Diane's Chocolate Cut Out Out Cookies!

I just love chocolate and was so happy when Diane Shavkin graciously agreed to share her recipe for chocolate cut out cookies. Enjoy! Diane's Chocolate Cutout Cookies 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder 1/8 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup butter, softened 1 1/4 cups white sugar 1 egg (1). Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg. Gradually stir in the sifted ingredients to form a soft dough. Divide dough into 2 pieces, flatten and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours. (2). Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/8 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Dough is sticky so be sure to add more flour to the rolling surface as needed. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. (3). Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

FREE Online Class: Dipped, Dusted & Rolled Handmade Chocolates!

Check out the online class, currently free at Craftsy.com, and share the video with a fellow caker! Sweet, isn't it!

Eiffel Tower Candy Box!

Valentine's Day is around the corner and what a lovely way to present your home made candy or truffles! You can purchase at  Fancy Flours, one of my fav online shopping spots. C'est fabuleux!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Give your sweetheart a slice of this decadent Valentine's Day Cake made by member Allison King.

Extreme Sugar Art Workshops with Kaysie Lackey!

Kaysie Lackey is the queen of  gravity defying cakes. Having won numerous cake challenges and being renowned for her artistry and originality. The talented cake artist is teaching her techniques in structure, painting and modeling chocolate.

 

January 14 - 15, 2012: "The Butler" workshop is an excellent way for you to learn how to use modeling chocolate to make vivid, exciting characters and combine them with armature design to create jaw dropping works of art. You will learn methods for carving cake into unusual shapes, sculpting features into characters and micro-painting.

Kaysie Lackey winner of Food Network Challenges: Extreme Villain Cakes Paranomal Cakes and Smurf Cakes in 2011.

January 17-19, 2012- Learn how to construct gravity defying cakes. You will use fondant, gumpaste and marzipan for this cake design. You will paint on your fondant creation and walk away with a completed cake after 3 days. You will be able to re-use the internal structure and will also have the necessary skill set to make your own gravity defying cake structure again.

If you've seen it on television and wanted to learn the do's and don'ts then Kaysie is probably the best person to teach you. With her expertise in gravity defying cakes and structures you'll be able to learn the A-Z of Cake construction.


The Kaysie Lackey Workshops will take place at Mother of Cakes Sugar and Cake Academy in PA. Host/Owner Tanveer Walli can be contacted at Mother of Cakes or Facebook [Cake Mechanic] for further information.

Sweet Fashion: Clothes Made from Chocolate and Royal Icing

You heard about the annual Chocolate Show in Manhattan but have your heard about pastry Chef Christos Vergados' Sweet Fashion Show? The exhibition took place in Greece earlier this year. The edible clothes and accessories are made of chocolate, candy, sugar, bread, and royal icing.

Chocolate Exhibition at the Openhouse Gallery Soho on Friday!

Need your chocolate fix? One of my friends Sid Chidiac, internationally acclaimed "The Chocolate Painter" is having an exhibition of his paintings- painted entirely with chocolate--at the Openhouse Gallery - Soho on Friday, August 26th. Admission includes a chocolate sampling. Hope to see you there.

Chocolate Easter Bunny!

This sweet chocolate bunny created by Andie's Specialty Sweets is just waiting for a home. Purchase a dozen hand made chocolate bunnies at andiesspecialitysweets virtual shop on Etsy or use the design as inspiration for your own sweet confection.

Dark Chocolate Fondant Rose Tutorial

Look Mom--no cutters! Yes, this is a large rose made entirely without cutters. I have to thank Susan, one of my students, for prompting me to show this version in class. Easy enough for beginners, the completed rose is quite large and can be used as a single flower on a cupcake, as part of a spray on a cake, or used to decorate a pastry platter.

The fondant used in creating the rose is Dark Chocolate Massa Grischuna from Albert Ulster. No water or gum glue is necessary as the fondant sticks to itself like chocolate modeling clay. The fondant tastes delicious-- a little like a tootsie roll.
The total weight of the massa is approximately 82 grams. To make the rose base, remove approximately 19 grams of dark chocolate fondant and roll into a ball.

