chocolate – Page 6 – A True Love of Mine

a few of my favourite things…

Birthdays are pretty cool. They would definitely make my list of favourite things. Unfortunately my birthday falls smack bang in the middle of exams. Now it shouldn’t really affect me anymore seeing as i’ve finished high school, i’ve finished university and im crossing my fingers that i’ll never have to sit another exam (except for my driving test!). Except in teaching, the horror of exams is perpetual. Far worse than spending two hours sitting an exam is spending entire stretches of weekends marking the damn things!

There seems to be no conception of how long it actually takes to mark exams but just to give you an idea, im a slow marker. I can mark maybe six papers in an hour? (including commenting, annotating etc) Multiply that by 120 papers and you get… well… a whole lot of hours sitting on my butt marking. I needed to pick some things from my favourite things list to soften the blow.

So alongside my exams (that stack isnt even all of them!) I packed the lastest Gourmet Traveller and a double box of Guylian Seashells which are my favourite chocolates.

Having emerged victorious (and only slightly paper cut) from my marking battle, I needed to put my feet up for some R&R. In order to do so I hit up my favourite things list again. If you have had a conversation with me in the last few months, I can guarantee that there are two words that I will have found a way to work into the conversation. Cake Boss.

Mover over Statue of Liberty. Carlo’s Bakery is my new #1 New York destination!

If you haven’t been able to see this gem of a show then you are missing out! Cake Boss Buddy Valestro runs a tight ship and he and his workers rise to the occasion no matter what the challenge. And boy, are there some challenges! I mean, how on earth do you make one cohesive wedding cake for fourteen couples who all want different flavours and fillings? Buddy knows! As well as producing some amazing cakes, the chemistry and camaraderie between the staff makes for fantastic viewing. This dvd may not leave my machine for a very long time…

All things come in threes. So naturally I need to tell you another of my favourite things to complete today’s list. Little did I know my wonderful boyfriend would surprise me with a new banner for this little blog of mine! Hooray!! Now it is even more colourful and cute! (And that is me in cartoon form in the top left corner). So my lovelies, what are some of your favourite things? Baking or non baking related!

Another year older…

Last Saturday I woke up thinking “where did all the time go?” I looked behind the sofa, nothing. Under the bed? Nope, not there either. At the bottom of my handbag (a common hiding place for other necessities such as keys, lipstick, spare change)? Nuh uh!

I had to face the startling conclusion that the time had just gone. Poof. Another year, another notch on the wall. But birthdays are not supposed to be about doom and gloom! So despite the time sucking black hole following me around, I put on my apron and started baking for my annual afternoon tea party!

I had been secretly planning this for weeks and had hoped to have my tea party outside in the garden. But as E.E. Cummings would say, the world was “puddle wonderful” as the heavens opened for an almighty deluge. So the garden was not to be, but at least it cooled down so that the heat from my baking wasn’t so uncomfortable. See? Always a silver lining!

On the menu was:

Thumbprint cookies

Vanilla cupcakes

Mini vanilla cupcakes with fondant duckies

*squeak*!

Brownie Bottom Cheesecake (on the bottom left)

Violet Cream Cupcakes (With sugared violets courtesy of the fabulous Mrs S!) And yes that is the Bourke St Bakery Flourless Chocolate Cake hiding in the corner.

and of course…

Birthday Cake!!

This time filled with strawberry jam and chantilly cream

(and yes, I can see my wonky layers! I didn’t realise chantilly cream was so unstable!)

I was particularly proud of my Violet Cream Cupcakes which came to me in a flash of inspiration. When I was in Adelaide recently, I fell in love with Haighs’ Violet Cream Chocolates. I loved them so much that I got to thinking… I had made Elderflower cupcakes, rosewater cupcakes, why not Violet ones? Furthermore, why not make chocolate cupcakes with Violet Buttercream Icing so that they would be Violet Cream Cupcakes? Brilliant!!

Thankyou to all my lovely friends who made it last Saturday and thanks also for the birthday wishes from those who were otherwise engaged. I had a wonderful time and I hope you all did as well!

So my lovelies, what food do you love to eat on your birthday?

(p.s. I think my camera lens might have been a bit grubby. Oops.)

Violet Cream Cupcake Recipe

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe – from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

Ingredients

100g plain flour

20g cocoa

140g caster sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

40g unsalted butter

120ml full cream milk

1 egg

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Put the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and butter in a bowl and mix until you have a sandy consistency

2. Whisk the milk, egg and vanilla together in a separate bowl

3. Pour half the milk mixture into the flour mixture and beat until smooth and combined

4. Slowly pour the remaining liquids in and beat until smooth

5. Spoon into paper cases and bake for 20-25 mins on 170 degree celsius

Violet Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

250 g icing sugar

80g unsalted butter

25ml milk

a dash of violet essence

purple food colouring

Method

1. Beat butter and sugar until combined

2. gradually add milk until desired consistency is reached

3. Add a dash (maybe half a teaspoon) of violet essence and mix well. Add more essence as desired (bear in mind that if you are making this in advance the flavour will intensify the longer they are left)

4. add food colouring until desired colour is reached

What to do when you’re feeling totally wrecked: Bake Cookies!

So I was never much good at Maths. But even I wasn’t surprised surprised when my extreme couch potato-ness lead to the actualisation of the following equation

Couch Potato + Baking = Pants that don’t fit anymore.

So I figured I needed to get out of the house more. And thus, I ended up kayaking in the pouring rain for three days. HAH! Bet you didnt see that one coming baby! Needless to say that by the time I got home I was totally wrecked. I felt hungover without any of the benefits that preceed that particular state of being. So, when I was feeling well enough to lift my head off my pillow what did I do return the world to normal? Bake of course.

Now I think there might be something wrong with me because this cookie mix looks super tasty just as it is. What could possibly improve the simple butter cookie?

Hang on! Am I just being super tricky tricky tricky and pretending to glam up these cookies? Or did I just bake plain and simple?

Don’t worry, I didn’t make cookies out of chocolate wrappings…

I made Thumbprint Cookies with Hershey Kisses

Which turned out a little something like this!

Then I used some Freckles (which are awesome by the way)

And they turned out a little like this!

Hungry yet?

And I used some of those Cadbury Carmello Nibbles just to mix things up a bit. Thats just how I roll.

So at the end of this week my pants are no closer to fitting but I am infinitely happier. Who couldn’t be happy after popping these babies? What makes you happy my lovelies?

Thumbprint Cookies Recipe available here at Taste.com

I want to marry this cake… Bourke St Bakery’s Flourless Chocolate Cake

So im a Dessert Whore. I proclaim my love for one dish before quickly moving on to professing my undying love for another. Does this make me insincere? NO! Rather, I like to think of myself as a Mormon husband in the world of baked goods, collecting my many wives as I go but never neglecting to care for the wives I have already accrued. Who says I can’t have my cakes and eat them?

I was on the hunt for something truly spectacular. After all, the Mothership was turning the big 6 0 and that only happens once. It was my chance to show her how grateful I am for her putting up with me and my messiness for the past twenty something years. Now, you may not know this, but the Mothership does not run on fuel, she does not have a flux capacitor, she isnt solar powered. No, the Mothership runs on chocolate. A truly ingenious invention! Therefore, the birthday cake I was to make had to be something chocolaty in the extreme.

Does this look chocolaty enough? No? Appearances can be deceiving…