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Archive for March, 2016

Facts to munch along with your delicious piece of cake!

March 25th, 2016

It can be described as a piece of heaven; there are actually no words to describe how good a cake can taste. Cakes come in all size and forms. Over the years, it has evolved according to the new trends and people’s choices. Thanks to the chefs worldwide, today you have an unreadable long list of cakes available in the market. You can taste any flavour cake from any part of the world by online cake delivery services. As utterly delicious as the dessert is, there is a history behind it too.

Here are some interesting stories and facts regarding our beloved sweet dish –

  • In the early times, the word cake meant a flat round piece of bread that was baked hard on both its sides.
  • Cupcakes are called so because during old times, they were baked in small cups. Even the ingredients were measured using the same cups.
  • The difference between cakes and cookies is that cakes go hard when spoilt where as cookies go soft.
  • There was an English superstition telling that if you slept with a fruit cake under your pillow you could dream about the person you will marry. Now, that is one sweet dream.
  • There is a day especially set aside to celebrate cakes. November 26th is National Cake Day.
  • Do you know why pure white icing on the cake is called royal icing? It is because the first person to have pure white icing on her wedding cake was none other than Queen Victoria.
  • It ancient Rome, cake was made in a simple method. Eggs and butter were added to the plain bread and honey was used as a sweetener.
  • In US, single bridesmaids would put a piece of wedding cake under their pillow in the hope of finding their partner sooner.
  • In the olden days, white cakes symbolized purity and virginity. Hence, the wedding cakes were white in colour.
  • Until a few years back, cakes were delivered home after you ordered them from a shop after tasting and approving the flavour and taste. Today, you can send cakes online making it very easy for many busy people.
  • Cakes also represented angels and demons. White fluffy cakes made out of fresh cream were called angel cakes as they were pure looking. The devil cakes were made of thick rich chocolate coating. The heavy taste of chocolate was so sinful that these chocolate cakes began to be known as devil cakes.
  • There is a story of a lady who ate a red velvet cake in a restaurant. As she liked it very much, she asked the chef for the recipe. She was sent the recipe along with a bill of 100 dollars! The lady became so furious that she sent the recipe in chain mails to hundreds of people. Now, that is some revenge.

The stories of cakes are endless. Whatever the history, today cakes are the most loved sweets throughout the globe. You celebrate your success, love and happiness along with cakes; hence they tend to have a special place in your life.

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All about Cake Decoration

March 23rd, 2016

Cake decoration originated in Europe in the 17th century and really took off in the mid 1800’s. It is a part of sugar art which uses frosting or icing and other edible decorative items to add to the visual beauty of plain cakes. Cakes can be sculpted or moulded to resemble things and persons, all in 3 dimensions.

 Cakes are decorated especially for special occasions like weddings and birthdays. They may mark religious or national holidays or used for promotion of certain companies and businesses. But nowadays cakes are decorated for no reason at all and add to the value of cake delivery to a loved one.

Some of the common materials for decorating cakes are:

  • Fondants: They are ready roll icing made of sugar paste, found in many colours and is easy to handle and soft in its original form. Professionals and amateurs are able to mould fondant in many artistic forms. Fondant is used to cover cakes and to fashion individual show pieces.
  • Royal Icing: It is a white, soft icing made by whipping together icing sugar with fresh egg whites. It provides well defined edges for icing and is perfect for piping detailed and fine borders, lace work and scroll work on cakes. It takes a very hard form and stays fresh if frozen in a dry, cool place. But it will wilt and soften in face of high humidity.
  • Marzipan: It is used for creating cake decorations and as a base layer below fondant. It is made of almond paste.
  • Gum paste: Renowned as florist paste, it is a brittle, edible material that dries quickly. It can be used to create sculpted art like flowers or other moulded designs.
  • Photos on edible sheets: Invention of non-toxic printing material and inks in 1990’s, led to the printing of images and photographs onto edible sheets for decorating cakes.

