Tappits Cutters and Flattened Marshmallows

Today's post by Sweetopia about Tappits cutters reminded me of a tip I've been meaning to share with all of you for ages. Thanks for the unintended nudge Marian! I'd have gotten to it eventually. Maybe. But let's just finish this up while you're already here, shall we?

In her post, Marian talks about what worked best for her when using various edible mediums with Tappits cutters for perfect lettering. As she discovered, some of the possibilities ended up being more yummy than others. Be sure to check out Sweetopia's site for great tips on this and TONS of other fabulous cookie and baking ideas!

Being somewhat of a baking non-conformist and a tad bit impatient, a while back I created a really delicious and EASY alternative to making your own gum paste or waiting for fondant to dry out a bit before cutting the shapes out. Flattened marshmallows! Soft, stretchy, tasty and extremely forgiving. I like that in a marshmallow. Even if you happen to stretch them out a little when removing them from the cutters, they magically jump back into shape. Almost like they're saying, "TA-DAA!!!" Most food speaks to me. How about you? Not so much? Fine. Moving on . . . 

This method was used for the letters by one of my very young baking students. She chose to place them on the side of the plate rather than on the cake to keep the design for her grandmother's birthday less busy. Great job Priscilla! The Funky Alphabet Lower Case cutters used here are by fmm with more info available through their site.

Many instructions for using Tappits cutters show to use them cookie cutter style by pressing them into the fondant or gum paste. INSTEAD, place the flattened marshmallow on TOP of the cutters cutting edge and use a small rolling pin to roll over the top of the marshmallow until the edges of the cutter are exposed and the cut is clean. Using a small pin or toothpick to remove the cut shape works well here. Especially since marshmallows are so stretchy and the pin mark will mostly disappear.

You also don't need to worry about getting the marshmallows as thin as suggested for other mediums since they kind of puff back up a little even when you try to flatten them. (ta-daa!) As you can see in the photos, the marshmallow letters and stars are no where near "paper thin" or "see through" as some instructions advise.

I used the same method for covering my twice baked, Hidden Stars / Let Freedom Ring cake when I was so excited to get it done and cut into the hidden stars inside that I didn't want to take extra time for a fancy outside. Darned impatient trait rearing its ugly head again! The white stars are marshmallows and the colored ones are the same soft sugar cookies as those used on the inside. Instead of Tappits, a regular metal cookie cutter was used. You can see how to do the hidden stars here if you'd like to give it a try.

Such a quick and fun way to cover a cake instead of worrying if your butter cream or fondant looks perfect enough! The pillowy soft mouthful of marshmallow yumminess also goes very well with most flavors. You may want to consider adding this technique to your bag of tricks for the next time you're wondering what to do with the exterior of your latest creation but just don't have time for fancy-schmancyness. For smaller cookies, use the same cutter as used for cutting the cookie dough shape and top your cookie with a perfect little marshmallow layer atop a thin layer of frosting. If you like that sort of thing.

Tappits cutters come in such a wide array of shapes that its easy to match shapes or a lettering style to your theme. Another option for lettering and shapes cutters are Patchwork Cutters by Marion Frost. Okay, too weird. I just mentioned two different spellings of women named Marian or Marion in the same post. Strange coincidence but I'm going with it. Hey! Just remembered that I got to watch Marion giving demos at the Global Sugar Art booth at ICES this weekend. Too much fun for such a short time. Loved listening to her accent while she 'splained what she was doing. Her tips will come in handy for the cutters I've gathered over the years from her great line. Lots of tiny details in them.

They also come in lots of shapes and sizes besides the fun fonts and numbering styles. Other companies offer similar types of cutters so do your online shopping homework and find the ones that want to live with you.

Back to the marshmallows . . .  I used StackerMallows marshmallows from Kraft originally meant for s'mores. Until I got my hands on them. Poor things have yet to touch a graham cracker or cozy up to some melted chocolate in my house. Wonder if Kraft ever dreamed of putting a cookie or any other type of cutter except for teeth through these sweet little rectangles . . . I found them at Walmart and I hope you can too. You will heart them very much.

Using a generous dusting of powdered sugar on your cutters and then dipping or dusting the exposed cut marshmallow edge will help prevent sticking and reseal the shapes to keep them fresh and soft. Granulated sugar or colored sanding sugar can be used in place of powdered sugar for this step if you want to add another fun design element or a dash of color to the cut edges. This concept is the same as those cute marshmallow flowers you may have seen where the marshmallows are cut with scissors and then dipped in colored sugars.

I flattened the StackerMallows with a pasta machine before cutting them out for two reasons: ease of cutting and more yield per marshmallow. Worked great! No mixing of fondant or gum paste or waiting to dry. Just flatten, cut, apply, admire. Continue. If you are using a regular cookie cutter and it is smaller than the rectangle or if you want a thicker shape, you can skip the rolling out part. The pasta attachment on a KitchenAid also works well if you happen to own one.

Oh, and the scraps make a tasty snack or you can save them for Rice Krispie treats later on. Just throw them into an airtight container until you need them. That is, if you have any left after the snacking part.

