Tag Archives: garnish

Valentine’s Day Garnish for Cakes and Cookies!

Valentine's Day Garnish
Valentine’s Day Garnish

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner!  This year I want you to make all your Valentine treats special with an easy white chocolate garnish!  I have even included a printable template of hearts to use as a guide in making these charming garnishes.

I have a feeling that your Valentines are going to feel very special this year!

What do you need?
Melted white chocolate
Pink or Red gel food coloring
A frosting decorating bag (The number one round tip works well!)

Valentine's Day Garnish
Valentine’s Day Garnish

Melt white chocolate and blend in a gel food color of your choice.  I used the Magenta gel food color from Wilton.  The number one round decorating tip, shown here, works well for piping chocolate!

But before you start piping, print a Valentine Garnish Template!  The template includes a variety of hearts and the letters – I and U.  Cover the template with a piece of wax paper and you are ready to begin piping your chocolate, using the template as a guide!

In no time at all you will have lots of wonderful garnishes to use on all your Valentine’s Day treats:  cupcakes, frosted cookies, cakes, candies…  Below I have used the Valentine’s Day garnishes on my Mini-Chocolate Cakes filled with Almond Paste!

Mini-Chocolate Cakes filled with Almond Paste!
Mini-Chocolate Cakes filled with Almond Paste!

These little cakes are sure to please any Valentine!  Just click on the link for the recipe – Mini-Chocolate Cakes filled with Almond Paste!

For what other events could you use these cute & tasty garnishes?  How about weddings, anniversaries, engagements or any occasion where love is in the air!

Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!

 

Birthday Candle Cupcake Garnish

White Chocolate Candles make a great garnish for all your birthday cakes and cupcakes!

If you are looking for less fire on your celebratory cake, make white chocolate candles of your very own!  Bonus –  you can eat these delicious and adorable candles!

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What do you need to make 18 candles:

1 Cup White Chocolate Chips
Gel Food Coloring

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Place one cup of white chocolate chips in the bowl of a double boiler.  Heat the water to a low simmer and let the chips melt slowly.  Be patient!

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After the chips have begun to melt, stir until smooth.

I divided the melted chocolate into 4 small bowls and blended in the gel coloring.  The chocolate began to harden as it cooled, but by microwaving at a low power it softened again.  I just didn’t work fast enough!

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If you use a liquid food color the chocolate will start to seize.  If this happens, you can make it smooth again by adding coconut oil.  Using gel colors will prevent this from happening!

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Blend the gel food coloring into the white chocolate until the color is uniform.

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I drew out a number of candles to provide a pattern for me to follow.  I then covered the drawing with a piece of wax paper and began piping the colored white chocolate!  By sliding the wax paper over the drawing I could use my template drawing over and over.

Using a number one round decorating tip for the candles and the flame worked very well!  This is so easy to make, you must try it for yourself!

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Everyone will enjoy these tasty and beautiful candles!

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Happy Birthday!

Marzipan Cupcake Garnish – Beautiful & Delicious!

Marzipan garnish decorating a cupcake!
Marzipan garnish decorating a cupcake!

Here is another wonderful cupcake garnish!  The flowers you see here are made from marzipan and are not only beautiful, but very tasty too!

Marzipan is made of finely ground almonds mixed with sugar to create a paste that can be molded into cake icing, wonderful candies, and cupcake garnishes!  It is very delicious and can be found in any baking aisle!

Still not sure what marzipan is?  Well, If you have ever been in a candy store, you have seen marzipan.  The beautiful miniature fruit candies found in the display case are made from marzipan that has been colored and molded into beautiful shapes, such as apples, oranges, or bananas by a skilled candy maker. Next time you see them, try one.  They are very tasty!

Creating this garnish was very easy.  Here is the short list of what is required.

Fondant Cutters – mine are from Wilton and I found them at Michaels for less than $4.
Marzipan – this comes in small cans or tubes in any baking aisle.
Gel Food Colors – these now come in the multipack – love it!

 

Coloring the marzipan!
Coloring the marzipan!

To color the marzipan:  Break off the amount you think you will need;  microwave for just a few seconds  to warm it slightly; add a couple of drops of food coloring; knead the marzipan to incorporate the color.  You may need to add a little water if it seems dry, a little powdered sugar if it seems too moist.

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Rolling out the marzipan:  Cover your surface with a light coating of powdered sugar; roll the marzipan to a thickness of about 1/4″.  Using trial and error, decide what thickness works for your project.

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Cutting the flowers:  Using your fondant cutters, cut out the flowers for your decorations. The tricky part to this, is removing the flower from the cutter.  Because the flowers are delicate, you will need to use toothpicks or bamboo sticks to remove them from the cutter.  I used both the sharp and blunt ends of the picks to accomplish this.

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The cupcakes you see here were for a wedding shower and because I needed to garnish 40 cupcakes, I made the flowers a couple of days before the event.  I stored them on wax paper in an airtight container.  The multi-colored flowers I stacked before storing them because the marzipan will dry some and it will be more difficult to get the pieces to stick together if they dry too much.  You can always use a little corn syrup “glue” when stacking flowers.  Not too much though or they will slide apart!

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I used Marzipan to decorate my Gluten-free Chocolate Ganache Cake from a previous post!  Delicious and beautiful – gotta love it!

Gluten-free Chocolate Cake
Gluten-free Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Garnish for Special Occasion Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes
Chocolate Cupcakes

It’s the season for prom and what dessert could be better than cupcakes? To me, the best part of eating a cupcake is – No sharing required!

It’s the one time when eating the whole cake by yourself is completely acceptable!

The recipe I prepared was Ganache-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes with Seven-Minute Meringe Frosting because it is my son’s favorite. It was his prom after all, so I guess he deserved some say!

This recipe is fabulous and produces a deep rich chocolate cake filled with a creamy ganache and piled high with light as air, velvety, meringue frosting.

Wish they were bigger – no worries – just have two, three….

Filling cupcakes with ganache.
Filling cupcakes with ganache.

Because the cupcake’s frosting was white, I wanted to embellish it with a chocolate garnish. I struggled over what to create until my daughter suggested making bow ties and dresses. Brilliant! I immediately set out to do just that!

Chocolate Garnish
Chocolate Garnish

I began by drawing an outline of ties and a dress in the sizes I wanted the garnish to be. I then placed a piece of translucent wax paper over the drawings and the pencil lines were clearly visible. After filling my pastry bag with melted chocolate, I piped the chocolate onto the sheet of wax paper using a small round decorator tip. I simply needed to follow the lines and voila – a super easy and very fun garnish.

Chocolate Garnish for Cupcakes
Chocolate Garnish for Cupcakes

Once the chocolate hardened, I eased them from the wax paper and gently pressed them into the frosting. So fun!

This easy garnish would work well for any formal occasion especially weddings, engagement parties, wedding showers, anniversaries, prom…..