Spoon and Spatula

Chocolate Mud Cake

2011-10-16T17:08:00.001+13:00

There are three days between my sister-in-law's birthday and mine. In addition to several other celebrations, we had a small get together over tea and cake to mark the date.

I made a Chocolate Mud Cake with a pink butter cream icing. This cake is one that I often make with the children at work and is dairy free (excluding the icing!) and also relatively cheap to make.

I have a wee fascination over different 'icings' at the moment and have looked far and wide for a good butter cream icing - I am sad to say that I have failed to find one that has set me to contentment. All the ones I have tried seem to be way to thick, or make way to much. Although it took some serious trial and error, I have concluded that all recipes for butter cream icing fail to include the fact that much milk or cream is needed! I was pretty happy when I discovered a perfect creamy buttercream by adding way more milk than was suggested in the recipes. Something for you all to note: Add more milk/cream and don't be afraid!

Anyway, enough about icing and more about cake. I like cakes that are richly moist and velvety and that melts in your mouth. If you have similar tastes buds then this is cake you should make.

Chocolate Mud Cake

(I doubled this recipe and divided the mixture into two tins to create two layers. Do whatever takes your fancy)

1 1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3 Tbsp cocoa

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 rice bran oil (or any vegetable oil)

1 cup cold water

1/2 cup chopped chocolate melts (optional)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease and line a cake tin.

Measure and combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Make a well in the dry mix and slowly fold in the wet mix, being careful to rid the mixture of any flour balls (eww). Pour mixture into prepared cake tin and bake for 30 minutes or until cake skewer comes out clean when inserted.

Ice with the icing of your contentment. For a buttercream icing see recipe below:

Pink Buttercream Icing

230 grams (2 cups) Icing sugar (confectioners sugar, powdered sugar)

120 grams (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

milk or cream

Pink food colouring

Cream butter until creamy and pale. Add vanilla and then gradually add the sugar, mixing to combine. Add as much milk until you get the consistency you want. I think I used about 1/3 cup but will depend on the temperature in your kitchen.

You want the icing to be light and fluffy. I find using a mixer for this job pretty useful, but a good strong hand should do the trick also.

Don't forget to add the food colouring - Not to much if you want a pale pink colour. It only takes a smigin to do the trick.

Use this icing to decorate the cake to your sweet heart's desire.

CakeJoy

2011-09-22T19:01:00.000+12:00

Hello!

I know, I know, I've been doing a TERRIBLE job at keeping in touch, sorry - truly I am. But late is better than never, right?

I thought I should update you on my exciting news...I finally started a cake stall at the Frank Kitts Markets. I called it cakejoy. If all goes well, I may just think of changing my blog name to cakejoy or perhaps start a new blog especially for cakejoy. What do you think?

The week leading up to the market was a bit of a stress (I wouldn't advise doing this on top of a full time job) but it was still uber fun and I loved every sweet (and not so sweet) bit of it.

I think I've caught the bug and I can't wait to have my next stall. I'm hoping to maybe have one twice a month. Ideally every week would be awesome, but just not feasible whilst working another job as well. Maybe if little cakejoy makes me heaps of money then I'll be able to...

The salvation army church down the road were so kind to lend me their commercial kitchen for a very cheap donation - thanks again SVA!

Want to see what it looked like?

I apologise about the photos, they're not the greatest.

What was on the menu?

Mini Key Lime Pie

Mini Pecan Pie

Peanut Butter Cookie Parcels

Triple Chocolate Brownie

Vanilla Ruffle Cake

Chocolate Cake Pops

Mocha Meringue Kisses

Nutty Nostalgic Cookie Mix Gift Bags

So looking forward to my next stall! I'm hoping to go bigger and better next time. Will keep you posted!

Chocolate Hot-Pots

2011-05-19T10:12:00.000+12:00

This my friends, is something else. It is stupidly delicious. It's a marriage made in heaven. It's the best thing you'll ever taste. It's also a recipe by Nigel Slater. I do like him.

Listen to this: Melted chocolate (of the best kind), nutella, butter, sugar and eggs all combined in a ramekin and cooked to a gooey perfection. Sound good? Want more?

Thought so. Well you're going to need 6 buttered ramekins. An electric beater. A couple of bowls and a a couple of spoons.

Turn the oven on to 200 Degrees Celsius. Break 200g of chocolate into rough pieces and put it in a bowl over simmering water. Let this melt without stirring, occasionally poking any unmelted chocolate down into the liquid chocolate. Mmm liquid chocolate..

Put 100g/1/2 cup caster sugar (or sifted sugar) into a food mixer or bowl. Separate 3 eggs and add the yolks to the sugar. Beat until thick and creamy.In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites till airy and almost stiff.

Stir 60g butter into the chocoalte and leave to melt, then gently stir 2 tablespoons nutella (or hazelnut spread). Fold the chocolate mixture into egg and sugar, then carefully fold in the beaten egg whites with a metal spoon. Take care not to over mix. Also, try to get rid of any floating drifts of egg white. Eww.

Scoop into the ramekins and place on a tray. Bake for 12-15 minutes, till risen.

The tops should be cracked and the centers still slightly wobbly. Try to resist diving a spoon into these pots until they're cooked. Although it's not the end of the world should your spoon jump before you can catch it..

I recommend serving this heavenly pot with something to cut through the richness such as clotted cream, greek yoghurt or creme fraiche.

Ahh the deliciousness! I made these the other night after having made a Pad Thai with Kev. The recipe made enough to fill 6 ramekins. I was hoping to store them in the fridge and freezer for at least a couple of days but when I had guests around the following night, they couldn't get their eyes off them either. I'll have to make another batch asap.

Home-Made Cluster Crisp

2011-05-11T21:33:00.001+12:00

I am a bit of a cereal freak. I like it a lot. I have been known to stand in the cereal isle of the supermarket for at least 20 minutes whilst I scope out ALL the options. It's a very important business.
The other day my cereal container was empty and I got my excited pants on as that mean't needing to get more cereal (yes, restocking the cereal container is always an exciting time). However, I didn't want to make a special trip to the supermarket there and then so decided to make my own.

I change my mind frequently about what I like in a cereal, it usually depends on the day. On this particular day I felt like something fairly simple. No nuts, no dried fruit, no chunks. I wanted crunch, not too heavy not too light. I ended up mixing together some oats, maple syrup, oil, spices and putting it into the oven to bake. On another tray I spread some cornflakes and drizzled maple syrup on top, gave it a quick stir and then into the oven with the oat mixture. Whilst they were cooking, I was talking to friends who were on their way home and my cornflakes burned terribly. Keep looking when you're cooking guys. Gee. What a waste of cornflakes.

After waiting for the other lot of cornflakes and maple syrup to cool with the oat mixture, I tossed the two together.