 The tools of cake making have now become increasingly available for the general public. Stages of decoration are as follows:

  • Designing and planning of cakes: This depends on the context and occasion for which the cake is being planned. The nature of the vent (birthday/wedding) and number of guests are important factors. Cakes can be big or small, rectangular or circular. They can be layered by using dowel rods to secure each layer.
  • Covering a cake: After you bake the cake, the first step is to decide on how to cover the cake. Butter cream icing (butter and sugar) is a classic choice. The first coat using a spatula is called as crumb coat. After this, a finer second coat can be applied. In this different shapes like petals can be used. Ganache (cream and chocolate) can be made into a glaze and poured over the cake. Rolled fondant (corn syrup, sugar and water) is another item growing popular.
  • Cake decoration: Now is the turn to convert the cake into a work of art. Sprinkles like non-pareils and jimmies are the simple choice. One can also do piping with butter cream icing, chocolate and royal icing. Tools include disposable and re-usable couplers and pastry bags. One can also etch patterns on top of cakes using stencils. One can also garnish cakes with edible flowers and fresh fruits.

 These are some aspects about cake decoration. If you still find cake decoration too much to handle, you can order for online cake delivery. It will be much appreciated.

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Are You On A Diet? Then Have Some Chocolates!

March 23rd, 2016

If you are someone who is on a diet, one common suggestion which pops up from many people is to stay away from chocolates. If you are a chocolate lover, this could be heart breaking for you. However, the scientific studies have broken this taboo. Send chocolates by post to your friend, who is on a diet. It is found that dark chocolate can effectively aid your efforts of weight loss. Wondering how? Then check this out.

Accelerates metabolism:

The fat and carbohydrates metabolism are significantly affected by chocolates. The chocolates show their impact on fatty acid synthesis. In this way, they promote digestion in our body helping us to absorb carbohydrates effectively. A feeling of satiety can be experienced by including chocolates in our diet. However, not every chocolate is capable of producing same results. Dark chocolate has a great reputation in this context.

Controls appetite:

The appetite is controlled by the hormones like leptin, ghrelin and insulin. The sugar produced in our body is transported to various cells with the help of insulin. Leptin decreases the appetite and the ghrelin works exactly in the opposite way. If you can’t feel full, the major reason could be that your body is resistant to insulin. To regain this ability, start loving dark chocolates and send chocolates to your loved ones to help them lose weight. It can lower your resistance towards insulin and also retard the production of ghrelin hormone.

Sense of well being:

Are you wondering how the ‘sense of well being’ is related to weight loss? When you feel good, you don’t fell like having too much food. The dark chocolate constitutes polyphenols as one of its major constituents which has a significant effect on our sense of well being. Regular consumption of dark chocolate helps us to stay calm. It is also a good source of the lipid, “anandamide”. This chemical compound breaks down in no time and provides instant energy.

Calories produced by chocolates:

A chocolate which contains 60% cocoa content can provide us as much as 170 calories. Avoid over eating of dark chocolate. A moderate way of consuming it would be two to three times per week.

Fat content:

You need certain saturated fats to lose weight! You heard it right. Not all fats make you put on weight. Oleic acid, stearic acid and palmatic acid are the major types of saturated fats supplied by dark chocolates. These compounds are capable of lowering cholesterol levels.

Promotes your workouts:

Do you know that dark chocolates can kill the pain? When you feel less pain, you will be encouraged to spend some excess time in the gym. The chocolates contain anti-inflammatory chemicals, which on reacting with magnesium makes us feel lesser pain.

Tips to include chocolate in your diet:

  • Search for the ways to include chocolate in breakfast, lunch as well as dinner.
  • Start your day with a chocolate drink. Add cocoa power and artificial sweetener in skimmed milk to make a typical chocolate drink. Check out new such recipes every day.
  • Always carry chocolate bars with you.

Apart from weight loss, dark chocolate also fetches us many other health benefits. It stabilizes blood sugar levels in our body, makes you feel relaxed and curbs your desire to eat junk foods.

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How to Make Perfect Chocolate Brownies

March 22nd, 2016

Chocolate brownies are sweet, decadent and luscious. There are many variants in taste of brownies: with or without nuts, cream cheese, butterscotch, fruit filing, mint flavour, spiked with alcohol or espresso or just chocolate in hundreds of variations. Order and get the chocolates by post.

 

 But the most important feature in a brownie is texture. The world is divided into two camps regarding texture: cakey and crumbly versus fudgy and dense. But some experts identify a third texture: chewy.

Most brownies contain enough chocolate to satisfy chocolate craving as well as other similar ingredients. However, the amount of sugar, butter, chocolate and flour are different, and this accounts for the variation in brownie textures.

A fudgy brownie has a dense texture with a moist, chocolaty interior. It is a cross between fudge and rich truffle torte. For this recipe, you can use either or both bitter sweet and unsweetened chocolate. They provide an intense chocolaty flavour. An egg yolk can be added to provide a fudgy richness sans greasiness.

