Variation on a Theme: Cappuccino Fudge

Along with a cake, I made Stefi an edible present: I present to you Cappuccino Fudge!

As long term readers of my blog well know, I absolutely adore fudge. Over the years, I’ve found ways of refining my fudge recipes and process, and it has ranged from using condensed milk, to evaporated milk, to caster sugar, to brown sugar, to salted butter, to unsalted butter. I discovered a better way of making fudge when I made my Southern States Caramel cake, when I was looking for a good boiled icing recipe that wouldn't set too hard.

My current fudge recipe suits my tastes because it’s not sickly, crystal sweet, but round, rich, fatty, and smooth. The consistency is firm and can even be moulded like fondant if you treat it right! It reminds me of the high quality all-butter fudges you get from Thorntons or other chocolate shops. 

But another thing I really love about my current recipe is how easily it can be adapted to other flavours and combinations. Fat is a great vehicle for flavour, and seeing as nowadays I make fudge with copious amounts of butter and full-fat whipping cream, it holds flavours exceptionally well, even better than when I did that orange chocolate fudge video back in the early days of my YouTube channel. 

 

And so, I share with you my first proper venture into an unusual fudge flavour since I started using my updated recipe: cappuccino! This is essentially fudge with instant coffee added to taste, topped off with a stiff vanilla buttercream, and dusted with drinking chocolate powder. 

Find yourself a good quality finely ground instant espresso powder. It should be more like powder than granules. This can be mixed directly into the fudge mixture to taste, starting small and adding if you want it stronger. Alternatively, if you only have coffee granules, you can dilute them in the vanilla essence to get a concentrated coffee essence. That's what I did.

I made the topping using a fairly stiff buttercream flavoured with a splash of vanilla essence. I piped it on with a star nozzle, but you could equally as easily swoop it on to look more like milk foam. I used Cadbury drinking chocolate to dust it, but you could also use the chocolate topping that comes in boxes of instant cappuccino sachets. My dad loves that stuff, so there’s never any of it around me to use! 

INGREDIMENTS

1¼ pounds (570 grammes) caster sugar

8 fluid ounces (225 millilitres) whipping cream, slightly warmed

8 ounces (225 grammes) unsalted butter

¼ to ½ teaspoon (1 to 3 millilitres) fine salt

1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) vanilla essence

For the topping

3 ounces (85 grammes) unsalted butter

9 ounces (250 grammes) icing sugar

Milk, at room temperature, for mixing

Vanilla to taste

Hot chocolate powder, for dusting

HOW-TO

• In a large saucepan with a metal or enamel interior (don't use a dark coated pan), add the sugar, cream, and half of the butter. Stir well over medium-low heat until everything has dissolved nicely and is a syrup with no gritty sugar on the bottom. Bring to a simmer.
• When it begins to simmer, turn the heat to medium-low and simmer gently for up to 30 minutes, until it reaches soft-ball stage (112°C to 115°C (235° F to 240° F)). On reaching this temperature, remove from the heat immediately and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the bubbling has completely stopped.
• Cut the remaining butter into small cubes, and then beat the syrup with an electric hand mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
• As the syrup begins to thicken and lose its gloss, taking on a matte appearance, start adding the butter, a cube at a time while beating, making sure to beat in each cube fully before adding the next. The whole process should take about 5 to 6 minutes.
• Eventually, you will get a deliciously thick, fudge mixture. If the fudge begins to split, leaving oily patches or film, add in half a teaspoon of cold water and beat until it comes together again.
• To flavour, dissolve the coffee granules in the vanilla essence and beat in thoroughly. Salt to taste: you'll need a surprising amount of salt.
• Pour out into a 7 inch (20 centimetre) square tin, that has been lined with non-stick paper. You could use a silicone tin, which is what I do.
• Allow the fudge to cool to room temperature before icing, then make a stiff buttercream with the icing ingredients, and pipe or dollop on top of the fudge. Dust with hot chocolate powder.
• Allow the whole confection to set for at least 6 hours at room temperature before cutting into equally sized pieces. I recommend one inch (2.5 centimetre) squares.

