i heart cake

Posted By jen on May 27, 2010

A couple of months ago i came across this most awesome blog. Not only does she cooks the best food ever, the photos are also amazing. I then went to discover that she won Weblog of the year last year and has up to 13 million hits to her site per month! What i also love about her site is that it is full of American cuisine, something that i am quite fond of. Yes, big fat greasy meals do get me excited

Awhile ago, i set out to make Cinnabon buns after having a serious craving for it. I forgot to take photos so i guess i’ll have to make them again just for blogging purposes (heehee). It was a real hit and very similar to the real thing if i say so myself. Whilst browsing The Pioneer Woman’s blog, i noticed that she makes a similar bun but with apples (yum) and caramel (yummier) so i decided to give it a go (with hubby’s help). What we got was a sticker, sweeter version of the Cinnabon bun and it was good. Especially with vanilla ice cream. Oooh yeah!

Caramel Apple Sticky Buns

Ingredients

FOR ROLLS:

• 2 cups Whole Milk
• 1-¼ cup Sugar
• ½ cups Canola Oil
• 1 package (2 1/4 Teaspoons) Active Dry Yeast
• 4-½ cups Flour, Divided
• 2 teaspoons Salt
• ½ teaspoons (scant) Baking Soda
• ½ teaspoons (heaping) Baking Powder
• ¾ cups Melted Butter
• 4 Tablespoons Ground Cinnamon

FOR THE CARAMEL TOPPING:

• 1 stick Salted Butter
• 1-½ cup Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Dark Brown Corn Syrup
• 2 Tablespoons Cream
• 2 Tablespoons Apply Brandy Or Apple Juice (optional)
• 1 whole Granny Smith Apple, Peeled And Finely Diced

Method

To make the dough:
Heat milk, oil, and 1/2 cup sugar until warm (do not boil.) Allow to cool to lukewarm. Sprinkle in yeast and 4 cups flour. Stir gently and cover with a tea towel, allowing it to rise for 1 hour. After 1 hour, add remaining flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

To make the caramel topping:
Add 1 stick butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, cream, and optional apple brandy or apple juice. Allow to melt over low heat until totally combined. Allow to boil for a few seconds, then remove from heat. Set aside.

To make the rolls:
Roll out half the dough into a large rectangle. Pour on half the melted butter, half the remaining 3/4 cup sugar, and half the cinnamon. Roll into a long roll, then slice into rolls.

To assemble:
Spray 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray. Pour in half the caramel topping. Sprinkle diced apple over the top, then arrange sliced rolls all over the pan. Allow to rise for 20 to 30 minutes.

Bake at 180 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, covered in foil for the first 25 minutes.

(Repeat with the other half of dough if desired, or save the dough in the fridge for another use.)

Invert on a cake pedestal or serving plate. Rolls will be very hot at first; allow to cool slightly before serving.

Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Category: Desserts & Sweets, Recipes | 2 Comments »
Tags: apple, bun, Cinnamon

Posted By jen on May 5, 2010

When it comes to breakfast type foods, i prefer to let someone else do the cooking. First of all i’m never up early enough on the weekend and secondly it’s more fun going out for breakfast than to make it myself. On this lovely Sunday morning however my lovely hubby offered to recreate Bills famous Ricotta hotcakes as i wasn’t up for venturing out. Needless to say i said yes and my oh my were they good! So light and fluffy with a small hint of ricotta through the pancakes. This meant that we were able to top them with anything we wanted without meshing up the flavours too much so we decided to go for a berry compote (with maple syrup on the side).

Bills Ricotta Pancakes

Category: Breakfast & Brunch, Breakfast Ideas, Recipes | 5 Comments »
Tags: Pancakes, Ricotta

Posted By jen on April 23, 2010

Now that i’m on maternity leave, i’m finding that i have a lot of time on my hands. This can be a good thing, or in my case, a bad thing. What i like to do when i’m bored is bake and baking usually equals eating! I’ve put on quite a few kilos since being pregnant and i know it’s all normal, but i do not need these extra calories – trust me!

Anyway, there is only 2.5 weeks (give or take) till i’m due, so i may as well make the most of the spare time i have. And for today, i decided it was profiterole day!

