Honeycomb Cupcakes Centerpiece Food

CELEBRATION CENTERPIECE

Steps:

• Cook the sugar, corn syrup and water to light caramel color (about 320 degrees F). Add 2 to 3 drops of the white food color mixing gently to make the sugar opaque. Add 2 to 3 drops of blue food color, do not mix completely. This centerpiece uses a 12-inch ring, a 10-inch ring, 2 (8-inch) rings, and a 4-inch cake ring. Spray each cake ring with vegetable cooking spray. Place the 12-inch ring on the baking sheet lined with silpat (a silicone baking mat). Then place the 8-inch ring inside the larger ring so that the sides touch. This will leave a crescent shape inside the 12-inch ring. Place the remaining cake rings on the baking sheet. Pour the sugar into the crescent shape (including the circle beside the crescent shape) and all of the cake rings completely filling the circles until they are about 1/4-inch thick. Reserve a small amount of sugar and pour on a second silpat lined baking sheet in a free form. This will be used to "glue" the centerpiece together. When the sugar has cooled, which will take 10 to 15 minutes, remove it from the rings. Break the free-formed piece into small pieces and place in a heatproof glass bowl. Use a clean towel dipped in white vinegar to clean any remaining cooking spray from the edges of the sugar circles and moon piece.
• Use the melted sugar to "glue" the Magic Flowers into your desired positions all over the moon and the base it rests on. Now, the centerpiece is ready to accept the Celebration Cake. Jacques' tips: The ideal work surface for this centerpiece project is silpat placed on top of a piece of marble or granite. Stainless steel as a surface will absorb the heat and expand/contract with the temperature changes. If you do not have marble, work on a wood surface instead. Silpat will keep the surface of the sugar shiny. If you work on parchment paper, the sugar surface will be matte. Assemble the cake and centerpiece: Use a serrated knife to slice the cake into 3 layers. This task will be easier if you use a turntable. Flavor 1/3 of the buttercream with raspberry jam, to taste, and use this as a filling. Set the first cake layer on the cardboard cake circle. Douse the layers with some of the Simple Syrup. Apply the raspberry buttercream filling between the cake layers. Frost the cake with a thin layer of the unflavored buttercream. The first application does not have to be perfect. Place the cake in the refrigerator for about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the refrigerator and apply the second layer of unflavored buttercream. It is easier to get a smooth appearance if you apply the buttercream in two applications. Cover the cake with the Rolling Fondant as described in the recipe. Place the Royal Icing into a cornet and decorate the top and side of the cake in any way that you desire. If you make a mistake, simply wipe away the royal icing and begin again. Carefully place the cake on the sugar cake stand part of the centerpiece.;
• Assemble the centerpiece: You need to first make the glue to stick everything together. Place the extra sugar pieces (those are remnants of the sugar that you poured freeform on to the silpat) in the microwave and heat until it begins to bubble. Watch carefully to be sure it does not burn.
• Next you need to make the sugar supports to hold the moon vertically and to support the 8-inch sugar circle that will be resting on and in the moon, creating the level stand for the cake. You will need 4 support pieces in order to build the centerpiece. To make the supports, heat a metal triangle or metal scraper on the burner of the stove. Place the heated edge on the 4-inch sugar circle allowing the heat of the metal to "cut" the 4-inch sugar circle into quarters. Use the heated metal scraper to also cut 2 to 2 1/2 inches off 1 of the 2 pointed tips of the moon. You will need to do this on an angle of about 90 degrees, in order to create a somewhat flat edge. This flat edge will provide a level landing spot for the 8-inch sugar circle that will be the cake stand attachment of the moon.
• Pour some of the melted sugar into the center of the 12-inch circle and "glue" the moon vertically into place. The end of the moon that you cut off is now the bottom of the moon. Hold the moon straight until the sugar sets. "Glue" the first 2 support pieces (these are the pieces that you cut by quartering the smallest sugar circle) at the wide, face of the moon, gluing 1 on either side. These 2 supports should be touching both the face of the moon and the base the moon rests on vertically. These supports will steady the moon in its vertical position on the round sugar base. Glue your third support piece on the narrow backside of the moon. This will create a bridge of support in the back, from the moon to the base. In other words it will prevent the moon from rolling backwards. Once all 3 supports have hardened you can "glue" the 8-inch sugar circle to the cut edge of the moon, creating a level cake stand inside the moon. The circle will be sitting on both the cut level area and the inner curve of the moon. Additionally, you might find that you need the fourth support piece to steady the 8-inch level stand. Glue it into place wherever you think more support is required.
