Sweet fortune cookies

I had quite a few egg whites left from making some pie pastry and I didn't want to make only macaroons with them. I though: "I need to find something else to do with some of those that I have never made before"... and that's when I found a recipe for Fortune Cookies. How interesting I thought, let's give that a try. I wanted to decorate them but I didn't really have time (I squeeze those between 2 appointments) but I am pretty happy with how it turned out. They are very easy to make but you have to work fast and have very heat resistant fingers.

So here is where you can find the original recipe: http://cookiesforweddings.blogspot.com/2010/10/do-it-yourself-fortune-cookies-recipe.html or see below:

- 1 egg white
-1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1/4 cup of unbleached all- purpose flour
- 1/4 white sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 F (about 200 Degree C). Butter a cookie sheet. Write fortune on strips of paper about 4 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. I tried with both a cookie sheet and parchment paper. I have found that the parchment paper worked better. I just oil sprayed them and spread my cookies.

Mix the egg white and vanilla until foamy but not stiff. Sift the flour, salt, and sugar and blend into the egg white mixture.

Place teaspoonfuls of the batter at least 4 inches apart on the prepared sheets. Tilt the sheet to move the batter into round shapes about 3 inches in diameter. At first I tried to spread it with the back of the spoon but because of all the oil on the parchment paper I ended just taking the dough for a ride around the paper. I then used a spatula and really spread that dough thin. My first one was way too thick ( but with the spatula it is much easier to thin it out. the tricky thing is to make it round but after a few tries you'll get the hang of it. 
Now that's the important bit: Do not make too many, because the cookie have to be really hot to form them and once they cool it is too late. Start with 2 or 3  to a sheet and see how many you can do. 

Bake for 5 minutes or until the cookie has turned a golden color 1/2 inch wide the outer edge of the circle. The center will remain pale. While the sheet is baking, prepare another one.

Remove from the oven quickly and quickly move the cookie with a wide spatula and place upside down on a wooden board. Quickly place the fortune on the cookie, close to the middle and fold the cookie in half. Place the folded edge across the rim of a measuring cup and pull the pointed edges down, one on the inside of the cup and one on the outside. Place the folded cookies into the cup of a muffin tin or egg carton to hold their shape until firm.

 

Christmas Pudding

Every year for Christmas I prepare 2 Christmas Puddings. One for my Mother- in law and one for one of our friends who actually likes this stuff. I just could not remember which recipe I used last year so I have done some research and found Nigella Lawson's Ultimate Christmas Pudding recipe. This looked pretty nice so I tried it. It was very easy to make. So here is the recipe (original recipe: http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/ultimate-christmas-pudding) with my little arrangements:

Ingredients

• 150g currants
• 150g sultanas
• 150g prunes, scissored into pieces
• 175ml Pedro Ximénez sherry
• 100g plain flour
• 125g breadcrumbs
• 150g suet
• 150g dark muscovado sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon baking powder grated zest of 1 lemon
• 3 eggs
• 1 medium cooking apple, peeled and grated
• 2 x 15ml tablespoons honey
• sprig of holly to decorate
• 125ml vodka to flame
• 1 x 1.7 litre/3 pint heatproof plastic pudding basin with lid

Notes:   I used 400g already mixed fruit cake packet and did not use the prunes,and I substituted the Sherry for Port.

