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Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Go Go Power Ranger



Last month there I was ranting about Sheen's birthday cake... After all many days of trials, we didn't have a birthday celebration. What a shame!

The day before the celebration, Sheen teacher called to say that he had chicken pox. As it turned out, not chicken pox but a kindda of virus in the inner lips causing his face to swell like PIG! I was not exaggerating! The virus was easily treated with antibiotics but what it meant was the birthday party had to be called off since I do not want to go around spreading germs to other kids.

I actually ordered the printed icing image for his birthday cake but the printing was not so good; there are streaks of black ink across the image so I only salvaged the 3 small images from the 10x6.8".

From this:



To this:



Needless to say, Sheen was excited to see his fav show on the cakelette.

The rest of the cupcakes are given the Xmas touch. Packed this for his school next day:



His teacher kept asking me about the icing image... Ha, Customisation is BIG business!

The green frosting is very nice. I added some peppermint oil and a drop of green colour paste. The whole kitchen was minty for a while.


It (frosting) takes an extra step to cook the custard but it was an effort worthwhile! Bevis loves to eat the frosting so I always make sure it is made with organic butter!

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In my humble opinion, this is the best "buttercream" - it stays up well at room temperature, light and not so sweet.

6 tbsp AP Flour
2 cups of Milk
2 cups of unsalted butter, softened
2 cups of icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Peppermint oil, a few drops (optional)
Green Colouring, a few drops (optional)
  1. Cook flour + milk in a saucepan until the mixture is thick and smooth. Cover it with cling film so that skin will not form. Leave it to cool to room temperature, about 30min.

  2. Beat butter on medium high speed of an electric mixer for ~3min, until smooth and creamy.

  3. Gradually add sugar, vanilla extract. Beat continuously for another 3min until fluffy.

  4. Add the cooled milk mixture, and beat on medium high speed for 5min, until very smooth and whiter in colour.

  5. Cool and refrigerate for 15min exactly. Use immediately. If left in fridge for too long, it hardens and it will be impossible to spread or pipe.

5 comments:

Art of Eating said...

hahaha your post came in really handy. I i was looking for a buttercream recipe for to make for my little girl coming birthday party.

I've never try buttercream frosting and not sure will it harden and hold. As i need to bring it to her birthday party venue.

I'm actually deciding should i do a buttercream on the mini cupcake or fondants which is also alien to me.

Cookie said...

Hi AoE,

Happy Birthday in advance to your pretty princess!

Buttercream will only harden if it is refrigerated. If left at room temp, it will maintain the piped shape. After I frost the cake, I simply leave them at room temp. It was ok, NO meltdown.

If you ask me, buttercream is faster and easier to manage than fondant. You can make the buttercream few days in advance. Th swirly piping takes less than a minute on each cake.

But fondant, I find it does not keep very well even in an airtight container. You can see on the cake that I made for my niece, Gwen In, that the edge of the fondant melt a little when I left the cake overnight.

Having said, fondant is fun to play with when you have the time! Kids will love it!

Cheers,
Cookie

Art of Eating said...

Thanks Cookies. My princess is gonna be 4 next week and having a party this weekend.

Thanks for your kind advise. I'll give the buttercream a try. Hmm ... if i make the buttercream few days in advance than i pipe it out than the shape would have stay on the cake right ?

Cookie said...

Wow, party time!!!

Yes, the piped shape will stay on the cake well at room temperature... but I hope you don't mean that you will leave the piped thingy sit around for days!

If you refrigerate the buttercream days in advance: take it out of the fridge when you start baking. While waiting for the cupcake to cool, buttercream will soften. You may whip it with hand to make it fluffy again. then refrigerate for 15min before using it immediately. The 15min makes the frosting slightly harder so that the intricate design can be done. If doing the simple swirl, then you can skip the 15min part.

Sorry if this sounds lor-sor... it is actually not so complicated... just let me know if need more information.

Art of Eating said...

Thanks Cookies, that's really helpful. I'm so glad to have you to share with me on my baking doubts. Cheers ! :)