Cup the ball in your left palm and using two fingers on your right hand, roll the ball in your palm while applying pressure on one side of the ball until it resembles a teardrop or cone shape as in the above photo.
Petals: make 9 balls approximately 7 grams each for the chocolate rose petals. Keep the fondant covered with plastic wrap as you work to prevent the fondant from drying out.
Forming petals: Take a chocolate ball in your left hand and using two fingers on your right hand, roll the ball in your palm, while applying pressure to one end of the ball until it resembles a teardrop or cone shape. Now flatten the wide end of the petal with your fingers. Pick up the petal between your thumb and pointer finger, and press the wide edge of the petal as thin as possible. The thinned wide end is the top of the petal and the tapered end is the bottom of the petal.

Center Petal: Prepare the petal as above and wrap the center petal around the rose base. At this point, your rose should look similar to this one.
First Row: Wrap 3 petals around the center petal. Prepare each petal as above. The petals in the first row are positioned slightly higher than the center petal. (Most beginners make the mistake of placing the first row of petals below the center petal).
Each petal thereafter is placed just inside the last petal, so that it slightly overlaps the last petal. When the third petal is placed, you can attach both sides of the third petal to the base.
This is how your rose should look when the first row of 3 petals is completed. See how the wide edge of the petals have been thinned?
Second Row: Wrap 5 petals around the first row. Position the second row of petals slightly lower than the first row. Prepare each petal as before, placing each petal inside the last so it slightly overlaps. When the second row is completed, you can further shape each petal so it looks as life-like as possible. After the petals are shaped, you can take a sharp knife and cut off some of the base if necessary. Since this rose is quite large, I think 5 petals is good enough. However, you can wrap a third row of 7 petals if you like. Place the third row slightly lower than the second row and prepare each petal according to the previous instructions.

Let me know how your roses came out. I am thinking of posting more tutorials on how to make various flowers without cutters. A great way to save money while having fun.

Sweet Regards,

Dina
Organizer

Sid Chidiac, Edible Chocolate Artist to Exhibit in Soho May 2009

Sid Chidiac, internationally known fine artist and painter of edible chocolate will have an exhibit of his chocolate works in Soho at 155 Sullivan Street corner Houston, New York NY on May 6, 2009 from 5:30pm until 8:30pm. Admisson is $10.00 and will include one of Sid's signed limited edition prints.

Cake designed by member Natalie Johnson, owner, A World of Cakes, LLC

Colette's Chocolate Cake
courtesy Colette's Wedding Cakes

Colette's Wedding Cakes is a fabulous idea book and this is Colette's most popular cake.

Yields 6 cups of batter, enough to serve 20.

2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup unsweetened cocoa 1 cup milk, room temperature
1 cup vegetable shortening 1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder 1 cup hot, strong coffee

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease the sides and bottom of two 9-inch pans with shortening, then dust with flour. In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except the coffee. Mix at slow speed until blended, scraping the sides occasionally with a rubber spatula. Slowly add the coffee while mixing on low. Mix for about 1 minute, or until smooth. Do not overbeat. Place in the prepared pans. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on wire racks for about 20 minutes, then invert onto racks and remove pans. Cool completely.

Colette Peters travels thoughout the country giving classes in various techniques. To view her upcoming schedule of classes, visit Colette's Cakes.

Chocolate Class with Chef Jean-Rony Fougere

Chocolate Box, truffles, and assorted caramel filled chocolates were made by Dina, Organizer

What's Valentine's Day without chocolate, and with Valentine's Day right around the corner, members were excited to learn several chocolate techniques with Chef Jean-Rony Fougere at the DRM Incubator Kitchen in NYC. The Chef took us step by step through the process of tempering chocolate. Guess What? We learned how to temper chocolate using our senses of sight, touch, and smell--no thermometer. Amazing!

The tempered chocolate was utilized to make the lovely chocolate heart and assorted chocolates seen in the above photo. We learned a trick to making caramel which filled the assorted chocolates, created a decadent chocolate ganache, and learned how to duplicate a custom heart design with a food safe silk screen and tempered chocolate. Members sampled the chocolate throughout the class (the best ever!), munched on chocolate covered strawberries, and brought a bunch of goodies back home. Members are looking forward to more classes with Chef Fougere.

