Homemade Gummy Candy

Homemade Gummy Candy

Ready for another "Hey, I can do that!" adventure?  I've jumped on to the homemade gummy candy band wagon!  Kim from http://www.eat-the-evidence.com reassured me that it's super easy.  She'll be demonstrating how to use gelatine in many ways at the Capital Confectioners cake club's Day of Sharing next month.  She will also be teaching some of those techniques for the club's monthly class.  I've used gelatine several times (e.g. fondant, pastillage, gelatine sheets, and of course JELL-O), so I wasn't too intimidated after researching some recipes.  The proportions and ingredients varied, but I eventually settled on the simplest recipe I could find, especially since I actually had all the ingredients on hand.

Stats:

• 1/3 c cold water
• try juice instead for an extra fruit kick
• try sweetened condensed milk for opaque white
• 1 small box (3 oz) of JELL-O (featuring strawberry flavored)
• 2 packets of unflavored gelatine (featuring Knox brand)

Pour the JELL-O and gelatine into the water.  Recipes I found online say "sprinkle" the gelatine into the water, but I don't get how you sprinkle it when the ratio of solid to liquid is practically 1:1.  I guess you want it evenly dispersed.  Otherwise, the gelatine can lump together later on and you'll have to work that out.

Let the gelatine "bloom" ... which means let it sit there and do its thing.  I think I let it sit for 5 minutes while I cleaned up and prepared my tools.

The gelatine will congeal ... it's practically gummy at this point.  Wiggly and very little liquid pouring out.

Now you need to heat it up so all the sugar and gelatine will dissolve and the result will be clear (or at least not cloudy).  Recipes online had it on low heat in a pot on the stove.  I kinda forgot about that and just popped it in the microwave like I usually do when I make fondant.  I did 30 second intervals and stirring in between.  It took about 2 1/2 minutes total to get the consistency I wanted.  30 seconds was apparently too long in the end and the liquid bubbled up and overflowed in the microwave.

YUCK!  When's the last time I cleaned the microwave plate anyway???

Once all the solids have dissolved, you can start pouring into your molds.  I tried pouring directly from my Pyrex measuring glass and also using a baster.  The baster isn't a precise instrument ... it would be neat if I had a smaller version of it.  Hmm ... maybe I should have dug out some of my daughter's medicine droppers.  Dang ... why didn't I think of that earlier?  I set out my new Wilton Fondant & Gumpaste molds as well as some candy molds (hearts and seashells).

UPDATE (2011-07-07)
I recently tried making gummies again and used the Wilton Squeeze Bottles (for chocolate candy making) to pour into molds.  It worked great!  My gummy mixture was about 175 degrees.  I didn't damage the bottle, but I did have to hold it wrapped with a towel.

LFMF (Learn From My Fail)!  If you get bright red liquid on your kitchen table, clean it up immediately!  It might not exactly stain, but it'll be a nice reminder for next time.

This is a messy adventure.  You might have to re-warm up the liquid as it starts to gum up on you.  Here is the chopstick I used to stir with.

The seashells turned out the worst.  The liquid was very bubbly at this point, so there was a little foam on the top.  I recall some recipes using gelatine suggest to filter off the foam.  I can see why.

Let these puppies set in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.  The candy mold gummies took the longest to set because they were so deep.

The Wilton mold gummies turned out the best.  The candy caught all the details of the mold beautifully!  The silicone gave it a matte finish too, where as the plastic candy mold trays made the gummies look glossy.

Here's a big bubble that had formed on the back that I didn't reconcile.

 

 LFMF!  Don't put the gummies on a ceramic plate!  It stuck immediately.  Afterward, the gummies went straight to my silicone mat.  It's pretty hot and humid right now, so the gummies are spending the night in the fridge.  Otherwise, I'd bet there'd be a puddle of red goo on the counter in the morning.

The gummies released from the silicone molds nicely, but not so much from the candy molds.  Recipes said you didn't have to prepare the molds in any way.  It was tough to pull out the hearts, but you can be pretty firm with the candy without damaging it.

 Cute as a button!  Really!

Matte vs. Glossy

Not sure what I'm going to do with all these!  I've already got a bit of a tummy ache from sampling them (for quality assurance, mind you).  They taste just like firm JELL-O (big surprise).  Hope my co-workers are peckish.

Eggnog Frosting

Eggnog Frosting

Hubby loves eggnog.  I'm not a fan, but I sure could eat this frosting all day.  He's been bugging me about cooking something with eggnog ... this definitely hits the spot.

