There is no such thing as instant results. Even Instant Pudding has to be stirred for 2 minutes then chilled. If you are looking for a fast fix on your weight loss journey, forget it. It's the little, day-to-day changes in habits that end up making a difference over time. This blog is about sharing what I do, what I eat and how I stay healthy. Maybe some of the things I do are worth copying. Jump in and share what works for you, I'd love to hear and so would others! God bless. Elaine

Sunday 5 November 2017

Mirror Icing - ho hum

Ok, so it's true I haven't been here for a while. Like, in years. But that's the thing with Google, no matter how long you go away, it never deletes you. Scary, but that's another topic.

Have a look at this;


So, what's the big deal? Well, I wanted to try this mirror icing thing that I saw on tv. Every recipe I saw was the same and I thought was waaaay too much icing for a 2 layer cake. And I'm here to tell you that even 1/2 the original recipe was too much. 

Here's 1/2 the recipe, and this will still give you about 2/3 of a cup of LEFTOVER icing after you pour it over a 9 inch 2 layer jobbie;

3/4 c granulated sugar
1/3 c sweetened condensed milk
1/4 c water

1 Tbsp gelatin
1/4 c water

1 c white chocolate chips
drops of food colouring

Combine the first 3 ingredients in a saucepan, place over medium heat and stir until simmering and bubbles appear on the sides of the pan. While you're stirring the saucepan mix, in a small bowl combine the gelatin and water so the gelatin can soften.

Once the saucepan mix begins to simmer, remove from heat and stir in the blob of gelatin.

Measure the chocolate chips into a bowl then pour the hot mix over the chocolate chips. Let it sit for about 5 mins for the chips to soften, then stir so they are completely melted. Stir in your choice of food colouring.

Let the icing cool to body temperature; place your wrist against the bowl and if it doesn't feel warm or cool then it's ready for pouring. Give it a stir because it may have formed a crust on top. 

So now what? Well, the cake awaiting should be cooled. I had made a 2 layer butter pecan with a cream icing as a crumb layer. Don't be impressed, it was a mix and a basic icing you can make in your sleep. When applying the crumb layer, try to get it as smooth as possible because every groove and ridge will be visible under the mirror icing. Anyway, the cake had been in the fridge for a while. When it was time to impress with the mirror icing, I put wax paper over our round pizza pan, put a coffee mug in the centre of the wax paper and balanced the cake on top of the coffee mug. Why? Because the mirror icing will drip down over the whole cake, and continue to drip for about 15 mins afterward. 

I slowly poured the icing over the cake and before I was finished the cake was covered. I had about 1/4 cup of icing still left in the bowl. Hmm, so glad I only made 1/2 the original recipe. Then it dripped and dripped AND DRIPPED some more, further adding to the left over icing. Oh well, maybe I should have had the mirror icing cooler than body temp so it didn't run as much. 

Once the cake had finished dripping, I used a spatula to clean up around the bottom of the cake and put the cake back in the fridge. The icing needs a while to set, convention says a few hours. 

A couple of things; the icing was easy to cut through so serving the cake slices was no different from a regular icing. However, it was sticky so when my son tried to remove a berry to give to Daddy, the whole strip of icing lifted off his piece; the mirror icing stuck to the crumb layer of icing and it all peeled off his piece of cake. No more passing berries. 

The verdict? Well.....I'm not sure. White chocolate chips are expensive and their wonderful flavour completely disappeared in the overall finished product. 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk called for in the recipe used less than 1/2 the can so now I've got to figure out what to do with the left over sweetened condensed milk. If this is the biggest problem in my life, I consider myself the richest person in the world, trust me. 

Uh oh, this is supposed to be a weight loss blog. See what happens when you disappear for years? You forget where you started. Well, I will say that I've always found it easier to Up the exercise rather than Curb the eating so yes, I recently added a little extra distance to my runs. Do the same if you can, it won't kill you. 

Blessings to all of you.