I'm not one to brag, but it tastes a lot like cluster crisp (only my favourite cereal)! I was stoked. Here's the recipe in case you're excited about this too:

Home-Made Cluster Crisp

4 cups rolled oats

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp mixed spice

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup oil

2 cups cornflakes

1/4 maple syrup

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line two large trays with baking paper. Combine the first six ingredients in a large bowl. Mix together to combine then spread onto one of the prepared trays. Bake for about 7 minutes or until slightly golden. I like mine the be crunchy but not too crunchy. Leave it is for longer if you like it extra crunchy.

Pour the cornflakes onto the other tray and drizzle with the maple syrup. Bake for 3-4 minutes - be careful not to burn them as I did!

Leave cereal to cool completely then combine them together. Pour into your cereal container and you're away laughing (or munching...).

Long time no see

2011-05-07T16:25:00.001+12:00

Hi!

As you may have noticed, it's been a really long time since I blogged. It's not that I haven't been baking, it's that I haven't had the urge to blog about it. Today that urge came back. I think that deserves some kind of celebration, don't you? We'll get to that in a second.

For now I should probably inform you all of something terribly exciting. Two weeks ago I purchased a KitchenAid. A pistachio coloured KitchenAid. I can feel your excitement too. I still get goosebumps when I see it. I highly recommend them. I know we all know that they're amazing, but they're even better than we think.

I made this Ruffle cake for my best friends birthday the other day with it. I used an Italian Meringue Icing. It used A LOT of butter (500g!). I don't think I would have attempted making it without the KitchenAid.

There are three layers hiding under that icing. How much cooler would it look with and extra cake on top to give it extra height?

I've been making these for presents and have found them to be a handy homemade gift! I thought I'd share them with you seeing as Mother's Day season and all! The cookies are super tasty too...

Now for celebrating. I felt like something fudgy, chocolatey, and crunchy. So I decided to make these:

Mocha Cookies

Sweet little thumb print mocha cookies that is. They sussed out my craving in no time.The perfect way to celebrate.

Ingredients:

150g butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

2 tsp coffee granules mixed with 1 tbsp hot water

1 1/2 cup flour

1 tbsp cocoa

20 chocolate buttons

Process:

Pre-heat oven to 180 Degrees Celsius.

Beat butter with an electric beater or a cake mixer. Add sugar, egg yolk and coffee paste. Beat until smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift flour and cocoa and mix to combine. In two batches, add to the butter mixture.

Mix well until all combined. You might have to get your hands in there!

Form into balls and place on lined tray. Press a chocolate button into each ball.

Bake for 12 minutes.

Have a great weekend.

Fun Times in Sydney

2010-10-19T17:52:00.001+13:00

Well I'm back from my adventures across the water. We had a great time, shopping, site seeing, boat riding, going to luna park (you know it's awesome) and learning a thing or two about the place:

1. Banana bread is EVERYWHERE in Sydney (this is not an exaggeration)

2. There are hardly any cafe's

3. No-one is over size 12

4. There are no public toilets

Four things which proved to become a little annoying as time went on. Particularly the toilet thing. Even restaurants seem to lack toilets. Have any of you noticed this?

We also did a lot of eating, finding mostly Asian food. A little unexpected at first, but when you see that China Town takes up a large part of Sydney it's not too surprising.

We had our first meal in China Town where we were literally bombarded by people trying to get us into their restaurants. We ended up settling for this which was from one of the many food carts on the road:

Which looks tasty, yes. But it wasn't. Jo's (the top one) was soya noodle knots which were incredibly bland and mine was noodles with coriander and about 10 tablespoons of different types of liquid that came out of suspectable squeezy bottles.

We learn't fast not to go back. However, it did rate higher than my last dinner in Sydney which was from a Korean restaurant, where my chicken was served stone cold and filled with bones and blood. Not so ideal. Jo let me share her dinner which was thankfully very tasty.

We did manage to find something to satisfy our westernized palates however. It was potentially the tastiest meal we had during our entire stay. It was salty, greasy, delicious, and brought sweet memories of home. Yes, believe it or not, our favourite meal happened to be this:

Fish and Chips (feesh and Cheeps). I know right, the only thing we really loved was fish and chips. How cultured and 'out there' are we? If it helps, we were ravenous.

From throwing up in the rubbish bin at luna park (Jo, not me), to finding my dream boots at half price, to cart-wheeling outside the Opera House, Sydney was great. A must see for all.

Let me know if you ever plan to go there - I'll be sure to give you the details of the Korean place so you don't get disappointed with cold, bloody chicken too :)

tinned muffins

2010-09-30T14:17:00.000+13:00

Sounds wrong doesn't it? Tinned muffins. But that's exactly what I made. Muffins in a tin.
I think I originally got the idea from the cookbook Gran's Kitchen a while ago. But it is certainly not a new idea. I think Women did it a lot during the war when there wasn't much access to bakeware. Genius really.

I made peach and banana crumble muffins. Unfortunately I didn't write the recipe down as I made it, but you can use any muffin recipe you like.

I filled two tins about 3/4 full, then poured the rest of the mixture into normal muffin tins. Unfortunately I became a bit impatient and didn't wait long enough for the muffins to cook in their tins. One worked out well, the other not so well. So I'd advise you to be more patient than I was and wait.

Here's what they look like:

I suggest putting the jug on, then slicing these babies, smothering them generously with butter. Once the jug is boiled, make a cup of tea and drink it with a few slices of muffin. Slices of muffin. Sounds a little strange hmm?

Well I am off to Sydney for a week with my lovely friend Joanna, so you may or may not hear from me whilst I am away. We hope to have a merry time exploring the merry or not so merry things Sydney has to offer. I especially can't wait to check out the food scene there. Any suggestions?
Dinkum.

Not quite Martha's, but still dandy

2010-09-27T20:16:00.001+13:00

If you haven't had a high tea before, then you really must. Especially a Martha's Pantry High Tea. I had wanted to celebrate my birthday there yesterday but they were all booked out. I guess that's what you get if you're a little dis-organised like me. So instead I decided to have my own at the flat. Thanks to the lovely Sophia and my flat mates, we got baking and tea making to enjoy a lovely high tea with lovely people.

I remembered to take photos before people came...then they started arriving, I got chatting and completely forgot... Sorry. Useless I know. We had lots of pretty tea cups and scrummy cakes and scones and lemon meringue tarts...you can see some of the pretty cups in the photos, but for the rest, your'll have to use your imagine.

Maybe I'll be more organised next year for a birthday high tea at Martha's. I promise I'll remember to take more photos.

Lemon Curd

2010-09-21T20:25:00.003+12:00

Mmm sweet, sweet lemon curd. I was brought up on this stuff. Whether it was a lumpy egg white version given to us from a relative or a thick and creamy version home-made by my mum or a family friend, we usually had a jar of this on tap. And straight to the jar with a spoon we would go! (Bad habits taught to me and my siblings by my dad - yes dad, I'm blaming you).

I've been at home crook this week and something inside me told me I needed lemon curd - nothing like a little nostalgia to make you feel better. I had never made it before, perhaps because it was always in the fridge or maybe I had been put off by people telling me how tricky it can be and how impossible it was to not to get the white lumps. Those people were wrong. It's surprisingly easy, especially if you use a little trick, my mum taught me.

