The Boho Kitchen is Busy!

Well! So sorry to have been away for so long. I promise, its only good news! The Boho Kitchen has been super busy with orders and markets. Lots of news on our end.

First thing is first, you can now buy The Boho Kitchen cupcakes and assorted treats on Fridays at Walsh's Shop in the square in Portlaw. Get there early as they sell out quick! I'm looking for other shops and cafes to supply with a few in the pipelines so watch this space for updates.

Also, check out the new website! Hopefully this will be easier to navigate than searching through the blog here alone. http://www.thebohokitchen.com

Next, we ARE going to be at Savour Kilkenny.

But, only on Sunday, October 24th. I couldn't manage two full market days worth of baking at that time of the month. Look for our stall! Lots of goodies.

Lastly, Christmas is upon us. I, like many business, must accept this early in the year so I can provide you the best service! We are now taking advance orders for decorated shortbread sugar cookies and christmas fruit cakes. These make great gifts and we giftwrap!! Contact us via the website, email me at bohokitchen@gmail.com or ring/text 0879524926. Delivery is free within most of Waterford and the surrounding areas.
I'm out of town from December 2nd - 16th to visit my folks over in America. So! Deliver is available before and after this time. I will be able to receive orders during this time so keep in touch guys.

Some recent cakes! Click the thumbnail and it will link to the larger picture on our Facebook Fan page:

Fun cakes for fun times!

I had a chance to do a couple fun/cartoony cakes recently, though I'd share them.




And cupcakes!

Color swirls

Looking for something fun for your next party? Color swirls!

Cupcakes! and the 1M swirl

I recently had an order of four dozen cupcakes for a 30th birthday. I was thrilled as I've just received my 1M wilton tip and I wanted to see how wonderful these swirls would turn out. The hype turned out to be worth indulging!

Beautiful. I look forward to icing cupcakes with this tip on site at upcoming markets!

A traditional, simple wedding cake

Firstly, sorry for the lack of recipes lately. I promise some pancakes this week. I found the best buttermilk pancake recipe to make for breakfast this morning. You see, my firstborn bouncing baby girl turned 3 today. Yes, 3. I'll refrain from saying "terrible three" even though the last few weeks have given some truth to that nickname. Two was easy. However, all the things that make three hard are what make three beautiful, and what make Jane a funny, clever, and intelligent individual.

Anywho, enough about my personal life, on to what I know you care about most. Cake.
I recently did three cakes and an additional individual gluten free cake for a friend's boyfriend's brother's wedding (get that?). I didn't place the cake on the stand but did deliver to the mother of the groom in the beautiful Maryborough House in Douglas, Cork.

I will always take wedding cake orders. I don't do cakes for a flawless appearance-- before that comes out wrong, I only mean to warn off brides would would wish to purchase a flawless, expensive, but tasteless cake easily carved into a perfect block. It's important to be that my cakes are delicious and moist. My wedding cakes are delicious and reasonably priced.

Topper was provided by the bride and groom.






The top tier was chocolate, the middle vanilla and the larger bottom cake was a traditional fruit cake. All but the fruit cake were layered with buttercream and then crumbcoated in white chocolate ganache. The fruit cake was covered in almond paste and all cakes had a final layer of marshmallow fondant.
Each cake is wrapped in ribbon chosen by the client with flat bows and topped with handmade ribbon roses provided by me and placed on the cake by the client.

Dunmore East Food, Fish and Fun Festival

I've been neglecting my followers but I have to admit, its been a busy month. We've finished the remodel on our kitchen, and just in time for an incredibly sucessful run at the Dunmore East Food, Fish and Fun Festival. We set up as the sun broke through the clouds and spent the whole day meeting lots of interesting people and making new friends through the sinful spread of fudge brownies, white chocolate and pecan blondies, cupcakes freshly iced, chocolate chip and sugar cookies and cherry crumble bars. Can't wait for our next day out under the gazebo. By then we're hoping to have a more flashy set up! Big thanks to Nancy Cox, a fellow US expat who helped me out all day for the price of a delicious plate of paella from Azzuro.

I wish I could update better on the festival but I was so busy spreading sweet treat love that my only views were on a single bathroom trip and waiting in line for my lunch! I'm ashamed I missed out on all the great other vendors out on the day.

One of our cakes here from The Boho Kitchen was also seen recently in an issue of the Waterford News and Star for the grand opening of An Croch Amach, a new youth cafe in Kilmacthomas, County Waterford.

We've had quite a few cakes in the last few weeks, check them out at picasa.

Woman's Best Friend, too!

Unconventional Christening Cake

Your baby's cake needs no frills or pastels, go bold!

Cupcakes for your next occasion?

Next time a birthday or special event rolls around, consider a dozen or more decorated cupcakes. You can keep them as simple as these, or we can personalize them with whatever you'd like! The most important thing, these American-style cupcakes are moist and delicious, topped with vanilla buttercream.

