Brunch with the Ballerina Baker

I had so much fun baking with everyone via Instagram and YouTube Live today! Thank you for joining me and thank you to ArtEmotion for inviting me to partner with them as they launch their online adult ballet summer intensive! Congrats to all those students, I hope you enjoy your week of dancing. May it bring a new sense of joy and beauty into your life. I’m posting both of the recipes that we made today and I believe that the video will be saved on ArtEmotion’s YouTube channel. Feel free to comment with any questions!

Bouree Biscotti

Ingredients:

-2 c. Almond Flour

-1/4 c. cane sugar

-1 tsp. baking powder

-1/4 tsp. salt

-2 large eggs, whisked

-2 Tbsp. coconut oil

-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

-1/4 tsp. almond extract

-1/2 c. sliced, toasted Almonds

-1/4 c. dried fruit, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Combine the Almond Flour, Sugar, Baking Powder & Salt in a medium bowl. Whisk them together.

3. Whisk the eggs together in a separate bowl. Add to the four mixture along with the coconut oil and extracts. Stir together. Then stir in the sliced almonds and chopped dried fruit.

4. Transfer the dough to a sheet of parchment paper and form a ball with your hands. Then place a sheet of parchment paper on the top if your dough ball. Roll the dough out using a rolling pin to about a 6 x 10 rectangle and 1/2” thick. Remove the parchment paper on the top and place the dough on a cookie sheet. Bake for 25-30 min until it is just stating to turn golden brown on the top.

5. Let cool for 1 hour.

6. Slice the biscotti using a serrated knife. They should be about 3/4” thick and you should have about 10 biscotti. Place the biscotti back on the parchment paper lined cookie sheet and lower the temperature of the oven to 300 F. Make sure the biscotti are placed cut side up. Bake for another 10-12 min, until it starts to turn golden brown on the bottom. Then flip the biscotti and bake for another 10-12 min, until they are golden brown on the other side!

7. Let cool and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Frothy Frappe-cino’s

Ingredients

-2 Tbsp. instant espresso powder (*must be powder form, will not work with regular espresso)

-2 Tbsp. Sugar

-2 Tbsp. hot water

-Milk of your choice

1. Combine the instant espresso powder, sugar and hot water in a small bowl. Using a hand whisk or electric hand held whisk, whip the mixture until it forms a thick whipped-cream-like substance.

2. Fill a glass 1/2-2/3 full with the milk of your choice, adding in 2-3 ice cubes. Top with the whipped coffee and stir with a straw to combine and enjoy!

Homemade Samoas

I am SO excited for today’s post! I posted these homemade Girl Scout cookies in my Instagram stories about a month ago and my DMs blew up asking for the recipe! I am thrilled to share the recipe and video for you! Let me tell you…these cookies are AMAZING! Seriously, perhaps my favorite cookies I’ve ever made. Which means you should make them too. Immediately.

In December of 2019, I began a major health change. When I was in middle school I was diagnosed with alopecia. I didn’t think much of it then. The dermatologist said that I would probably grow out of it, and to be honest, I didn’t really know what it was. However, in February of 2019, I started loosing a lot of my hair, and had multiple bald spots appearing on my head. I was really stressed out. We were in the middle of performing Swan Lake, and Nutcracker of 2018 was particularly stressful for me. Stress is a major trigger for autoimmune diseases.

My hair wasn’t growing back after 6 months like it normally did in the past. I tried seeing dermatologists which always resulted in discouragement and immense physical pain. They all told me there was no cure and the solution was steroid injections into my scalp every 4 weeks. I did not want to live that way.

I started researching autoimmune diseases and correlated diets, and I started seeing a gut specialist in Ft. Collins, CO. I completed a variety of tests, which confirmed a damaged gut microbiome. I was diagnosed with SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth). I changed from being vegan to paleo which can aid autoimmune diseases. That means no grains, no gluten, no dairy, and no legumes.

As a baker, this was devastating news! I love food! Good food. We plan whole vacations around what we will eat! I didn’t want to only eat cardboard! Thankfully the evolution of our diet has revealed delicious variety and a lot of flavor, and these Homemade Samoas are one of those discoveries!

These cookies are grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and refined sugar-free. Don’t let the absence of normal ingredients deter you! These are better than the real thing! Immunocompromised folks rejoice: we can eat cookies!

