Tea & Friends

Today, my living room was filled to capacity with lovely mummas and their beautiful babies.  I whole-heartedly believe that homemade goodness is always better shared with wonderful friends alongside tea and energetic banter, and such was the case today.  These gorgeous white chocolate mud cupcakes went down a treat, with a few little people stealing nibbles and ending up with more than a little buttercream over their chubby chops!

Served alongside raspberry-jewelled dark chocolate brownies, my mud cupcakes are morning tea perfection. Creamy, luscious bites: these darlings will not disappoint and are worth every little bit of care and attention that goes into them.  Definitely for sharing with some special people.

White Chocolate Mud Cupcakes

250g unsalted butter

150g good quality white chocolate, chopped

2 cups caster sugar

1 cup milk

1/2 cup SR flour

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs, beaten lightly

Preheat over to 140 degrees. Melt butter, chocolate, sugar and milk together over a low heat. Continue stirring, without boiling, until smooth. Pour mixture into your mixing bowl and leave to cool. Whisk in sifted flours before mixing in vanilla and eggs. Share mixture into cupcake papers and bake for 45 mins or until springy when touched. A skewer will not come out clean with these cakes.

Allow to cool before frosting with White Chocolate Vanilla Buttercream.

White Chocolate Vanilla Buttercream

125g unsalted butter, softened

90g good quality white chocolate

1/2 tsp vanilla bean seeds (or extract)

1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted

Melted white chocolate in the microwave (use intervals of 40 seconds, stirring in between). Set aside to cool. Beat butter for 4-5 mins until very light in colour. Fold in cooled white chocolate so well combined. Stir through the vanilla before adding icing sugar. Once icing sugar is incorporated, beat on a high speed for 2-3 minutes.

F. x

Tea Time Tempter

I have found the perfect tea time cake.  Now, I understand that this sounds like quite a claim but it's completely true!  In fact, I have made this cake twice this week.  Initially, the desire to make this cake came from the gorgeous fresh oranges that were taking over my fruit bowl and filling my house with the scent of citrus.  I took it along to a morning tea with my ladies, warm from the oven and all agreed that it was perfection.  It could be described as a dense cake, delightfully moist and yet at the same time, it is not at all heavy.  It's not overly sweet at all and a big, fat wedge goes down a treat with a freshly brewed pot of English Breakfast. 

As I said, the first time I baked this cake, I served it warm from the oven with a sweet drizzle of orange juice and caster sugar.  My husband was very pleased that some cake actually made it home from our morning tea, so I decided to make another one for him to take with his lunch.  This time though, I wanted to finish the cake with a thick swirl of light buttercream and some finely grated rind.  It just looks so delightfully homely - I adore it and just couldn't help but 'test' my creation straight away.  I just know that this cake is going to become a firm favourite.  Perhaps, it already has.  My dear friend, Emma, is today baking this cake and intends to whip up an orange cream cheese frosting to finish it off. 

I just can't help but sing the praises of this darling cake and have missed the biggest positive of all - it is all blitzed together in five minutes with the food processor.  Could it be any more fantastic?  No, it could not.  This recipe comes from the beautiful Janelle Bloom and can be found on her amazing web site, along with a myriad of other quick, fabulous recipes.

Whole Orange Cake

220g chopped navel oranges (this was 1 and a half oranges for me)

185g unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups S R Flour

Pulse the chopped orange 3 - 4 times in the bowl of a food processor.  Add butter, sugar and extract before pulsing until combined.  At this stage, the mixture may look curdled but is fine.  Pop the eggs into the bowl and pulse before adding flour.  It is important just to pulse until flour is incorporated and not over mix.  Pour the batter into a prepared 23cm springform tin and cook in a 170 degree oven (lower for fan-forced) for 60 - 70 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.  Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.

Whipped Orange Buttercream

145g unsalted butter, softened

2 cups icing sugar, sifted

3-4 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

Beat butter for 5 minutes until colour lightens.  Mix in 1 cup of icing sugar well before adding the orange juice.  Beat for a minute.  Add last cup of icing sugar and beat with an electric mixer on high for 8-10 minutes.  Buttercream should be light in colour and texture.  You can add more icing sugar or orange juice until it reaches your desired consistency.

