A Fairy Cake for a Sweet Birthday Girl

Fairies are a favorite of a dear friend so she requested that theme for her daughter's first birthday. The human shape is a challenging thing to make in edible form, and I cautioned her on expectations of realism. She showed me a book with these worm-like fairies and I was game.

We discussed a pink lily as the backdrop(based on this toy) and the design was born.

To make the flower, I used a leaf cutter on pink colored gumpaste. I dried the cut pieces on curved surfaces (a paper towel cardboard tube lined with waxed paper works great) for over a week to be sure they were stiff. The day before I made a pink gumpaste circle about 2 cm thick which I stuck the tips of the petals into before it dried.

Of course I wanted this cake to taste amazing, so against my better judgement I decided to use a whipped cream/cream cheese icing. It was challenging to smooth nicely, and almost insane to pipe! The purple border at the top was intended to be star-tipped beauty but as you can see I could barely get it to look decent. I learned my lesson and made the lower purple border with a larger star tip. Luckily the green lily pad should look natural, and therefore imperfect.

Three layers of cake and two of the strawberry cream filling from Cooks Illustrated created a show-stopper.

The vine along the outside of the cake used a tip #3 and a small star tip for the pink flowers on the vine. I feel lucky to be a part of this sweet girl's life.

4th of July American Flag Brownies

 My country's birthday is coming up shortly, and I was fortunate to celebrate over the weekend with other expats here in the Netherlands. Instead of a recipe, this is more of a method to achieve a gorgeous American Flag that you can serve at a 4th of July Barbecue. These brownies start from my modification of a brownie product found here, but you can begin with anything baked (brownies, cake, bar cookies, etc.) in a 9"x13" pan. First, place the already baked brownies in the freezer while preparing the fruit and the whipped cream. Pick through about 500 grams of strawberries (1 or 2 quarts), until you have berries about the same size, that are the prettiest of the bunch, stems removed. Pick through a small carton of blueberries until you have about 50. Rinse and pat the fruit dry and set it aside.

Place 250 ml of heavy cream (at least 30% fat content, so to my friends here in the Netherlands, that is slagroom, not lite, not kookcreme). Whip the cream on high with a wire-whisk until soft peaks form. Add about 2 Tablespoons of powdered sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks form(the sugar gives the whipped cream some stability).

 Remove the brownies from the freezer and spread the whipped cream evenly over the entire pan. Place blueberries in upper left corner, side by side, approximately 6 rows and 8 columns(if your pan curves at the corners, it wont be perfect, but it doesn't matter.) Next, at the top, place a row of strawberries. Make sure you can put another row of strawberries level with the bottom of the blueberries, and also at the bottom of the pan. Fill-in the remaining rows (I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't get two rows in between where the blueberries end and the bottom. I think it would have looked nicer, but my berries were too big for that.) to create an American flag.

 

Bring your work of art to a BBQ and watch it disappear. Don't wait too long to serve it because the whipped cream will melt in the summer sunshine.

God Bless America!

 Happy 4th of July to everyone in the USA and to Americans all over the world.

Pancakes- American style

Pancakes are one of my favorite breakfast foods. When else can you drizzle maple syrup over something until it is completely saturated? Not to mention the fruit toppings! Fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches, plums, bananas (of course!)- the list is endless and I'm pretty sure there isn't any fruit that does not enjoy being on top of a pancake.

When we were in the USA this summer I made pancakes using a plug-in griddle and it was so easy: 8 pancakes at a time! Here at home I use my trusty square skillet and can do 4 at once.

My recipe is based on the Joy of Cooking classic pancake recipe. For best results use all-purpose flour. The vanilla is optional, but adds a nice flavor. If you don't have buttermilk, you can substitute regular milk but leave out the additional 1/4 cup of milk. If you don't have buttermilk, but you have plain yogurt you can substitute 1/2 yogurt and 1/2 regular milk and get just as good results. Don't 'make' buttermilk by adding lemon juice to milk because it wont be thick enough.

American Style Pancakes
Whisk together:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (228 g)
3 Tbsp sugar (38 g)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (6 g)
1/2 tsp baking soda (3 g)
1/2 tsp salt (3 g)

In another bowl, whisk together:
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (375 ml)
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk (63 ml)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Pour wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until not quite combined. Add 3 Tbsp melted butter and mix until combined. Do not worry if there are a few lumps. Heat your griddle or pan until hot enough. Test the heat level by sprinkling droplets of water on the surface of the pan and seeing if they 'dance'. If they evaporate instantly, your pan is too hot. If they sit on the surface and don't move, your pan is too cold. Pour the batter onto the pan using a 1/3 measuring cup to make each pancake. You can make them smaller or larger if you wish. Watch the pancake, waiting until you see some bubbles and the underside is a bit brown (peak to check) before flipping. The second side will take less time than the first side. Serve immediately or you can hold them until you're done by placing a wire rack on a baking sheet in your oven and placing the cooked pancakes on there (single layer if possible) as you finish each one. Cover with a towel for optimum moisture retention (but not necessary).

If you wish to add fruit to the pancakes, I don't recommend stirring it into the batter- just sprinkle onto the just-poured pancake before the first side is cooked. Take care when you flip it, and watch for 'leakage'. If you end up with fruit juice on your pan, wipe it off before pouring the next pancake.

Serve with maple syrup and butter and if you are feeling decadent, whipped cream!

An approximation of the heat setting on my gas stove.

 These are ready to flip!

These are almost ready to serve!
And the final product (okay, I forgot to take a photo before we started eating.)

 Wait a minute... where is the whipped cream?