Colouring Chocolate

                 White chocolate coloured different shades of pink

Update: Since writing this posting Americolor products are more freely available in Australia. For a full range of colours including sheens for your spray gun Baking Pleasures  or Cakes around Town

Pink chocolate, Magenta chocolate, Purple, Blue, Terracotta, Mauve or even Black chocolate it's possible thanks to Americolor's Flo-Coat. A liquid lecithin that acts as an emulsifier to stop chocolate from seizing when you add a liquid.

In the past I have used powder colours to colour white chocolate, however they do come in a limited colour range and can alter the texture of the chocolate.

I'm loving using Flo-Coat, at a ratio of five parts Flo-Coat to one part gel paste colour, you can turn white eating chocolate or white compound chocolate into any of the 40 colours in the Americolor's Soft Gel Paste range. 

Cons; for Australian's... I can't get Flo-Coat here! I'm buying from the US. If anyone knows of a stockist here I'd love to know! 

Pros; So many uses for coloured chocolate decorations; to match wedding colours, party & decorating themes or even sporting clubs team colours.

Available from Cake Decorating Suppliers & Confectionary Suppliers US, I got mine from Bakers Nook

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Raspberry Marshmallow part two

Continuing on from yesterdays post...

I had a lot of left over raspberry marshmallow and started to think of ways to use it, starting with cutting out heart shapes, I tried them dipped in sparkly edible glitter too. Better yet what about hot chocolate!

Hmmm, good but it's summer here at the moment so maybe ice-cream sundaes with fresh raspberries, vanilla bean ice-cream, whipped cream, chocolate fudge sauce & raspberry marshmallows.

Sounding better, but then I thought marshmallows on skewers, with strawberries maybe.

Or perhaps dipped in chocolate sauce.

Got to go, my husbands nagging me for rocky road, now that is a good use for leftover raspberry marshmallow!

Raspberry Marshmallow

    

         Mini Raspberry Marshmallow Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Every Christmas I put a few Cadbury Marshmallow Santa's in my husbands Christmas stocking,

but I was late shopping for them at Christmas & they were sold out. There was my husband Mark on Christmas morning shaking his stocking upside down to see if his marshmallows were caught up somewhere in there! Hope this makes up for it sweetheart, raspberry marshmallow made just for you.

The recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart's vanilla marshmallow. Fabulously easy recipe, the suggested serving is 16 marshmallows, I get 32 to 40 from it. 

I used the recommended tin size in 23x23 cm (9 x 9 inch), the resulting marshmallow is 4cm high (1.57inches). Next time I'll use a lasagne pan for a thinner sheet of marshmallow, but if you like it thick keep to the original size. 

I flavoured mine with raspberry puree and a little orange liqueur and split the marshmallow horizontally before cutting into shapes.

Start by spraying a 23x23 cm (9x9 inch) cake tin with cooking spray and line with plastic wrap leaving a 5 cm (2 inch) overhang so later on you can lift the finished marshmallow from the tin.

Ingredients

20 grams unflavoured gelatin (3/4-ounce)

1/2 cup chilled seedless raspberry puree (made by pressing fresh/frozen raspberries through a fine sieve)

2 cups sugar

2/3 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon  salt

3 tsps Orange Liqueur (I used Grand Marnier)

pink or red food colouring *optional

Can of cooking spray to oil everything the marshmallow will touch!!

Equal parts cornflour (corn starch) and pure icing sugar sifted together.

Method

Put raspberry puree in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, sprinkle over gelatine and let stand for 10 minutes.

In a medium saucepan, stir together sugar, corn syrup and 1/4 cup water. Place saucepan on medium high heat and bring to the boil. Boil rapidly for one minute.

Remove from heat and with your mixer on high pour the boiling syrup slowly down the side the mixer bowl into the gelatine and raspberry mix. Mix on high speed for 12 minutes. Add the orange liqueur, mix until blended. At this point decide whether you want to boost the colour with pink or red food colouring, I used a few drops of Americolor Electric Pink. 

Spray a rubber spatula with cooking spray and quickly transfer marshmallow mix from mixer bowl to your lined tin.

Spray a piece of plastic wrap with cooking spray, cover marshmallow and let sit for 2 hours.

Oil a cutting board with cooking spray. Carefully lift marshmallow from pan, remove plastic wrap and place on board. Cut into desired shapes with a knife sprayed with oil or oiled cutters and toss marshmallows in sifted cornflour/icing sugar mixture, store remaining marshmallows in an airtight container for up to three days. 

Tomorrow ideas on what to do with your remaining marshmallow... I had a lot left over to play with.

To be continued.....

Frosting

Pink Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting, dark chocolate cupcake with strawberry and chocolate Pocky Sticks, that I piped with contrasting chocolate.                       

I've spoken before about how we tend to "ice" cupcakes in Australia rather than frost, this probably explains why...

The frosting I grew up with and still used today in many food publications in Australia is icing sugar, butter & maybe a bit of milk. Tasting a bit like the whipped butter you have on pancakes, which is great melting on a hot pancake mixed with dripping maple syrup but not so great on your cupcake!

