Christmas Tree Cake

This is going to be a quick one because it's about the decorating as I can't remember what cake I made and really, that's besides the point, you could do this with almost any cake. I think it was either a basic butter cake or a White Chocolate Mudcake.

Basically I bought a Christmas Tree cake mould (from eBay or Avon I can't remember) and it made my Christmas dessert for the year much easier to make... in theory. I still spent hours decorating it on Christmas Eve of course!

So, make your cake. If you don't have a Christmas Tree mould, I'd suggest a square cake and then cut up into trapeziums of shrinking size with a little rectangle for the trunk (and if you're creative enough, a star...)

Once you have your cake, we're ready to decorate!

You'll need
 - 2 packs of ready-made fondant icing
 - green food colouring (or yellow and blue)
 - brown food colouring (or red, yellow and blue)
 - Smarties / M&Ms or some other such colourful circular lolly to decorate with
 - 1/2 cup icing sugar
 - a few drops of lemon juice

Method
Step 1: Divide the fondant into 3 portions with the rough ratio 80:15:5 and use your food colouring to get the colours green : brown : yellow for each portion respectively by kneading the fondant (you may want to use rubber gloves (food grade) or your hands will become a rather 'interesting' colour...)

Step 2: Roll the brown fondant into a rectangular piece large enough to place of the trunk of the tree.

Step 3: Putting the fondant onto the cake... to make the fondant stick you might need to spread a thin layer something like jam over it first. If its a butter cake you could potentially use melted butter.

Step 4: Place the brown fondant over the trunk and gently mould it to the shape of the trunk. To smooth any folded bits of icing (e.g. over the corners of the trunk) use a wet knife or the back of a spoon.

Step 5: Divide the green fondant into 4 pieces with the rough ratio of 40:30:20:10 and then use a rolling pin to roll them into strips. Starting with the longest piece, place the fondant onto the tree from the bottom up.

Step 6: (Only if you have a 'star' to put at the top of the tree...) Roll the yellow fondant into a big enough circle to cover your star and place the fondant onto the star shape.

Step 7: Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together until it is a semi-firm consistency that can be piped onto the tree. Using a piping bag, zig zag a line from the top to the bottom of the tree.

Use the same icing to pipe dots over the tree, placing your Smarties/M&Ms on the tree as you go before the icing sets.

Chocolate Mudcake Christmas Puddings

This one is a modified version of the Chocolate Ball Christmas Tree that I did a couple of years ago. Because the balls were so popular, I think I have made them around Christmas time each year but have mixed it up a bit by using different decorations for them.

The last couple of years I have made the balls into little Christmas puddings... this was the first attempt...

So I made the balls the same way I did for the Chocolate Ball Christmas Tree (crumbled mudcakes and then rolled and squished them into balls). This time I covered them all in a dark chocolate coating to look like this:

Then I cut up red licorice into small pieces, drizzled some melted white chocolate over the ball and placed the licorice on top before the chocolate set. It looked like this:

So, not bad for a first attempt. But I wasn't happy with the licorice. So the next year I decided to put even more effort into it and I made tiny little red balls and green holly leaves out of fondant icing, and put them on top instead of the licorice... which was A LOT more effort.

Unfortunately I can't find a photo of those anywhere, but trust me, they looked much better.

Choc Brownie Christmas Trees

Hello Old Friend, its been awhile...

Well, after Mr and Mrs Pizzaman moved to the other side of the country (yes, literally) Friday night desserts slowly died away... and so did this blog. However, as I now find myself with the next 9 months or so off work whilst I learn the ins and outs of this whole 'parenting' thing, I hereby pledge to breathe life back into Mrs Pink's Delectable Desserts.

It shouldn't surprise you to know that while my blogging has been on a hiatus for the last couple of years (wow, has it been THAT long?!), my dessert making has not. I have a back log of desserts that I have been making and photographing and just never getting around to posting, so I'll be trying to work through them in the coming weeks/months. Only problem is that its been so long that I can't always remember which recipe I used to match the photos, so we'll see how we go...

