Cookies, cakes and all things baked!!

Pumpkin & Chickpea Curry

2011-05-24T04:27:00.000-07:00

Just a quick little snap of what I made for dinner tonight - delicious, and easy too!!

Recipe from http://www.taste.com.au/

Ingredients:

1 tbs oil
1 white onion, chopped
2 tbs curry paste
1 kg pumpkin, cut into 3cm pieces
1 cup water
420g can chickpeas, drained
140ml can coconut milk
2 tbs chopped fresh coriander (there's no coriander in my pic - forgot to get it at the shop!!)

Heat oil in large saucepan, cook onion, stirring about 3 minutes until soft. Add curry paste cook, stirring about 1 minute or until fragrant.

Add pumpkin, stir to coat in curry mixture. Stir in water, bring to a boil, simmer, covered about 10 minutes or until pumpkin is soft. Gently stir in chickpeas and coconut milk, cook, 2 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with coriander. Serve with steamed rice.

SO easy to make - perfect for those nights when you just can't be bothered. PLUS there's heaps leftover for lunch tomorrow!!

Pink Velvet Roulade

2011-05-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

I saw this post on foodgawker. A Pink Velvet Roulade made by Sprinkle Bakes.

SO.CUTE. Seriously - pale pink cake with swiss meringue buttercream?? YUM.

Mine doesn't look quite as good as Sprinkle Bakes.......but I'm pretty pleased with the effort. I always thought that roulade's would be really hard to make - trying to roll it up without it cracking etc........but it was actually pretty easy!!

I've also never made swiss meringue buttercream before either - it's SO yum. I wish I'd made it sooner. I was a bit nervy about making it because I'd always heard it was really hard but you literally just keep beating it until it gets thick like cream. It goes a bit curdly and separates, but then all of a sudden it comes together and it's silky smooth and deeeeeeelicious!!

You should definitely give it a go - well worth it!!

A couple of things......

2011-05-10T23:28:00.000-07:00

I'm well aware this is a cooking blog, but it's MY cooking blog, and today on MY cooking blog, I don't FEEL like writing about cooking.

Instead, I'm going to write about some exciting stuff that's been happening at the moment, cause I think this is the kind of stuff that I need to jot down for future reflection.

So much stuff has changed - I've officially moved back home as of last night. Not entirely sure how long it will last - I'm giving it 2 months, 3 tops. Not that I can't handle living with my parents, but to be very honest after living out of home for well over 3 years, going back at 24 years of age was always going to be hard.

Yesterday I handed in my resignation. I've been working for the National Institute of Youth Performing Arts (which is the Australian Youth Choir and Australian Youth Dance Theatre) for the best part of 2 years, and it's time to move on. It's a very demanding job, LOTS of unpaid overtime/weekend work, and while I have mostly loved my time here, I've been given the opportunity to work for a company who is offering way more money, and it's closer to home too AND it's working with my bestest friend in the whole wide world. Win win!!

3rd item on the agenda........the boy. Cue heart beating faster, butterflies and a big old smile on my face. I'm the happiest I've been in a long time!! I'd like to say more, but I think I'll leave it at that for the time being.

And lastly - I bought a block of the new Cadbury Mousse chocolate today (thought I should include something food related!!) and it was DEEEEEEELICIOUS. I suggest you get yourself out to Woolworths and buy not one, but 2 blocks of it, because it's on special (2 for $5) and I guarantee you'll want more once you've tried it. It's available in chocolate and caramel.......I tried the chocolate one. I should have got a caramel one too.

Peace out xox

Hot Cross Buns

2011-04-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

I know it's a little late, but I hope you all had a fabulous Easter!!

I spent my Easter at my boyfriends (yep, after months of saying I HEART BEING SINGLE, boys SUCK!!) I did a complete flip and found someone that I am absolutely head over heels for, and treats me how I deserve to be treated!!

I spent most of the weekend curled up on the couch with him watching hilarious cartoons (he enjoys the same ridiculous cartoons that I do), eating bacon and eggs (he gives me the good bits of bacon), drinking coffee (he already knows how I drink it and makes it for me without me even asking) and eating neopolitan ice cream (he gives me the strawberry cause it's my favourite). <3

On Sunday morning, I woke up at my mum's house at 7.30am (apparently I can't sleep in anymore) and decided to bake some hot cross buns, because my sissy was coming over for lunch with her kidlings. I don't like dried fruit so there are NO sultanas in these - the best way to have them. So yum!! The house smelt like delicious cinnamon, and instead of boring flour/sugar/water mixture for the crosses, I let them cool a bit and piped vanilla icing on top.

Recipe from here.

BIRTHDAYS ROCK!!

2011-04-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

TODAAAAAAAAAY IS MY BIRTHDAY!!

I'm one of those people that likes to announce it to everyone - not because I want people to give me gifts or anything, just because I LOVE HAVING BIRTHDAYS!! A great excuse to eat whatever the damn hell you want to eat for the ENTIRE DAY.

So far today, I have consumed a free coffee (thanks Gloria Jeans at West Ryde - I even got a bit of a birthday song out of one of the boys!!), cinnamon and brown sugar porridge (so much win), 2 pieces of marble cake with pink icing (took me right back to my childhood - I LOVE MARBLE CAKE!!) and a cadbury cream egg........and it's not even lunch time yet!! Lucky I went to the gym this morn!! Here is the cake that my lovely boss bought me:

DELICIOUS!!

She also bought me a travel journal (I have some wild escapades planned for next year) and some pink lacy 'pick up' undies (she knows me too well).

Tonight I'm going out with a whole bunch of my lovely friends to eat, drink and get messy - I'm looking forward to dinner, going to the local pub which always has good food - I'll show you what I eat tomorrow (if I can move that is!!)

K xox

Scott & Fee get hitched!!

2011-04-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, two very dear friends of mine got married.

I was lucky enough to be asked to make their wedding cake for them!!

I can't convey how excited I was when Fiona asked me to do it - it meant so much to me to be asked, and I couldn't possibly have charged them for the cake when they are such good friends to me, so this was their wedding present.

It seems like it was SO long ago that they asked me to make it, and now all of a sudden the wedding is over - I can't possibly imagine what it must feel like for Scott & Fee after planning for so long, and now it's all done and dusted!! I have to admit, it was one of the most stunning weddings I have ever had the pleasure of attending and I feel so lucky to have been able to be a part of their special day!!

Sooooo without further ado, here's the cake:

The cake itself is chocolate cake, and then the cupcakes are a mixture of chocolate with chocolate icing, chocolate with vanilla icing, vanilla with vanilla icing and vanilla with chocolate icing.

The most nerve wracking part about doing this cake??

Have any of you heard of a little show called 'Four Weddings'??

The one where there's 3 other brides critiquing things at the wedding like the venue, the brides dress, the food......THE CAKE.

Yup. Camera crew filming everything, brides critiquing my cake with the opportunity to slag it off on NATIONAL TELEVISION if they didn't like it!! ARGH!!

I heard nothing but good things about the cake on the day though, so I am just thrilled that everyone loved it - but the most important part is that Scott & Fee loved it. I don't give a shit if everyone else hated it, as long as they're happy, I'M HAPPY!!

What a stunning bride!!

The wedding was just beautiful - it was held at Old Government House in Parramatta, the setting was stunning, the reception was beautifully decorated and we all had a ball dancing and drinking the night away. AND there was a photo booth - check it out!!

How awesome is that?! AND there was a dress up box in the booth - I'm not going to lie, I DO love a good dress up.............

Congratulations again to Scott and Fiona - what a perfect couple you make and I'm so happy to have you guys in my life!! xoxoxox

The things I baked this week.

2011-03-31T16:43:00.000-07:00

I'm well aware that this is a little bit late, but these cupcakes would have been perfect for St Patricks Day!!

Chocolate Guinness cupcakes with Baileys buttercream icing. OMG so much win. I actually just wanted to sit there with the bowl of buttercream and eat that by itself. Sooooooo tasty.

I certainly could have sat there with a bowl of it too, because I had about 2 cups of it leftover. Such a shame to waste something so delicious.........and then I stumbled across a recipe for cookies made from LEFTOVER FROSTING!! AMAZING!! I literally found it the day after I made the cupcakes - perfect timing.

Mmmm I love hundreds and thousands. They make me feel all nostalgic. Oh childhood how I miss thee!!

Guinness Cupcake recipe can be found here at Annie's Eats, and the frosting cookies recipe can be found here at The Caramel Cookie.

Soooo many delicious baked goods in my house at the moment - I even took cupcakes to the guys that work at my coffee shop that I visit on a regular basis to get rid of them........I'm seriously sitting in dangerous territory with that much deliciousness in the house........must.......get.......on........treadmill!!

Just a quick one!!

2011-03-03T16:22:00.000-08:00

Again, sorry for the shite quality - from my iPhone!! Cupcakes my boss requested for some friends of hers that got engaged - vanilla with vanilla buttercream, sanding sugar sparklies (which you can't really see from this pic) and cherry flavoured love hearts.

xx

The Wedding Cake

2011-02-21T20:47:00.000-08:00

At the end of January, my lovely brother and his equally lovely now wife got married.

It was SUCH a nice wedding - we couldn't have asked for better weather, we were infact very lucky as the wedding was down the south coast, and the day before and after the wedding were STINKING HOT. The day OF the wedding was slightly overcast and cool in the morning, and then the sun came out for the afternoon (it was an outside wedding so this was greatly appreciated).

The theme for the wedding was hydrangeas, and this is what I came up with for their cake:

The cake was caramel mudcake, and there were 3 different kinds of cupcakes - red velvet with cream cheese icing, vanilla with vanilla icing and chocolate with vanilla icing.

I'm very, very happy with the way it turned out - I was feeling a bit stressed in the lead up to it because I was working out of a kitchen that wasn't my own and I was concerned about the heat/weather conditions, but it all turned out great in the end.

Here's some pics from the wedding:

Just call me Mary Poppins!!

Me and my beautiful nieces.

And the wedding party :)

V-Day cookies

2011-02-15T17:30:00.000-08:00

I realise it's been well over 2 months since I've updated, and I apologise for that.

Things have been very insane - I moved house just before Christmas, to a place where I don't have internet. I also went overseas to Thailand and then came back to Sydney for my brother's wedding, where I was a bridesmaid, AND made their wedding cake (photos of which I shall post next time).

I've never particularly been one to celebrate valentines day in a big way - if you love someone, shouldn't you show it every day of the year, rather than on a specific date?? Why should Feb 14th be the day you bring roses to your loved when?? Why can't you do it just when you feel like it, just because?? I think it would be nicer to received a bunch of roses "just because" rather than because someone dictates that it's the thing to do, and that you should.

Or maybe, just maybe, I'm bitter I didn't receive any roses myself?? Nah, kidding, I couldn't care less.

ANYWAY here are some cookies I made to give to the people I love - so pretty much, I shared them with myself, and the girls I work with.

Sorry about the shite quality, it's an iphone picture.

The cookies were ridiculously easy to make, and taste AMAZING.

Vanilla sugar cookies:

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

3 cups flour

pinch of salt

Beat the butter & sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg. Sift the flour and salt, and add to the butter mixture a cup at a time.

Turn on to a flour surface and knead until it's just come together. Put it in the fridge for about 30 mins, and then roll out between 2 pieces of baking paper (I love this, less mess, no dough getting stuck to your counter or your rolling pin!!). Cut out and bake in a preheated oven (160 degrees) for 10 - 12 mins.

Let cool and ice with icing of your choice (I went with royal icing and sprinkles.....too easy!!)

Neglectful.

2010-12-08T03:25:00.000-08:00

Dearest blog. I'm so sorry I've been so neglectful over the past almost 2 months.

My life feels like it's been turned upside down - lots of stuff has been happening, I'm moving house in to a completely new area close to the centre of Sydney with a complete stranger almost, the silly season has been in full swing with many a party to go to and many a vodka to be consumed......infact, TOO many a vodka being consumed I think. I manage to get myself in to all sorts of crazy situations without even trying......my life is interesting to say the least.

But it's not about to slow down.

I hope I have time to post a couple of things before Christmas, but that might not happen. I'm going to Thailand on boxing day and am not back until 10th January......so maybe the next post will be about my darling brother and his fiancees wedding cake which I am making (and just quietly, shitting myself about!!).

Love to you all my darling readers and lurkers x

Josh & Nadia's Engagement!!

2010-10-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, 2 very good friends of mine had their engagement party.

It was suuuuch a windy day, and it was held outdoors, but it was SO nice in the sun.......summer is slowly but surely on its way!!

So Nadia & Josh asked me to make their engagement cupcakes/cake. I immediately said yes - I felt quite chuffed that they'd even asked me to do it!! 120 cupcakes and a small cutting cake later........:

By all accounts they were delicious - I didn't eat one, I've been doing quite well resisting most kinds of temptation, I keep reminding myself about a) impending trip to Thailand where I'll have to be on the beach wearing little clothings and b) my brothers wedding in January!! ARGH!!

Oreo Cheesecake.....nom.

2010-10-19T03:16:00.000-07:00

Oh my goshhhh I love cheesecake.

This hasn't always been the story though.

I remember when I was little, probably about......actually, it was so long ago I can't remember how old I was, anyway that's irrelevant, I just remember staying at my sisters house one time (she's almost 18 years older than me!!) and her asking me if I wanted some cheesecake - my little brain just couldn't comprehend that. A cake. Made of CHEESE?! Eww, no thanks. Of course, I thought it was made from cheddar cheese........she failed to tell me that it was actually made from the delightfully delicious cream cheese!!

Anyway, I la la loooove cheesecake now, and what could make an already awesome dessert even better??

Oreos of course!!

Housemate (not sure if I told you [not even sure who reads this thing really!!] but boyfriend and I kind of broke up. To cut a long story short, we're still fabulous friends, we still live together [don't judge] and everything is fine) has morning tea at work on a Wednesday and I was looking for an excuse to make the cheesecake. If I don't make it for someone else, then I'm bound to eat the whole thing myself, and I'm on a srs business diet at the moment because my brothers getting married in January and I don't want to look like a fat whale. I kind of wish I could just eat one piece, but I couldn't send it to work with him if there was a slice cut out of it now could I?!

YUM!! I WANT I WANT I WANT!! Can't have.

Adapted from the oreo cheesecake recipe from the Philidelphia Website.