Method

Serves: 8-10

1. Put the dried fruit into a bowl with the alcohol used, swill the bowl a bit, then cover with clingfilm and leave to steep overnight or for up to 1 week. Mine steeped for a couple of days.
2. When the fruits have had their steeping time, put a large pan of water on to boil, put some boiling water in your slow cooker and set it on High, or heat some water in a conventional steamer (I actually have a steamer so I might try that next year), and butter your heatproof plastic pudding basin I used a normal basin that I cover with a piece of baking sheet secured with string and put a foil over it when cooking, remembering to grease the lid, too.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the remaining pudding ingredients, either in the traditional manner or just any old how; your chosen method of stirring,and who does it, probably won’t affect the outcome of your wishes or your Christmas.
4. Add the steeped fruits, scraping in every last drop of liquor with a rubber spatula, and mix to combine thoroughly, then fold in cola-cleaned coins or heirloom charms. If you are at all frightened about choking-induced fatalities at the table, do leave out the hardware. I did not add any hardware to mine.
5. Scrape and press the mixture into the prepared pudding basin, squish it down and put on the lid. Then wrap with a layer of foil (probably not necessary, but I do it as I once had a lid-popping and water-entering experience when steaming a pudding) so that the basin is watertight, then either put the basin in the pan of boiling water (to come halfway up the basin) or in the top of a lidded steamer (this size of basin happens to fit perfectly in the top of my all-purpose pot) and steam for 5 hours, checking every now and again that the water hasn’t bubbled away. It did take me about 5 hour to 6 hours to steam them and that was the beauty of the slow cooker, I could just leave it, go and do some shopping and come to a wonderfully steamed Christmas Pudding.
6. When it’s had its 5 hours, remove gingerly (you don’t want to burn yourself) and, when manageable, unwrap the foil, and put the pudding in its basin somewhere out of the way in the kitchen or, if you’re lucky enough, a larder, until Christmas Day.
7. On the big day, re- wrap the pudding (still in its basin) in foil and steam again, this time for 3 hours. Eight hours’ combined cooking time might seem a faff, but it’s not as if you need to do anything to it in that time.
8. To serve, remove from the pan or steamer, take off the lid, put a plate on top, turn it upside down and give the plastic basin a little squeeze to help unmould the pudding. Then remove the basin – and voilà, the Massively Matriarchal Mono Mammary is revealed. (Did I forget to mention the Freudian lure of the pudding beyond its pagan and Christian heritage?)
9. Put the sprig of holly on top of the dark, mutely gleaming pudding, then heat the vodka in a small pan (I use my diddy copper butter-melting pan) and the minute it’s hot, but before it boils – you don’t want the alcohol to burn off before you attempt to flambé it – turn off the heat, strike a match, stand back and light the pan of vodka, then pour the flaming vodka over the pudding and take it as fast as you safely can to your guests. If it feels less dangerous to you (I am a liability and you might well be wiser not to follow my devil-may-care instructions), pour the hot vodka over the pudding and then light the pudding. In either case, don’t worry if the holly catches alight; I have never known it to be anything but singed.
10. Serve with the Eggnog Cream, which you can easily make - it's the work of undemanding moments - while the pudding's steaming.

MAKE AHEAD TIP:
Make the Christmas pudding up to 6 weeks ahead. Keep in a cool, dark place, then proceed as recipe on Christmas Day.
FREEZE AHEAD TIP:
Make and freeze the Christmas pudding for up to 1 year ahead. Thaw overnight at room temperature and proceed as recipe on Christmas Day.

I decorated the first one with marzipan shaped holly and this one was colored sugars. Once they were decorated I re- wrapped them in they waxed paper and let "dry"again for another couple of days and then wrap them in their little Christmas "wrapping".

There are many more goodies recipes to come. I just can't post them now since I am preparing baskets filled with yummy homemade Christmas goodies and giving them away as gifts so shhhhhh, it's a surprise :)

Double chocolate, almonds and marshmallow fudge

I have found this recipe by chance and re- arranged it with a few different ingredients. You can find the basic recipe on: http://southernfood.about.com/od/fudgerecipes/r/r71221c.htm.

ngredients:

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk. I only had 3/4 of one and it worked fine. However I have to make some more so I will try with a full cup this time.
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup of chopped almonds, marshmallow and dried cranberries. I thought that sounds like Christmas.

Preparation:

Lightly grease a 9-inch square pan; line with a piece of plastic wrap about 18 to 24 inches in length, leaving the ends out to cover the finished fudge. The ends will also serve as "handles" which will help you lift the fudge out of the pan. Heat the condensed milk, chocolate chips, butter, and vanilla in a double boiler over simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in almonds, marshmallows and cranberries; pour into the prepared pan. Spread gently then cover lightly with the ends of the plastic wrap. Chill until firm. Lift out of the pan and cut into small squares.

Those pictures are of poor quality I know. I have to make some on the week end so I will post some better ones, but trust me this fudge is easy as pie and tastes divine. 

