Star Wars

Cakes, Chocolate, Desserts, Doughnuts, Holidays, Star Wars

Star Wars Mini Doughnuts – Part I: Stormtroopers & Ewoks

May 4, 2016May 4, 2017by thebusyspatula10 Comments

Well it’s here, Star Wars Day! Every year I try to make some sort of Star Wars themed food to celebrate Star Wars Day. In case you didn’t know, it’s on May 4^th because it plays on the phrase, “May the force be with you”. Get it? Like “May the Fourth be with you?” What I love the most about Star Wars is how it is intergenerational and timeless. Plus, there are so many characters and worlds that it’s hard to become bored with the series.
After talking about hybrid food that involves doughnuts in my last post, I could not get them out of my head. But of course I couldn’t just make regular doughnuts; I had to try my hand at decorating doughnuts. To make them even cuter, I went down a size to mini doughnuts. It was tough to figure out which characters to do because there are so many to choose from, but I decided to go with the classics: Yoda, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, Stormtroopers and Ewoks.
I think if the doughnuts were bigger, it would’ve been easier to do the details but since they were tiny, it was pretty time consuming to do everything. I was working with teeny tiny holes in my piping bag that kept clogging up with chocolate that hardened too quickly and tiny black pearl eyes that wouldn’t stay on the faces. And because they have more detail than I originally expected, I’m breaking up the post into two parts: a how to of Stormtroopers and Ewoks on this one, and Princess Leia, Yoda and Chewbacca on the next one.
The doughnut recipe I used tastes like a classic old fashioned doughnut thanks to the ground nutmeg. Fresh ground nutmeg is key here. As someone who is guilty of buying a whole jar of spice for one recipe and then never touching it again for years, I highly recommend you buy the nutmeg whole since it will last you pretty much forever (as long as you keep it in a cool, dry place). The recipe I used will make a small batch, so small that you can use a simple hand held mixer for it. Oh, and remember not to overfill your pan or your doughnut will not look like a doughnut. It will look more like a tiny bunt cake. Once they’re covered in chocolate, they taste like the highly addictive Pop’ems. They’re addictive and so easy to eat, it’s a little dangerous.
Disposable piping bags and plastic cups are your best friends for this project, especially if you plan on tackling more than two characters in one time. Melted chocolate is so annoying to clean off, it’s just not worth the pain if you have to wash off more than 6 colors worth of bowls. The part of me that cares about the environment did cry a little, but in the end laziness and convenience won out. 🙂

Here are some other Star Wars posts that I’ve done:
BB-8 Cake Pops
Star Wars Rebel Party
Star Wars Day 2014

Star Wars Mini Doughnuts – Part I: Stormtroopers & Ewoks

For the Stormtrooper Doughnuts:

You will need:

mini doughnuts (recipe below)
white candy melts
black candy melts
silver dragées

Instructions:

Melt white candy melts in a small cup, or a bowl.
Dip one side of doughnut into the melted candy melt. (as shown in picture #1)
Place two small dots of black candy melt on the bottom half of the doughnut. (as shown in picture #2)
Before the black candy melt sets, put two small silver dragees on it. (as shown in picture #3)
Draw a thin horizontal line in the middle of the doughnut with the black candy melt. (as shown in picture #4)
Draw a black thin horizontal line on the top of the doughnut, about an eight of the way down. (as shown in picture #5)
Draw two black semi circles below the black top line. (as shown in picture #6)
Draw a small black triangle in between the two semi circles. (as shown in picture #7)
Mix a little of the black candy melt into the white candy melt to make a gray candy melt.
Place two stripes on either side of the doughnut. (as shown in picture #8)
Place two small dots on either side of the small triangle. (as shown in picture #9)

For the Ewok Doughnuts:

You will need:

mini doughnuts (recipe below)
light brown candy melts
orange candy melts
brown candy melts
black pearls
gray candy melts

Instructions:

Dip the top half of the doughnut into a cup/bowl of melted light brown candy melt. (as shown in picture #1)
Once the light brown candy melt sets, dip the bottom half of the doughnut into a cup/bowl of melted orange candy melt. (as shown in picture #1)
Once the orange candy melt sets, dip the outer top half of the doughnut into melted orange candy melt. (as shown in picture #2)
Pipe a small round of brown candy melt in the center of the top of the doughnut. (as shown in picture #2)
While the candy melt sets, pipe small round dots of brown candy melt on parchment paper.
Attach the small brown dots to the top of the doughnut. (as shown in picture #3)
Place two small dots of brown candy melts and place two black pearls (as shown in picture #4)
Pipe one long curve and three short lines along the curve with gray candy melt. (as shown in picture #5)

Classic Baked Doughnut Recipe
makes about 3 dozen mini doughnuts

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
¼ c. granulated sugar
3 tbsp. brown sugar
1 large egg
¾ tsp. baking powder
⅛ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. fresh ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 ⅓ c. all-purpose flour
½ c. whole milk

Instructions:

Preheat oven 350˚F. Spray non-stick cooking spray on your mini doughnut pan.
In a medium bowl, whip butter, vegetable oil, and both sugars with a hand-held mixer until smooth.
Mix in egg and milk until completely combined.
Stir in baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, salt and vanilla.
Stir in flour until smooth, do not over mix.
In a piping bag, fitted with a medium round tip, fill each doughnut cavity about ½ full.
Bake 5-7 minutes until the doughnuts spring back when you touch it. Do not wait until the doughnut is golden brown, you will over bake it.
Let cool in pan about 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to completely cool.
Repeat steps 6-8 until all of the batter is used.

Doughnut recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour.

Cake Pops, Cakes, Desserts, Star Wars, Vanilla

BB-8 Cake Pops

September 17, 2015September 17, 2015by thebusyspatula6 Comments

If you’ve been a reader of my blog, you would know that I’m kind of a Star Wars fan. If you haven’t, you might want to check out a couple of parties I’ve thrown (here and here). So you can imagine how excited I am for the next installment to the Star Wars Series. (Very.)
I swear I got goosebumps the first time I saw the trailer. But what caught my eye the most was the glimpse of the new droid, BB-8. At first, I thought it was a head rolling on a soccer ball, but it’s not. It’s a droid and a really cute one too. When I saw that they released a BB-8 droid, I was very tempted to buy it. But then what would I do with it? It would probably sit there collecting dust or I could make Bear chase it around. I think I would rather put the money towards a new pair of shoes. But then again, it’s like a functioning mini droid. Ahh… first world problems.

So I built myself a mini droid of my own, a cake pop. A ridiculous, time-consuming but adorable cake pop. Now, if I can only get it to roll around on its own…

BB-8 Cake Pops

You will need:
1 batch of vanilla cake (or boxed cake if you prefer)
1 batch of vanilla frosting (or canned frosting if you prefer)
cake pop sticks
white candy melts
gray fondant
blue fondant
orange fondant
black fondant
water, to attach the fondant
thin paintbrush
silver shimmer dust (edible)
vodka
x-acto knife (highly recommended to cut out tiny shapes)