1 cup cream
1 cup crushed oreo cookies (I bought a packet of normal sized cookies and took the cream out of the middle and crushed the biscuit bit)
100g oreo cookies crushed (I used 1/2 a pack of normal oreos (with the cream in the middle) and also some mini oreos)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 teaspoons gelatine, dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
3/4 cup caster sugar
500g block Philidelphia Cream Cheese, softened (I used about 350g)
50g butter, melted

Combine the melted butter & crushed oreos and press in to the base of a lined springform tin. Chill the base.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese & sugar until smooth. Add the gelatine mixture and fold through. Add lemon juice & cream and beat until fluffy. Mix in the normal & mini oreos and pour in to the chilled base. Put it in the fridge and let it set for about 2 hours. I piped some cream on and put mini oreos on top of it after it was chilled. YUM!!

Ginger sponge cake with strawberries & cream

2010-10-10T02:40:00.000-07:00

Today I went to a bbq at a friends house and I wanted to take something with me. Something pretty. I remembered seeing a cake in the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook that I thought was stunning, so I flipped it open and found what it was - a ginger sponge cake (it was meant to be filled with apple sauce, but I decided cream and strawberries was the way to go.)

Oooh so puuuurrrrdy!! So it's 2 layers of sponge, with strawberries and cream in the middle, cream and strawberries on top and sprinkled with ginger nut biscuit crumbs and then surrouneded with sponge finger biscuits. It's SO easy to make, and looks good too!!

Ginger Sponge Cake (from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook):

1/3 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup cornflour
3 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cocoa
5 eggs, separated
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup

Preheat oven to 190. Grease two 20cm round cake tins (although I only used one and then cut the cake in half cause I only have one).

Combinthe flour, spices and coca and sift together three times.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, beating after each addition until the sugar is dissolved. Add the egg yolks and golden syrup and beat until well combined.

Using a slotted metal spoon, fold the sifted flour mixture in to the egg mixure until just combined. Be careful not to overbeat otherwise all the lovely air will go out of the mixture!!

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the sponge has come away from the side of the tin.

Decorate it however you like!! I loved the pink ribbon around it, and I loved the strawberries and cream instead of the apple sauce filling, it worked deliciously!!

Dulce De Leche Cheesecake Blondies.

2010-10-07T03:45:00.000-07:00

The baking bug struck me last night.

Lately, I've been making HEAPS of cupcakes for people, but nothing blog worthy as they're all similar to things I've posted before.

But last night, all I could think about was the leftover philidelphia cheese and dulce de leche I had sitting in my fridge. Just longing to be baked with. And then I thought about blondies. Buttery, brown sugary goodness. With cheesecake......and dulce de leche. PERFECT!!

Ooooh yum, can you see the swirlies of cheesecake and caramel?? Deeeelicious, although they did kind of turn out a bit more cakey rather than a brownie like texture. But that's ok with me, they still taste great!!

Adapted from "More from Magnolia" Blondies with Cream Cheese Swirl:

Cream Cheese Filling:
4 Ounces Cream Cheese
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp all purpose flour

Blondies:
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar (I used half light half dark because that's what I had in the cupboard)
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
150g dulce de leche

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour a 13x9 inch baking pan.
To make the cream cheese filling: in a medium size bowl, bet cream cheese & sugar until smooth. Add the egg yolk and flour and beat well. Set aside.
To make the blondies: In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
Drop the cream cheese mixture and dulce de leche by teaspoonfuls over the batter. Swirl the cream cheese and dulce de leche into the batter. Bake for 35 minutes. Enjoy.

Almost married cake!!

2010-09-23T05:29:00.000-07:00

Last week, my old boss requested a cake for a very good friend that I used to work with. You might remember I made some cupcakes for my friends engagement. Well, that friend is getting married next weekend!! So my old work put on a lunch for her today, and asked me to make her an "almost married" cake. Check it out!!

It was a white chocolate mud cake with white chocolate ganache - and by all accounts everyone loved it!! I was so glad that my old boss asked me, because it made making this cake all that more special for my lovely friend!!

Congrats again Georgie - love you lots xx

30th b'day cake

2010-09-11T00:09:00.000-07:00

Hi lovelies, just a quick one today!!

30th birthday cake I did this week:

Vanilla 3 and a chocolate 0. Pretty tasty!!

Fresh, homemade pasta!!

2010-09-06T04:36:00.000-07:00

I <3 Pasta. I really do. I think I should have been Italian. Give me pasta and bread and I'm happy!!

Today, I decided I wanted pasta for dinner. But not just store bought pasta. Fresh, homemade pasta. I have had a pasta maker for god knows how long, and I've never used it. Tonight was the night to pick it up off it's shelf, dust it off and use that bad boy!!

The dough, after much kneading - my arms are so tired!!

When I first started rolling it, it was all crumbly.....I think I didn't let it sit long enough. I'm pretty impatient.

Fettucine!!

Extra sharp parmesan cheese.....omnomnom

Served with garlic bread. My life is complete.

So making this pasta was actually easier than I thought it would be.

ingredients:

2 1/2 cups plain flour

pinch of salt

4 eggs

Sift your flour and salt on to a clean, dry surface. Make a well in the middle and crack in your eggs. This bit proved to be the most difficult for me, because apparently, my well wasn't big enough. And the eggs kinda leaked a bit. My hands came in handy (who would have though!!) for that bit.

Slowly mix the flour in to the eggs with your fingertips (fingertips were used not so much, but rather my whole hands). Knead the dough for about 10 minutes......seriously tiring work people. Your end result should be smooth and elastic.

Divide the dough in to 4 even parts and cover with a damp cloth (to stop it from drying out) and let it sit for about 20 minutes (this helps to make the pasta more pliable because it gives the gluten a chance to work its magic baby).

Once it's sat for 20 minutes, take a portion and flatten it in to a rectangle and roll it through your pasta machine and cut in to fettucine.

It's seriously that easy. Enjoy it with your favourite pasta sauce - a bit fave in my household is creamy, but healthy!! I know right, bit of a contradiction there - secret is carnation light milk. It's SO good, tastes like cream and has a trillion (not really, 95% or something like that) less fat than cream.

A little lie.

2010-09-02T05:25:00.000-07:00

Remember that time I told you that there was only one recipe you'd ever need for scones??

I lied.

Sorry. Sometimes it happens. Sometimes I proclaim something to be the best thing I've ever had/made/seen/eaten......and then something else comes along and blows it right out of the water. And to be honest, I've made these little delights before and just kind of forgot about the recipe.

Anyway, tonight I felt like scones. And I was actually just going to go buy some from woolworths (GASP!! I know right......I feel guilty, but I actually REALLY like the scones from woolworths.....and I feel really ashamed to admit that too). Well, woolworths didn't have scones. I actually really hate woolworths, they never have anything I need, and I kid you not the last FOUR times I have been to woolies to get cucumber, they haven't had any. And cucumber is not something unusual, so WHY DON'T THEY HAVE IT?! Sorry, getting a bit off track here.....but no cucumber makes me a bit angry!!

So I collected ingredients for the most simple scone recipe I could remember. It's so so so simple and it turns out the most fabulously light and fluffy scones. Read on, dear friend, for what I can promise IS the best scone recipe, EVAH!!

Ingredients:

3 cups self raising flour
Pinch of salt
1 cup sugar free lemonade (I like sugar free lemonade better than normal. Feel free to use normal)
1 cup thickened cream

Preheat oven to 200c.

Sift flour & salt in to bowl and make a well in the middle. Pour in lemonade and cream and fold in to flour until it just comes together. Don't over mix it, you want a few bits of flour still showing. Turn it out on to a generously floured surface and lightly pat together in to a circle.

Cut out as many scones as you can from your first batch, because they won't turn out as nicely from the second one. Place them on to a tray lined with baking paper and brush the tops lightly with milk (so that they brown nicely!!). Pop them in the oven and turn it down to 170 - 180c. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until lightly golden.

Look at how fluffy they are!!

Seriously, they're delicious. Especially with peppermint tea and chantilly cream.

Cupcakes!!

2010-08-13T20:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been a bit quiet of late.

I've just been having a really hectic few weeks.

At the moment, my place of employment (Australian Youth Choir & Australian Youth Dance Theatre) are recruiting for children aged 7 years and up to join our Choir or Dance Theatre for 2011 (I hope you don't mind me doing a bit of spruiking here!!). We run a fabulous Choral & Dance education programme for kids where they come to us once a week at one of our many reharsal venues across Sydney or Newcastle and they practice lots of really fun songs, or dances, and they perform in 3 concerts a year at the Sydney Town Hall and it's REALLY fun. So if anyone happens to be reading this and has a child aged 7 or above that is interested in singing or dancing, give me a call on 9808 5563 and you could book a time for your child to come and audition!!

Anyway, the reason I have been so quiet is because of our recruiting!! What this involves is calling thousands of schools all across Sydney and Newcastle, booking times to go and visit them, and then visiting each classroom from years 2 - 6 and talking to the kids, singing a song with them, and hand out information. I don't normally visit schools, but lately I have been because we have SO many schools to visit and not enough audition staff to go out and make the visits. As a result, I've been busy and exhausted from repeating our speech/song routine up to 40 times in one day. As well as our concert that was on at Town Hall last weekend. As well as working late at the office.

Subsequently, I haven't had the time or energy to cook which makes me SAD!!

However, I have had HEAPS of cupcake orders as of late, so I've been busy baking lots of cupcakes, but nothing new for the blog for a while :(

Here's an order I did for today, 24 mini cupcakes. They're all vanilla cake, with chocolate, vanilla & strawberry icing. Sweet!!

And while I'm on the spruiking bandwagon, here's a sneaky little link to my facebook page :)

A little bit naughty.

2010-08-05T15:45:00.000-07:00

One of the girls I work with requested some cupcakes for a hens party this weekend.

Penis & boob cupcakes to be exact.

Sure, why not!!

Hehehehehe!!

All packaged and ready to go.

Fun to make and a little different to your regular cupcake order!!

SeaSweet Patisserie, Parramatta

2010-07-25T01:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, I met up with a friend for lunch. I had been out the night before, was slightly hungover and decided that a huge all day breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, hashbrowns and cheese fries from nut'n'fancy was appropriate. I regretted that when I remembered about SeaSweet - I should have saved my stomach.

We headed up the street after our lunch and walked in to what is a treasure trove of baked goods. I didn't have my camera with me (I blame that on the alcohol....I just didn't think to bring it.....what a shite food blogger I am!!) so unfortch I don't have a photo of the actual place.

It's been there for ages, infact I think it opened there when I worked just 1 block away from it, but I never went there.......god only knows why. They have a massive range of cakes, pastries, chocolates, biscuits and lebanese sweets too.

Tart strawberry - $4.50

This was delicious. Smooth, creamy custard, crisp buttery pastry and the strawberries had the BEST flavour.....you know how sometimes on tarts, the strawberries can be not so fresh and a bit flavourless?? These were plump and juicy and fresh and had a really strong flavour.

White forest cake $4.50

This was quite nice - vanilla sponge cake with sweet cream and fruit. The sponge was maybe a tad bit dry, but had a nice flavour. The cream was taaaaaasty, I firmly believe that there is no such thing as too much cream. I have to say though, the fruit was a bit disappointing.....it was of the canned variety. I still enjoyed the cake though.

Choux a la creme chocolat - $4.50

Non soggy choux pastry is always a win in my eyes. It was filled with delicious chocolate cream and it was generously filled. I would have taken a photo but.....well I just wanted to eat it ahahaha but it was filled to the brim with chocolate cream. Rich, sweet, chocolatey goodness.

Tiramisu - $4.50

Boyfriend ate this because I'm not the worlds biggest tiramisu fan. He made grunting noises though, so I can only assume that meant it was awesome.

Petit four chocolates - 250g for $13.95

These are little shortbread bases, ultra buttery, topped with a ganache and coated in crisp chocolate. The marble one in the background is my favourite, it's got white chocolate ganache and pistachios inside it. So yum.

I'll have to go back soon because they have indoor & outdoor seating (with heaters) and I'm sure they would make delicious coffee so I want to eat in next time!!

SeaSweet Patisserie

Shop 4, 354 Church Street

Parramatta 2150

Ph: 1300 90 80 70

www.seasweet.com.au

Cupcake cake

2010-07-19T03:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry blog. Sorry for ignoring you like that.

I've been a bit busy recently.

Last week I had a 3 day workshop with the Choir & Dance kids I work with and it was 3 loooooong days of having children follow me around. I felt like the pied piper.

On Saturday, I went to the Good Food & Wine show. It reminded me of a big version of the Woolworths Dome at the Easter Show. I love the Woolworths Dome. I bought some good things at the show - I shall do a post on that at a later date.

On Saturday night, my brother, his fiancee, their 2 fur children and I drove down to Shellharbour because we were going to a bridal expo the next day (because I'm one of their bridesmaids, it was nice for me to tag along too). It was an absolutely gorgeous day - clear blue skies, warm, sunny, and right by the water too. We ate at a Brewery and I wish I had taken my camera with me, the view, food and company was fabulous.

Anyway, that's why I haven't given you your cake yet blog, because I've been very busy. But I still love you:

Happy Birthday, blog!!

2010-07-14T03:26:00.000-07:00

Dearest blog,

Happy 1st Birthday.

I baked you a giant cupcake cake, but my memory card is in my car downstairs, and it's too cold and I'm too tired to go and get it.

I still love you though and I hope you had a fabulous day.

I'll give you your cake tomorrow.

Love,

Kat xx

T2 Cafe at Macquarie Centre

2010-07-12T03:06:00.000-07:00

Today I had afternoon tea with my mum, brother & his fiancee, both my sisters, and their children.

That's 10 people all together.

And I didn't think to make a booking. Infact, I don't even know if they take bookings.

My sister and I arrived at the same time and to my dismay the place was full. Packed. It didn't occur to me that it would be busy on a Monday afternoon at 2pm. But it's school holidays (I forgot). After moving around from table to table after people left, we finaly got a good table with an awesome couch at it to boot - check it out!!

Purrrrty!!

I ordered a pot of chai tea, and some scones ($11 - I think it was $4.50 for the tea and $5.50 for the scones). The scones came with some reaaaally smooth, thick cream. It was delish. And the scones were really nice and fluffy on the inside and a bit crisp on the outside (just a thin layer of crispness) and they were slightly warm too. They usually come with jam but ummmm I don't really like jam.......hehe so no jam for me thanks!! The tea was really aromatic, very enjoyable with just a dash of milk.