All you need is:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

200g butter, diced evenly

4 eggs, gently whisked to combine

- In a pot, combine sugar, juice and butter. Place over a medium heat and stir until butter has melted. Bring this to the boil.

- Prepare a larger pot of water to the boil.

- Add the eggs to the butter mixture and whisk like crazy.

- Place this pot on top of the larger pot of boiling water and stir until the lemon curd thickens. Once cool, pour into jars. It keeps in the fridge for 10 days.

Makes 2 cups.

If you have the pesky white bits showing from the eggs, you can sieve the curd to get rid of them - a handy hint from my mum.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this velvety goodness, here are a few ways you can eat it:

- Smothered on toast (esp. yummy with bananas and yoghurt)

- As a topping on ice cream

- Stirred through a creamy un-sweetened yoghurt

- A filling in sweet pies e.g. lemon meringue pie

- Getting your paws straight in there with a spoon (or no spoon...)

Mmm-mm!

Baking Date

2010-09-20T10:10:00.004+12:00

My friend Sophia and I have something in common. We love to bake. So much so, that we actually have dates where we do just that. Don't judge us. It's a fantastic night really. It involves a trip to the supermarket to get pumpkin soup and garlic bread (special stuff, not the one wrapped in tinfoil), and perhaps some cheese and crackers then back to mine where we get busy in the kitchen, followed by a dvd whilst eating whatever we've made. Bliss.

She came around a while ago and we made this AMAZING Lemon Cheese Pudding. It was so incredibly delicious that we made it again the other night. The name of this pudding is a little deceiving however, as it contains no cheese. In fact, the thing I love the most about this recipe, is that it contains no 'special' ingredients at all and yet it tastes so darn good. I think it might be one of those really old-school Edmonds recipes. Ah Edmonds.

Anyway you're probably wondering how to make this wee slice of heaven. Here goes:

Lemon Cheese Pudding

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter Rind and juice of 1 lemon

1/2 cup sugar 1 cup milk

2 tbsp flour 2 eggs (separated)

A pinch of salt

The how-to:

- Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Boil a half- full kettle of water.

- Beat egg whites until stiff.

- Cream butter and sugar.

- Add flour, salt, lemon (rind and juice) milk and egg yolks (Ooo, plus I think a few added tablespoons of coconut would go down nicely at this stage. Give it a go?)

- Pour mixture into three ramekins, or a large dish (ramekins are way more fun) and place these in a pan of boiling water for 15 minutes (longer if in large dish).

Serve with greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream.

Heaven in a ramekin I tell you.

K & S

2010-09-17T11:16:00.001+12:00

So it turns out being engaged makes for a pretty busy lifestyle. Party after party, email after email, fabric shopping, dress hunting, venue hunting, card making...

It's such a tough life isn't it?

Although it's busy, it sure is a lot of fun. I totally recommend joining the band wagon- everyone's doing it. You might want to find yourself a decent other-half first however...

Last weekend we had our Wellington engagement party which was for all our wellington folk. My bridesmaid, kindly made some cute cupcakes for the occasion. They were decorated with pretty sprinkles and signed with K & S (Kevin and Sarah) on them. Unfortunately I didn't get any close up pictures of the wee gems on my camera but you can get the idea from these photos.

Ahem, yes. A little grossed out? So am I. Especially at Kev's sifty pose. Sorry... Maybe just feast your eyes on these for a second to rid yourself of such horrid things. I don't think Kev knows I'm posting these photos on here. Maybe don't tell him.

Hope you all have a swell weekend.x

Pumpkin and a whole lot of pie

2010-09-01T19:39:00.000+12:00

So this was a pie that resulted from my indecisive nature. I wanted pie and cheesecake and couldn't decide between the two, so decided to merge them. It didn't go too horribly wrong but it did turn out a little unexpectedly...

I based the pie/cheesecake using a recipe from AWW: Bake, combined with a cheesecake base, then to top it off I created a wee concoction of nuts, chocolate and sugar as a scrummy topping. Confused? Here's the how to:

Made the Crust/base:

1 packet of plain biscuits (I used Malt)

250g Butter, melted

- Pre-heat oven to 180 Degrees Celsius. Process together in a food processor. Press into a tin/dish of desired size.

Refrigerate while you make the filling.

Make the filling:

2 eggs

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp maple syrup

1 cup cooked mashed pumpkin

2/3 cup evaporated milk

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

pinch ground allspice

1. Beat eggs, sugar, maple syrup in a small bowl with an electric beater until thick. Stir in pumpkin, milk and spices. Once base has set pour in the filling.

Place in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes.

While this is in the oven combine the topping:

1 cup nuts, chopped

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup chocolate chips

2 Tbsp maple syrup

Combine ingredients and mix together.

After 20 minutes, sprinkle this topping over the pie. Cook for a further 25-30 minutes or until cooked. You may find you need to place some tin foil over the pie to prevent nuts from burning.

So there you have it: Pumpkin pie/cheesecake. Though I think it's more of a pie. Would you agree?

I was surprised to see that the base swelled considerably, giving a thick edge instead of a thin one as most cheesecakes have. Not too sure why this was. Maybe I'll need to make it again. Maybe you should make it and tell me how yours turns out?

I am sure, however, that it was super tasty. I think I will make again. Its very morish so if you do decide to make it too, be warned...

As for the next pumpkin recipe, I no longer have any pumpkin to use! This pie used up most of what was left and then my flat mate used the remaining bit in a yummy roast vege and couscous salad. Sorry I don't have any pictures of that to show you, but I can assure you, your pumpkin won't be wasted on such things.

So there we have it. Five ways with a pumpkin. Now you have a few pumpkin recipes under your belt for the next time you arrive home from the supermarket holding a pumpkin.

Yum. Thanks pumpky for delivering deliciousness every time. Now what?

Pumpkin meets pancake and oh, something to tell you...

2010-08-23T21:03:00.003+12:00

Third pumpkin recipe: Pancakes. Pumpkin in pancakes. A little strange huh? But totally delicious. I came across the recipe when I was browsing through one of my favourite blogs, Joy The Baker. She really is great.
She found the recipe from Martha Stewart which can be found here.

A few friends came over to eat them with me. They were skeptical of the pumpkin in a pancake too before they had their first bite...as was I. But they were so yum! A must try by all. Do it.

My pumpkin is shrinking fast:

And in other news...

In case you didn't quite catch that, that's a ring on my finger. My ring finger that is. YES, the boy popped the question and now we're engaged! I've been dying to tell you but had to wait until all the fam-dam, and close friends knew first.

So I'm a tad bit excited at the moment. You'll have to excuse my giddiness for a wee while, because I think it's going to linger for some time until the excitement wears off. Yippeee, wedding plans here we come!

Pumpkin and Date Muffins

2010-08-21T09:07:00.001+12:00

The other night I was lying on the couch flicking through AAW: BAKE, when my flatmate said: "So, do you usually read cook books for fun?" To which I replied, "I don't read them all the time..."