A whole spread of cupcakes, instead of cake!

New Cakes from March

Have had a few more cakes come in, still need to improve my photo skills. I'm lucky enough the last cake went to a friend who takes good pictures, so I snagged it. I'm loving the chocolate cake orders, mostly because I'm aware how utterly delicious my chocolate cake is.



Click the thumbnails to see larger images:

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Made by request for my friend's daughter's third birthday. Not everyday someone wants a baby goat cake! This is just about the tastiest chocolate cake on the planet. Super moist, my go-to chocolate cake. Below is the recipe for both the cake and the icing.



Chocolate Buttermilk Cake
adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1 ts pbaking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used sunflower)
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C
Grease 2 8-10 inch round cake pans. I used spring form.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.

In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry.

With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool completely in pans.



Chocolate Ganache Frosting
Ingredients
4 ounces of 60% or higher dark chocolate
1 cup cream
a pinch of salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Chop chocolate roughly or break into pieces and place it with the cream in a heat proof bowl or pan over another pan full of boiling water (or a double boiler if you have one). Stir until its all melted. There will be a point when you get worried about the flakey bits floating in cream, but they will all melt eventually and you'll have a creamy looking bowl of chocolate.

Remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Cut up room temperature butter and mix it on high with the chocolate, vanilla and icing sugar until fluffy.

It might appear to runny, but don't worry. Refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. It'll stiffen. If you leave it in the fridge, a quick pop in the microwave will also make it spreadable again. This stuff would make excellent truffles. SO, so tasty a few days later left in the fridge!

Apple Cake for a Birthday?

It's my partner Cormac's birthday. He's turning 21, again, of course ;). He requested an "apple pie or cake thingy whatever". So, I figured as long as I used up the apples in the kitchen I'd be fine.

Apple Cake with Oatmeal Crumble
adapted from The Knead for Bread Apple Tart Bread

Ingredients

Cake
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup apple sauce (or any extra large apple or 2 small ones, I just happen to have some applesauce already in the fridge to use up).
3 large or large apples or 4 smaller ones sliced or cubed

Oatmeal crumble
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup oats
3 tbsp sugar (I like brown sugar, but white is fine)
1/4 tsp cinnamon (or more if you like it, I'd have 1 tsp for myself but Cormac isn't a cinnamon fan)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C

Grease a 9" or 10" round pan... I used a springform pan to make my life easier and lined it with baking paper. You could probably use a ~10" square pan.

Peel and slice your apples (if you really care, you can soak them in cold water with a few squirts of lemon juice to prevent browning but it really doesn't matter since you're just tossing them in the cake in the end).

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together.

Melt butter and leave it to cool.

In a another bowl or your mixer the eggs and sugar. Mix on high until its nearly syrupy and a bit pale colored. ~3 minutes.

Add the cool melted butter and the vanilla to the egg/sugar mix.

Add the applesauce and mix (if you have it).

Add the sliced apple pieces, mix gently until they are coated.

Add in the flour mix and mix until its well combined.

Start your crumble topping in a separate bowl. Use room temperature butter, and toss the oats, butter, sugar and cinnamon together. Squeeze it together until it forms pebbles of crumble topping.

Pour into your greased pan, sprinkle on the crumble topping, stick it in your oven for 50 minutes.

Happy Valentine's Day with Cheesecake!

Valentine's Day is upon us and I had a request from friend for a cheesecake. The conversation mentioned both chocolate cake and cheesecake so I knew I needed to incorporate chocolate. So, while I should have been baking my dearest something for lover's day (hey, he said he wants to lose some weight anyways!), I was whipping up this amazing cheesecake. I would have loved a slice!
The cheesecake recipe I have is a basic play on a New York style cheesecake (and a cheesecake isn't a cheesecake to me unless its been baked). You can use the basic recipe and throw in whatever you'd like. Melt down some white chocolate, throw in cookie pieces (I used Oreos), pieces of candy bar or chocolate chips. Leave it plain. Go crazy. Now, if you want just cheesecake, no thick crust or topping, go to the Lindy's link below and use the full recipe. I cut it down because I wasn't aiming for a thick cake.
Crust, that's up to you. I used chocolate cookies, oreos, a bit of sugar and a bit of butter. I don't measure anything, but you can look this stuff up. I usually prefer using graham crackers for cheesecake crust.

Basic New York Style Cheesecake
adapted from Lindy's New York Cheesecake

Ingredients
600g (that was three tubs for me) of cream cheese
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
3 large eggs
1 egg yolk
2 vanilla pods, seeded (or 2 tsp vanilla... you can omit if you don't like vanilla).
4 tbsp heavy cream

Directions

Preheat that oven of yours to max. 450F, 500F, 230C, whatever you've got.
If you have a lower rack, put it on the bottom and put a pan of water in the oven.

