White Chocolate & Passionfruit Cupcake

 

Vanilla cake with white chocolate and passionfruit throughout. Icing is a passionfruit icing.

Really popular at its debute market stall.

Making Tacos

Usually I'm the one who cooks dinner but this day was different. Gerard and Meily cooked together and had great fun making tacos.

They went down to the supermarket and picked out all of the ingredients they'd need for their recipe. Meil took her pram with her bear in it for the shopping experience;)

When they came home they began their cooking fun. Gerard made the mince while Meily cut up all of the salady bits. When it was time to eat, Meily assembled all of our tacos for us and served them to us.

She was very proud of herself.

Here's a picture of Meily and Gerard and the tacos.

Mars Bar Cheesecake

I remember when we had a Mars Bar cheesecake from a local bakery not too long ago and I've never forgotten it. and it was awesome. So I decided that I needed to try one for myself.

It turned out really well. It looked good too which was a bonus;)

Here's the recipe which I got from a Woman's Weekly Wicked recipe book. You should give it a go.

Mars Bar Cheesecake

250g plain chocolate3 biscuits 150g melted butter 2 tablespoons brown sugar 20g extra butter 300mls thickened cream 50g milk chocolate, chopped finely 3 tsp gelatine 1/4 cup water 2 x 250g cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup caster sugar 3 x 60g Mars Bars, chopped finely

Blend or process biscuits until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add butter, process until just combined. Using one hand, press mixture evenly over base and side of 20cm spring form tin, cover; refrigerate about 30 mins or until firm.

Meanwhile, combine brown sugar, extra butter and 2 T of the cream in a small saucepan; stir over low heat, until sugar dissolves, to make butterscotch sauce.

Combine chocolate and another 2 T of the cream in another small saucepan; stir over low heat until chocolate melts.

Sprinkle gelatine over the water in small heatproof jug; stand jug in a small saucepan of simmering water. Stir until gelatine dissolves; cool 5 mins.

Beat cheese and caster sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Beat remaining cream in a small bowl with electric beater until soft peaks form. Stir slightly warm gelatine mixture into cheese mixture with Mars Bars; fold in cream.

Pour half of the cheese mixture into prepared tin; drizzle half of the butterscotch and chocolate sauces over cheese mixture. Pull skewer backwards and forwards through the mixture several time to create marbled effect. Repeat process with remaining cheese mixture and sauces. Cover cheesecake; refrigerate for about 3 hours or until set.

Tip: Because of the long refrigeration time, this recipe is a good one to prepare a day ahead if you're entertaining.

One Day I Will Open A Cupcake Shop!

For a long time now, I have wanted to open a cupcake shop. I see pictures of beautifully decorated stores and can imagine what mine might look like..... one day.

There definitely would be some pink in there!! With lovely white wooden table and chairs, there would be one wall with shelving where I would have things for sale.... pastel coloured serving ware and bake ware, cake stands,aprons, cookbooks, cookie cutters, mugs, tea cups and basically anything cupcake-like!!! It will have a warm, inviting feeling. The shop will be filled with an aroma of sweet treats!!

I have seen a poster that will definitely go on the shop wall.. it says Keep Calm And Have A Cupcake. Perfect!

Oh, and of course there would a scrumptious display of freshly baked cupcakes.

My beautiful children will probably be seen often sitting at the one of the tables enjoying an afternoon treat.

I have a list of ideas of all the different cupcakes that i would like to sell, some of these flavours would include,a range of filled cupcakes, for example, a lemon meringue one.. a vanilla cupcake filled with lemon curd topped with meringue.

There would be mini sized ones for the kids, a tiramisu one for the adults, black forest, chocolate truffle, coconut, caramel mud, chocolate and peppermint, cookies and cream, peanut butter and chocolate, red velvet, cherry, banana, a kind of pavlova one, and an obvious classic... vanilla.

Plus other things that would be on the menu... cookies ,slices, fudge a few different flavours of gourmet ice-cream, they would be all homemade of course!

There also would be a specialty drinks list, this would include a drink that i have made at home.. since i love chocolate.. first a swirl of chocolate flavouring around the milkshake glass then 2 scoops of chocolate ice-cream, chocolate milk then topped with whipped cream and grated chocolate! yum! I have also made my daughter a drink with 2 coloured flavourings swirled around the inside of the glass, a scoop of rainbow ice-cream, milk, topped with whipped cream, smarties and sprinkles! she certainly had a little more energy after that drink :)

Smoothies, spyders, thickshakes, coffee, tea, hot chocolates... definitly with marshmellows!