What you want a frosting to be is light, with a silky texture and satiny sheen. The type of frosting that you can pipe that perfect swirl with.

Who makes the best frosting in the world to date?? Martha Stewart of course! 

Today I made;

Martha Stewart's Swiss Meringue Buttercream Recipe

Ingredients
Makes about 9 cups, enough for about 28 cupcakes

2 1/2 cups sugar
10 large egg whites
4 cups (900g or 2lb) unsalted butter
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Method
Place sugar and egg whites in the heat-proof bowl of an electric mixer. Set bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, and whisk until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. Test by rubbing the mixture between your fingers; it should feel completely smooth.
Transfer bowl to mixer stand. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until mixture has cooled completely and formed stiff and glossy peaks, about 10 minutes.
Add the butter, one piece at a time, and beat until incorporated after each addition. Don't worry if the buttercream appears curdled after all the butter has been added; it will become smooth again with continued beating. Add vanilla, and beat just until combined.
Switch to the paddle attachment, and beat on the lowest speed to eliminate any air pockets, about 5 minutes. If using buttercream within several hours, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature in a cool environment. Or transfer to an airtight container, and store in the refrigerator, up to 3 days. Before using, bring buttercream to room temperature, and beat on the lowest speed with the paddle attachment until smooth, about 5 minutes.
© by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

To make the pink white chocolate frosting like I did:

Melt 125g of white chocolate, let it slightly cool. At the end of the beating stage of the Swiss meringue butter cream with the mixer on low add melted chocolate. 

Add a few drops of pink colour & strawberry essence and you have "Pink strawberry chocolate Swiss Meringue butter cream frosting". 

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Chocolate Black Forest Pavlovas

         Chocolate Black Forest Pavlova with chocolate sauce

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Love the "retro" of a black forest cake, ditto these chocolate mini pavlovas with the hidden chocolate centre and morello cherry top.  Hope you enjoy them too :) 

Morello cherries make a lovely addition to the batter of dark chocolate cupcakes, studding a sweet focaccia or as in today's posting topping a chocolate pavlova. If you are in fresh cherry season, fresh pitted cherries poached in a little sugar syrup can substitute for the Morello cherries if desired.

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 eggwhites

pinch cream of tartar

1/2 cup caster sugar (superfine)

1 tablespoon dark dutch process cocoa powder (sifted)

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Sauce

125g (5.3oz) chopped good quality dark chocolate

125 ml (half cup) of thickened cream

2 tsp Kirsch (optional)

Topping

1 jar *morello cherries in syrup

2 tsp kirsch (optional)

125ml (1/2 cup) thickened cream 

Dark chocolate grated or curls to decorate

Method
. Preheat oven to 120C. Draw four 7cm (2.75 inch) circles on non stick baking paper, reverse paper so ink lines will be facing downwards when you use it to line your baking tray. 
. Using an electric mixer, beat eggwhites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat until meringue is thick and glossy. Add cocoa & vanilla. Beat until just combined.
. Spoon meringue onto lined baking tray, using circles as a guide.  Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce oven to 120C. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until meringue is dry and crisp. Turn off oven and jar door open a little with the handle of a wooden spoon. Allow to cool completely in oven.

Place chocolate in a bowl. Place cream in a small pan over medium heat and bring to just below boiling point. Pour over chocolate, then stir until smooth. Stir is kirsch if using.  Let cool until it thickens slighty, break hole in the top center of each pavlova and put a spoonful of chocolate sauce.  

Whip cream with an electric beater until medium stiff peaks.

In a separate small bowl, add the Kirsch to 2 tablespoons of syrup from the jarred Morello cherries. Swirl of little of syrup through the cream, spoon onto the  tops of pavlovas (you may have some leftover), top with whole Morello cherries and decorate with chocolate curls and serve with any leftover cream, syrup and chocolate sauce.

Inside the pavlova, chocolate sauce with chocolatey marshmallow with crisp sugary shell.

Meringue base recipe adapted from SuperFood Ideas magazines Chocolate Pavlova Nests Nov 2005

Happy Baking :)

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Half a Master Chef

What makes a Master Chef? Perhaps it's how many elements that are put on a plate?

 

Gorgeous chocolate plated dessert by chef Matt Moran from his Sydney bay side Restaurant Aria.

For those MasterChef fan's this is dessert from the final of Masterchef Australia. 

I set about making about half of the plated desserts elements ... the chocolate tart (miniature versions), chocolate sauce, the chocolate glacage (chocolate glaze) and quenelles of the mousse like chocolate. 

What's missing are the chocolate macaron's, double baked macaron crumb, chocolate pipe and chocolate sorbet. 

Valrhona Jivara Chocolate is used in the recipe, quite a small amount 60g, but it's worth seeking out if you are going to recreate the dessert. Jivara is a fine French milk chocolate (40% cocoa solids) with caramel/vanilla undertones and just a hint of malt.

The resulting tarts were just amazing, step son Dan said he "would kill someone for this". 

Want to give it a try? Visit the MasterChef Australia site for the full recipe and instructions. 

MasterChef Australia: Top rating reality cooking competition based on UK's long running MasterChef.