What's sweet and disappears fast?

We don't really celebrate Halloween in Australia, however it's becoming more common. I don't actually know what Halloween is about. I think it's the eve of something to do with ghosts, but not even sure about that. What I do know is that it's a quintessential American holiday that, like most things, has made it's way off shore and embedded itself into our annual calendar.

Two years ago we completely forgot that it was Halloween, so when the kids came knocking we had to turn them away empty handed. I think we were the first house they visited, as they looked pretty disappointed. The word must have gotten around quick that we had no sweets, as no one else knocked on our door. Last year I was more prepared, however bought cheap chocolate. We had a few kids and their parents come knocking and when I handed over my brandless chocolate, I got some puzzled looks (insight into our neighbourhood - we're the worst house in the street, so most of the households would definitely be brand households). Not that I really care what the neighbours think of us, but I'd like to think if they saw someone trying to brake in while we weren't home, they'd ignore our poor choice of chocolate and call the police. To ensure this is the case, we have delicious brand chocolate this year (note - they were on special).

Time for the markets

I find the farmers markets on Saturday mornings one of those routines which sets the mode for my whole weekend. My 2 year old and I go ever Saturday morning and meet my friend Erin. I love walking in with the energy of all the early morning shoppers. The first thing we see as we enter is an abundance of colour with the flower stall. If I had the money (and arm space), I would buy hundreds of flowers and decorate my house with the sweet fragrance of spring.

Put something on those tarts

Continuing on from my last post, here's the recipe for my Chocolate Ganache Tarts. ENJOY

Almost baking disasters

Another weekend, another hen's party for my friend from work. She must be a great bridesmaid, as she keeps getting asked to be part of her friend's bridal parties (which means I keep getting asked to bake dessert - win).

The last hen's party I baked for had an Alice in Wonderland theme. This hen's party was a more lavish affair and therefore called for something a bit more decedent. The result, chocolate and champagne.

I decided to bake chocolate ganache tarts and strawberry champagne cakes, as well as whip up some chocolate blueberry truffles. I had a look around for the best ganache recipe for my tarts and ended up going quite simple and using the recipe from the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook. Some recipes I found called for heaps of steps and ingredients, Bourke Street just needed cream and chocolate - easy.

It's a crime to waste buttercream

I had no idea the effort that went into making a proper buttercream. First you have to make a french meringue using a sugar syrup then beating egg whites and cream of tartar for eternity. Then slowly pour in the syrup while it's still hot at the same time as avoiding being scalded. Once you have beaten for another eternity, you beat in the 650g of butter, cube by cube. Can you believe that much butter is involved, I had to triple check. But I can say it was worth it. What an amazing result. A perfectly smooth, glossy, pure white cream for my cake. It really was the "icing on top of the cake".

Wowzers chocolate cake

Last week I was very excited to get a delivery from The Book Depository. It was the Miette Bakery Cookbook, something I have been dreaming of buying for about 6 or so months. It came at the perfect time, as over the weekend we had a belated birthday BBQ for my brother-in-law. The request was for a chocolate or caramel cake. I flipped through the pages and decided on the cake from the book cover, with a few decorating changes to be more suitable for a boy (ie, no pink icing).

The cake is similar to a chiffon cake, using oil instead of butter, and it also called for the use of both cocoa and dark chocolate, giving it a rich chocolate flavour and a crumbly yet moist texture. I then made the vanilla buttercream frosting, which is based on a french meringue mixed with about 650g of butter - that's not a typo! Ignoring the possible coronary I would be giving my family, the final product was the smoothest, glossiest frosting I have ever made. It provided a wonderful sweetness and balance for the cake.

Attempt at a classic

There are always foods that hold special memories, or even just remind you of a feeling, when you eat them. Cupcakes remind me of visiting my grandma when we were little and eating her "little cakes". They were just a basic vanilla cupcake recipe, but to us they were a little bit of magic that melted in our mouths. Whenever I have a salmon sandwich I get the urge to cut it into as many tiny squares as possible, like we use to do when we stayed at my other grandma's house. My sister and I would sit around her table and squeal with excitement as she manged to squeeze in an extra row. And trifle is not trifle unless my Dad's cousin makes it, and only at Christmas. Every Christmas we would all stuff into our already full belly's Ray's trifle, which was soaked in port with rich custard and homemade sponge. Thinking of it now makes me smile as I remember all the delicious Christmas' we spent together as a family.

