First fondant attempt

Rationale

There are so many things I should be doing other than icing practice for a wedding cake that we won't be eating until next August (writing the review article that I need to submit this month or the presentation I am giving next week would be obvious alternatives). However, it seems that browsing through wedding cake recipes has become my method of choice for procrastination. I am shocked at how commercialized the art of cake decorating is. One could spend the same amount on the various cake-making gadgets at Michael's as on a professionally-decorated cake!

Never having decorated a cake with fondant, I thought I'd start to develop a recipe.

The basic recipe (Adapted from an online illustrated version by Paul of CakesCanada.com)


Sift 450 g of icing sugar.

Add 1/2 tbsp gelatin to 1/4 cup water. Let sit for 5 min, then melt over boiling water.

Add 1/4 cup light corn syrup, 1/2 tbsp glycerine, and desired flavouring (tonight, in my case, this included vanilla, Grand Marnier, lemon curd, orange rind, and orange extract). Stir until the mixture is homogeneous, still over boiling water (or recently boiled water from a kettle if you use your stove as a storage surface and can't be bothered to turn it on!)

Add the liquid mixture to one half the volume of sugar. Mix by hand, then add an additional 1/2 cup of sugar. Continue adding sugar, 1/4 cup at a time. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, this is a great use for it. If not, use a solid spoon.

Once the mixture loses its stickiness or you can no longer get the sugar incorporated by hand, turn it out onto a well-sugared surface and continue to incorporate the sugar while kneading. The final consistency should be relatively dry and not sticky, but still very pliable and easily rolled out into a sheet.

Thoughts on fondant

It was easier than I thought to obtain an ideal consistency for rolling and shaping, so long as everything that came in contact with the fondant was coated in icing sugar (alternatively, according to many online sources that offer advice on the subject, shortening also works well).

I grabbed a frozen cupcake from my freezer and covered that with a sheet of the basic fondant, then added some colouring to make some flowers and leaves.

I still need to work on the flavour - perhaps more lemon curd would make it richer and more buttery. Of course I suppose the idea with a fondant is to avoid butter, but I don't see how a little bit could hurt! In fact, I think I'd like to try this recipe next:

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/michele-fosters-delicious-fondant/

Not sure if I'll eat the cupcake yet!

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Lemon curd

This thick lemony paste is delicious almost anywhere you put it - on toast or yogurt, between layers of a cake, or in a lemon pie. You might obtain a slightly better consistency using a low heat on the stove top, but this microwave method is so easy that I tend to stick to it. The key is to ensure the microwave is on low to medium power.

Materials

4 lemons. Peel, then microwave on high for 1 min to make them juicy. Juice.
4 eggs (always a better product if you use good eggs with nice yellow yolks).
1/2 cup butter, cut into small cubes.
1 1/4 cups sugar - or however much or little as you like, according to taste.
Medium bowl suitable for the microwave.
Wire wisk.

Methods

Combined grated lemon rind, sugar, and butter in a medium bowl. Whisk together eggs and lemon juice, then strain into the bowl. Microwave at a power level of ~6 for 2 min. Stir. Continue microwaving for 2 min intervals (usually two more is all that is needed) at a power level of ~5. Whisk between intervals.

The curd thickens as it cools.

Fruit flan with lemon curd

 

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Welcome!

Welcome to my kitchen and laboratory adventures. I am an MD/PhD student who enjoys the freedom of experimenting with flavours and textures  without the microlitre precision that characterizes my benchwork.

It is difficult to disguise the result of a kitchen experiment as something that it is not (sauces and condiments aside!) If the raisins don't work so well with the rest of the mix, you can't pick them all out. With scientific data, because we present the report and not the product itself, there is an extra level at which it is tempting to edit out the raisins. I like to consider questions related to objectivity in science, and the epistemological consequences of the way we fund and carry out experiments. For some of these reflections, check "The Laboratory."

For recipes, check "The Bakery." These are bound to be far more useful.

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No-knead bread: easier than going to the grocery store or setting up aPCR!

If you buy loaves of bread, you should start feeling guilty after looking this over. Adapted from a 2010 Vancouver Sun column by Gwendolyn Richards (who in turn adapted it from Jim Lahey's My Bread, W.W. Norton & Company, 2009), this recipe takes about 5 minutes of hands-on time.

If you meet the following criteria, you can make this bread:

1. You will be at home two nights in a row.
2. First night: you have 2 minutes to spare, and a bit of flour and water.
3. Second night: you have 2 minutes to spare, followed by a 2-hour rising interval and 30 minutes of cooking.
4. You have a pot with a heavy lid that withstands 475 F. A cast iron pot is perfect. Canadian Tire at Cambie and Broadway in Vancouver seems to have overstocked their supply of red Kitchenaid cast iron pots because each week there is a different pot of this type on sale. 4-5 quarts is ideal.

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The recipe

1. Stir together the following in a medium bowl, until uniformly combined:

• 3 cups flour (a 50/50 whole wheat/white split works well for a nutty flavour)


• 1.5 cups of water


• 1.25 tsp salt


• 0.25 tsp instant yeast (I use traditional yeast and let it sit in the water for about 5 min first)

2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature to ferment for 18-24 hours (or thereabouts).

3. Use a rubber spatula coated in flour to gently scrape the dough away from the side of the bowl. Gently remove it, tuck the edges under to form a hemisphere, and place on a piece of parchment paper with the seam side down. Cover and place in a warm spot for 2 hours to rise.

4. Place a covered heavy pot on a rack in the centre of the oven. Preheat the oven and pot to 475 F.

5. Once the oven is up to temperature, gently drop the parchment paper into the pot, replace the cover, and cook for 25 minutes, until golden brown.

6. Remove the lid and continue baking to brown the top of the loaf until it reaches the desired colour.

7. Cool on a rack for at least an hour, if you can wait that long before enjoying a slice.

Modifications
You can use the same method to make small buns, into which you can incorporate various fruits in step (3), like the blue grape buns above. For savoury breads, include herbs such as rosemary, finely chopped and incorporated into step. You can also incorporate your favourite cheese in step (3).

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