I've Moved!

:[ Sorry friends, but I've moved my blog over to Tumblr, I just really like the interface and was able to make a blog more to my liking, please bookmark it!

HTTP://POPPIESBAKED.TUMBLR.COM !!!

Napoleons, Anyone?

One thing I forgot how much I love doing is sitting on the floor of Borders. scanning as many books at a time as possible. With help from my best friend Michelle, (and patience of the people working there) we turned the whole Baking/Pastry section upside-down :) I came across two books, One i'll save for another post....The other is simply titled, "Puff" by Martha Holmberg. This book legitimately holds everything you need to know about puff pastry, and contains everything in it from appetizers to desserts. I know I love puff pastry, but never have made anything from scratch, including the dough. So I went for it... and I can't be anything less than ecstatic with that came out of my mixer and oven :) I'm going to provide the recipe because honestly, these look so stunning and fancy...which they are... but don't let that make you think they are difficult! I'll add some tips at the end that I got first hand when making them.

"Quick Chocolate-Raspberry Napoleons"

from Puff by Martha Holmberg

1 Sheet of Frozen Puff Pastry, Thawed ( I made mine from Scratch, which was pretty easy and also provided in the book! ((I made the quick version))

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar - Plus more for decoration!

3 & 1/2 ounces good quality Semisweet Chocolate (chopped)

2 Cups Whipping Cream

1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

1/8 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

2 Pints Fresh Raspberries

1- Heat oven to 425 Degrees. On a lightly floured counter, roll the pastry sheet into a 13x14 Inch Rectangle (edges will be trimmed later). Prick it all over with a fork and half-inch intervals. Slide the Puff Pastry dough on to a baking sheet (preferably flat). Lay a piece of parchment paper on top, and arrange another baking sheet thats big enough to cover the pastry on top to prevent from puffing (Make sure it's perfectly flat). Bake until the pastry is a very deep golden brown, about 15 to twenty minutes. Take the top off the sheet and the parchment paper. Sprinkle 1/2 Cup powdered sugar evenly over the surface. Bake for another 3 to 4 minutes until the pastry is nicely glazed. Carefully, slide to a rack and cool.

2- Combine the Chocolate and 1/3 cup of the whipping cream into a stainless-steel bowl set over a pan of half-full water. Bring the water to a bare simmer and heat until the chocolate melts. Whisk until smooth and glossy (It may look curdled at first), then Whisk in the vanilla and salt. In a Separate bowl, using an electric mixer, Whip the rest of the cream until it forms soft peaks, then whip in 1/2 cup of the chocolate sauce, a little at a time (you will use the rest of the Chocolate as a sauce) Don't over whip the cream or it will get lumpy.

3- With a large chefs knife or Pizza Cutter, trim the pastry into 16 three-inch squares. Place one square sugar side up on a dessert plate, dollop a generous 1/3 cup of chocolate cream on top, nestle in some berries, and top with another pastry square. Just before serving, sprinkle a little more powdered sugar on top and drizzle the remainder of the chocolate sauce over each.

Things I picked up while making: While you are baking your dough, be careful with your oven, even though you aren't supposed to check on things too much while they are in the oven, this was my first time making these and I periodically checked and was glad I did because these babies take a little while to brown but when they do, its really rapid and you don't want to burn too much in the corners (since you are cutting off some edges, after all) Also, I loved how these came out but I think next time I would like a little more texture to the dough so I think I will take the second sheet that is holding the pastry on top, off a couple minutes earlier.

If you have never made the chocolate sauce (similar to a simple ganache) or made homemade whipped cream, I would actually save that for after the pastry is out and cooled, My whipped cream fell a tiny bit because I spent a whole lot of time making sure the dough came out right. Oh, and I made two batches of the chocolate sauce, because I mean, the more the merrier right?

Christmas Cupcakes

Just some cupcakes :)

More Orders, Today I think I wan't to try the art of making the cutest sugar cookies.... hmph.

Another Order!

My mind is Christmas dreaming but this week I got an order for Hanukah Cupcakes for someone that was going to a party! Hopefully so many Christmas treats to come but with the fact that it's Christmas time, (and my 21st Birthday is around the corner ;) ) I am at the toy store I work at way to much!

I needed to announce it.

11/11/2010 : I made my first order!
So this is what I've been up to. I have another order already :0]....

Halloween Cupcakes!

It was an icky rainy day yesterday so Michelle and I decided that cupcakes were a good idea, and I also got this really cute witch cupcake holder with little feet that I was dying to use. We went to the store and probably spent only about fifteen dollars to make all of these, i'm not going to lie I made box mix for these (how un-pastry like of me) but I was just in the mood to decorate and I am totally broke ;). Anyway, these are easy! make them! I basically just tried to make up original ideas but most of them have already been done....which doesn't make a difference, they were so fun!