I think I may have an obsession with food and cook books. Please tell me reading through cook books in not geeky? Ok, so it may be a little geeky. Which means I must be a little bit of a geek. Thats okay. I can deal with that. Maybe its time for all the Sneans-wearers out there to stop hogging all the geekiness share a little with us. Yes, you too. I'm sure we're all geeky in our own way. Don't deny it.

In fact, if it wasn't for flicking through AAW I wouldn't have got the idea for my next pumpkin recipe: Muffins. Pumpkin and Date muffins that is. I know you're thinking I could have come up with that on my own, as muffins don't sound too adventurous, BUT its been a while since I made these and whoa did I miss them.
And for all those fussy 'dater's' our there, you don't have to use them but could substitute chocolate, or raisins, or nuts, or anything that tickles your fancy. Here they are:

Pumpkin and Date Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cup plain flour 1 egg

1/4 soft brown sugar 1 cup mashed pumpkin

3 tsp baking powder 1/2 cup yoghurt/milk

1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/4 Canola oil

1/2 cup dates, chopped

Process:

Pre-heat fan forced oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Grease a muffin pan (mini, medium or large).

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and spices into a bowl. Add sugar and stir together with a whisk or fork to aerate the mixture.

In a separate large bowl, slightly beat the egg. Add the pumpkin, yoghurt/milk, vanilla and oil. Mix to combine.

Gently fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, being careful not to over mix.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through.

Served warm for breakfast with yoghurt and a drizzle of maple syrup is pre-tty tasty, or as a snack, or whenever your taste buds would like to savour a sweet, soft, fluffy pumpkin goodness.

So there we have it. About 2/5ths of pumpky gone. What will be next? Not too sure yet. Stay tuned to find out.

How many ways with a Pumpkin?

2010-08-19T20:55:00.008+12:00

Oh pumpkin, oh pumpkin, how I love you. You're versatile, you're delicious, and you're...CHEAP.

I was going to do my usual half -a-pumpkin purchase when I decided to branch out and buy a whole pumpkin. I know, big deal right? - A whole pumpkin. This baby was a whopping $2.49. Not as cheap as the Vege Markets, but still pretty cheap huh?

This pumpky got me pondering. Just how many things could one make with a whole pumpkin? I thought I'd put it to the test and keep you posted in the process.

I started tonight by making this: which used about 1/8th of the pumpkin.

I know, I know, mashed pumpkin reminds me of baby food too. BUT, it was scrummy. Especially with the additional dollop of maple syrup added in the end...

So there we have it. About 1/8th of my pumpkin gone.

That's still a lot of pumpkin left to create some more pumpkin deliciousness. Yusss.

p.s. I think this must be the first savoury meal I have posted on my blog. Fancy that?

Chocolate Lace Crisps

2010-08-15T16:11:00.004+12:00

It was the daintiness of the title that attracted me to making these 'crisps'. A crisp biscuit that would perhaps be served on fine china-ware for a special afternoon tea. I didn't have a special afternoon tea to attend, but I did have one of these tasty crisps to eat at afternoon tea time. They were crunchy, delicate and a little decadent.

The recipe is from the Australian's Women's Weekly "BAKE" cookbook. I bought this a few months ago and love it. It has it all.

Here is the recipe for these little dainty gems:

100g dark cooking chocolate, chopped

80g butter, chopped

1 cup (220g) caster sugar

1 egg

1 cup (150g) pain flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/4 (40g) icing sugar

1. Melt chocolate and butter in small saucepan over low heat.

2. Transfer chocolate mixture to medium bowl: stir in caster sugar, egg, sifted flour, cocoa and soda. Cover: Refrigerate 15 minutes or until mixture is firm enough to handle.

3. Pre-heat oven to 180/160 degrees Celsius fan-forced. Grease oven trays: Line with baking paper.

4. Roll level tablespoons of mixture into balls, roll each ball in sifted icing sugar.

Pace about 8cm apart (they grow big) on trays.

5. Bake crisps about 15 minutes, cool on trays.

Makes about 20

Mmm afternoon tea delights.

Banana and Raspberry French Toast Goodness...

2010-07-24T10:06:00.005+12:00

I was a big hater of french toast growing up. In fact I was a big hater of most food growing up. You'd think I was a different person.

There seem to be so many different ways to make french toast these days, it's pretty much not possible to dislike it. Brioche, bread, muffins, croissants, french stick - you name it, it's all good.

Being the great girlfriend that I am* I made my boyfriend french toast in the weekend. It could be filled with nearly anything. Nutella would be especially good I think. I just stuck to using Raspberry jam, a good dollop of butter and sliced banana as well as a touch or more of maple syrup..

Maybe you'd like to surprise a special someone with this sweet goodness too?

Banana and Raspberry French Toast

You will need:

2 slices bread/brioche/muffins/whatever tickles your fancy!

2 eggs

1/4 cup milk

vanilla essence

2 tablespoons raspberry jam

1 banana, sliced

1/4 cup frozen raspberries

1 tablespoon icing sugar

maple syrup

How to:

Whisk eggs together well. Add milk and vanilla. Spread jam and butter on both pieces of bread. Top one slice of bread with sliced banana then place the other piece on top. Press down together. Soak sandwich into egg mixture, making sure all bread is completely covered.

Heat a dollop of butter in a frying pan, making sure the pan is not too hot (if butter turns brown, pan is too hot). Once the right temperature, place the sandwich on the pan. Cook for about five minutes on each side until golden brown.

Meanwhile, place frozen berries in microwave until soft. Stir in icing sugar.

Top french toast with any left over sliced banana and the raspberries. Do I need to mention drizzle over maple syrup to your hearts content? I didn't think so...

Apricot Granola

2010-07-23T14:53:00.004+12:00

I used to get paid to cook family meals, snacks and well anything really. It was mean't to be a nanny job but I spent more time cooking than I did looking after the children. It was pretty great.

My 'nanny mum' often requested this Granola as it was one of her favorites. I hope you like it too.

Apricot Granola

You will need (this recipe is VERY adaptable so if you don't have everything, mix and match):

2 cups nuts (e.g. almonds, cashews etc.)

1/2 cups sunflower seeds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup coconut

4 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup maple syrup/honey

1 1/2 cup salad oil

1/2 cup dried apricots, cut however you like them

1/2 cup processed bran

Pre-heat oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Combine all the nuts and grains in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the oil and maple syrup. Pour this into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix together.

Cook in roasting pans for about 45 minutes, turning every 10-15minutes to cook evenly to a golden brown. Remove from oven and mix in apricots and bran.

Serve with milk and fruit, as a topping on yoghurt/ice cream or simply stick your paws into the container and enjoy!

Pillows

2010-07-11T14:14:00.009+12:00

When I was little, I was told that sleeping with one pillow instead of two would make me taller. I quickly became a one-pillow child after that. I also became quite particular about my pillow: It had to be chunky, firm but soft, fluffy and full-bodied. I still hold this pillow criteria today. Well, that was up until to a few days ago when I discovered something amazing. Something that took my pillow criteria to a new level- an edible kind. You won't believe it until you see it. I didn't believe at first either. But it changed me when I saw it. From a one-pillow person to a several pillow-person. Several pillow cookie person that is. Yes, a pillow cookie. Are you ready to see what that looks like?

