The Icing on the cake

Recipe for Fondant Icing

Day 9 of the Christmas Countdown. On day 7, you had The late Cake recipe  on day & Marzipan & today Home made fondant icing, for covering.

Must just say, I am feeling very lucky today, the lovely Emma Coleman from BBC Radio Wiltshire visited my little Stable kitchen, last week, to interview me.  That was luck in itself, but just imagine my feeling of elation when my recorded interview appeared not just on one, but both the Rachel Houghton’s morning show & the lovely James Thomas afternoon show.

I will also be talking about Truffleicious & my blog on The Social, with Sue Kinnear & Tim Weeks. BBC Radio Wiltshire, Mon 17th December 2018 at 7pm 

• 

  Thanks white stuff

• 

  Icing Sugar

• 

  Boiling Sugar & Water Syrup

• 

  Home made, Fondant Icing

Now. If you heard the programmes & read my previous blog on store bought icing  – link in red below – you may wish to make your own Fondant Icing (Ready rolled). The recipe follows:

FONDANT ICING. Covers 1 x 10cm cake.

1, level dessertspoon powdered gelatine, mixed with 3 dessertspoons of cold water.

100gm Granulated Sugar

6.Tbspns hot water

1.Tbspn Fresh Lemon Juice

2.tspns vanilla essence

25ml Vegetable oil

1/2 – 3/4 kg Sifted Icing Sugar.

METHOD

Place granulated sugar, hot water & lemon juice in a small saucepan & bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve.

Cover & boil for 2mins, uncover & boil for a futher 5mins until a little of the syrup forms a soft ball when dropped into very cold water.

Add the gelatine mix, essence & oil & stir to dissolve. Cool until luke warm.

Put half the icing sugar in a large boil & add the syrup mixture,stir well to combine. Gradually work in the remaining icing sugar, with the fingers, kneading until the mix becomes, smooth & pliable.

Place in a plastic bag & leave at room temperature overnight.

Roll out on a board dusted with sifted icing sugar & use to cover your cake. At this stage you can knead any colourings into the icing. This icing is also suitable for moulding. See the little snow men in the photo above.

You will also find my original blog, regarding the nasties in store bought icing, by clicking the link below:How do you like your icing

If you have any questions on your Christmas cookery please feel free to ask.

Just leave your question in the comment box below.

If you have been. Thank you for reading & possibly listenening.

Marzipan or Sugarpan?

Make your own Marzipan

Day 8 of my Christmas countdown, as promised yesterday in my Late Christmas Cake recipe  today’s recipe is for home made Marzipan.

Although I personally do not favour a traditional Christmas Cake, preferring something lighter & less sugary, I know, for a lot of people, Christmas would not be complete without one. The cake in yesterdays recipe is a variation on the good old traditional theme. Today’s marzipan recipe is prepared using fresh natural ingredients & also makes you aware of the additives & preservatives used in most store bought Marzipan or Almond paste, as it is also known.

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  A Christmas Classic?

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  Home make your Marzipan

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  Store bought Marzipan

Do you head to the super market & grab a pack of ready -made Marzipan? Have you read the small print on theback?  It should really be called Sugarpan, because the main ingredient is, guess what, SUGAR!!  OK, most recipes call for half ground almonds & half sugar, but even in the more respected stores, ground Almonds only account for 25% of the product, the rest being made up with the afore mentioned sugar & other additives. So here goes:

HOME MADE MARZIPAN

. G/F. V. Low Fodmap  Allergens: EGG. Cooking Time Nil. Covers 1 10cm Cake or smaller cake with enough left over to make chocolate marzipans.

Ingredients:

450g Ground Almonds (Good Quality)

225g Icing Sugar

225g Caster Sugar

2 Small Eggs

Juice of half a lemon

1. Tbspn Rum or Sherry

1.Tbspn Orange Flower Water

Few drops Almond Essence

METHOD

Place the dry ingredients in a large bowl & mix together well.

Pour in the lightly beaten eggs & add the other liquids, mixing with your hands, to form a smooth paste.

