Royal icing was widely used some years ago to decorate wedding cakes. Nowadays is still used to make borders and flowers but fortunately there are better materials to work with. My problem with the royal icing, even when I love the classics, is that it needs to prepared really stiff to hold shape; and let me tell you something, pressing a bag of stiff royal icing to decorate a large cake is not painless. Whenever is possible, I prefer to use decorator icing, it flows easily and stands for long time even in a warm day. However here is the recipe. Ingredients for a medium consistency royal icing 1 egg white made from meringue powder1 cup of confectioners’ sugar2 drops lemon juice Place the egg white in a large bowl along with the two drops of lemon juice. Add sieved confectioners’ sugar to the egg white a little bit at a time till the mixture becomes stiff. If it is too stiff add more egg white (a drop at a time!), if is too loose add more confectioners’ sugar. The texture comes out better if you can use an electric mixer to do this process. If the royal icing is glossy you need add a little bit of confectioner’s sugar. To make flowers and borders royal icing needs to be really stiff, add confectioners’ sugar till you obtain the desired consistency. To make floodwork: reserve some medium consistency icing for outlining and liquefy the remaining icing by stirring in drops of water. Always remember to add water drop by drop because as you will see, royal icing is very sensitive. Thank you!!

Ingredients¼ cup cold water 1 and ½ tablespoons unflavored gelatin ½ cup glucose 1 tablespoon glycerin2 tablespoons white vegetable shortening2 pounds confectioner’s sugar, sifted Almond extract

Pass the sugar through a sieve. In a saucepan combine gelatin and water let it sit five minutes to allow gelatin to hydrate. Heat the gelatin/water mixture over moderate heat (do not boil) and stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Remove from the fire; add the glycerin, glucose, vegetable shortening, almond extract. Start adding the sifted confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time until the dough is smooth and not sticky to the touch. Do not add too much sugar to prevent the fondant from becoming too dry. Wrap the dough in plastic film (cling film) and then in a zipped bag. Do not refrigerate/freeze

Thank you!!

How many times we open a package of flour and how many times do we read the labels? I don’t know you guys, but I seldom do. This afternoon I was having big fun trying to take photos of flour, a composition of flour and things related with flour, such as measuring cups, wooden cutboards and rustic ramekins. That’s how my eyes stopped by the side of the package to read the tips and trics written by the manufacturer, I was happy to refresh that helpful hints and I would love to share with you all:

Freezing flour: If you need to store flour for a long period of time, wrap the package very good in plastic film and then in a zipped plastic storage bag. Refrigerate or freeze. Bring to room temperature before using. Measuring flour: spoon it in a measuring cup and level with a knife. If you pack the flour in the cup you will end up with a larger amount of flour than the amount indicated in the recipe and the dough will come out heavy or hard.

How to make self-rising flour out of all purpose flour: for each cup of all purpose add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

How many cups are in one pound of flour: 3 and 1/3 cups per pound.

Thank you!!

This is a super easy recipe. I make it almost once a week. Is tasty, creamy, healthy and is ready to eat in as little as 30 minutes. My mom used to prepare this dish very frequently, and this recipe belongs to her vast recipe collection.

Ingredients

4 Tilapia fillets 1 and ½ cups heavy cream or ready Alfredo sauce (I prefer heavy cream) ½ cup milk 1 clove minced garlic, or one tbsp. ready minced garlic 1 tbsp. blue cheese Pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F. Arrange the fillets in a pretty “bake and serve” dish . Add just a little bit salt to the fish, you won’t need too much salt here since the blue cheese is very salty. Heat a couple of spoons of heavy cream or alfredo sauce in a saucepan; add the garlic and cook two minutes. Now add the rest of the heavy cream or alfredo sauce, salt, pepper and blue cheese. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir until the blue cheese has melted. Pour this mixture over the fillets, coating and covering them with the sauce. Bake about 15 minutes and then broil 5 to 7 minutes or until some nice crusty spots start forming.

Yields: 2 servings

Thank you!!