Mini vanilla macaroons with while chocolate, NZ Boysenberry Patisserie Filling and cream filling

I was recently selected to be a member of a review group for a new product called Barker's of Geraldine. The product is New Zealand Boysenberries Patisserie Filling. I absolutely loved it and I would recommend that anyone who likes baking but doesn't always have the time to to simply get it. It is conveniently packaged and delicious. I just mixed mine with some cream, a little icing sugar and melted white chocolate. It tastes divine and I'm not really a sweet tooth. 

For the macaroons I got the recipe from this site: http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/foodiebride/archives/1982. I was a bit worried because it is nothing like the recipe I generally use but the macaroons turned out very good. I had to play around with the cooking though since my big oven caught on fire last week end and I am left with a tiny convection oven. I baked my 2 first batches according to the recipe and the other 2 at 130 Degree C for 20 minutes. The last 2 batches are much better and crunchier. 

Here is what I did for the filling:

In a heatproof bowl prepare the white chocolate (if using bars, cut them into pieces; we are making a ganache). Bring 205ml (1 cup) of cream to a boil and pour over the white chocolate. Leave for 5 minutes or so and mix to make sure all the chocolate has melted and there are no bits left. Leave it to cool. Once cool, add the NZ boysenberry Patisserie Filling and mix well. 

Once your macaroons have cooled down fully, spread some of the prepared cream. Put them in the fridge so the cream will set thanks to the white chocolate and tada...

Sweet sticky pork meatball and veggies rice

That's what we had for dinner tonight and judging how dinner time was quiet I believe I have won the seal of approval of my boys.

So if you feel like having something sweet and sticky for dinner as well here is the recipe:
For the pork meatballs:
500g of pork mince
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1/2 brown onion
1 egg
2 tbsp of cornflour

Mix all the ingredients together, form medium sized balls (or the size that you feel you will want to eat), place them on a plate and put them in the fridge for about 30 minutes. All the recipes I have found deep fry the meatballs and then place in the marinade. We don't deep dry in our house so I pan fried them until golden brown and then placed them in the oven. Keep the pan aside for the sauce.

For the sauce:
1 Tbsp of runny honey
1 tsp of cornflour
1 cup of hot water
1 Tbsp of Terriyaki sauce (soy sauce will do if you don't have it)

Mix all the ingredients together in a jug and make sure everything is well mixed. Place it in the pan used for to fry the meatballs, bring to a boil and simmer on very low heat until it become sticky and thick.
Take the meatballs out of the oven and put them in the pan to coat them with the sticky sauce. At this stage you could even through a few sesame seeds if you want.

I hope you enjoy those as well as we did. I made a veggies rice with cashew nuts to go with it. It was very filling and delicious.

Chewy Peanut Butter, Choc Chip, Banana and Almonds cookies

Ok I admit that seems like a lot of ingredients but they taste very nice and are sort of healthy. I have found the recipe on the Healthy Food Guide website: http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/recipes/2010/august/chewy-peanut-butter-and-chocolate-cookies and I had some bananas lying around so I decided to add one to the biscuits and reduce the sugar. So here it is:

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 85g dark chocolate, chopped in chunks
• 1 mashed banana
• A handful of almonds, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 180°C. Combine peanut butter, egg, sugar and baking soda, the almonds and the banana in a bowl. Mix well. Add chocolate. Stir to combine.
Line a baking tray with baking paper. Using hands, shape teaspoonfuls of mixture in balls and place on tray about 5cm apart.Now that's where the execution is different if you are using my variation. The mixture will be too wet to roll the cookies into balls so use a spoon.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned on top. Allow to sit on tray for a few minutes in oven, before removing to cool.

Jerk Chicken

Since I have started posting savoury recipes I have been really exciteda bout trying new flavours. One thing I have always heard of but never tasted was Jerk Chicken and I happened to have some chicken on hand for Thursday night dinner.
I made the marinade the night before and let the chicken "sleep" in it overnight.
I have found the recipe on this website: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/jerk_chicken/ and made a few changes. First change I made, I divided the recipe by 2 since I only had 3 thighs.

• 1/2 cup malt vinegar (or white vinegar)
• 2 Tbsp dark rum , I used Vanilla Exctract
• 2 Scotch bonnet peppers (or habaneros), with seeds, chopped, I used a whole red pepper
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 4 green onion tops, chopped
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme or 2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 4 teaspoons ground allspice
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons molasses, I only had Treacle at home and it seemed to have worked with it.