Strategic Sprinkling

Takes time but always looks amazing

All of our buddies

Fangs out of Fruit Slice, icing, and sprinkles

The cutest monster in all the land

Little bat baby, we used those wafers for a lot of shapes

Milano gravestone, cookie dirt, food writer, and gummy worm friend.

Witches hats are Oreo ice cream cones iced to a chocolate wafer :)

Banana Chocolate

Laughing at these pictures.. for My best friend nikki's birthday a chocolate/banana cake was requested. Safe to say I aced it by messing around with my favorite chocolate sour cream recipe. I look awful in that picture! it was before going out... Her favorite color is green so I kept it simple and just added some colored sugar. Happy Birthday best friend!

Happy Birthday Ashley!

First big cake I tried to cover with fondant... It's hard work getting everything smooth! ugh It drove me crazy but unfortunately I am broke and only had a limited supply of everything :\ Decorating with flowers and everything is much more fun than putting the flat layer on. I used sugar pearls and cutters and thats basically it! But hey, for someone who is going by guessing how to do things, it came out pretty good. Anyway, I don't have a picture but inside these 2 tiers is the best red velvet I ever made. yum.

Red velvet roses

New cake pan, world of possibilities. Also in love with my new cake stand I found in Homegoods.... can't go wrong with anything in there.... Anyway, baked these a week or so ago! Next time I am gonna put a glaze on it instead of trying to pipe thick cream cheese icing on it!

Chocolate Peanut butter

It's safe to say I have had a lot of birthday's to bake for this summer! Made these for my friend Steve and I must say they were my favorites, the chocolate came out perfect with some peanut butter chips inside (reeses, of course) For the top I folded peanut butter into some vanilla frosting. I feel a little cupcaked out though, In the mood to make a really awesome cake.

Smore' Cupcakes for a Birthday Party

These cupcakes need a lot of work, but I think they were such a great idea. Whenever I go to AJs I feel like we have smores', so I figured I would try and make them in Cupcake form for his birthday! Really easy, the top is fluff, grahm cracker crumbs, and ganache. Can we talk about ganache for a minute? This was my first time making it ( it's just heavy cream, butter, and semi sweet chocolate bits) and I think I instantly fell in love, who wouldn't want permanently melted chocolate on their cupcake? Anyway, the cupcake itself is just a deep chocolate recipe, if you're in a rush you can use any chocolate cake mix. Now, the bottom is where I ran into some trouble.... for my bottom I used a mixture of brown sugar (light or dark, I think I used dark because it's all I had) Butter, and grahm cracker crumbs, like a pie crust. I've never made a pie before but I know that when I put that on the bottom and baked the cupcakes regularly, the bottom started to burn by the time they came out. I guess I'll just lower my temperature next time. Nevertheless, these are easy, messy, and funnnn..... all the makings of the best kinds of cupcakes.

Watermelon (strawberry) Cupcakes

A few weeks ago ( before my laptop died :( ) I made these really quick at home for a friend. It's just store bought strawberry cake mix, vanilla frosting tinted green, and semisweet chocolate chips in them. They came out super cute! When you open them they look like watermelons but they really taste like strawberries and chocolate. yum.

Cousins 23rd Minis

These were all taken before finishing touches, I was in a rush. All I used was a cookie cutter, puncher, edible ink writer, and an edger.

Made some more rainbow cookies and cupcake minis! Posts coming soon :o)

Mike Tilton's Birthday Cupcakes

Mike Tilton is a very special friend, who deserves very special birthday cupcakes. I got a small amount of fondant to just make a few birthday cupcakes, and enslaved my best friend Michelle, naturally. I ran into so many problems making these, I need to find a tip holder (I don't even know if thats what they're called) that can hold my giant tips onto my pastry bags. You can't really see but under these is a little stack of frosting holding them all on. Fondant is funny to work with because every color needs specific tlc. For instance, the black is easy to work with on any surface while the red was extremely sticky and was so hard to use :( Anyway, I wasn't too upset these were really fun and what it comes down to is fondant is cute and fun but really expensive! And me having a lameo job I'll just have to grow my collection more slowly.
I think i'm obsessed with sugar pearls, I know this is said a lot but I sware these images got all funny looking when I uploaded them.
Tilton loves Forrest Gump and can quote every single line. So, how adorable and perfect is this cupcake Michelle made?! she's a natural ;)

Lime Cake with coconut frosting

It's been pretty warm here recently, and I'm wishfully in summer mode. I searched all day for a lime cake recipe but all I could find was ones from the box :( Finally I found some ideas of what I wanted to use and changed it up a bit with the coconut frosting. This cake was seriously delicious, but I've gotta say, I really wanted to make it bright green inside! After looking through seriously the five closest supermarkets and craft stores near me there was no liquid food coloring in the area! how weird is that? As it turns out, with all the fresh lime juice and zest, the cake naturally has a really light lime color that I actually liked a lot more. Anyways, I just messed around with some stuff but I want to make this cake into cupcakes next time.