• Make sure the molds are clean and dry. Place molds in freezer for at least 10 minutes before filling. Cook the sugar, corn syrup and water to light caramel color (about 320 degrees F). Divide the caramel into 2 heatproof glass bowls. Add a few drops of food color to each bowl. You can use any color that you like. Dip the flower mold into the hot sugar. I dipped the flower molds in the red sugar and the leaf mold into the green. Set the sugar coated mold onto a silpat lined baking sheet. Repeat this process using the other molds. After a few minutes, the sugar will set and cool. To remove the sugar flower from the mold, gently push at the edge of the flower. It should pop off from the mold. Repeat the same process until you have made as many flowers as you want for your centerpiece. If you want to stick different shapes together, use more melted sugar to "glue" the pieces into place.
• Remember, the sugar is very hot and will burn if it comes in contact with your skin. It is a good idea to keep a bowl of cold water readily available. If you get any sugar on your skin, dip your skin in the cold water to stop the burn and easily remove the sugar.
• Place a 1-quart saucepan half filled with water over high heat and bring it to a simmer. Make a double boiler by setting a large mixing bowl over the simmering water. Place the whole eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and honey in the mixing bowl and make an egg foam by whisking the mixture to 113 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 7 to 10 minutes. The egg foam passes through various stages becoming foamy, then smooth and finally it thickens. When it is thick, it will be hot to the touch, tripled in volume, and light in color and the sugar will have completely dissolved. If you dip the whisk into the mixture and pull it out, the batter should fall back into the bowl in a thick ribbon.
• Remove the mixing bowl from the heat and whip the batter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until it cools, increases in volume, stiffens slightly and becomes pale yellow, about 7 to 10 minutes. Take the time to whip it well; if the mixture is under whipped, the baked genoise will be dense. Very, very carefully, fold in the flour with a rubber spatula until the flour is no longer visible, making sure to fold to the bottom of the bowl. Do not over mix or the batter will deflate. Fill buttered and parchment paper-lined 8-inch round cake pans 3/4 full with batter. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven until well-risen and golden brown, about 30 minutes.
• Let the genoise cool slightly. Unmold, remove parchment paper and finish cooling on a wire rack. The baked genoise can be stored in the freezer for 2 to 3 weeks if well wrapped in plastic wrap. Return it to room temperature before using it.
• The first step is to start cooking the sugar. Pour the water and sugar into a 1-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan and place over medium-high heat. When the bubbles start to form around the edge of the pan, insert a candy thermometer in the mixture.
• Place the egg whites in a large mixing bowl and whip with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until foamy and slightly holding soft peaks.
• The sugar is ready when it reaches 250 degrees F, what is known as the soft ball stage. Make an Italian meringue by pouring the cooked sugar down the side of the bowl while you continue to whip the egg whites. Do not pour the hot sugar onto the beaters, or it will splatter. Continue whipping the meringue on medium-high speed until the outside of the bowl is warm but not hot, about 5 minutes. Add the butter all at once and beat on medium speed until incorporated. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and whip until the buttercream is thick, smooth, and shiny, about 10 minutes. At his stage, you can add flavoring, if desired.
• The buttercream can be used immediately or can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days or in the freezer for several weeks if held in an airtight container. If it has been chilled or frozen, allow the buttercream to come to room temperature before using, then whip it with an electric mixer on medium speed until it returns to its initial volume and is once again thick, smooth, and shiny.
• Recipe courtesy of Jacques Torres, Dessert Circus Extraordinary Desserts You Can Make At Home, 1998
• Combine all 3 ingredients in a nonreactive 2-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. All the sugar crystals should completely dissolve. Remove from the heat and pour into a clean medium-size bowl. Let cool completely before using. If you are short on time, you can cool the syrup over an ice bath. Simple syrup can be stored in the refrigerator, indefinitely, if kept in an airtight container.
• Place gelatin and water in a small saucepan over low heat and melt it. Combine the remaining ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the melted gelatin to the mixer and beat at low speed until combined. This will form a paste or dough. Place in the refrigerator for a few minutes to let harden slightly.
• Combine the egg white and powdered sugar in a medium-size mixing bowl and whip with an electric mixer on medium speed until opaque and shiny, about 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice and continue whipping until completely incorporated, about 3 minutes. The lemon juice whitens the royal icing. The royal icing should be light, fluffy, and slightly stiff. You may need to adjust the consistency by adding more egg whites if the icing is too dry or more powdered sugar if it is too wet. To make decorations, fill a cornet half full with royal icing and cut a small opening at the tip. Use the cornet to draw decorations.
• From Dessert Circus, Extraordinary Desserts You Can Make At Home by Jacques Torres

EASY CHOCOLATE CENTERPIECE

Steps:

• For the Support Stand: Using an offset spatula, spread a 1/4-inch-thick layer of bittersweet chocolate over the textured side of a dish mat, being sure to spread it all the way to the edges. Roll the mat into a tube and let the chocolate set. When it has set, carefully peel the mat away from the chocolate. Using a sharp, hot chef's knife, trim the edges so they are even. Set aside
• For the Base: You will need to two bases for the centerpiece. Place an acetate or parchment sheet on your work surface with the long side facing you. Using an offset spatula, spread about a 1/4-inch-thick layer of white chocolate onto the acetate sheet. Wait until the chocolate sets. Place another dish mat on top of the white chocolate. Using an offset spatula, spread a layer of bittersweet chocolate over the mat. Allow the chocolate to set. Carefully peel the mat away from the chocolate, creating a white base with dark dots. Repeat to make another base. Use a sharp chef's knife to cut a circle from one of the bases, 2 inches larger than the diameter of whatever you will be placing on the pedestal.
• Set the large base on a flat tray. Use a generous amount of chocolate to glue the circular base to one end of the support stand tube. Use more chocolate to glue the other end of the support stand tube to the other, larger base. Be sure the chocolate has set completely and the stand is sturdy before you set anything on top of it.
• If you would like to use a potato masher or a slotted spatula, first place an acetate or parchment sheet on the work surface, then place the utensil on top of the paper. Using an offset spatula, spread a layer of white chocolate over the utensil (filling the holes) and onto the acetate sheet. Carefully, lift off the utensil. Allow the chocolate to set then use an offset spatula to carefully spread a layer of dark chocolate over the white chocolate texture. Allow the chocolate to set. Use a sharp knife or cutter to cut the chocolate into interesting shapes.
• Use these same techniques for any other textured mat and create more interesting pieces for the centerpiece.
• To assemble the centerpiece, use the chocolate to glue the various shapes into place. Use your eye as a guide to create an interesting design. A nice thing to do is to place a cake on the stand and distribute petit fours around the base of the centerpiece. You can also decorate with fresh fruit to add color.
• How to Temper Chocolate (From Dessert Circus, Extraordinary Desserts You Can Make At Home by Jacques Torres):
• Chocolate is tempered so that after it has been melted, it retains its gloss and hardens again without becoming chalky and white (that happens when the molecules of fat separate and form on top of the chocolate). There are a variety of ways to temper.
• One of the easiest ways to temper chocolate is to chop it into small pieces and then place it in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time on high power until most of the chocolate is melted. Be very careful not to overheat it. (The temperature of dark chocolate should be between 88 and 90 degrees F, slightly warmer than your bottom lip. It will retain its shape even when mostly melted. White and milk chocolates melt at a temperature approximately 2 degrees F less because of the amount of lactose they contain.) Any remaining lumps will melt in the chocolate's residual heat. Use an immersion blender or whisk to break up the lumps. Usually, chocolate begins to set, or crystallize, along the side of the bowl. As it sets, mix those crystals into the melted chocolate to temper it. A glass bowl retains heat well and keeps the chocolate tempered longer.
• Another way to temper chocolate is called seeding. In this method, add small pieces of unmelted chocolate to melted chocolate. The amount of unmelted chocolate to be added depends on the temperature of the melted chocolate, but is usually 1/4 of the total amount. It is easiest to use an immersion blender for this, or a whisk.
• The classic way to temper chocolate is called tabliering. Two thirds of the melted chocolate is poured onto a marble or another cold work surface. The chocolate is spread out and worked with a spatula until its temperature is approximately 81 degrees F. At this stage, it is thick and begins to set. This tempered chocolate is then added to the remaining non-tempered chocolate and mixed thoroughly until the mass has a completely uniform temperature. If the temperature is still too high, part of the chocolate is worked further on the cold surface until the correct temperature is reached. This is a lot of work, requires a lot of room, and makes a big mess.
• A simple method of checking tempering, is to apply a small quantity of chocolate to a piece of paper or to the point of a knife. If the chocolate has been correctly tempered, it will harden evenly and show a good gloss within a few minutes.