A chewy brownie is not as gooey as a fudgy brownie but is moist. Chewiness comes from different factors: more of all purpose flour (whose proteins provide texture) and eggs, which help the brownies set.

Here are some aspects about brownies making that will avoid pitfalls and create the perfect brownie:

  • The recipe is king: First you have to decide what type of brownie you want: Fudgy, Cakey or Chewy. If you are keen on cakey, go for a recipe that reminds you of cake. For instance, if your recipe calls for creaming of sugar and butter together, you are likely to end up with a cakey brownie. For fudgy brownies, look for a recipe with high ratio of dry ingredients to chocolate and butter.
  • Go for high quality ingredients: When you are bent upon having chocolate gifts delivered to loved ones especially homemade brownies, do not settle for low quality ingredients at cheap prices. If you are buying chocolates, go for reasonably good brands. If you want a dry chocolaty texture, go in for good cocoa powder. But try and avoid chocolate chips. They contain stabilizers, which will not melt easily. Instead use big chunks of chopped chocolate bars. They melt in a slow fashion making luscious brownies.
  • Use the right temperature: You need heat to melt chocolate. But avoid adding your hot chocolate into the sugar, butter and eggs-it will cause problems like scrambling the eggs. Bring all ingredients to room temperature. Egg and butter must be brought to room temperature.
  • Choose flavours: Do you like flavours like raspberry, lime, etc. You can add extra flavour to brownies like cream cheese and nuts. The idea is to enhance the flavour of chocolate and not mask it.
  • Follow timing of recipe: Brownies must be baked for the right timing as specified in the recipe so that they are not over baked or under baked.

Last of all, one must be patient with the brownies, allowing them time for cooling. After this, it is time to devour the luscious brownies.

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Make Your Store Bought Cake A Master Piece!

March 22nd, 2016

You could have baked the cake deliciously irresistible, but you should also take extreme care to attract the audience. Unless the cake looks appealing to the eyes, you can’t expect someone to come forward to grab a piece of it. Here under, we present you a few cake decorating tips which makes your store bought cakes look amazing.

Icing sugar: If you are looking for a something simple, risk free and effective decorative method, consider icing sugar.  Create various templates by dusting it onto the cakes. When you have to deal with large cakes or cup cakes, prepare a paste of this icing by adding water before the cake delivery. If the cake isn’t cool enough, there are good chances that the icing sugar would melt.

Butter cream: The major ingredients for this cake decoration are milk, flavored extract, icing sugar and butter. The flexibility offered by the butter cream to turn it into a variety of flavors and colors has fetched it huge popularity. You can also use it as a frosting by just swapping. Add some icing sugar, if you find the butter cream too loose.

Marshmallows: This is one of the best techniques, which can turn your simple cake into a master piece. On a low heat, gently melt down the mash mallows and then pour on top of your cake. In this case, make sure you don’t over heat them. The price of mash mallows is also affordable.

Fondant cakes: If you are skilled in cake decoration, prefer decorating cakes with fondant. This is one of most preferred means of decoration in personalized cakes. As long as you preserve the cake in an air tight container, it is a safe option for you. Stick to a classic type, in the online cake ordering process.

Chocolates and sweets: It’s not going to be an easy task to impress the little kids in terms of cakes. However, you have chocolates and sweets, which hardly let you down in this aspect. You can use the sweets to cover the whole cake, prepare a pattern or align to read a name.  The sweet masses stand as the top most attraction. Before placing the sweets, cover the cake with melted chocolate or butter cream.

Desiccated coconut: Coconut works well for both baking and decorating the cake. This is one of the healthier options when compared to other sweets and sugar products. All that you have to do is, cover the cake with butter and then press coconut onto it. Being lighter in weight, it can be used for a variety of flavors.

Fruit: If you have made your decision to decorate the cake with fruits, you have numerous options to choose from raspberries to dried resins. It is a perfect taste of summer and looks refreshing. You can also try using seasonal fruits. If you are adding fresh fruits, do it at the last minute.

Written message: A written message can make the cake extra special and also compensates for other minor flaws. It is the first step of personalizing a cake. You can use icing, edible art pens or cake decorating stamps to craft your message on the cake.

The skill of decorating cakes will be a great asset for you in special occasions like birthdays, Christmas or any other occasion worth celebrating.

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