First up, as the festive season sneaks up on us once again, is a treat I had lots of fun making last year - Chocolate Brownie Christmas  Trees...

It doesn't really matter what brownie recipe you use as this one is more about the decorating of brownies to make them a Christmas-y treat. 

Ingredients
Brownies
 - 150g butter
 - 300g dark cooking chocolate (chopped)
 - 1 1/2 cups (330g) firmly packed brown sugar
 - 3 eggs
 - 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
 - 3/4 cup plain flour
 - 3/4 cup (140g) dark Choc Bits
 - 1/2 cup sour cream
 - 3/4 cup (110g) macadamias, toasted, chopped coarsely
 - 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Decorations
 - icing sugar (1 cup or so)
 - softened butter (1 tablespoon or so)
 - milk (dash of)
 - green food colouring
 - Smarties
 - Candy Canes (a couple of boxes)

Method

Step 1: Preheat oven to moderate (around 180 degrees C), and lightly grease and line a 19 cm x 29cm rectangular slice pan, lining with baking paper so that 2cm of paper extends above the pan on the long sides of the rectangle.

Step 2: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan, add chocolate and stir over low heat without boiling until the mixture is smooth.

Step 3: Stir in sugar then transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool until it is just warm.

Step 4: Stir in eggs one at a time

Step 5: Stir in extract, flour, Choc Bits, cream and nuts.

Step 6: Spread mixture into prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes. Cover pan with foil and bake for a further 20 minutes.

Step 7: Cool in pan; turn top-side up onto a wire rack.

Step 8: This is where the fun begins: cut brownie slice into triangles - to do this I cut the slice into thirds long ways so I had three long thin rectangles and then cut the rectangles into a zig-zag pattern. This left an awkward half-triangle shape at each end, but heck you've got to have some scraps to snack on while you decorate the trees! (this gave me about 14 trees)

Step 9: Grab the Candy Canes and snap off the 'hook' end so that they are straight pieces. I discovered the hard way that you want the stems to be about 4cm long; much longer than that and you'll either break the brownie when you insert it or it'll look ridiculously long, and much shorter and it won't stay in place.

Once you've got your stems you need to delicately insert them into the base of the 'tree'. Now don't make the mistake that I made and just assume the candy canes can be jammed in there... You need to make a bit of a whole first to pave the way. Insert a skewer into the base of the triangle and move it around in a circular motion so that a whole forms. Only then should you attempt to insert the candy canes.

Step 10: Mix up some icing by creaming the butter, stirring through the icing sugar and adding just enough milk to keep it from being too hard. Add a couple drops of the food colouring of your choice.

Use a piping bag to pipe zig-zags onto the trees, pressing the Smarties onto the icing as you go. When the icing hardens the Smarties should be lightly 'glued' in place.

Just had a thought - you could use an oval shaped cookie cutter and make Easter Egg Brownies as well... Hmmm, now I just have to remember that in about 4 months time!

Pear & Strawberry Crumble

I've had this one in mind for some time now, but as Mr & Mrs Killer told me they don't like pears/strawberries, I've had to wait until there was an occasion to make it for others. Last week, that time arrived; Mr Pink's family came over for dinner. It went down really well, and I would definitely be happy to make this one again.

This was really easy and didn't take too long to make, less than 30min.

Serves 6

Ingredients:
 - 1 cup caster sugar
 - 1 cinnamon stick
 - 1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
 - 6 pears, peeled
 - custard to serve
 - icing sugar to dust

Strawberry Crumble
 -  30g butter
 - 1 cup Apricot, Date ^ Almond Muesli
 - 1/4 cup brown sugar
 - 1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped

Method:
Step 1: Place 4 cups of water in a large saucepan with sugar, cinnamon stick vanilla bean and seeds. Simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes.