Happy 6th Birthday, Sweetie Pie!

This weekend has been all about birthdays! Today, the blog turned 6!

I started doing "Sweetie Pie Bakes Stuff" on Monday March 18th 2013, and it has since then garnered over 40,000 views, I've written over 350 blogs, and made some wonderful culinary discoveries along the way.

I know these past 12 months havent been as prolific as the 2016-2017 period, but I have had a wedding to plan his year, and a black belt to train for. It's been insane!

As is traditional, ere's a list in order of the year's most popular posts, from most popular to not as popular:

1. Ten Points to Gryffindor! Quidditch Pitch Birthday Cake
2. First Attempt at Whoopie Pies (Wheat Free with a Dairy Free Option)
3. Zesteratops: the Return of the Novelty Dinnersaurus!
4. Hot Cross Buns, and Iced Buns: Almost No-Knead Bread (Wheat Free with Dairy Free Option)
5. Rich Tea Biscuits (Dairy- and Egg Free, with Wheat Free Option)
6. Question: "How much chocolate and cornflakes should I use to make Cornflake Cakes?", with Video
7. Having Fun with Dough: Biscuit Creatures
8. Crystalised (Candied) Chili Peppers
9. Modern Simnel Cake 2.0: "Can any cake be a Simnel cake? Or must it be fruit cake?" (Wheat Free with Dairy Free Option)
10. Cake for Aimée: Madeira Loaf with Strawberry "Eyes" (Warning: Long Post)

On reflection, these past 12 months have been good for videos! Hopefully after the wedding, I can continue to make more informative and entertaining videos. I'm looking forward to another year of culinary creations and sharing my knowledge with fellow wheat-free bakers across the world!

Thank you so much for your continuing support,

Sweetie-Pie

xxx

Dulce de Leche Cake (Wheat Free, with Gluten Free Option)

Happy birthday, Stefi! 

This month my brother’s partner celebrated her birthday, which gave me another excuse to make cake! Unlike my other family members, I still have room to experiment with her birthday cakes because her tastes aren’t as definite as my parents and siblings. She migrated to Ireland from Ecuador, where they celebrate birthdays differently, with different kinds of cake and sweets. 

However, I know she likes caramel! At home, she would make a caramel sauce by slow cooking milk, sugar, and baking soda together until dark brown and syrupy. When she and my brother went to Ecuador, they brought me back a big ol’ tub of dulce de leche, which was summarily consumed in banoffi pies and on ice cream. 

So, I thought I’d return the favour by making her a delicious caramel flavoured cake, with browned butter and buttery caramel icing. Browning the butter adds a delicious note of caramelly goodness to the cake mixture, and this non-crusting icing is more like a caramel cream than a buttercream. And I love jazzing things up with sugar confetti! 

I used my Madeira cake recipe, adding a little bit of lemon zest and almond essence. I also cooked the butter until it was a deep brown and then let it cool before adding it to the mixture. Take note, however, that when you brown butter it will evaporate a lot of water, which needs to be replaced. To do this, simply pop the cooked butter in a bowl on the scales and top it up with water until it’s its original weight. 

I made the icing by whipping unsalted butter and thick dulce de leche until light and whippy, and then I added salt and vanilla essence to taste. After sandwiching the cake with straight up dulce de leche, I iced the cake with swoops of caramel cream icing, and topped it off with colouredy sprinkles! 

Despite it being absolutely loaded with sugar, the fattiness of the butter in the icing and the warm zestiness of the lemon in the cake makes sure that the whole cake isn’t too sweet. Although, I still recommend eating it in small doses. You can also add lemon juice to any part of this to cut through the richness even more, if you like.