The pretty cup & saucer for my tea

My mum ordered sandwiches and a pot of russian caravan tea ($14). The sandwich flavours were smoked salmon, ham & cheese, cucumber and......something else I can't remember. Whoops.

My brothers fiancee ordered some scones too, and a pot of goregous geisha tea. It was SO nice I had a taste of it and I could smell the strawberry in it as I put the cup to my mouth. It was just slightly sweet with the strawberry flavour and very refreshing. It was served hot, but you can serve it cold in the summer too. I can imagine it would be very nice on a hot summers day.

The ambience in T2 is also really beautiful - it's dark, mysterious, has a very oriental feel to it, and is a little bit quirky too. Vintage patterned china, beautiful lanterns, old world furniture. Just beautiful. Very calming.

It was a nice little afternoon tea, and was really nice to be with my family - today's a bit of a sad day for my family. 14 years ago, my mother, father and I were in a car accident and my father passed away as a result of it. Every year, I miss him more and more, and it was good to be surrounded by people who love me <3

T2 Teahouse
Macquarie Centre
Shop 413
Herring Rd (Cnr Waterloo Rd)
North Ryde 2113 NSW
Phone: (02) 9888 3665

Homemade Churro Win!!

2010-07-11T03:52:00.000-07:00

I'm SO not in to frying things.

Infact, I'd go as far to say that I hate it.

These churros were no exception - I hate having to stand there, monitor the oil, make sure it's not burning, make sure I don't burn myself (fail) etc etc......but the end result was kinda worth it.

These churros were aweeeeeesome!! I've been obsessed with churros ever since I was about 8 years old. I went to Disneyland in USA with my sister and mum and ate this long, soft, sugary, cinnamony piece of dough. And it was deeeeeeeeelicious. Nothing like it in Australia at all - not until a few years ago at least.

I walked past san churro today with my boyfriend and I was like OMG CHURRO WANT!! But I was full from lunch and also broke.

So I came home and made my own.

My kitchen, hair, clothes and infact my whole apartment smells like oil.....but again, it was worth it. If only I had some chocolate on hand to dip those bad boys in......*sigh* it was good enough with cinnamon sugar though!!

This churro recipe was the whole reason I bought this book. I opened it up at the bookshop and the churro recipe was staring at me. I didn't even look at the other recipes - I was sold!! The other recipes do look good though, and I will defo be trying more of them!!

Churros from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Connor

1 cup water
1/4 light olive oil (I used vegetable instead, I didn't have light and it said not to use extra virgin)
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups of plain flour, sifted and then measured (meh I'm not that precise. I just measured and sifted - cause I'm a rebel like that ya know....!!)
4 large eggs (I used 3 because I got sick of beating them in lol)
Peanut or canola oil for frying (I used vegetable)
Sugar & cinnamon for rolling

Combine the water, olive oil and salt in a medium heavy bottom non aluminium saucepan (uhhh.....idk, I just used a saucepan!!). Bring to a full, rolling boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and add the flour all at once. Stir briskly until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan and fathers in a clump around the spoon. Place the pan over medium heat and stir the batter for 30 - 60 seconds. This gets rid of any excess moisture and also the raw flour taste from the dough.

Line a work surface with foil and turn the dough on to it. Pat the dough in to an 8 inch circle and let cool for 5 mins. Return to the pan and beat in eggs one at a time until the dough smooths out. It should be smooth, slightly sticky, and malleable but firm enough to form soft peaks and be piped or scooped and hold its shape.

Pour oil to a depth of 3 inches in to a saucepan and heat to 365c. Fit a pastry bag with a large star tip (couldn't find my big one.....used a small one instead) and pipe strips of dough into the oil. Fry until golden brown and when cooked transfer to paper towel to drain and then roll in cinnamon sugar mixture.

They were gooooood - crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. And in my boyfriends words "why does everything you make turn out so fucking good?!"

:)

Tim Tam Ice Cream Sandwiches

2010-07-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

I'm a big advocate for ice cream in the middle of winter.

We still drink cold drinks......and eat cold food like salad.......so why shouldn't we eat ice cream in winter?!

I saw this post yesterday on chocolatesuze, and it reminded me of something I made aaaaages ago - It is seriously the most simple ice cream recipe ever. No eggs, no heating, no churning.....it's an ice cream maker free zone!!

Tim tam heaven baby!!

Ingredients:

600ml thickened cream
395g can sweetened condensed milk
chopped chocolate bar/biscuits of your choice (I usually make it with crunchies, but tim tams were on sale at woolies this week - 2 packs for $3.....yeeeuuuusss!!)
1 packet of malt biscuits (I used paradise brand).

Beat cream until soft peaks form (definitely do not beat it too much, you only want soft peaks!!)
Fold in sweetened condensed milk and chopped chocolate.

Layer malt biscuits in a brownie tin lined with baking paper or plastic wrap (I think plastic wrap works easier), spread ice cream mixture over biscuits, and top with another layer of biscuits - you want them nice and even so that when it's frozen, you can take the whole thing out of the pan and cut it in to ice cream sandwiches. It's sooooo good and SO easy. And the best thing about it is that it's able to be customized to exactly your tastes........Try it!!

Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Manly

2010-06-30T15:30:00.000-07:00

Ever since I found out that Ben & Jerry's was coming to Sydney, I've been wanting to visit.

I remember browsing a job website looking for a new job when I saw that they were looking for scoopers for their scoop shop. I got incredibly excited, and then realised that it's all the way in Manly and it was near impossible for me to actually work there. Because it would have been several hours on public transport.

Several months after they opened, I finally made it there after our dinner at Pho Sam.

The drive to Manly was worth it.

Oooh yum look at those flavours. So many to choose from!! The flavours include:

Berry Berry Extraordinary
Cherry Garcia
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Chocolate Fudge Brownie
Chocolate Macadamia
Chocolate Therapy
Chunky Monkey
Coffee, Coffee BuzzBuzzBuzz!
Lemonade Stand Sorbet
Mint Chocolate Chunk
New York Super Fudge Supreme
Peanut Cookie-burra Dough (they held a compeition in Australia to name this flavour!!)
Phish Food
Strawberry
Strawberry Cheesecake
Sweet Cream & Cookies
Triple Caramel Chunk
Vanilla

I chose Phish Food & Mint Chocolate Chunk in a waffle cone, dipped with chocolate and crusted with biscuit crumbs ($7.70 I think?). OMG. Yum.

I liked the fact that the mint wasn't an overly bright green. Infact, it was almost white. But it packed a minty punch and was generously laced with huge chunks of chocolate. The Phish Food was delicious - I was very much looking forward to it, I used to buy tubs of it for 1 pound when I lived in England.....no wonder I got so fat haha. Now that I think about it though, I don't remember getting an actual Phish in it. Unlucky!! But the serving was HUUUUGE, worth the $7 odd dollars that I spent!!

Because I'm a shite food blogger, I can't remember what Liz got - but she said it was good. She looks pretty happy too so I'd say it was a success.

I think Laura got Phish Food too, and a scoop of Lemonade Stand Sorbet in the same kind of cone as I got.

I shall be going back to get more in the near future - perhaps I'll take boyfriend with me. They have merchandise too - I really wanted an ice cream scoop but I was too lazy to ask how much they were......I hate asking how much things are and then when deciding I don't have enough money saying oh ok thanks bye.....it makes me feel awkward!!

Ben & Jerry's Scoop Shop
Shops 5 & 6
25 - 27 South Steyne
Manly 2100
Store Cone Phone: 02 8966 9219

Congratulations to my beautiful friends!!

2010-06-28T03:43:00.000-07:00

Last week, on Monday, I got the best call ever.

Two of my closest friends had got engaged the night before. I got the call while I was at the shops and promptly started crying and I think the words oh my god escaped my mouth a few thousand times.

Let me tell you their story.

I worked with Nadia a few years ago and I knew that my friend Josh was quite interested in her. Our work christmas party was coming up, and as Nadia wasn't taking anyone with her, I decided to take two dates - my boyfriend at the time, and Josh so he could conveniently slot in next to Nadia :)

After that night, I kept pestering Nadia......asking her if she liked him.......if she was interested.......if she luuuuuurrrrrved him and wanted to maaaarrrrryyyyy him (being the ever mature 19 year old at the time). She brushed my comments aside and it wasn't until about 4 months later at my 20th birthday when Nadia sat up and took notice of Josh.

They went on a date not long after it.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

So their engagement has been brought about pretty much because of me, I'll never let them forget it, I'll be around for the rest of their lives reminding them and taking the credit for it (being the ever mature 23 year old that I am!!).

So I went to their house on Sunday to have lunch with them and took some cupcakes along:

A BIG CONGRATULATIONS TO MY BEAUTIFUL FRIENDS JOSH & NADIA!!

Pho Sam Vietnamese Noodle House at Epping

2010-06-27T03:26:00.000-07:00

On Friday night I caught up with 2 good friends of mine - the decision for dinner was left up to me so I threw out some suggestions and amongst them was Pho Sam at Epping. It's a little hole in the wall Vietnamese noodle bar in Epping and I walk past it every Wednesday afternoon to work (which is right next door to Sweetness the Patisserie.....fabulous marshmallows......more on that in another post though!!). Funnily enough I only noticed Pho Sam a few weeks ago even though it's been there for years.

Laura, Liz & I headed to the noodle bar and it was pretty packed, so that's always a good sign. It's nothing flash on the inside, but sometimes, those are the best kind of places!!

We sat down and the waitress handed us menus which has a large selection of noodles in soup, laksas, meat dishes and rice dishes and also gave us a warm jug of tea. A different waitress comes back to us, quite quickly I might add (we hadn't even really opened the menus at this point), to take our order and we asked for a few more minutes. Her reply?? I want this table back in an hour. Umm. Ok. If they needed the table back in an hour, that's fine, but there's certainly more polite ways to state it!! And we'd made a booking too.....anyway.

We ordered Spring Rolls with Vermicelli to share $8.00. These came out with a sweet & spicy dipping sauce and were packed full of meat and vegetables along with a bowl of vermicelli, carrot, cucumber, lettuce, bean sprouts and mint.

Laura ordered Combination Stir Fried Noodles (with rice noodles if I remember correctly) $12.80. It came out steaming hot and it was an absolutely HUGE serve. There were plump, juicy prawns and plenty of good quality chicken breast in the dish too. Very generous on the vegetables and noodles too.

Liz ordered the Crispy Chicken with Tomato Rice $9.00. I had read good things about this dish on eatability and it didn't disappoint. The skin was crisped to perfection and the chicken underneath was deliciously juicy. Sometimes cripy skin chicken can be reaaaaally dry, but this was perfect!! The rice was really nice too, the tomato added a zing to it which plain steamed rice lacks.

I ordered Ginger & Shallot with Chicken $12.00. Again, the serving was huge with crisp snow peas, carrots, baby corn and chicken breast in a sauce laced with ginger and shallot. Check out the amount of chicken in that baby!!

It was a delicious dinner and even though the waitress told us we had to be out in an hour, I think we were there longer, and there were tables that were available anyway so maybe we had just walked in at a peak time for them. I think we will definitely be going back for dinner - and I will certainly keep them in mind for dinners on a Wednesday night when I'm at work!!

After dinner we went on a bit of a drive for dessert - I'll tell you about that next time!!

Pho Sam Vietnamese Noodle House
14 Oxford Street, Epping 2121 (opposite Post Office)
Ph: 9869 0499

Winter Magic Festival & the Priests Cottage at Leura

2010-06-22T02:21:00.000-07:00

This weekend just gone, boyfriend and I went for a weekend away to the Winter Magic Festival in Katoomba.

We stayed at the priests cottage in Leura which was a nice little self contained granny flat type of place:

That is the main residence at the front and up the driveway on the left hand side is priests cottage.

Lounge room/bedroom - the bed was ULTRA comfortable, nice and firm with soft velvety blankets and marshmallow pillows!! (not literally)

Kitchenette - no oven :( I was going to make cookies :(

The bathroom - heated towel racks and the best shower ever......it was like showering under a waterfall!!

After eat a sustaining breakfast of pancakes (delicious I might add) we headed off to Katoomba and got the BEST PARKING SPOT EVERR!! I'm always really lucky with parking spots and the luck continued :)

The whole of Katoomba Street is closed off for the festival and lined with stalls selling everything from fresh home made fudge to ugg boots to dog collars and fairy skirts. It's an ecclectic mixture of hippie, punk, rockstar, teen and goth.

We got there just in time for the parade:

Look!! It's the read hat society just like in that episode of the simpsons!!

Mad Hatter!! I love it!!

Bellydancers!!

The view of the crowds alllll the way up Katoomba Street - packed!!

The lady in the spotted coat is Zoe, my brother and his fiancee's doggie. She's so cute, I love her jacket.

Everyone wanted to stop and pat Zoe all day. The other little dog in this photo is Aussie (Ozzie?) and he is the most adorable little dog ever. He belongs to my brothers fiancee's parents and he shakes non stop (whether it's winter or summer).

This is Murphy. He is my brother and his fiancee's other furry child. He's a very gentle dog and alot of people get scared of him because he is a Staffy and people think they're mean dogs - but he is seriously the best dog ever. He loves getting pats and cuddles and loves giving people kisses (which can get a little gross).

And this is Honey, who also belongs to my brothers fiancee's parents. I love the hoodie - very adorable.

First item of food for the day - boyfriend bought a chicken kebab roll. So, a chicken skewer on a roll with tomato sauce. $3.50. He said it was delicious - piping hot, delicious barbequed skewer and the bread roll was really fresh, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

This is my brother mid sentance.

HOW COOL IS THIS DOG??! It's name is Penny and I think she's the best thing since sliced bread. Very steam punkesque is you ask me.

We wandered all the way up the street, checking out the stalls as we went (I didn't buy anythinge except food all day......whoops!!) and I purchased a brownie for everyone and it was delicious. Crisp on top, fudgy in the middle and a rich chocolate flavour - can't go wrong for $1.50 and when I teamed it with a chai latte, I was in food heaven.

Mel bought some Gozleme - spinach and cheese I think. I forgot to ask how it was, but you can't really go wrong with Gozleme, it's always pretty good!! I'd also like to point out how cool Mel's skirt is. It's made of TIES and she made it herself. Awesome!!

Tee hee. Cameron got a hotdog from the Saurkraut Sisters. Just plain. Bread. Hotdog. No sauce. No cheese. No onion. BORING!! He said it tasted good though!!

