The Power of Sprinkles by Amirah Kassem {a book review}

The power of sprinkles indeed.

I don't think I know a single person who doesn't smile or get excited when presented with something that is full of color and this book along with our author, Amirah Kassem, is full of color and fun!

Amirah grew up in a home where her mom was always baking and creating and as she grew up she followed in her mother's footsteps baking for her close friends and family; presenting them with cakes that were suited just for them. She had a stint in the fashion world as the colors and textiles drew her in, but her love of baking never stopped.

She continued to create cakes for the people around her and when they started asking where the cakes were bought from she decided to take a step in that direction, baking 6 layer cakes that were so beautiful you almost wouldn't want to eat them, in her very own bakery cleverly named Flour Shop in New York City.

For those of us who don't live in New York and might not get an opportunity to visit her bakery, we have her book. The Power of Sprinkles. This book is visually stunning. It's bright and colourful, but it is more then just eye candy... it's creative, clever, and thoughtful.

She shares with us 35 different cakes for all occasions I will just show you some of my favorites.....

We get a lovely insight into Amirah's life and she shares with us the most important cake in the book: The Rainbow Explosion Cake. It's the most important because it gives us all the techniques and tips and tricks we will need to create these amazing cakes.

Those tips and tricks cover a vanilla cake recipe, magical frosting, tools and tips for frosting cakes, colors and dyes to use, sprinkle science, working with chocolate, and layering the cakes - everything you will need to create your own masterpieces.

I myself am not much of a decorator and normally I would look at these pictures and feel a bit daunted, but her writing exudes a confidence that makes me feel I am capable of creating these cakes.  Maybe a few of them require a bit more experience, but there are just as many that don't require as much experience and effort as you might think.

If you are looking to expand your baking profile or need some inspiration as Amirah's story is definitely uplifting check this book out!!

The Flour Shop - 177 Lafayette St. NY, NY 10013

*I was provided a copy of The Power of Sprinkles: a cake book by Amirah Kassem to review by the publisher, abrams&chronicle books, retails at £17.99 and available now on Amazon! All opinions are my own, I was not given any other compensation nor was I asked to give a positive review, please see my contact/policy page for more information.

Chocolate Cake Donuts

Hearts are one of the earliest things I remember drawing as a kid - it probably is for most people. It's a familiar image or shape that we associate with many things surrounding the emotion of love. The origins of this shape is not known for sure maybe the shape of a leaf of some obscure plant associated with valentine or could be the shape of human sex organs who knows really?

Even if it is pretty likely that the shape has some crude beginnings it's a shape I have always liked; to draw and to eat! I mean everything tastes better when it is in a fun shape right? Kids know that for a fact. That is why I thought  it appropriate to shape these decadent donuts in the shape of hearts. Also I only have a heart shaped donut pan or a mini donut pan and the mini ones take ages.....

Chocolate Cake Donuts

170g plain flour
25g cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp espresso powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
60g sugar
60g brown sugar
170ml whole milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil (extra for greasing)
2 tbsp sour cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 180C and grease the donut pan with a little bit of the veggie oil and don't forget the middle part so the donuts don't stick.
Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, espresso powder and salt into a bowl. In another bowl whisk the egg, both sugars, milk, oil, sour cream, and vanilla until combined and then sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold in until completely combined and there are no lumps.
Fill the donut indents 3/4 full - *I found that using a tablespoon to fill the donut indents was easiest and I used two tablespoons and it was the perfect amount.
Bake for 10 minutes and leave to cool for 5 before turning out. They should just drop out, but using a butter knife around the edges should loosen them up. Leave to cool while you make the gauche.
I had 3 batches to make a dozen donuts - I wiped the donut indents clean and re-greased them each time.

ganache
85ml whipping cream
2 tbsp sugar
15g unsalted butter
85g chocolate chips

Heat the cream, sugar, and butter on a medium heat. While it's heating place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl, once the cream mixture is just boiling pour it over the chocolate and gently whisk. We don't want air in the ganache, but we do want it to be smooth and shiny.

to finish: 
sprinkles

I dipped the donuts into the chocolate ganache and then covered with chocolate sprinkles. In between batches you need to keep the ganache slightly warm otherwise it goes hard and lumpy.
Donuts are best eaten fresh, but will last for about 3 days.