• 1 (5 or 6 pound) roasting chicken, cut in half, lengthwise
• 1/2 cup lime juice,
• Salt and pepper

Place all the marinade ingredients in a food processor and pulse to a smooth paste.

Place the chicken in a freezer bag and cover with the marinade. Close it and shake it a little to make sure the marinade coats all the chicken. Leave in the bottom of the fridge overnight.

The King of the BBQ was once again on the job and made a great job of it. It tasted smokey and sweet. It was just delicious. Definitely a recipe that will be made and re- made this Summer.
I made this one with a mixed veggies and cashew nuts rice and grilled asparagus. 

Caramelised pineapple and homemade ice cream (choc sauce optional)

I bought a whole pineapple a couple of days ago but to encourage my son to eat more fresh fruit. When I tasted the fruit, it was very blend, not sweet and juicy as you would expect. I made fruit kebabs with some of it

and tonight I decided to caramelize the rest with a sugar syrup (made out of 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and a little water). I served it with some homemade low fat ice cream which is just a tin of Light Evaporated Milk whisked with icing sugar and vanilla extract until nice and think and put in the freezer until needed.
My husband wanted some chocolate sauce so I just microwave some with a little milk (maybe not enough, it was quite a thick sauce) and crushed walnuts.

Italian inspired dinner

Tonight we had Italian sausages for dinner. The weather was beautiful so my husband, who happens to be great at BBQ, decided to grill them on our charcoal BBQ... and did he do a great job!!!
I was in charge of the accompaniments: smashed potatoes with dried tomatoes and toasted pine nuts salad.

It was a pretty simple dinner but since I have decided to post more often I will be posting the simple, affordable food we regularly have at home. The other thing that motivated me to post this particular dinner was that for once in quite a long time, my little darling boy ate with not one word of protest and did not spill a bit of his food. So I guess that must have been good.

To make the smashed potatoes:
Preheat the oven to 200 DegreeC. Line a sheet pan with baking paper and lightly spray with oil.
Boil some water with salt or stock (none for us). Once it is boiling, add the potatoes (whole). Once fully cooked through (pierce it with a fork and when lifted up the potato should slide down the fork). Drain them and place them on your prepared sheet pan. Spray with a little more oil, sprinkle with herbs and salt (if using). Bake them in the oven until golden brown. They will be crunchy on the outside and mashed potato like on the inside.
I also made some caramelised onions just by pan frying one brown onion with a teaspoon of brown sugar and a splash of white vinegar. I added a little water to make sure they would reduce enough.
The sauce for the potatoes was just plain low fat yoghurt with green onions picked from my garden and a little sprinkle of salt (I knew my son didn't like that yoghurt so we indulged in a little salt).

I am sorry I cannot give the secret of delicious BBQd sausages as I do not know it myself and the expert is probably not ready to share it either.

Moroccan inspired Beef Meat balls

Last night we had a nice homemade Mexican inspired Chilli con Carne and I had a lot of beef mince left that I hadn't cooked. I prepared some meatballs with no specific seasoning so we could see what the inspiration of the day was. I just finely diced some 2 brown onions, 2 cloves of garlic, and some dried Mixed Herbs. I shaped them into balls and left them covered in the fridge overnight.

Tonight I made the dish.
Ingredients:
Tomatoes (I used 3 fresh ones)- and only if you want to make the sauce from scratch, otherwise half a tin of tomatoes in their juices will do the trick.
1 teaspoon of beef stock
1 cup of water (just boiled or hot)
Special blend of spices called "Arabic seven spices" which has: ginger, Mahlabi, black pepper, pimento, cassia, cloves, nutmeg, coriander and cardamon. (see note).
4 dried apricots, cut in smallish cubes
1 1/2 cup of cooked couscous (prepared according the instructions on the package or like I do, however you want as long as it taste good)
A handful of almonds and pine nuts

Before boiling the tomatoes, make a little cross incision at the bottom of each ones and prepared a cold bath (just water and ice cube) to submerge them straight after boiling to stop them from cooking too much.
Peel, process to a smooth sauce and pass them through a sieve before cooking the tomato sauce with a teaspoon of beef stock, a cup of water (boiled), the spices and the dried apricots.

