Tag: Chocolate

What Frosting To Use In Your Cake Decorating

Those of us who are into cake decorating, think of the beautiful icing designs when we think of cake. Icing is the finishing touch on cakes, cookies, and cupcakes. There are several different types of icing used in cake decorating. The choice of icing while cake decorating, will have a great deal to do with how the decorated cake will look.

1. Buttercream Icing: Buttercream is the icing that is used the most in cake decorating. This is the same type of frosting that we can buy readymade in the grocery store. This icing is easy to use and easy to make. The ingredients are confectioners sugar, and butter or shortening. What you use to thin the frosting will differ with the icing texture you need to work with, to determine whether to use eggs or milk. Take care when thinning the frosting, remember, a little milk goes a long way. If you find the frosting is too thin, you can add a bit of confectioners sugar to thicken it.

To assure an even finish on your frosting, dip the icing spatula in cold water to make the surface smooth. This will give a smoother finish for writing. Buttercream is used to create flowers and other decorations made with a pastry bag. The icing needs to be the right consistency to make flower petals or writing. When you make roses out of icing, you can freeze them and add them to the cake later. This will make them easier to handle.

Buttercream can be stored in the refrigerator without getting hard. Make sure it is back to room temperature before you attempt to use it.

2. Foam Icing: This is a meringue and is used on lemon pie or Baked Alaska. This frosting is made of egg whites beaten into stiff peaks. It is possible to add flavoring and color to the meringue. You will not be able to use this icing for intricate cake decorating, and you won’t be able to use an icing bag with this icing. This icing is used when you want the cake to look fluffy, with little ornate decoration.

3. Fondant: This icing is very popular with those who decorate wedding cakes, and cakes for very special occasions. The ingredients are simply powdered sugar, water, cream of tartar, or glucose. Fondant is thick and doughy, with a silky, smooth, texture. Fondant will give the cake a flawless surface, and soft, rounded edges. Working with fondant is an art and will take practice to get it right. Fondant has a translucent quality, and will work best when placed on the cake over a thin layer of buttercream frosting.

4. Fudge Icing: Fudge icing is made from chocolate, peanut butter, almond, or mint. This icing is quite thick and contains both shortening and butter.

5. Glazes: This frosting is thin and watery, and will harden into a shell after it is placed on the cake. This frosting is mostly used on pastries. Glazes help to keep the pastry moist.

6. Flat Icing: This icing is similar to a glaze, but it is a bit thicker. Flat icing is a combination of confectioner’s sugar and water and is used to drizzle onto pastries.

7. Royal Icing: This is also a flat icing, and hardens after it is set. Royal icing is a wonderful choice to make flowers, sculptures, and garnishes for cake decorating.

You can use any combination of the basic seven icings listed, to create a personal masterpiece. You will need to practice before you become good at cake decorating. You will get the hang of it sooner than you think, and even the mistakes will taste great.

Ingredients in Chocolate Brownies Make Your Brownies Unique

What are the ingredients in chocolate brownies, First you have the ingredients you’ll find in all chocolate brownies. Then you have the ingredients which vary from recipe to recipe , and are what make each person’s brownies unique.

Almost every chocolate brownie recipe features flour, eggs, sugar, a pinch of baking soda, a pinch of salt, butter, chocolate, and vanilla.

The ingredients in chocolate brownies that are chewy feature less flour and fewer eggs while cake brownies have more flour and eggs and need to be frosted.

Where recipes begin to be unique is in what the baker adds to them. For instance, what kind of chocolate does he or she use, Some recipes call for unsweetened chocolate bars. Others use less sugar and call for cocoa.

The add-in ingredients in chocolate brownies are also important. For instance, most brownie recipes call for some kind of nuts. Walnuts are the most common nut used. Pecans give brownies a southern twist. Macadamia nuts are less common but give the All American Brownie an exotic Polynesian taste. Chopped up shelled pistachio nuts are interesting in brownies.

Instead of putting nuts in the brownie, consider putting them on top. A praline topping for chocolate fudge brownies can be made from butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and 2 cups of pecans.

Then there’s the chocolate peanut butter brownie recipe. This involves making separate chocolate and peanut butter batters and then pouring the peanut butter concoction over the chocolate concoction in a layer. Top with chocolate frosting. Peanut butter flavor can also be added to chocolate brownies by adding peanut butter chips.