These donuts are a great treat and if you love someone you should make these for them because they exude love. They are love even if they aren't made in a heart shaped donut pan. 

Surprise Cake! {birthday cake}

I am a bad mom.

It’s not entirely true, but mom guilt is real people.

See I don’t do birthday parties. My girls don’t seem too bothered by this as we’ve never really done birthday parties, but I still feel guilty about it.

We still celebrate with family and a few friends! She did request a special cake and insisted on pizza for dinner! She also had lots of presents of clothes and design/coloring books.

No party, though. Maybe one year we'll throw her a big party and until then I will continue to feel slightly guilty about it. Only slightly though because the part of me that doesn’t feel guilty feels relief that I don’t have the stress and cost of a party.

This year, my now 8 year old, wanted a surprise cake - one that had sweeties in the middle.

How I made the cake: I used a tried and tested vanilla cake, from Rachel Allen’s Cake book. Which didn't rise as much as it usually does, but it tasted fine so I worked with it.

I used my circle pastry cutters to put a hole in the middle of the top layer of the cake. Set aside the circle of cut out cake. With a thin layer of buttercream, lay it on top of the bottom layer. Pour a bag of sweets in the hole. Cut the saved bit of circle cake in half and squish it back in the hole. Use a little bit of buttercream to stick it back to the sides if necessary. Then frost it with the remaining buttercream and cover it with sprinkles of your choice!

Chocolate Birthday Cake {butterfly}

A little something for the weekend!! I just wanted to share some pictures of my daughter's birthday cake from last weekend.

She turned five. Five is a big deal! It means she's officially left the toddler stage, even if she can still throw a great tantrum and has entered the world of being a proper little girl.

There are a few things I miss about her being little, but I love watching her become herself more! It's the best part of being a parent seeing them grow up and watching them discover who they are even though you already know! 

I was instructed that it had to be a chocolate cake and turquoise and have a butterfly. I think it was a bit more green than blue to be turquoise, but other than that I think I did alright! 

Killer Zebra Cake {Clandestine Cake Club}

This month’s Clandestine Cake Club theme was “A Novel Idea” where we could create a cake inspired by any book we wanted!

I have several novels and childhood books that I have been inspired by to create edible treats from. Two years ago I had a whole week dedicated to Harry Potter treats. I made a dessert inspired by Neil Gaiman’s An Ocean at the End of the Lane last spring. It’s something I enjoy doing!

Sunshine by Robin McKinley was where I decided to draw my inspiration from this time.

It is a book I have read more then once and have come to love. It sounds like a nice sunshine and roses book, but it's far from it! That's all I'm going to say about that! 

It was a bit of an easy one as the main character Rae aka Sunshine works in a bakery.

She creates all sorts of delicious sounding desserts like Cinnamon Buns as-big-as-your-head, Hell’s Angel’s Food, Killer Zebras, a 6 layer chocolate chip cake, Bitter Chocolate Death, Butter Bombs, Cherry Tarts, Lemon Lechery, and many more.

I've always admired Robin McKinley’s creativity when it came to naming the desserts. I also always wondered where her inspiration came from for the names? Did she have certain desserts in mind?

Originally I was going to make a Bitter Chocolate Death Cake, but someone was suppose to bring Bruce Bogtrotter’s cake from Matilda. So, I thought since there were to be two very chocolaty cakes I would make something else. I needn't have worried as they didn't show, but ah well.

I just liked the way Killer Zebra’s sounded so, I made a stripy cake and the tasty frosting makes it “killer!” Um..hum yeah. Anyway .... It was a pretty good cake, not as rich as expected, but a perfect sweetness to a soft crumb. Yum!

Killer Zebra Cake:

260g unsalted butter, room temperature

420g caster sugar

4 medium eggs

430g plain flour, sifted

1 tbsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

240ml whole milk

30g cocoa powder, sifted

Preheat oven to 180C conventional & fan assisted/gas mark 6. Prepare 2 15cm round cake tins, greased and lined.

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until completely incorporated, scrap down after each egg. Remove half of the batter and set aside.

In a bowl sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Half it. In one half sift in the cocoa powder. Set both bowls aside. Measure out the milk, set aside.