My dad is a retired chef, but when he was working as a pastry chef, he used to make the most delicious profiteroles. I haven’t come across any since that were as good as his. I have to admit these ones aren’t as good as the ones he used to make but they fill the void nice enough

Category: Desserts & Sweets, Recipes | 4 Comments »
Tags: pastry, Profiteroles

Posted By jen on April 20, 2010

Masterchef. My new favourite word. Like many of you, i am so happy to have Masterchef back on our TV screens. It was by far my most favourite show to watch last year and i couldn’t wait for it to come back on. I watched it religiously and if i wasn’t home to watch it, i’d IQ it. Ironically though, i was holidaying in the U.S when the finale was on and missed it completely.

With no plans to go anywhere this time i am determined not to miss a single episode. Not only that, i have also set myself a challenge where i will try and re-create the dishes on the show.

First up last night was the pressure test. Donna Hay’s pavlova. Having never made a pavlova before i was excited by this and i think i did pretty well. I decided to top it with a berry sauce, fresh raspberries and chocolate shavings.

Pavlova

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

• 150ml eggwhite (approximately 4 eggs)
• 1 cup (220g) caster (superfine) sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch), sifted
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 cup (250ml) single (pouring) cream

Topping

• 1 cup frozen berries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 250g  fresh raspberries
• 1 Flake bar, crushed

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F).
2. Place the eggwhite in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk until stiff peaks form.
3. Gradually add the sugar, whisking well, until the mixture is stiff and glossy.
4. Add the cornflour and vinegar and whisk until just combined.
5. Shape the mixture into an 18cm round on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper.
6. Reduce oven to 120°C (250°F) and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.
7. Turn the oven off and allow the pavlova to cool completely in the oven.
8. Whilst the pavlova is cooling, place the frozen berries and sugar in a small pot on medium heat and heat until sugar is dissolved and allow to cool before processing in the blender
9. Whisk the cream until soft peaks form. Spread over the pavlova, top with berry sauce, raspberries and Flake shavings and serve immediately.

Recipe adapated from Donna Hay

Category: Cakes & Cupcakes, Recipes | 2 Comments »
Tags: Masterchef, Pavlova

Posted By jen on March 31, 2010

My awesome cake buddy Christine kindly offered to make my baby shower cake for me. What surprised me most was that Christine was nervous showing me the cake, thinking i might not like it. Well as you can see, what is there not to like? Actually she was right, i don’t like it.

I LOVE it!

The cake was orange poppy seed (one of my favourites) with dark chocolate ganache. It tasted sooo good and was a nice change from the chocolate mud we usually have. Christine you are a gem and thank you so much for my cake! xx

Category: Cakes & Cupcakes, Events | 4 Comments »
Tags: Baby Shower, Cake

Posted By jen on February 24, 2010

I can’t believe it’s taken me a whole year to use up the Planet Cake voucher that i was given for my birthday last year. I guess life just got in the way and before i knew it my next birthday was approaching fast!

I ummed and ahhed about which class to take and as it turns out there was the Basics 103 scheduled for the day of my birthday. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the day so booked myself in. It also helps that i could use the cake for my birthday dinner the following night!

As i started off with the Novelty series, covering a square cake was new to me. Thankfully i didn’t run into too much trouble and was able to keep up with the class.

Our facilitator for the day was the lovely Linda. I found her very helpful and really appreciated her help when it came to standing and positioning myself with my baby bump. Linda told me she did a PC course 2 weeks before she was due! Now that’s dedication

For the Magnolia cake, we started off with 2 square cakes that we had to cut and ganache. This i found relatively easy. The only tricky bit was when we got the corners but Linda helped me with that.

Once the cakes were ganached, we left them to dry and started work on the magnolia flowers. It was my first time using modelling paste and wiring so i was glad to have learned something new. First we made the bud, then the leaves.

Once the cakes were dry, it was time to cover them with fondant. This bit always has me a little stressed as you need to work especially fast ensuring the corners are attended to first so they don’t crack. Once we did both we used dowels to stack the top tier onto the bottom one.

I felt that once the cakes were covered, the fun part started where we got to actually decorate the cake. Since my birthday dinner theme was red and white, i decided to flow the theme through to the cake so i used red ribbon. Anyways, here is the final result which i pretty pleased about!