Here goes...

Ta-dah! No that isn't just a big chocoate chunk in the middle. It's a BROWNIE chunk! Yes you read correctly. It's a brownie inside a cookie. I know, i know! I'm excited too. Two heavenly things paired together to make one holy goodness.

My flatmate and I made them together as a wee Saturday afternoon delight. And delightful they were.

I found the recipe here. From the one and only Bakerella.

Judging by how excited you are (I know you are..) here is the how to:

Make a batch of brownies (any recipe will be fine, we used this one).

While these are cooking, make your favourite chocolate chip cookie mixture (preferably one that makes a few cookies, check out the one on Bakerella if you can't find one). When the brownies are cooked, cut them into little tiny squares. Then...

Take some mixture:

Form a ball with the mixture. Then make a hole in the ball, and place the brownie inside, wrapping the mixture around it as you go.

Roll the ball as you would with a normal cookie and gently press it with a fork.

Place in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Now, that's what I call a pillow. Well, a pillow cookie. Maybe these are what I have been needing to grow taller! There's still hope...

Tan Square

2010-06-07T17:28:00.009+12:00

Hello! It feels like a while since I have blogged. I apologize, I been feeling a bit guilty.

Funny enough it was my boyfriend who inspired me to bake today. He isn't one for requesting particular baking, let alone any, so when he asked if I could make him some Tan Square, I got a wee bit excited.

You would think that somewhere among my copious amount of cooking books I would find a recipe for Tan square/slice. Well I didn't. I was a little amazed at this, but I simply learned that I don't have enough cook books... I reverted to a recipe on the internet. Internet is handy like that.

Luckily for me (and my boyfriend) the recipe produced a fine Tan Square (if I don't say so myself). The base was light and fluffy with a fudgy texture, which added to the gooey caramel topping and crumbled chocolate mixture on top - sounds pretty good huh? It was.

Tan Square:

BASE:

250g butter

1/2 cup sugar

Vanilla Essence

4 cup flour

1/2 cup chocolate chips

The how-to:

Soften the butter, then add sugar and vanilla, beating until light and fluffy. Stir in flour. Grease a 23cm tin and spoon 2/3 of the mixture, pressing down to flatten.

Add the chocolate chips to the remaining mixture, then place in fridge.

TOPPING:

(What a glorious sight. At home in my parents fridge, you will often find an open can of this sitting there, and usually my dad too, with a spoon in hand)

1 can of condensed milk

3 Tablespoons of golden syrup

60g butter, diced

The how-to:

Place ingredients in a saucepan. Turn heat on low and stir until butter is melted and ingredients are well combined.

Pour it over onto the prepared base

Crumble the remaining mixture on top and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Cool completely before cutting into squares

Birthday Coconut Cream Layer Cake with Chocolate Icing (- what a mouthful!)

2010-05-08T10:28:00.013+12:00

In my opinion, it's not a birthday party without a birthday cake. So when I went to my friend's birthday during the week, I took her along a cake. She suggested she wanted a Coconut Cake so I went hunting for a recipe. I chose one that used coconut cream, in hope it would be moist, as well as for something a little different.

When the layers came out of the oven they looked extremely dry and I was worried they had failed the moisture test. Cakes can be scary things to make for a large number of people, because you can never test them to make sure they will be ok! Hence, I was a bit nervous when watching people take their first bite...

To my relief, it wasn't too dry at all, but rather, it was light, spongy, and velvety - a texture which I hadn't really come across before. It's a MUST-TRY recipe. Just beware of the icing, it is rather delicious.

Coconut Cream Layer Cake with Chocolate Icing

2 1/4 cup plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
150 g butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup coconut cream/milk
4 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 190' C. Lightly grease 9 inch round cake tins and line with baking paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk togehter flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until mixture is light and fluffy. Mix in egg yolks and vanilla until mixture is smooth. Alternating wet and dry ingredients, add in the coconut milk and flour mixture in 3-4 additions, ending with a final addition of the flour mixture.

In another bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks with an electric beater. Fold in the egg whites into the cake batter. Make sure no streaks of egg white remain visible. Divide cake batter into prepared round cake tins.

Bake for 25 minutes or intil a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Turn cakes out onto a wire rack and remove baking paper, allowing them to cool completely bofore icing.

Once the cakes have cooled, place one of the layers on a serving plate or cake stand.

I poked several holes into the layers with a toothpick before topping with the coconut filling (see recipe below)- to prevent the cakes from drying out.

Place second cake layer on top-side-down, so that the flattest part of the cake is on top. Press down gently.
Use a spatula to ice the sides and top of the chocolate coconut icing. I decorated mine with sugar flowers, and added a handful of shredded coconut to mine, to give it a 'rough' look. But you can decorate to your hearts content.

Coconut Filling

6 Tbsp sugar
1.2 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp coconut cream/milk
1/2 cup shredded coconut

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Refridgerate until ready to use.

Coconut Chocolate Frosting

1/2 cup butter
2 oz chocolate
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2-3 cup icing sugar
5 Tbsp coconut cream/milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp salt
handful coconut (optional)

In a small, microwave safe bowl, melt together butter and unsweetend chocolate. Heat in 30-45 second intervals, stirring frequently, until mixture is smooth. Cool for 10-15 minutes, or until mixture is at room temperature.

Transfer butter mixture to a larger bowl. Beat in cocoa powder, 2 cups icing sugar coconut cream/milk, vanilla and salt, beating until icing is smooth and slightly fluffy. Add additional icing sugar to thicken if needed. Icing shoud be at room temperature before using.

Happy Birthday Jo!x

Blueberry and Apple Pikelets

2010-05-04T17:52:00.006+12:00

I love spending my weekend mornings in the kitchen making a leisurely brunch or breakfast - especially when there are people around to eat it with! My friend down the road often takes advantage of this.

Last Saturday morning I made some blueberry and apple pikelets. I used a recipe from the trusty old Edmonds cookbook, and added grated apple and blueberries.

Here's the recipe in case you'd like to have them yourself this weekend:

Ingredients:

1 Cup Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder
Salt
1/4 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
3/4 Cup Milk
1 Apple Grated
1/2 Cup Blueberries (frozen or fresh)

Process:

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In another bowl, beat egg and sugar until thick. Add apple and mix to combine. Add this mixture with the milk to the sifted ingredients.

Gently fold in blueberries.

Drop tablespoons of the mixture from the point of the spoon onto a hot, lightly greased girdle or non-stick frying pan.

Turn over when bubbles start to burst on top surface. Cook second side until golden.
Makes 10-12.

Serve warm drizzled with maple syrup, sliced banana and a dollop of ice cream...

Apricot and White Chocolate Muesli Bars

2010-04-30T13:45:00.005+12:00

Growing up, muesli bars were always a bit of a treat. Mum used to make the best home made ones using a combination of weetbix, oats, sugar, dried fruit, honey, butter and (a heap of) peanut butter then wrapped them in tin foil as if they were bought from the shop.

