Jenna is a self taught, home cook with a passion for baking. She gets her culinary inspiration by travelling abroad, and learning new culinary techniques.
Glaze for scones is easy to make using a simple base glaze scone recipe.
You can make this glaze for scones into any flavor you like.
Start by adding 90 ml of liquid in a medium sized bowl. You can use milk (vanilla glaze, tea glaze, spiced glaze), lemon juice (lemon glaze), orange juice (orange glaze), etc.
Add 1 tsp of flavoring like vanilla extract, lemon zest, orange zest or tea leaves.
If you’re wanting a spiced glaze, add only 1/2 tsp of spices to the glaze for flavoring. Mix the flavoring into your liquid ingredient.
Slowly begin to add 3 cups of powdered to your liquid ingredients. It’s easiest to remove the clumps of powdered sugar with a whisk.
Whisk vigorously until your scone glaze is smooth.
Check its consistency, if you’re wanting the scone glaze a bit thicker, add 1 tbsp of powdered sugar.
If you’re wanting the scone glaze thinner, add a small amount 1-2 tsps of liquid (milk, lemon juice, orange juice).
Once the scones have cooled to room temperature, use a spoon to place the scone glaze on top of the scones.
You can drizzle the scone glaze, or cover the scone fully. This scone glaze recipe is enough to fully covery 12 scones with glaze.
Another option is to make a vanilla scone glaze and drizzle it on the top of your scones.
Add a sprinkle of lavender, chocolate chips, sliced almonds, or walnuts for a beautiful finish to your scones.
The scone glaze will harden onto the scones, making it easy to stack them when you’re ready to store them.
Chocolate covered strawberries are a decadent, crunchy, juicy dessert you can easily make at home.
If you’re wanting to decorate your chocolate covered strawberries to make them a little more professional looking, you can add a ton of color and texture using a few simple ingredients.
Sprinkles
Sprinkles can be put on top of your chocolate covered strawberries right after dipping them.
Sprinkles need something to adhere to, therefore adding a little drizzled chocolate on top, or right after dipping the strawberries is your best way to go.
You can add themed sprinkles, colored sprinkles, classy gold or clear sprinkles on top of your chocolate covered strawberries depending on the occasion you’re making them for.
Drizzled Chocolate
You can add a contrast of color by using either white chocolate or milk/dark chocolate.
Melt a small amount of contrasting colored chocolate in the microwave or on the stovetop over low heat.
Add your melted chocolate to piping bag fitted with a very small round tip.
The chocolate will come out quickly, so you need to be able to work fast.
If you don’t have a piping bag, you can dip a spoon into the melted chocolate, let the excess drip off, and gently hover the spoon over the chocolate covered strawberry.
Move the spoon from side to side to create a couple of lines on top of the strawberry.
Chocolate Scrolls
Chocolate scrolls can be made using a potato peeler and a contrasting colored chocolate bar.
You need to have enough chocolate to create the scrolled look, therefore a bar of chocolate works best for this.
Hold the chocolate bar over the strawberry and “peel” the chocolate away from you to create the scroll.
Let the scroll fall on top of the freshly dipped chocolate strawberry so the scrolls can adhere to the strawberry.
Allow the strawberries to dry for about an hour in the fridge prior to serving.
Make up your “paint” by adding a very tiny amount of gold dust to a plate.
Add a couple of drops of almond extract.
Mix them together to create your paint.
If your paint dries out, add a little more almond extract to make up your wet paint again.
A little gold dust goes a long way. The gold dust actually shimmers when you paint it on.
Use a food safe paint brush with a decent sized tip on the end so you can brush the strawberries quickly. Let them dry for about 30 minutes – 1 hour prior to packaging them up.
Gold dusted strawberries are one of kind. You can make them for a special occasion like a bridal shower, New Year’s party, or wedding anniversary.
Icing Decorations
You can make up some royal icing to create beautiful designs on top of chocolate colored strawberries.
Make up different colors of royal icing to add a pop of color on the strawberries.
Royal icing will harden up after you leave it to dry for a couple of hours, so you don’t have to worry about the designs smudging on the strawberries.
If you’re just wanting to add a little color to your chocolate covered strawberries, you can drizzle the icing back and forth to make a “zebra” design.
Add a couple of sprinkles on top of the icing if desired.
Macarons can be filled with your favorite fillings, including buttercream frosting, cream cheese icing, chocolate ganache, jam, lemon curd, or salted caramel sauce.
Buttercream
Buttercream is made with a base of butter, powdered sugar, and a liquid to thin it out (milk, espresso, lemon juice, jam).
You can flavor buttercream with just about anything including:
To use chocolate ganache for macarons, the recipe needs to have a higher ratio of chocolate to whipped cream.
