Those of you who know me IRL know that my surname is as Irish as it gets. I have never been to Ireland but am told that my surname is plastered across stores and businesses throughout the land. Visiting Ireland is on the to do list. I assume I will love it as I love England, the cold, history… Continue reading
Happy 2017! If you have come to my site looking for a healthy way to start off the new year I am afraid you are out of luck. My first recipe for the new year is full of fat, sugar and alcohol, or as I like to think of it, the holy trinity of baking. Continue reading
I haven’t eaten meat for decades but have always loved my dairy products. I remember when I first become vegetarian, going out to eat in suburban Sydney meant pasta for dinner. And I’m not talking delicious hand-made gnocchi with wild mushrooms, or eggplant lasagne, but usually dry packet pasta with generic tomato sauce. Yawn. Continue reading
I love lemon! And it just so happens that the Hungry Dad conducted a raid on my mother-in-law’s lemon tree recently, meaning our lemon bowl doth overflow. We will be taking Beyonce’s advice and making lemonade and I have already turned these luscious citrus fruits into a swoon-worthy pudding, and these beautiful lemon poppyseed cupcakes.
I had some lemon curd in the fridge so I decided to add a creamy, lemony filling to each cake to really make these cupcakes pack a lemon punch.
I have a feeling I will be making these again very soon – this batch vanished in the blink of an eye when I shared them with my work colleagues in exchange for a donation to MSF.
They are fast and simple to make, and you can freeze the un-filled cakes for a few weeks if you need to.
GATHER:
185 grams diced butter at room temperature
Grated rind of one large or two smaller lemons
3 eggs
2 cups self-raising flour
¾ cup of milk
20g poppy seeds
¾ cup caster sugar
170 grams lemon curd
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 170C. Line a 12-hole cupcake pan with wrappers..
Place all ingredients, except the seeds and curd, into the bowl of an electric mixer and blend on low speed until combined.
Increase speed of mixer and mix until mixture is smooth.
Stir in seeds with a spoon.
Pour into cupcake wrappers
Bake for 26-ish minutes/until a skewer comes out clean.
Set aside to cool completely, then use a small sharp knife to cut a circle out of the middle of each cake. Do not cut down to the bottom. Set piece aside, add a tablespoon of curd then gently replace cake core.
I have been told by mothers with teenage sons how much food they eat but as the mum of two girls under the age of 11 I am constantly amazed how much food they eat. My gals could eat for Australia and if there was a special category for cupcake eating they would both bring home the gold. Continue reading
Got someone in your life that you love? You love yourself, right? Well make these Baileys chocolate cupcakes right now and bring some more happiness and love to the world. Continue reading
This is such a speedy, easy and fun recipe that you have no excuse for not making it this Australia Day!
Many Australians mark Australia Day with a barbecue at a friend’s house, a picnic, or a day at the beach. These easy inside out lamington cupcakes would be a hit at any Oz Day celebration. Staying home for a quiet one? A batch of these cupcakes would be the perfect companion! Continue reading
Can you believe I only tried eggnog this week? As it is high summer in Australia at Christmas we are likely to quaff chilled champagne than a warm custard-like drink, but I have to say I quite liked it. Continue reading
Look at the pretty blueberries in these cupcakes. They really are nature’s work of art. I have found a frozen brand of Australian-grown blueberries that I am happy with and always ensure I have a bag in the freezer. I bake with them, the Hungry Dad makes Bircher muesli with them, Miss-now-8 adds them to Greek yogurt and Miss9 is happy to eat a bowl of them for a snack #winning
At the moment in Sydney fresh blueberries are plentiful so you can take your pick when making them delectable blueberry cupcakes with blueberry cream cheese frosting (or cream cheese icing, for my fellow Aussies).
Fresh or frozen works fine and if you opt for frozen there is no need to defrost first.
These blueberry cupcakes are really moist and the Greek yoghurt adds a lovely tang. Try not to eat all the frosting / icing before you ice the cakes – a real danger #OrIsThatJustMe
GATHER:
120g unsalted butter, softened
½ cup caster sugar
1 2/3 cups self-raising flour
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup Greek yogurt cream
1 cup blueberries (frozen is fine)
Icing:
180g unsalted butter, softened
250g cream cheese, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups pure icing sugar, sifted
¼ cup blueberries, extra
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 190°C and line a cupcake pan with wrappers.
In bowl of electric mixer beat butter, sugar and vanilla on medium speed until fluffy and pale – about three minutes.
Scrape down bowl with a spatula then add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined.
Beat in half the flour, then half the yogurt, then rest of flour then rest of yogurt. Using a silver spoon gently stir in the blueberries.
Fill the wrappers two-thirds full and bake for 15-ish minutes or until a skewer inserted into a cake has only a few crumbs clinging to it.
Remove to wire rack too cool completely.
Meanwhile, make icing: In bowl of electric mixer beat cream cheese, vanilla and butter together until pale and creamy – about two minutes. With beater on low beat in icing sugar then increase speed to medium and beat until thoroughly combined. Use a silver spoon to stir through and break up most of the berries, leaving enough for decoration. Scrape icing into ziplock bag, snip off the corner and pipe icing onto cake, then top each one with a single blueberry.
Until you have tried burnt butter, either as a sweet or savoury dish, you cannot imagine how wonderful it tastes.
Simple kitchen alchemy transforms it into a creation heavenly enough to eat with a spoon – although don’t tell your cardiologist I said that.
Burning your butter is an easy peasy way to elevate baked goods into rich, decadent treats. These burnt butter brown sugar cupcakes are sophisticated enough to serve at an adult party – no sprinkles or food colouring here. Miss9 highly rated them, saying they were light and fluffy and less sweet than my usual vanilla cupcake recipe.
Serve these cupcakes au naturel, with a dusting of icing sugar, or a smothering of my all-purpose chocolate ganache – see below. This recipe was adapted from Nigella Lawson’s iconic ‘How To Be A Domestic Goddess.’
GATHER:
150 grams unsalted butter, diced
1 cup self-raising flour
just over ¼ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of milk
LET’S GET TO IT:
Preheat oven to 180C and line a 12-hole cupcake pan with wrappers (my batch only made 11).
In a small pan over low heat stir the butter frequently until it turns dark golden – this will take some time but don’t walk away or you will end up with a ruined pan and butter that will end u p in the bin. When it starts foaming like crazy is when you when to remove it from the heat.
Place all ingredients into a food processor and whiz until combined – it is quite a thick batter.
Spoon into the pans and bake for 16 minutes / until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
CHOCOLATE GANACHE:
In a small saucepan over low heat melt 125g dark chocolate [broken into chunks] with 1/2 cup pouring cream. Stir until melted, thick and glossy. Allow to stand 15 minutes until thick. Use knife to spread over cakes.
the hungry mum 