INGREDIMENTS

One 8 inch lemon Madeira cake, made with spelt or gluten free flour, cut in half for filling

About 14 ounces (397 grammes) of dulce de leche, either shop bought or homemade

2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) vanilla essence

6 ounces (170 grammes) soft unsalted butter

Colourful sprinkles

METHOD

• Trim the dome off the cake and cut in half horizontally to get two layers. As you can see in the picture above, I didn't actually have enough cake to cut off the dome because I accidentally used a 9 inch tin when I only had enough mixture for an 8 inch. Lesson learnt!
• Set aside 9 ounces (250 grammes) of the caramel for the icing, and use the remaining caramel to fill the cake in a nice thin layer. (You'll have some leftover, which you can eat secretly with sliced banana on digestive biscuits later)
• In a mixing bowl, whip with butter with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add in the caramel and whip until creamy. Add more vanilla and salt, to taste: some people like saltier caramel than others.
• Use the icing to coat the top and sides of the cake, and swoop and swirl the icing to make it look extra delicious. Decorate with sprinkles.

Homemade Dulce de Leche: 3 Different Methods

If you live in a part of the world where canned caramel (dulce de leche) is available to you, by all means walk to the shop and get some. Here in Ireland and UK, you can buy cans of Carnation Caramel that weigh 397 grammes (about 14 ounces), and in the States and Ecuador (only because Stefi tells me) you can buy Alpina Arequipe, that comes in larger packets:

However, if you live somewhere where this is not available, here are lots of options open to you, so don't fret. You can make a quick, cheat caramel on the stove stop, or you can do a long, slow caramel on the stove top or in the oven.

The cheat caramel is the fastest, but it's not an authentic, true dulce de leche (hence cheat). It's also the easiest to overcook and completely wreck. Sometimes in life, good things really do come to those who wait.

The stove-top method is the most traditional and widely used, so it's obviously a fairly consistent and reliable way of doing it. However, I find that it's impossible to tell if your caramel is dark enough for your liking if it's hidden inside a completely hermetically sealed can.

By far my favourite way is to cook the condensed milk in the oven. It's a nice halfway house between cheat caramel and and boil-in-the-can, as it only takes 90 minutes, as opposed to three hours, and doesn't have as narrow a margin for error as the cheat method.

Quick Cheat Caramel

2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar

One 14 ounce (400 gramme) can of condensed milk

Vanilla essence and salt, to taste

• Caramelise the caster sugar in 2 tablespoons of water in a small heavy saucepan. Once dark brown, remove from the heat and stir in the condensed milk. 
• Return to a medium low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until it has thickened and is a rich brown colour. Do not allow to boil.
• Pour the caramel into a bowl and allow to cool completely to room temperature. Once cool, add a teaspoon of the vanilla and some salt to taste

Stove-Top Slow Caramel

One 14 ounce (400 gramme) can of condensed milk

Vanilla essence and salt, to taste

• Take the label off the can and leave it completely closed. Place the can in a saucepan of cold water, making sure it is completely submerged. Bring to the boil on the stove top.
• Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer the can for 3 hours, topping up the water as necessary.
• After 3 hours, allow the water and can to cool completely to room temperature. Once cool, refrigerate overnight.
• When ready to use, salt and flavour to your own taste.

Oven-Baked Slow Caramel

One 14 ounce (400 gramme) can of condensed milk

Vanilla essence and salt, to taste

• Preheat the oven to 220C (450F, Gas Mk.9).
• Clean an 8 inch (22 centimetre) round cake tin very well. Make sure it has a solid bottom, not a removable one.
• Pour the condensed milk into the tin and cover the top tightly with tin foil. Place the tin in a large roasting dish and fill with hot water, until the level of the water reaches halfway up the side of the metal cake tin.
• Place the water bath and tin onto the centre shelf of the oven and bake for 90 minutes. After 90 minutes, remove from the oven and check: if it's the brown-ness you want, then it's ready! If you want it darker and thicker, cook for a little longer, but no more than 30 minutes in total.
• Once cooked, remove the tin from the water bath gently, and place on a wire rack to cool. Allow to cool completely before chilling. When it's ready to use, salt and flavour to taste.