This recipe is adapted from Halfbaked Harvest’s Homemade Samoas and Danielle Walker’s Homemade Samoas. Enjoy!! xo, BB

HOMEMADE SAMOAS

Makes about 24 cookies

Shortbread:

-1 cup + 2 Tablespoons Almond Flour

-2 Tablespoons Arrowroot Powder

-1/8 teaspoon baking powder

-1/8 teaspoon sea salt

-2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup

-3 Tablespoons Vegan Butter (*I love the Miyoko’s European style Cultured Vegan Butter)

Coconut Topping:

-2 cups shredded unsweetened Coconut, toasted

-3/4 cup Maple Syrup

-1/2 cup canned full fat Coconut Cream (*use only the cream, not the coconut water in the can. This works best when you refrigerate the can of coconut milk or cream the night before you plan to make them and allow the cream to rise to the top. Then just scoop out the coconut cream!)

-1 Tablespoon Tahini (*you can also use cashew butter or almond butter, but the tahini adds such a lovely flavor to these cookies, I highly recommend you use it!)

Topping

-1 12oz. Bag of Vegan Chocolate Chips

-Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (*trust me, this will elevate these cookies to off-the-charts!)

Directions:

1. Make the Shortbread. Begin by preheating the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment.

2. In a food processor combine the almond flour, arrowroot powder, sea salt and baking powder. Pulse a few times. Then add the Maple Syrup and pulse again to combine. With the mixer on low, drop the butter in small 1 Tablespoon increments. And continue to mix until you have a ball of dough and the butter in completely incorporated. You may need to take it out and kneed a little bit by hand.

3. Use your hands to press the dough together to form a ball. Roll the ball of dough out between 2 sheets of parchment paper until it is about 1/8” thick. Using a 2” circle cookie cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. For the inner circle I used a large round piping tip. You are aiming for a donut shape. Carefully transport the cut out cookies to your baking sheet and gather your remaining scraps of dough and continue to roll out and cut as many cookies as you can.

4. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until they are just golden brown and firm. Allow them to cool.

5. While the oven is still on, place your shredded coconut on a baking sheet and toast. This takes about 5 minutes. Keep your eye on it because coconut can go from toasted to burnt in a matter of seconds! It will become fragrant and usually that is your cue for it being done!

6. Prepare the coconut topping by combining the maple syrup and coconut cream in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Boil until it has thickened (5-8 minutes). It will begin to look caramel-like in color and should coat the back of a spoon and sides of the pot as you stir. Remove from the heat and stir in the tahini. Let cool and then stir in the coconut.

7. Gently press the coconut mixture on top of the cookies and form a domed shape with your fingers. You should use about 1-2 teaspoons of coconut mixture per cookie. Place your finished cookies in the freezer for 15-20 min to chill and firm up. This will make the chocolate dipping easier!

8. Melt your chocolate in a heat proof bowl in the microwave in 30 sec increments. Pull the cookies out of the freezer and dip the bottom of the cookies in the melted chocolate, scrapping away the excess on the side of the down as you pull them out. Place them back on the baking sheet with parchment paper. Once you have dipped the bottoms, fill a pastry bag with the remaining melted chocolate and either cut a very small hole in the tip or use a piping tip that is very small, and drizzle the cookies with the chocolate. Don’t forget to sprinkle with the sea salt!

9. Eat and ENJOY! If you don’t eat them right away, these cookies store well in both the freezer for months, or the fridge for a couple of weeks.

How to Frost a Cake

Frosting a cake can be one of the hardest things! It is relatively simple, yet takes so much patience, time, and self-trust. Many variables go into frosting a cake. If the weather is too hot the buttercream won’t set; or if its too cold the buttercream can set too quickly! If you put too much pressure on the bench scrapper or turn the turn-table too fast it creates air bubbles the sides of the cake. Honestly, it will never be perfect, especially for a perfectionist like me! I could endlessly spin the turn table, smoothing out the frosting for hours. Yet it will always come out slightly different. Sometimes I just need to stop and let it be.

Frosting a cake requires a lot of practice. Give yourself grace if this the first time, or even if you have done it before. Don’t give up! Here is a little video I put together with tips and techniques to help create the smoothest sides on your cake. Feel free to comment below with any questions and I will try to help as best as I can.

Just as a note: I ALWAYS use Swiss Merengue Buttercream. I find it is the most stable (because of the egg whites), it is not as sweet like the American Buttercream, and it is light, fluffy, and delicious.

