Pages

Thursday, April 26, 2012

April Birthday Cakes



Super Mario Cupcakes

Fill red patty pans halfway with vanilla cake batter, cook according to instructions.
Once cool, cover cupcake with red butter-cream.
Roll out marshmallow fondant and cut out a crescent and 3 small circles, place on cake.
Using an Edible pen, draw on eyes. 





Mickey and Minnie Mouse Cupcakes

Fill red patty pans two-thirds of the way with vanilla cake batter, cook according to instructions.
Once cool, cover cupcake with red butter-cream until domed, cover with black sanding sugar.
Place mini oreos for ears, adding a small bow for Minnie.




Totoro Cake

Neapolitan Cake: layered chocolate cake and chocolate ganache, strawberry cake and white chocolate, strawberry flavoured, ganache, and Vanilla cake, frosted with vanilla buttercream. 

Woodland sprinkles and wooden figures sourced from Etsy.



Recipe Links:







Tuesday, April 17, 2012

10 minute meals - Soba Tuna Salad



1 packet (250g) of buckwheat soba noodles
1 carrot and one cucumber finely chopped
1 tin 500g of line-caught Tuna
1/4 of a cup each of Japanese Mayonnaise 
and Newman's Asian dressing  

Bring a pot of water to the boil. Add soba cook for two minutes, drain and then rinse under cool flowing water until completely cooled. 

Drain Tuna and mix with sauces adding more or less to your taste, and salad. Toss through soba.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve 

Enjoy


Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Blueberry Shake


2 frozen bananas
Handful of frozen blueberrys
1/2 cup of almond milk

Blend and drink

Monday, April 2, 2012

Tuna Soba Salad





I added a tin of tuna to the recipe, from

4oz/100g soba noodles, uncooked
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 bunch/2 cups spinach leaves, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
hot water
1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds, black and/or white
2 tablespoons scallions, finely chopped
Serves 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cook soba noodles according to instructions.
In the meantime, heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add spinach and cook until just wilted. Take off the heat and set aside.
For the dressing, whisk together tahini, sesame oil, soy sauce and vinegar. Stir in hot water until the dressing gets a thick but runny consistency. Set aside.
Drain soba noodles when cooked. Stir in 1 1/2 tablespoons of dressing for each one cup of noodles. Fold in wilted spinach. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and chopped scallions. Can be eaten warm, at room temperature or cold.
© Anja's Food 4 Thought. Recipe from http://www.anjasfood4thought.com

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Lemon Cake




Cake taken from i am Baker 
Basic White Cake 
2 large eggs separated
1 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup room temperature butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
Directions:

Separate the eggs, placing the whites into one container and the yolks into another. Let come to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour two 8in (I used 9in) pans.  
Put sifted flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and set aside.
Using an electric mixer ( I love that this recipe calls for an electric mixer as I do not even own a KitchenAid Mixer), beat the butter until soft and creamy, about 1 minute.  Add 3/4 cup of sugar (reserving the rest) and beat for an additional 2 minutes.  Now add egg yolks, one at a time, until completely incorporated.  Add vanilla and almond extract until combined, about 30 seconds.
Now you are going to add your flour mixture and milk.  Starting with the flour, add 1/3 of the mixture and mix until incorporated.  Now add 1/2 milk mixture, mix until combined.  Add half the remaining flour, combine.  Now add the rest of your milk and combine.  Add remaining 1/3 of your flour mixture, and go ahead and mix until combined.  This whole process should take less then 2 minutes, as you do not want to over beat the batter.
In a separate clean bowl with clean whisk attachment, whip eggs whites until foamy then add the cream of tartar. (I did this on medium speed) Beat until soft peaks occur, and then gradually add in your remaining sugar.  You will want stiff peaks, which took me about 3 minutes.  Now, take your rubber spatula and fold your eggs whites into your cake batter.  Make sure they are fully incorporated, but do not over stir the batter, as you do not want to eggs to deflate.
Put batter into prepared pans and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Cakes are done when an inserted tooth pick comes out clean or with very few crumbs.  At this point I place the cakes directly into the freezer and leave them there for at least an hour.  This locks in moisture and also makes it easier to frost.




Butter cream taken from Honey and Jam

For the Buttercream:

1 cup sugar4 large egg whites3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
To Make the Buttercream: Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or other large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6 to 10 minutes. During this time, the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again. On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla. You should have a shiny, smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream.





 Homemade Lemon Curd
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (usually requires 1-2 lemons)
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
1/3 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
3 Tablespoons butter (I use unsalted)
Directions ~
Combine all ingredients in the top of a double boiler (or in a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water).  Heat, while stirring (almost) constantly with a whisk, until mixture thickens.  It is done when it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.  Remove from heat, cover and refrigerate until cool.  Store in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks. 
Recipe source- Cupcakes by Pamela Clark