I came across this stall selling honey, sauces and butters. I purchased some lemon and lime butter and I am very excited to try it.

CUUUUUUTE!! Lady beetle!! There were heaps of kids dressed up - I saw an adorable child dressed like the boy in Where The Wild Things Are. Unfortunately I didn't snap a pic :(

What's that in the distance?? Chips on a stick?! YES!!

Mmmm hot, salty, greasy, potatoey goodness.

On a stick to boot!!

Yum you can choose what flavour salt you want on it - $5 for a stick.

Worth every dollar. Crispy on the ouside, fluffy and hot on the inside, perfectly salted with chicken salt. Yum yum yum.

You'd think I would have been full after that feast. And I was. Until I spotted churros.

Check out that cinnamon sugar.

Hot, freshy, cripsy churros - $5. Worth it. Totally worth it. Sugary, sweet, spicy from the cinnamon and sooooo fresh it's not funny. My mouth's watering just remembering it.

Check out this crazy guy!! He's on an ultra tall unicycle. Awesome!!

After the churros, we meandered back to our respective cars and headed back to our houses to rest for a bit, and then boyfriend and I went to my brother and his fiancees for the best dinner ever. I forgot to take photos, but it was damn tasty. Mel's a fabulous cook. Here's some pics of the doggies though!!

Yes, Murphy is a boy, and Murphy is wearing a pink jacket. He's cool enough to do that and not care.

Weeeee wrestling!! They bite each other all the time.....it doesn't seem to hurt them though!!

Aaaand me and the boyfriend - how cool is that light in the corner?!

So the weekend was delightful and fun as always - can't wait for next year!!

http://www.wintermagic.com.au/
Also, this is a link to the place we stayed:
http://www.stayz.com.au/14683

Cupcakes on Pitt @ Chatswood

2010-06-21T03:19:00.000-07:00

I've had Cupcakes on Pitt a couple of times before and have always been a bit unimpressed with them. The words dry and cloyingly sweet come to mind. I have a feeling they are mass produced in a factory. And I'm not making that up - I remember reading it somewhere.

I was at Chatswood Westfield when I saw a man carrying a box of cupcakes. I recognized they were from Cupcakes on Pitt and for whatever reason unknown to me, I just HAD to go and get some. Even though I'd previously not really liked them that much.

So the boyfriend and I navigated our way to the cupcake shop and they had a delicious little display of cupcakes. That's one thing that I must say, I've always found their cupcakes to be very cute. I noticed they had added macarons to their selection of baked treats.

I settled on a strawberry cupcake, a chocolate cupcake, a peppermint macaron and a vanilla macaron.

I think the cupcakes are adorable, and the flavour is fine......if not a little sweet......but the cupcake? Dry. And the buttercream has a mouth feel as though it's been made with shortening.....you know that greasy feel?? Anyway, they were ok, and I'm not complaining cause I just really wanted a cupcake/sugar fix, and that's what I got.

The macarons (which btw they spell as macaroons......it's a massive pet hate of mine) weren't that fantastic either. REALLY hard, and chewy and the cream in the middle had the same kind of feel to it as the cupcakes. The mint one had no flavouring in the actual 'biscuit' part of it, just the cream. And the vanilla didn't have any lovely bean flecks or anything. So it was a bit underwhelming. Boyfriend saw the look on my face when I took a bite and didn't even bother with tasting it himself.

So overall, good for a cupcake/sugar fix? Yes. I think these would be a hit with kids because they aren't as fussy as adults when it comes to things like cupcakes. But if you want something better quality, I'd go elsewhere.

Cupcakes on Pitt
Shop 221A
Westfield Chatswood 2067

Snickerdoodles

2010-06-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

I've always thought snickerdoodle was a really weird name for a cookie. There are several theories behind the origin of the name - some say it's derived from a German word - Schneckennudeln, which means "snail noodles." Other people say it didn't come from anywhere and it's just a made up name. Whatever, as long as it involves cinnamon, and sugar, I'm sold.

The cookies are fabulous. It kinda reminds me of a cinnamon tea cake, but in cookie form. They're really easy to make - simple ingredients, roll em in to balls, roll em in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and bake for 10 mins. Super simple!! And let me tell you, they didn't even last a day.......whoops!!

Recipe:

110g butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
3 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon
5 tsp sugar (I used caster sugar and I think I made a mistake in doing so - I think it's meant to be normal sugar)

In the bowl of your mixer, cream butter & sugar until smooth. Add vanilla and egg and beat until incorporated. Slowly add sifted flour & baking powder and mix until the dough comes together.

Turn out on to a lightly floured board and roll in to a log. Cut off slices about 2cm thick. Shape in to balls and roll in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Place on a baking tray lined with paper and press the balls flat with the bottom of a glass. I think I didn't press mine thin enough - I think these cookies are meant to be quite thin. They still tasted awesome though!!

Bake at 170 for about 8 - 10 mins. When you take them out of the oven, let them sit on the tray for a few minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Srsly yum!!

World Cup Cookies

2010-06-13T14:25:00.000-07:00

So I went shopping yesterday, and I wandered in to House without actually intending to buy anything - $30 dollars later I had picked up a couple of things that I absolutely, postively could not survive without (teehee!!) along with an Australia shaped cookie cutter.

As soon as I saw it I thought "Yes. World Cup cookies".

Unfortunately, as I'm sure you all know now, Germany won 4 - 0.

Tim Cahill definitely did not deserve that red card at all.

Hold on.....I'm talking about soccer as though I like it?! I don't actually, I couldn't care less and I find it a boring game as I do most sports......but......it's the World Cup......and it's my country!! So really, I like it by association.

So I guess these are a bit of a waste now.......but they do taste good.......so as long as they get eaten, that's all that matters I suppose!!

3 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
225g butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 170 degrees.

Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and vanilla and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Refrigerate for about half an hour.

Roll between 2 sheets of baking paper (it saves it getting stuck to your rolling pin, and your work surface too - ingenious!!) and cut out your shapes. Place on cookie trays lined with baking paper and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.

And then decorate with your royal icing - I'd love to provide a recipe but all I do is add pure icing sugar to egg white and keep adding until it looks good to me. Sorry!!

Holy Communion

2010-06-12T23:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend I made 50 cupcakes and a cake for a woman I used to work with. It was her son's first holy communion:

Prime Restaurant, GPO Building, Sydney

2010-06-05T18:31:00.000-07:00

It's my boyfriends birthday coming up, and because it falls on a weekday, I decided to take him out on the Saturday before so we could thoroughly enjoy our night out. And that we did!!

I took him to Prime restaurant in the GPO Building in Martin Place - I'd heard several good things and read a stack of excellent reviews about the place. And I'd been craving a good steak lately, and you can't go wrong with a restaurant that has won Sydney's Best Steak Restaurant 10 years running!!

Prime is set down on the bottom level of the GPO Building amongst several trendy bars, delicious looking restaurants and even a cheese and wine bar. We approach the door of the restaurant and can see all their awards on the wall outside - it's quite impressive.

Inside, the low lighting, heritage listed sandstone and "New York Style" interior give the restaurant an intimate feel. We are amongst the first to arrive for the evening, but even as the night wares on and it gets quite busy, I never really felt like there was anyone else in there but us.

The 'candles' on each table is a nice touch.

Upon being seated, we were presented with fresh, warm, crusty sourdough with butter. At perfect room temperature. I can't stand it when you're given butter and it rips your bread because it's unspreadable!! I could smell the sourness coming from the bread - it was so delicious, everything a sourdough should be. Soft, warm, crunchy crust, a smooth sour flavour. It was just delicious.

The menu

French Onion Soup - $16

I went with french onion soup with three cheese crouton for entree. It was packed full of onion, and was slightly sweet as though the onion had been caramelised. Not watery at all, and quite rich from the cheese - oh the cheese!! It had SO much cheese in there, and I'm quite a big fan of that, but it was almost too much. And I will mention that there is absolutely no dainty way to eat cheesy french onion soup. Cue cheese strings hanging from my chin. How embarassing.

Cured assiette of air dried wagyu and kurobuta pork prosciutto served with pickled vegetable & onion marmalade - $28

Aaren ordered the above - I tried a small mouthfull of the wagyu and it was perfect - salty, smooth and a wonderful flavour. Aaren tells me the richness of the meat was perfect, and that the vegetables that it was served with were cooked perfectly.

For mains I ordered:

Pan fried wagyu hanger steak (170g) with potato puree, asparagus, daicon radish & pepper sauce - $36

As this plate was set down in front of my, my mouth literally started to water. The smell was just divine. The steak was perfectly cooked to my liking, tender, rich (marble score 7+) not a hint of chewiness about it. I'm actually really fussy with steak and only really eat it about once or twice a year. For me to actually want more is a rare occurance. I didn't want this to end!! The potato puree was smooth, buttery, slightly salted and matched perfectly with the crunchyness of the radish & asparagus.

Chargrilled loin of sashimi tuna with ragout of roasted capsicum, black olive tapenade & celery leaf beignet - $39.

Trust my boyfriend to order tuna at a steak restaurant!! The tuna was perfectly cooked - seared on the outside, beautifully pink on the inside. Aaren said it was beautifully fresh, soft & melt in your mouth. The roasted capcisum & black olive perfectly complemented the flavour and freshness of the tuna.

Bailey's souffle with honeycomb ice cream - $16.50

I really REALLY wanted us to order something different for the dessert - unfortunately we both had our heart set on the souffle. As willing as I am to share, I wanted the majority of it to myself and was only willing to offer Aaren a taste of it. And he was feeling likewise. So we both ordered it.

Let me tell you, it was the right decision. The souffle was perfectly cooked, light & fluffy with a strong, smooth bailey's flavour in every mouthful. The icecream was served on a bed of honeycomb and was beautifully creamy with a hint of natural honey flavour coming through. Delicious.

There will definitely be a next time at this restaurant. Service was absolutely brilliant, atmosphere was private, intimate and non invasive and they have a wonderfully extensive wine list too.

Prime Restaurant

GPO Building

1 Martin Place

Sydney

http://www.gposydney.com/Prime-15.html

Meet My Bookshelf

2010-06-04T23:07:00.000-07:00

I bought a new bookshelf last weekend, because my cookbooks were occupying every shelf space possible in the kitchen, loungeroom & spareroom. Now I've condensed it all on to this bookshelf. And serveral cupboards in the kitchen:

Out of all the books on my shelf, this is the one that I'm most excited about at the moment:

This book has the most delicious looking pastries and breads in it. Observe:

A lovely friend of mine lent me this book and I think I'd like to make the lemon curd tarts first. They look deliciously creamy!! Infact, I might make them tomorrow.

Here's another book that I'm looking foward to making stuff from:

My sister bought me this for my birthday - I fell in love with it instantly. Just from looking at the cover, it's such a beautiful book, and there's even more beautiful recipes in it. Here's one that I am itching to make:

Peach Jelly Roll?? Yes please.

Fig, mascarpone & honey cake. OMG. Look at those figs. Yum yum yum. YUM.

Pear, honey & polenta cake. I love the way those thinly sliced pears look on top of the cake.

I'm looking forward to sharing these treats with you soon!! But I think that my next post will be about tonight's dinner.

I'm taking my boyfriend out for his birthday to Prime (voted Sydney's best steak restaurant from 2000 - 2009). I'm really excited, and actually a bit nervous, because I always feel a bit odd getting my camera out and photographing my food. I feel like people are staring at me. And thinking I'm a fruit loop. And granted, I am......but I don't need them staring!! So I hope its not too weird for me. Anyway, I'm sure the dinner will be delicious, and in the mean time, check out their website - the menu looks fab.

Mickey Mouse Army

2010-06-03T03:04:00.000-07:00

An order of cupcakes I did for my boyfriends work colleague:

Mickey Mouse Army!!

Nothing exciting really - 12 vanilla, 12 chocolate, sprinkles and all that jazz!!

Bubblegum Cupcakes

2010-05-29T18:42:00.000-07:00

I think there might be a bit of a debate over the colour that bubblegum flavour should be represented with.

I'm a firm believer that bubblegum is a blue kind of flavour. Although, how often do you see bubblegum that's blue?

And then there's the other camp, who believe that bubblegum is best represented by pink.

I kind of like that - pink is pretty, one of my favourite colours, and really it's quite logical as *most* bubblegum is pink.

Anyway, I asked my boyfriend what colour the icing for these cupcakes should be: pink or blue?

He answered blue.

So blue it is!!

Now that I think about it, I wish I had have bought some little bubblegum balls and cut a cone out of the top of the cupcake and put the bubblegum in the middle. That would have been really cool. Next time maybe.

There's also another debate in the cupcake world for me - swirly frosting, or icing that is spread on.

I like both really - there's nothing cuter than a perfectly piped swirl.

But then there's people who don't like lots of frosting piped on the top. They probably prefer the spread frosting.

Which is your favourite??

Recipe via Beantown Baker

2 1/4 cups cake flour (I didn't have cake flour so I made my own - you just measure out your cup of flour, and for each cup you take away 2 tablespoons of the flour and replace it with cornflour. Then sift it. And sift it again. And again and again. And once more just for good measure!!)
1 cup + 2 tablespoons whole milk, at room temperature
6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature
2 tsp almond extract (I didn't use this in mine)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp table salt
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened but still cool

Set oven rack in middle position. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour milk, egg whites, and extracts into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.

Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.

Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1½ minutes. Add remaining ½ cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer.

Divide batter evenly into prepared pans. Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 15-17 minutes.

Cool completely prior to frosting.

As I've said before, I don't really use recipes for frosting, but here's a rough guide:

200g unsalted butter, softened
400g icing sugar
1/4 cup milk
3 - 4 drops bubblegum flavouring
3 drops blue food colouring

Beat the butter until it's smooth. Slowly add icing sugar and beat until soft & fluffy. Add milk (but don't add it all at once. Remember, you can always add more but you can't take it out!!) flavouring & colour and beat until a smooth consistency and the colour is even.

I wouldn't rely on those measurements I've given - it's just a guess.

Chocolate Caramel Brownie Ice Cream

2010-05-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

This is the kind of ice cream that you don't want to tell anyone about.

For fear of them wanting some of your precious stash.

For fear of them taking away this beautiful thing from your life.

This ice cream.....is......amazing.

Rich, creamy chocolate ice cream. Chewy caramel brownies. What more could you want out of a bowl of ice cream?