Crumble cake to cake crumbs and add in frosting ¼ c. at a time, until you get a play dough consistency. You want to make sure you work in the frosting completely, and that every crumb is mixed evenly.
With ¾ of the cake dough, roll 1 ½ tablespoon sized balls. With the ¼ of the cake dough, roll 1 tablespoon sized balls. Chill thoroughly.
Remove from fridge and using floss or a sharp knife, cut the 1 tablespoon sized balls in half (this is the head).
On a cake pop stick, insert the half sphere cake ball followed by the round 1½ tablespoon sized cake ball. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 1)
Melt white candy melts and coat the entire cake pop completely.
Set it to the side to dry and set. Continue with other cake pops until all of them are coated. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 2)
From this point forward, use the thin paintbrush and water to glue the fondant pieces onto the cake pop.
Cut out a thin gray stripe of fondant and wrap around the top of the cake pop. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 3)
Round out a pea-sized black fondant and shape it to a hemisphere and attach it slightly below the center of the gray stripe. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 4)
Cut out a very thin orange stripe of fondant and wrap around below the gray fondant stripe stopping at the upper third part of the black fondant. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 5)
Round out a small head of a pin sized black fondant and attach it diagonally from the pea sized black fondant. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 6)
Cut out a very thin gray stripe and wrap around the circumference of the head of BB-8. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 7)
Cut out tiny squares and rectangles from the orange fondant and attach it above the very thin gray stripe, on the outer third of the cake pop. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 8)
Use a small dab of blue fondant and attach it below the pea sized black fondant. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 9)
Cut out ¾ in. circles and cut out an “x” shape in the center. Attach it to the bottom left hand corner of the cake pop. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 10)
Attach another circle to the upper right hand corner of the cake pop, cutting out the top portion. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 11)
Cut out a small orange stripe and attach it to the bottom right hand corner of the cake pop. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 12)
Using the gray fondant, cut out a small pea sized gray circle. Cut into thirds and place inside the center of the orange circle on the left hand corner. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 13)
Cut out two small triangles and place on the opposite ends of the small gray circle. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 14)
Cut out some random stripes of thin gray fondant and place on the center of the orange circle in the upper right hand corner. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 15)
Cut out small gray circle and place in center of orange circle in the lower right hand corner. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 16)
Cut out thin gray fondant stripes, and connect orange circles. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 17)
Using tiny pieces of gray fondant, dot the corners of the gray fondant stripes, making “rivets”. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 18)
Using a very thin strip of gray fondant, outline the smaller black dot on the head. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 19)
Mix few droplets of vodka into the silver shimmer to create edible silver paint.
Using a very thin brush, paint the gray fondant of the cake pop to give it a metallic sheen. You can also give a swipe of paint to the black circles to give it dimension. (As shown in the picture above. Picture 20)

Cookies, Desserts, Disney, Holidays, Macarons, Parties, Star Wars, Vanilla

Christmas Wreath Macarons

December 11, 2014March 25, 2015by thebusyspatula8 Comments

Am I the only person that thinks that Christmas snuck upon us this year? I feel like I was waiting forever for Thanksgiving and then BAM! Christmas is right around the corner. (Did anyone else think of this Friends’ scene when they read BAM?) I’ve been dreaming of these macarons since December started and I finally had a chance to bake them earlier this week.
Is it cold where you live? It’s been freezing in NJ and I am not used to working in a cooler kitchen. The weather must’ve been super dry because my macaron shells set before I was able to place my sprinkles, hence the little cracks in the shell where I tried to force each sprinkle in with a pair of tweezers (kitchen-use-only-tweezers). I have to admit I was getting quite frustrated with making them and then this happened:
Here are my attempts at his mug shots.
The thing is, Bear, my cat loves to watch me bake and prep food on the kitchen table. He demands to sit on his own chair and Petey (my other cat) was occupying Bear’s usual space. Fed up with watching from the floor, he decided to get up close and onto the table where the trays of macarons were drying. If you don’t know already, macaron batter is sticky and it took forever to get the green goo out of his tiny paws. Not to mention the trail of green batter on the floor he left when he ran away from me.
Despite my frustrations making this particular recipe, I think the macarons would make a cute addition to any cookie platter and add a bit of holiday flair. You can also change up the look of the macaron with different sprinkles. Just make sure you put them on before the shells dry out. If you don’t, they’ll just bounce off like hail on cement pavement.

Christmas Wreath Macarons

Ingredients:

212 g. almond meal
212 g. powdered sugar
172 g. egg whites, divided to 82 g. and 90 g (aged, if possible)
236 g. sugar
158 g. water
green gel food color
various sprinkles

Instructions:

