Tag: Chocolate

Low Carb Cooking

Around the world people are paying more attention to their bodies and their health than perhaps at any other time in history. One method that has shown great success in helping people quickly drop those unwanted pounds is through low carb cooking and dieting. This method of weight loss seems to have taken the world by storm promising quick results for the simple (or not so simple) lifestyle change of eliminating as many carbohydrates as possible from our diets.

The notion sounds simple on one hand and is appealing to not only women hoping to drop those vanity pounds but also men who welcome the idea of eating all the steaks they can handle throughout the year. Low card cooking is becoming a way of life for many families as a result though the idea of this particular lifestyle change and the reality of it do on occasion seriously collide with one another.

If you are interested in dropping those unwanted pounds and keeping them off, this is a doubt that without a doubt gets results. The problem is that you must stick to the diet in order for the results to remain consistent even after you’ve met your weight loss goals. This means that you are not really embarking on a diet so much as a complete overhaul in the way you eat.

The excellent thing about low carb cooking is that it is so widely popular. This means that you will have no trouble finding resources, tips, tricks, advice, and even amazing substitutes for those things you often miss most when engaging in the low carb lifestyle. Popular stores such as Whole Foods and Trader Joes are great places to go for specific foods that are low carb in nature and designed to meet the chocolate or breading needs of those who feel more than slightly deprived by the rigorous restrictions of a low carb lifestyle. Many mainstream grocery stores are also beginning to see the value of catering to this ‘high end’ market of consumers and offering a wider variety of low carb friendly foods to consumers.

You can find recipes that are low in carbs by the mouthful at your local libraries and bookstores around the world. You can also find many resources on the Internet to help assist and encourage you in your low carb lifestyle incorporation. In addition to the cookbooks, recipes, and encouragement you also need to weed out the fact from the fiction when it comes to low carb cooking. The best way to do this is to go straight to the source. If you are going to incorporate this lifestyle altering diet into your way of life, you want to make sure that you are following it to the letter and not some knock off version that may not be as effective.

When it comes to low carb cooking you have the perfect excuse to use your grill well and use your grill often. In fact, I highly recommend a George Foreman grill (or some similar knock off) for your home for those days when grilling outside simply isn’t an option. Around our house, those are the days when the snow reaches the bottom of the grill but we are the exception rather than the rule. Most importantly about low carb cooking you should keep your goal in mind. If you aren’t making progress, check what you are doing and adjust your cooking and eating accordingly.

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The Finishing Touch Of Cake Decorating

There are many ways to put a finishing touch on your cake decorating project. Sugar-frosted fruit and fresh flowers are very popular cake decoration garnishes. They will add a contrasting texture, and add color to your beautiful creation. Using these items will allow you to spruce up a plain cake.

Fruit

Using fresh berries for a garnish on your decorated cake are a colorful, and flavorful addition. You can roll them in sugar, glaze them, or use them plain. Placing fresh strawberries and mint leaves around the top of a chocolate cake will ad a splash of color. Orange sections, grapes, and strawberries glazed with shiny syrup, can be placed on the top of a cake for a beautiful, yet edible effect.

Dollops of whipped cream and fresh figs arranged tastefully on a cake can be quite appealing to the eye. Frosted whole fruit, such as grapes, seckel pears, small apples and figs are great cake decorations for late summer and fall weddings. Berries will last longer than sliced fruit, serve the cake soon after adding the fruit as it tends to bleed onto the frosting.

Flowers

The use of fresh, edible flowers in cake decorating, are a beautiful and easy way to make a cake more appealing. Starting with a cake dusted with confectioner’s sugar, or a frosted cake, and add flowers. There are many flowers that are edible, rose petals, sweet violets, honeysuckle, bachelor’s buttons, and callendulas etc… You might want to add a generous dollop of whipped cream to the center, or just off center, of the cake. Arrange the flowers around the whipped cream.

When you dust the flowers with super-fine sugar, the look is one of elegance and sparkle. Candied rose petals and candied violets are a wonderful cake decoration. Make sure the flowers you are using are edible, clean, and free of pesticide.

