Gingerbread Train Part 2

To put the train together, I piped royal icing in the color I intended to frost the train with along the edge. I placed the two halves of the train together and keep them on the side for at least an hour. I smoothed the icing into any cracks where the halves did not met each other perfectly. (Wilton Royal Icing recipe)

To make the caboose:
I piped Wilton #17 rosettes on the sides of the caboose containing windows. Next, I piped royal icing where I planned on placing the caboose. (I waited until the train was ready and then placed them on the board together.) The edges were not perfect, but I piped rosettes on the ends to fill in the space.I used vanilla wafers for the wheels.

To make the trees:

I followed the Wilton instructions, but I changed a few things. Instead of using ice cream cones, I used the cones that come with the Calla Lily kit. I wrapped them with wax paper and scotch tape. If the wax paper was too large for the cone, I cut the edges off so that it was flush with the calla lily cone. I used tip #16..

I decorated some of the trees with the small round candies that came with the gingerbread village kit. Since they were difficult to pick up one by one, I used a pair of tweezers.

To make the pond:
I made a pond shape out of aluminium foil. Be sure to make a tall enough rim so that the melted Jolly Ranchers will not spill out. I sprayed the foil lightly with cooking spray. Place the aluminum foil mold on a baking sheet. I added the crushed blue Jolly Ranchers to the foil and distributed them evenly. They were baked at 350F until melted. I removed the baking sheet from the oven and let cool. When cool, I placed the baking sheet in a refrigerator. (When the candy is really cold it is easier to remove the foil.) When I was ready to place the pond on the display board, I carefully remove the aluminum foil.

Wilton Tips used:

#4 for the icicles on the houses

#32 for gold trim on train

#18 for rosette trims on houses

#17 for the body of the train

#16 gold trim for the train

Gingerbread Train Part 1

Tis the season for baking! What better way to start than with gingerbread? The  recipe I used is from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Gingerbread-House-103229 with some modifications. 

I roughly halved the recipe and used vanilla instead of ginger. It may not be called gingerbread anymore, but it's still yummy!

3 3/8 cups of flour

¾ teaspoon cinnamon

¾ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla*

½ cup (1 stick) of butter

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

½ cup molasses

Sift the flour, cinnamon, and baking soda; set aside. Cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy using an electric mixer. Add each egg, mixing thoroughly before adding the next one. Add the vanilla and the molasses and beat on high speed until well blended. Add the dry ingredients in four additions and beat on low speed until a dough forms. If the dough is a little dry, you can knead it for a few minutes by hand for it to come together into a ball. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours. (I refrigerated it overnight.)

**Be careful if you use a handheld mixer because the dough will be fairly stiff and may burn out the motor.**

For the train I used the Wilton 3D Choo-Choo Pan. First, I greased the pan by using a paper towel to wipe shortening throughout the inside. Next, I rolled out the gingerbread to a size larger than the pan. I also rolled the gingerbread  a little thicker than usual. This allowed the dough to maintain all the detail of the train pan. If you roll the gingerbread out as thin as you would for cookies, the train will still be structurally sound -- it's just easier to push the dough into the crevices of the pan if the dough is a little thicker because it is less likely to break. Since I didn’t know which thickness was better, I tried both. As you can see from the pictures, when the dough was rolled out a little thicker, it bubbled when it was baking. To counteract this you could either push down on the dough when you take it out of the oven using a spoon or fork or when you are baking it you could use pie weights or beans.

Left-Thicker dough,  Right Thinly rolled dough

The gingerbread is ready when you can see it starting to pull away from the pan. I let the pan cool for a few minutes and then flipped it out on to a baking sheet. After it came out of the pan, I flipped it back in to finish cooling. I flipped it out while it was still warm because I didn’t want the gingerbread to get too cold and get stuck in the pan. I then put it back in the pan and let it cool there so it would retain its shape.

For the train car I used a 6in square pan. I greased the pan with shortening and also greased a strip of aluminum foil. I placed the aluminum foil where the top of the train car would be. I rolled the dough out to a size that is bigger than the pan and draped it in and cut the excess that was hanging over the edges.

Where the aluminum foil was, I cut 3 windows. I also placed strips of dough between and above the windows to reinforce them. To make the stained glass windows I place crushed Jolly Ranchers in each cut out area. I baked the gingerbread at 350 F until it was somewhat hard to the touch.

 

 
 

The Jolly Ranchers melt fairly quickly so you will have to check on the gingerbread often. If they get too hot, there will be air bubbles in your glass. To counteract that, you can take the gingerbread out, let it cool for a few minutes and then place it back in the oven. Since the gingerbread was rolled out fairly thin, it bakes quickly so you may only have to do this a few times.

**I don’t know if it is possible to bake the gingerbread and then add the Jolly Ranchers. If you try it, let me know!

When you have removed the ½ car from the pan, it will still have the aluminum foil on it. To easily remove the aluminum foil from the windows, place the ½ car in the refrigerator for a few minutes.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes

One of my favorite things about the holidays is the enormous amounts baking that is done. It's easy to know when my mom is baking a pineapple upside down cake because it fills the house with the aroma of pineapple, brown sugar, and vanilla. It's amazing. I thought it might be fun to try and replicate her cake in cupcake form.

To start, I used a golden vanilla cake mix. I beat the eggs first and added cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla extract. Instead of water I used the pineapple juice from a can of pineapple chunks. (You will need one 20 ounce can for this recipe.) I mixed in the pineapple juice and then the oil. Finally, I added the cake mix. I follow the order of eggs-water-oil as opposed to the directions on the box to ensure that the eggs are well beaten and that all the wet ingredients have been mixed together thoroughly.

I lined cupcake pans with cupcake papers. In the bottom of each paper I put a thin layer of light brown sugar. I cut a chunk of pineapple in half and then placed each piece on top of the brown sugar.

I filled the cupcake papers 2/3 of the way of batter and baked at 350F until a knife or toothpick inserted into the middle of the cupcake came out clean.

To serve you can peel the papers off of the cupcakes and flip them over on to a serving dish. Or you can serve them in the cupcake papers.

This makes between 24-28 cupcakes.

I still think my mom's cakes are best. :-)