Frohe Weihnachten! Part 1: Sandwich Biscuits

Frohe Weihnachten! I present to you the first part in a series on German-style Christmas biscuits!

Last year I planned on doing a whole series of German-inspired Christmas biscuits, but I never got the opportunity. So, this year I'm gonna put that to rights! I'm kicking off the season of biscuits with a delicious selection of sandwiches.

This is just a show-and-tell because making biscuit sandwiches is something pretty much any home cook can make. You just choose your favourite buttery cut-out biscuit recipe, like shortbread or plain biscuits, make some tiny cut-outs, and fill them with some icing, ganache, caramel, or jam.

As you can see in this picture, I made a variety of shaped tiny biscuits: these are only about an inch (2½ centimetres) or so wide and about quarter of an inch (5 millimetres) thick, and I have hearts, fluted rounds, snowflakes (even though they look like stars), flowers, and bells. I made a small batch of biscuit mixture of 3 ounces (85 grammes) caster sugar, 3 ounces (85 grammes) salted butter at room temperature, half a medium egg, and 6 ounces (170 grammes) plain white spelt flour. I flavoured it with vanilla essence and almond essence. This amount made about 48 biscuits, or 24 pairs. One pair was sacrificed to quality control before filling....

Each shape was supposed to have a different flavour of filling inside, but after a few biscuits that went out the window. I used chocolate buttercream, lemon curd buttercream, vanilla buttercream (using real vanilla pods), some Araquipe dulce de leche (yes, it's still leftover since my brother got back from Ecuador in August), and some good old fashioned strawberry jam.

After a little trip in the fridge, I dipped the tops of every flavour bar the caramel and jam ones in chocolate. I mixed a little sunflower oil into some white and dark chocolate, and some vanilla seeds into the white chocolate. Once I had dipped some of chocolate-filled ones in dark chocolate, and all the vanilla- and lemon filled ones in white chocolate, I marbled the remaining chocolates together to dip the remaining chocolate filled ones. I dusted the lemon ones with edible gold dust just for visual interest.

So there you have it! A special little treat for someone special in your life this Christmas, or even just for the table after dinner. Keep an eye out for the next few creations! :)

Happee Birthdaee Daddee! Coffee Poodle Cake

Looking to make a novelty cake, but have never been very good with fondant? Well, look no further: here is a cute puppy cake, with zero fondant!

My Dad had his birthday on Friday, but actual celebrations with cake and presents were delayed due to all of us having different work commitments. On the Friday night itself, we went to see The Crimes of Grindewald, which was a dull and conflicted piece of cinema.

When we did eventually meet up for cake and presents, I wanted to make a special cake for Dad: he has a pet toy poodle, called Boadecia (well, when I say he has, she dog is actually my mother's but Dad has an extreme fondness for her and carries her around everywhere he goes), so I made a cake in the likeness of a poodle. However, I really dislike working with fondant, and I hate how it tastes.

So, I went with good old fashioned piping.

I made a 9 inch (23 centimetre) deep round coffee cake, and sandwiched and crumb coated it with some coffee buttercream. After a brief trip into the fridge, I spread another thin layer of coffee icing over the top and sides, using a bench knife to get the edges nice and straight. I coated the sides in a dusting of desiccated coconut and piped a scroll design around the top edge. I then popped the cake into the fridge for another 20 or so minutes.

To get the beautiful white surface, I melted 2½ ounces (65 grammes) of white chocolate with 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) of sunflower oil. I added a pinch of salt to make it taste richer, because sunflower oil is pretty flavourless. I melted them together gently in the microwave and poured it in the top of the cake, where the scroll piping acted as a dam. I gently tilted the cake to get full coverage.

After a half hour rest in the fridge, I piped the features using dark chocolate and pink-tinted glacé icing. I just mixed some icing sugar and milk together to a thick, piping consistency and used pink gel colouring to get a lovely, doggy-tongue shade of pink.

Dad's poodle wears a little baby blue collar, so I thought I'd put a band of paper around the cake, where I would normally pipe a lower border. I think the effect was very pretty, put next time I'll use a ribbon for a better effect.

All in all, I was very pleased with this cake! You could do it with chocolate cake, too, or any flavour you like. Happy baking!