homemade — Page 2

How to Make Homemade Rock Candy

November 26, 2014 by Jenn

After making our Penguins of Madagascar cake, which used a lot of rock candy, I received many requests for a video on how to make your own homemade rock candy. So, I started practicing . . . two weeks ago! This activity takes quite a long time to grow (1-2 weeks), so be prepared a head of time if you need homemade rock candy for a project.

Making this recipe brought me back to high school chemistry and supersaturated solutions. I did not really want to go back to high school in my mind, but I had to. All for the sake of rock candy. As far as the actually creation of this recipe, it is fairly simple, and straight forward. “Supersaturation is a state of a solution that contains more of the dissolved material than could be dissolved by the solvent under normal circumstances”, thank you Wikipedia. Basically, you need to get as much sugar into the water as possible, in order to make sure that the rock candies will grow.

Tips:

ensure that the stick does not touch the bottom or the sides of the glass
make sure that the sugar has dissolved in the solution completely
add colour and flavour to make it delicious looking and tasting!

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Filed Under: No Bake Desserts Tagged With: cake decoration, candy crystals, homemade, homemade candy, penguin cake, penguins of madagascar cake, rock candy, rock sugar, sugar candy, sugar crystals, sugar sticks

Skittles Poke Cake with Skittles Buttercream- Collab with MyCupcakeAddiction!

September 20, 2014 by Jenn

I told you a couple of days ago that I had an awesome collab coming up . . . and to announce it properly, this is a Skittles collab with Elise from the YouTube channel My Cupcake Addiction! Whoop! She is a fellow YT baker, and creates amazing recipes for people to follow along with on her channel.

I haven’t had the fortune of getting to meet Elise in person yet, but through our email communications I can tell you that she is a very talented baker and decorator, a mom of two young boys, and is an amazingly hard worker! Her days must be SO busy! I’m so glad that she was able to take the time to work together with us, in order to put my flavoured cake into decorated form.

This cake truly tastes like Skittles. Boiling the Skittles down to a simple syrup preserves the flavour of the candy, but eliminates the chewiness that you might not be accustom to in a cake. I thought about using the syrup in the buttercream as well, but I figured that I would need so much of it to get a strong Skittles flavour that I would be stuck with a super runny icing. So, instead, I used my food processor and blended the Skittles up to a fine powder and substituted a portion of the icing sugar for the Skittles powder. It ended up working out perfectly, and tastes just like a Skittles cake should! Skittles are a fabulous addition to a plain vanilla cake.

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Filed Under: Cakes, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: cake, cake recipe, collab, collaboration, homemade, how to make, my cupcake addicition, mycupcakeaddiction, poke cake, poke cake recipe, rainbow, Rainbow cake, rainbow collaboration, rainbow skittles, skittles, skittles buttercream, skittles cake, skittles frosting, skittles icing, skittles poke cake, tie dye, tie dye cake, video collab

Skittles Cupcakes with Rainbow Icing

September 13, 2014 by Jenn

My kitchen counters have been covered with bags and bags of Skittles for many weeks now. I’ve been working on an upcoming special video with a fellow YouTuber involving Skittles, but that video is not set to go up until next week. I didn’t take the bags of Skittles off the counter after I filmed that video, as I knew I had to make more than ONE Skittles recipe!

So while I wait to show you the original idea for a Skittles recipe, I present to you a Skittles Cupcake recipe! For this recipe I start out with a basic vanilla cake batter and add in whole Skittles. You could also chop the Skittles up into smaller pieces, and that would work for this recipe too, basically it just depends on how much chewiness you want to add to your cupcake. The Skittles flavour is subtle, but you can definitely “taste the rainbow”! Ha, ha, ha . . . I’ve been waiting to use that line.

The rainbow icing is a beautiful way to decorate any flavour of cupcake. I thought the bright, vibrancy of the buttercream would pair perfectly with Skittles, because, as I mentioned already, the Skittles slogan is “Taste the Rainbow.” Striping the bag is the easiest way to achieve this effect. It is simple, and produces a beautiful, rainbow topping. Adding a couple of Skittles to the top for decoration, completes the Skittles theme of the cupcakes.

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Filed Under: Cupcakes, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: candy cupcakes, cupcakes, homemade, rainbow, rainbow buttercream, rainbow cupcakes, rainbow frosting, rainbow icing, skittles, Skittles candy, Skittles cupcakes

Homemade Nutella: How to Make Nutella Recipe

August 16, 2014 by Jenn

Nutella. Yum. Chocolate hazelnut spread. Yum.

