OK, yes, I do watch Masterchef

So, I must admit, after not watching the past few seasons, I have been watching this year's Masterchef. I will even admit it took me until an episode in this season for a past winner to walk in and for me to realise that's who I had seen on the cover a cookbook recently, which seemed to be on every bookstore shelf (I was really confused. She had the same name as a singer but didn't really look like her, but maybe did if you squinted... see, confusing!)

I am not addicted. I am not concerned if I miss an episode and I even change over before the results are "announced" so my boyfriend can catch the start of his show. See - not obsessed. Anyway, I do enjoy watching the challenges and wondering what I'd do. Sometimes I think of something really great instantly, and then on the odd occasion I have trailed that recipe the following weekend. I've been pretty happy with myself. So when they did choux pastry recently, I thought, "easy". I bought the ingredients the following evening - that's how confident I was. Unfortunately, I found out it was much harder than I originally thought. My first attempt was eggy, flat and doughy. Not edible at all.

However, never one to give up when it comes to baking, I tried again. This time I followed my macaroon success and stumbled across a blog which gave the 1-0-1 on making choux. Like the macaroons, her reasons sounded sane, her technique pretty easy, so I gave it a go. And guess what, they worked :-). Well, half the batch worked, the other half went flat, but it was ok, we had more than enough to give us a pre-bedtime sugar high.

Rainbow cake makes everything better

As I have mentioned (in almost every post), I have a little boy. He's three and a half and in my eyes, one of the most beautiful things on earth - however, I might be bias. This could come as a surprise to some readers, however I have been accused of mothering him a little too much, possibly over protecting him. But I ask you, is it coddling to swoop in and SAVE him from harm's way? Even if that incident is tiny? Maybe... He is an only child, so of course he will always be my baby. I joke about how much I am going to be one of those annoying Mum's where no girl is ever good enough for her angle son - I'm hoping that's a joke, only time will tell.

Anyway, over the weekend my protection instincts went into over drive. He had a sleep over at Grandma and Popops and hit his head about 30 minutes before I picked him up. I won't go into detail about what happened, as this is a baking blog and my detailed description could gross some readers out, however I did take him to the emergency room and they glued his wound back together. Seeing my baby boy like that, even though he was exceptionally brave, made me feel all kinds of guilt and I just wanted to hold and cuddle him for the rest of the day. We decided to do some special baking, so Reuben picked a cake and some decorations and got to it. Of course he choose a chocolate mudcake! A rich, thick, chocolatey cake - but what's better to cure a sore head?

So this cake is for my little boy, who was the bravest little man yesterday and now possibly has a little scar on his forehead which resembles Harry Potter.

Bake-off challenge for charity

Friday at work we had a departmental bake-off challenge to help raise money for the Cancer Council. It was organised for Marketing, HR, IT and Payroll to bake-off against each other for the chance to be crowned Master Chef. We had a few weeks to prepare, so there was some healthy competitor gloating. With a few people boasting that they would be a contender for the crown, I took it upon myself to really show off and make something that would look and taste AMAZING! I asked for a bit of advice from people at work. The lady from HR who set the challenge said in her experience, chocolate always comes out on top. Then I asked my friend, who just yelled SALTED CARAMEL. She has a sort of salted caramel turrets. I took both these bits of feedback on board and knew what I had to make - Double Chocolate Layer Cake with Salted Caramel Buttercream and Ganache. And guess what??? It was a winner!!! After the other departments have their battles, the winner from each area will bake-off against each other to determine the company's Master Chef. Might need to start my research for that one - will need to be spectacular!

My trophy

Mid week birthday cake

Today was my son's father's birthday. This presented an opportunity for Reuben and I to make a cake together, but mostly a chance for me to do another layer cake. I was pretty happy with the results, and even better, just over a quarter was eaten, so the team at work have morning tea tomorrow!

Leaving Australia tarts

I have been promising to bake some treats for my sister since her birthday last October. It was supposed to be her birthday present, however her party got cancelled due to rain and my baking was postponed. She is about to move to Canada for a few years with her boyfriend, so thought it was about time I did some baking for her.

She through a girls afternoon tea for her friends last weekend, which I provided some sweet little tarts for. I was at another party, but was told they were well received. So Margaret, glad you had a lovely afternoon tea and good luck in Canada - here's hoping I can come visit very soon and you have a fantastic (and safe - I'm still your older sister) time.

Put something on those tarts

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

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.

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!