In one half of the butter mixture add a half of the half of flour (so you’re adding a quarter) mix well before adding the vanilla and half of the milk. Then add the rest of the flour (another quarter to make half) mix well. That is your vanilla batter.

In the other bowl of batter mix in half of the cocoa flour, mix well before adding the rest of the milk, make sure that is well incorporated before adding the rest of the flour and mix well, but don’t over beat.

To create the zebra stripes, spoon about 3 tbsp of the vanilla batter into the center of each prepared pans. Then add 3 tbsp of the chocolate and repeat until the batter is gone. It will spread out don’t worry! Do not level out the top! Whatever you do it will work out.

Bake for 25-45 minutes depending on your oven. I used a conventional oven and it took at least 45 minutes, but the recipe suggests a fan-assisted oven 25-30 minutes. Use the skewer test to make sure it’s completely cooked. Cool in the tins for about 10 minutes before removing them and cooling completely on a wire rack.

vanilla buttercream

100g unsalted butter, softened

300g icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla extract

75ml double cream

Beat the butter for a few minutes before adding the sugar, vanilla, and cream. Beat on low, you don’t want icing sugar everywhere! Then once it comes together beat on high for a few minutes until it’s nice and smooth!

It was a very quiet night. I don’t know if it was due to the flooding around the Reading area, but there wasn’t the best turn out. Sometimes it is nice when it’s quieter as we get to chat and get to know each other a bit better! I always really look forward to "Cake Club night as my" girls call it. They also always remind me to save them some cake!

Louise made an amazing Lemon Sherbet Cake inspired by Dumbledore from Harry Potter. Clara and Fiona brought a delicious cherry cake in ode to Enid Blyton. Clare created an orangey loaf cake, that I can’t remember for the life of me what book it was suppose to be from! It was good though! I look forward to our next meet-up!

notes: Clandestine Cake Club: fine one near you! HarryPotter Week; Forgotten Blackbery Pudding inspired by Neil Gaiman, AmericanCupcake Life has a book club that is run by reading the book and creating something inspired by the book, I partake as often as I can! Recipe was taken from Lily Vanilli’s Sweet Tooth.  

Cinnamon Cake & CCC Christmas Cakes!

We had our last Clandestine Cake Club meet-up of 2013! Of course being the holiday season we went with Christmas as our theme!

As always we had a nice selection of cakes and I tried to eat a slice of each. Which never goes well. I either miss one or two or end up with a load of half eaten slices on my plate! 

Once again, everything was very tasty. I never can complain about our group of cake makers!

Here is what we all made this time round:

I choose a Cinnamon Cake with Cinnamon Butter Cream because everything people bake this time of year has cinnamon in it. Well, pretty much everything!

The Cinnamon Cake turned out perfectly cinnamon-y and delicious! It was a bit like making muffins. All you do is combine all the dry in one bowl and the wet in the other. Then place in the tin and bake! So, a very minimal effort cake, but a very good cake!

Cinnamon Cake

225g self-rising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

75g ground almonds

100g golden caster sugar

2 medium eggs

50g honey

250ml natural Greek yogurt

150ml sunflower oil

Preheat oven to180C/350F/gas4 and line the bottom of a 9 or 10 in cake tin and grease the sides with oil. I used a 10in as I don’t own a nine and it came out fine with the time below.

Combine all the dry ingredients by sifting the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon before adding the almonds and sugar.

In a separate bowl combine all the wet ingredients eggs, honey, yogurt, and oil – mix well.

Fold the wet mixture into the dry until just combined.

Gently pour into the prepared tin and bake for 35 minutes. Cake should have a golden hue and a skewer should come out clean when inserted into the cake. Cool for 10 minutes or so in the tin, before completely cooling on a wire rack.

Cinnamon Buttercream

200g butter, softened

150g icing sugar, plus a little more depending on how you like the consistency

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

2-3 tbsp whole milk

Beat all the ingredients together until you get your desired consistency and it is light and fluffy! Use more or less milk for the same reasons you may need a little more icing sugar.

to finish

Snow Flake Sprinkles (optional)

Chocolate Penguins (optional) 

Evenly spread the buttercream over the cake and decorate as desired!

notes: How many C’s can I get in a title of a post?? Clandestine Cake Club is fun! Find one near you! This cake was adapted from a recipe in Cake by Rachel Allen. Chocolate Penguins are from Sainsbury’s, I bought them as I thought they were super cute! I must apologize for the quality of the pictures, the lighting is never nice to my phone camera!