I only recently added Nutella into my baking life, and posted about that when I made Ferraro Rocher cupcakes. I haven’t looked back since! I enjoy the process of recipe testing and finding a way to make things in my own way, so when I needed more Nutella for an upcoming recipe, I knew I had to figure out how to make it myself.

The recipe is fairly simple, and what I like about making things homemade is that you know exactly what is in it. During my research, I started to notice that many products have ‘modified palm oil’. What in the world is that? I always have to question what a product is if you can’t buy it yourself at the grocery store. At least when I put butter in something, I know it came from a cow!

Yesterday, a story broke in Time that the price of Nutella is rising, due to the damaged hazelnut crops in Turkey (which provides 70% of the hazelnut supply!). So, grab your hazelnuts in bulk while you still can, and get making this!

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Filed Under: No Bake Desserts, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: chocolate hazelnut spread, chocolate spread, hazelnut spread, homemade, homemade nutella, How to Make Nutella, Nutella, Nutella Recipe

How to Make Vanilla Ice Cream with KitchenAid Ice Cream Attachment

July 8, 2014 by Jenn

Making homemade ice cream is a tutorial that I have been wanting to do for forever!! I love ice cream. Unfortunately it doesn’t love me. But, I keep coming back to it, expressing my love, and never ending commitment. It doesn’t matter. It wants nothing to do with me.

Also having love and devotion for my KitchenAid mixers, I had my sights set on the KitchenAid Ice Cream Maker Attachment. I had seen it for over a hundred dollars from a couple of stores, so when I found it on sale for $90 CAD, I ordered it right away from Golda’s Kitchen, which is an online baking supply store in Canada.

I was set to love this attachment. I always do that to myself. I set myself up for adoration, and when it doesn’t live up to my level of love, I’m disappointed. I think I thought that this attachment would magically make ice cream, pretty much instantaneously. But, you actually have to MAKE ice cream! Well, duh Jenn . . . life is not meant for laziness!

In my naivety, I thought I would just have to throw the ingredients into the freeze bowl and turn it on, and viola, ICE CREAM. Nope, not how’s it done. You have to warm and cook the creams, sugar and eggs, and THEN you can throw them into the freeze bowl?! NOPE. You have to chill the warm mixture first for eight hours, and THEN you can throw the mixture into the freeze bowl?! YES! Finally.

Other than the fact that this machine is not a magic machine, I liked it. You have to be prepared though since many of the steps require freezing and chilling. The freeze bowl needs to be completely frozen before using it, and in the directions it says not to take the bowl out of the freezer until you are ready to pour the cream in- and they mean it. I tested that accidentally. If the freeze bowl is not completely frozen, the ice cream will not freeze, no matter how much you stir it, will it, or scream at it. Trust me on that one.

I would also like to make a comment to the parts “namers” at KitchenAid . . .”freeze bowl”, “dasher”, “driver”. . . seriously KitchenAid? You couldn’t have found better names for these parts? It took me like a million takes to get those names right! It felt like I was reading off Santa’s reindeer.

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Filed Under: No Bake Desserts Tagged With: homemade, homemade ice cream, homemade vanilla ice cream, ice cream, ice cream maker, KitchenAid, KitchenAid ice cream maker, vanilla, vanilla ice cream

Homemade Marshmallow Fluff (Marshmallow Creme)

March 26, 2014 by Jenn

Marshmallow fluff, or creme, as it is sometimes called is basically a spreadable version of marshmallows. Think campfire melted marshmallows- without the char! Usually it is sold by the jar, for relatively cheap, but if you know me and that my recipes are made from scratch, you’ll know that I’m not going to just buy a jar of something because it’s cheap. I have to learn to make it!

Making marshmallow fluff is a precursor to a couple of bigger projects that we have coming up on our YouTube channel. Laying the foundations, and the ground work is critical! No, I’m not building something that needs to be structurally sound- I’m trying to make “fluff” sound like a big, important deal.

Did it work?

So yes, back to the fluff. It’s sticky. It’s gooey. It can be a pain to work with, but it is oh, so, good. Apparently people make sandwiches with it, and despite my never squelched sweet tooth, I think that might be disgusting. If you’ve tried it, let me know what it’s like . . . I can’t bring myself to do it. I would have to buy bread.

