It was a busy weekend for many Ottawans. Some crowded the streets in the Glebe neighbourhood on Saturday for the annual Glebe Garage Sale (GGGS). Many, eager to search for bargains and participate in what my better half tells me is an experience that needs to be seen to be appreciated. Others, participated in the Ottawa Race Weekend, running the 2 km, 5 km, and 10 km on Saturday or the half and full marathons on Sunday. According to CFRA (a local radio station), over 36 000 people ran in the various events, setting a new participation record.

Speaking of which, my dear friend, Yannick, ran the half marathon on Sunday. His time, 1:40:24.9, placed him 666th, an outstanding finish. The interesting position number aside, he ranked within the top 10% of the 10 435 registered runners for the specific event. According to his personal blog, the result was a personal best. Congratulations to him!

Me, I spent the weekend recuperating from two weeks of running about, tending to various dinners and entertaining guests. Saturday actually saw me sleep in until 3:00 pm. I however, ended my two weeks of mad cooking by contributing baked goods to a fund raising event, organized by a favourite tweep of mine, @spoonsie (aka: Izzy the #bacon princess) for the GGGS.

She spent several days mobilizing Ottawans to either come to the event at the corner of Lyon and First Avenue or contribute delectables. In the end, she raised over $1000 for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation to support breast cancer research.

Spoonsie's Bakery Fundraiser
Source: @spoonsie's personal blog

Congratulations to Izzy!

Here are contributions from foodiePrints' meager kitchen:

Ingredients: Thursday night saw me chasing to the local mega-mart for additional provisions. My strategy for the following Friday: make a fool-proof recipe (biscotti) to ensure some bakery for the event. Then, re-attempt chiffon cupcakes with a new marshmallow icing/frosting recipe. And, if time permits, attempt master chef Heston Blumenthal's chocolate chantilly recipe to make vanilla wafer sandwiches.

Bakery Provisions to Supplement Existing Stores
The dried cranberries were part of a secondary contingency in case the chiffon cupcakes fell. I would have used them to make more biscotti. The whipping cream was intended to balance the chocolate chantilly, should it have proven too strong in flavour.

I ended up running out of time. Chocolate chantilly will have to wait for another event.

Honeyed Almond Biscotti: Turned out great!

Biscotti Logs, cooling for cutting

Sliced and toasted biscotti, air drying
Though, I still think they could have used a couple more hours air drying...

Recipe is located here.

Seeing the finished product, another favourite tweep, @rosella76, sent me an authentic Italian recipe for a special type of biscotti, called "cantucci." Gotta luv karma :)

Vanilla Chiffon Muffins: Turned out great!

Baked Cupcakes

As per habit, I baked several extras using cupcake papers and oven-proof custard cups. Here is the resultant texture: success!

Test Cupcake

Recipe is located here.

For the icing, I followed a recipe from the wonderful people at HowToEatACupCake.net. While there are many marshmallow icing recipes on the web, this one advocates heating its egg white base to 160F on a double boiler before whipping or adding marshmallows. Since the event the cupcakes were destined for was a bake sale, I didn't want to take any chances with raw eggs.

Recipe (adapted from HowToEatACupCake.net)
What you'll need:

• whites from 2 large eggs
• 1 cup fine sugar
• 6 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp syrup (used table syrup)
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup miniature marshmallows
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. In a large heatproof bowl, combine the egg whites, sugar, water, corn syrup, cream of tartar, and salt.
2. Set the bowl over simmering water in a pot and heat the mixture, whisking constantly with a balloon whisk, until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture reaches 160F on an instant-read thermometer. For me, this took approximately 4 minutes.
3. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and, using an electric mixer, whisk the mixture until it forms soft peaks. The bowl should still be quite warm when finished.
4. Slowly add the marshmallows, while continuing to whisk on low speed.
5. Add the vanilla and continue beating until the marshmallows are melted and the icing is smooth. For me, I actually had whisk while alternately placing the mixture back over the simmering water. This is because the egg white mixture did not have sufficient heat to melt the marshmallows.
6. Use immediately


Completed marshmallow frosting

Iced Test Subject

Jenn and her sis Jazzie then sprinkled pink-coloured sugar in a bow design onto the cupcakes while I did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen.

Finished Cupcakes
Many thanks to both for helping me out.

Izzy even dropped by to pickup the bakery. In my care, I doubt they would have made it to the event in any resalable form!

I should note that after a successful bake sale, Izzy went on to run a 10 km the same day, truly an amazing individual! She will even be walking 60 km this coming weekend to further raise money for the same cause as her bake sale fundraiser. Click here to sponsor this amazing lady!



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Tag(s): cupcakes, biscotti, Glebe