Pan fry the meatballs, just to get them golden brown on the outside. Add the sauce and place in the oven for about 40 minutes to fully cook.

Cut (or smash) the almonds and mix them along with the pine nuts to the cooked couscous.

Once the meat is fully cooked serve with the couscous.

Note:
You will notice that I don't add any salt to my savoury recipes. On the advise of my midwife I cook everything with no added salt so my son can eat the same meals as we do. My husband and I just season to taste on our plates, although more times than not we don't add anymore. I try to get most of the flavor and seasoning from the Herbs and Spices I use.
The Arabic Seven Spice- to be quite honest the dominant flavor was the cinnamon. I have made similar dishes in the past and I only used Cinnamon, Ginger, Paprika, and Nutmeg. The combination of spices is really up to your taste, hence why I put the name of the recipe as Moroccan "inspired" beef meat balls. 
My son, who has decided to go on a special diet a few days ago (exclusively bread and cheese), cleared his plate (2 tablespoons of couscous and 4 meatballs). For a 16 months old I would say that is a good effort.

Hope you enjoy this recipe :) Please do not hesitate to send me the variations you have tried.

Baguette with no Bread Maker

If you were in Auckland today, you would have seen that the weather was absolutely gorgeous and for a day it really felt like Summer was here (again). My husband and I talked about having a BBQ all day. He got us some wonderful garlic and honey marinated steaks from our local butcher and I was in charge of the rest. At first I wasn't sure what I should make so I thought "Bread".

Ingredients:
2 cups of warm water
2 tsp of brown sugar
1 tsp of salt
1 and 1/4 tsp of active dried yeast
2 and half tsp of olive oil
2 and half cup of self raising flour
Some cornmeal for the baking sheet and the top of the bread
A little bit of milk to brush the bread

Preheat your oven to 200 Degree C.

Add the brown sugar, salt and yeast to the warm water, stir a little and leave in a warm place to "bubble". I put mine on my window seal in the sun so it really didn't take that long at all.

Put the flour into a large bowl, add the olive oil and then the above mixture. Mix everything well. On the lightly floured bench work the dough. It should not stick to the bench anymore. Make a ball and place it in a bowl sprayed with oil. Cover with a plastic wrap slightly covered with oil as well, place it in a warm place and let it rise for about 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.

Shape it in a log, make some cuts on the top (like in a store bought baguette).

Prepare the baking sheet by coating it with cornmeal. Place the bread on it and loosely cover with plastic wrap covered with oil. Let it rise again.

Brush with the milk and sprinkle some more cornmeal over the bread. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes or until the bread is golden brown. I find with bread that you know when it's cooked because your whole house (mine being very small) smells like freshly baked bread.

We ate half of it for dinner despite having some couscous to go with our steaks.
I also find that there is something very therapeutic about doing your bread yourself as opposed to the bread maker (although sometimes I could let technology take over and enjoy a nice cup of coffee in the sun :))

Potato crust quiche

While browsing the Net for ideas, I came across this blog: www.fortheloveofcooking.blogspot.com. There are some amazing recipes there. I hadn't defrosted anything for dinner tonight but I had fresh asparagus (they are delicious at the moment) and all the other ingredients for a nice quiche. At the same time, my son is going through a phase where he would only eat cheese and English muffins. I needed to get him to eat something else. So here is my version of Pam's potato crust quiche.

5 new potatoes (the ones I had were quite small) sliced thinly (I used my mandolin)
Homemade caramelized onions
1 fresh tomato
About 10 asparagus
1 ham steak (diced)
3 eggs
1 cup of milk ( I used Soy Milk)
1 cup of grated cheese (whatever you have in the fridge)
1 handful of Parmesan

Preheat the oven to about 200 Degree C. Spray of pan with oil and arrange the potato slices to cover the bottom and sides of the pan. Make sure they overlap.Bake for about 10 minutes. Take them out and set them aside.

Layer the onions, asparagus and ham. Mix the eggs and milk in a bowl and pour over the filling.

Mix the 2 cheeses (this way you will be sure to have an equal amount spread over the quiche). Scatter over the quiche.

Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. Leave to cool.

Notes: I have made mine in my pie dish so you can't see the potato crust on the photos. Next time I will make it a Pirex dish and upload the pics.
We ate it warm and because there was fresh tomato in it, the filling was a bit watery. If you can wait until it cools down or even the next day it tastes absolutely perfect. We just had it for lunch and the flavours had infused very well.
We had ours with a salad of rocket, red capsicum and pine nuts and steamed asparagus. Yum!

Very easy Biscotti

When my husband and I go out for a coffee I usually buy my son a Biscotti. He loves it and I prefer he eats that rather than the chocolate fish accompanying the fluffy I generally order him. Since my husband recently had surgery to his knee and is home bound, I decided to bring the Café to us so not only is our little espresso machine but we have our own Biscotti. My parents were here as well for the last couple of days and when I made the first batch my Dad really liked it so I made 3 different ones:
- crystalised ginger, dried apricots and hazelnuts
- cranberry, white chocolate and almonds
- cacao, hazelnuts and cranberries.

Here is the basic recipe:
- 1 cup of white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup of self- raising flour
- 1 1/3 cup of flour
- Nuts and dried fruit of your choice.

Preheat the oven to 180 Degree C.
Put the sugar in a medium bow with the eggs. Mix well until combined. Add the flours and the dried fruit and nuts.
Put the dough on a lightly floured work surface and bring everything together.
Shape it into 2 logs and place them onto a baking tray lined with some baking paper and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.
Turn the oven down to 150 Degree C.
Take the logs out of the oven and let them cool on a tray for about 10 minutes.
Slice the logs and place the slices back onto the baking tray. Bake for a further 30 minutes. Leave to cool on a tray.

Here are some pics of the ones I made. There were more than that but I had to make a little bag for my Dad to take away.

Latest Birthday cakes- Merliah the Mermaid and All Blacks Jersey

Last week end was my nephew's First Birthday and my niece's 5th Birthday. They had a combined party and I made their cakes.
My niece wanted a Merliah Mermaid cake and she loves chocolate. I made the bottom tier an orange and white chocolate cake and the "rock" where Merliah is sitting is made out of Red Devil Chocolate cake and a Chocolate Mousse frosting. I bought a dolly and made the tail entirely out of fondant, as well as the bra. The Dolphin is made out of white chocolate.
Here are a couple of pics:

My sister- in aw had asked me to make a All Backs Rugby Jersey for my nephew. This was a simple chocolate cake with vanilla frosting covered in fondant. The accents are made by hand in Royal Icing.

Baby shower cake

This is a cake I made for a baby shower recently. I obviously still need a lot of training with fondant. My covering is still awful but I feel I'm getting there. I need to remember to add a border to my top tiers as well.

The bottom tier is banana cake with Ducle De Leche and Cream Cheese icing and the top tier is Red Devil Chocolate cake with Orange Icing.
The feedback I received was that some people found the bottom tier too sweet. I have to admit this was one of my concerns from the start. Dulce De Leche is very sweet so I made 2 batches of the banana cake one with and one without sugar. I guess I didn't take into consideration that it was brown sugar and that the original recipe has loads in it. So if you want to make this, I would recommend that either you half the sugar in the cake recipe or put more butter in the icing.

I have not had any feedback on the top tier yet as the Mum- to- be kept it.

I made the shoes and the rest of the decorations with fondant. I then "painted" them and the top of the cake with a mix of blue and silver glitters.

So here are the recipes I have used:

Banana Cake (taken from 500 cakes by Susannah Blake):
Ingredients:
2 ripe bananas
2 eggs
175ml vegetabe oil
3 tbsp milk
300g light brown sugar
150g self- raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Preheat the over to 180 Degree C. Grease a 20cm round cake tin, then line the bottom with greaseproof paper.

Roughly mash the bananas in a large bowl, then beat in the eggs. Stir in the oil and milk. Break up any lumps in the brown sugar, then stir it inot the banana mixture until we combined. Sift the flour and spices over the mixture, then fold in.

Tip the mixture into the prepared tin. Bake for 1 hour until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.


