Red velvet cake balls - Christmas tree decoration

Starting today because is December  I'll present all kind of recipes and ideas that you can make in order to have fabulous and delicious deserts on the table on Christmas day. Or you can make them days  before just to get more into the spirit of Christmas.

My first post is a about cake balls arranged in a Christmas tree shape. Isn't that just great? It's sure gonna be on my table on Christmas ;)

I made one of my favorite cake recipes, red velvet, with mascarpone frosting. Delicious , right? I arranged the cake balls on a nice plate and then sieved icing sugar on top to imitate the snow. I have also put on every cake balls a small piece of pistachio. For another great version you could make your cake balls out of  vanilla cake and sprinkle cinnamon on top.  Or you could make green velvet cake. So many ideas! Just pick your  favorite :)

Here is the recipe for the cake.

INGREDIENTS:

For cake:

• 120 g plain or all-purpose flour
• 120 g caster sugar
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 40 g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 120 ml milk
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp red food dye

For frosting:

• 150 g mascarpone cheese (room temperature)
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 40 g butter (room temperature)

For decoration:

• 3 tsp icing sugar
• a few unsalted pistachios seeds

DIRECTIONS:

For cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 170 C/ 325 F/ GM 3.

2. Sieve the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter into the bowl of a Kitchen Aid (or other freestanding mixer) and using the paddle attachment mix slowly until everything is combined and you have a sandy consistency.

3. While the mixer is running, slowly pour in half of the milk and mix until it's just incorporated. 

4. Add the egg to the remaining milk along with the vanilla and red dye and continue beating until it's mixed in.
5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is properly mixed but be careful not to over beat the mixture.
6. Spoon the cake mixture into your cake tin and bake for 20-25 minutes until the sponge bounces back when touched and a skewer comes out clean with put into the center of the cake.
Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

For frosting:
Whisk together butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl just until blended.
Gently fold in mascarpone cheese and make sure everything is well mixed.

In a large bowl crumble your cake and then add mascarpone frosting. 

Use your fingers to mix it.

 Roll dough into cake balls and place them on a cookie sheet. 

Place the cake balls onto a nice plate and arrange them in a Christmas tree shape.

Sieve icing sugar all over the plate and decorate with small pieces of pistachios.

Photos by Emi Trasnitu

Vanilla Cake Pops

Another post with a recipe from the baby shower party is about cake pops.
Lately I've been in love with cake pops and I have so much fun making and decorating them.

I made a classic vanilla cake and colored it pink. The frosting that I used was vanilla cream cheese and  butter-cream.
To shape your cake balls and to put them on a stick I have a great tutorial that I found it here
From there you just have to dip them in chocolate or candy melts. And that's it!

And here is the recipe :)

INGREDIENTS:

For cake pops:

• 120 g plain or all-purpose flour
• 120 g caster sugar
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 40 g unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 120 ml milk
• 1 egg
• pink dye

For frosting:

• 0,5 cup cream cheese, room temperature
• 0,5 cup butter, room temperature
• 0,5 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

For cake pops:

Preheat your oven to 170C/ 325F.

Sieve the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and butter into the bowl of a Kitchen Aid (or other freestanding mixer) and using the paddle attachment mix slowly until everything is combined and you have a sandy consistency.

While the mixer is running, slowly pour in half of the milk and mix until it's just incorporated.

Add the egg to the remaining milk along with the vanilla and pink dye ( a few drops)  and continue beating until it's mixed in.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is properly mixed but be careful not to over beat the mixture.
Evenly spoon the cake mixture into the cake tin and bake for 30 minutes until the sponge bounces back when touched and a skewer comes out clean with put into the center of the cake.
Leave to cool for a few minutes then transfer onto a wire rack. 

For frosting:

In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter (on medium speed) until completely smooth (30 seconds to a minute).
Add the cream cheese and mix until everything is incorporated.
Add vanilla and powered sugar and mix for a few minutes.

If is to soft, keep it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes.

Here is a great tutorial from Bakerella on how to make cake pops. This will really help you!

For this party I made double quantity of cake and frosting cause I also wanted to have some 'naked' cake balls. You can find my post with pink velvet cake balls HERE

 Photos by Emi Trasnitu

Baby shower - Surprise party

A few weeks ago I had to prepare some sweets for a friend's baby shower and I was super excited that I got this chance. Many thanks to our host Andreea from www.stylishdreams.com for organizing a great party that every enjoyed. Our friend Cristiana, the preggo girl, didn't have a clue about the party cause it was a surprise for her. She was over the moon all night :)

Here is a collage with all the sweets that I prepared.

Raspberry teddy bears

Chocolate candy melts

Vanilla cupcakes with butter cream and rum frosting 

French meringue with raspberry filling

So for this party I knew that I have to make all kind of pink sweets like cake pops, cupcakes, French meringue or candy melts. 

I had a lot of fun making all the goodies, but it took me some time. I started all the preparations a few days ahead.
Here you can enjoy the photos I've taken at my house before the party.
This week I'll post every recipe that I made for this baby shower. Hope I'll inspire you with them :)

Pink velvet cake balls

Pink velvet and vanilla cake pops

Here are some photos with the candy bar from the party.

Have a great week everybody and see you soon on the blog!