sweet treats

Most recent thing I baked: sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce, pistachio praline and whipped cream.

Ever since eating out at fancy places and paying $70 for a meal with my cousins at Squires Loft, we are obsessed with ordering desserts and especially any thing with butterscotch. 

Pudding and sauce recipe: http://www.masterchef.com.au/recipes/sticky-date-pudding.htm

Boring Friday night results in 60 chai cupcakes with vanilla buttercream.

I have this sudden phase of love for chai, a chai latte with caramel syrup from Gloria Jean’s is the best thing I have ever tasted especially when I make it myself there’s a sense of achievement (I suck at frothing milk). Well I am very happy with it since the people from work loved it and my boss asked me if I could bake cupcakes for her son’s birthday getting paid and all and even better for the shop. So I guess I won’t be quitting after all. 

Recipe adapted from http://www.jennalaughs.com

Makes 48 mini cupcakes and 20 medium sized ones

I simply doubled the original recipe that made 12 standard sized cupcakes.

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes

For the cake:
1 cup butter at room temperature
2 cup sugar
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 quantity chai spice mix (recipe to follow)
2 and a 1/2 cups cups plain flour, sifted
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup full cream milk with 1 tablespoon white vinegar)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Chai Spice Mix
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place cupcake liners in muffin pan and set aside. Take a small mixing bowl and mix together the cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for a few minutes. Add the vanilla and beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add half the quantity of your spice mix (this will be about 2 teaspoons) and stir until well combined. Add in the flour and buttermilk alternately (starting and ending with flour) being sure not to over mix the batter.

In a small bowl, mix together the baking soda and vinegar. It will bubble up and form a paste, then add it to the batter. Stir until just combined, then spoon into prepared cupcake pan until 3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes. 

The original recipe was a chai buttercream (using the spices for the cupcakes) but I knew my family and friends weren’t so fond of the spices so I decided to just go with a plain vanilla buttercream as is wouldn’t be too overpowering.

Vanilla buttercream

Enough to pipe all the cupcakes made

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter at room temperature

5 cups of icing sugar, sift

2 tsp of vanilla essence

3 tbs full cream milk

Method

In a mixer with the paddle attachment (on medium speed), mix the butter until light and fluffy. The butter should be much thicker and lighter than when first placed in the mixer. Add half of the icing sugar gradually and combine, scrape down the sides with a spatula now and then. Add vanilla and combine, add milk and combine, add the rest of the icing sugar gradually and combine for 5 minutes until smooth and no longer clumpy. Pipe with preferred tip. Enjoy! 

Blueberry cupcake sized cheesecakes

There was a family gathering at our house yesterday so mum told me to make something and cheesecakes they were! It was my first time making it and I’m fairly happy with it. I’m not a fan with cheese but cream cheese is fine.

Recipe adapted from http://annies-eats.com

Makes roughly 20

Preheat oven at 170 degrees C, line cupcake pans with paper liners.

Ingredients:

Base-

1 and a half cups of Marie biscuits crumbs

4 tbs melted butter

3 tbs sugar

Method:

Combine the biscuit crumbs, butter and sugar in a bowl until well blended and moist. Press 1 tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner.  Bake until just set, 5 minutes.  Transfer to a cooling rack.

For filling:

500 grams of cream cheese

3/4 cup of caster sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 large eggs, room temperature

Method-

To make the cheesecake, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy.  Blend in the sugar until smooth.  Mix in the salt and vanilla.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Too assemble spoon the cheesecake batter over the crust in each  cupcake liner, 3/4 full and simply add blueberries or put the blueberries on the crust first then spoon the mixture on top. 

Bake until the filling is set, about 22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking.  (They will look quite puffed initially but will return to normal quickly.)  Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool to room temperature.  Transfer to the refrigerator and let chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Enjoy! 

Rich and dark chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream

Okay I haven’t blogged about food in a while because tbh I’ve been lazy haha. Well yesterday was Tania’s 21st which I was a pretty sick night! I started baking at around 2pm and the party was at 7:30, I finished at 6:30 hehe. I guess I am very happy with the outcome and the guests loved them too :3 It was my first time sucessfully getting the rose swirl, well next time I will invest in a 1M tip. I managed to make 50 cupcakes so I made two batches of the cake and two batches of the buttercream.

Recipe from http://sweetapolita.com

Makes approximately 25 medium sized cupcakes

Preheat oven to 180 C. Line cupcake tins. In bowl of electric mixer, sift all dry ingredients. Add all remaning ingredients to bowl with the dry ingredients and with paddle attachment on mixer, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed (you may need the plastic splashguard that comes with mixer) and pour into prepared pans. Batter will be liquidy.

Bake for 20 minutes. Cakes are done when toothpick or skewer comes clean. Try not to overbake. Cool on wire racks for 20 minutes then gently invert onto racks until completely cool.

