Gingerbread Petit Fours

This has been a whirlwind year! The Holidays are already here again. I have only one semester of fashion school left. It feels like yesterday, I was just starting at Parsons! I have learned more about the fashion industry, than I thought I ever could. I am hoping to do an internship during my final semester. Nothing gives you more experience than an internship at a high fashion firm. 

In the spirit of Christmas, I felt like featuring gingerbread this month. For those of you who are not familiar with gingerbread; it is a spice bread that originated in Germany. It is very popular around Christmas time. I thought turning this cake into petit fours, would a fun twist on tradition. I filled the layers with a cream cheese filling, which accents the gingerbread flavor beautifully. There are definitely some steps required to make these delicate little cakes, but they are so worth it! I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday season, and a blessed New Year!


For Gingerbread loaf cake: 

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup dark molasses
1 large egg, room temperature
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

 Recipe adapted from:Whole and Heavenly Oven

Cream cheese Filling:

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon

Recipe from: Blogging Babies and The Bayou

Poured Fondant:

1 cup white confectionery coating or white chocolate chips
4 cups confectioner's sugar 
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup hot water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
food coloring (if desired)

Recipe from:King Arthur Flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease a 9x5
 inch loaf pan. 

Cream together butter, honey, molasses, milk, vanilla extract, 

and egg together until well blended.   

In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, 

baking powder, ginger, ground cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. 

Add dry ingredients to wet mixture in three additions. 

Mix until smooth. 

Pour into pan, and smooth top with a spoon. Bake for 45-50 minutes,

 or until a toothpick comes out clean, when inserted into the middle of the loaf.

Meanwhile, prepare the cream chees filling by combining: 

softened cream cheese, confectioner’s sugar, cinnamon, 

and vanilla. 

Set aside.

Allow cake to cool in pan for 30 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
Allow to cool completely.

Make several thick slices, and use cutter to cut out cake squares. 

Slice each square evenly, in half.

Add cream cheese filling to each layer. 

Prepare the poured fondant by melting the candy coating.

In a separate bowl, combine confectioner’s sugar,

 hot water, and corn syrup. 

Add candy coating & vanilla, and stir until smooth.

Add food coloring if desired.

Place each cake on a fork, and spoon poured fondant all over. 

Try to completely cover the cake in one spoonful, as multiple

 layers tend to look awkward. 

Place enrobed cake on wire rack, Top with decoration if desired. 

Allow fondant to dry completely before serving. (You will most 

likely need to use a knife to cut the cakes off of the rack)  

Maple Bacon Scones

It has been so cold this past week! Today, is the first day it has been above freezing. Whenever it is this cold outside, I instantly crave comfort food. I have been so busy with school projects, and applying for internships, that I have barely had time to breathe, let alone bake.

 I was really dying for some scones the other day, so I made these. They are so good, and a very creative take on the typical scone. They are a sweet and savory scone. The bacon is obviously salty, whereas the maple glaze is very sweet. Together, they taste like an all American brunch. I hope you like them as much as I did. They would make a perfect brunch treat for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Scone Recipe adapted from: http://www.kingarthurflour.com
Glaze Recipe adapted from:www.seededatthetable.com

For Scones:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 
• 1/2 cup cold butter, cut in pats
• 1 large egg
• 1/2  to 3/4 cup cold heavy cream
• 3/4 teaspoon maple flavor
• 1 cups diced cooked bacon

For Glaze: 

2 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar

2 tbsp. melted unsalted butter

1/2 tbsp. maple flavoring

6 tbsp. heavy cream (more if needed) 

Combine dry ingredients

Add butter, a couple pats at a time. Use a pastry blender to blend
 the ingredients together. Blend until it becomes a crumbly mixture.

In a separate bowl, mix egg, milk, and maple flavor. 



Add to dry mixture. (You may need to add additional heavy
cream if the mixture is too crumbly)



Add bacon and stir until everything is combined.

Shape into scones. This can be done by rolling out the dough, and
slicing into triangles, or shaping a scone pan (which I did). Freeze for
thirty minutes, until firm.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and place scones on a baking sheet,
or scone pan (available on kingarthur.com).

Brush to the tops of scones with heavy cream. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together: confectioner's sugar, butter,
maple flavoring, and heavy cream. Add more heavy cream to reach
 desired consistency. It should be thick, yet pourable. 

Allow scones to slightly cool before glazing them.

Drizzle a nice amount of glaze over each scone.

Serve and enjoy!

Candy Corn Cupcakes

It's almost Halloween! I just love this time of the year. I feel like I have better excuse to bake. Unfortunately, I have been sick quite a bit lately, which has made it difficult to enjoy my usual baking. I am better now, and am officially ready to kick off the baking season.

Who am I kidding? Baking season goes all year long in my book. But nonetheless, I am so excited for fall. The weather has been incredibly nice in Denver so far, that it is a little hard to believe it is actually October. 

Well, it most certainly is, and Halloween is right around the corner. If you haven't already noticed I love to bake in themes. I love using holidays as my inspiration. Well, these cupcakes are no exception. I am personally a huge fan of candy corn, and I thought what better way to feature it in my baking than with cupcakes? They are essentially vanilla cupcakes that are dyed orange and yellow, and topped with white buttercream frosting and a piece of candy corn. You can use any type of frosting you'd like for these, since they are so versatile. 

If you have made my rainbow cupcakes you will be great at making these. They are pretty easy to make, and would look great at any Halloween party. Well, I hope you all have a fabulous Halloween, and fall season. 

Recipe adapted from: Sweetapolita.com

You will need: 

• 5 large  room temperature egg whites 
• 1 whole egg
• 1 cup room temperature whole milk (separated)
• 2-1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups of sifted cake flour
• 2 cups of sugar
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon  baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, (cut into 24 pieces)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, and line muffin tins with white liners
 (so you can see the colors after they bake) Whisk together: egg, egg whites,
1/4 cup of the milk, and vanilla in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside.

Stir together: Flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Add butter one piece at a time, in ten second intervals. Mix until
resembles a crumbly texture.

Slowly add the remaining 3/4 cup of milk to the dry
ingredients. Mix for about 5 minutes

Add the egg mixture in 3 additions. Mix until it resembles a light batter. 

Place 3/4 of batter in one bowl, and 1/4 in another.
Add orange food coloring to the bowl the 3/4 of the batter, and yellow
to the other batter.

place a small amount of yellow batter in each liner.

Fill the rest of each liner with the orange cake batter. 

Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until cupcakes spring back.
Pipe cupcakes with frosting,
and garnish with a piece of candy corn.