Step 2: Add pears, reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 10-15 minutes, or until tender.

Step 3: Meanwhile, melt butter in a frying pan on medium heat. Add muesli and sugar and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until golden.

Step 4: Add strawberries and cook for 2 minutes or until strawberries are soft.

Step 5: Remove pears from syrup and cut in half. Place in serving bowls and top with strawberry crumble mixture. Serve with custard and dust with icing sugar.
Note to eaters: Its perfectly okay to leave the core of the pear as they can be a bit sour and you don't want to ruin the taste of the dessert!

Zabaglione Pastry Horns

This is one I saw months and months ago but I couldn't make because I didn't have the pastry cones. But then, one day, I was out shopping with Mrs Killer and I came across some pastry horns! Mrs Killer can attest to my excitement when I came across them, but trust me, it was great! :-)

Its quick-ish IF you make the pastry horns the night before, which I did. Making the zabaglione itself is easy but does require a fair amount of muscle, luckily I had 3 other people whose muscles I took avantage of.

And now, from the cooking genius of James Reeson, I give you, ZABAGLIONE PASTRY HORNS.

Makes 16 pastry horns, Serves 3-6 people depending on how hungry they are!

Ingredients:
 - 6 egg yolks
 - 3 tbsp caster sugar
 - 3 tsp Marsala (a dessert wine used mostly for cooking, for those of you who have never heard of it - yes, I was one of you)
 - 2 sheets puff pastry
 - canola oil spray

Method:
Step 1: Cut pastry sheets into 2cm strips.

Spray metal pastry horns with canola oil. Wind the puff pastry strips around the cone, from bottom upwards. Gently press the top part of the pastry down to seal. Tip: don't make the end stick out too much as it makes it harder to put the zabaglione in later.

Step 2: Place pastry horns onto a lined baking tray and into a preheated oven at 200degreesCelcius for 11-14 minutes, until golden brown.Remove from metal horn and allow to cool.
Note: You'll have to do it in batches unless you buy 16 or so pastry horns!

Step 3: Place egg yolks into a large mixing bowl and whisk until light and fluffy.

Step 4: Place your mixing bowl over pot of warm water (about75degreesCelcius, just below simmering) and continue whisking for 5 minutes adding half the sugar.
Note: This is the start of the hard bit....get your muscles ready

Step 5: Sprinkle in a little more of the sugar and continue whisking for a further 5 minutes.


Step 6: Sprinkle in the remaining sugar and whisk again for 5 minutes.

Step 7: Add the Marsala a teaspoon at a time, whisking as you go.


Step 8: Pour the zabaglione into a cool bowl.

 tep 9: Place 2 blueberries into the bottom of the pastry horn, put a tablespoon or so of the zabaglione into the pastry horn and top with a strawberry.


Step 10: Dust with icing sugar and serve!

Apple & Pecan Crumbles

This is my very first microwave dessert attempt and is one I picked up from our local fruit shop. It is marketed as a great idea for kids so you know its quick, easy and impossible to get wrong! ... Except that I may have gotten it wrong... a little. :-) But it was still really yummy, just possibly not the right texture.

Serves 6

Ingredients:
Apple mixture
 - 8 green apples, peeled, cored and chopped
 - 1/4 cup caster sugar
 - 1/4 cup water
 - 1/2 cup sultanas

Pecan mixture
 - 1/2 cup plain flour
 - 1/4 cup brown sugar
 - 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
 - 75g butter, chopped
 - 1/2 cup pecan nuts, chopped
 - 1/3 cup shredded coconut

Method:
Step 1: Combine apples, caster sugar and water in a large microwave safe dish.

Cover and microwave on high for 12-15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes until golden and very tender.
This is where I think I went wrong... I did it for a full 15 minutes and the apples were so 'tender' that they turned to mush. If you don't like mushy baby-food apples, maybe try for 10 or so minutes! 

