Birthday cake by my very talented daughter!

 

Birthday Cakes!

 

My very talented daughter made these red velvet cupcakes for her friend, Denise's birthday! (Denise loves shoes)  Daughter is now the official family birthday cake supplier!  It feels so good to be superseded by my own daughter!  I wonder how she can out do this for her father's birthday next week.  Make sure you visit this site for the latest news!

 

 

 

Hope you had a great birthday, Denise!

 

 

 

Home made iced graham crackers.

 

Home made iced red velvet cupcakes.

 

 

Close up of the greeting.

 

Close up of the details.

Vegetable and Feta Frittata

Vegetable and Feta Frittata

Oh yum, I love frittata!  This recipe is so easy.  This was demonstrated in a Miele Cooking Class.

 

 

 

2 cups baby spinach leaves

150 g diced feta

1 zucchini, thinly sliced

1/2 punnet cherry tomatoes, halved

8 eggs, beaten

1/4 cup pouring cream

black pepper

1/2 cup grated tasty cheese

 

1. Place spinach in the base of a lightly greased 25 cm flan dish.
2. Arrange feta, zucchini and tomatoes over the spinach.
3. Combine eggs, cream and pepper.
4. Pour egg mixture over vegetables and sprinkle with cheese.
5. Bake on Fan Plus at 180 C for approximately 25 minutes or until set. Enjoy!

(I didn't have any zucchini.  You can add any vegetables that you have in the fridge.  For a lower fat version, use milk or water instead of cream.)



Raspberry Tarts

 

Raspberry Tarts

I am not much of a sweet person, but this was pretty good.  My husband and son, had seconds -now, that is a good sign.  This is a super easy recipe that was demonstrated in the Miele classes, and they adapted this from Women's Weekly. 

 

 

Makes 24

 

200 g butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup almond meal

1 3/4 cups plain flour, sifted

2 cups frozen raspberries

1/3 cup flaked almonds

 

1. Pre-heat oven at 170 C.
2. Lightly grease a 24 hole mini muffin pan.
3. Cream butter, vanilla and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.  Stir in almond meal and flour.
4. Reserve 1/3 of pastry to use for topping.  Fill each mould with pastry and press down firmly.
5. Sprinkle raspberries evenly over base, top with remaining crumbled pastry and flaked almonds.
6. 
   Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.  Cool in tray before removing.  Enjoy!

Floating Islands

Floating Islands

Poached meringue on Crème Anglaise with Almond Praline

 

This recipe from Rachel Khoo looked so easy, so I had to try it when my neighbours came for dinner!  It was my first time poaching meringues, and I obviously need more practise, though it was easy enough.  Every thing was easy! And my husband (the litmus test) told me that it was restaurant level!

 

Preparation time: 45 minutes, resting time: 4 hours, cooking time: 30 minutes

 

For Almond Praline

75 g sugar

25 ml water

50 g slivered almonds

1. Line a baking tray with baking paper.  Put the sugar and water into a large pan, heat gently until the sugar dissolves, then increase the heat to high.
2. 
   When the mixture starts to bubble, add the almonds and stir continuously for 5 minutes to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.
3. 
   Once the sugar and nuts have become a dark golden caramel colour, pour on the prepared tray and spread as thinly as possible with a palette knife (be quick as it sets pretty fast).  Leave to cool.

 

For Crème Anglaise

4 egg yolks

80 g sugar

1 vanilla pod

500 ml milk

 

1. Mix the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl.  Split the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape out the grains.  Place the pod and grains in a pan with the milk and bring to boil.  Remove the pod, then pour a little of the hot milk onto the egg yolks and sugar, whisking continuously. 
2. Gradually whisk in the rest of the milk, the pour the mix into a clean pan, set over a gentle heat and whisk constantly.  Do not let the custard simmer at any point or it will split.  After 5 minutes, it will begin to thicken slightly and become the consistency of single cream (it will thicken more when it cols down). 
3. Transfer to a bowl and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

 

For the Islands

2 egg whites (60 g)

45 g icing sugar, sifted if lumpy

a couple of drops of lemon juice

a pinch of salt

 

1. Put half of the egg whites into a clean glass or metal bowl.  Add the sugar, lemon juice and salt and whisk until snow white.
2. Add the rest of the egg whites and continue whisking until the meringue forms stiff peaks.
3. Gently drop 6 spoonfuls of meringue into a large pot of simmering water and simmer for a few minutes or until they are slightly puffed up and just set.
4. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a sheet of baking paper until needed.