Recipe from "Tasty Cooking Classes with Food City":

Ingredients:
2/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp. flour
¼ tsp. nutmeg
1 cup eggnog
2 egg yolks, beaten
1 cup butter, softened

Pretty picture with all my ingredients in bowls just like the pros!

This recipe reminds me of making homemade vanilla ice cream.

Um ... I no longer have a whisk.  It was sacrificed in a different craft experiment.

 This after tempering and adding the egg yolks.

 Let it cool ... it looks thick and goopy.

Beat in butter.

This is definitely not the prettiest frosting I've made.  After beating in the butter, it looked awful, like a bowl of snot.  I was convinced it was too ugly and could only be used for filling.  It was bagged and placed in the fridge for later.  Turns out it was probably just too warm.  Few days later I let the frosting come to room temp and re-whipped it.  Much better!

FTWs:

• I already had all the ingredients on hand.
• Melted granulated sugar means no gritty texture, as opposed to American style buttercream that contains powdered sugar.
• Eggnog was pasteurized, contained no alcohol (typical grocery store brand), and the yolks were cooked ... safe for kiddos.
• Very creamy results without a lot of butter.
• High praise from test subjects.

FAILS:

• This was my second try at this recipe.  Cinnamon does NOT equal nutmeg. 
• A bit lumpy.  I wouldn't want to try to smooth this around a cake.
• This batch was a little smaller than I'm used to.  I had to conserve, but managed to ice all 24 cuppies.

Ateco tip #844 swirl on spice cupcakes.

If you're on the fence about this, just try it.  Minimal ingredients, maximum satisfaction.  I brought these puppies to work, and here's what people said:

• Thanks!  The cupcake is delicious!
• You taunt me, so. My budget is 1000 calories / day. (ish) *sniff*
• You are a flavor magician.  That eggnog frosting is delicious
• I've never even heard of eggnog frosting, but wow was it gooooood! :)
  

Emeril's Cheesecake for Shawn

Emeril's Cheesecake for Shawn

Happy Birthday, hubby!

Happy Birthday to my dear husband who has reached the big Three-Oh.  Can you believe a hubby whose wife is totally in to cake decorating only wants a plain cheesecake for his birthday???  He didn't even want a topping!  Oh well, it's his birthday, not mine.  Sorry it's not a pretty picture, but we can blame hubby for cutting the cake ;)

Stats:

• New York Style cheesecake recipe from Emeril Lagasse
• 9" round spring-form pan
• Honey Maid graham cracker crust

It's been a very long time since I've made a cheesecake, and I only used the recipe on the back of the cream cheese box.  This was for something special, so I took some time to research on the internet.  There are a variety of cheesecakes out there, but I determined hubby's favorite to be New York style.

Baking911.com suggested to keep the graham cracker crumbs uneven.  Fine, even crumbs from a food processor was a no-no, so I put some crackers in a gallon freezer bag and crushed them with my rolling pin.

Hmm, the recipe said to combine the crumbs, sugar, and butter together until well mixed.  I didn't see how cold butter would mix, so I melted it.  Maybe the instructions had omitted that part.  The mixture spread evenly on the bottom and I used my hand to mash it down.

I've never used a cheesecake recipe that had sour cream and flour!  I read that the flour can help stabilize the cake while baking.  Looked like runny batter by the time I poured it in to the pan.

After about 30 minutes of cooking, I noticed a dark brown ring forming and I freaked.  I put baking strips around the pan, praying that all this shaking wouldn't totally collapse the wiggly cake.  After ... um ... 30 more minutes? I took it out of the oven.  The browning did not progress, thankfully.

Interesting!  10 minutes in to cooling and it has shrunk around 30%.

Final verdict: Yum-oh!  The cheesecake had about 30 hours to cool/settle in the fridge.  I bet it's even better now that it's been 2 days (luckily we have left-overs).  Nice and creamy, not too dense.  The edges were soft.  Hubby mentioned that he liked that the crust wasn't as thick as we had previously made them. 

Sorry the slice isn't very pretty.  I did research how to properly cut a cheesecake, but our resources were limited since we were on the deck of a pizza place celebrating.  Next time I hope to try my hand at leveling a cheesecake, smoothing it out, and then doing some decorative topping!