Stir through sultanas and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

Step 2: Preheat oven  to 180degreesCelcius.

Step 3: Meanwhile, to make pecan crumble topping, place flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.

Rub in butter until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Mix in pecan nuts and coconut. (Note: if you have a very keen eye, you'll notice that there is no coconut in the pictures.... thats because I forgot to add it in! Whoops! It was still good though, even without the coconut)

Step 4: Spoon apple mixture into 6 x 3/4cup-capacity ovenproof dishes or tea cups (I used ramekins). Sprinkle with crumble topping and place on a baking tray.

Step 5: Bake 20 minutes or until topping is golden. Cool slightly and serve.
I like to serve it with icecream and custard, and ramekins aren't terribly good for doing that, so I ended up turning it out into a bowl which ruins the crumble top, but its easier to eat and still tastes the same ;-)

White Chocolate Mudcake

I made this for my birthday cake (yes, for those of you who know when my birthday is, it was some time ago now, I know, give me a break, I've been busy!... but mostly lazy ;-)  ) and it was a superb choice if I do say so myself! ;-)

Serves: 16 (or less depending on portion sizes of course! For instance, it would only provide 8 of what I call 'Dad' slices)

Ingredients:
300g white chocolate
200g butter
1 cup milk
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten 
2/3 cup self-raising flour
1 cup plain flour

Sour Cream & White Chocolate Ganache (topping)
200g white chocolate
88g sour cream 

Method:
Step 1: Preheat oven to 145degreesCelcius (160 for conventional)

Step 2: Line base and sides of a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper (I don't know if I'm the only one who does this, but I like to either wipe butter on the tin or spray it with non-stick cooking spray, so that the baking paper actually sticks to it and stays in place). Alternatively, if you (like me) don't want to go to that much effort (can't be bothered) I like to use a silicone cake 'tin' with a light spray of non-stick oil spray.

Step 3:  Place chocolate, butter, milk and sugar in a large saucepan over low heat stirring frequently.

Once butter and chocolate have melted, remove from heat and stir until completely smooth. (Note: I started with rock hard utter, so decided to try and soften it in the microwave... well long story short it was already alf melted when I started, so this step didn't take long! The point is, its not the end of the world if the butter is melted when you put it in...)

Set aside and let it cool at room temperature for 15min.

Step 4: Add vanilla and eggs to chocolate mixture and stir until well combined.

Step 5: Sift flours together in a large bowl. Now the original recipe says to add one cup of chocolate mixture to the flour and stir until a paste forms, in order to prevent lumps... The first time I made this, thats what I did and what did I get? Lumps. So the second time I made it, I added a bit of the chocolate mixture, gave it a stir, added a bit more, stirred and so on. And, what do you know, no lumps.

Step 6: Pour into prepared cake tin and then bake for 1 hr 10min to 1hr 20min (knife inserted into centre will come out clean when its ready).

Step 7: Lick bowl and saucepan clean (unsurprisingly, this is my favourite step...)

Step 8: Loosely cover cake with greaseproof paper or a clean tea towel and allow to cool to room temperature in pan.


The Ganache. So its well known that I am not exactly a fan of sour cream, and I admit I was rather sceptical of putting a sour cream based icing onto my birthday cake for fear I wouldn't like it. But. Gosh was it gooooood :-) So for all my fellow sour cream dislikers, don't worry, it doesn't taste like sour cream.

Step 9: Melt chocolate in a small saucepan over very low heat, stirring frequently. When chocolate has completely melted, remove from heat and stir in sour cream. Use immediately, or if your ganache is quite runny, set it aside at room temperature to thicken slightly before using.

Bonus: I made some (oddly shaped) chocolate freckles to decorate the cake with; just melted some milk chocolate, poured it into a foil-lined container, poured hundreds & thousands over it and left it to set at room temperature. Easy & yummy!