Yummm look at those chunks of brownie!! And the caramel!! Ohhh I want some now. Too bad I made it for a friend - how nice of me!! I did sneak a taste of it though.........couldn't help myself!!

Recipe:

500ml heavy cream
3 tablespoons cocoa
150g bittersweet chocolate chopped(I used whittakers cause it was on special hehe)
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
dash of vanilla
1 quantity of dulce de leche brownies

Heat 250ml of the heavy cream in a medium saucepan. Add cocoa and whisk until smooth. Once mixture has come to the boil, take it off the heat and add the chocolate and stir until smooth and there are no lumps of chocolate left.

Transfer your cream & chocolate mixture to a medium size bowl. Using the same saucepan, heat the milk and sugar over medium heat until luke warm. Slowly add this to your egg yolks, whisking whilst adding. You need to make sure you continuously whisk it and that the milk mixture isn't too hot otherwise the eggs will cook!!

Transfer mixture back to your saucepan and heat until thickened. Add this to your chocolate mixture through a fine mesh sieve (just incase any of that egg has cooked.....gross!!) along with your remainig 250mls of cream. Chill over an ice bath in the fridge for at LEAST 4 hours. I chilled mine over night.

When you're ready, churn it according to your ice cream machines instructions and once you've transferred it to a container, break your brownies in to chunks and add them on in!!

It's seriously delicious. I wish I didn't have to give it away!! I'll definitely be making another batch soon.

Kitchenaid Icecream Attachment

2010-05-26T04:35:00.000-07:00

So, as you know, my boyfriend bought me an ice cream attachment for my kitchenaid.

Unfortunately for me, I have the Australian model kitchenaid, but the American model ice cream attachment.

Cue upset-ness.

I need a converter for the kitchenaid.......unfortunately for me AGAIN, I *think* you have to get the converter from kitchenaid and they won't ship individually to Australia. So.....if anyone knows how I can get my hands on one, of if by some amazing chance there is someone in America reading this little ol blog and would be willing to purchase one and post it to me in Australia (of COURSE I would reimburse you for it) please please PLEASE let me know, and I would be eternally in debt to you :D

I have already made up an ice cream batter which I will have to church in my soft serve maker (very little and very messy!!), I'll post about it during the week :)

THANKS!!

Happy 70!!

2010-05-25T04:14:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my mum asked me to make a cake for one of her friends for her 70th birthday. Nothing specific was given - just that the lady doesn't like mud cake.

I hate having to come up with designs when I have no clues at all - because then I worry that the recipient won't like it.

Apparently everyone loved the cake so that's always a good thing. Vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream covered with fondant & fondant roses.

Today, I finally got an ABN (Australian Business No.). I never realised how EASY it is to get an ABN. I had attempted to fill out the online forms several times but got distracted halfway through and didn't do it. Today, I had some down time, filled out the forms, hit submit and BAM!! Instant ABN. So now, for businesses who want to order cakes or cupcakes from me that can't pay me without an ABN (i.e the company my sister works for who quite often have cupcakes for celebrations i.e employee birthdays, farewells, baby congratulations etc) CAN order from me.

YAY!!

Mars Bar Banana Bread

2010-05-16T03:54:00.000-07:00

Nom.

Nom nom nom.

That's the sound of me eating mars bar banana bread.

It's really, really good.

Moist, bananary, caramely, chocolaty goodness.

I've had it bookmarked for a while, and I've also had 3 rather over ripe bananas sitting in the freezer, just begging to be baked with.

See that piece of mars bar sitting in there?? Oh yeahhh that's what I'm talking bout!!

When you take a bite of this bread, every so often you get this little burst of chocolate, and caramel and it really just makes life worth living.

Yum.

Recipe from taste.com.au

Ingredients

150g butter
1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar
2 eggs
2 bananas, mashed (I used 3)
2 cups (300g) self-raising flour
3 x 60g Mars Bars, chopped (I used 3 king size, because there's no such thing as too much - and they were on offer too hehe)
1/2 cup (125ml) milk

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a 7 x 11 x 21cm loaf pan with non-stick baking paper (I didn't use baking paper, I just greased the tin......should have because a piece of mars bar got stuck to the bottom and left a good chunk of the cake in the tin. Whoops). Beat butter and brown sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in eggs and mashed bananas.
Combine flour and Mars Bars. Fold into the butter mixture with milk. Spoon into pan. Bake for 50-55 minutes. Set aside to cool, then cut and enjoy!!

Cookie....brownie....bar.....thingys.....

2010-05-14T06:28:00.000-07:00

What are these??

Are they a cookie?? A brownie?? Some kind of sweet, deliciously rich and sugary bar??

Apparantly, they're called Congo Bars.

I think I'd prefer to call them a chocolate chip cookie brownie. Or maybe a blondie.

Infact, I think I WILL call them chocolate chip blondies.

Well, that's my name for them, and I'm stickin' to it!!

I had a recipe printed out from something delicious I saw on foodgawker but then Bakerella posted this. I rushed right home from work and picked up some chocolate chips along the way too. Milk chocolate AND white chocolate. Oh boy. I totally regret not going to the gym today.

Yum. Pretty good. Maybe a tad undercooked for some, but I like soft, gooey cookies. That's when they taste best.

Recipe via Bakerella

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 lb. light brown sugar (Oh my and thank you!)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
500g choc chips - I think this is approx what I used......idk, I never measure choc chips - there's no such thing as too many, right?!

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla & chocolate chips. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.
Line a 13 x 9 brownie pan and spread mixture evenly in pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes (I baked mine for EXACTLY 30 mins. I probably should have left them in for about 7 - 10 more mins though) or until top is golden brown.

Did you see my cute pink sifter up there?? My brother picked that out all by himself to give to me for my birthday.

And I know that statement makes him sound younger than me but no, he's not my little brother. He's actually 33. But that is a gift that a man of any age should be commended on purchasing. Pretty thoughtful if you ask me!!

Dulce De Leche Brownies

2010-05-11T15:59:00.000-07:00

I have another confession to make.

I've never made brownies from scratch.

GASP.

I know, right. I've always relied on Betty for my brownies. Infact, I'll tell you a funny story.

About 2 1/2 years ago, I met my current boyfriend. I instantly fell head over heels for him and thought I'd make him some brownies to take over to his house. As soon as he tasted them he was all OMGWTFTHESEAREAMAZING and said "did you make these yourself?" well. I did. I did make them myself. I mixed the box mix. And put them in the oven. I made them myself "Of course I made them myself!!".

As you can see, I failed to tell him that although I made them, they came from a box. I didn't think it was important. I wanted him to think I was the best brownie maker in the world, and that after that, no other woman would compare to me in the brownie making stakes.

Then, about a year and a half later, I was in England and he came across and we went to visit his parents. He promptly tells everyone that I make the best brownies EVER and that I HAVE to bake them. In his house. Uh oh.........his sister happened to save me though - she asked if they were Betty Crocker. And I said yes.

And then my little white lie came undone, everyone laughed, and everything was ok - and of course he didn't leave me for a better brownie maker.

And NOW, about a year and a half after THAT, I've finally made my OWN brownies. That's right, no box mix in sight here!!

And boy are they good. Dulce De Leche Brownies. OMGYUM. I saw the recipe posted at no onion please but it is originally from David Lebovitz. I don't care where it came from, I just care that it came in to my life. Really easy to make too!! Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

115g butter, cut into pieces
170g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
25g unsweetened cocoa powder
3 large eggs
200g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
140g flour
optional: 100 g toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped (I didn't use these because I firmly believe nuts and chocolate are not a match made in heaven. At all. It's a sin to put them together. Really)
1 can (around 390g) Dulce de leche

1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Prepare 20cm square pan – grease it well, you can use aluminium foil or baking paper for lining.

2.Melt the butter and add the chocolate pieces. Once everything has melted remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, stir in the sugar, vanilla and then the flour. Mix in the nuts, if using.

3. Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan. Drop one-third of the Dulce de Leche over the brownie batter, then drag a knife through to swirl it slightly. Spread the remaining brownie batter over, then drop spoonfuls of the remaining Dulce de Leche in dollops over the top of the brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the Dulce de Leche slightly.

4. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. Don't be a glutton like me and eat one while it's still hot - you WILL burn your tongue on the caramel hehe.

Yum!!

ALSO while I'm here, look what my boyfriend bought me for my birthday:

Kitchenaid ICE CREAM ATTACHMENT!! Yessss what a great boyfriend. Now I can make another batch of caramel cheesecake ice cream to blog about. I was going to do it last week, but unfortunately we ate it all before we got a photo of it. Whoops!!

New York Baked Cheesecake

2010-04-28T04:50:00.000-07:00

Not content with yesterdays go at cheesecake (It was still delish though) I decided to go for a more traditional cheesecake recipe this morning before work (but after the gym.....gotta look after the figure you know hehe).

I looked through a whole bunch of recipes that I had bookmarked, but then just kinda decided to make it up as I went along.

I'm not the world's best recipe creator. I don't understand the science that goes in the baking. So I'm actually really surprised how nicely this cheesecake turned out (apart from the huge crack in the top, even though I cooled it in the oven which is meant to prevent that from happening!!)

You can't really see the crack on the top here, but it most certainly is there. I wish the sides weren't saggy either but oh well, what can you do other than try, try again and loosen the belt on your pants ;) hehe.

So, as I said, I just kind of made the recipe up myself and didn't *really* measure alot of the stuff either. I know, vote me off the island, I'm a terrible baker.

New York Baked Cheesecake
By ME!!

3/4 packet of malt biscuits (I used paradise brand. But really, use whatever kind of plain, sweet biscuits you want)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon cinnamon

250g philidelphia cream cheese
3/4 cup caster sugar
3/4 (I think.....sorry) cup of thickened cream
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
squeeze of lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 170C and grease and line a springform pan that you think would be a nice size - I know that is terrible annoying and vague of me, but I think mine is 10inches.

Give the biscuits a whizz in the food processor. Or, if you're like me and you don't have one, put them in a plastic bag and bash the heck out of them with a rolling pin. When that doesn't work, put the shards of biscuits in a bowl and punch the heck out of them with your fists. Pummel. Squeeze. Push. Whatever works. When there's *still* tiny crumbs, put them in your mortar & pestle and smooth out any pesky crumbs. Phew, hard work.

Add your melted butter to your biscuit crumbs and press in to your springform tin. Set aside.

Now, grab your cream cheese and make sure it's at room temperature otherwise you'll get little lumps in it. We want it nice and smooooooth baby. Beat it in your stand mixer for a minute or so and then add in your sugar and beat until well combined. Next, add your thickened cream, and beat until combined. Don't overbeat. We all know what happens when you overbeat things with cream in them. Butter butter butter uh oh!!

Add your eggs, sour cream, vanilla & lemon juice and beat until nice and smooth and oh so sexy. Now pour your cream cheese mixture on to your base and put in the oven for an hour.

When it's done, it will be nice and golden brown on top. Hopefully there won't be cracks on top - to avoid cracks after it's baked, turn the oven off and leave it in the oven for a couple of hours to cool down slowly.

I think most cheesecakes are done in a waterbath, but after last nights semi disaster, until I get a new springform tin I ain't setting foot near a waterbath in the kitchen!!

Anyway, if you decide to make my cheesecake, I hope it works for you - let me know!!

Cheesecake Fail :(

2010-04-27T04:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I almost didn't post this - but then I though it's unfair to post the things I suceed in without posting the occasional fails.

So.

All day yesterday I was like I want cheesecake. I have to make cheesecake. Give me some cheesecake. I NEED SOME FREAKING CHEESECAKE. The way I was going on, you would have thought I was a pregnant woman. It's ok, I most definitely AM NOT.

Anyway, I searched all my favourite blogs for a recipe but couldn't settle on anything.

And then, this morning, Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella fame posted a recipe for a Zebra Cheesecake using a japanese cheesecake base. OMGYUM. I looooove Japanese cheesecake. It's not as sweet or heavy as your traditional cheesecake, so it doesn't leave you with a food hangover (unless you scoff the whole thing, which is quite easy to do!!)

Well, I printed the recipe, went to the gym in anticipation of the gained kilos from this cake, got the ingredients and set to work. I did everything that the recipe said. I even covered my springform pan in THREE layers of aluminium instead of 2 because it's a bit unreliable (annoyingly so, as it's a good brand and it wasn't cheap!!).

Well, here's a picture (and I apologise in advance for the shite quality - it's late, fluro lights are involved and I just can't wait the 10 hours until morning because I'm impatient):

Does that look like a zebra to you?? NO!! I didn't think so!!

Look, I'll be perfectly honest in that it tastes fine (even though my stupid springform pan let a whole bunch of water in GRRR), but it just doesn't LOOK how I wanted it to.

I think next time I make this, I'll stick to a plain cheesecake, so there are no zebras to upset me........hehehe.

Pavlova

2010-04-24T21:26:00.000-07:00

Said to be named after the famous Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, Pavlova is a meringue based dessert topped with whipped cream and fresh fruit....umm, yes please!!

It was apparantly created to honour the ballerina during one of her tours to Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. It's a bit of an argument as to who created it - Australia or New Zealand. I think we all know where my loyalty lies - Australia most definitely!!

But, who cares who made it when it's so bloody delicious - just EAT IT!!

Oh yum. Yum yum yum. I feel sorry for my jeans - I don't think they're going to fit in around here for much longer!!

Recipe for Pavlova from Donna Hay

150ml eggwhite (approximately 4 eggs)
1 cup (220g) caster (superfine) sugar
2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch), sifted
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 cup (250ml) single (pouring) cream
½ cup passionfruit pulp (approximately 4 passionfruit)
250g strawberries, hulled and halved
1 kiwi fruit

Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F). Place the eggwhite in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk until stiff peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, whisking well, until the mixture is stiff and glossy.
Add the cornflour and vinegar and whisk until just combined. Shape the mixture into an 18cm round on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Reduce oven to 120°C (250°F) and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes. Turn the oven off and allow the pavlova to cool completely in the oven. Whisk the cream until soft peaks form. Spread over the pavlova, top with passionfruit, strawberries and kiwi fruit and serve immediately. Serves 8–10.
* You’ll know when the meringue is stiff and glossy because the mixture will have tripled in volume
and stands up when the beaters are lifted.
* The low heat puffs up the meringue while the long cooking time dries it out to give you a lovely crisp shell.
* Store your pavlova, undressed, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Cinnamon bread french toast

2010-04-21T15:46:00.000-07:00

Mmm cinnamon. Warm, delicious, fresh, soft cinnamon bread.