HONEYCOMB CUPCAKES CENTERPIECE

Steps:

• For the almond bees: Fill a piping bag with a very small round tip with the chocolate. Pipe 2 eyes side by side on the rounder end of each almond, followed by 3 crosswise stripes starting in the middle of the almond down to the narrower end. Attach 2 sliced almonds (like wings) to the top chocolate stripe (the one closest to the eyes). Repeat to make 18 almond bees total. Allow to dry.
• For the sugar cookies: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Beat the butter and both sugars in another medium bowl with a handheld electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing until fully incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture and continue beating just until the dough comes together, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Divide the dough in half, pat into discs, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
• Generously flour a clean work surface. Gently roll out the chilled dough to about 3/8-inch thick. Cut 24 cookies using a 2 1/4-inch hexagon cookie cutter, working quickly so that the dough stays chilled. (If the dough has become too soft, transfer to the refrigerator on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill again for 30 minutes.) Place the cookies on ungreased baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them. Lightly dust off any excess flour with a dry pastry brush. Refrigerate the formed cookies for at least 30 minutes. (Excess dough can be gathered together, pressed into a disc, chilled and rerolled.)
• Bake the cookies until the bottoms are golden, about 10 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. If not using right away, cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
• For the decorative cookie border: To create the honeycomb shapes on your sugar cookies, roll the yellow fondant out and cut out 24 hexagon shapes with a 2 1/4-inch hexagon cutter.
• Place a 1 1/4-inch hexagon cutter in the center of your existing fondant hexagon shape and press. Remove the center piece.
• Thinly frost the cookies with some buttercream. Place a cut-out hexagon fondant border on each cookie.
• Mix the clear and yellow sanding sugars together, and then fill the inner space of the cookies with the mixed sugar. Flip the cookies over to shake out any excess sanding sugar. Reserve the remaining sugar mixture for the cupcakes.
• To assemble the cupcakes: Frost the vanilla mini cupcakes with some buttercream using a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Sprinkle with some of the sanding sugar mixture. Garnish 12 of the mini cupcakes with 1 almond bee. Reserve the additional 6 bees to garnish the honeycomb cookie cupcakes.
• Frost the standard-size frangipane cupcakes with some buttercream using a mini offset spatula.
• Dip the outside edges of the frosted cupcakes into the mixed sanding sugar and place the hexagon sugar cookies on top.
• To build the honeycomb structure: Place 14 of the standard-size cupcakes in a hexagonal honeycomb pattern. Stack 7 more cupcakes, making a second tier in the honeycomb pattern, saving 3 cupcakes to put on the top tier.
• Scatter 20 mini cupcakes (including 8 with the almond bees) around the base of the honeycomb structure. Garnish the structure with the remaining 4 mini cupcakes with almond bees. Then arrange the remaining 6 bees on the tops of the hexagon cookies.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F and position a rack in the middle of the oven. Line one 12-cup standard muffin tin or two 24-cup mini-muffin tins with cupcake liners.
• Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl.
• In another medium bowl, beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until light and foamy, about 2 minutes. While beating, gradually pour in the butter and then the vanilla.
• While mixing slowly, add half the dry ingredients. Then add all the milk and follow with the rest of the dry ingredients. Take care not to overmix the batter. Divide the batter evenly in the prepared tin.
• Bake until a tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, rotating the tin about halfway through, 18 to 20 minutes (10 to 12 minutes for minis). Cool the cupcakes on a rack in the tin for 10 minutes, and then remove from the tin. Cool on the rack completely. Decorate as desired.
• Bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a heatproof stand mixer's bowl above the water.
• Add the sugar, lemon juice, salt and egg whites to the mixing bowl, and whisk together by hand. Set the bowl above the boiling water and whisk until the mixture is warm to the touch and the sugar completely dissolves. Transfer to the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat at medium-high speed until cool and the whites hold stiff peaks, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Toss in a couple of chunks of butter at a time, making sure the pieces are incorporated before adding more. After all the butter is added, continue whisking on medium-high speed. The mixture will deflate and appear curdled. Continue whisking until the buttercream comes back together to form a smooth and spreadable consistency. Slowly drizzle in the optional flavoring while beating until smooth and light. (If the frosting is very soft or begins to break, refrigerate until set but still spreadable and then beat until light before using.)
• Chocolate:
• Remove the buttercream from the stand mixer into a large bowl and, in three batches, fold in 6 ounces melted and cooled bittersweet chocolate.
• Citrus:
• Stir in the zest of half a lemon or orange.
• Boozy:
• Stir in 2 tablespoons coffee-flavored liqueur and 1 tablespoon vodka.
• Pulse 4 tablespoons soft unsalted butter, 1 large egg, 3 tablespoons each almond paste, sugar and cake flour, and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract in a food processor until very smooth. Scrape out into a small baking dish and spread into an even layer. Freeze until firm, about 1 hour. Scoop 12 slightly heaping tablespoonfuls and roll into balls. Return to the freezer until firm again, about 30 minutes. Make batter for Go-To Vanilla Cupcakes (recipe above) and fill the bottom of each liner with a heaping tablespoonful of batter. Place 1 ball of frangipane in the center of each and divide the remaining batter among the liners to top. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes.