Flower Cupcakes

I usually like to buy some flowers to my home. It is amazing how they transform the ambiance and bring beauty to the daily life.

This week I chose a bouquet with the purpose of reproducing it in sugar flowers. The flower that caught my attention was the red and white gerbera. I have never seen this flower before and I knew that I should try to make it. Beyond it I also made a lily, a rose and some mums.

Finally I used them to embellish some vanilla cupcakes. I used apricot compote to fill the cupcakes and white brigadeiro as frosting. I think they will make any dessert table beautiful and cheerful.

I hope you are having a wonderful week.

Artichoke Risotto

It wasn't in my plans publish a salty recipe anymore since I have discovered my passion for baking and cake decorating. Then last week I made this amazing artichoke risotto from the book Escoffianas Brasileiras by the famous Brazilian chef Alex Atala. Recently his restaurant, D.O.M., was rated the 4th best restaurant in the world by the S.Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurants. 


This risotto recipe was so good that I felt an obligation to share with you. I can’t wait to try more recipes from this book.

Hope you have a wonderful week!

Artichoke Risotto

(from the book Escoffianas Brasileiras, Alex Atala)

Artichoke 

Ingredients:

4 large artichokes

50 ml white wine vinegar

5 l water

20 g salt

Preparation:

Cook the artichokes in water with salt and vinegar.

Remove the petals from the center (enough to open and remove the fibers).

Cool in ice bath and set aside.

Strain the cooking liquid and reserve.

Risotto

Ingredients:

20 g butter

20 g onion, chopped

200 g Arborio rice

200 ml dry white wine

200 ml vegetable stock

500 ml of artichoke cooking liquid

100 g artichoke hearts preserved in olive oil, chopped

100 g of unsalted butter

100 g parmesan

Salt

Black pepper

Artichoke oil

Preparation:

In a saucepan, melt butter.

Sauté the onion over low heat until translucent.

Add rice and sauté for three minutes.

Place the wine and let evaporate.

Add the warmed vegetable stock. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly.

When almost all the liquid has been absorbed, add more. Repeat the process until the rice is al dente.

Add artichokes hearts.

Remove from heat and add butter and parmesan. Stir well.

Season with salt, pepper and artichoke oil.

Warm the artichokes on the remaining cooking liquid. Drain well. Place each artichoke on a plate. Fill them with the risotto and serve with a lot of olive oil.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother’s day to my beloved mom and all the moms over the world!

I baked this cake with a lot of love and gratitude.  

Mom I love you! You are my inspiration and mean everything to me! I wish you a wonderful day!

My New Passion: Painting Fondant

Hi my Dear friends! Today I will share with you my newest passion: painting fondant. These cookies were made inspired by some blossoms trees that I photographed weeks ago.

I have painted since I was around 10 years old. As soon my mom noticed my interest for art, she enrolled me in a painting class. I started painting fabrics and years late I initiated to work on oil in canvas, which I became passionate about it.

Recently I felt an overwhelming desire to paint. I thought that fondant, food decorating pens and gel food coloring could be a good option, and I was right. I loved it! I think I discovered a new way to use my passion.

I hope you like it too!

Yellow Cupcakes with Brigadeiro Frosting

Last weekend a friend of mine ask me to prepare some cupcakes for her daughter's birthday. The theme was karaoke so I decided to decorate them with some little microphones, stars and music notes, all made with Satin Icing fondant. I painted the music notes using gel food coloring and I sprinkled some edible black glitter for finishing. To make the microphones I used food decorating pens, and edible glue and glitter for the stars.

For many occasions I have used brigadeiro as filling and also for covering cakes. But this was my first time that I have used it as frosting.  I liked very much the final result. I got a beautiful swirl using the Ateco tip 847. The cupcake recipe is the "Yellow Cupcake" from the book Miette. I slightly adapted the recipe by adding one vanilla bean and using cake flour instead all-purpose flour. These light and fluffy cupcakes were a perfect pair for the brigadeiro frosting.

Yellow Cupcakes with Brigadeiro Frosting

Vanilla Cupcakes

The recipe is available on this link, page 75.