Anyway, thats my dream… hopefully it will be able to happen! I better start to perfect  my baking :)

Finger Lickin' Good

This recipe reminds of the deep south - Southern style chicken in the heart of the Bega Valley. I found it on Better Homes and Gardens, from good old Fast Ed.

It was the best damn chicken I've ever had! What was it that made it so darn good? Could it have been the secret herbs and spices: cumin, paprika, thyme, ginger and allspice? Or was it the oily mass it was fried in? Maybe it was the frothy egg whites whisked to an inch of their lives for the coating? Perhaps it was a combination of the whole lot? Whatever, it was delicious.

Some comments from others who ate of this chicken were:

"This taste exactly like KFC!" Lewi, age 10 years.
"It's really good," Gerard, partner.
" Just like KFC but better...it could be all organic!" Kim, sister and organic food freak.

This time I used drumsticks and thigh fillets. The chicken was so moist and perfectly cooked. Not a hint of grease, either.

Next time I think I'll try tenderising chicken fillets into the shape of a burger patty and making them into chicken burgers. Yum!

Colonial Sanders, eat your heart out!

some work, some dont!!

the last week or two i have tried out a few different cakes, just for my enjoyment. one was a marble cake, my daughter, amelia and i were watching a show about two ladies who were both cooking a marble cake to enter into their local show, amelia was very impressed with what the cake looked like.so when she went to preschool the next day i made it for her!! i was popular that day, she loved it. the next preschool day she came home and thought there would be another marble cake.

next time we can make it together.

anyway it  tasted really lovely but i didnt get the ratios right with each colour, as you can see from the photo below.but it was nice and moist….which i find hard with alot of cakes. nailed it with this one!!

 

kinda marble cake

 

 

 

the other cake was a caramel mud cake , which i have made once before and it was perfect, this time, not so much. i somehow forgot the 1 1/2 cups of water…. hmmm wasnt so moist!!

i was very disappointed. ill try again one day.

it was my sisters birthday the other day an one of her friends  made her a cake… it had to be the nicest (non-chocolate) cake i have ever tasted.

it was an apple cake with a cream cheese frosting (my fave frosting) it was so yum i googled it and found the recipe and made it my project for tomorrow! really hope it works, it was so so tasty!

many many more recipes to test out.

i love the feeling of being satisfied when my cooking turns out well.

lets just hope for more successes than…. well crap!

For Starters

i actually don’t know where to start with this blog  but it excites me that i can write about my favourite things… sweet treats, well my number one favourite things are my 2 beautiful kids, but apart from that, i love to cook yummy treats, especially when they  actually turn out like they’re are meant to be!!

cooking with chocolate is definitly my favourite.

chocolate mousse, chocolate mousse cake, chocolate cheesecake, chocolate fudge, chocolate ice cream, chocolate truffles  and the list goes on and on!!

one thing that i would like to master is biscuits, i can not seem to get them to work! i have tried many different recipes but I’m not doing something right, they taste ok but look like crap!! ill work on it.

This is the chocolate peppermint fudge i made on Valentines Day.

Its probably the worst possible treat to eat, health wise but it just tastes sooooooooooo  good !!

 

chocolate peppermint fudge

makes 1 lamington tray (thick). line with glad wrap

400g dark chocolate

200g white chocolate

375g unsalted butter

41/2 cups icing sugar

1/2 cup thickened cream

peppermint essence, to taste

green food colouring, if desired

1 peppermint crisp, chopped coarsely

 

put dark chocolate, 250g of the butter,3 cups of the icing sugar, 1/3 cup of the cream in a large saucepan on low heat until melted.

beat with electric beater for about 2 minutes until smooth.

pour half the mixture into the pan,  refrigerate. put the other half aside.

meanwhile in a saucepan put in remaining ingedients( except peppermint essence and peppermint crisp) , on low heat until melted. beat for 1 minute add essence and beat for 30 seconds.

pour on top of the dark chocolate layer, smooth evenly, refrigerate for 30 mins. pour remaining dark chocolate mixture on to peppermint layer, smooth evenly, sprinkle with the peppermint crisp. refrigerate for a further 30 mins. then cut into small squares. yum! beware this is very rich and sweet….but very very yummy!!