Vanilla buttercream

To pipe approximately 25 cupcakes

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter at room temperature

5 cups of icing sugar, sift

2 tsp of vanilla essence

3 tbs full cream milk

Method

In a mixer with the paddle attachment (on medium speed), mix the butter until light and fluffy. The butter should be much thicker and lighter than when first placed in the mixer. Add half of the icing sugar gradually and combine, scrape down the sides with a spatula now and then. Add vanilla and combine, add milk and combine, add the rest of the icing sugar gradually and combine for 5 minutes until smooth and no longer clumpy. 

To create the colours for my cupcakes I coloured a little of it purple separately then placed that in a disposable piping bag with a 1.5cm? sized star tip. I spread the purple buttercream so it was all over in the bag then opened it up and put the rest of the uncoloured buttercream. This video on youtube shows how to do the two toned colour and the rose swirl, I am very bad at explaining haha. I learnt it off this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF_lxWEm7aM

Lastly, enjoy your cupcakes!! 

Chocolate and earl grey tart, my love for MKR. 

So today I took my 4 younger cousins (both of my eldest cousin’s children) to watch Mirror Mirror and eat Maccas, I was babysitting the bunch. We walked into the wrong cinema and came 20 minutes late but oh well it was a fun day for them kids. In the afternoon I decided to bake this since I always wanted to try it and I bought new mini tart tins. Ever since eating earl grey macarons at La Belle Miette I love the earl grey flavour in desserts rather than it as a tea. 

Recipe from Leigh and Jennifer on MKR

Pastry
200g cold butter, diced, plus extra, to grease
300g (2 cups) plain flour, plus extra, to dust
120g icing sugar 
15g cocoa powder, plus extra, to dust
2½ tbs almond meal
1 egg 

1 tbs cold water

1. To make pastry, preheat oven to 200C. Grease a 35cm x 12cm tart pan with removable base and dust with some cocoa powder. (For me I did mini tart tins instead so I didn’t leave it in the oven for as long as required).

2. Place butter, flour, sugar, cocoa powder and almond meal in a food processor and process until crumbs form. Add egg and water and process until mixture just comes together. Form pastry into a ball and cover with plastic wrap, then refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. Roll pastry out on a lightly floured work surface until 2mm thick. Press pastry into tart pan and trim excess. Reserve leftover pastry in the freezer. Line tart case with baking paper and fill with baking beans or rice. Cook for 20 minutes, then remove baking paper and beans or rice and cook for a further 5 minutes. Allow to cool.

I struggled slightly whilst making the pastry, I think my butter wasn’t as cold so it affected my pastry making it more moist than I wanted and hard to roll out. 

Tart filling
300ml cream
4 Earl Grey tea bags
75g butter
200g couverture dark chocolate (70% 
cocoa solids), chopped
110g couverture milk chocolate (40% 
cocoa solids), chopped

4 egg yolks

I found that the filling was a tad too bitter for our liking so next time I’m going to put less dark chocolate and more milk chocolate, maybe change the ratios around.

4. To make filling, heat cream and tea bags in a medium saucepan over high heat. Bring just to the boil, then remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes.

5. Remove tea bags. Return cream to heat and bring to a simmer, then add butter and chocolate. Mix until chocolate melts, then cool for 5 minutes. Add yolks, 1 at a time, beating well between additions.

6. Pour filling into tart case. Reduce oven to 120C and bake for 25-30 minutes or until set. Allow to cool slightly, then refrigerate until cold.

I kind of left my tart in the oven too long because I forgot about it.. hence why it looks so rough at the top and not smooth and shiny like what I would want it to be but overall I am happy with the outcome.

Chocolate sand
2 tsp instant coffee
2 tsp caster sugar

3 tsp cocoa powder

 To make chocolate sand, increase oven to 150C and line an oven tray with baking paper. Grate reserved frozen pastry into a medium bowl. Grind coffee in a mortar and pestle, then mix through pastry with sugar and cocoa. Spread mixture on prepared tray and cook for 15-20 minutes until crispy with a sand-like texture.

To serve I just spreaded some whipped up thickened cream and tried to quenelle it on top of the chocolate sand, 

Vanilla panna cotta with raspberry coulis

My favourite cooking type of show would be My Kitchen Rules, I absolutely love it! They always make panna cotta so I wanted to give it ago and it was actually quite easy so I’m happy with myself. 

Recipe adapted from Nic and Rocco’s Dolci misti

Vanilla panna cotta (Serves 8)

450ml thickened cream
140ml milk
5 tbs caster sugar
2 tsp powdered gelatine
1 tsp vanilla extract

Stir all ingredients in a saucepan over low heat until sugar and gelatin dissolves (do not boil or the panna cotta will separate when setting). Strain mixture and pour into 8 serving glasses. Cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours or overnight. 

Raspberry Coulis 

250g fresh or frozen raspberries 
175g caster sugar

5 tsp lemon juice

Stir all ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, until sugar dissolves and mixture is soft. Push through a fine sieve and. Refrigerate until cold.

To serve spoon a layer of coulis over the set panna cotta and top off with a raspberry. Enjoy!