This recipe is perhaps a wee bit better for for you as it uses oil rather than butter and it doesn't have peanut butter or sugar. But they still taste amazing- promise! I adapted it from Annabel Langbein. Again, the operative word being 'adapted' as I never can seem to stick to a recipe. Maybe I should work on that..?

Apricot and White Chocolate Muesli Bars

3 cup rolled oats
1 cup finely crushed Weet-bix
1 cup nuts and or seeds
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup dried apricots, finely diced
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup warmed honey/maple syrup
1 cup flavourless oil (e.g. grapeseed)
1/2 cup melted white chocolate

(Anything can be subsituted in this recipe, as long as the wet to dry ingredients are kept the same).

Preheat oven to 160' C. Line a 30cm x 24cm sponge roll tin. Mix oats, nuts, weet-bix, coconut, apricots and flour in a bowl. Combine warmed honey and oil and stir to combine.

Press firmly into tin a bake for 30 mins or until crisp.

Cool slightly begore cutting. When completely cooled, drizzle with melted chocolate.

Nom nom nom...

I have been muching my way through this tin all afternoon. I may have found my new favourite muesli bar...

Easter Cupcakes

2010-04-03T11:34:00.003+13:00

After making cupcakes at work yesterday, a four year old girl told me that the difference between muffins and cupcakes were that cupcakes were muffins with cups and muffins were plain and didn't have cups. I wasn't so sure. Children's working theories never fail to surprise me!

Baking with children can be a little stressful at times - especially when you have 10 of them at the table with you. They just can't seem to help themselves from licking the spoon, or dipping their fingers into the mixture...

Here is a recipe that is great for doing with children (or by yourself!):

Ingredients:
125g Butter (softened) 1 Cup Plain Flour
1 tsp Vanilla Essence 2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Caster Sugar 2 Tbsp Cocoa
2 Eggs 1/4 Milk (I used 3 Tbsp Sour Cream)

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, then eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa together. Fold into creamed mixture. Stir in milk or sour cream. Place 18 patty cases in patty tins. Spoon mixture evenly into paper cases. Bake at 190 degrees celcius for 15 minutes or until cakes spring back when lightly touched. Transfer to a wire rack.

Decorate to your hearts content

Happy Easter and happy baking everyone.x

A little over-board?

2010-03-26T21:43:00.010+13:00

I made a promise to my boyfriend a long time ago that I would make him a cake - not just any cake however, his favourite- carrot cake (with cream cheese icing of course). Although it's a few months later, I finally made one tonight.

I'm all about my decorating at the moment and have been wanting to try out my Nutbrown Icing Set that I was given a while ago. Unfortunately it didn't work so well i.e. it fell apart (darn)! So yet again I reverted to my trust worthy Icing set from the super market...

I didn't really have any decorating 'plan' in mind which is perhaps why I went a little over-board:

And a little more still:

...and just a tad more:Walnuts!

No matter what, you can never go too over-board with cream cheese icing...at least that's what I think. I know my boyfriend would agree to that.

I'm off to lick the rest of the bowl! Mmm..

Hope you all have a happy weekend.x

Experimenting with creativity and little time

2010-03-15T19:30:00.008+13:00

Please excuse me while I have a wee moan about work eating all my time...eating being the operative word. My free time disappears so fast I don't remember having it in the first place. Gone are the days where I could bake all afternoon, then blog about it. Gone. GONE. But I have faith that it won't be like this forever. So bear with me while I still get used to working full time. Maybe it's a time management thing? Or maybe it's a career choice thing, where I need to switch to baking and bloging for a living...ok maybe not, but it would be nice.

The other night I was home, so I relished the opportunity to try out my new gifts! It was a rather quick go, hence the 'creative' outcomes but it was fun to see how these gimics would turn out.

The chocolate moulds will definitely get a lot more use out of them. As for the chocolate, it was a little too artificial tasting for my liking, so I think I may have to stick to the stuff found in local supermarkets.

The decorating pens were fun too, but cooled very fast and made it hard to use after a wee while. I still think they're fantastic though. I'm looking forward to finding a use for them.

Hope you are all having a great week.x

A gift from Korea

2010-03-06T19:44:00.004+13:00

Guess what! Our flat now has internet. Horah. It's amazing what you can do when you don't have internet to occupy your time. But now that it's here again, may the procsrastination begin...

I recieved a wee gift from a friend who has been living in South Korea. She gave me a bag full of what seemed like, a never ending bag of goodies.

Here's some of the things I found:

Chocolate moulds (hearts, alphabet and teddies)

Melting candy (mmm) and moulds for ice or cakes

A little oven mit and a mini water sprinkler

and what I am most excited about using...Icing in a easy-dispensable tube! Apparently you zapp it in the microwave for a minute, then use. No fussing about piping bags here!

Lucky huh?! Looks like South Korea knows a thing or two about fun baking supplies. I'm very much looking forward to experimenting with all of these things. I shall let you know how I get on!

Thanks again Sophie!x

Long time no see

2010-03-04T11:27:00.002+13:00

HELLO.
You may have noticed the lack of posts lately..I do still exist! However my access to internet doesn't..our flat is still waiting for our internet to kick start. We've been told its not far away, so when it does eventually arrive, I will be sure to get my little fingers typing hard. I've missed you all greatly. I especially can't wait to show you a wee package that I received from a friend in Korea.
Till then, happy baking, happy cooking and happy all round.
x

A bite for lunch

2010-02-01T20:37:00.021+13:00

I am now in my second week of having entered the "real world". Up until now, I have been a student and have very much enjoyed the lifestyle that being a student entails (sleep-ins, ALOT of free time, student allowance..to name a few).

Life as an official 'worker' isn't all bad though. Infact I quite enjoy preparing lunches to take to work. I know- Im extremely sad.

You may have noticed that I haven't bloged about food for a wee while. I'm in between houses at the moment so its been a bit tricky. BUT I had the opportunity to do so tonight and decided to make some carrot muffins. A nice wee something to pop in the lunch box. Ha, I was actually so desperate for muffins I had to borrow muffin tins from work.

I didn't have a recipe on hand so made my own version. I added some oats, jam and a bit of apple juice to the mixture, they turned out to be rather yummy if I don't say so myself..

Ingredients:

2 cup flour
3 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 nutmeg
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 cup apple juice
1/4 cup jam
1 cup carrot, grated

How-to:

Sift flour, baking powder into a bowl. Add oats, spices and mix to combine. In a separate bowl combine the oil and sugar. Mix well, add egg and milk and apple juice. Combine the wet mixture with the dry and gradually add the carrot. Spoon mixture into greased muffin tins filling half way whilst adding a drop of jam before filling the rest 2/3 full. Place in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

It makes 36 mini muffins, I utlised the freezor.

After a week of sandwhiches I decided I needed a change so made a super easy salad that required little effort. It's super easy, I'm all about convenience now that I'm a working woman.