How to Make Sugar Blossoms

I am so excited to share with you all this short video on how to make sugar blossoms! Sugar blossoms are one of the easiest and quickest sugar flowers to make. If you have been interested in making your own sugar flowers this is a great flower to begin with. Even if you are an advanced sugar artist this is a wonderful flower to add to your repertoire. They are excellent filler flowers and equally standing alone.

Here are the basic tools and steps to creating gorgeous sugar blossoms at home:

You will need:

-sugar paste or gum paste (mine is homemade, I use Maggie Austin’s recipe from her book. You can also buy some off of Amazon or an online bakery supply store).

-CelPad (This is CelPad 1, it has 3 holes in it. Those holes are important for these sugar blossoms).

-CelPin (medium)

-Veining tool

-Hydrangea blossom cutters

-24 gauge green floral wire (cut into thirds)

-shortening

-AmeriColor food coloring gels

-wire cutters

-needle nose pliers

-styrofoam block

-floral tape

-cornstarch

-liquid egg whites

-assorted brushes

-petal dust

How to make Sugar Blossoms:

1. Begin by conditioning your sugar paste with a little bit of shortening. Add in your gel food colors of choice.

2. Take a small piece of sugar paste and roll into a ball (about the size of a hazelnut). Place on the dark orange side of your CelPad in the medium sized hole. Gently push down and begin to flatten. Take your CelPin and begin to roll out your sugar paste. You want it to be pretty thin, you should see the outline of the hole and the orange color of the CelPad starting to show through.

3. Remove from CelPad and cut out your shape with a hydrangea blossom cutter, keeping the “hat” part in the middle.

4. Flip your CelPad over to the foam side and place your blossom into the large hole. Begin to gently stretch and form your petals with the CelPin. Being careful to apply even pressure past the edge of the sugar paste.

5. Take your veining stick and gently roll along each petal to leave a veining imprint.

6. Take your green 24 gauge floral wire and gently make a hook at the top with your needle nose pliers. Dip into your liquid egg whites and tap off any excess liquid. Gently pick up your blossom and thread the floral wire through the center making sure the top of the hook is just peeking through the top.

7. Gently grab opposite sides of your blossom and pinch them together, squeezing slightly towards the center.

8. Place your sugar blossom in to the styrofoam block to allow to dry. Play around with how each blossom dries so that each one is unique and has shape and movement to each petal. Perhaps some are closed and some are more open. Maybe on petal is curved out while the others are tucked in.

9. Repeat all the steps for remaining sugar blossoms. Allow to dry overnight.

10. After your blossoms have dried, take your petal dust and begin to mix them together to create the colors that you desire. Gently brush onto each petal to add dimension and color. Don’t think about this too much, just try to find areas that you want to highlight and bring more attention to them by adding color, light and dark!

11. Once you have colored all of your flowers you can begin to arrange them into little bouquets. I like to start to small and then gradually add to them. Secure with your floral tape.

Good luck! I’d love to see what you create! Tag me on Instagram @ballerina_baker.

xo,

BB

The Beehive Cake

Hello! Welcome to the Ballerina Baker Blog! I have been meaning to start this for years, and now that I find myself sheltering at home because of the current global COVID-19 pandemic, why not start now?!

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Jordan Fry, I am currently a Company Artist with Ballet West and own a luxury cake company called Ballerina Baker in Salt Lake City. This month I was featured in the spring issue of Pointe Magazine where I shared one of my most popular recipes: The Beehive Cake. I thought it would be fun to share that recipe with you here, as my first blog post! It is the perfect cake for spring, or for an Easter celebration. It is a subtly sweet cake with the floral and earthy notes of the honey balancing out the lightness of the vanilla. Lets get started!

For this cake I use the reverse creaming method. If you are familiar with baking cakes, you are probably used to the creamed method, which is the most common. For the creamed method you would begin with the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream them together until they are light and fluffy. Then add the eggs and additional fat, lastly add the dry ingredients alternating with the liquid. However, for reverse creaming, begin with the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat in the butter until you have reached a sand-like consistency. Then add all of the remaining wet ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix on high for about 30 seconds. I love this method for a several reasons. First, it comes together quickly. Second, it has a lighter, finer, crumb. And lastly, it is stable and sturdy for layering and stacking. By adding the butter to the flour we are coating the flour in fat, which minimizes the gluten formation as well as the size of air particles that are incorporated into the batter, resulting in a light and fluffy cake!

