I've been trying for hours to post and I'm praying it works this time!
Opening up another FNCC. ALL levels of cakers are welcome to share their work, their week, ask for help or provide it if they can.
Cat
MIL asked me to make a cake for her brother's birthday, which is the 21st, and then her family is having a family reunion on the 23rd, so I'm making cupcakes for that.
My uncle-in-law likes fishing, so I asked MIL what he fishes for, she said anything he can catch, but mostly he catches carp. So a carp cake it is! Then hubby suggested I put little ball candies inside it for eggs which I thought was even more hilarious, so it will be a carp with little green 'eggs' inside! I've got the fins cut out and drying. I added tylose powder to some fondant, so I hope they dry properly as I didn't know just how much tylose to add to it.
Tomorrow I will bake the cake and cupcakes and put the cupcakes in the freezer, decorate the fish on Sunday and make the icing and flowers for the cupcakes another day.
It's long summer holidays here and I'm trying not to take orders as I wanna spend time with my family. And to have time baking what I like ;)
Went to a brunch last week and had no clue what to bring. There is a cafesserie here in town which does all sorts of delicious goods like croissants, Danish, pies etc etc. So I thought I do something they don't offer and which isn't cake (lol...avoiding that if I can as I do it all the time). Then I remembered "windbeutel" how we call them in german or cream puffs in english. My grandma used to make them for unexpected guests which came round for tea. Super easy and fast. Since it was a brunch I filled them with coffee pastry cream instead of whipped cream and people went crazy when they saw them.
cat -- sorry you had such troubles -- so good of you to be such a faithful captain and launch this ship every week -- thank you
julia -- pipe with it -- it's the most under used multi faceted medium in all of cakedom --
dar -- can't wait for pictures
Cat thanks for persevering. I always like looking to see what is going on even if I am not posting.
dar917 I am looking so forward to seeing your cake.
Julia1812 love the cream puffs.
I have nothing plan for awhile. I usually make a cake for my niece at the end of the month. She is serving in the Army and is stationed in South Korea so needless to say I won't be making it this year.
Looking forward to seeing what everyone else is doing.
@catlharper thanks for sticking it out and getting FNCC up and running for this week :-). I look forward to it now very week even when I don't have a creation to share.
@Dar917 looking forward to seeing your cake.
@julia1812 your coffee pastry cream filled cream puffs look and sound relish! I can't remember the last time I made cream puffs but now I want to make some.
No cakes for me again this week :-( I had initially planned to make a b-day cake for yesterday but I started a new part time job on Wednesday and the hours for this week were too uncertain to try and pull a cake together. Think I'll aim to do it next week now. It's going to be a 3D Mr Potato Head with a bit of a twist. I'm also planning a little housewarming cake for next weekend so I'll have pictures to share next week :-) Hopefully my hand feels better by then. I'm playing in a co-ed softball tournament this weekend and last night I caught a hard hit line drive that has my hand feeling not so great. That's what I get for making sure the ball didn't get through the infield.....my competitive nature often takes over my sensible self. Lol
Looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to :-)
Okay, so text and photos separately, one photo at a time - got it.
I've always wanted to make these! BBQ cupcakes The only problem was that most of the women REFUSED to eat them! "It's too pretty to eat, I'm taking mine home. Maybe I'll eat it in a few days." I told them they are at their peak of deliciousness, they're only going to dry out from here - EAT IT! Nope. Whatever, next time I'm bringing chips.
@Pastrybaglady glad you keep trying. I love your cupcakes. I am ready to fire up the grill.
Hey there! I got in! I hate it that I'm not the only one who is having tech issues this week but it does make me feel better at the same time. Glad to see so many faces here...means you persevered too!
@Dar917 You make me wanna make a fish cake now! LOL! That sounds like it's going to be hysterically funny!
@julia1812 Holy cow those look good. And you say they are easy? Please share your recipe?
@kstevens Congrats on the new job!!! I hope it works out for you to still be able to fit in cakes. I gotta feeling mine will be rare now.
@Pastrybaglady Love your grills!! I've made those before but never thought to use that color icing!! Brilliant!
Thank you to everyone who has stopped by...and is going to stop by...this week despite the issues! You make it worth it to keep this going!
Cat
@catlharper Here's the recipe I use:
Melt 125g butter in 240ml water.
Bring to the boil and stir in 150 of a.p. flour using a wooden spoon. It will look all lumpy and awful but just keep stirring and cook until a thin film is visible at the bottom of your pot. By then it'll have come together to one big sift lump.
Take off the heat and cool for 3-5mins and then add about 5 eggs (one at a time). At first you will think something is wrong as the dough will be extremely lumpy but keep stirring vigorously with the spoon. You will see it all comes together to a cake batter-like consistency. If it's too stiff to pipe add 1 more egg or a bit of water.
Pipe (or spoon) the pâte à choux onto a tray lined with parchment. For profitéroles I pipe 1.5" circles. Make sure not to pipe them too close together as they shouldn't touch each other when raising.
Brush lightly with an egg wash (one egg mixed with 1tbsp water). That will flatten any peaks (that would burn) and help the profitéroles to brown.
Bake in a preheated oven for 5 mins at 220'C and another 30 mins at 190'C. DON'T open the oven door or they will collapse!
After the baking time poke some wholes in them and place them back in the oven (which is off) with the door ajar. That will help them dry more on the inside. They should be hollow inside so you have room for the filling.
Fill and eat immediately. They become soggy very quickly so it's best to make them as close to consumption as possible (I'd say 2 hour MAX).
I just realised how long the instructions are LOL. But I promise you, you'll be surprised how easy they are to make.
You can use the same pâte à choux to make éclairs or even pipe letters or rings or whatever you like.
@julia1812 Thanks!!! I'll need to convert the measurements but will give them a try!
Cat
@catlharper Thank you for always creating the Friday Night Cake Club!
@julia1812 Those cream puffs look delicious!!!
@Pastrybaglady Those have to be some of the cutest cupcakes I've ever seen. The details are amazing! Great job!
No cakes for me this week, it felt good to relax!
Here's the carp cake!
A bit later than I anticipated, but my husband's grandfather passed away today; we had just barely gotten to the house when he passed. I'd never been in the room for someone passing away before. Then I had to go and get a new phone. It's already Sunday evening and I still have so much to do!
Thanks Cat and Marian.
For those having trouble posting photos, here's what I've found works: once you upload your photos to the gallery or somewhere else, copy the image location URL and paste it into the url box when posting a photo; this should allow you to post multiple photos and text in one post.
I love the barbeque cupcakes -- and the fish is excellent what's not to love about a crispy gushy cream puff -- hope I haven't missed anybody...
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