Nuts

Candied or toasted nuts are great on carrot cakes and spice cakes. Coarse or finely chopped nuts can be pressed into the icing on the sides of the cake, or along the bottom edge, for texture and flavor.

The use of fresh fruits and flowers will add an unusual and unique look to any cake. Cake decoration has become a more bold hobby or choice of career. You can open your own cake decorating business and cater to your friends, family. And community. Although it is time consuming, cake decorating can also be a fun and lucrative business.

Artistic cake decorators can just about name their price for one of a kind cake decorating creations. Of course this will all depend on where you are located. Cake decorators in New York City will be able to charge more than those in Jamestown. Of course there is also a cost of living difference, and a more sophisticated group of clients. No matter where you are located, offering unusual, unique cake decoration will put you on top and you will be in popular demand for the cake decorating needs of the majority.

Simple Cake Decorating Ideas

Cake decorating is not as difficult as it seems. We look at the elaborately decorated masterpieces and feel completely intimidated. Here are a few simple ideas and hints to make your cake decorating project a winner.

– Buy readymade cakes, or make your cake from a mix.

– Make sure you have several pastry bags, a coupler, a flower nail, and 6 icing tips- #824 large open star, #23 small open star, #104 small rose, #125 large rose, and #109 and #129 drop flowers.

– A turntable makes icing a cake much easier. A lazy susan will work.

– Use decorations that are already made- fresh flowers, silk flowers, ribbons, and fruit are some of the items you can use.

– Always brush fresh fruit with a glaze to seal in moisture.

– Use a decorative cake plate or platter to present your cake.

– Use Ganache icing.

Ganache

1 pound semi sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream or evaporated milk
1/4 cup sugar
4 tsp. unsalted butter

Place the chocolate in a bowl.

Combine cream, butter, and sugar in a pan, bring the mixture to a boil.
Pour the mixture over the chocolate, stirring gently until it is melted.
Using royal or buttercream icing, ice the cake with a thin coating, and freeze for 15 minutes.
Place a cooling rack on a cookie sheet.
Make sure the icing is set, and place the cake on the cooling rack.

Quickly pour the ganache over the top of the cake and down the sides. You can use a spatula to smooth the surface if needed. The hot ganache will melt the icing, so only smooth as necessary. Tap the rack to remove any excess ganache, this can be refrigerated for later use.
Chill the cake until set, remove to a serving platter.

Fruit Flan

You can choose to purchase a pre-made flan, or bake one yourself.
Slice your choice of assorted fruit and arrange it on the cake surface in concentric circles.
Coat with apricot glaze.
Serve on a decorative cake plate or platter.

Apricot Glaze

12 oz. jar of apricot jam
2-3 tbsp. Water

Combine jam and water in a saucepan.
Bring ingredients to a boil.
Strain glaze and keep in the refrigerator until needed.
Heat to brush on fruit.

Piping

Using a pastry bag and the tip of your choice, you can create a number of cake decorations, ranging from flowers to simple borders. Basic icing recipes can be found on the internet. Work on a piece of waxed paper before you apply any icing to a cake.

Edible Flowers

Apply icing to your cake
Decorate the cake with piping if you desire
Distribute edible flowers in a decorative fashion

I hope that any, or all, of these tips will help you with your cake decorating projects. My suggestion is to gather all of the tips, tricks, and ideas you can find and print them out. Put your collection in a binder and the next time you are having a problem with your cake decorating project, you will have an answer at your fingertips.

Lombardy – The Other Side of Italian Food

There are many different factors that merge to create the style 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 will emerge.

The biggest feature of this region is the vast plains. These plains allow for an abundance of cattle and these cattle greatly affect the type of Italian food found in this area. For instance, while most people think of olive oil in conjunction with Italian food, in this region butter is much more popular. There is also a lot of cream used in the food here; again not something most people associate with Italian food. These distinct differences from the general ideas of Italian food are due to the abundance of cattle found 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 so it is possible to taste several different samples of the cheese, each with its own distinct flavor. Grana padano is also a very important 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 important 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 passing years.