Category: Birthdays, Cakes & Cupcakes, Decorating Classes, Events | 8 Comments »
Tags: Birthday, Cake, Chocolate, Course, Planet Cake

Posted By jen on November 19, 2009

Recently, i was approached by a friend to help out one of her friends with her wedding cake. Up until then, i’ve only ever made cakes for people i knew so having to make a wedding cake, as well as making it for someone i didn’t know was very nerve wracking. It also couldn’t have come at the worst time with so many things going on that particular weekend but i am pleased to say that it all turned out fine. I also heard the bride was happy and that’s all that matters to me.

I also have to give a shout out to my hubby for helping me. It took the stress off just a little bit!

Category: Cakes & Cupcakes, Events, Weddings | 3 Comments »
Tags: Marble Mud, Wedding Cake

Posted By jen on September 4, 2009

I am sure NYC is filled with some wonderful cafe’s that serve excellent breakfasts and brunch. Seeing as we only had 9 days in NYC, we didn’t want to waste time scouring for the right one so before we left home we were recommended Sarabeth’s by a work colleague. The restaurant is located across from Central Park, between 5th and 6th Avenue, and was an easy spot to find. We love recommendations and thankfully this one did not disappoint. The long queue into the restaurant was also a good sign that we were onto a good thing (although this is not always the case and i’ll explain why in another post).

For a group of 6, we were seated pretty much straight away. On our second visit (yes we went back again) it was a much longer wait due to it being a sunday and popular with the locals. The menu is quite simple and the food in one word is: delicious. You can really tell that the ingredients are fresh and i wouldn’t be surprised if it was all organic too.

I chose the Jumbo Lump Crab Cake Sandwhich ($19). It came on Sara’s own made English muffin with matchstick fries, tartar sauce and a watercress and apple salad. It was probably a little heavy for a brunch so i pretty much left the muffins alone but crab cake was cooked to perfection. The matchstick fries in my opinion were too skinny as it felt like you were just eating fried sticks.

My husband ordered The Red Omelette ($13.50) which was the fluffiest omelette i have ever seen. It was filled with a chunky sauce of tomatoes, red peppers with cheddar cheese and topped with a dollop of sour cream with chives. He had no trouble finishing this dish off at all.

On our next visit to Sarabeth’s, i ordered the Lemon Zested Tuna Salad ($16.25). The serving of tuna was very generous and oh so good. It was served over toasted sourdough with fresh tomatoes marinated in virgin olive oil & balsamic vinegar and oregano. I loved the tomatoes as it added a kick to the dish. I wish i knew how to recreate it!

My friend R ordered the CPS Burger ($15) which i’m assuming stands for Central Park South. As you can see, it was a huge serving and probably went unfinished despite it being a tasty burger. You have the option of having freshly ground turkey or sirloin (she ordered sirloin) and came with grilled spring onion, lettuce and avocado salsa on a brioche bun, served with french fries.

My husband ordered the New Classic Club Sandwhich ($16.50). The sandwhich is filled with roasted turkey breast, fresh mozzarella, aged Virginia ham, lettuce, tomato & ranch dressing. Whilst this may be a standard size serving here in Australia, my husband (also being a big eater) was still left feeling a little hungry afterwards. It was also probably one of the healthiest dishes we had on the entire trip!

Sarabeth’s, Central Park West

40 Central Park South, NYC

Category: Around the Globe, Breakfast & Brunch, Breakfast Ideas, Lunch Ideas, Recommendation, Restaurant Review, Review, Savoury | 1 Comment »
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Posted By jen on September 3, 2009

When you mention New York City, a few things automatically pop up in your head:

1. Yellow taxi’s
2. Central Park
3. Hot dogs

When we initially planned our holiday to NYC, i imagined myself eating hot dogs every day. As bad as they are (and sometimes gross, but you don’t really want to think about whats actually in them), i do love a good hot dog, especially if the bun is super soft. Thankfully for us, our first food stop in NYC was Gray’s Papaya Hotdogs. Opened in 1972, Gray’s Papaya is well renowned for their inexpensive, high quality hot dogs and is open 24 hours a day. If only we had them here in Sydney it would be the perfect stop after a late night out (not that i really have those anymore)

Once you step into America, it is clear by the signs you see that the GFC has really affected businesses everywhere. Everywhere we went we noticed ‘GFC Specials’ and Gray’s Papaya were obviously one of those businesses who were feeling the pinch. For $4.45 USD, you got yourself 2 hotdogs and a drink. The hot dogs are on the small side, so polishing off both of them wasn’t a problem and for my drink, i opted for the Papaya shake, seeing that that’s what it’s famous for. The papaya drink was very freshing on the hot and humid day we were experiencing.