For the Icing:
200g of cream cheese 
85g icing sugar, sifted
2 tbsp of butter
4 tbsp of Dulce De Leche

Beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar and butter until smooth and cream, fold the Dulce De Leche and spread over the cake.

Here is a close up of the shoes.

Happy baking everyone:)

Meringues- pavlova style

I had 4 eggs whites left from some curds I made earlier in the week so I decided to make a pav... But then I had a big sugar craving and decided to make little meringue treats for me to get my sugar fix.
I have found the recipe a couple of years on the New Zealand Herald website.

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
220g caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp vinegar
2 tsp cornflour


Preheat the oven to 110 Degree C. 

Whisk egg whites and salt until soft foam.

Gradually whisk in the sugar until the mixture forms stiff peaks. Whisk in the vanilla, vinegar and cornflour.

Turn on to the prepared tray, shaping into an 18-20cm circle, drawing the mixture up high and smoothing off the top. (I didn't take a picture of the meringue on the tray since I made mini ones)
 
Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Do not open the oven during cooking.

Turn off the oven, open the door slightly and allow the pavlova to cool in the oven.

When completely cold, decorate with whipped cream and fresh fruit or passionfruit pulp.

Almost as soon as the first batch came out of the oven 4 of them disappeared... I then dipped some in chocolate and they were even better. 

And here is the result:

Then dipped in chocolate:

I also made some bigger ones that looked like nests... and I will not tell how many I ate, but surely meringues have to be good for you, they are so light. Happy Baking everyone :)

The dreaded Chocolate Macaroons

I made macaroons about 4 times before. The first time was for my Baby Shower (in May 2010). I didn't know that the whole thing could so easily go wrong when I first made them so obviously they turned out perfect! And when I was fooled into a sense of false security I tried again and they turn out awful. They either didn't cook properly or I couldn't take them off the baking paper.
One thing that people who know me well would definitely agree with is that I don't give up easily and sooner or later I will succeed!!! Some might even say that I am stubborn (wonder where they would get that from???)
SO I made another attempt and "Victory"...

I got the recipe (for every attempts) from "The Australian Women's Weekly, Macaroons and Biscuits":
Ingredients for the Macaroons:
3 egg whites
1/4 cup of caster sugar
1 cup of icing sugar
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
 1 cup of ground almonds
2 teaspoons of cocoa powder (extra for dusting)

Ingredients for the chocolate ganache filling:
1/4 cup of pouring cream
150g dark eating chocolate, chopped finely (I grate mine just to be sure)

To make the Macaroons
1- Grease an oven tray; line with baking paper. I use a cookie tray and I have not actually greased it beforehand. The baking paper is enough.
2- Beat the egg whites in a small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add caster sugar, beat until  sugar dissolves; transfer mixture to a large bowl (mine was already big so I kept that one). Fold in the sifted icing sugar and cocoa, and ground almonds in two batches.
3- Spoon the mixture into a pipping bag fitted with 2cm plain tube. (At this stage, I use a little amount of the mixture to the baking paper to the tray, on that same day I made some meringue and I have taken a picture of it so check the "Meringues" post). Pipe 4 cm rounds about 2 cm apart onto the trays. Tap the trays on the bench so the macaroons spread slightly. Dust with extra sifted cocoa (It was getting late and I forgot that step); stand for 30 minutes (for them to crust).
4- Meanwhile preheat the oven to 150 Degree C.
5- Bake the macaroons about 20 minutes. Cool on trays.

To make the ganache:
Bring the cream to the boil in a small saucepan, remove from heat; add the chocolate, stir until smooth. Refrigerate about 20 minutes or until spreadable.

Sandwich macaroons with the chocolate filling.

I ran out of ganache so I made about 3 of them with Nutella instead. No complaints from what I have been told.

Chocolate and Dulce De Leche layer cake

My beloved niece Ataraiti is leaving in a couple of days for her OE so we went to say Goodbye today. I wanted to make something special for her so I created this cake. It's a 2 layer chocolate cake with homemade Dulce De Leche in the middle and buttercream Dulce De Leche icing, topped with Maltesers. We couldn't stay for dinner so at this stage I am not sure how it went but I have tasted all the elements separately and I was pretty happy with them so fingers crossed.