Chef stated that when you work creatively with chocolate you may sometimes make a mistake. This is particularly frustrating if you don't know where you went wrong. Here's a hint from Chef: If your chocolate is difficult to remove from the mold it could be that (1) the couveture chocolate was incorrectly tempered; (2) couverture chocolate coating is too thin, or (2) cooling temperature is too low. Here's a tip: one of Chef's favorite shops to purchase custom chocolate molds is the Custom Chocolate Shop in Canadensis, PA.

Chef Fougere's Ganache Recipe (for Tuffles)

500 grams Dark Chocolate
300 grams Cream (Heavy Cream)
50 grams Corn Syrup or Glucose

Start by placing cream and glucose in a saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat. Have the chocolate ready in a bowl and pour hot cream over the chocolate. Fold mixture with a rubber spatula. Place parchment paper in a square cake pan. Pour mixture into the pan and let set.

Enjoy!

Dina

Chocolate "Clay" Recipe

This cake was designed by Stephanie, member NYC Cake Decorators Meetup.

It's still time to make chocolate roses and leaves for your decadent Valentine's Day cakes and cupcakes. Chocolate "clay" is pliable like soft clay. This sweet recipe is courtesy of the N.Y. State Chapter of the International Cake Exploration Societe (I.C.E.S.):

Dark Modeling Chocolate

1 lb. of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate
5oz* (213g) light corn syrup

Cut the chocolate finely and place it in a bowl over simmering water. Stir to melt the chocolate evenly. Remove the chocolate from the water when 3/4 melted and stir until all the pieces have melted. Stir in corn syrup with a rubber spatula. Continue to stir until the chocolate starts to leave the sides of the bowl, then stir up to 60 seconds. Place the chocolate mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap and wrap flat. Refrigerate or rest in a cool dry place for 24 hours to age. Once aged, cut the chocolate plastic into smaller pieced and knead with hands to soften.

*When measuring corn syrup, measure by volume in a liquid measuring cup. If measuring by weight, then multiply the number of ounces by 1.5 to get the actual weight of heavy liquids, such as corn syrup, molasses, and glucose.

Probably one of the most expensive chocolate cakes in the world, this 14 inch tall cake was artfully decorated with 50 diamonds. The decadent chocolate confection was displayed in a department store in Osaka, Japan and the selling price was reportedly one billion Yen or approximately $8M US dollars.

Holiday Baking & Decorating with Chef Fougere

Chef Jean Fougere's class was a blast! Chef gave tried and true tips and techniques of the trade as we measured ingredients and baked delicate pumpkin and chocolate cupcakes at kitchennyc commercial kitchen. Chef demonstrated the basics of how to crack and separate eggs correctly, which butter to use in baking, why measurement by weight is better than measurement by volume, how to select the finest baking chocolate, how to make and roll out chocolate "clay" and more! We made silky swiss meringue buttercream to top our cupcakes--yummy. We also had the pleasure of meeting Tricia, the owner of kitchennyc, who is gracious and a real pleasure to know.

Members learned how to create chocolate "clay" and handcraft deliciously beautiful chocolate roses like the example shown here.

NY Chocolate Show 2008

Member Dianna (right center) had the honor of assisting chocolate show models Vanessa & Deena with their superhero-themed NY Chocolate Show outfit "Storm" modeled by Sophie. It was an AMAZING experience!

Chocolate Sculpture Demo at FCI

I attended Chef Donald Wessell's Chocolate Sculpture Demo event at the French Culinary Institute on October 18th and it was fabulous. The chocolate inspired hors d'oeurves were out of this world! One of my favorites was the coconut curried shrimp. It was a great networking event and I had a front row seat to capture it all. I wish that I caught more pictures but my camera started to act up. I'm glad that I at least I was able to photograph the finished product.

The sculpture was completely made of chocolate and was decorated with rocks and coral (all chocolate of course) and colored with cocoa powder. Chef Wessell calls the sculpture "Two fish going back in the waves".

The taste testing E.Guittard chocolate was a big plus as well. I learned a lot about chocolate. I thought I was a chocolate fan before but after this weekend I found out that I was just an amateur. Really good event. Will do again!!!
- Tamika -