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Filed Under: No Bake Desserts Tagged With: creme, fluff, fluffernut, fluffernut sandwich, homemade, marshmallow creme, marshmallow fluff, marshmallow sandwich, marshmallows, white

How to Make Fondant: Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

January 14, 2014 by Jenn

Fondant? That’s the stuff you peel off a wedding cake, right? It’s that white, hard stuff that covers up the cake that doesn’t taste very good?

Before I first started decorating cakes, I really had no idea about what fondant was. I had heard Cake Boss talk about it, except he called it “fon-dawnt” (which has always annoyed me immensely!), and I knew that if I was going to be a wedding cake decorator, I would have to grow to love it, and I would have to find a brand that didn’t have a chalky, chemically taste to it.

I first worked only with Wilton fondant, but found that to be gross, to tear easily and to be better for sculpting figures. I then moved onto Satin Ice and found it to be tasty (as tasty as pliable sugar can be) and to cover cakes super easily. So, I never tried another brand. I know that many other brands exist, but I never felt the need to try them as I was satisfied with Satin Ice. That, and we went through fondant by the 10kg container and I didn’t have time to continue experimenting.

I had heard that you could make your own fondant, but under time restraints, I never took the time to look into it. Now, that we are not doing our cake business, and I have time, I did some research and learned how to make fondant from scratch! This version is made from marshmallows so it smells (and tastes) delicious! It also happens to be one of our most requested videos of all time! Every time we do a video involving fondant, we get asked for our own recipe. So finally . . . here it comes people . . . Enjoy!

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Filed Under: Cakes, No Bake Desserts, Tutorials, Videos Tagged With: fondant, homemade, homemade fondant, homemade marshmallow fondant, how to make fondant, make fondant, marshmallow, marshmallow fondant

Making Homemade Cake Pops – Video

July 23, 2012 by Jenn

Things on sticks:

Kebobs.

Popsicles.

Fruit.

Lollipops.

Fondue.

Corn Dogs.

Cake pops.

This video instructs you on how to make your own “thing on a stick” . . . CAKE POPS! So fun, and so easy 🙂 Cake pops are still going strong on the trend meter (shocking) and they are loved by kids and brides! The great thing about them is that they can be customized to fit any colour or theme for whatever kind of party you may be having.

Ingredients:

Prepared cake, or cake scraps
Prepared Buttercream
Cake pop/Lollipop sticks
Desired colour of melting chocolate (see note on previous page)
Desired colour of sprinkles

Procedure:

Place prepared cake or cake scraps into a large bowl. Using both hands, crumble cake into tiny cake crumbs.
Remove one cup of cake crumbs and combine with 2 Tablespoons (30 milliliters) of buttercream and blend together, again using your hands, until it has a playdough like consistency. If the mixture is too wet, add more crumbs. If it is too dry, add more buttercream.
Using a small cookie scoop (2-3 Tablespoons/30-45 milliliters), scoop out equal portions of dough and roll each into a small ball. Place each ball on a parchment lined baking tray and set aside.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave in a microwave safe bowl, by using 30-60 second intervals at 50% power and stir repeatedly after each interval of time.
When chocolate is melted and no chocolate chunks remain, dip a lollipop stick 1 inch (2.5 centimeter) deep into the melted chocolate, then insert the dipped portion of the stick into the middle of the cake balls. Repeat as required.
Take tray with cake pops and place into the freezer for about 10 minutes to harden the chocolate on the sticks.
When sticks are set, remove pops from freezer, and coat cake pops completely by dipping the balls into the melted chocolate (re-melt chocolate if necessary), allow the excess chocolate to drip off and stand cake pop upright in a cake pop stand and allow them to harden completely. Repeat for required number of cake pops.
To cover the cake pop in sprinkles, dip cake pop into melted chocolate again, and while the chocolate is still wet, cover in sprinkles.
To decorate with a swirled finish, place melted chocolate into a piping bag and snip a tiny portion off the end. Apply chocolate from the piping bag in a swirl pattern around the ball, and apply sprinkles before the chocolate sets.
Allow to harden completely and serve when desired, or store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days.

Filed Under: Cake Pops Tagged With: cake pops, homemade, making cake pops

How to Make Homemade Rock Candy

Skittles Poke Cake with Skittles Buttercream- Collab with MyCupcakeAddiction!

Skittles Cupcakes with Rainbow Icing

Homemade Nutella: How to Make Nutella Recipe

How to Make Vanilla Ice Cream with KitchenAid Ice Cream Attachment

Homemade Marshmallow Fluff (Marshmallow Creme)

How to Make Fondant: Marshmallow Fondant Recipe

Making Homemade Cake Pops – Video

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