Rubber Duck cake.

Follow me on bloglovin' and hello cotton to find out when I post new recipes!
Here is a birthday cake I made a while ago for a friend. She originally posted a picture of it on Facebook and I agreed to make it for her, not realising that it would be as easy as it was. This was the first properly decorated cake I ever made and it started of my obsession. Please bear in mind that I was only 13 when I made this so it clearly isn't perfect!

This isn't the best picture in the world, but as you can see it's simply a sponge cake covered in blue fondant icing (I would've preferred a darker blue but that's all the shop had). This acted as the bath water. Then there are pieces of torn up marshmallow that acted as the bubbles and the centre piece were the two marzipan rubber ducks in the middle.

It was inspired by this cake from 'sweetangelbakery', I'm not sure if the rubber ducks are edible here though.

I bet you're dying to know how I made these adorable little rubber duckies myself? Here's how:
1. Soften the marzipan in your hands.
2. Using your finger, make a hole in the marzipan and put yellow/orange food colouring in. The amount depends on what type of food colouring you use, there's the little bottles of it that you can buy from the supermarket (you would need to use a lot) or the small tubs of more gel-like food colouring that is available from most craft stores and cakes shops as well as the internet. I personally recommend the gel-like food colouring for a more vibrant and variable colour and you only need to use a very small amount for the desired effect.
3. I would advise to wear some form of latex gloves for this step, you need to work the food colouring into the marzipan which can be very messy and will stain clothes and skin. Keep folding the marzipan over and over on itself until the colour is worked in properly. Here is a good visual demonstration of this if that made no sense to you.
4. This step is modelling the ducks. Split the marzipan into 5 sections, 2 for the bodies, 2 for the heads and just a little for the beak and eyes. I used a video to guide me but as it was a while ago when I made this, I can no longer find it. However, this video is very similar except she's using fondant instead of marzipan. This makes no difference to the shaping of it but do not use the water that she talks about to stick them together.

Et voilà! You have your rubber duckies! I made one slightly bigger to act as a parent duck and a baby duck but this is totally optional. To attach them to the cake I simply used a cocktail stick. For the marshmallows, I simply cut them up into different sized pieces and stuck them down with icing. Play around with them until you get nice shapes.

Enjoy!

Chocolate truffles.

Follow me on bloglovin' and hello cotton to find out when I post new recipes!
Suddenly realised you've forgotten to buy someone a present? Looking for a really quick after-dinner chocolates recipe? Look no further! These chocolate truffles are quick, easy, delicious and will go down a treat!

Ingredients:

125g plain chocolate

2 tbsp of your choice of liquor (optional)

40g unsalted butter

55g icing sugar

55g ground almonds

cocoa powder for dusting (optional)

Method:

1. Put the plain chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and melt, make sure you stir it regularly so chocolate doesn't burn.

2. Carefully remove form the heat and stir in your choice of liquor (I like to use rum).

3. Beat in the butter, sugar and almonds until thoroughly combined.

4. Shape the mixture into balls, I usually use 1 tsp per truffle to ensure they are all of a similar size. This recipe should make on average 18 but it depends on how big or small you make them.

5. If you are going to dust them with cocoa then spread some cocoa powder onto a plate and simply roll the truffles around in it until they are coated all over. Be careful not to put too much cocoa powder on them as this can make them very bitter and have an almost furry texture. An alternative decoration, which I prefer, is melting some chocolate and either dipping them in or drizzling it over them. I would advise refrigerating them for a while before and after doing this.

Enjoy!

Ps... I did also promise you a cheesecake recipe that I made for Christmas day, however it was the first time I used the recipe and they didn't turn out how I would've liked them too. The texture was really strange - the base wasn't crunchy enough and the topping was almost gunky and I did not enjoy them at all so it isn't a recipe I want to recommend to you. I do, however, have a tried and tested Gordon Ramsay recipe for a whole cheesecake which is delicious so I'm sure I'll be sharing that with you very soon!

What I got for Christmas 2012 - baking edition!

Follow me on bloglovin' and hello cotton to find out when I post new recipes!
After watching an excessive amount of YouTube 'beauty gurus' do their highly requested 'What I got for Christmas 2012' videos, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and do my own but with baking-related items I received. I did get quite a few this year and I'm so grateful for all of them so here's what I got...

Firstly, from one of my best friends, I got The Hummingbird Bakery cupcakes and muffins recipe book. It's only tiny but boy is it filled with loads of amazing recipes that I am so excited to try out! 

Then from another friend I received a Rosie's pantry baking book, not only does this have recipes but also techniques on how to make your baking perfect which will be greatly useful for me!

Next, from my mom I got a few things. We are both obsessed with the TV show Great British Bake Off and she did try to get me the cookery book from that but it was sold out so instead she got me one of the judge's book - Paul Hollywood how to bake. Again, like the previous book, he goes through baking techniques as well as some incredible recipes for breads, cakes and pastries. 

She also got me two pieces of equipment from the Broadway Cookshop on a recent trip to The Cotswolds - a cake taster (which I have been needing for years as I only use a fondue fork out of a set) and a piping bag. I am yet to figure out how to use the piping bag but I'm sure it'll produce great results when I can use it!

I hope you've all had an amazing Christmas too and if you got any baking themed presents then feel free to tweet me them @emmamorley7. I'd also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year and I hope 2013 brings great things for you!