F. x

Best Ever Cupcakes

These are the incredibly beautiful cupcakes that were graced with my Cream Cheese Frosting.  I would describe them as a sweet sponge.  They aren't chocolate or vanilla but a little of both worlds - golden in colour and almost a toffee flavour.  This is why the cream cheese frosting does so well.  It cuts through the sweetness of the cupcake but also looks stunning in contrast to both the cake and the chocolate-coated coffee bean that I've place on top. This exact plateful of cupcakes accompanied me to the home of a very lovely lady where we spent an afternoon - enjoying cake, coffee and a good old chat.

This recipe is a people-pleaser.  It doesn't discriminate in terms of flavour and is lusciously light and fluffy.  You will have people asking for these time and time again. These are absolutely glorious warm, straight out of the oven but if they last long enough, ice with either my cream cheese frosting or a thick buttercream (either chocolate or vanilla would work nicely).

Golden Cupcakes

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp boiling water

75g caster sugar

50g dark brown sugar

125g self raising flour

2 eggs

125g very soft unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and prepare your baking cups or muffin tin.  

Mix the cocoa to a paste with the boiling water and set aside.

Put the sugars, flour, eggs and butter into a bowl and beat to combine well. Mix in the cocoa paste, vanilla and milk. 

Divide mixture between the baking cups and bake for around 20 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.

F. x

Cupcake Fascination

What was I to do?  I had these gorgeous new polka-dot baking cups sitting on my kitchen benchtop and lovely market-bought Raspberry and Pear Conserve looking at me every time I opened the fridge.  It certainly didn't take long for me to pull together a recipe idea.  I think you will agree that it proved a most fitting choice: Earl Grey Cupcakes with a Raspberry and Pear icing.  The result was a cluster of dainty, feminine cupcakes which I'm sure will prove a hit with the boys when my husband opens his lunchbox today at work! 

The Earl Grey flavours the light cakes with beautiful hints of citrus and bergamont which are not at all overpowering but smell and taste devine.  I like to think of the sweetness hit that the frosting provides as the sugar cube sitting on your saucer waiting to sweeten your tea.  Morning or afternoon tea will be made that much more of a treat with these little lovelies.  They look absolutely adorable and yet are just so easy and quick.

Earl Grey Cupcakes

3 tsp loose leaf Earl Grey

a good dash of boiling water (1/4 cup)

1/3 cup full cream milk

100g unsalted butter, room temperature

2 eggs

2/3 cup caster sugar

1 1/4 cups S. R. Flour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and prepare your baking cups on a tray.  In a jug, pour boiling water over the tea leaves.  Leave to steep for 2-3 minutes before adding your milk - just like making a jumbo cup of tea!  Put all other ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.  Once combined, add tea and beat mixture until smooth and light in colour.  Spoon batter into baking cups, only fill to halfway to allow for a rise.  Place in the oven for 20 minutes.  Cupcakes will be golden and fragrant, and a skewer should come out clean.

Raspberry and Pear Frosting

2 tbsp Raspberry and Pear Conserve (substitute as you like)

1 1/2 cups sifted icing sugar

1 - 2 tbsp milk

Warm jam in the microwave to thin. Mix into the icing sugar and use milk to thin to the preferred consistency. Pipe frosting onto cakes.

Hints:  If you prefer a glaze to a frosting, use a little more milk before drizzling over cakes.  You can use whatever jam or conserve you like.  Marmalade works really well and you can substitute milk for orange juice.

Time for a cup of tea, I think!

F. x

A Quick Shot of Espresso

Last week, I discovered that my favourite coffee shop started selling chocolate coated coffee beans and I was oh-so-excited!  As I promised, Cupcakes + Chocolate Coated Coffee Beans = Loveliness.  These gorgeous Dark Chocolate Coffee Bean cupcakes are to die for - so rich and soft - and perfect alongside a nice cup of tea.  They make the grade on every one of my levels: chocolate - tick, aesthetics - tick, and did I mention chocolate?  Thoroughly impressive and minimal effort, definitely give these ones a try.