The smell in my house was divine.

Look at that swirl of cinnamon. I feel like I didn't put enough in there. Next time, there will definitely be more cinnamon. You can never have too much of it.

I decided that this bread was destined for good things. While my boyfriend and I did help ourselves to a thick slice each when it came straight out of the oven (with butter of course. YUM!!) I saved the rest for french toast. Check it out!!

Egg mixture. Egg, milk, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla.

The bread being dipped in the egg mixture.

Yummmm...........

Whoah, way too much deliciousness going on right there - topped with maple syrup and icing sugar?? Yes please!!

Cinnamon bread recipe:

1 cup lukewarm water

1 packet active yeast

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

3 cups flour

4 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup sugar

3 tbsp cinnamon

Combine the water, yeast and sugar in a mixer with a dough hook. Add the half of the olive oil, flour and salt and mix until incorporated. Let rise covered in a warm place for 30 minutes. Roll out into a rectangle. Mix sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl. With a pastry brush spread remaining olive oil lightly over the surface and then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture over the rectangle. Roll the dough up and pinch the ends and place in a bread loaf pan. Let rise for another 30 minutes. Put in a 180 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Why stop there though??

Cinnamon bread french toast recipe (serves 2)

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

dash of vanilla

4 slices cinnamon bread

maple syrup (to serve)

icing sugar (to serve)

Combine egg, milk, sugar, cinnamon & vanilla in a bowl. Dip bread in egg mixture, making sure to coat both sides well. Fry in a pan for about 2 minutes each side or until golden brown. Serve with maple syrup and icing sugar. Enjoy!!

I'm baaaaaaaaack!!

2010-04-18T19:40:00.000-07:00

I got back from Japan last Tuesday.

What a fabulous trip.

We were so lucky to see all the beautiful cherry blossoms blooming - infact incredibly lucky given the temperatures, it was about 5 degrees celcius in Tokyo!! Freaking cold!!

I have a million and one photos of food and especially desserts (my GOD it is dessert heaven over there!!) to post. I was lucky enough to stumble across the Tokyo Food Show one day and took hundreds of photos!!

Honestly, after seeing the amount of cakes, tarts, chocolates, ice creams and macarons in Japan, it's hard to believe dessert wasn't invented there. It's amazing. Every second shop has dessert and let me tell you I was almost having dessert after every single meal. Yes. Including breakfast. And I loved every single minute of it and don't regret it at all.

I went to an all you can eat dessert buffet. I can't even begin to convey the feeling I got when I walked in to the place. Let's just say I was like a kid at Christmas who got the pony that she'd been asking santa for for 10 years.

Anyway, I will definitely post photos soon - as soon as I can get my boyfriend to upload them and all that jazz since they were taken on his fancy pants camera!!

In the meantime, here's a cake I made on the weekend for a 16th birthday:

Just a vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream and covered in fondant. I tasted some of the scraps, it was pretty delish if I do say so myself!!

Face Cakes girl styles...!!

2010-03-26T22:54:00.000-07:00

I made these cupcakes for a work colleague of my boyfriends. It was his daughters birthday. They're chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream and fondant faces.

I sat up until 1am doing them.

But it was worth it, I think they turned out adorable!!

I'm going to Japan tomorrow for 2 weeks - is it lame that one of the things I'm most concerned about is missing out on 2 weeks of food blogs?? I'll have alot to catch up on when I get back, that's for sure!!

BYE FOR NOW!!

The meal of Epicness part 3.

2010-03-18T01:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry this has taken so long.

Dessert.

Delicious, sweet, creamy, chocolatey dessert.

My mouth is watering just typing those words.

You see, I'm on a diet at the moment and I'm eating hardly any junk food at all.

It's been ok for the past 2 weeks. But tonight, I've hit this point where all I can think about is chocolate. And cake. And ice cream. And lollies. I don't think watching tonight's biggest loser temptation is helping either. A room full of food, including a chocolate fountain? Died and gone to heaven!

Anyway, a dessert from times when I didn't care so much about my figure:

Mmm......chocolate

I can smell it......

I can almost taste it......

Oh my god this is just too much!!

I was feeling so generous that day, that I even used my delicious Max Brenner hunk of chocolate that I had been given as a gift at Christmas.

That's a big thing for me to part with and share with other people.

But they weren't just other people.

They're my family - and they're worth more than any piece of chocolate anyday :)

Cup o' cake love??

2010-03-07T03:49:00.000-08:00

I have been coveting these silicone teacup moulds by Fred Worldwide for quite a while now. Unfortunately, they aren't in stock at their online stockists, and the ones that DO have them in stock, don't post to Australia. COME ON INTERNET SELLERS, get with the times, who doesn't post to Australia these days?? And another thing that I'd like to have a little gripe about - some of those companies that DO grace Australia with their shipping charge a mint. Unlike Amazon. Amazon, oh Amazon, apple of my eye......

Anyway....moving on.

Tea cups.

Cupcakes.

Cupcakes in a tea cup??

YES!!

I found these little babies at Chalet, stockist of all things cute and kitsch for the kitchen. I literally pushed my boyfriend out of the way when I saw the pink box sitting on the stand. There was no "oh I can't afford it" or "I don't need it, maybe another day". I picked that box up and held it like it was a pot of gold. I didn't even look at the price (which was $19.95 btw), I just paid and left feeling rather satisfied.

And now it's 10.38pm and I have finished baking and icing my four teacupcakes.....behold:

HOW CUTE ARE THEY!!?

$19.95 for a box of four - my only problem is that I want to go back and buy 2 more boxes so I can have a set of twelve, but this time it IS "do I really need them?"!!. Think of how awesome these would be at a tea party!! And if they did them in different colours (they're only available in white atm) and imagine if they had a teapot that you could bake a BIG cake in!! This all seems very appropriate for today as I saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D with the boyfriend - I think it's an awesome movie, well worth it and defo go see it in 3D!! Oh Jonny Depp you amazing piece of man!!

Sweetest Kitchen

2010-03-05T20:57:00.000-08:00

I discovered the Sweetest Kitchen blog a few weeks ago after a link was posted on facebook by Little Betsy Baker, a wonderful supplier of all things cake and cute.

I have subsequently gone through the archives of the Sweetest Kitchen and let me tell you - it's well sweet!! There's heaaaaaps of cupcake posts - delicious looking cupcakes, cupcake jewellery, cupcake pops a la Bakerella. My mouth is salivating just thinking of all the delicious baked goods.

The most current post, however, is a blog anniversary post featuring some absolutely delicious looking cupcakes incorporating pumpkin and dulce de leche aaaaaaaand a GIVEAWAY!!

Everyone loves cupcakes right? And everyone loves giveaways right? RIGHT! So head on over to Sweetest Kitchen and enter to win a gift certificate to spend over at the adorable Bake It Pretty!!

Engagement Cake

2010-03-02T01:48:00.000-08:00

This weekend just gone I made an engagement cake.

A three tier engagement cake.

I have a confession to make:

I've never made a three tier cake before now. Enter freakout zone.

I think I did pretty well for someone who has never made a three tier cake before - there was a near disaster between the cake and my mother in the car on the drive there, but let's not talk about that ok??

Chocolate bottom, white chocolate middle & caramel top:

The cake is based on the engagement invitation - a very cute one I might add. I'd upload it to show you, but apparently Blogger doesn't like pdf files. Silly!! Those kind of files are very common, Blogger!!

Anyway, disaster was averted, and the cake got there in one piece.

Pretty Princess

2010-02-19T21:08:00.000-08:00

My niece is obsessed with everything princess.

She ~~thinks she~~ is a princess.

But she's a really cute princess so I'm alright with that.

Yesterday was her 8th birthday. I told her that I would make her a birthday cake. At first, she just wanted a plain old boring number 8. That's it. I told her that that's far too boring for an 8 year old princess, and that she needed to flip through my cake books and find herself a cake worthy of an 8 year old birthday.

Her eyes immediately landed on the princess cake in my Planet Cake book. It's so cute, pink, gold, frills, crown. Perfect for a princess!!

Cool hey!! I made little cupcakes to go with the cake too in princess wrappers. My niece is having 8 little friends of her to sleep over at her house too so I'm sure her mum will have her hands full - at least she didn't have to worry about a cake!!

Also (and this bit has nothing to do with cake, birthdays or princesses) here is a picture of me feeding a giraffe.

I bought tickets for my boyfriend and I for Christmas to go to 'roar and snore' at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. It was AMAZING!! I GOT TO FEED A GIRAFFE!! They're my favourite animal EVER. It was so so fun!! We got to pat a koala too, and went on a night safari of the zoo and the food was awesome too cause the animals get the pick of the crop when it comes to fruit and veg.

Here's a link to the roar and snore page with all the details - it's a bit pricey but WELL worth it!! My boyfriend took some really good shots while we were there too - there's a really good view of the harbour so it was a perfect photo op: Click Me!!

Picasa 3

2010-02-14T14:28:00.000-08:00

My sister in law to be told me about this free download called Picasa 3. It's from google.

It imports all your pictures and you can create really cool collages with it.....like so:

Awesome hey?!

It's really easy to use - you just click and drag whatever photos you want in the collage, and there's heaps of different options to create different looking collages. You can make your regular photos look like polaroid photos, collages that look like the photos have just been dropped on there, collages with a big main photo and several little photos surrounding it. And you can choose what kind of border you want around the pictures, as well as what colour.

Here's another one I made:

I work for the Australian Youth Choir and these are just a few of the (MANY) shots I took of them at a Christmas Carol engagement last year.

Click here to download it!!

Books galore.

2010-02-02T02:01:00.000-08:00

Just before Christmas, I decided to buy myself a present.

Actually, several presents.

In the form of cook books.

As if I even NEED any more cook books.Whatever, of COURSE I need more cook books!!

I actually intended on only ordering The Pioneer Womans cook book. But then one book turned in to about 6.

This is a REALLY small portion of the cook books I own. Note that most of them are dessert focused!!

These are the books I ordered from Amazon. Amazon, apple of my eye.....I love that I can purchase books on there for a fraction of the cost they are in Australia AND get them shipped all the way from America, and they're STILL cheaper than buying them here!!

Look at that beautiful pic. PW really is amazing.

I can't wait until I get enough time to make some beautiful cookies from those cookie craft books, and I am especially excited about Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Connor. Honest to god the stuff in that book looks AMAZING. The recipe that sealed the deal for me in there though was churros with mexican hot chocolate. It just sounded good and I am absolutely bonkers about churros ever since I tried San Churro at Glebe. Oh god. I want some now.

The meal of Epicness part 2.

2010-01-29T17:06:00.000-08:00

The time has come for me to share with you the main part of The Meal of Epicness.

Home made chicken schnitzel with baked potatoes (loosely based on this recipe by Jill Dupleix) and steamed veges. Unfortunately, not gravy. Sorry, I'm not that fantastic.

SO, I took just under 1kg of chicken breast (always breast, I'm sorry, I just don't do thigh meat) and trimmed all the fat off of it, and then I pounded those bad boys inbetween two pieces of plastic wrap to within in inch of their life. Nice and thin.

Next, I set up a bowl with 1 lightly whisked egg, a splash of milk and some salt and pepper. And a plate sprinkled (very, very generously) with breadcrumbs. Dip the chicken in the egg mix, then coat in the breadcrumbs. Normally I would do this twice for each piece to ensure a nice thick, crunchy coating but unfortunately I was almost out of breadcrumbs so one layer had to suffice.

This is what they look like when you have dipped and breaded them. See how nice and thin they are?? That's how you want it, you don't want them thick otherwise they take too long to cook and you run the chance of the breading getting burnt. And we don't want burnt schnitzel now, do we!!

Pop them in the fridge for a while, it'll help the breadcrumbs to stick and keep sticking when they're being cooked.

While the schnitzels are in the fridge, take enough potatoes to feed four people. Generally, that would be four potatoes, right?? Wrong. With these potatoes, you need more. You'll always need more, they are just that darn good. I used smallish potatoes, and I used three per person. That's right. THREE. Do it, you won't regret it.

Scrub the potatoes, leave their skins on, then pop them in a pot of boiling water and boil them until you can stick a fork in them easily.....you know, nice and tender, all that business. I think mine were in there for about 13 minutes.

Drain them, put them on a tray lined with baking paper and proceed to crush them with the aid of a potato masher. Just press ever so gently, and the potato should collapse. You don't want to end up with a pile of mush, so it's important not to overcook them and it's super important not to press too hard with the masher.

Then, brush them with a mixture of butter and olive oil. I don't use measurements, it's just common sense really. Use as much butter and oil as you think you'll need to cover 3 potatoes per person. Easy!! Then sprinkle them with some sea salt and cracked black pepper. Feel free to chuck in some herbs. I would have used some rosemary, but as we all know from Part 1, there was no rosemary. Hmph.

Pop them in a preheated oven (approx 180c) for about 20 minutes. You want them to crisp up nicely.

Now that your potatoes have been in the oven for about 10 minutes, and you have presumeably peeled and cut any other vegies you might want (I did carrot, beans and broccoli) grab that chicken out of the fridge. You want to start cooking it in a pan that has been doused generously with oil, and also start steaming your vegies of choice. I used rice bran oil - I like rice bran oil. It has a higher smoke point than your average oil (254c) so it makes it perfect for frying things!! And it has a nice flavour too unlike canola oil, or sometimes even olive oil - I like olive oil but sometimes it's a bit too rich for me. Apparently it's a healthier choice too, because I'm ALL about the health benefits when I'm frying my food ;)

Pretty much just cook the chicken for 2 - 3 minutes on each side. My chicken was ready a bit before the potatoes, so I just chucked it in the oven to keep warm. It also helped it to crisp up a bit.

Once it's all ready, serve it in a pretty plate, like so:

Mmm those vegies look nice. Nothing like fresh steamed veg. Delicious.

Yummm schnitzel is pretty much the best food in the world.

Mmm crispy potatoes. The best kind of potato.

Stay tuned for Part 3!!

Happy Australia Day!!

2010-01-25T18:12:00.000-08:00

Woo hoo, Australia Day is here!!

Whatever you're doing today, beaching it, bbq, spending it with family, friends, or going out for the fireworks, I hope you have fun.

Yesterday, to get in to the spirit of things, I decided to make some lamingtons.