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats.
In the bowl of a food processor, add the almond meal and powdered sugar and pulse until thoroughly combined.
Sift the mixture over a large mixing bowl, throwing out the lumps as they appear. Add 82 g. of the egg whites and stir until you get a thick mixture.
In a small pot attached with a candy thermometer, combine the sugar and water over medium heat and boil until the syrup reaches 200˚F.
Once the syrup reaches 200˚F, start whipping the remaining 90 g. in the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment on medium speed until soft peaks are reached.
Once the syrup reaches 248 degrees, remove the pot off the burner and slowly pour the syrup down the side of the mixing bowl with the egg whites on medium speed.
Once the egg whites are fully incorporated, increase the speed to medium high until egg whites form glossy, stiff peaks. Add two drops of the green gel food color and mix until batter turns a bright shade of green.
Mix a ⅓ of the egg white mix to the almond mixture and stir together until the batter is slightly lighter and less pasty. From then on, fold in ⅓ of the egg white mixture at a time until the mixture “flows like magma”. The mixture should be smooth and run thick ribbons off the spatula.
With a pastry bag fitted with a ¼ in. plain tip, pipe a ring of macaron batter leaving the hole in the center as wide as possible. (If you do not, it will close up when the macaron bakes.)
Before the batter dries, place your sprinkles in the desired area.
The piped batter may have peaks but should smooth away in a minute or two. Let the batter stand until the tops of the macaron batter are dry to the touch, about 30 mins to 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 275-325˚F. If your oven tends to run hot go for 275˚, if not then 325˚.
Bake 10-13 minutes, until the feet are formed and the tops are smooth. The batter is done when you slightly wiggle it and it starts to come off of the parchment paper / silicone mat.
Let cool and fill.

Basic Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients:
2 c. whole milk
½ c. flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 1b. (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 c. sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Instructions:

In a saucier pan, put milk, salt and flour and whisk until combined on medium heat.
Continuously whisk mixture until thickened to a pudding like consistency.
Once thickened, strain through a mesh strainer into a bowl with a spatula to remove lumps.
Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the flour mixture and put into the fridge until fully cool.
In a mixer bowl fitted with the whisk attachment, mix the sugar and butter on high speed until fluffy and pale about, 5-10 minutes.
Add the chilled flour mixture and continue to whip on high speed until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is no longer gritty, about 5-10 minutes.
Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.

*Basic macarons adapted from Bouchon Bakery by Thomas Keller, Sebastien Rouxel.

Appetizers, Chocolate, Cookies, cupcakes, Desserts, Dinner, Disney, Meat, Mexican, Parties, Star Wars

Star Wars Rebels Party

December 4, 2014March 25, 2015by thebusyspatula9 Comments

It’s been a while. With Thanksgiving and prepping for Step 3’s, life has been hectic! I feel a mix of regret and sorrow that I missed out on all things fall for the blog. But, it has fast forwarded to December which means that the holidays are here and that translates to holiday goodies. But before we get started on all things Christmas, let’s get to the Rebels Party.

As someone who has watched the Star Wars movies exclusively, I was skeptical when the hype for Star Wars Rebels rose out of midair. But after watching one episode (which led to another and another…), I have to say that I’ve fallen in love with the characters and the story line. There is just the right mix of darkness and humor for all ages to enjoy.

So when Mr. L approached me about doing another Star Wars party, I couldn’t say no. (This is the second Star Wars themed party to be featured on the blog. The first one is linked here.)

We drew inspiration from Lothal, the planet where the rebels operate. Lothal is apparently the name of a real city in India and one of the characters, Ezra, really reminds me of Aladdin. Coincidence?? I think not. Anyways, a bit of yellow turf, clay mountains and a modified Lego Space Needle, made a cute tablescape that was reminiscent of the real thing.

As always, there was food with punny names.

Inquisitortilla Chips with Dual Dip (Inquisitor Tortilla Chips with Dual Dip)
Sa-Bean Burritos (Sabine Burritos)
22 Pickup-Cakes (22 Pickup Cupcakes)
Chopper Salad
“Zeb” Orrelios Oreos
TIE Lettuce Wraps
Kanan Lightsaber Kebabs
Jogan Fruit Juice
Hoth2O (A nod to the original series)
The Entire Spread

It was really fun hanging out with friends, eating good food and watching the special broadcast of “Spark of Rebellion” with the extended scene. Everyone went home with a goodie bag filled with Star Wars themed candy and a figure. Of course I got the one figure I didn’t want, the imperial commander. Boo.

