Blog hopping is my favourite waste of time lately and I especially love seeing what all those creative baking-types are up. I recently stumbled across the oh-so-pretty eat sweet blog and swooned when I saw her jersey caramel chocolate cupcakes. I knew I had to make them so it was off to the shops for a bag of these delicious, so very sweet lollies. I made my cakes vanilla, rather than the original chocolate, although I reckon choc and caramel is always a winning combination.
I want to be Donna Hay when I grow up. I love her recipes, her style, her gorgeous boutique in Sydney – everything. If the woman made Donna Hay label toilet paper I would buy it. Her ‘Modern Classics Book 2’ is on high rotation in my kitchen and like all of her recipes they never let you down. Continue reading
Queen Victoria’s memory lives on in this light-as-air concoction which is dressed with a simple dusting of icing sugar. It may not be trendy but it is divine: not overly sweet but just sweet enough. Like biting into a cloud… Continue reading
My love of choc chips in baked goods is well known so when I came across recipe for a chocolate cake with choc chips I was sold. I found the recipe on the allrecipes.co.uk site but the original didn’t specify how much milk so I had to guesstimate. I think I guessed correctly! This isn’t a fancy cake but I bet it will be gratefully received by your guests. Continue reading
Oh my, this is good. It isn’t often you can quote Homer Simpson in baking but his line in relation to his Flaming Homer cocktail, ‘fire made it good’, can definitely be applied here.
First step: vanilla cupcakes. I’ve been making these babies, courtesy of Australia Women’s Weekly’s ‘Quick Mix Cakes’ book, for yonks. They are one bowl, delicious, fail-proof and never last long! They are hardy enough to withstand being made by little helpers, too. I’ve tweaked the recipe.
As usual I dress my cupcakes with Donna Hay’s dark chocolate glaze which I have blogged about previously.
But here’s the trick: make the cupcakes, allow to cool completely before dressing with the choc glaze. Stud with mini marshmallows. Then, place under the grill [broiler] for a few seconds. Keep an eye on them cause the marshmallow will melt quickly. Eat. And eat and eat. Oh, baby…
CUPCAKES:
GATHER:
125g diced butter at room temperature
good splash vanilla
½ cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 ½ cups self raising flour
½ cup milk
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 170C and line 2x 12 hole patty pans with liners.
Place everything in the bowl of electric mixer and blend until all combined and smooth.
Place in party pans and bake until golden 17-ish minutes.
Cool on wire racks.
Meanwhile, make the glaze:
Melt 150g best quality dark chocolate with ½ cup pouring cream in a small pan over low heat, stirring until melted and smooth. Stand for 20 minutes to thicken.
Spread thickly on cold cakes and immediately add mini marshmallows.
Place under a preheated grill until the marshmallows melt and bubble.
When I saw the post for iced VoVo tarts by the wonderfully named Frocks & Frou Frou blog I knew I would be making it sooner rather than later. Iced VoVos are an iconic Australian biscuit made by Arnotts: a shortbready biscuit base topped with raspberry jam, marshmallow & dessicated coconut. So sweet. So yum. So want one now…
Lilli from Frocks & Frou Frou made everything from scratch. I didn’t [except the strawberry jam which I had the fridge] but I imagine the homemade pastry would have added to the taste.
She also made the marshmallow topping from scratch but I was just too lazy. One day I will try her full recipe as her tarts looked so cute. If you want to check it out here it is: http://frocksandfroufrou.com/2012/04/iced-iced-vovo/
These are tiny but super, doper sweet. I could manage just one but my sugar junkie Miss 4 loved them as did her little friends. So maybe try these for a kid’s party – they will love them. Continue reading
I know – every blogger and her dog has done this recipe. That’s because these cupcakes are extra fantastic. It also helps that red is my very fav colour and they stand out from the pack.
There are many variations of this recipe and I used the most fabulous one from Joy the Baker. Her recipes are clear and concise and always work.
Generally I’m not a fan of frosting [or icing as we all it in Australia] but when it comes to this cream cheese version I could eat my body weight. Sweet yet tart it is the perfect topping for these glorious little cakes.
