"Roses are Red" Cake

The Art.
     I'm quite excited to present this cake, because it might be the prettiest one I've made. I created it with the help of my Handsome Man last week, and we are shamelessly proud of ourselves. Revisiting the ever popular sugared rose petal technique, I selected deep red roses and used red sanding sugar to coat them. While adorning the cake with the petals is relatively easy, be sure to set aside ample time to sugar the roses first. An extra pair of hands wouldn't be a bad idea. I feel lucky to have someone in my life who will not only assist me in sugaring my rose petals, but also appreciates the fact that when I receive a bouquet, my first inclination is to eat it. 

The Science.
   To date, I have used three different methods to make sugared rose petals. The first is to use superfine baker's sugar, which finely coats the petals and dries into a hard, rigid coating that makes inserting them into the cake very easy. This method is good for white or very light pink petals, but darker colors won't show through the white sugar. The second way is to use regular granulated sugar, as I did for my Blooming Rose Cupcakes. Petals coated this way will not dry up as firm as with the baker's sugar, but this allows some of the flower's color to show through with a frosted look. To maintain the deep red color of these rose petals, I used red sanding sugar. The color turned out beautifully, but the petals didn't stiffen as they dried. After some investigating, I found that the sanding sugar I had used contained confectioner's glaze. This food-grade shellac has some organic compounds, which may interact with the albumin protein in the egg white and prevent it from hardening [1,2]. Obviously, the cake still turned out and the petals held up for about 36 hours, but this is something to keep in mind when using sanding sugar to coat your rose petals. 

The Recipe.

Sugared Rose Petals:
One dozen organic red roses
1 egg white
1/2 cup red sanding sugar

    As I mentioned in my previous post, be sure that your roses are organic and have not been treated with anti-fungal agents. Pluck the petals from 6 of the roses, gently rinse and pat dry. With a small paintbrush, paint a thin coat of egg white on each petal and immediately coat it with the red sugar. Allow to dry in a single layer on paper towels. Make a bouquet from the remaining roses.
    The recipes for the angelfood cake and meringue icing can be found here. Instead of making cupcakes, spoon the cake batter into two clean 6x3-inch round cake pans and bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and invert cakes onto wire racks to cool completely.

Assembly:
    Place a cake layer on top of a cardboard cake round. Spread a thin layer of meringue, and place the second cake layer on top. Cover the cake in a thick layer of meringue.

    Beginning at the bottom edge, insert the largest sugared rose petals around the bottom of the cake. Continue placing rose petals around and up the side of the cake, staggering the layers slightly. As you reach the top, begin using the smaller rose petals and work in a spiral toward the center. You can consult the Blooming Rose Cupcakes for pictures of inserting the rose petals.

    The cake should be stored uncovered in the refrigerator no more than one day. Covering it will cause the petals to wilt from the condensation. The rose flavor of the cake can be complimented very well with a white or rose dessert wine. 

1. Smolinske, Susan C. Handbook of Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Excipients. CRC Press, 1992.
2. O Chef, "Beating Egg Whites into Submission." http://www.ochef.com/223.htm

Tutorial: Truffle Boxes

    Happy Valentine's Day! As I mentioned last week, I will be delivering valentines to my friends and labmates today. Since they will include the Valentine Petit Fours and the Sriracha Truffles I posted previously, I needed to come up with a way to package them. I looked up pricing for candy tins from various merchants, and I decided that someone with as little cash as I have should find a more economical solution. So, I made my own origami boxes with wrapping paper. The great thing about these boxes is you can customize their size and color, and they only cost a couple dollars. The creative possibilities abound!

Directions:
    Select a wrapping paper in your desired color and pattern. The paper folding will work best with a sturdy wrapping paper, while a shiny foil paper or clear plastic wrap will be tricky. If you can, get a wrapping paper with a 1-inch grid printed on the back, this will speed things up tremendously.
    These directions make a box that is approximately 3 inches square by 1.5 inches tall. If you wish to make a box of a different size, keep in mind that the dimensions of the box will be roughly 2.5 times smaller than the square you start out with. The square you use for the bottom of the box should also be a half inch smaller than the top square, so they will nest.

1.  For the top of the box, cut out an 8x8-inch square of wrapping paper and lay it "wrong" side  up.
     Cut out a 7.5x7.5-inch square for the bottom. You will have to make a "mountain fold" with the
     bottom piece, as shown, since the grid won't line up with the center of the paper.

 

2.  Fold the corners in to the center point of the square, following the lines of the grid. 

 

3.  Bring two edges together along the center line, then unfold.

 

4.  Repeat for the other side. 

5.  Pull out two opposite corners, as shown.

 6.  Bring one corner up 90 degrees to make the side of the box, and press the bottom edges in.

 7.  Fold the corner over and into the center of the box.

8.  Repeat on other side.

Once you have completed these steps for both squares, you have a lovely little box to put your treats in! Line with tissue paper, fill with treats, and finish off with curling ribbon.

Gluten-free Corset Cookies

The Art.
    Several months ago, I found this cute corset cookie cutter from Copper Gifts. I immediately knew I just had to get it so I could make some cookies for Miss Michelle. Miss Michelle is my dance teacher, and in addition to being Generally Awesome, she also loves embellished girly things. However, shortly after I discovered the cookie cutter, tragedy struck and Miss Michelle had to restrict herself to a gluten-free diet. If I ever wanted to make corset cookies for my dance class, I would have to delve into the mysterious world of gluten-free baking. As a baker, this terrified me. But, as a scientist, I was intrigued. Like all other aspects of my life, science had its way in the end, and I managed to pull together my first gluten-free recipe just in time for Valentine's Day. I have to say I was quite satisfied with the result. The dough was a little tricky to work with, but baked up into a sturdy sugar cookie that had a delicate flavor imparted by the white rice flour.