Notes: I used cake flour and also add one vanilla bean to the step 4.

Brigadeiro Frosting

2 cans sweetened condensed milk

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

200g chocolate (I used Callebaut Belgian Chocolate, 54.5% Cocoa)

120ml heavy cream

1 tablespoon honey 

Place all the ingredients into a medium saucepan. Over low heat, stir the mixture until it starts to show the bottom of the pan while you scrape it with a spoon. The mixture should be thick enough to show the bottom of the pan for a few seconds before the mixture back again. Transfer to a greased bowl. Decorate the cupcakes when the brigadeiro mixture is at room temperature.

A Cake for my Mom

When you think about making a cake for your beloved mom, you desire to make the most beautiful one, a cake that expresses your feeling and gratitude for all her unconditional love. Recently it was my mom’s birthday, and despite the distance between us, I made a special cake for her. She has a passion for flowers (such as me, it's in our DNA) and one of her favorites are orchids, which she has been collecting over the years. 

Initially I was planning to make a cake decorated with several sugar orchids, inspired by a visit that I did to the Cleveland Botanical Garden. But I decided for just only one. The one that she first bought. I still remember when that happens. I was a little girl and that beautiful exotic flower with white and pink petals impressed me. And making this particular sugar orchid was really, really special for me. And I know that means a lot to my mom too. With love, my memories and some photos that I have, I tried to reproduce it and I think that the result was great.

The cake is a recipe that she already used for my birthday cake in the past.  I love it! It consists of layers of sponge cake, dried plum jam, coconut cream and condensed milk cream. She covers the cake with the condensed milk cream and fresh grated coconut. The result is beautiful, but in my version I didn’t use the coconut, I preferred decorate the cake with fondant.

My Mom's Cake

Sponge cake

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

4 egg yolks

8 tablespoon water

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 egg whites

pinch of salt 

2 cups cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter ad flour the cake pan.

Gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks and water, add the vanilla, and continue beating for several minutes until mixture is thick and pale yellow.

Beat the egg whites and salt together in a separated bowl until soft peaks are formed. Scoop one fourth of the egg whites over the top of the egg yolks and sugar mixture. Sift on one fourth of the flour, and delicately fold in until partially blended. Then add one third of the remaining egg whites, sift on one third of the remaining flour and baking powder. Fold until partially blended, and repeat with half of each, then the last of each. The egg whites must retain as much volume as possible.

Turn into prepared cake pan, tiling pan to run batter to the rim all around. Set in middle level of preheated oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Cake is done when it has puffed, is lightly brown, and has just begun to show a faint line of shrinkage from the edges of the pan.

Condensed milk cream

395g/14oz sweetened condensed milk

395g/14oz heavy cream

790g/ 28oz milk

4 egg yolks

2 tablespoon corn starch

Place all the ingredients into a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir the mixture until it starts to show the bottom of the pan while you scrape it with a spoon. The mixture should be thick enough to show the bottom of the pan for a few seconds before the mixture back again.

Coconut cream

395g/14oz sweetened condensed milk

200g/7oz unsweetened coconut flakes

2 egg yolks

Place all the ingredients into a medium saucepan over low heat. Stir the mixture until it starts to show the bottom of the pan while you scrape it with a spoon. The mixture should be thick enough to show the bottom of the pan for a few seconds before the mixture back again.

Dried Plum Jam

10 oz. dried plums, chopped

1/2 cup sugar

water

In a sauce pan over medium heat boil the plums in water and sugar. Stirring constantly with a wooden spoon about 20 minutes or until jam consistency. 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter my dear friends! For this beautiful day I made a dessert table with some delicious treats: chocolate cake, some vanilla cupcakes, bonbons and chocolate eggs.

My inspiration for decorating came from some flowers of this season. For the cake I used sugar magnolias, which is one of my favorite. I had this idea after photographing them during my visit to arboretum couple of weeks ago. This was also the first time I made a wired flower and it was pretty fun. For the bonbons and cupcakes, I prepared little sugar flowers of some that I found in the garden of my condominium.

I hope you have a wonderful day!