After the cakes have baked and cooled we begin creating something beautiful! I encourage you to use your imagination, your cake doesn’t have to look like mine. Allow your own artistic style to shine though and have fun making something unique! I will do another video and blog post on my Sugar Blossoms soon! In the meantime, look around you and use what you have. Perhaps it’s extra fruit or sprinkles; maybe you have some dried rose petals or lavender. Maybe freeze dried fruit resides in your cupboard or you want to play around with different colors of frosting and piping techniques. Be creative and enjoy the process! I hope this cake provides a creative outlet for you and offers some brightness into your day. Enjoy! xo, BB

For the Floral Vanilla Sponge Cake:

*Makes one 4 layer 6" cake or one 2 layer 8” cake

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

3 whole large eggs

1 large egg white

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 cup sour cream

1/4 teaspoon Fiori Di Sicilia extract

1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325. Butter and flour 3 8" round cake pans and line with a parchment round.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the dry ingredients. The all-purpose flour, the cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix on low speed until just incorporated. 

3. In a separate bowl whisk together the wet ingredients. The oil, eggs, egg white, buttermilk, sour cream, Fiori Di Sicilia extract, and vanilla.

4. Cut the butter into smaller pieces and slowly add to the flour mixture, keeping the mixer on low. Once all the butter has been added, the mixture should look sandy. Raise the mixture to medium-low speed and add the wet ingredients, pausing halfway through to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Raise the speed to medium-high and beat for 30-45 seconds, until it all comes together in a smooth batter.

5. Divide the batter into the prepared pans. I always use a scale for this to make sure that I'm getting an even amount of batter in each pan.

6. Bake for about 45 min, until the cakes are cooked all the way through and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 20-30 min before inverting onto wire racks to cool completely.

7. Store cakes in the fridge for a few hours or freeze for about 30 min before trimming off the domed tops with a bread knife to level the cakes out. 

8. Once cakes are trimmed and leveled, you can brush the floral honey syrup on top of the cakes.

9. To fill and stack the cake, place about a half cup-1 cup of honey buttercream (*recipe below) on top of one cake layer. Spread out evenly around the cake with a flat knife spatula. Sprinkle with bee pollen and then stack a second cake layer on top. Repeat the process.

10. Now it is time to decorate the outside! Have fun with this part! You can pipe the honey buttercream on the outside or finish with a smooth layer of buttercream. Sprinkle with more bee pollen. Cut and serve the cake. 

Floral Honey Syrup:

3/4 cup Honey

1/2 cup water

2-3 drops of orange blossom water

2-3 drops of rose water

pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a pan on the stove top. Turn heat on to medium and allow to come to a gentle simmer, stirring pretty frequently to avoid burning. Taste to make sure you like the flavor and balance of the rose water and orange blossom. Add more or less depending on your taste. 

Honey Buttercream:

6 large egg whites

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

Pinch of salt

2 teaspoons white vanilla powder

1/4 cup-1/2 cup honey

*Bee pollen to sprinkle on top of filling

Directions:

1. Combine the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Place the bowl over a pot of boiling water, making sure that it does not touch the water. Clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the bowl. Slowly whisk the egg whites until it reaches 150 degrees. Remove the bowl from the water and place on your mixer. Whip on high speed until the mixture triples in volume and is cool to the touch.

2. Cut the butter into small cubes. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and add the butter cubes one at a time. The egg whites will begin to look liquidy again, but don't fear! It has some stages to go through before it turns into that light and fluffy buttercream! Keep adding the butter. It will start to look like it is curdling, continue to mix on medium-low and add the butter. Once all the butter has been added you can increase  the speed. Allow to mix until it comes to gather to form a light and fluffy frosting. Sometimes it takes about 10 minutes! Add the salt, vanilla and honey. Mix until combined and taste for flavor, if you wish to add more honey do so in small increments to make sure the frosting doesn't curdle again.

To Assemble The Cake

1. Once the cake has cooled, level the cake layers by gently cutting off the domed top with a serrated knife. Brush the top of each cake layer with the Floral Syrup.

2. Place one cake layer on top of a cardboard disc. Place about a 1/2 cup of honey buttercream on top of the cake layer. Spread evenly and sprinkle with bee pollen. Repeat for remaining layers.

3. Crumb coat the cake and place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to set the filling and crumb coat.

4. Once cake is set, remove from the fridge and begin to frost your cake. This can be a smooth or as rustic as you like. I recommend using a turntable, bench scraper and off-set spatula to create smooth sides.

5. Once your cake is frosted allow it to set again in the fridge for about 30 minutes before adding the final decoration of your choice. I used handmade sugar blossoms and leaves and a sugar plaque to customize the cake for any occasion!