Last year, I was living in England for Australia Day and my flatmate made some Lamingtons from a recipe that was in a free magazine called TNT that is issued in England for foreigners (specifically Aussies, Saffas & Kiwis). They tasted really good and I made a point of ripping the page out and bringing the recipe back to Aus with me, and decided to use it to make them this year!!

They turned out really nice - they're not as spongey as a Lamnington you would buy from the supermarket, but they've got a really nice flavour and the cake isn't too sweet which is good as it balances nicely with the sweeteness of the icing.

Lamingtons - makes approx 18

125g butter, softened
1/2 cup of sugar

cream this until light and fluffy

add to this 2 eggs & vanilla and beat well

measure out 125 mls milk (I used buttermilk as I had some in the fridge that needed to be used up) and 1 1/2 cups of Self Raising flour.

Fold in milk and flour alternatively until it is all combined.

Pour in to a Lamington tin and bake at 180C for about 20 mins or until a light golden colour and the cake comes away from the edges of the pan.

Cool on a rack, slice in to squares and chill in the fridge until you're ready to dip them in the icing.

Icing recipe:

1 cup icing sugar (confectioners sugar)
2 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp boiling water
2 tbsp butter

And you'll need about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of coconut for rolling the iced cakes in.

Add all the above to a saucepan and stir constantly until boiled. Dip chilled squares of cake in the icing and let the excess drip off. Toss immediately in the coconut and then pop them on a plate and let them set.

That's it. It's pretty simple and they're damn tasty too!!

This is what it looks like when it's been baked at 180c for about 20 mins

Cut in to squares

And once they've been dipped in icing/coconut.

Looks like they're having a nice little picnic ;)

YUM!!

The meal of Epicness part 1.

2010-01-24T22:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I was in a cooking mood. I wanted to spend the day in the kitchen. And that I did.

I needed an excuse to cook a feast though - feasts don't go down particularly well when there's only two of you. So I invited my parents over and set to work cooking.

First part of this epic meal:

Bread Rolls a la The Pioneer Woman

I always see these bread rolls lurking on the Heavenly Recipes bit on the side of PW's main page. I always stare at it longingly, wishing that Australia had frozen bread roll dough in their freezer section since I'm usually too lazy to make the dough and wait for it to rise etc etc. But not this time!!

Unfortunately for me, the supermarket didn't have any Rosemary. Really. Truly. Honestly. NO. ROSEMARY. Colour me CRANKY!!

So I chose to use Thyme instead. Butter. Sea salt. Thyme. More Butter. A little cracked black pepper.

Divine.

I used a basic bread dough recipe:

125ml milk
125ml water
40g butter

warm that in a saucepan and then put it in your bread maker pan

add to that

1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
375g bread flour
3 rounded tbsp active dry yeast

And then put your breadmaker on the dough cycle.

When the dough cycle has done, knead it just a bit, divide it in to 8 equal portions and pop em in a round pan. Make sure there's some space for them to rise, cause rise they will!!

I got lazy, so I used a disposable pan. Less mess. Less for me to clean. All is good.

This is what they look like when you've buttered/salted/thymed/buttered/peppered.

And this is what they look like when you've baked them at about 180C for 15 - 20 minutes and brushed a tad more butter on top of them.

Oh god, I can't even convey the deliciousness that these are. You need to make them. Please, for the love of all that is holy, MAKE THEM.

I can't tell you how much I love The Pioneer Woman for these.

The only scone recipe you'll ever need.

2010-01-12T20:09:00.000-08:00

These scones are GOOD. Good. Simple. Easy. GOOD!!

Here's a couple of odd things about me - I love to eat fruit. I love dried apricots. I hate sultanas. Dates. Dried banana. Dried apple. Cooked fruit. Fruitcake. To me, the best way to ruin a scone/finger bun/cinnamon roll is to incorporate some kind of godawful fruit/date/sultana mix in to it. UGH. Disgusting. I also don't like jam (I know. I'm sorry. I'm a shit person aren't I!!)

So consequently, these scones don't have fruit in them (the way a good scone should be!!) and I don't eat them with jam either. Just cream. Mountains of cream. Oh good god the cream.

Sorry. Getting carried away.

Anyway, check them out:

Yum....a bit crispy and golden on the outside, fluffy and warm on the inside.....I could live on these things!!

Recipe:

3 cups self raising flour
1/4 cup salted butter
1 cup *reaaally* cold milk
1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 220C. In a medium bowl, sift flour and rub in butter until there are no lumps of butter visible. Mix milk and lemon juice and stir in to flour mixture.

Once combined, turn on to a lightly floured surface and softly knead for 30 seconds - seriously, don't do it for too long otherwise the dough will get tough and no one likes tough scones now, do they!!

Place them on a cookie tray and brush the tops with milk. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes.

Get them out of the oven. Get some cream from the fridge (just make sure it's not that damn cooking cream - it doesn't whip [it's low fat boo hiss] I know this from personal experience). Burn your hands on the too hot scones, cut in half and go ahead and slop some cream on one of these babies and proceed to devour like a pig.

It's ok, you deserve it.

Too hot in Sydney. No words. Just pictures.

2010-01-09T00:17:00.000-08:00

Macaron Mania!!

2009-12-29T03:31:00.000-08:00

I ordered some books not last week, but the week before, from Amazon. Have I ever mentioned how much I love Amazon??

If I haven't, here it is now: I LOVE AMAZON!! How is it, that I can order 6 books from the USA, and end up paying only $20 per book including postage to Australia, when one of those books retails for between $45 - $55 here in Aus?? I don't know what the answer is, but then again I don't really care - CHEAP BOOKS!!

And the even better thing was, Amazon said to me that I would definitely not receive my bounty before Christmas. And they even indicated a delivery date of 25th of January. I hate waiting for packages, but at such a good price I couldn't really complain.

Imagine my surprise when I turned up at mum's on Christmas Day and my lovely little treasure trove of books were sitting there waiting for me :D thanks Amazon, surprise Christmas present!!

ANYWAY I am getting off track majorly here. Amongst my treasure was the book I Love Macarons by Hisako Ogita. I've got to admit, the only reason I bought it is because the cover caught my eye, and Amazon suggested that I may like it. Once again, thanks for having my back Amazon - you're a true friend!!

I decided that today was the day I would tackle the ever intimidating Macaron. I probably should have chosen a day when I didn't need to be anywhere at any given time (i.e mum's house for a roast dinner) but I think that sometimes you work better under pressure....right? RIGHT?!

Right. They turned out amazingly!! I'm so surprised that it worked. Well......it was a bit of a learning curve. By the 4th tray I was piping lovely little domes of merangue mixture rather than swirls......and I may have forgotten to wrap foil around 2 of the 4 trays thus rendering those one's inedible rest their souls......but I did end up with about 15 edible Macarons in the end - frilly feet and all!! SUCCESS!!

Hmmm swirly Macarons??

Ooooh look, pretty, pink, shiny, brand new KitchenAid!! Courtesy of my lovely boyfriend. Thanks Aaren!!

Check out those frilly feet!! And, I'm sure you've noticed that I realised how to make them without the swirl effect :)

Overall, these weren't as bad to make as I thought they would be. Especially since the recipe told me to grind the almond meal and icing sugar in a food processor to make it finer - and since I don't have one, I just decided to go ahead and sift it instead.........hooray!!

Christmas......CUPCAKES!!

2009-12-22T22:31:00.000-08:00

As if I wouldn't make cupcakes this christmas!!

I did these little beauties for our work lunch (there's only four of us though!!). I think my fave is the snowflake and the snowman (I like the scarves!!).

I used the recipe for vanilla cupcakes from The Hummingbird Bakery Cook Book. It states that it makes 12, but I ALWAYS only end up with 8. But that's ok - it's a nice recipe and it works well when I'm catering for a smaller crowd!!

Christmas Cookies 2.0!!

2009-12-21T14:49:00.000-08:00

I did another class at Cake Decorating Central (it's addictive!!).

Cute little christmas cookies!!

I love the snowflakes - I think they look so effective with the sanding sugar over the top!! We also used a mat with a pattern on it to make some swirls on them (look closely, they're on there!!). I love the little suspenders on the gingerbread men too - just adorable!!

Christmas Cookies!!

2009-12-12T19:45:00.000-08:00

Many months ago, on a warm spring day that should have been spent outside, I dragged my boyfriend (kicking and screaming) in to Ikea. When we finally emerged, it turned out it was all worth it because even though it was only about September, they already had Christmas items in stock.

I picked up (amongst other things) some gorgeous Christmas Cookie Cutters. And they've been sitting in the cupboard ever since.

Until now that is!!

I scouted around for a recipe that I felt was worthy enough to use my cutters for the first time. I remembered that over on NQN, there had been a recipe for Cinnamon Cookies - perfect, my love for all things cinnamon combined with Christmas made this a winner - Cameo Cinnamon Cookies (from NQN).

The house smelt amazing. The cookies looked daaaalicious. OMG CHRISTMAS OVERLOAD!!

I need to do drawings of what I want to ice them with before I do anything. Because if I don't do this, I come to the icing moment and panic because I don't know what I want where.

Cookie Cutters. Drawings (Sorry, I ran out of paper and had to improvise with an envelope!!). Pencils. Sprinkles. General Mess.

Ohai Rudolph!!

Oooooh snowflake. Purrrrty. Infact, the snowflake ones are my favourite.

And when I said the snowflake ones were my favourite, I think I lied. I think the mitten ones are my favourite.

I don't like the Christmas Tree at all but......well for the sake of the cookie cutters, it had to be posted.

Hey frosty!! What's doin'??

And how cute is the santa paper!! They're actually paper bags (from Ikea hehe) they came in a pack of big ones and little ones for about $3 if my memory serves me correctly (I wouldn't trust me on that one though).

So there they are, Christmas Cookies (not quite decorated how I wanted, but decorated none the less).

The goods have arrived!!

2009-12-08T02:29:00.000-08:00

That's right, my precious Hershey's Cinnamon Chips & Butterscotch Chips have arrived (albeit a little melted - thanks Australia Post, because leaving chocolate on the doorstep in 40 degree heat is ALWAYS a good choice).

I'm really excited to bake something with these - but it has to be something worthwhile. It has to be an absolutely AMAZING recipe.....something that will knock the socks off everyone.......I remember seeing a butterscotch brownie cake over at Bakerella http://www.bakerella.com/butterscotch%E2%80%A6-my-new-best-friend/ which I am very much considering making.

But the question is, what to do with the cinnamon ones??

If you have any awesome ideas, feel free to let me know!!

Reindeer & Mistletoe

2009-12-04T22:19:00.000-08:00

I did a class today at Cake Decorating Central to make a Reindeer & Mistletoe cake. It was REALLY good, I thoroughly enjoyed it!!

There were 7 other ladies in the class so it was a good size to be able to get enough attention to get any help or tips etc, and the lady who took our class (Lou) was absolutely lovely and so patient with us too. She was excellent and I would go back time and time again to do any of their classes after today, I am that impressed with them!! The other ladies in the class were all really nice and easy to get along with too.

The class started at 10am and was meant to finish at 3 but we ended up finishing at around 3.30 so for 5 1/2 hours it cost $165 and was worth every cent of it. They also have a deal that on the day of your class, students are able to buy at their shop with a 10% discount - awesome!! I got some cute mini christmas cupcake wrappers and an AWESOME cookie cutter set by Wilton (cookie cutter sets were 25% off today as part of their 12 days of Christmas promotion - every day there is something different on special!!).

And of course, photos:

How cute is this snowflake?! I wanted to buy one of the cutters to do these with but unfortunately their stock hadn't come in - it's been held up :( so cute!! It comes in 3 different sizes too.

Soooooo cute!!

Oh. My. God.

2009-12-02T01:28:00.000-08:00

I have discovered something VERY exciting tonight.

My baking dreams have been answered in the form of this website:

www.usafoods.com.au

They have all those amazing hersheys baking chips that I've been lusting over and much much more. Red velvet box mix (I've been aching to try it for a very long time - not that I don't have a perfectly good recipe for it myself......but red velvet box mix?!?! Novelty!!), ghiradelli chocolate (omgyum), kool aid, aunt jemima, several different kinds of graham crackers (the perfect crust for cheesecakes, no?!), dr pepper, milk duds, jr mints, twizzlers in several flavours other than raspberry......so much exciting stuff......but sadly, no wilton candy melts. Why can I not find these in Australia?!

Can't wait to bake the red velvet cake......maybe I will do some cake pops.

On another note, I'm doing a cake decorating course on Saturday at Cake Decorating Central at Castle Hill - very much looking forward to it, it's an adorable christmas cake we'll be making - I shall defo post pics!!

Go nuts for Donuts!!

2009-12-01T03:01:00.000-08:00

Or doughnuts. Whichever way you choose to spell it. I don't discriminate when it comes to donuts ;)

I had a minor baking disaster tonight. I had originally planned on this post being about reindeer shaped shortbreads dipped in chocolate. Alas it was not meant to be.

Might I take this moment to stress how important it is to read ahead in a recipe and make sure you're across it before you start. If, say for instance, you're using a recipe that makes TWO dozen, but you only want to make ONE dozen, maybe make sure you've got your quantites correct before you start.

Unfortunately for me, I learnt the hard way, and ended up with a very floury & very dry shortbread mix.

Not to be deterred, I decided to throw it in the bin and make something else.

Donuts!!

Chocolate, strawberry and vanilla........YUM!!

And the plus side?? Baked, not fried!!

Recipe:

1/2 cup of plain flour

1/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp of baking powder

1/2 tsp of salt

1 egg
1/4 cup of milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Sift dry ingredients in to a medium bowl. Make a well in the middle and add egg, milk and oil. Mix until combined. If you're not using a donut maker like I did, I would hazard a guess at baking them in a donut tin at 180 for maybe 5 - 8 minutes.

Face Cake!!

2009-11-24T14:07:00.000-08:00

I've never made cupcakes like these before. They weren't actually that difficult either!!

These are for my boyfriends boss' sons birthday - so if they're crap Aaren could lose his job!! LOL not really, but I am happy with the way they turned out anyway so I hope they will be too!!

I took a look at the Planet Cake book to see how they made the naughty kids cupcakes - but it's not difficult, just cut out your fondant, cover the cupcake, fix the eyes and nose on and make an indent for the mouth - done!!

Cinnamon Sour Cream Cake

2009-11-16T15:07:00.000-08:00

I've had a craving for sour cream cake for AGES. I love what sour cream does to a cake, it makes it so moist. Sour cream, combined with my love for cinnamon sounded like a wicked combination to me.