StackerMallows can also be rolled with a rolling pin to flatten them if you don't have a manual or KitchenAid pasta thingy. Takes a tiny bit longer but the result is the same. This option would be great for little ones that want to help but aren't quite ready for heavy machinery. So when they holler, "I help!" while you're baking, you can give them this little portion of the work load to assist you. Many hands make light work, even if they're tiny.

The shapes can be cut well in advance of when you plan to use them and stored in a single layer in an airtight container or Ziploc type bag. Just be sure that all of the cut edges have been sealed with powdered sugar and they shouldn't stick together. A bit of powdered sugar on the rolling pin or outside of the StackerMallow before it goes into the pasta machine helps ensure that any gummy parts won't stick to the roller.

Have fun playing in the kitchen!

No compensation has been received for promotion or use of any products or companies mentioned here.

Just me spouting off about things I want to share with you. : )

Surprise Inside Cake - Hidden Butterflies

UPDATE: See the improved and SO MUCH BETTER version here!!!

Look what landed inside this cake!  BUTTERFLIES!!! 

They're all over my kitchen right now but that's okay. They're happy butterflies. Not the Silence of the Lambs kind.

The butterflies were a bit more fragile than the stars so I wanted to be sure the points didn't break off during assembly. The thin partially baked cake layer was perfect for holding the cookies in place while the ring was stacked.

These are the same butterflies that I told you about in my previous post/tutorial for the Hidden Stars or Let Freedom Ring Cake. The method is mostly the same with the following exceptions:

The cookie shapes were baked for 4 minutes at 350F and left to cool on the baking sheets. I sandwiched some baked/raw in a couple of the rings before I decided to try trimming the cookies in like in the photo below instead.

My husband thought the shapes in the ring needed beveling, instead of smishing the raw cookies to eliminate the gaps at the outer edge. So I baked the remaining raw cookies and a beveling is what they got. By me. Funny that he was now where to be found when the actual beveling occurred.

I think I prefer this over the raw/baked sandwich method but don't tell him. He'll probably want royalties. : )

I also made one cake mix per directions on the box. I poured a small amount into the bottoms of (2) 9 inch rounds, (1) 6 inch round and (2) four inch rounds. I didn't want the batter to go to waste since it wouldn't hold long enough for me to stack the rings. The pans were only baked about 10 minutes or long enough for the batter to slightly set up.

This is the first pan I prepared. I meant to stack the butterflies upside down but completely forgot about it until the pan was almost done. No worries. It came out fine but I just had to make sure the layer was assembled correctly when it came time to stack the cake. Good as reason as any for cutting inside and taking a quick peak before the layers were frosted.

The second pan shows my DIY cake ring made from ribbed shelf liner and large paper clips. It holds the ring in shape and can stay in the pan until after the batter is poured in if you like. Just lift it up and give it a good wash and you're ready for the next project. Cheap alternative to cake rings and it stores flat in the bargain.

Both of the 9 inch pans above had the raw/sandwich method.

They're okay but the beveling method with no raw cookies is a bit neater.

See what I mean? This is the six inch pan. The "cake rings" are cookie cutters. Thought I'd show you this option just in case you already have these cutters and don't want to go buy shelf liner and make your own.

I pulled out the 2 cutters I used from my set so you can get an idea of what set I'm talking about. The labels are long gone so I have no way to know the manufacturer or source but there are lots of circle sets out there for you to choose from.

This is how I originally tried to figure out about how many cookies it would take to fill a ring. These little foam shapes are available at most craft stores and are about the same thickness as the cookies. I'm one of those people that need to see it  rather than imagine it. All sorts of bad things can happen if I just imagine.

It's important to plan a bit for this type of cake and make sure your cookies fit the pans you plan to bake them in. Placing the cutters in the pan before hand helps visualize the placement needed before you go poking them into the batter.

Another shot of planning with the other 2 butterfly cutters I used here. Note that the DIY ring is sized slightly smaller than the 9 in ring.

You'll want to leave a little batter on the outside of the cake so that your shapes don't start poking out the sides and fall apart when you go to frost the cake.

Once the rings were assembled in the pans, I mixed up another cake mix and covered the butterflies. It would have been nice to have a little more batter for the (2) 9 inch rounds so you may want to keep that in mind.

The cookies still baked up inside but you could see a tiny bit of white when they were baked at the top of the pan. A little more cushioning and even spacing in the layer would've been even better.

The layers were filled and iced with ganache from purple candy melts the same color as the batter so as not to detract from the impact.

The outside was covered with green ganache and given a brushed finish.

The butterflies are punched from wafer paper using mostly Martha Stewart punches.

My original plan was to use the butterfly background I'd made the day before with the same punches (plus a few others) and some textured paper.

It seemed a little busy in the end so I opted for a background where you might actually see the wafer paper butterflies on the cake. 

They are attached to wafer paper dandelions on cellophane noodle "stems" so they are food safe.

I love using them for all kinds of cake decorations but the clear and airy look was just about perfect for this.

The ganache made for a nice clean cut and the cookies weren't at all hard to slice through. Just be sure to only bake them for 4 minutes before assembling the ring and you're safe.

Grab your fork and dig in!

Thanks for looking!

UPDATE:

You can find the cookie recipe here.