Dark Chocolate Coffee Bean Cupcakes

125g soft unsalted butter

125g dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

125g S.R. Flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 shot espresso

50g dark chocolate, melted

1-2 tbsp milk





Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  Cream the butter and sugar before gradually adding your eggs.  Tip in the flour, cocoa and espresso and mix until you have a smooth, thick batter.  Add in the slightly cooled chocolate and thin the batter with milk.  Pour into cupcake cases and cook for 15-20 mins.  Let the cakes cool. Makes 12.

Frosting

300g dark chocolate

50g unsalted butter

1/2 espresso shot

Place all the ingredients into a microwave safe container.  Zap and stir at 30 second intervals until the chocolate has melted.  Whisk well to combine and thicken. Pipe onto cupcakes and top with a chocolate-coated coffee bean.

Thank me later,

F. x



Tea-time Tempter

It couldn't be a bad day if you had one of these babies, could it?  Don't leave me while I am away, lovelies, because I will be back with the recipe for these Dark Chocolate Coffee Bean Cupcakes next week.  Don't miss me too much, now!

F. x



Happy Friday!

What better way to share the Friday cheer than with a scrummy recipe?  Here is my Chocolate Caramel Slice recipe...and it tastes even better than it looks!  These are perfect for morning tea, giving away as little gifts or just to have as a sweet treat.  Believe me, you will be making these little darlings over and over again!  Thank me now because you'll be too busy munching on these later on.

Chocolate Caramel Slice

Base

1 cup P flour

1/2 cup dessicated coconut

1/2 cup brown sugar

125g unsalted butter, melted

Caramel

1/2 cup golden syrup

125g unsalted butter, cubed

2 x 395g cans of sweetened condensed milk (heaven!!)

Chocolate

200g dark chocolate

1 tbsp vegetable oil

Mix together dry ingredients for the base before adding the melted butter.  Bring together and press into a prepared 20cm x 20cm tin.  Place in a moderate oven (about 180 degrees) and bake for around 20 minutes. It should have started to brown a little on top but the gorgeous smell will alert you to its readiness.

If you start getting your caramel ingredients together when you've popped the base into the oven, it seems to time itself pretty well.  Place all the ingredients into a saucepan over a low heat.  Stir until the butter has melted and then cook for another 6-7 minutes.  Don't expect it to thicken much or change in colour, just keep stirring it so that you don't burn the bottom! 

When the base is ready, pull it out of the oven and pour the caramel over the top.  Place the tin back into the oven for another 20 minutes.  The caramel will darken and start to bubble...best thing ever!

Let the tin cool on the bench before popping it into the fridge.  Leave it for a good couple of hours (I usually let it go overnight) to make sure that it is nice and cold.

While I do prefer to melt chocolate over a pot of boiling water, I use my Tupperware microwave jug for this recipe.  Break the chocolate into pieces and drizzle the oil over the top.  I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between.  This ensures that you have no disasters.  When the chocolate is completely melted and is shiny and smooth, pour it over the chilled caramel.  Tip and tilt the tin to allow the chocolate to spread evenly across the whole slice.  Put it straight back into the fridge and leave until set.  This usually only takes about 30 minutes.

Lift the slice out of the tin.  To slice, I use a knife dipped into boiling water.  This stops the chocolate breaking and makes you cuts clean and neat.  Wipe the knife with a cloth in between to remove any melted chocolate.  I start by chopping off the 'crispy' edges.  (This is the favoured part in my house and hardly the scraps with all the dark, 'burnt' caramel!)  Then you can cut the slice into pieces sized to your liking.  Steal a piece at this point because you won't get a look in later on!

Too yum!

F. x

Wonderful Wednesday

Wednesday is a favourite day of the week at Blackwater North State School because Wednesday means staff morning tea.  Everyone walks through the door and surveys the goodies which adorn the table -  placed there by whoever happens to be rostered on that week - and carefully selects the delicious morsels that they care to sample.  It is a wonderful sight to be seen.

