Raspberry Pate de Fruit

Whenever I'm down on M Street in Georgetown, I always enjoy strolling through Dean & Deluca to admire all the lovely and decadent chocolates, marzipan animals, macarons and pate de fruit. The pate de fruits are always luscious looking yet so expensive and I thought they can't be too difficult to make. 

The holidays seemed like a perfect time to try making them myself. I tried raspberry for a nice deep red color and raspberries have to be one of my favorite flavors too. I used this Food & Wine recipe by Jacque Pepin. 

It held together quite nicely after the gelatin set.

I cut several small pieces and found it easiest to wet the knife in hot water in between.

I rolled each piece in sugar and put them on a tray.  While they turned out quite nice, they were a bit too moist to package and give as little gifts. However, we enjoyed them with blue cheese and wine and it was a fabulous combination. 

Christening Cupcakes

A friend of mine asked me to make some cupcakes for her daughter's christening this weekend.  I was very honored, of course, and took the challenge on.  I really don't do a lot of baking for order and mainly just bake for fun, family gatherings or to try something new.  So, I have to admit I was a bit nervous to make sure I created something that was special enough and tasted amazing too.  We talked through flavors and decorations and while she thought chocolate would be good, she left it to me to come up with colors and decorations for her. 

I was thinking of doing some fondant or marzipan cut outs in white on a colored buttercream, but I had difficulty finding small fondant cutters in the shape that I was looking for - crosses and doves.  However, at my baking supply store, they do have candy making supplies and I found these great chocolate molds. While it was a little tedious, it was quite easy to do and I love how they turned out.  I melted down my white chocolate pieces in a glass measuring cup in the microwave, poured it into the molds, tapped them to get the bubbles out and let them set for around 10 minutes in the freezer.  Just like the lady at the store said, they popped right out after I took the trays out of the freezer. I made chocolates!

I tried a different chocolate cupcake recipe for these.  I used the Devil's Food Cupcake recipe from my Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book.  I LOVE this recipe compared to others I've tried.  The cake is much more dense and moist and has a nice rich flavor (yes, I had to sample one!).  I made a simple vanilla buttercream frosting with the white chocolate decorations. 

I was so happy I remembered to get a few cupcake bakery boxes to transport them in.  Plus, it makes them seem professional when they're packaged nicely. 

I really like the color of these.  They remind me of the Wedgewood jasperware pottery that I have a small collection of. I hope she likes them!

Candy Gems

This was more my sister's project than mine, but I helped a little. My nephew is infatuated with glittery sparkly things with gems and jewelry included so she wanted to try to make these pretty candy gems to decorate cupcakes for his birthday party. Once we got past the candy thermometer troubles that I explained previously, we were able to make one batch to test out the recipe. She needs to finesse working with the molds a little more, but the color turned out gorgeous (she's also planning to make green and possibly chocolate gems) and they tasted yummy too.

Candy Thermometer Tip

My sister and I always like to tackle some cooking or baking challenge each time we get together. On my recent visit to see her in Cincinnati we focused on baking and also made candy for the first time. She was a bit frustrated with her candy thermometer (especially after she realized it didn't work correctly). After burning a batch of the candy, we tested it in water and the temperature was not registering correctly. She also wanted to get it to sit correctly in the pot. The handy clips they put on them don't always position it correctly and she ended up having to use her meat thermometer (which doesn't have a clip) after realizing the candy thermometer was a lemon. We found a handy tip online to place a whisk on top of the pot and put the thermometer needle through it to place it in the liquid. Very handy! We made another batch of the candy and it turned out just fine...now that we were using a thermometer that was working! See the next post for the candy we made.

Hot Chocolate at Beernsten's

On a recent visit to see our family in Wisconsin, my sister-in-law, mother-in-law and I had a nice afternoon break to catch up at Beernsten's Confectionery. They have told me about it several times and it was great to have some time to check it out. It's a charming little chocolate shop with an old fashioned feel from the original wood display cases and booths. It feels like a cross between a 1930's candy shop and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It's so fun visiting a chocolate shop this time of year with all the beautiful Valentine treats and pretty decorated heart candy boxes. It inspired me to want to make chocolates again and I may try to make some truffles for Valentine's Day this year. They have sit-down service so instead of just getting some chocolates and heading home, we picked out a few treats and sat down to catch up in person instead of via Facebook, video calls or e-mail, like usual. We each had a chocolate and a homemade caramel with the highlight being our hot chocolate. It was steaming hot with an unusual topping...instead of whipped cream or marshmallows it was topped with marshmallow cream. What a treat on a cold and windy winter day!