Golden Honey Madeleines (SO Range review & Treat Petite challenge entry)

A while ago I shared with you that Sainsbury’s had listed me in their list of favorite food bloggers. Well, they sent me a lovely hamper to try out some of the SO (Sainsbury’s Organic) Range.

The first thing that caught my eye was the honey. My little ones love a tsp of honey just to lick! That’s why I've been trying to incorporate it into my baking a bit more. This honey is a sweet and fruity one as it says on the front the jar. If you’re wondering why I mention it, it is because there are many different flavors of honey.

With the Great British Bake Off in full swing I've been turning to my baking books from past contestants and the one that I turn to the most is Jo Wheatley’s Home Baking.

These Honey Madeleines have been on my baking to do list for ages and now seemed like the perfect time to try them out. They are amazingly light and spongy with a great honey taste. Thanks to the SO Clear Honey, which we have used on toast and to sweeten our porridge in the morning. 

Golden Honey Madeleines

100g self-raising flour

1 tsp of baking powder

pinch of sea salt

2 large eggs

50g golden caster sugar

2 tbsp of honey + 2 tbsp for glazing

90g of unsalted butter, melted

edible gold sprinkle dust (I would say it’s optional, but then they wouldn’t be golden would they?)

Sift together the flour and baking powder add the salt and set aside. Whisk the eggs, sugar, and 2 tbsp of honey until pale and frothy in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture until just combined. Fold in the melted butter, cover and chill for at least an hour.

Before baking preheat the oven to 200C. Lightly grease the madeleine pan for easy release.

A piping bag works best, but if you like me don’t really want the fuss a dinner table spoon works fine. Using a tablespoon scoop out and fill each indention of the prepared madeleine pan about 2/3 full.

Bake for 5 minutes then reduce the oven temp to 190C and rotate the pan. Bake for a further 5 minutes until the centers rise and the edges are turning brown.

Once they are out of the oven glaze with the remaining 2 tbsp of honey. If they cool you will have to heat the honey slightly to make it glaze. Then sprinkle with gold sprinkle dust. Serve warm! Yum! And if you are like my girls you can have a little extra honey on the side to dip them in.

notes: Sainsbury’s Food Blogger List (no longer exists as of 31/1/2016); Jo WheatleyHome Baking review; #SOoraganic range has so much to offer I can’t wait to share what else I will make from my basket of goodies!; I am also entering these Honey Madeleines in Treat Petite a new blogging challenge hosted by two of my favorite food bloggers CakeyBoi and The Baking Explorer (this month's host). I hope to participate next month too! 

I {heart} peanut butter!!

If you saw my last post you’ll know that I've acquired yet another book that mostly has to do with making sweet things. I had two things booked marked as I’m going to make these like right now. The first of the two were these Peanut Rice Krispies Squares.

It’s implied in the description part of the recipe that Jamie eats peanut butter out of the jar. I think every peanut butter lover does so. Since I consider myself a huge peanut butter lover I couldn't pass these up!

I also can’t believe I never thought of adding peanut butter before?  They are Peanutbuttery marshmallowey goodness in a bar!

If you love peanut butter as much as I do and have never tried this combination I suggest you do! 

Peanut butter Rice Krispies squares

75g butter

250g marshmallows

150g smooth or crunchy peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla bean paste or 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

130g Rice Krispies

sprinkles (optional)

These are so easily molded into any shape just make sure you line the tin with parchment paper, it all depends on how think you want them!

In a saucepan once the butter has melted add 200g of the marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Take off the heat and mix in the peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Add the Rice Krispies and the remaining 50g of marshmallows and mix until it’s all covered. Moving fast put in your lined tin and smooth the top with a spatula or as Jamie says with another sheet of baking parchment and use your hands to smooth it down. Leave to sit for 2 hours or more on warm days. Cut into squares. I used my Wilton’s heart cutter, but they don’t look that much like hearts, ah well whatever. Sprinkle with whatever you want! They keep up to 5 days in an airtight container.

Check out Jamie Laing's new book Candy Kittens for extra flavors and ideas!!

