Modelling Chocolate Roses

This was just some experimenting with the leftover modelling chocolate. I had watched some online videos on youtube regarding making the modelling chocolate roses and wanted to give it a try. They were pretty easy to make especially after watching the videos. I have already shared the recipe for the modelling chocolate in the blog in earlier post.

First knead your modelling chocolate paste well and make it smooth. Then take a small piece of the modelling chocolate and roll it into a ball of about a small marble size. Make this ball into a cone shape and let it sit on parchment/wax paper. Then take another small marble size ball of the chocolate and roll it into a D shape, thinning out the edges to give it a look of petal. Attach this petal as to cover the whole cone. Trim off if there is any extra chocolate. Again take another small ball and roll it into a D shape thinning out the edges. Then just curve the petal in the middle and also slightly roll it back at the edges to give it a natural look. Attach this petal to the covered cone and bring it over the cone but not fixing it completely. Repeat the procedure for the petals and go on tucking each petal inside the previous one till you get the desired size rose. Around 10-12 petals give you a big rose. Its much easier if you watch the videos and do it instead of understanding it by reading. This is surely a great start for decorating some cakes in creative way!!

Chocolate Ganache Cake

This is a chocolate cake filled and frosted with chocolate ganache and modelling chocolate decorations. I tried out the chocolate ganache for the first time for this cake, it turned out very good. I followed the recipe from one of my favorite site www.joyofbaking.com which I am going to share below.

INGREDIENTS:

For Chocolate cake:
1 cup sugar
1 whole egg
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate morsels

For Chocolate ganache:
8 ounces semisweet chocolate (chopped)
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp vanilla essence (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In another bowl mix eggs, milk, oil and beat well for about 2 mins. Add the dry ingredients to these wet ingredients and mix well. Then add the boiling water and stir well for another 2-3 minutes. The batter will be thin. Stir in the chocolate morsels and pour the batter into 7 inch greased and lined cake pan. Bake for around 25-30 min or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.

For the ganache, take the chopped semisweet chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Take the heavy cream and butter in a saucepan and heat over the stove until it just begins to boil. Pour this onto the chocolate and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Then gently stir the mixture until well incorporated.DO NOT BEAT THE MIXTURE. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it on the counter overnight if you want to frost the cake so that it thickens. If it does not thicken, you may put it into the refrigerator for about 1-2 hours before frosting the cake. You can also immediately pour the ganache on the cake if you like but it is very thin and liquid; so place your cake on the wire racks and then pour the ganache over the cake.

For the modelling chocolate bows, I watched some youtube videos and followed them for decorating my cake.

Strawberry mousse

We had picked up some strawberries this weekend and I decided to try my hand over making strawberry mousse. I always used instant strawberry mousse for filling the cakes until now as I had never made homemade strawberry mousse. After trying this recipe out I am so happy that I will now use this recipe whenever I have to use it in any recipes.


INGREDIENTS:
1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled and cut in half
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup chilled heavy cream
1/2  tbsp unflavored gelatin (1/2 envelope)
1/4 cup cold water

METHOD:
Put the strawberries in the blender and grind it to puree. Add the sugar and lemon juice. Sprinkle gelatin over the cold water for five minutes. Melt the gelatin by placing it in the double boiler over boiling water. Once melted, take it out of heat, do not overheat. Stir the gelatin into the strawberry puree and let it cool until a bit thick. Till it cools down, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the puree into the whipped cream with a spatula until well incorporated (make sure the puree has cooled down and at room temperature). Put it into the serving bowls or dishes and refrigerate it for about an hour before serving.

Yields around 2 cups of strawberry mousse.

Royal icing butterflies

I followed the Wilton's royal icing recipe but cut it down to 1/4 measure as I was going to try this icing for the first time. I took 1 cup confectioner's sugar, 1 tbsp meringue powder, 1 1/4 tsp + 2 tsp water(for thin consistency) and mixed this with a hand-held mixer for around 7-10 mins. I wanted it a bit flowy so I went on adding water 1/4 tsp at a time till I reached the desired consistency.

For the butterflies, I drew a template of the butterfly and then copied it on several wax papers. For the colors, you divide the icing into three parts and color them yellow, green, and blue. Be sure to cover your icing with damp cloth to prevent it from drying. Fill out the decorating bags with respective icings with the tip# 3 attached. Once you have filled out the icing into the decorating bags, keep the bags inside the damp cloth and covered continously. Then pipe out the icing on the butterfly with one color at a time. Once you have done that, using a toothpick run it along the wings in outward direction to get the design on the butterflies.

As I had not used any molds for butterflies, they are a bit out of shape I guess and also I needed a more flowy consistency of the icing to give more smoother effect for the wings. Will do that next time for sure!! Enjoy decorating your butterflies!!