This week, I decided to bring out my favourite carrot cake recipe, as referred to in my earlier post, Like your grandma used to make, which you must read! It met with such fabulous success that I thought I should share the recipe, afterall it would be a terrible shame not to.

Cake

1 cup SR flour

1 cup P flour

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp bicarb

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup soft brown sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup golden syrup

2 1/2 cups grated carrot

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Icing

175g cream cheese

60g butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.  Sift together flours, spices and bicarb.  Separately combine oil, sugar, eggs and syrup.  Stir wet ingredients into dry and mix well before adding carrot and walnuts.  Pour into a 23 centimetre springform tin and bake for an hour or so. 

Enjoy!

F. x

Feeding the Soul

I truly believe that there are foods that make you feel better.  For me, banana bread is one of these.  While I am typing, I am munching away on a warm, buttered slice of banand bread and in a happy place.  Whether it is because of the crunchy walnuts, the dense banana or the naughty bourbon-soaked dates I snuck in,  this recipe is soul warming.

I started on this recipe at 7am yesterday morning, so eager was I to get into baking!  However, the warm, aromatic fug that took over the kitchen wasn't quite so appropriate for the time of day.  My first task was boiling up chopped dates in bourbon and setting them aside to soak.  They looked simply beautiful: a thick, dark potion of sweetness.  This, however, was nothing compared to the familiar, homely aromas of my amazing loaf rising in the oven later on.

While I am including the recipe for you today, what I love most about it, is its flexibility.  You can pretty much throw in whatever you have sitting around in the pantry.  Don't have dates?  Use sultanas.  Or frozen blueberries.  No walnuts?  Chuck in pecans or slivered almonds, or even leave them out altogether.  Chocolate fiend?  Substitute some of the flour for dark cocoa and/or add in some dark chocolate chips. Anything goes so enjoy experimenting with this one.

100g pitted dates

75mL bourbon

1 cup plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb

1/2 tsp salt

125g unsalted butter, melted

1 cup caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup mashed banana

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 tsp vanilla extract

Bring dates and bourbon up to the boil before covering and leaving soak for an hour, then drain.  Preheat your oven to 170 degrees C.  Sift together flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Blend together the butter and sugar until the sugar has dissolved and then add the eggs, mixing well after each addition.  Stir in the mashed banana, followed by the walnuts, drained dates and vanilla.  Add in the dry ingredients, a little at a time, stirring well.  Pour the golden batter into a prepared loaf tin and bake for an hour. 

Hot from the oven, cold or toasted this is sure to be a crowd favourite!

F. x

A spot of morning tea, anyone?

 

Whatever happened to having people around for morning tea?  While I will bake scones or biscuits if I have friends or family coming to my house, I very rarely make a date specifically for 'morning tea'.  How terribly sad to have lost something so civilised. Having a situation to be rectified, I decided to rekindle my romance with an old and underestimated favourite: the pikelet.  In my experience (and vast this experience is) it is very possible for the humble ol' pikelet to go terribly wrong and how this happens, I will never understand (perhaps the over-reliance on bicarbonate of soda to provide adequate 'fluff').  These little friends were a staple in my household growing up.  Mum would often help us make pikelets for afternoon tea and I have lovely memories of eating more than I ever made!  Our recipe for pikelets was very simple: a chunk of self raising flour, an egg (or two, maybe), a whole lot of vanilla extract and milk added by feel.  They always turned out and must have been ok because they rarely had time to cool before being lathered in sticky strawberry jam and gobbled up.

I must admit that this morning, the gorgeous grande dame of the kitchen, Margaret Fulton provided my recipe as I wanted my pikelets to be beautifully authentic to morning teas of a bygone era.  This meant the addition of a little melted butter and half/half milk and buttermilk.  I did deviate by sneaking in some lovely vanilla.  Keeping this traditional, there was no low-fat in sight and this included the bubbly butter in the bottom of the frypan. After five minutes of mixing and ten minutes flipping, I had a plate full of fluffy, cakey, and very homemade looking pikelets.  The cream was whipped and the kettle boiled....and my hunky husband had the entire batch finished off within the time it took me to cook them.

(Well, except for the two I ate in between flips.)

F. x