Adding 2 tablespoons of instant coffee powder to a regular chocolate brownie recipe turns them into mocha brownies. Yum! Pecans are a great addition to this recipe.

Layer 1/3 cup of shredded sweetened coconut in the brownie mix along with , teaspoon of almond extract and you have an Almond Joy Brownie recipe.

Another area where cooks can be creative is in making the frosting for brownies. Most of the time, cooks just use a basic chocolate frosting recipe. But you can get more creative.

For instance, adding peppermint extract to the butter frosting makes a great mint icing for the chocolate brownies.

Cream Cheese frosting is good year round. 4 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature mixed with , cup of sugar, one egg, and a tablespoon of flour is a popular brownie recipe.

Or, consider melting 20 or so caramel candy chews in the microwave and then drizzling the result over the chewy brownies.

Blondies are a cousin of the brownie. They follow a similar recipe but do not have any chocolate in them. Instead, they rely on brown sugar to give them their wonderful flavor.

Additions to Blondies include butterscotch chips, nuts, chocolate chips mint extract (in place of the vanilla), whiskey, bananas, and dried cherries or other dried fruit.

Brownies are typically baked in a 9×13 pan which makes about 16 servings. Brownies are a popular treat for pot lucks or family deserts. Brownies also make a great gift for housewarmings and showers.

The ingredients in chocolate brownies vary from cook to cook, but when you find your signature recipe, you will be beloved by all.

Tiramisu – The Italian Food Dessert

Immediately Tiramisu is the most popular of Italian food desserts. It graces the vittles of nearly every Italian food restaurant. However, its rise to fame has been meteoric; it wasn’t even invented until the 1970’s in the Veneto region of Italy. It didn’t even gain widespread popularity until the early 1990’s. It is a unique grapple of ingredients that separately seem to not go together at all. However, when correctly blended well-balanced they form exclusive of the treasures of Italian food.

The first ingredient is Mascarpone cheese. This cheese has very deep roots in Italian food. It was made as far tote as the 13th century in the region of Lombardy. This cheese is concentrated milk cream and has a very high fat content, getting up to seventy – five percent. It is a smooth and creamy cheese. Traditionally it has been considered to be more of a winter dish and therefore shows advance in more of the seasonal Italian food dishes. This is mainly because of its high calories and the fact that when valid was first produced practiced was no refrigeration and this delicate cheese does not keep well in hot temperatures. Like many other Italian foods, the best Mascarpone cheese comes directly from Italy. However, it you’re an Italian food lover making Tiramisu at home, skillful are exceptionally of makers of Mascarpone cheese in America.

The next ingredient is Zabaglione cream. This is a valid classic Italian food dessert. It hails from the world renowned kitchens of Venice. When it originally became a popular Italian food dessert indubitable was made with yolks, honey, and a sweet Cyprus ruby. However, today the cream has biased on a unskilled flavor. To begin with sugar is substituted for the original honey. The most stated difference in taste though, comes from the use of Marsala wine instead of the saccharine Cyprus ruddy. This cream can express specious from household and is easier to make than most Italian food chefs let on.

The poll ingredient is the most distinctive factor of Tiramisu, espresso. This whack of caffeine is where the dessert gets its name, which means ” pick me up “. This is a coffee that is true to Italian food and is much stronger than American coffee. Espresso is the most important coffee in Italian food and can be seen following innumerable Italian meals.

The fourth and final ingredient is Ladyfingers. These popular cookies originated in Italy and have made numerous appearances in not only Italian food, but in several other governmental cuisines. These cookies are remarkably light due to the fact that the dough with which they are made is rich with whipped egg white. They are immensely popular and one of the most expensive Italian food desserts in Italy.

These four ingredients blended together just right and topped off with chocolate make an Italian food dessert that is as popular as the individual ingredients. Make sure when you prepare this at home that you take great care in choosing the ingredients, it cede really make a deviation in the excellence of Tiramisu. Now that you know the apt quality and the presentation of the ingredients you will surely impress your friends with you Italian food knowledge.

Lombardy – The Other Side of Italian Food

There are many different factors that merge to create the polish of Italian food eaten in a particular region of Italy. A great example of this is the Lombardy region. The land here dictates what ingredients are used in the Italian food and hence what type of dishes leave emerge.

The biggest quality of this region is the vast plains. These plains allow for an abundance of cattle and these livestock greatly affect the type of Italian food found in this area. For quote, future incredibly people think of olive oil in conjunction with Italian food, in this region butter is much added popular. There is also a lot of cream used in the food here; again not smash most people associate with Italian food. These distinct differences from the general ideas of Italian food are useful to the abundance of cattle originate in the region.