DO NOT USE A FOOD MIXER. When the ingredients have bound together, forming a smooth paste, wrap in cling film & chill for a couple of hours. Over working the paste will result in an oily paste, caused by the oil being released from the almonds. Ifyou do not wish to use alcohol in the recipe, replace with Elderflower Syrup.Use fresh, free range eggs, as the rich yellow yolks, produce a good coloured Marzipan.

Use as required, rolling out on a board which has been dusted with icing sugar, to prevent sticking.

Any left- over Marzipan can be rolled onto balls or cut into shapes & dipped in melted chocolate & used for decoration. If you are feeling creative, you can always whip up a boozy Christmas Stollen with your lovely home made Marzipan in the centre.

Until tomorrow, when the recipe will be “The Icing on the Cake”. Have a lovely evening

Christmas Stollen with Home made Marzipan

The late cake recipe

Christmas cake recipe

Day 7 of my Christmas Countdown is the cake, especially for all you budding cooks, that haven’t we got round to making your Christmas cake yet. This recipe is a little different from the traditional cake recipe, but if you make it this weekend, you will find the recipes for the Marzipan (Day 8) & Fondant icing (Day 9) for covering the cake on the Christmas Countdown, this weekend.

Of course I can hear you cry, “I haven’t got the time for cake making”, Well let me suggest to you. Once you have felt the satisfaction of making your own cake, I very much doubt you will resort to a shop bought one again. Just think of all your friends & family, congratulating you, on your culinary skills. Apart from the feel good factor, you can be sure you are feeding your family an additive & preservative free cake, containing real butter, free range eggs & no nasty palm oils.

Well here we go:

Jan’s late Christmas Cake recipe.

Makes 1. 20cm cake, or 3. 8 cm cakes.  Time taken 45mins + cooking

Equipment: 1. Deep 20cm cake tin, side & based lined & lightly oiled.

Allergens: Dairy, Egg, Nuts

INGREDIENTS

120g Dried Cranberries

120g Dried Cherries

120g Chopped blanced Almonds

120g Dried Apricots chopped

120g Dried Dates

120g Sultanas

250g Spelt Flour

5 level tspns Baking powder

1/2 level tspn Salt

175g Unsalted Butter, not spreadable type.

175g Dark Brown Sugar

Finely grated rind of 1 orange

3 Large Free range eggs

1 tspn Almond essence

3 tbspns Brandy

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 325f, 170c, Gas 3.

Place the dried fruits, orange rind & nuts in a bowl & set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder & salt together & set aside.

Using a hand mixer, cream the butter & sugar together until very soft & light.

Lightly beat together the eggs & essence & beat into the creamed butter & sugar a little at a time. With the last additions of the egg mix add a couple of tablespoons of the flour.

Fold the remaining flour, alternatley with the brandy & then fold in the fruit & nut mix.

Turn the mix into the prepared tin, lightly level the top & slightly hollow out the centre.

Place in the preheated oven & bake for 1 hour, lower the heat to 300f 150c Gas 2 & bake for a futher 1 1/2 – 2hours. 

Test cake by pushing a warm skewer into the centre,  it should come out clean with no traces of uncooked mixture.

Allow cake to cool in tin. When cold, wrap in foil & store in an air tight tin for a few days, until ready to almond paste.

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  All for me

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  Fancy a slice

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  Just out of the oven

Its as easy as that. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments box below & I will answer them tomorrow.

Enjoy your evening.

BBC Wiltshire – Rachel Houghton, 27/11/2018

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06qgwjp

BBC Wiltshire – James Thomas, 27/11/2018https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06qgwjp

Hi Foodies, I am feeling very lucky today, the lovely Emma Coleman from BBC Radio Wiltshire visited my little Stable kitchen, last week, to interview me.  That was luck in itself, but just imagine my feeling of elation when my recorded interview appeared not just on one, but both of the above mentioned radio programmes today. If you click the links above, you will be able to hear them.

• 

  There’s a lot more than sugar in your fondant

• 

  Icing Sugar

• 

  Boiling Sugar & Water Syrup

• 

  Home made, Fondant Icing

Now. If you heard the programmes & read my previous blog – link in red below – you may wish to make your own Fondant Icing (Ready rolled). The recipe follows:

FONDANT ICING. Covers 1 x 10cm cake.

1, level dessertspoon powdered gelatine, mixed with 3 dessertspoons of cold water.