(If you prefer you can cook the islands in the microwave.  Spoon 6 small heaps onto a plate, leaving at least 2 cm between each one, and microwave on medium-high for 30-60 seconds.

 

Assemble Floating Islands

 

1. Pour a ladleful of Crème Anglaise into each of 6 glasses and gently place a meringue in the centre.
2. Snap the praline into small pieces and sprinkle on top.

Quiche Lorraine

 

Quiche Lorraine

I love quiche, and it loves my hips too!  Recipe from Rachel Khoo's "The Little Paris Kitchen".  Easy and absolutely yum! 

 

 

Prep time 30 min, resting time 1 hour - overnight, baking time 30-40 mins.

Serves 6

 

 

90 g soft butter

1 tsp sugar

a pinch of salt

180 g plain flour

2 egg yolks

ice cold water

 

150 g cubed bacon

4 eggs plus 2 egg yolks (save the whites to brush the pastry)

300 g cream

1 tsp salt

pepper

 

1. Make the pastry.  Using a wooden spoon, beat together the butter, sugar and salt until soft and creamy.  Mix in the flour followed by the egg yolks and 2 tabsp ice-cold water.  Mix and bring together to make a smooth ball, adding a little more water if the pastry is too crumbly (only knead as much as necessary to bring the dough together). Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for a minimum of an hour (best overnight).
2. Remove the pastry from the fridge 30 minutes before using.  Roll out the pastry between 2 sheets of baking paper until it is 5 mm thick, and use to line a 25 cm quiche tin that is at least 3 cm deep.  Brush the pastry base with egg white.  Refrigerate while preparing the filling.
3. Preheat the oven to 180C.
4. To make the filling, fry the bacon in a non-stick fry pan until golden brown, then lift out with a slotted spoon and leave to cool on paper towels.  Meanwhile, lightly beat the eggs and egg yolks in a bowl, and the cream and seasoning and continue to beat until mixed together.  Scatter the bacon in the pastry case and then pour in the egg mix. 
5. Bake for 30 - 45 mins or until the filling is golden brown and set. 
6. 
   Serve hot or cold.  Enjoy!
 

Sponge Cake

Sponge Cake

This is a basic sponge cake recipe.  I was looking for a sponge cake recipe, and there are so many in googleland!  I decided to pick this from Gourmet Traveller September 2009.  There was a reason why I kept this magazine!

 

It turned out fluffy with a good crumb.  Being a non cream lover, I had a thin layer of cream, but the average Australian, I think, would expect more.  Thank you, Sonda for the duck eggs - the reason for the sponge cake.

 

Prep time 20 mins, cook 25 mins (plus cooling)

Serves 8-10

 

80 g butter, melted and cooled, plus extra for brushing

240 g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

6 duck eggs (or 8 large eggs), at room temperature

220 g (1 cup) caster sugar

scraped seeds of 1 vanilla bean

 

Strawberry jam

Whipped cream

 

1. Preheat oven to 180C.  Brush two 20cm diameter cake tins with melted butter, line bases with baking paper, dust sides with flour.

2. Triple-sift flour and set aside.

3. Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla seeds in an electric mixer til thick, pale and tripled in volume (7-8 minutes).  Transfer to a mixing bowl.

4. Sift over flour in three batches, folding each batch in with a large metal spoon.

5. Fold in melted butter.

6. Divide evenly between tins, bake until light golden and centre springs back when pressed lightly with your fingertip (20-25 minutes).

7. Pull cake gently away from sides of tin with your fingers or carefully loosen with a knife.  Turn onto a wire rack, remove baking paper, turn back over, then cool completely.

8. Brush one cake with strawberry jam, spread with cream, sandwich with remaining cake, dust with icing sugar.  Serve and enjoy!