This was really easy to make too - cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs, add the vanilla, fold in flour, baking powder & soda then mix in the sour cream and bake. Too easy!! I haven't tried any of it yet - it look alot of will power to not have a slice last night when I baked it, but my mum is coming over for coffee this morning so I had to wait. Hope it tastes good!!

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs, unbeaten
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. sifted flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. sour cream

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time; then the vanilla. Sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt; add to creamed mixture; mix thoroughly. Add sour cream LAST; mix well.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

As usual I made up my own icing recipe - it's just a glaze. 1 cup of icing sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 2 tablespoons of milk, 1 tsp vanilla. Mix until a good consistency to drizzle over the cake. If you need it thinner, add a bit of boiling water - but not too much!!

Enjoy!!

P.S I had enough of waiting to put my christmas tree up - so here it is. I'm so excited, I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!

Vanilla Sundae Cupcakes

2009-11-02T02:41:00.000-08:00

I love cupcakes that look like they have a cherry on top, reminiscent of an ice cream sundae......it's just adorable!! Some chocolate sauce would definitely have just been the icing on these cakes ;)

I've made these to take to the company that I used to work for tomorrow morning. A friend I used to work with just got engaged and although these aren't really engagement cupcakes......well, you know what, who even needs an excuse for cupcakes, right??

YUM!! Little ones, AND big ones!!

Big congrats to Georgie on her engagement :D

Christmas is coming...!!

2009-10-30T23:22:00.000-07:00

With only 55 days until Christmas (not like I'm counting or anything!!) I thought I'd start stocking up on Christmas cake items......I went slightly crazy at the cake supply today and ended up spending $150......EEP!! Thank god for credit cards eh!! Not everything I bought is pictured here, that shall come at a later date :)

Cookies om nom nom

2009-10-26T04:10:00.001-07:00

I LOVE COOKIES.

Not as much as cupcakes, but they're a very, very close 2nd.

Chocolate chip cookies are pretty damn amazing, but there is definitely one thing that makes them even better.......

m&m's!!

m&m cookies are just delicious. They really are. I'm not picky though. I'll eat most kinds of cookies. Just no sultanas thanks, cookies are for chocolate, not fruit!!

The cookies that you see above are the soft kind. I love the kind of cookie that you can bite in to and it's not all crispy and tooth breakingly crunchy. Soft cookies are much more delicious in my opinion!!

These babies are pretty heavy on the butter though - cookies are a sometimes treat ;)

150g butter
110g brown sugar
35g white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
200g mini m&ms

Preheat oven to 160c.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Sift and fold in flour and soda. Mix in m&ms (or choc chips, whichever you prefer!!) until thoroughly combined.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven (or if you prefer a firmer cookie, bake for approx 15 minutes).

Cinnamon Rolls

2009-10-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

I love anything with cinnamon in it. It's just a warm, comforting flavour. I became big on making cinnamon rolls when I was living in London. I discovered that London have Cinnabon. I find it completely unfair that Australia still doesn't have cinnabon, but who needs to buy them when you can make them yourself right?? On a cold winters day, my flatmate and I would come home from work and fill the house with the delicious aroma of fresh, home made cinnamon rolls. So yum!!

Today I tried something a bit different - I used my bread machine to make the dough. I have always made it by hand but I thought I would try the machine and see how it went. It was fantastic!! The dough was silky and smooth, I rolled the dough and cinnamon mixture up, cut them, put them in a greased tray and let them rise and BOY did they rise!! I've always been too impatient to let my dough rise when I do it by hand but I wanted to let it and sit so I went shopping while I left them to rise!! I was so excited to see how good they looked when I got back. Popped them in the oven, the house smells amazing, and they taste amazing too!!

Ingredients (I cut the recipe in half to make a smaller batch, the usual recipe is double of what is below):

Dough:
120 ml milk
1 egg, beaten
30g melted butter
30 ml water
275g bread flour
10g white sugar
dash of salt
5g bread machine yeast

Filling:

55g softened butter
110g brown sugar
5g cinnamon

Place above ingredients in bread machine pan and select dough cycle (my machine takes 1hr 30mins on dough cycle).

When the cycle is finished remove the dough and knead for 3 - 5 minutes. Roll out to a large rectangle (about 30cm x 20cm).

Spread softened butter on dough, then sprinkle with mixed brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll dough in to a tight log and pinch to seal seams. Cut in to 3 - 4 cm slices and place in a greased pan. Put in a draft free place and allow to rise until doubled (I left mine for about 1 hour).

Preheat oven to 180 c and bake for 15 mins.

I don't use a recipe when I make icing, I pretty much just threw some cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and vanilla together and mixed until it tasted right!!

Red Velvet Deliciousness

2009-10-13T02:42:00.001-07:00

Oh goodness how I love Red Velvet!!

I had the most amazing Red Velvet Cupcake from The Hummingbird Bakery in Portobello Road. It was my first encouter with this delightful cupcake, and certainly not the last. While no other Red Velvet has been as delicious as that one from Hummingbird, one has come close and it was from The Cupcake Bakery in Sydney.

Sadly, since Portobello Road is a good 24 hour flight away, The Cupcake Bakery will have to do....but I'm ok with that since they're damn tasty anyway!!

Everytime I eat a Red Velvet Cupcake, it takes me back to wandering through Portobello Road, drinking in the sights and sounds, ecclectic jazz music, trash and treasure, an array of antique tea sets, jewellery, clothing, little stalls with international food, and lovely little bookshop with only cooking related books in it......anyway, I digress.

The reason for this post is to show you the version of Red Velvet Cupcakes that I made. The craving hit and I had a little scour around the internet and found a recipe that I deemed acceptable. I'm pretty sure I used this one.

The cupcakes turned out well - moist, a hint of cocoa, tangy cream cheese.....but just not quite as good as Hummingbird!! Another thing that bothers me is that I can never get my cream cheese icing quite as 'frosting' like as Hummingbird or other bakeries. I wish I knew what the secret was, I know it sounds odd but my cream cheese icing is too smooth and creamy. I know, I know odd but whatevs, if you happen to know what I'm doing wrong feel free to correct me!!

A baby shower cake & cupcakes

2009-10-06T03:18:00.000-07:00

OH MY GOSH I'M FINALLY POSTING!!

I'm pleased to announce that I FINALLY have the internet at home and can FINALLY upload more pictures!!

A few weeks ago I made a baby shower cake and cupcakes for a friend. White chocolate mud cake with vanilla buttercream covered in fondant with hand made decorations - it's the first time I've attempted something like this!!

I was super happy with the way it turned out, and from feedback apparantly it tasted good too which is the most important part!!

There'll be several more posts coming as I catch up with posting new stuff that I've made over the past little while that I've not been updating!!

Too long!!

2009-08-31T23:12:00.000-07:00

It's been FOREVER since I updated. Unfortunately for me, I still don't have internet at home so I'm finding it difficult to find a time to upload some pictures.....I have made LOADS of things in between posting last and now, so hopefully I'll have some pictures up soon!!

Choc Mint Cupcakes

2009-08-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

Everyday Wednesday my boyfriends work have morning tea. This week it was his turn to take something so I jumped at the chance to bake. I made Choc Mint Cupcakes.

I think I've already mentioned that I've got the perfect chocolate cupcake recipe - but I still can't help but fear that they won't turn out nicely when I bake them. They always do though. It's a good recipe!!

Chocolate Cupcakes

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes (I mix by hand though - quite frankly I can't be bothered getting the mixer out for 2 minutes of mixing!!). Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Bake at 180 (160 for fan forced) for 20 - 25 minutes.

almost!!

2009-07-30T04:51:00.000-07:00

I had half an omg moment tonight.

I stumbled across a recipe that I had actually made 6 months ago, declared the best cupcake EVER, and then promptly forgot about.

So I made it again tonight and apparantly I had forgotten just how amazing the cake was.....light.....fluffy.....beautiful flavour. Then I remembered why I had forgotten about it (lol) the cupcakes don't rise the way I like. I like perfectly domed cupcakes.

These were perfectly flat :(

I am determined to work on these and MAKE them domed.....I don't care how many dozens of cupcakes I have to make.....I'll make it work.

Stay tuned for the other half of the omg moment, whenever it may happen!!

The Great Cupcake Experiment.

2009-07-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

I'm on the hunt for a fantastic vanilla cupcake recipe. I've already got a chocolate one that is my favourite, but I have yet to find a vanilla cupcake recipe that makes me go OMG. As a result, I ended up with several batches of cupcakes in my kitchen on the weekend. Alas, no OMG moment.

They looked nice. They smelt nice. They tasted nice....but the texture was all wrong. Far too dense.

I also did another batch from Magnolias recipe. I was really disappointed. Far too dry.

I used all my nice cupcake papers and all the little roses I made too.....oh darn, I guess I'll just have to go and buy some more stuff!!

I've been doing some extensive research online though, and have printed off several cupcake recipes. I also have one from the planet cake book that I have yet to try. I am also going to go back to Jennifer Graham (of the Crabapple Cupcake Bakery) and try that recipe again. There are several books I have at home that I haven't had a chance to even try 1 recipe out of.....so it's just trial and error until I find the perfect recipe I suppose!!

The Cupcake Factory, Drummoyne.

2009-07-25T03:55:00.000-07:00

I've been intending to go to The Cupcake Factory for a long time. And I finally got there today.

It's a TINY shop, we opened the door and there were 3 people in there and once we had squeezed in there, none of us could move, but it's really cute!!

We ended up getting a large caramel swirl and a choc strawberry, and 2 mini chocolate cupcakes.

I tried the caramel swirl one first. The cupcake was SO nice and soft, one of the best I've had, and the icing was nice however I couldn't really detect a caramel taste to it?? It just tasted like vanilla, and to me the only thing that made it caramel was the lolly on top of it. Nice, but nothing special.

Next, I tried the mini chocolate cupcake. I'm really sad to say that I didn't like it. I am not one to reject cake, I love cake, any size, shape or colour (except for you carrot cake. Get out) I do not discriminate with my cake. I just didn't like the flavour or texture, I found it a bit dry, but the presentation was nice!!

Next was the choc strawberry. Vanilla cupcakes, vanilla icing with strawberry choc curls. It was really nice, but didn't pack much of a strawberry punch. I did enjoy it though.

Address:
The Cupcake Factory
147 Victoria Road (Enter on Edwin Street)
Drummoyne
Opening Hours:
Mon - Fri 9 - 5
Sat 10 - 4

Stop. Cupcake Time!!

2009-07-23T16:08:00.000-07:00

One of my sisters friends ordered 2 dozen cupcakes from me for her husbands 40th birthday. Just plain vanilla, 12 with chocolate icing, 12 with vanilla icing, all finished off with a slice of mars bar. $50 for 2 dozen, which in my opinion is quite good, because generally cupcakes retail for around $80+ for 2 dozen.

I used Magnolia's vanilla cupcake recipe. I've only made it once before, and it was while I was in England with very limited supplies, but I'm happy to say that the recipe said it would make 24, it did make 24 and I needed exactly 24. Win win!! I am always hesitant about giving people cakes/food without tasting it myself to make sure that it's ok, but the smell that came out of the box when I opened them this morning to ice them was divine so I'm confidant that they'll taste good too.

Cakes for a friend + Adriano.

2009-07-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

It was my friends housewarming this Saturday just gone and as I'm always looking for an excuse to bake cakes, this wasn't an exception.

There was SO much food....it was like being a kid in a candy store!! There was even a chocolate fountain....yes, a chocolate FOUNTAIN!! Zahh!! Needless to say, there was never much of a distance between the chocolate fountain and myself, it's lucky anyone else got a look in with me there!!

Anyway, I took some white choc cupcakes and a Madeira cake covered with fondant. I'm pleased with the result:

I also finally made it to Adriano Zumbo on Sunday!! I was soooo excited, I've been wanting to get there for SO long. I didn't plan it too well though, as we got there at about 1pm, and of course by that time he had run out of almost everything!!

We did manage to grab 2 chocolate macarons & a citron tart......holy frig they were delicious!! I can't even describe the amazingness of the macarons.....crisp, light, fluffy, heavy, smooth, creamy, crunchy all at once?! How does that happen?! It was just like a little party in my mouth!! I'm not a massive fan of citrus, however the tart was nice, such a strong, zingy lemon flavour, you could feel the flavour of it on your toungue for several minutes after swallowing. The filling was creamy and smooth, the pastry crisp and buttery. Pretty good in my opinion!!

Everybody loves Elmo!!

2009-07-19T17:23:00.000-07:00

My sister has a habit of saying yes to things, and then getting everyone else to help her. This Elmo cake was no exception.

A work colleague saw a few cakes that my sister had made in the past for her daughters birthday parties (several, several years ago) and requested an Elmo cake. Sure, no problem. She then asked me to help out.

I've never made a cake like this before, so to say that I'm pleased with the outcome is an understatement!!

My sister baked the cake (I'm not going to lie, it was a packet mix!!) and I then went over to help (a.k.a ice the whole thing).

Despite my apprehension, Elmo wasn't terribly difficult to make!! We blew up a picture of Elmo, traced him on to some greaseproof paper and then attached the image to the cake with toothpicks and I cut around the image to create the shape of the cake. The eyes and nose are made of fondant, the black outline is licorice and the icing is betty crocker. I know, shameful, if I had have been in charge I would have made it all from scratch!!

Cake Decorating Central @ Castle Hill

2009-07-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

What better way to start this blog than to post some photos of a couple of new purchases??

I went to Cake Decorating Central at Castle Hill on Saturday. In a word: amazing!!

It's one of those places where you walk through the door and your breath is taken away and your heart rate starts to quicken, there's just SO much stuff to look at!! A countless number of cake tins, cake boards, little molds to make flowers and leaves, a wall dedicated to cookie cutters (which my friend likes to call the great wall of cookie cutters!!), cupcake papers in the most beautiful designs, shapes and sizes, edible ink, colour pastes, cake boxes and cupcake boxes.....honestly, the list goes on, it's just awesome.

My favourite papers are the black and silver ones. They're so pretty!!

Website: http://www.cakedecoratingcentral.com/
Location: Castle Hill - Unit 23, Hoyle Avenue, Castle Hill
Opening Hours: Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri 9 - 5, Thurs 9 - 7, Sat 9 - 3

They also have a shop at Campbelltown - Unit 2, 5 Harbord Road, Woodbine, Campbelltown (opening hours are the same as the Castle Hill shop)