So it may not have been the greatest hot dog you have ever eaten, but for the price you pay it was definitely was value for money.

Gray’s Papaya

The Midtown branch at the corner of Eighth Ave. and 37th St.

Category: Around the Globe, Lunch Ideas, Recommendation, Restaurant Review, Savoury | 4 Comments »
Tags: NYC

Posted By jen on September 2, 2009

If you’re a Sex and The City fan, then you’ll know what a Magnolia Cupcake is. If not, you can quickly read about it here.

I have just come from an awesome 4 week holiday from the States where i visited some great places such as Vegas, San Fran, Hawaii and of course New York. It was a holiday to take in the sights but i think the culinary delights overshadowed everything. The food in America is so expanse that we never ate at the same place twice (except for a few exceptions). One of those exceptions was The Magnolia Bakery.

Before heading over there i was debating about whether to do the SATC tour. I had read a number of reviews where they said it that it wasn’t as good as it used to be. One of the highlights was of course Carries apartment. Now that the TV series is over, the apartment was sold to a private vendor and as a result they have cordoned off the front steps so you can no longer sit and take a photo. Most reviews also stated that the cupcakes at Magnolia’s were over-rated. Reading this had me highly disappointed and subsequently put me off so i decided not to do the tour. As luck would have it, whilst we were down in West Village taking in the sights and the shopping, we happened to stumble upon the bakery so it was much to my delight that i got to try them out anyway!

The bakery was busy (as expected) and since it was almost evening, a few of the cupcakes were sold out so i opted for the regular vanilla and chocolate. As soon as i bit into the cupcake i was instantly transported to cupcake heaven. It was delicious! The cupcake was super moist and oh so fluffy. And the buttercream! It was vanilla buttercream (with colouring) but it left this sort of tingle on the lips. I instantly wanted more!

We loved the West Village/SoHo area so much that we headed back there a few days later and i was able to have another hit of these cupcakes. This time i got to try the red velvet cupcake which i was dying to. Australian’s don’t really know what red velvet is so i was determined to try it on this holiday and i am so glad i did. Again the cupcake was just divine and but the colour! The red was so bright it really popped.

Now that we’re back home (boo) i was asked to make some cupcakes for a friends birthday. Instantly i knew i had to try and recreate the Magnolia Cupcake. A quick google search and i had the recipe in my hand. Now i don’t know if these are as good as the ones at the bakery (who am i kidding), but if not they’re still pretty darn good.

Magnolia Cupcakes

Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/4cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 24 cupcake wrappers
• 55 minutes 30 mins prep

Method

1. Line 24 muffin tins with cupcake papers.
2. In a small bowl, add the flours; stir to combine; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter using an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.
3. Add the sugar gradually and beat for 3 minutes or until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overmix.
5. Spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling about 3/4 full. Bake in a 350° oven for 20-25
   minutes.
6. Cool the cupcakes in the tin for 15 minutes. Remove cakes from the tins and cool on a wire rack before icing. Ice with tinted Vanilla Buttercream.

Vanilla Buttercream Recipe

Makes enough for a 2-layer 9-inch cake or 2 dozen cupcakes

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 6-8 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 layer 9-inch cake Change size or US/metric
• 15 minutes 15 mins prep

Method

1. Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add in 4 cups sugar, then the milk and vanilla. On medium speed of an electric mixer, beat about 3-5 minutes or until smooth and creamy.
2. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well (about 2 minutes) after each addition, until the icing is thick enough for good spreading consistency (you may not need all of the sugar).
3. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. Use and store the icing at
4. room temperature because icing will set if chilled. The icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Recipe adapted from here.

The Magnolia Bakery

401 Bleecker Street

Corner of West 11th Street in the West Village

Category: Around the Globe, Cakes & Cupcakes, Recipes, Recommendation, Review | 6 Comments »
Tags: Cupcake, NYC