I'm not gonna lie the other reason I made these first is because I had everything in my cupboard already! Stay tuned for the second thing I will be making from this book. I am hoping to do so this weekend, but we’ll see depends on the weather! 

notes: My review of Candy Kittens; 

Blueberry Cake Mini Doughnuts!! {cooking with kids}

Before Mini Baker started school I never felt I had a problem finding stuff for us to do. Since she’s started school now when she’s off I find myself struggling to keep her entertained.

I enjoy baking and I’m glad she does too. I am not completely naïve to assume we will always have the same interests. But for now I’m glad we have something to share in hopes that she remembers them fondly.

Mini baker is always asking me for doughnuts, she’d have them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! A while back I picked up a copy of Mini Donuts by Jessica Segarra and a silicone mini doughnut mould from Lakeland’s so I could make her doughnuts!

Not for every meal of course, but for the times we were at a loss of what to do with ourselves! The recipes in this book are super simple. Piping the batter into the mould is more suited for adults, but everything else kids can easily do!

A quick update as well, everyone at the moment is feeling better! The littlest Mini Baker was napping during the doughnut making, but she sure enjoyed helping us gobble them up! 

Blueberry Cake Mini Doughnuts

adapted from Mini Donuts by Jessica Segarra

1 ¾ plain flour, sifted

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 large egg

¾ cup granulated sugar

3 tbsp vegetable oil (plus a little extra for greasing pan)

¼ cup sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup whole milk

½ cup blueberries, chopped

Pre-heat oven to 180C

Using a pastry brush and a little vegetable oil to grease the doughnut pan/mould, then tip the pan over onto a kitchen towel to drain excess oil.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and set aside. Whisk the egg and sugar together before adding the oil, sour cream, and vanilla. Mix well until combined.

Fold in half the flour, then half the milk, and the rest of the flour, followed by the rest of the milk. Make sure there are no lumps before folding in the chopped blueberries!

Fill a piping bag or plastic bag and cut the tip off, it can be a bit tricky as the batter just runs out. Fill each doughnut mould about ¾ full, sometimes it goes over, but that is okay! Then bake for 7-10 minutes they should spring back when touched or use the skewer test if you’re unsure. They might slightly brown around the edges, but are still a bit pale. Carefully un-mould the doughnuts and cool on a cooling rack. 

While they are cooling make the icing:
1-2 tbsp whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ cups icing sugar

2-4 drops each of pink/blue food dye

sprinkles

Mix the icing sugar with 1 tbsp milk and the vanilla. Add additional tablespoons of milk one at a time until you get a pourable consistency.

Place a piece of greaseproof paper under the cooling rack and drizzle the icing over the tops and add sprinkles for extra sparkle! Then eat!! Best eaten on the day.

notes: Mini Donuts by Jessica Segaarra: blog, Amazon UK & USA; Lakeland’s Silicone Mini Doughnut Mould. This post is my entry for the competition to win a lovely range cooker from Range Cookers! There is a day and a half yet to enter! Check out the details here!!

Mickey Mouse Chocolate Sugar Cookies!!

The littlest member of our little family has just turned 3! I knew I would do something Mickey Mouse, because she’s a fan. About a year ago I purchased an expensive set of cookies cutters, from the Disney Store, that had a Mickey outline, glove, and star. Basically I thought it about time I used them.

As I was referring to the tried and tested sugar cookie recipe (from Sprinkle Bakes by Heather Baird) I took notice of the variation at the bottom. Chocolate Sugar Cookies! Then it occurred to me that if I used the chocolate variation I would only have to decorate the bottom half of the cookie. After this revelation I chucked the star and glove cutter!

I love baking, but decorating isn’t something I have a lot of patience for. So, to further make my life easier I used a pre-made icing/gel in a tube. Red of course! Then after icing Mickey’s shorts on I doted them with 2 white chocolate coated sprinkle things? Not sure what to call them?

So, here they are! Enjoy!! Baby.... ahem... my Big Girl baker did!! 

notes: Heather Baird is the author of the blog and book titled Sprinkle Bakes the recipe I used can be found in her above mentioned book and there is a recipe on her blog, but it’s different then the one in the book. I bought my cookie cutters from a Disney Store. Last year Baby Baker had Blueberry Cupcakes!!