100gm Granulated Sugar

6.Tbspns hot water

1.Tbspn Fresh Lemon Juice

2.tspns vanilla essence

25ml Vegetable oil

1/2 – 3/4 kg Sifted Icing Sugar.

METHOD

Place granulated sugar, hot water & lemon juice in a small saucepan & bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve.

Cover & boil for 2mins, uncover & boil for a futher 5mins until a little of the syrup forms a soft ball when dropped into very cold water.

Add the gelatine mix, essence & oil & stir to dissolve. Cool until luke warm.

Put half the icing sugar in a large boil & add the syrup mixture,stir well to combine. Gradually work in the remaining icing sugar, with the fingers, kneading until the mix becomes, smooth & pliable.

Place in a plastic bag & leave at room temperature overnight.

Roll out on a board dusted with sifted icing sugar & use to cover your cake. At this stage you can knead any colourings into the icing. This icing is also suitable for moulding. See the little snow men in the photo above.

You will also find my original blog, regarding the nasties in store bought icing, by clicking the link below:

How do you like your icing

If you have any questions on your Christmas cookery please feel free to ask.

Just leave your question in the comment box below.

If you have been. Thank you for reading & possibly listenening.

How do you like your Icing?

Ready to Roll Icing 

It’s that time of the year again. You’re rushing around like a headless turkey, trying to get everything done, buying presents for his parents, trying to calm down the over excited kids and all of a sudden, your remember. “Ahhhh I haven’t iced the cake”. Presuming you made one in the first place! Well, of course you did. You like to feed your family, wholesome, natural foods, not products loaded with chemicals, preservatives & goodness knows what else.

You are a domestic goddess, you know what’s good nutrition wise, for your brood, you substitute butter for low fat spreads, to keep their hearts healthy, buy low sugar products to help their teeth & weight & try to get them to eat their 8 a day – no chance – . But. During all this healthy eating campaign, are you aware of what is actually in those substitutes? & their  food mile foot prints?  Do you read the ingredients list, in small print, on the back of products?

We need to be a couple of generations older, to know what some of these additivies will do to us – think smoking – Are you mindful of the ecco damage we are doing to our planet? – think Orangutan –  What is wrong with cooking & making fresh healthy food from scratch. Yes, I can hear you all crying “TIME”.  Well it is time. Time to get yourself organised, spend less time on FB & that glass of Chardonay every night & prioritise your week, as you CAN do it, you owe it to yourself & your family. 

Time, verses ready made products. The food industry is well aware of this, by persuding us to buy these tempting, ready made, calorie & chemical laden products.

This brings me back to the title of this blog How do you like your Icing? Please read in conjunction with my previous blog Marzipan

Always read the label

Thanks white stuff

Ready to roll, (cake covering or fondant) is the most common, store bought icing. While it takes a little while to make, but you can soon whip it up in that lovely food mixer that stands, unused on your work surface. One thing you can be sure of, you know exactly what it contains. Just take a look at the ingredients list in the store bought products above.

• 

  Icing Sugar

• 

  Boiling Sugar & Water Syrup

• 

  Home made, Fondant Icing

Royal icing (piping, decoration). Is much easier to make, again in the mixer. Both icings are also much cheaper to make than their store bought counterparts. 

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  Store bought Royal Icing for piping

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  Read the label

What I really don’t understand, is that so many of us seem to be aware of & indeed want gluten free, dairy free, Lowfodmap, lactose free, vegan, vegetarian etc, but we don’t seem to care about the additives, artificial chemicals & goodness knows what that is added to our foods. 

Its also not just about the Supemarkets. Don’t forget those ready made cakes you purchase, whether from a Farm Shop, Bakery or a social media advertiser of home made cakes!  Do you check their ingredients?  Can you be sure that they home make their own cakes & icings & don’t resort to packet cake mixes, store bought icings & decorations? Always beware of the words “hand made”. 

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In the long term, all these additives could be doing us untold harm. Who knows, only time will tell. So. Make the time, to home make your food from scratch, or you my find YOUR time is shortenened, in the long run.

Next year, my blog will include a weekly update of seasonal foods, with recipes & ideas on how to priorotise your time & feed your family with healthy home made foods.

So. Whats in your icing this Christmas?