Chocolate ganache can be made to be thick or thin depending on what you’re using it for.
For macarons, we don’t want the chocolate ganache running over the edge of the cookie, therefore we want the ganache to be thick.
You can flavor chocolate ganache with extracts, alcohol, or spices to give it a little extra flavor. You don’t need much, 1/4 tsp for extracts and spices and 1/2 – 1 tsp of alcohol.
Taste test your chocolate ganache to make sure you like the flavor prior to filling your macarons.
Jam
Jam has a thick, consistency, but it can be a bit messy in macarons.
It’s best if you use buttercream frosting and jam together as a macaron filling.
Buttercream frosting can be piped in a ring on the outside of the macaron shell, and then jam is placed securely in the center.
The jam is held in the center of the macaron from the thick buttercream frosting, therefore the jam doesn’t leak out of the macaron.
Jam has a burst of flavor to it, therefore it pairs well with buttercream frosting or a cream cheese icing.
What jam can you use as a macaron filling
raspberry jam
strawberry jam
blackberry jam
blueberry jam
Lemon Curd
Lemon curd has a rich, citrusy burst of flavor. Lemon curd has a rich flavor from the eggs and butter base of the curd.
Fresh lemon juice and zest are added to create the delicious tart lemon flavor.
Lemon curd is thick enough to pipe onto macaron shells once it has chilled, but you could also use it in combination with buttercream if desired.
Salted Caramel
Salted caramel sauce has a memorable sweet and salty brown sugar flavor to it.
Salted caramel is a bit runny, but you can pipe a small amount of it in the center of macarons for an incredible burst of caramel flavor in your macarons.
You can also pair salted caramel with buttercream frosting for 2 fillings in macarons.
You can make chocolate buttercream, and put salted caramel as the center filling for macarons.
Macarons can be filled with buttercream frosting, cream cheese icing, jam, jelly’s, salted caramel sauce, and chocolate ganache.
Depending on what you’re filling your macarons with, there are a couple different techniques you can use to fill macarons with.
If your filling has more of a liquid consistency, you’ll be piping in the center of the macaron.
Whereas, if you’re piping with a thick macaron filling like buttercream, you’ll pipe the outer ring, and then work your way to the center.
If you’re using 2 macaron fillings, learn how to fill them using the instructions below.
Before you begin filling your macarons, you need to match up your macaron shells to make sure they are the same size.
Macarons will look much more professional if you match up your shells to make them uniform in size.
Place them in a line so you can easily pipe your macaron filling, and then put on the top shell.
Tools for Filling Macarons
piping bag
round tip (1/4″ or 1/2″) or decorative star tip
filling (jam, buttercream, ganache, etc.)
How to Fill Macarons with Buttercream
Buttercream is a thick filling for macarons.
You can use a decorative star tip for a textured look to the macaron filling, or a round tip for a smooth look to the filling.
Fit a piping bag with a 1/4″ or 1/2″ round tip.
Place your macaron filling into the piping bag. Cut the tip of the piping bag and expel the air.
Pipe your macaron filling beginning on the outside ring of the macaron, then continue piping the buttercream inside the outer ring until you reach the center.
Lift up the piping bag when the buttercream has covered the macaron from the outside to the inside.
Place a matching macaron shell on top of macaron filling.
How to Fill Macarons with 2 Fillings
Macarons with 2 fillings typically have a center filling that is has more of a liquid consistency. The buttercream will hold this liquid center filling so it doesn’t leak out of the macaron.
Fit a piping bag with a 1/4″ or 1/2″ round tip.
For the outside ring of macaron filling (buttercream), place the macaron filling into the piping bag. Cut the tip of the piping bag and expel the air.
Pipe your macaron filling on the outside ring of the macaron shell, leaving the center without any filling.
You can use a spoon to gently place the center filling into the middle of the piped outside macaron filling.
Place a matching macaron shell on top of macaron filling.
How to Fill Macarons with Salted Caramel Sauce or Chocolate Ganache
Salted caramel sauce and chocolate ganache have a bit more of a liquid consistency to them.
These fillings need to be piped in the center of the macaron to prevent the filling from going over the edge of the macarons.
Fit a piping bag with a 1/4″ round tip. Caramel sauce is a bit runny, therefore you want a smaller tip to be able to control how much filling you’re putting onto the macaron shell.
Place your caramel sauce filling into the piping bag. Cut the tip of the piping bag and expel the air.
Pipe your caramel filling in the center of the macaron. Only put a small spoonful amount onto the center of the shell. You should still have the outer portion macaron shell exposed with no filling.
Gently place a matching macaron shell on top of macaron filling and squish the salted caramel sauce to the edges of the macaron shell. Filling the macaron shells this way will make sure that it doesn’t overfill and spill over the sides of the macaron shells.
