write on it with edible marker. If you need to fill in the spaces of the Rubbiks Cube use a black edible marker.

Fondant Tapes

Fondant Walkman

Fondant Rubbiks Cube

Fondant Magazine

On the day

Bake the cake.

Colour most of the Ready to roll Fondant purple (blue mixed with a little red), the remaining piece I coloured light yellow.

Bed
To make the bed, I cut off a 5cm (2 inch) piece of cake from the side of the Sponge Cake. This I used for the pillows.
I then covered the whole cake with Butter Icing.
Next I rolled out the purple fondant to fit the size of the cake. Carefully place the fondant over the cake, smooting it as you go to get rid of any air bubbles. Only smooth the fondant out over the top of the bed, let it fall naturally towards the bottom - this creates the effect of a duvet.
I cut the piece of cake I took from the top into two equal pieces and cover them with purple fondant. This is your pillows. I used a crimper tool to do the edges of the pillow and to seal the fondant.

Headboard
Then take your chocolate sticks or wafers and attatch them to the top of the bed with some royal icing. This is your headboard. Once the headboard is dry you can pop the pillows onto the bed.

Fondant Doll's clothes
The top and pants for the doll is made from sugar paste that is coloured bright yellow. Cut two flower shapes out of the sugar paste that is big enough to cover her breasts. Attach to the doll with edible glue and another piece of white sugar paste on her back for the strap. Make a hot pants out of the rest of the bright yellow sugar paste and attach with some edible glue.

Once the doll's clothers is completely dry, you can position her on the bed. You might want to stick her to the bed with some royal icing - just to make sure she does not move around.

Fondant Blanket/Throw
Use the rest of the purple fondant to make her a little blanket that she can throw over her legs. Crimp the edges with the crimping tool. Stick some of the flowers you made all over the throw and on the pillows (use edible glue).

Fondant Frill
Use the light yellow piece of fondant that you kept asside. Emboss with a nice patern. Attach to the end of the duvet - as a pretty frill. Attach with edible glue.

Now all you need to do is add the accessories - Walkman, Tapes, Rubbiks cube and Vogue and the PacMan and Birthday lettering and voila!

80's Theme Birthday Cake

Be creative and have fun!

Homemade Soft Pretzels without yeast

While living in America I fell in love with Soft Pretzels. Fall time in New York City, the wonderful smell of freshly baked pretzels and roasted nuts hung think in the cool crisp air. There was no way pass them, with at least two vendors on every street selling freshly baked Soft Pretzels and gorgeous honey roasted cashews and walnuts I had to stop and buy some every time!

A few years down the line and I still crave those wonderful delicacies. Luckily I stumbled upon an old American recipe book, and when I saw the Pretzel recipe I was adamant to make my own. The only problem was that this recipe contains yeast, and I was not about to wait for dough to rise etc. etc. I wanted my Pretzels now! I adapted the recipe, tried it and it was absolutely delicious......

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HOMEMADE SOFT PRETZEL RECIPE

2 cups (500ml) All purpose Flour
3 tbsp Unsalted Butter
2 tbsp White Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/3 (75ml) cup Full Cream Milk (this is Whole Milk if you are in America)
pinch of salt
Coarse Salt or Salt Flakes
1 Egg - beaten

Rub the Unsalted Butter into the Flour until it looks like crumbs. Add Sugar, Baking Powder and Salt and mix together. Add Milk slowly till all the ingredients are wet. Do not add all the milk at once. You have to make sure that the dough is not too sticky, but also not too dry. If you need more milk, you can add another drop. Once the dough is formed you do not have to let it rest, you can work with it straight away.

Divide the dough into smaller balls. Roll out each ball into a long snake. Twist them into shape and put onto prepared baking sheet. Once you have made all your pretzels, brush them with the egg (egg wash) and sprinkle with coarse salt or salt flakes.

Bake in preheated oven 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes (depending on size of your pretzels) - they should be nice and golden on the top.

Serve warm. You can serve them as is or with a delicious dipping sauce. Think honey and mustard dipping sauce or even a spicy salsa or nice guacamole sauce.




Now for that roasted nuts..............mmmmmm

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Enjoy!

 

Homemade Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

This is the easiest Homemade Ice Cream recipe ever! No churning and no machine required!

If you ever thought making your own Ice Cream is impossible or difficult, think again! This is the easiest Homemade Ice Cream recipe ever. I know you may think this Ice Cream cannot possibly be as good as the professional made ones or the good store bought ones, but I can guarantee you that it is just as good if not better and it is o so creamy and o so easy!!

Once you get the basic recipe right, you can really make any flavour of Ice Cream. I really like the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream because it reminds me of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups...yummy!

Homemade Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

2 Cups (500ml) Full Cream
1 tin Condensed Milk - you can half this if you want it to be less sweet
4 tbsp Crunchy Peanut Butter
1 cup (250g) Chocolate Chips

Whip the cream till it forms soft peaks. In a seperate bowl mix the Condensed Milk, Crunchy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chips together. Fold into the Whipped Cream. Pour into container and freeze for at least 6 hours. Take it out of freezer 5 minutes before you serve it.

Now that you have mastered this easy Homemade Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, you can try different flavours. I will post some more flavours as I make them. Enjoy!