Appetizers, Cakes, Chicken, Chocolate, Desserts, Dinner, Drinks, Fruit, Holidays, Parties, Pie, Pies, Soup, Star Wars

Star Wars Day 2014

May 6, 2014March 24, 2015by thebusyspatula12 Comments

This is the third year I’ve hosted a Star Wars Day party. It involves good food with punny names, watching SW movies and SW themed board games. The first SW party I threw was just a small surprise for a special someone but through the years it’s evolved into a bigger celebration. I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of Star Wars, but I can say that I love throwing themed parties. So in a way, I do love Star Wars Day.
This year‘s party theme was Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, so all of the food and activities were centered on Episode 1 characters and settings. Here are the things we made for SW Day*:
The centerpiece of the table was my Darth Maul-ble Cake, a marble cake with chocolate frosting and a chocolate transfer of Darth Maul. There was a small chorus of “wows” when I revealed it. Chocolate transfers can take a bit of time, but it is straight forward and simple to do. I used the same technique for this piece and it turned out fabulous.
I think Darth Maul is quite scary. To be completely honest, I got a wee bit frightened trying to find the right photo for the transfer. Filling in the chocolate parts was no walk in the park either, he was just as scary. I know it sounds silly, but if your imagination runs as wild as mine does I’m sure you understand. Revenge of the Six-th indeed. 🙂
Darth Maul-ble Cake

You will need:

1 Chocolate Marble Cake – Recipe Below
1 Batch of Chocolate Frosting – Can be found here
Black Candy Melts
Red Candy Melts
Yellow Candy Melts
White Candy Melts
A mirrored image of this printout in a black circle

Instructions:

Tape the printout onto a baking sheet or any desired flat surface.
Tape a piece of parchment paper over the printout making sure it covers the entire image.
Melt a small amount of black, red, yellow and white candy melts (do not meld the colors together).
Remember, chocolate transfers are all about layering. Each time you fill out the next step, you will be going over the previously filled portion.
Using either a toothpick or a piping bag fitted with either a #1 or #2 round tip, fill in the pupil of the eye with the black candy melt. (As shown in the above photo.)
Mix the yellow and white candy melt to get a light ivory hue for the horns. Fill in. (As shown in the above photo.)
Once the pupil is set, fill in the iris with the yellow candy melt. Let set. (As shown in the above photo.)
The outer edge of the iris has a red outline. Carefully, trace a red border around the yellow candy melt. Let set. (As shown in the above photo.)
Fill in the sclera with the white candy melt. (As shown in the above photo.)
Fill in the white edge of the hood while the sclera sets. (As shown in the above photo.)
Using the red candy melt, start filling in the mask like patterns on the face. Try not to lose the detailed edges because that’s what makes the image pop. (As shown in the above photo.)
Once the red candy melt is set, melt some black candy melts. Make sure it is not piping hot because you will lose some detail if it is.
Smooth over the entire circumference with the black candy melts. Let completely set.
Place on top of frosted cake and you’re done!

Chocolate Marble Cake

Ingredients:
1⅔ c. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. kosher salt
4 oz. unsalted butter, melted
1 c. sugar
1 egg, room temp
¼ c. Greek yogurt
¾ c. + 1 tbsp. milk, divided
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¼ c. unsweetened cocoa powder

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350˚F and prep a 9” cake pan by coating it with nonstick spray and lining the bottom with parchment paper.
Mix melted butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until combined.
Add the egg, Greek yogurt, ¾ c. milk and 1 tsp. vanilla extract to the butter mixture and mix until homogenous.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and fold until smooth.
Transfer ½ of the mixture to another bowl, mix in 1 tbsp. milk and cocoa powder until a thick chocolate batter forms.
Put half of the vanilla batter into the prepared cake pan and spread out.
Pour all of the chocolate batter on top of the vanilla mixture.
Pour the rest of the vanilla batter over the chocolate batter.
Using a toothpick or a butter knife, make swirls all over the cake. Be careful not to over swirl, or you will lose the marbling.
Bake 18-25 minutes until golden brown or a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.