Right let's get to the recipe:

For the cake: (recipe take from the book "500 cakes" by Susannah Blake that my wonderful Sister- in Law and Brother gave me).

- 170g of butter, at room temperature (if you have forgotten to take the butter our of the fridge then try grating it)
- 140g caster sugar (for some reason I put 100g of caster sugar and the rest was brown sugar)
- 3 eggs
- 140g self- raising flour
- 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease two 20 cm round cake tins and line the bottoms with greaseproof paper. (I just sprayed my tins with neutral oil spray).

Beat together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift the flour and cocoa over the top, then fold in.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tins and spread out evenly using the back of a spoon. It will look like there is not enough batter for the pan but persevere, it'll work.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Then a tip I have pinched from Bakerella: let the cakes cool enough to be able to handle them and get them out of the pan. Once that's done, wrap them in cling film so lock in the moisture.

For the Dulce De Leche: (www.joyofbaking.com)

This recipe makes about 1 cup and a quarter.
There are 3 different ways to make Dulce De Leche. 1 with the tin of condensed milk in the oven, another one still with condensed  milk but this time in saucepan filled with water and the last one by combining and cooking all the ingredients. I chose the last one, mainly because I didn't have any condensed milk and the end product was phenomenal!

Ingredients:
- 4 cups of whole milk
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated white sugar
- 2 tbsp light corn syrup (I have never found corn syrup in New Zealand so I use glucose which can easily be found in supermarket)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp of salt
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Put the milk, sugar, corn syrup, baking soda and salt in a large heavy- duty saucepan.

Place over medium heat and bring just to a boil. Watch carefully and as soon as the milk begins to foam up, stir with a heatproof spatula or wooden spoon (I used a whisk), and reduce the heat until the milk is just at a low rolling boil.

Continue to cook the milk, stirring the sides of the saucepan frequently until the mixture become very thick and sticky and caramel colored (about 40 to 60 minutes).

It is important to stir the milk so it doesn't burn. Adjust the heat as necessary. Remove from the heat and strain if necessary (I didn't do it and it turned out fine).

Stir in the vanilla extract.

Let cool before covering and storing.

This will keep in the fridge for up to a month.

For the Dulce De Leche buttercream: (www.bakespace.com)

This makes enough buttercream to cover a two layer 20cm cake and to decorate it.

Ingredients:
- 2 sticks of softened unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
- 4 cups of sifted icing sugar
- 1 can of Dulce De Leche (4 to 5 tablespoons of homemade one)
- 2 tsp of pure vanilla extract (I didn't use it since I had already put some vanilla in the Dulce De Leche and this was to go with a chocolate cake anyway)

- Approx 1/4 cup of heavy cream or milk (I used milk in mine)
- A pinch of salt

Cream the butter.
Slowly add 2 cup of the sifted icing sugar.
Add the vanilla (if using) and half of the cream/ milk.
Mix until well incorporated.
Add half of the Dulce De Leche.
Mix until blended well.
Add the remaining cream/ milk.
Add the remaining Dulce De Leche.
Blend well.
Add the salt.
Continue with the remaining 2 cups of sugar until you reach the desired consistency. Depending on your desired consistency. You might use a little more or less of the sugar.
Mix on medium for about 4-5 minutes. Keep your eye on this as it mixes and DO NOT over mix as the mixture can become grainy.


Assembly:
Place one of the chocolate sponge on the serving plate. Pour approx 5 tablespoons of Dulce De Leche and spread it over the top of the cake.
Place the second cake on top. Place it in the fridge for the Dulce De Leche to stick both cakes together (especially if it's warm). I didn't do it at first and when I covered the cakes with buttercream the cakes kept sliding which made it quite difficult.
Once you are confident the cakes are not going to move too much, remove it from the fridge and pour 3/4 of the buttercream on top of the cake. Spread to the sides.
Fill a pipping bag with the rest of the icing to decorate. I used the Wilton tip 2D (I actually wanted to use the 3M to make big roses but I was running out of time and couldn't find it so I had to improvise). I added some Maltesers on top but you could drizzle some more Dulce De Leche or leave it as is.
And Tadaaaaa, here is the final result (again). I hope you enjoy making this cake and especially eating it. Happy Baking Everyone :)