Cheese is a very important ingredient in the Italian food here. One important cheese is the robiola. This cheese is part of the Stracchino family and is a soft – ripened cheese that is distinctly Italian. It is made from a blend of cow, goat, and sheep’s milk. The proportions of the different milks are distinct to different areas of the region and and so it is future to taste several different samples of the cheese, each with its own distinct pungency. Grana padano is also a very paramount cheese to the region. This is a hard, grainy cheese made from cows milk and aged anywhere from eight to twenty – four months. This cheese is of note in the history of Italian food. It was invented by monks who used ripened cheese as a method of preserving extra milk. By 1477 this cheese was one of the most famous cheeses in the world and it certainly hasn’t lost any luster with the end senescence.

Another distinct feature of this area’s Italian food is the use of single pot dishes. These are dishes which take less work to create and are therefore else popular amongst the occupation class of the area. Polenta is undoubted popular as is rice. There are many different risottos that are common in the seat owing to well as rice based soups. A popular comedy of risotto here is flavored with saffron. Another dish that is immensely popular and has fabricated the region famous is its run-of-the-mill ravioli with pumpkin filling. While ravioli is popular with Italian food lovers most have never had concrete with pumpkin filling. It is also served with melted butter and is often followed by turkey traditionally stuffed with stewed meats or chicken. True to the picture of Italian food the area boasts somewhere another unique pasta dish, this one with a position since well. It is a dish of buckwheat pasta with potatoes, Swiss chard, butter, and Bitto cheese.

Of course you can’t dial out the substance of desserts in the Italian food of Lombardy. The region boasts a few sweet dishes. They make a traditional Christmas bread fictional with yeast dough and dotted with candied citrus peel, raisins, and candied fruits. An even sweeter Italian food top is torrone. This nougat confection is made from honey, sugar and egg neutral. Corporeal is then coated with crushed, toasted almonds. The last unique dish to the area is actually a impudence made of boiled fruits seasoned with mustard. This region purely does expand a person’s spectacle of Italian food.

Wine Gift Baskets For Any Occasion

For any celebration or glorious supremacy esteem life, wine is essential to have. Parties and celebrations are deduction of as being incomplete unless there is wine present, which makes it an ideal gift for virtually any occasion. Wine gift baskets are a great gift, they are very affordable, and perfect for nearly any occasion – such as birthdays, weddings, festivals, parties, or anniversaries.

Wine gift baskets are trendy gifts that are very popular – in terms of price and taste. Along with the bottles of wine, wine gift baskets also contain various accessories as well, such as wine glasses and corkscrews. With most wine baskets, effect and chocolate is included as well. You can also boast cheese in some baskets, which most consider to go perfect with fine wine.

Depending on the occasion, there are suitable wine gift baskets to convene from. When you select a basket, there are several factors that youll need to consider in order to make the box a truly special gift. If you are giving a basket thanks to a matrimonial present, then youll obviously want to choose a different basket than one you would cede to a friend at a party. There are wine baskets out there that are cheap in price – to those that are more expensive and innumerable suitable for a wedding gift.

If you are buying a wine gift basket for a beginning enthusiast, you may want to include a book on wine that will help them learn more about wine in general. If you are giving the basket to a wine enthusiast with a lot of wisdom, you may want to comprehend a stopper. No matter who you are giving the basket to, a wine gift basket with an assortment of fine wine is a great gift that can bring joy to anyone.

For wine lovers, you can acquisition gift baskets that encircle fruity red wine, tangy white wine, full bodied wine, dry wine, sparkling wine, and even sweet wine. Red wine is ideal for main course meals such as meats, while white wine is ideal for seafood and white meat. Sparkling wine on the other hand, is ideal for special occasions. If you are giving the gift basket as a wedding present, sparkling wine is a choice that you cant pep wrong with. Sparkling wine is one of the most popular types of wine – perfect for weddings and anniversaries.

If you have a bit of difficulty choosing a wine gift basket, you cant go wrong with mixed baskets that offer a mixture of wines. You can find these types of baskets magnetism local stores or on the Internet. They are affordable, starting around $20. 00 and animation up from there. If you are thinking of getting fine wine gift baskets, you should keep in creativity that it can be a bit more expensive.

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