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas
1 can corn kernals
1 can diced beetroot
1/2 cup diced feta
1/2 cup diced cucumber
1/2 cup grated carrot
1 large bunch of rocket

How-to:

Comibine all ingredients. Mix and bob's your uncle.
It would be nice with a yummy dressing, maybe a vinaigrette?

Lunch for the week is done.

Nutbrown Icing Set

2010-01-30T15:34:00.004+13:00

I was gifted this antique icing set from my sister, who found it at a recycling centre (thanks again Melissa!).

Isn't it cool?!

What amazes me is that all the pieces are still in the box and are all in great condition. I guarantee I am going to lose at least one...

I like to think I could create something delicate and sweet like the pictures below:

I am hoping hard this will work better than my last one.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

2010-01-17T11:45:00.006+13:00

I was asked to bring a salad for bbq dinner last night, but I couldn't help but bake a little something for the occassion too. I used this recipe from Nigella Lawson.

I added a few frozen berries to mine, which added a tarty bite to the cake. But you could pop these wee tins in the oven at this stage here if you're not a berry fan.

The sour cream allows for a soft and light but smooth texture which melts in your mouth, mmm...

Fun with faces

2010-01-10T17:48:00.008+13:00

Thought I'd test out my newly recieved cupcake decorator:

All was going well until it decided to stop working...so I reverted to my usual piping bag.

Although it was disappointing that the cupcake decorator didn't work, the wee cupcakes themselves tasted pretty good. See, there's always a silver linning :)

Maybe I'll have better luck next time?

Popping Delicious

2010-01-07T17:22:00.010+13:00

For a while now I've had my eyes on these and finally decided to give them ago today. I was pleasantly surprised when they turned out just as they should. I think they would make the best wee treats for a little one's birthday party or any party for that matter. Once you get the imagination cranking I'm sure you could turn them into a range of different things. Check out Bakerella for ideas.

It was a bit fiddley and a little time consuming (thankfully I'm on holiday) but definitely worth it. To start off, you need a cake. I just made a simple chocolate cake and once cooked and cooled, I processed it in a food processor.

I then got my hands in there and mixed in some typically American "Aunt Betty's Fosting" -this stuff is seriously delicious by the way.

Once all mixed together, you roll the mixture into balls then place in the freezor for 10-15 minutes.

When firm, you take them out of freezor and using a wee flower shape cookie cutter, you press the cutter into the ball to form a 'cup cake' shape.

You then place the cupcake shapped mixture back into the freezor for another 10-15 minutes, get them out again and then dip their little bottoms into melted dark chocolate.

They will look a bit messy like above, but will look prettier as the chocolate dries. I also tried some plain round ones too. You could decorate these more if desired.

Dip their tops in a different colour (I used melted white chocolate with a bit of red food colouring), sprinkle hundreds of thousands on top and place an m & m on top to finish.

Cute huh? I will definitely be making these again at some stage. Maybe for my niece's 5th birthday which is coming up...

A few of my favourite things

2010-01-05T11:12:00.007+13:00

I am liking my stay here at mum and dad's perhaps a little too much, there's really no place like home. Just two weeks left here then I'm back to Wellington, which I am very much looking foward to by the way, but I will miss a few of my favourite things here...

One is my mum's home made bread:

She has taken to making a fresh loaf every day. I can truthfully say that it is the best bread I have ever tasted. Toasted, or fresh with a good dollop of butter and nutella, or peanut butter, or jam, or marmite or avocado and blue vein cheese...it tastes pretty amazing with anything.

Mum's giant cups will also be greatly missed:

Those of you who know me, know that I am a bit of a tea-aholic and that I like to drink from a BIG cup. I have bought various cups and searched for the perfect sized cup but have never quite found one like this one. Maybe I should start sweet talking my mum..?

I will also miss the endless supply of Cluster Crisp

I LOVE this cereal. Particularly the Vanilla Almond flavour as this one usually has bigger clusters. Fortunately for me, my Dad also loves Cluster Crisp, and therefore one can always find a box of it in the cupboard. Unfortunately for him, I eat it constantly and he is forever buying more. Sorry dad.

For those of you who have not tried it, it is a breakfast cereal, filled with oat clusters and has either dried raspberries, strawberries and cranberries or a hint of vanilla and sliced almonds. It is super crunchy, but not too crunchy as to hurt your teeth, it's just right. Probably why I am so drawn to it.

While it is yummy for breakfast, it also makes for a good snack, even when you are in town and just happen to be in the supermarket and feel like something deliciously crunchy to eat whilst waiting for a friend in the car...do I sound a little obsessed to you?

Birthdays...

2009-12-30T20:22:00.003+13:00

It was my brother-in-laws birthday yesterday, and I was in charge of the birthday cake.
The last person to do the grocery shopping doubled up on bananas and my parents couldn't help but pick MORE berries, so our fridge was getting rather full of berries that were about to turn bad.

I hate seeing things go to waste so decided to make a banana and raspberry cake, with white chocolate ganache and berry couli...

I just used a banana cake recipe from Aliyson Holst and added berries to the mixture.

Ingredients:

150 g butter 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 c sugar 1/2 c milk
2 eggs, beaten 3 medium sized bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla essence 1/2 c raspberries
2 c flour
2 tsp baking powder

White chocolate ganache (see christmas gifts below)

Berry Couli:
2 cup berries
2 Tbsp icing sugar
2 Tbsp orange juice or water

Preparation:
Put all ingredients in a food processor. Process until smooth.

Preparation for Banana and Raspberry Cake:

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Grease and line a 20 cm square cake tin with baking powder.
One thing I love about being at home is that mum has cooking spray! We never had this in our student flat...ahh the comforts of home.

In a jug or small bowl, stir together the butter, sugar, beaten eggs and vanilla essence.

Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.

Pour in the melted butter mixture and stir carefully with a wooden spoon, incorporating the milk and banana at the same time. Gently stir in the raspberries.

Turn the mixture in prepared cake tin

Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until a cake skewer inserted comes out clean. Allow to stand in tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cake rack to cool.

Ice with white chocolate ganache

Drizzle over berry couli

and serve with cream and berries...

I'm off to the Marlborough Sounds, hopefully to enjoy more sweet things...Happy New Year to you all!x

And the Winner is...

2009-12-29T10:55:00.008+13:00

Thank you for your answers. You all had the right idea- it is for icing and decorating cupcakes. I think it will come in very handy :)

As promised, your names went in to a bowl...

and Congratulaions to...

Your name was picked!

Anne said...: I'm thinking it's to fill cupcakes or something like that? Sounds like a fun Christmas!

As soon as I get your details Anne, I will send you a copy of The Jamie Oliver Magazine your way! Happy reading :)

I scream for Ice Cream

2009-12-26T15:00:00.009+13:00

I do like my ice cream.

Fortunately for me we had a whole heap of cream and berries left over from christmas day. What better way to use them than for ice cream hmm?

I've actually never made ice cream before so wasn't sure what I was getting myself into. However, cooking is all about experimenting and learning I feel, so I was up for the challenge.