Melt your chocolate in 30 second intervals until it’s fully melted. Use a spoon to mix your chocolate in between intervals. You’ll only need 1/4-1/3 cup of chocolate to make a few beautiful chocolate garnish.
Place your piping tip into a piping bag. Put the piping bag over the edges of a tall glass.
Pour the melted chocolate into the piping bag.
Cut the piping bag tip and twist the end of the piping bag to get it ready for piping.
Cut a strip of parchment paper as long as the length of your chocolate garnish.
Begin piping your garnish by piping circles the length of your parchment paper. Continue and go back the same way.
Make another layer of circles beside the first layer. Go back over and create another layer of circles.
Cut the parchment paper close to one side of the circles.
Roll the parchment paper and make sure the chocolate does not touch itself when closing the circle of parchment paper.
Place an elastic band gently over the roll of parchment paper. Don’t squish the parchment paper or you’ll ruin your design.
Place the chocolate garnish in the freezer for 20 minutes to set it.
Take the elastic band off of the roll of parchment paper.
Gently unwrap the parchment paper. Remove the chocolate garnish from the parchment paper.
Do not hold the chocolate garnish for a very long time in your hand or it will start to melt.
Place your decorative chocolate piece in an airtight container until you’re ready to use it.
Melt your chocolate in 30 second intervals until it’s fully melted. Use a spoon to mix your chocolate in between intervals. You’ll only need 1/8 cup of chocolate to make a few beautiful chocolate leaves.
Lay your fresh leaves on a silicone mat.
Dip your food safe paintbrush in the melted chocolate and paint the chocolate onto the fresh leaves.
Cover it fully and make it as thick as you need to for your preference.
Place the chocolate leaves in the freezer for 20 minutes to set it.
Gently peel the fresh leaf from the chocolate carefully, not to disturb the chocolate.
Do not hold the chocolate leaf for a very long time in your hand or it will start to melt.
Place your decorative leaves in an airtight container until you’re ready to use it.
Chocolate Snowflake
Chocolate snowflakes are easy to make using only a few tools:
Melt your chocolate in 30 second intervals until it’s fully melted. Use a spoon to mix your chocolate in between intervals. You’ll only need 1/4-1/3 cup of chocolate to make lots of chocolate snowflakes.
Place your piping tip into a piping bag. Put the piping bag over the edges of a tall glass.
Pour the melted chocolate into the piping bag.
Cut the piping bag tip and twist the end of the piping bag to get it ready for piping.
Begin piping the snowflakes. Touch the tip to your silicone mat, pipe it so it’s a bit of a thick circle.
Lift the tip of the piping bag and make a line. Push out a bit more chocolate so it matches the other end of the snowflake.
Make 2 lines perpendicular. Make 2 more lines diagonally for a total of 6 branches on your chocolate snowflake.
Add tiny branches to all of the chocolate snowflake arms.
Place the snowflake in the freezer for 20 minutes to set it.
Gently peel the chocolate snowflake from the silicone mat. Do not hold the chocolate snowflake for a very long time in your hand or it will start to melt.
Store your chocolate snowflakes in an airtight container.
Chocolate Writing
You’ll need a couple of tools to pipe your chocolate words
Melt your chocolate in 30 second intervals until it’s fully melted. Use a spoon to mix your chocolate in between intervals. You’ll only need 1/4-1/3 cup of chocolate to make your chocolate words.
Place your piping tip into a piping bag. Put the piping bag over the edges of a tall glass.
Pour the melted chocolate into the piping bag.
Cut the piping bag tip and twist the end of the piping bag to get it ready for piping.
Place your parchment paper or silicone mat on a baking sheet. This will make it easier to transfer it to the freezer later. Any plate would work for this as well depending on how much freezer space you have.
Begin piping your words as if you were handwriting the word. After you’ve completed the word, trace a line underneath the word to make the letters reinforced, or have something that will be easily stuck into your cake.
Remove the tip from the chocolate word.
Place the chocolate words in the freezer for 20 minutes to set them.
Do not hold the chocolate writing decoration for a very long time in your hand or it will start to melt.
Place your decorative chocolate writing in an airtight container until you’re ready to use it.
Roll puff pastry dough until it’s 1/4″ in thickness. It should be in a long rectangle ~10″ wide, and 24″ long.
Cut into 3 pieces ~10″x 8″.
Place a layer of parchment paper on an aluminum baking tray. Put 2 layers of puff pastry side by side. Place another player of parchment paper on top of the pastry. Place another aluminum baking sheet on top of the pastry.
Bake the pastry at 400 degrees F for 18-25 minutes until golden brown.
Place one layer of puff pastry on the bottom of your cake layer.
Pipe custard or filling in small circles around the entire sheet of puff pastry.
