I woke up this morning when my dad knocked on my door and said, "Hey Sarah, you've got a package here from England".
Woohoo!
This is my Christmas gift from my friend DG! And it totally rocks! (Pun intended, see below).
She got me...
stash
Some fab artisan chocolate from Rococo Artisan Bar in Chelsea, London... one bar caramelised almond, one bar sea salt. (I requested a nice flavour and an unusual one).
choc choc
And she got these cuuuuute chocolate gold buttons! I feel that a batch of Versace-esque cupcakes is required now...
gold buttons
And, oh my God, she bought me a Living Kitchen Egg Cup & Saucer set, and got Nigella herself to sign it! FAINT!
Check it out - Nigella's heard of my How to Eat project!
cup and saucer
And next up, we have, perhaps, the most electrifying cookbook in food entertainment today... the official WWF cookbook, Can You Take the Heat?!
Can you take the heat?
The Rock, the most electrifying man in sports entertainment (and definitely the sexiest), has 3 recipes in here - The Rock's Famous Rock Bottom Pancakes, The Rock's "Smack-aroni" Salad, and The Rock's Favourite Chocolate Chip Cookies. I can't wait to flip his pancakes, bake his cookies and spank... er, I mean "smack"... his salad.
Rock - 245 pounds of ass-whoopin!
Hehehehe
I'm so ecstatic, this was the best Christmas gift ever!!! Thank-you DG!
xox Sarah
Woohoo!
This is my Christmas gift from my friend DG! And it totally rocks! (Pun intended, see below).
She got me...
stash
Some fab artisan chocolate from Rococo Artisan Bar in Chelsea, London... one bar caramelised almond, one bar sea salt. (I requested a nice flavour and an unusual one).
choc choc
And she got these cuuuuute chocolate gold buttons! I feel that a batch of Versace-esque cupcakes is required now...
gold buttons
And, oh my God, she bought me a Living Kitchen Egg Cup & Saucer set, and got Nigella herself to sign it! FAINT!
Check it out - Nigella's heard of my How to Eat project!
cup and saucer
And next up, we have, perhaps, the most electrifying cookbook in food entertainment today... the official WWF cookbook, Can You Take the Heat?!
Can you take the heat?
The Rock, the most electrifying man in sports entertainment (and definitely the sexiest), has 3 recipes in here - The Rock's Famous Rock Bottom Pancakes, The Rock's "Smack-aroni" Salad, and The Rock's Favourite Chocolate Chip Cookies. I can't wait to flip his pancakes, bake his cookies and spank... er, I mean "smack"... his salad.
Rock - 245 pounds of ass-whoopin!
Hehehehe
I'm so ecstatic, this was the best Christmas gift ever!!! Thank-you DG!
xox Sarah
Golden Fruit Cake
Golden Fruit Cake is a rich, buttery, light cake, ideal for the festive season and a nic change from the traditional style of fruit cake.
250g sultanas
125g mixed peel
60g slivered almonds
125g glacé cherries
125g glacé pineapple
125g glacé apricots
125g glacé ginger
250g butter
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 cup castor sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour
Line a deep, 20cm round cake tin with three layers of greaseproof paper, bringing paper 5cm above edge of tin. Combine sultanas, peel and almonds in bowl, add chopped glacé fruit. Cream butter, lemon rind and sugar; beat in eggs one at a time. Stir into fruit mixture, then stir in sifted flour. Spread mixture evenly in tin, decorate top with almonds if desired. Bake in slow oven for 3 hours or until cooked when tested.
Cool, covered in tin. When cold, refrigerate in airtight container for up to 3 months.
My mum soaks the dried fruit in rum, makes the cake in muffin tins and cooks them for a much shorter time. Also, we don't bother with that wrapping and waiting crap, we just dig straight in!
MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY!
Golden Fruit Cake is a rich, buttery, light cake, ideal for the festive season and a nic change from the traditional style of fruit cake.
250g sultanas
125g mixed peel
60g slivered almonds
125g glacé cherries
125g glacé pineapple
125g glacé apricots
125g glacé ginger
250g butter
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 cup castor sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour
Line a deep, 20cm round cake tin with three layers of greaseproof paper, bringing paper 5cm above edge of tin. Combine sultanas, peel and almonds in bowl, add chopped glacé fruit. Cream butter, lemon rind and sugar; beat in eggs one at a time. Stir into fruit mixture, then stir in sifted flour. Spread mixture evenly in tin, decorate top with almonds if desired. Bake in slow oven for 3 hours or until cooked when tested.
Cool, covered in tin. When cold, refrigerate in airtight container for up to 3 months.
My mum soaks the dried fruit in rum, makes the cake in muffin tins and cooks them for a much shorter time. Also, we don't bother with that wrapping and waiting crap, we just dig straight in!
MERRY XMAS EVERYBODY!
I woke up this morning to a wonderful thing - the warm, inviting smell of baking. Mum was making her fabulous Christmas cupcakes.
These are actually from a Women's Weekly cookbook, Best Recipes from the Weekly, but don't let that put you off, they are brilliant. It's actually the recipe for Golden Fruit Cake (I'll post the recipe later), which Mum bakes in muffin tins, to give to her friends.
Christmas Cupcakes
Thank goodness, she let us sample a couple of them. And we loved them so much (as we always do), that she relented and let us eat more! She says she'll bake another batch tomorrow. Can't wait!
Jewelled interior
These are actually from a Women's Weekly cookbook, Best Recipes from the Weekly, but don't let that put you off, they are brilliant. It's actually the recipe for Golden Fruit Cake (I'll post the recipe later), which Mum bakes in muffin tins, to give to her friends.