All the recipes I found were for ice cream making machines and I don't have one so decided to improvise. After all, ice cream has been around much longer than home ice cream makers!

Here's the recipe for those of you who'd like to try making their own too (it's actually not that much of a challenge at all):

Ingredients

2 cup strawberries, hulled and halved
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup cream
1 tsp vanilla essence

The how-to:

Put the strawberries and 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor. Process until nearly pureed, leaving some strawberry chunks. Pour into bowl, refridgerate.

In a saucepan, beat egg yolks. Add mik, remaining sugar and place on medium heat just to boiling point. Do not let boil.

Transfer egg mixture to a bowl and leave to cool in the fridge. Once cool, add cream, vanilla essence and strawberry mixture. Mix to combine.

Cover with gladwrap then place in freezer. After about half an hour, the ice cream should have ideally frozen a bit around the edges. At this stage whisk to dislodge ice crystals and to make creamy once again.

Repeat this step after half an hour and one more time after that. Over all you will have beaten the ice cream three times. Put the ice cream back in the freezer until it is ready to eat.

Real fruit ice cream is my outmost favourite ice cream. So you can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was when I had my first taste to find that it tasted EXACTLY like the real fruit ice cream you buy from PYO berry orchards. Delish. You could substitute strawberries for any fruit.

There are STILL more strawberries and cream left, so I think I might be making more ice cream...

Chirstmas and Jamie Oliver

2009-12-26T12:01:00.008+13:00

Christmas has come and gone. All the madness, all the stress, all the worry- for one day. Its crazy isn't it?

My mum and I spent most of the morning cooking and preparing food. A pretty well spent christmas morning, I think.

The Christmas tree, which was stacked to the branches with presents is now shadowing over bare carpet. It is pretty usual not to be able to guess what a christmas present is when all wrapped up. However, is it still usual to not able to guess what it is after you open it? I didn't think it was, so I was a little bemused when I unwrapped this:

Any ideas what it is?

If you think you know, leave a comment below with your answer and email address. I'll draw your names out of a hat on Tuesday, 12pm. The winner will recieve their very own copy of the latest Jamie Oliver Magazine.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.x

Christmas Gifts

2009-12-21T15:26:00.021+13:00

I've been meaning to make something to give as christmas gifts for family friends for a while now, and I finally got the chance to do so this morning.

After flicking through the foodtown magazine (full of some suprisingly good recipes) I decided to make these:

Macaroons with White Chocolate Ganache

...and Dark Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Coated Nuts:

Both were a little time consuming but super easy to make, not to mention very tastey too.

Here are the recipes if you'd like to give a little home-made something this christmas too:

Macaroons:

INGREDIENTS:

70g packet ground almonds
1 cup icing sugar
2 egg whites, room temperature
2 Tbsp sugar
a few drops of food colouring

White Chocolate Ganache:

75g white chocolate, roughly chopped
3 Tbsp each: cream, icing sugar

METHOD:

- Line an oven tray with baking paper. Place the ground almonds and icing sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until they form a fine mixture.

- Beat the egg whites with a whisk attachment until they froth. Add the sugar gradually and continue to beat until the mixture is glossy, about 2-3 minutes.

Add the food colouring now if your're using it.

- Using a spatula, gently fold in the almond and icing sugar. The mixture will be stiff at first, but will loosen as you fold. Fold just until the mixture falls back into itself, not until it makes a peak. It's really important not to over mix at this stage.

- Spoon the macaroon mixture into a piping bag that has a 2cm opening. Holding the tip close to the oven tray, pipe out enough mixture to make a round approximately 3cm wide.

- Set the macaroons aside for 30 minutes. This helps to form a skin before baking.

- Preheat the oven to 140 degrees celsius and bake the macaroons for 18-20 minutes. Leave them to cool on the trays before peeling away the baking paper and placing them on a wire rack.

Ganache

- Place the chocolate and cream in a glass jug or bowl. Microwave on medium power for 1-2 minutes. Whisk gently to combine. Stir in the icing sugar and leave until thickened.

- Sandwich the macaroons together with a spoonful of ganache.

Dark Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Coated Nuts (this is my altered version of the one in the Foodtown Magazine)

INGREDIENTS:

4 Tbsp dark brown sugar (I used muscavado cane sugar, but any sugar would fine)
3/4 tsp each: salt, ground cinnamon
1 egg white
2 tsp water
300g raw mixed nuts (I used almonds and cashew nuts)

METHOD:

- Preheat the oven to 150 degrees celcius. Line baking tray with baking paper.

- Place the sugars, salt and ground cinnamon in plastic bag and shake together.

- Beat the egg white and water until frothy. Pour in the nuts and stir until well coated. Lift the nuts out with a slotted spoon and place them in the bag of sugar and spices.

- Toss well to coat the nuts and then place them on the prepared baking tray.

- Bake for about 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes to separate them. Leave them to cool, again stirring every now and then to break them up.

Fantasy Pavlova

2009-12-18T09:13:00.008+13:00

I felt like making a dessert for a bbq I had last night and decided to make this ...which I've been feasting my eyes on for a wee while.

Despite my liking for making meringue-type things, I had never made a pavlova before. It really was just like making a giant meringue, I don't know why I thought it would be any different..

The recipe calls for 1 cup berry compote, but I didn't have enough berries so I found some passionfruit pulp to use instead. I thought melted white chocolate drizzled over would be a rather delish subsitute too.

Served with whipped cream and french vanilla ice cream makes it go down a treat...

Muffin marvel

2009-12-16T11:53:00.015+13:00

I'm staying at my parent's house for the summer and their garden is rich with fresh vegetables and luscious fruits. The plum tree has just begun producing for the season, and I couldn't resist the urge to use them for something...

Yeah you guessed it,muffins. There's something about making muffins that I just can't seem to get enough of. Perhaps its the endless selection that one can pour into a muffin tray, or maybe its just the simple pleasure of mixing the dry with the wet...whatever it is, muffins are my thing.

I can never seem to stick to a recipe when I'm making muffins for some reason, so I usually just make up my own.

Below is my version of plum and coconut muffins. The combination of the sugar, coconut and plum gives a tarty, sweet-but-not-too-sweet taste. Enjoy:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
2 cup Self Raising flour
1 cup coconut
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped plums (or 1 can plums)

Method:
Beat sugar with eggs, add vanilla, oil and milk. Mix to combine. Fold in flour, coconut, cloves, cinnamon and plums. Do not over mix as it usually results in 'peaked and cracked' muffins. Add more milk if needed.

Pour mixture into greased muffin tray (fill to about 3/4 -4/4 full - I like mine nice and full to give a 'plumped' and 'whole' look when cooked).

Bake for 15-25 minutes at 180 degrees celsius or until golden brown and skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in tray for five minutes before removing. Dust with icing sugar or drizzle over lemon glaze:
(Comine- 1/2 cup icing sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp butter)

Serve warm with lots of butter...mmm

Kia Ora, hello, guten tag, ola, bonjour, hola

2009-12-16T10:35:00.005+13:00

I am excited to start an online journal about my love for food. I hope to see you here too!x