Another food which spurs memories for me are Kingston biscuits. My Dad use to buy them to have with coffee after dinner. Anything with chocolate we devoured as children, so of course we would sneak as many Kingston's as possible. I was browsing some of my favorite blogs recently and found this recipe on Raspberri Cupcakes for Oat Cookies with Coconut Milk Ganache. It was a must to attempt. I have much to learn about properly rolling biscuits and not over filling the centers, but they still tasted amazing - a biscuit which resembled an Anzac with a chocolaty coconut filling. If you loved Kingston's as a child, or even now, I recommend you try these biscuits and the amazing revelation of using coconut milk instead of cream in the ganache.

An orange a day...

I was at the markets the other day and saw blood oranges. I'd heard they weren't in season for long, so bought a few to play with. I had never baked with blood oranges before so started goggling to find some recipes.

I came across this blog post for a Middle Eastern Blood Orange cake. It looked divine and being flourless, I knew it would be lovely and moist. I plopped my 2yr old in front of the tv and started baking.

In the post it suggests the easy step of microwaving the oranges instead of simmering them for hours. I went with this, however didn't get a heaps of juices from them, so maybe I need to test this method a little more.

ENJOY!

Chocolate cake anyone?

When I ask someone what kind of cake they want for their birthday, the most common response is chocolate. That's not surprising. Chocolate is able to be sweet or bitter. It taste amazing with a pinch of salt and is the ultimate indulgence when melted and licked from a spoon.

Obviously, I love chocolate. Tonight I was supposed to go to a friend from works 30th birthday, however my lovely 2 year old decided it was finally time to share and passed his conjunctivitis to my husband and I - YUK. 

To celebrate (the birthday, not my son sharing), I thought I'd post this flourless hazelnut chocolate cake I made for another friend a few weeks back. My friend is extremely talented and made the beautiful cake bunting in the image below. Check out her Etsy shop for more of her stuff.

So, happy birthday Davos. Hope you enjoyed your night!

A moment to melt

Take a moment and treat yourself to these delicious buttery biscuits. I don't bake biscuits often, but these delightful treats are just that, delightful. I made the below batch for my  husband's family recently when they all popped over for a Sunday afternoon cuppa - the biscuits didn't last long.

What I love about these biscuits is that they just melt in your mouth - I guess whoever named them melting moments was pretty spot on. I've made these before using custard powder (I think they're also referred to as Yo-Yo Biscuits), but as I LOVE custard, I got a tad disappointed that I couldn't taste custard in the biscuits. The below recipe works just as well and avoids any unneeded custard disappointment.

Mad Hatters Tea Party

I was recently asked by a friend from work to do some baking for a hens party. The theme was Alice in Wonderland. I love this theme because I can create scrumptious treats and add a little bit of quirkiness to them.

I immediately did some online research into what might be fun for a tea party and found the most beautiful ideas (I also came across the most awesome decorations, but that's an interest for another day). In the end, I went for a collection of six treats.

My first idea was jam tarts. Little jam tarts make me think of a proper English tea party. The crumbly buttery tart shells filled with delightfully sweet raspberry jam is the perfect sweet. I followed these with some mini carrot cakes with cream cheese icing, as I thought the illusion of something healthy would be good. 

I then wanted to add a bit of fun, so looked into marshmallows. A previous post on this blog was my marshmallow cookies with an amazing soft marshmallow filling. Making my own marshmallow for this recipe was a revelation. I had never enjoyed store-bought marshmallow before, but homemade marshmallow is so different. It's smooth and less sickly sweet. I found a simple recipe for marshmallow and decided to go with that for my marshmallow cones. I had to make three batches to get enough for the party, but they turned out beautiful with a slight glossy top.

Bourke Street Bakery tart

I LOVE BOURKE STREET BAKERY! Every time we go to Sydney, I always make a trip to the bakery and sample something new. If I hear anyone is going to Sydney, even for the day, I tell them to try and get to Surrey Hills and experience the joys of this little bakery.

I love the feel of the bakery. Even though it's small and always has lines wrapping around the corner, it is heaven. For my birthday this year I requested gift vouchers, which lead me to finally buying the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook. After scrolling through the 369 pages, I decided the first thing I must make was the chocolate mousse tarts - pause for drool!

A cake for Father's Day

I realise Father's Day was a while ago, however I am very late with an update of any kind, so let's start from a few weeks ago.

I have always struggled in finding gifts for my father. He never wants anything, so we all end up buying him either alcohol or books. I am an awful book buyer, so I generally splash out on some grog. Last year for Christmas, I decided to give Dad something he actually wanted - an unlimited amount of carrot cakes for the year. As Dad loves my carrot cake, this went down well. So, when Father's Day was upon us recently, there was only one cake I was going to make - CARROT CAKE.

The recipe I've been using for the past few years is so simple and results in a deliciously moist cake. It only takes about 10 minutes to throw together and about an hour to bake. So get your bowls out and start baking!