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 more popular amongst the working class of the area. Polenta is very popular as is rice. There are many different risottos that are common in the area as well as rice based soups. A popular version of risotto here is flavored with saffron. Another dish that is immensely popular and has made the region famous is its traditional ravioli with pumpkin filling. While ravioli is popular with Italian food lovers most have never had it 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 yet another unique pasta dish, this one with a twist as well. It is a dish of buckwheat pasta with potatoes, Swiss chard, butter, and Bitto cheese.

Of course you can’t overlook the importance of desserts in the Italian food of Lombardy. The region boasts a few sweet dishes. They make a traditional Christmas bread made with yeast dough and dotted with candied citrus peel, raisins, and candied fruits. An even sweeter Italian food creation is torrone. This nougat confection is made from honey, sugar and egg white. It is then coated with crushed, toasted almonds. The last unique dish to the area is actually a condiment made of boiled fruits seasoned with mustard. This region really does expand a person’s view of Italian food.

How To Make Candied Fruit For Cake Decorating

I remember my mother making fruit cake, she would use candied cherries that she would buy them in little air tight containers. They came in two colors, red and green, but they did not have the best taste. The candied fruit available now is much more beautiful and tastier than it was then. Trust me it isn’t just for fruitcakes anymore.

Making your own candied fruit to use as a garnish for dishes, in cookies, as a snack, and in cake decorating. Making candied fruit is a simple process. You infuse fruits and citrus peelings in a sugar syrup. You can candy orange wedges, orange peel, lemon peel, grapefruit peel, pineapple and fresh cherries. You can also candy fruits, such as carrots for carrot cake decorating.

You will need two sauce pans, one for making the syrup, and another to blanch the fruit. This is a recipe for Candied orange peel.

Simple Syrup

This syrup is used for making candied fruits, adding flavor to cold drinks, and adding moisture to sponge cake. There are different strengths of simple syrup for different uses. Thin simple syrup, made with 1 part sugar to 2 parts water, is used to brush on cake layers, mostly sponge cake, to provide extra moisture and sweetness. Medium simple syrup is made with equal parts of sugar and water. This is excellent for adding sweetness to mixed drinks, coffee, iced tea and to candy fruit. A syrup made of 2 parts sugar and 1 part water is used as a base for sorbet, and making rock candy.

Combine equal parts of sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and let the sugar dissolve. You do not need to stir the syrup, but if you do it will do no harm. You can flavor the syrup. Take the syrup off the heat and cool slightly. Stir in 1 or 2 tsp. Of vanilla for a basic vanilla syrup. This syrup can be kept in a lidded jar in the refrigerator for up to a month.

Remove the bottom and top of an orange. Set the flat end of the orange on a cutting board. With a sharp paring knife, slice the peel off in strips, starting at the top and slicing downward, following the curve as much as possible. Don’t worry about cutting off the white pith of the peel. Although it is usually bitter, blanching it will make it translucent and the syrup will sweeten it.

You can candy the peel as it is, or cut into strips that are 1/4 inch wide, to use in cake decorating and garnishes. You can also dip it in chocolate and use it for a snack. Larger peels, like grapefruit should be cut into strips for even cooking.

Place the peel in a pot of cool water. Bring water to a rolling boil, remove from heat and transfer the peel into a colander to drain. Repeat the process twice more. For grapefruit or a more tart flavored fruit, you will need to blanch them seven or eight times. Cherry and pineapple do not need blanching and can be placed directly into the syrup. Between blanching taste the peel, if it is tender it has been blanched enough. Place the peel into the pot of syrup and bring to a low simmer. Let simmer for 15 to 30 minutes or until the orange rind becomes translucent and the peel tastes sweet and tender

Remove the pot from heat and let it cool. The orange rind can be stored in it’s own syrup for weeks in the refrigerator. You may choose to drain them and roll them in sugar. Sugared rinds tend to dry out quite fast and should be eaten within a couple of days. You can dry the peel and dip it in tempered chocolate to make it last a bit longer.

You can use the orange flavored syrup in other drinks or dishes. Nothing really goes to waste!