Beat your cream cheese.
Add sugar, vanilla, flour.
Add eggs one at a time, then the egg yolk.
Add the cream.

Don't over beat, just beat it until mixed. On a low speed. If you mix it at a high speed you are going to put bubbles into your cheesecake and its going to crack in the oven.
Gently stir in your mixins, if you want any.

Pour it in a springform pan, 9 or 10". Then, run a knife through the batter in a S-shape a few times.

Put in the oven for 10 minutes. In 10 minutes, cut the oven down to 250F/120C. For one hour. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN. EVER. AT ALL. FOR THE WHOLE HOUR AND TEN. You'll crack that cheese cake.
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On my cake, I waited for it to cool, melted down some chocolate and made sure it stayed tempered, then poured it over the top of my cheesecake and put it in the fridge overnight. Perfect. The writing on my cake is in royal icing.

My daughter Jane turns 2

It's her party, and she'll stick her fingers in the hip surfboard cake mommy made for her if she wants to.



This isn't good advertising for my business! However, it was too cute not to share. She loved it, of course. She was picking out bits of marshmallow fondant to eat. I did cry though (hormones, I blame) when I saw the disaster zone, as I had been exhausted (7 months pregnant now!) and forced myself to get it done the day before so I didn't have to worry about it on the day of her party. So is life!
When the birthday girl is this cute, you forgive! We were lucky, sunshine and a great party-- and no complaints about the finger holes while everyone scoffed down the cake! This was vanilla with vanilla buttercream, two layers and covered in marshmallow fondant. Simple.

Cake for Twins

I had a first birthday cake to make for twins this weekend. This was complicated by the fact that I had to go from Friday-Sunday to a La Leche League conference. So, time had come for me to employ some of the tactics of my busier counterparts. After being very reluctant to freeze my cakes, but reading many a baker saying they often freeze on PURPOSE to improve taste, I went for it.

Baked Thursday night, froze, removed on Sunday, layered and crumb-coated with buttercream and covered with marshmallow fondant. I found clear vegetable shortening, and my god, the difference it makes in handling the fondant is unbelievable. It's ever more delicate, however. I was so tired but honestly having split up the days for decorating it wasn't as big of a task as I had thought. Each cake is three layers- one is vanilla/chocolate/vanilla and the other is chocolate/vanilla/chocolate.

The rainbows nearly came out too light, but I brushed darker royal icing over the fondant and the colors came out just how I pictured them. I really hope the customer liked the cake as she had a very clear idea how she wanted them to look and I'm unsure how close I came to what she had pictured. They are not exactly the same, but they flow together, and they are each special in their own way.

The good news is I had Cormac taste test the cakes when I cut them to shape and he said they tasted just fine (he may as well be an expert at these sort of things). I'm off sweets, as we are expect spawn #2 and they are making me feel pretty horrible. So much for the worry that all this cake making would pack on the weight!

Valentine's Day

Red Velvet Cake made for promotion at my last LLL meeting. Red marshmallow fondant, decorated with royal icing. Vanilla buttercream filling. The cake went down great and I ever got an order from it!





Red Velvet Cake
3 ½ cups cake flour (you can use AP flour, minus 2 tbsp per cup + 1 tsp baking powder)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
6 tbsp red food coloring
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar (I've used regular vinegar without issue)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. This recipe can make 2 8-9" round cakes or ~24 cupcakes.

1. Sift the cake flour.

2. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time.

3. In another bowl, whisk cocoa, red food colouring, and vanilla.
4. Add to creamed mixture.

5. Stir salt into buttermilk, add to your batter alternating with the flour.

6. Combine vinegar and baking soda and fold into your batter.

For cupcakes, bake about 20 minutes. For cakes, bake 30-40 minutes.




Cake Balls
adapted from Bakerella's Cake Balls

Red velvet cake crumbs (I used a whole 10" round cake)
8oz cream cheese
1 cup butter cream icing
(alternatively you can use one of those cans of premade cream cheese icing from the grocery store).

Mix together with your hands and refrigerate.

I melted a large bar of cadbury's milk chocolate in a double boiler, and used two spoons to cover my balls. I probably didn't use enough chocolate so they were sticking a lot. I don't like keeping extra chocolate in the house if you know what I mean!
The pink balls were melted strawberry chocolate chips from Ardkeen Food Stores.

Christening and Birthday Cake

The other cakes I made for this weekend. I had a great time making these first "for clients" cakes. These are also chocolate with buttercream filling, and covered in thick buttercream before I placed the fondant over them. I'm a little sad my fondant dried out on the christening cake-- it just took so long to roll out!

Christening Cake




Birthday Cake



Time to deliver!