Before you start ensure you have red gel food colouring. The cheap liquid stuff just won’t cut it and will leave a yucky taste in your mouth. It is availability from specialist cooking stores.
GATHER:
4 tablespoons diced unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180C and line a 12 hole pan with cupcake wrappers.
In bowl of electric mixer cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about three minutes). Increase speed and add the egg. Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.
In a small jug mix cocoa, vanilla and red food coloring to make a thick paste.
Add to the batter, mixing thoroughly until completely combined.
With mixer on low speed slowly add half of the buttermilk then half the flour and mix until combined. Scrape the bowl and repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour. Beat on high until smooth.
Turn mixer to low and add baking soda and vinegar then increase speed and beat a few more minutes.
Place into wrappers and bake for 17-20 minutes/until a skewer comes out clean. Cool on wire rack, frost when .
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING: I used this recipe from taste.com.au – it is fluffy and yummy: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/23099/cream+cheese+frosting
Once again my trusty AWW bible, Bake, has provided me with a delicious, easy, can’t-stuff-it-up cake. I present the buttery and moreish raspberry butter cake that can be made with fresh or frozen berries [I always use frozen but never defrost them before use].
Thank you to the wonderfully wonderful Anna Warr for the gorgeous photos [http://www.facebook.com/AnnaWarrPhotography]
GATHER:
125g diced butter, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup raspberries
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180C and grease and line a round 20cm cake tin.
Butter butter and sugar in bowl of electric mixer until light and fluffy and then beat in eggs one at a time.
Stir in milk and flour in two batches.
Fold in 1/4 cup raspeberries.
Spread 3/4 of cake mix into pan and sprinkle with remaining berries then spread remainder of batter over the top.
Bake for between 45-60 mins [depending on oven]. Stand cake in pan 5 minutes, turn top side up onto wire rcak.
When cold sprinkle with sifted icing sugar and decorate with a few extra berries.
I have probably previously mentioned my affection for bundt cakes – I believe they are so much more pleasing to the eye than your everyday normal cake shape.
This lemon cream bundt comes, as so many of the recipes on this blog do, courtesy of the fab cookery folk at the Australian Women’s Weekly. This magazine [not a weekly any more] is renowned for their triple-tested recipes and I doubt there is a kitchen in this wide brown land of us that doesn’t have an AWW recipe in its drawers or stuck to the fridge. The recipe appeared in the book called Quick Mix Cakes which I suspect is no longer in print. If you do happen upon a copy I urge you to buy it – every recipe in it is super easy and delicious.
GATHER:
125g room-temperature butter, diced
2 eggs
1 ½ cups self-raising flour
½ cup sour cream
150g caster sugar
grated rind from two lemons
LET’S GET TO IT
Preheat oven to 170C.
Grease a bundt pan, ensuring you get into all the nooks and crannies. I use non-stick spray and find that it works quite well.
Combine all ingredients into bowl of electric mixer and beat on low until everything is combined.
Increase speed until mixture is smooth and changed in colour.
Spoon the mixture into pan, ensuring you gently push it into the crevices of the design of the pan.
Bake for 40-ish minutes/until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Cool in pan 10 minutes before gently removing to a wire rack.
When cold dust liberally with icing sugar.
This is a one bowl, super easy, kid-friendly chocolate cake. It isn’t glam and won’t impress baking experts but for morning tea or a fast dessert you can’t beat it. If you can turn on an oven you can make this chocolate cake, which is great served with ice cream, cream or even just a sprinkling of icing sugar on top.
Making it in a ring baking tin makes it look a little bit more fancy than using a round tin. You could fill the berries to serve if you want to up the glam factor.
It is from a book called Quick Mix Cakes by AWW.
GATHER:
125g melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cocoa powder [Dutch for preference]
1 cup self-raising flour
3/4 cup caster sugar
dash best vanilla
LET’S GET TO IT
Preheat oven to 170C, and grease a ring pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Place everything in bowl of electric mixer and beat until smooth and mixture has changed colour.
Pour into pan, bake 35-ish minutes/until a skewer comes out clean.
Leave in tin 5 minutes then remove to wire rack to cool.
the hungry mum 