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.....

Raspberry Jam

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I need jam for upcoming recipes this week, raspberry jam to be exact. If you haven't made jam before, raspberry jam is the easiest jam to make, as raspberry seeds are packed with pectin that sets the jam for you without having to add any setting agents.

It tastes divine, keeps for one year in sterilised jars (though I think it's better when it's fresher), & can be made with fresh or frozen raspberries. 

Raspberry Jam ( makes 2-3 jars depending on jar size)

450g (1lb) raspberries (fresh or frozen)

450g (1lb) sugar

1 small plate refrigerated (to test for setting point)

Put the berries and sugar in a large saucepan. Over low heat bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Once the sugar has dissolved, increase heat and bring to the boil, boil 5-9 minutes until *setting point is reached. Pour into hot sterilised jars and seal.

*recipe can be halved if you only need enough jam for one cake, reduce your pan size but do use a pan big enough to allow for the fruit to rise once boiling.  

Bit of tricky shot pushing jam with one finger and holding the camera with other hand, but hopefully you can see the "wrinkle" of jam for the testing stage. 

Testing for setting point

Although traditionally raspberry jam has a looser set (a little bit runny) for filling cakes and cookies I like a firmer set. Starting testing for setting point from the 5 minute mark, by putting a small spoon of hot jam on your refrigerated plate. Wait 30 seconds and gently push the edge of the jam with your finger, if the jam wrinkles it's ready. 

Of course you could use a sugar thermometer if you prefer --- 105C (221F)

Sterilising Jars

For larger quantities of jam you can use a dishwasher to sterilise jars, but since we only have a couple of jars here we will use the oven.

Place your 2 clean jam jars on an oven tray in the oven, heat at 180C (350F) for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven with oven gloves to a heatproof surface when you are ready to fill your jars. 

Add in's 

You can a tablespoon of liqueur if you like at the end of cooking the jam, Grand Marnier is nice with raspberries as is Chambord. 

Spices are a nice addition, cinnamon, star anise, pink peppcorn all pair well with raspberries. Fine orange zest can be added too, or scrape a vanilla pod of it's seeds and add that for raspberry vanilla jam.  

Too sweet? Prefer your jam tarter? Add the juice of lemon at the start of the cooking process.

*You can use your jam straight away but with any add ins at least 24 hours to mature the jam allowing the flavours to meld/soften is a good idea.  

Here it fills Butterfly cakes; bake simple small vanilla cupcakes like the ones I used for tiramisu cupcakes, cut circle from the top of the cooled cake, cut that circle in half to form "wings". Fill the cakes with pure or clotted cream and freshly made raspberry jam, position the "wings", dust with icing sugar. Pretty cakes for afternoon tea or children's parties. 

Cupcakes Cases, Liners, Papers & Wrappers

December's Pick

Cupcake liners can act as an inspiration, just be "pretty" or match your theme.

These paper liners from Fancy Flours fill all the above criteria. Imagine your blue, white & sliver Christmas theme with cupcakes baked in the blue liners, add billowing white frosting, a little sparkle... gorgeous! 

Pack size: 45

Colours: blue, red, pink, yellow, brown, white, green & light blue. 

The liners are from Fancy Flours one of the best sources for cupcake cases/liner on the net. 

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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