Martha Stewart Cookies iPad App

I got an iPad about a month ago, for the proposes of displaying my baking projects to people.  It has since been filled with cooking and baking apps, photo editing software, Netflix and a game or two (or twenty).  One of the apps I purchased was the Martha Stewart Cookies app, which I love.  From the super cute start up, to the pages of recipes, it's great.

The recipes are neatly and concisely laid out with steps and ingredients.  You can add recipes to a favourites list and add notes, create a shopping list.



There's even a unit conversion calculator on each recipe page!

The app has a search function (in a drop down menu when you tap the Martha Stewart ribbon in the top left hand corner of the screen), laid out in wheel form so you can choose from cookie ingredients or type.  There is also a keyword search.

Of course, this being a Martha Stewart app it doesn't just cover the recipes.  There is a section dedicated to homemade packaging if you wanted to give your baked goodies away as gifts.

There is also a library of videos available in the drop down menu to help you master new techniques to perfect your sweet creations.

Your app also has a very handy kitchen timer!  Thanks Martha!!

And last, but certainly not least, you can download and purchase more recipes via the cookie tab at the bottom left hand side of the screen.  Recipes are divided into categories; chocolate, kids and the newest edition: holiday!  The 'M' tab links you to other Martha Stewart apps and allows you to gift the Cookies app to your friends.

Well, that is the Martha Stewart Cookies app in a nutshell.  Available in the iTunes app store for an absolute steal at £2.99!

Just a Little Something For Fun

This was posted on the CakeSpy website and I just thought it was too cute not to share.

Enjoy!

Cake Projects Since the Last Post

I'm sorry I haven't posted an entry in so long, I did not abandon you!  I have been a busy lady doing cakes for birthdays and cupcakes and even my very first stall (and boy was that exhausting!!)

I'm just going to post the pictures of the projects I've done over the last month or so to give you an idea of what I've been up to (no pictures of the stall unfortunately, I was so tired on the day that I forgot to get some, so tired I even got the frosting on my testers mixed up, oops!!)

Anyways, first up was a JLS cake as designed by the birthday girl herself:

Then there was a Barcelona Football Club cake and I did themed cupcakes to go along with it:

I volunteer at a small movie theatre in Belfast as well and they recently had an event where the staff "hijacked" the screen and put on a movie of their choice.  The winner was the Joss Whedon film 'Serenity' so I whipped up some Serenity/ Firefly themed cupcakes for the staff who ended up having to work that night:

The most recent project I had was a One Direction birthday cake for a co-worker's granddaughter.  Instead of a fairly normal circle or square cake I was asked to make a One Direction t-shirt cake:

I hope you like the cakes, there are more to come this month like a Manchester United football shirt cake and an Elmo cake!  Next month is a race car and my friend's 30th birthday cake too.  Thanks for stopping by!

WWE Championship Belt Cake

I was asked by a co-worker to do a WWE themed cake for her son's 5th birthday.  I thought instead of a wrestling ring cake I would set myself a little challenge and attempt a WWE belt cake.

I printed a bunch of pictures off the internet and photocopied them and enlarged them so that I could make stencils for cutting out the details.  After that I just needed a can of gold lustre spray, some silver food paint and a load of black and white fondant (not to mention a couple of tubs of silver dragees!)

Here is the finished product!

More photos of it are on the facebook page.

Phishful Thinking...

I had an idea recently while devouring a tub of Ben & Jerry's Vermonster ice cream that the flavour combination of the ice cream would be amazing in the form of a cupcake.  This got me thinking about other flavour of ice cream that could be easily translated into cupcakes.  One popular suggestion was Phish Food: chocolate ice cream, marshmallow and caramel swirls with chocolate shaped fishes.

After I got a chocolate mould on eBay in the shape of fishes and researched a recipe for marshmallow frosting I was off!

The cupcake would be made up of a chocolate cupcake, marshmallow frosting, drizzled with caramel sauce and topped with a chocolate fish.  Cute, right?

So I baked a batch of chocolate cupcakes and made some of the marshmallow frosting.

Marshmallow Frosting (Recipe from Martha Stewart )

Ingredients:

8 large egg whites

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Place egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar into a glass bowl and set over a saucepan of simmering water.  Whisk constantly until sugar has dissolved and egg whites are warm to the touch (approximately 3-4 minutes).  Transfer to a larger bowl and whisk with electric mixer.  Start on a low speed and gradually increase to high until stiff and glossy peaks are formed (approximately 5-7 minutes).  Add the vanilla extract and mix until it is combined.  Use immediately.

The recipe says for 2 dozen, but I easily had enough to do 4 dozen.

To pipe it onto my cupcakes I used a large round tip, then drizzled some caramel sauce over the top.  I just bought mine in the supermarket, but if you have a recipe homemade is always better.  This was topped with one of my little chocolate fishies.

After tasting the cupcake I decided that the next time I make them I think I'm going to do a caramel filling rather than drizzled on top, the caramel flavour a bit lost in the mix.  They were still pretty darn good!  The marshmallow frosting is so light and sticky (I ended up with it all over my face!) and I imagine it would only be better toasted with a kitchen blowtorch.  Oh how I would love one of those to play with!  Anyways, here are a couple of close ups of the cupcake.

From the side

From the top

Hope you enjoy making these!  They're pretty fun little cupcakes.

Bake A Cake In A Mug In Your Microwave: Cinnamon Roll Edition

I loved the recipe I found a while back for the microwave chocolate cake in a mug, I have had it numerous times and some of my friends have tried it and enjoyed it too.  Since becoming addicted to Pinterest I have found a few more recipes I wanted to try out and wouldn't you know it?  I found a new mug cake recipe!  Cinnamon Roll Mug Cake!!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp applesauce (if there are apple pieces you'll want to blend it smooth)

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tbsp buttermilk

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup PLUS 1 tbsp plain flour

2 1/2 tbsp soft brown sugar

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

Put all your ingredients into a mug (this one is smaller than the last recipe, so a normal sized mug is perfect) and mix with a fork.  Make sure you get your fork right into the bottom to mix thoroughly.  As you can see from my ingredients picture I substituted a couple of ingredients, instead of buttermilk I used normal skimmed and instead of vegetable oil I used corn oil and it worked great.  Previously I had used buttermilk (which I only really have in my fridge when I'm making red velvet) and instead of brown sugar I used golden caster sugar.  Again, it was still yummy, so there is a little flexibility for you if you don't have everything at your disposal.

Once you have mixed all the ingredients together, get that mug into the microwave!  Mine took around 2 and a half minutes to cook properly, but it depends on your microwave, so have a tooth pick or cake tester ready to check it!

This recipe also included frosting for the mug cake!  Yummy cream cheese frosting!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp cream cheese

2 tbsp icing sugar

1 tsp milk

I just put all the ingredients into a sandwich bag and mixed them together by hand.  This is great because when you're done you can just snip off a wee corner and pipe the frosting onto your cake!  Easy!!

And might I add..... YUMMY!

30th Birthday Cake

Whilst I was off galavanting in Vancouver earlier this month, I missed my good friend's 30th birthday.  I really wanted to make him a cake so I got around to it this weekend (after numerous searches on Google images).  He is a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse.... Basically anything Joss Whedon related, so I used the logo from Mutant Enemy Productions, who are the company behind all of them and made a stencil for the cake (I may not be very artistic, but I am one hell of a tracer!)

 And here is the Mutant Enemy monster in action...