Doctored Red Velvet Cake

Doctored Red Velvet Cake

(+5 skill points => 315/400)

Last week Lonnie tells me he's doing a cake for a little get-together but wasn't sure what kind of cake to try next.  I asked him if he's done a Red Velvet cake before.  He tells me no and asks if I have a recipe.  I say "Daaahhh ... I use Duncan Hines box mix."  Since then I've been researching all about this mysterious thing we call "Red Velvet" cake.  Surprisingly there were many recent threads on RV cake on cakecentral.com's forums.  One CCer suggested to use the box mix but instead of water, use Dr. Pepper and then add a package of pudding.  So here it is.  Doctored Red Velvet Cake.

Stats:

• 8" round Duncan Hines Red Velvet (DH RV) box mix
• substituted the water with Dr. Pepper
• added 1 package of chocolate fudge pudding
• cheesecake mousse filling
• iced with white chocolate IMBC

Stupid me forgot to take photos of the finished product.  The cake was devoured by my family as we celebrated my brother-in-law's birthday.  Oh well, here's the "making of".

Notice how dark red it turned out.  Close to a maroon / wine color. 

I made cake spackle for the dam and to smooth out the sides of the cake.  Inside is the Costco mousse recipe using cheesecake pudding.

Now imagine it assembled, iced in creamy IMBC with a reverse shell border on top.

In my opinion, that package of pudding was way too much.  I should have only put in 1/2 the bag.  I couldn't taste the Dr. Pepper (but my husband swore he did).  This was a pretty dense/heavy cake ... would go much better with a tall glass of milk.  Not sure if it was worth doctoring the cake mix ... I'm pretty happy with it as is.  My family did enjoy the cake.  It was a beautiful color, especially compared to the pale icing.

What do you think?  I'm too lazy to bake from scratch ...

IMBC + math

IMBC + math

So far I've experimented with 3 different IMBC recipes:

1. from Cooking by James Peterson
2. from Warren Brown of Cake Love
3. "Vanilla Italian Meringue Buttercream" from cakecentral.com

I liked the taste of #1.  I liked the stability of #2.  #3 was in between for both characteristics, but had a very yellow color to it.  I was curious to see how all 3 could be so different when they use the same ingredients.

Here's a breakdown of egg whites, sugar, water, and butter for each recipe:

Ingredient	#1: Cooking	#2: Cake Love	#3: Cakecentral
egg whites	6	5	8
sugar (cups)	1.75	1.25	1.583
water (cups)	0.5	0.25	0.5
butter (sticks)	3	4	6

If you determine the ratios on a per egg white basis, here's the run-down:

Ingredient	#1: Cooking	#2: Cake Love	#3: Cakecentral
egg whites	1	1	1
sugar (cups)	0.291666667	0.25	0.197875
water (cups)	0.083333333	0.05	0.0625
butter (sticks)	0.5	0.8	0.75

So no wonder I like #1, it's the most sugar and least butter.  #2 is the most stable, probably because of all the butter.  #3 is a lot more butter than anything else, and maybe that explains the color.

Snickerdoodle Cuppies: Review

From The Cake Mix Doctor

Snickerdoodle Cake (in cuppie form)

My dear husband and brother-in-law bought me The Cake Mix Doctor and Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor books for Christmas.  This is my first recipe attempt from these thoughtful presents.

Stats:

• Snickerdoodle cuppies
• IMBC (Cake Love's recipe), flavored with vanilla and white chocolate

The ingredients were simple, but I did have to specifically buy a pint of whole milk (we only drink 2%).

I don't have much experience with doctored cakes.  The first doctored cake recipe I made was WASC cake.  This batter really surprised me.  It was very thick, almost the tensity of whipped cream.  After everything was mixed in, it was disappointing to realize I couldn't use my new batter dispenser.  Instead, I tried my disher (similar to a small ice cream scoop).  That didn't go well either.  It took several squeezes to dump the batter out and I still had to do at least two passes for every cuppie.  What would have been a better idea was to put the batter into a decorator's bag and "pipe" them in.

Unfortunately I overbaked the cuppies.  I'm unfamiliar to the recipe and how they should look when done.  The bottoms and tops were slightly crispy and hard, but luckily not burnt.  Here they are with a 1M swirl top.

The cinnamon in the batter smelled soooo good while baking; it was heavenly.  I was so excited to taste them.

Inside it was very fluffy, balancing nicely between dry and moist.  My husband said the taste reminded him of a cinnamon muffin.  He also liked that I overbaked them because the harder portions were a nice contrast to the fluffy innards.

I'm glad I tried this recipe.  It's important that I branch out of my safe shell of "cakes I know".  Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of the fluffiness, but the cinnamon was a nice change of pace.  I'm looking forward to more doctored cakes!