Josh & Nadia's Engagement!!

A couple of weekends ago, 2 very good friends of mine had their engagement party.

It was suuuuch a windy day, and it was held outdoors, but it was SO nice in the sun.......summer is slowly but surely on its way!!

So Nadia & Josh asked me to make their engagement cupcakes/cake. I immediately said yes - I felt quite chuffed that they'd even asked me to do it!! 120 cupcakes and a small cutting cake later........:

By all accounts they were delicious - I didn't eat one, I've been doing quite well resisting most kinds of temptation, I keep reminding myself about a) impending trip to Thailand where I'll have to be on the beach wearing little clothings and b) my brothers wedding in January!! ARGH!!

Oreo Cheesecake.....nom.

Oh my goshhhh I love cheesecake.

This hasn't always been the story though.

I remember when I was little, probably about......actually, it was so long ago I can't remember how old I was, anyway that's irrelevant, I just remember staying at my sisters house one time (she's almost 18 years older than me!!) and her asking me if I wanted some cheesecake - my little brain just couldn't comprehend that. A cake. Made of CHEESE?! Eww, no thanks. Of course, I thought it was made from cheddar cheese........she failed to tell me that it was actually made from the delightfully delicious cream cheese!!

Anyway, I la la loooove cheesecake now, and what could make an already awesome dessert even better??

Oreos of course!!

YUM!! I WANT I WANT I WANT!! Can't have.

Adapted from the oreo cheesecake recipe from the Philidelphia Website.

• 1 cup cream
• 1 cup crushed oreo cookies (I bought a packet of normal sized cookies and took the cream out of the middle and crushed the biscuit bit)
• 100g oreo cookies crushed (I used 1/2 a pack of normal oreos (with the cream in the middle) and also some mini oreos)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 teaspoons gelatine, dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 500g block Philidelphia Cream Cheese, softened (I used about 350g)
• 50g butter, melted

Combine the melted butter & crushed oreos and press in to the base of a lined springform tin. Chill the base.

To make the filling, beat the cream cheese & sugar until smooth. Add the gelatine mixture and fold through. Add lemon juice & cream and beat until fluffy. Mix in the normal & mini oreos and pour in to the chilled base. Put it in the fridge and let it set for about 2 hours. I piped some cream on and put mini oreos on top of it after it was chilled. YUM!!

Ginger sponge cake with strawberries & cream

Today I went to a bbq at a friends house and I wanted to take something with me. Something pretty. I remembered seeing a cake in the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook that I thought was stunning, so I flipped it open and found what it was - a ginger sponge cake (it was meant to be filled with apple sauce, but I decided cream and strawberries was the way to go.)

Oooh so puuuurrrrdy!! So it's 2 layers of sponge, with strawberries and cream in the middle, cream and strawberries on top and sprinkled with ginger nut biscuit crumbs and then surrouneded with sponge finger biscuits. It's SO easy to make, and looks good too!!

Ginger Sponge Cake (from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook):

1/3 cup self raising flour
1/3 cup cornflour
3 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cocoa
5 eggs, separated
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup

Preheat oven to 190. Grease two 20cm round cake tins (although I only used one and then cut the cake in half cause I only have one).

Combinthe flour, spices and coca and sift together three times.

Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, beating after each addition until the sugar is dissolved. Add the egg yolks and golden syrup and beat until well combined.

Using a slotted metal spoon, fold the sifted flour mixture in to the egg mixure until just combined. Be careful not to overbeat otherwise all the lovely air will go out of the mixture!!

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the sponge has come away from the side of the tin.

Decorate it however you like!! I loved the pink ribbon around it, and I loved the strawberries and cream instead of the apple sauce filling, it worked deliciously!!

Dulce De Leche Cheesecake Blondies.

The baking bug struck me last night.

Lately, I've been making HEAPS of cupcakes for people, but nothing blog worthy as they're all similar to things I've posted before.

But last night, all I could think about was the leftover philidelphia cheese and dulce de leche I had sitting in my fridge. Just longing to be baked with. And then I thought about blondies. Buttery, brown sugary goodness. With cheesecake......and dulce de leche. PERFECT!!

Ooooh yum, can you see the swirlies of cheesecake and caramel?? Deeeelicious, although they did kind of turn out a bit more cakey rather than a brownie like texture. But that's ok with me, they still taste great!!

Adapted from "More from Magnolia" Blondies with Cream Cheese Swirl:

Cream Cheese Filling:
4 Ounces Cream Cheese
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp all purpose flour

Blondies:
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar (I used half light half dark because that's what I had in the cupboard)
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
150g dulce de leche

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour a 13x9 inch baking pan.
To make the cream cheese filling: in a medium size bowl, bet cream cheese & sugar until smooth. Add the egg yolk and flour and beat well. Set aside.
To make the blondies: In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well. Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
Drop the cream cheese mixture and dulce de leche by teaspoonfuls over the batter. Swirl the cream cheese and dulce de leche into the batter. Bake for 35 minutes. Enjoy. 

Almost married cake!!

Last week, my old boss requested a cake for a very good friend that I used to work with. You might remember I made some cupcakes for my friends engagement. Well, that friend is getting married next weekend!! So my old work put on a lunch for her today, and asked me to make her an "almost married" cake. Check it out!!

It was a white chocolate mud cake with white chocolate ganache - and by all accounts everyone loved it!! I was so glad that my old boss asked me, because it made making this cake all that more special for my lovely friend!!

Congrats again Georgie - love you lots xx

30th b'day cake

Hi lovelies, just a quick one today!!

30th birthday cake I did this week:

Vanilla 3 and a chocolate 0. Pretty tasty!!

Fresh, homemade pasta!!

I <3 Pasta. I really do. I think I should have been Italian. Give me pasta and bread and I'm happy!!

Today, I decided I wanted pasta for dinner. But not just store bought pasta. Fresh, homemade pasta. I have had a pasta maker for god knows how long, and I've never used it. Tonight was the night to pick it up off it's shelf, dust it off and use that bad boy!!

The dough, after much kneading - my arms are so tired!! 

When I first started rolling it, it was all crumbly.....I think I didn't let it sit long enough. I'm pretty impatient. 

Fettucine!! 

Extra sharp parmesan cheese.....omnomnom

Served with garlic bread. My life is complete. 

So making this pasta was actually easier than I thought it would be. 

ingredients:

2 1/2 cups plain flour

pinch of salt

4 eggs

Sift your flour and salt on to a clean, dry surface. Make a well in the middle and crack in your eggs. This bit proved to be the most difficult for me, because apparently, my well wasn't big enough. And the eggs kinda leaked a bit. My hands came in handy (who would have though!!) for that bit. 

Slowly mix the flour in to the eggs with your fingertips (fingertips were used not so much, but rather my whole hands). Knead the dough for about 10 minutes......seriously tiring work people. Your end result should be smooth and elastic. 

Divide the dough in to 4 even parts and cover with a damp cloth (to stop it from drying out) and let it sit for about 20 minutes (this helps to make the pasta more pliable because it gives the gluten a chance to work its magic baby). 

Once it's sat for 20 minutes, take a portion and flatten it in to a rectangle and roll it through your pasta machine and cut in to fettucine. 

It's seriously that easy. Enjoy it with your favourite pasta sauce - a bit fave in my household is creamy, but healthy!! I know right, bit of a contradiction there - secret is carnation light milk. It's SO good, tastes like cream and has a trillion (not really, 95% or something like that) less fat than cream.