The Science.
    Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley flours that gives dough elasticity. It does this by aggregating to form a fibrous network that binds both water and starch within the dough, thus thickening it [1]. Without gluten, cookie dough will turn into a sloppy batter. In order to make my sugar cookies gluten free, I not only needed to substitute a gluten-free flour, but I also needed to add other ingredients to make a protein network. I selected white rice flour for my cookies, since it has a mild flavor. Then, I added in cornstarch to absorb water and thicken the dough. I also added a small amount of gelatin, because the collagen would act as a fibrous protein network in place of the gluten. I increased the number of eggs from one to two, because the albumen in egg whites aggregates much like gluten does [1]. Finally, I went back to using only butter instead of combining butter and vegetable oil in my cookie dough, because I wanted to make the cookies more dense and less crumbly.

The Recipe.

2 cups white rice flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon gelatin
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup salted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla


     Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat butter on medium speed until fluffy, then beat in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and stir until combined. Cover and chill dough at least one hour. Meanwhile, make two batches of royal icing. Tint one batch pink with gel icing colors.
    Preheat oven to 350°F and grease two baking sheets. Dust countertop and rolling pin with plenty of rice flour, and roll dough out until 1/4-inch thick. Cut out cookies and very carefully transfer to baking sheet. Since the gluten-free dough is delicate, your cookies will lose shape if you handle them too much. Bake cookies for 13 minutes on middle and lower racks. Allow to cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.


Decorating:

    Fill two piping bags with approximately 1/4 of the white and pink icing and add a #2 or #4 round tip. The #2 tip is good for small details, but the #4 is easier to pipe and gives a strong line for borders. Pipe a line around the perimeter of your cookies. Thin the rest of the icing with teaspoons of milk until it is the consistency of Elmer's glue. Flood the cookies with the thinned icing.

     After about 10 minutes the surface of the flooding icing will be dry, and you can begin piping details on your corsets. Be creative! If something you pipe doesn't look like it's going to work out, keep on embellishing it until it does. This is one scenario where more is more. Allow cookies to dry overnight, uncovered.

    Cookies can be stored in an air-tight container separated with parchment paper for a week at room temperature. To give these Valentine cookies to my friends, I placed them in party favor bags (Wilton, $1.99) and tied them off with pink curling ribbon.

1.  Zannini, E. et al. "Functional Replacements for Gluten." Annual Review of Food Science and Technology 2012, Vol. 3: pp 227-245.

Burnin' Love Sriracha Truffles

The Art.
    If you were to open my fridge, you would find that a good 30% of my condiments are chili sauces of some sort. I currently have four bottles of hot sauce, a jar of Thai chili paste, Indian mango chutney, and a bottle of Sriracha in the door of my refrigerator. The "Rooster Sauce" is probably my favorite. I purchase it at the Asian market so I can get it in a size that is large enough to satisfy my needs. Every day at lunch I slather my repast in chili sauce before I eat it. If a recipe doesn't call for Sriracha, I add a few tablespoons for good measure. And I'm always looking for new foods to try it on. Recently there has been a trend to add chili and cayenne pepper to chocolate truffles for a spicy kick, so I figured I'd try the same with my favorite condiment. I used dark chocolate to balance the flavors, and added just a hint of Sriracha to the ganache center. The result is truffles that aren't too sweet, and have a sneaky chili flavor that develops slowly. Since we all know love can burn, I've included these truffles in the valentine boxes for my friends. I will soon post a tutorial on how to make the paper boxes so you can present your treats in style.

The Science.
    If you've never made truffles before, there are three things you should know: 1) it's very messy, 2) it takes quite a bit of time, and 3) you must educate yourself about chocolate. Before you buy your chocolate, please visit this post and read my Melting Chocolate Manifesto in the Science section. It bears repeating that when you are buying a melting chocolate, get a good quality BAR chocolate, and not chocolate chips. This is less critical for the ganache filling, since it will be mixed with cream and will be very temperature sensitive anyway. In fact, using chocolate chips for the ganache may be better, since the emulsifiers in chocolate chips can prevent the fat from separating as it cools. I still try to buy good quality chocolate chips, however, because I think it makes the flavor of the truffles so much richer.

The Recipe.

(Makes 50 truffles)

12 oz (1 bag) Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp Sriracha chili sauce
20 oz Ghirardelli 60% cacao bar chocolate (5 bars)


     Bring an inch of water to a simmer in a small saucepan. Place chocolate chips and cream in a large bowl, and set over the saucepan to create a double boiler. Stir the chocolate and cream constantly, until melted and combined. Remove from heat and stir in Sriracha. Cover, and place ganache in the freezer overnight. Once set, the ganache should be the consistency of Play-Doh. Roll into teaspoon-sized balls, then place on parchment paper and promptly return to the freezer. Rolling ganache works best in a cool environment with cool hands, so the ganache doesn't melt.

    In a small microwave-safe bowl, heat the bar chocolate in 30-second bursts, stirring in-between, until it is melted. To coat the truffles, drop them individually into the melted chocolate, then transfer between two forks several times until the excess chocolate has dripped off. Allow to cool on parchment paper in the refrigerator until hardened. Try to work quickly so the ganache center doesn't melt. Once hardened, coat the truffles a second time, reheating the melted chocolate if necessary. Pipe a heart on each truffle in red royal icing, and allow to dry uncovered at room temperature.

     For presentation, place truffles in mini paper liners and deliver in a small box with curling ribbon.  Truffles can be stored at room temperature for a week, or in the refrigerator for up to one month.