Add another layer of puff pastry.
Pipe the custard or filling.
Place another layer of puff pastry.
Add the top layer – royal icing, whipped cream, etc.
Mille FeuilleSalted Caramel Cream with Hazelnut sauce
The entire vanilla bean pod can also be put into the sugar syrup to infuse the vanilla flavoring into the syrup.
The vanilla bean pod is removed prior to combining it with the stabilizers.
Marshmallows are more known for their unique texture. They have a soft, pillow texture, that can easily be squished together.
That’s why marshmallows work so well for making s’mores. The marshmallows condenses in between the graham cracker, and gives a vanilla flavor to the s’more.
Marshmallows are quite dense, yet they can easily be pressed and have it bounce back into its shape.
Marshmallows are made by adding whipping air to into a sugar syrup, that’s what makes the marshmallows have this bouncy texture to them.
Marshmallows use a stabilizer to have them keep their shape, they either use corn syrup, Italian meringue, or gelatin.
Hot chocolate is a creamy, rich, warm beverage you can serve on a cold winter’s night. Hot chocolate can be brought to new levels of flavor using a few of your favorite toppings.
The classic toppings for hot chocolate are whipped cream and marshmallows.
You can use sweet decadent sauces, chocolates, or sprinkles to make your hot chocolate look gourmet with a few of these delicious hot chocolate toppings.
Caramel Sauce
Caramel sauce is a sweet, decadent topping you can put directly on top of your hot chocolate.
Salted caramel sauce is another option, which adds a sweet and salty flavor to the hot chocolate.
Salted caramel is a specialty sauce for more of a gourmet hot chocolate.
You can add whipped cream on top of your hot chocolate, and then top with your caramel sauce.
Whipped cream adds more of a full-flavored, creamy texture to your hot chocolate.
Cocoa Powder
Cocoa powder looks beautiful on top of hot chocolate. You can simply use a sifter to “dust” a bit of cocoa powder on top of your hot chocolate.
Another option would be to put whipped cream on top of the hot chocolate, and then dust a bit of cocoa powder on top of the whipped cream.
Hot chocolate is made using cocoa powder, therefore adding it as a topping will just add a bit more chocolatey flavor to your hot chocolate.
Whipped Cream
Whipped cream is a classic topping for hot chocolate. Whipped cream has a softy, pillow texture that melts into the hot chocolate, making it extra creamy.
Whipped cream adds a rich flavor to your hot chocolate.
You can add caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, cocoa powder, marshmallows, or sprinkles on top of your whipped cream for a beautiful look to your hot chocolate.
Marshmallows
Marshmallows are a favorite topping for hot chocolate. Marshmallows have a soft, rubbery texture, but they melt and become soft in hot chocolate.
Marshmallows float on the top of the hot chocolate, making it look intriguing.
It’s best to use the small marshmallows so they can easily be drank in the hot chocolate.
Marshmallows have a hint of vanilla flavor to them, making them a delicious complimenting flavor to your hot chocolate.
Sprinkles
Sprinkles give hot chocolate a pop of color. Sprinkles are made of sugar, therefore they will melt in your hot chocolate.
You can use sprinkles on top of whipped cream on your hot chocolate so you can see them much better than if you added them right to the hot chocolate.
Sprinkles look beautiful on top of whipped cream when you use a variety of shapes and sizes, like large circular, and thin rectangular sprinkles.
You can also use specific colored sprinkles to go with the theme of your hot chocolate.
For example, you can use red or green for Christmas day hot chocolate.
When you melt you chocolate, you can use a piping bag with a small round tip to create words or shapes for the top of your hot chocolate.
If you don’t have a piping bag, you can use a spoon to guide the chocolate into your specific shape.
Pipe the melted shaped chocolate onto parchment paper, then place it in the fridge for about 30 minutes until it hardens.
Gently remove the parchment paper by peeling it from the bottom of the chocolate.
It’s best if you put the chocolate on top of whipped cream so the shape of the chocolate will stay solidified for as long as possible. Eventually, the shaped chocolate will melt into the hot chocolate.
Chocolate Sauce
Chocolate sauce is a sweet sauce that will add even more chocolate flavor to your hot chocolate.
You can use chocolate sauce on top of whipped cream for a beautiful look to your hot chocolate.
You can even make a crisscross design with your chocolate sauce on top of the whipped cream.
Chocolate Shavings
Chocolate shavings can be made using a chocolate bar, and a potato peeler. Gently “peel” the chocolate from the chocolate bar for small chocolate shavings that will make your hot chocolate look eye-catching.
It’s best if you put the chocolate shavings on top of whipped cream on your hot chocolate. The chocolate shavings will melt into your hot chocolate if you put them directly on the hot chocolate.
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