Christmas Cupcakes
Thank goodness, she let us sample a couple of them. And we loved them so much (as we always do), that she relented and let us eat more! She says she'll bake another batch tomorrow. Can't wait!
Jewelled interior
My brother recently completed all his university subjects, and will graduate next year in March. So to celebrate, we went out to dinner at Silks in Crown. (Right next to my old restaurant, The Conservatory). It was all so delicious, washed down with a bottle of 1995 Dom Perignon champagne.
We'd never been to Silks before, but it had an awesome atmosphere - there's this cool Mongolian tent in the centre in which you can sit and have drinks, and beautiful table settings.
Place setting - these plates rock! Apparently they're $500 a pop. They were specially made for Silks by Noritake.
Tea pot tea champagne glass
The Menu
Peking Duck
Baby spinach with century egg
Deep fried prawns with wasabi sauce and sweet chilli sauce
Pei Pa Tofu (tofu with crab and mushroom sauce)
Roast beef with pepper sauce
Fried Ice-cream
Fruit Platter
sweet and crunchy peanuts - addictive!
Chinese waiter crispy duck trick
Peking Duck
Baby spinach with century egg
Deep fried prawns with wasabi sauce and sweet chilli sauce - this had a fabulous combination of flavours!
Pei Pa Tofu (tofu with crab and mushroom sauce)
Roast beef with pepper sauce - check out the delicious rareness of the beef.
Deep-fried ice-cream, my favourite
fried ice-cream
fruit plate
Fruit platter
I loved it! A fabulous meal all up.
Congrautlations to Daniel!
We'd never been to Silks before, but it had an awesome atmosphere - there's this cool Mongolian tent in the centre in which you can sit and have drinks, and beautiful table settings.
Place setting - these plates rock! Apparently they're $500 a pop. They were specially made for Silks by Noritake.
Tea pot tea champagne glass
The Menu
Peking Duck
Baby spinach with century egg
Deep fried prawns with wasabi sauce and sweet chilli sauce
Pei Pa Tofu (tofu with crab and mushroom sauce)
Roast beef with pepper sauce
Fried Ice-cream
Fruit Platter
sweet and crunchy peanuts - addictive!
Chinese waiter crispy duck trick
Peking Duck
Baby spinach with century egg
Deep fried prawns with wasabi sauce and sweet chilli sauce - this had a fabulous combination of flavours!
Pei Pa Tofu (tofu with crab and mushroom sauce)
Roast beef with pepper sauce - check out the delicious rareness of the beef.
Deep-fried ice-cream, my favourite
fried ice-cream
fruit plate
Fruit platter
I loved it! A fabulous meal all up.
Congrautlations to Daniel!
Oh my god, how stoked am I?! I've had a dish named after me! That's right, li'l old me!
Lisa created the dish... and it is named... "Awesome AussieSarah Chicken".
And how delicious does that sound? Ranch dressing, GOOD. Rice, GOOD. Red peppers, GOOD. Tabasco, YEAH BABY YEAH!
aussiesarahchicken
single serve
I can't wait to make it myself, all my fave ingredients in the one tasty dish.
Thank-you Lisa! You rock my world!
Lisa created the dish... and it is named... "Awesome AussieSarah Chicken".
yes, a dish I've named after our dish aussiesarah. It's chicken sprinkled w/Ranch dressing mix, roasted on rice, then sliced red peppers added and doused w/Tabasco at table. Ace!
And how delicious does that sound? Ranch dressing, GOOD. Rice, GOOD. Red peppers, GOOD. Tabasco, YEAH BABY YEAH!
aussiesarahchicken
single serve
I can't wait to make it myself, all my fave ingredients in the one tasty dish.
Thank-you Lisa! You rock my world!
Nigel Slater (aka my future husband) has a blog!
Check out his website... there's information on the man himself, his new book The Kitchen Diaries, a blog, and an "ask Nigel" section.
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/microsites/nigelslater/default.aspx
Check out his website... there's information on the man himself, his new book The Kitchen Diaries, a blog, and an "ask Nigel" section.
http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/microsites/nigelslater/default.aspx
Today was the first day of summer, a gorgeous 34 degree day, with endless blue skies, a warm breeze and sun, sun, sun! So, my friend George and I donned our bikinis, and drove down to Rowville to pick up our boy Markii, and went to Edithvale beach to make the most of this wonderful day.
Mark made a fab beach-friendly lunch, which he duly packed in an eski for us to enjoy on the beach.
Le Menu de la Plage de Chef Markii
Roast chicken focaccias with whole-egg mayonnaise, cucumber, tomato and pepper
Olives, sundried tomatoes (with toothpics), kabana
Ginger Beer
Fruit kebabs - pineapple, pawpaw, strawberries, watermelon, honeydew melon
George and I also bought a couple of little additions from Safeway on the way to Mark's house.
Salada lite poppyseed crackers
Black Swan spinach & pinenut / roast pumpkin dip
Diet coke with lime
Schweppes Agrum (pink, citrus flavoured soft drink)
George & Focaccia
Picnic bits
Fruit Kebabs - what genius, putting the fruit on sticks made it easier to eat, and less prone to sand infestation!
Fruit Kebabs
Look at the fanned strawberry. Mark says, "That's my attempt at garnish". Very nice.
Frozen Grapes. You know, I've never had grapes like this before, but they're brilliant. And now I don't think I could have them any other way!
Awesome day, awesome food, awesome friends!
Mark made a fab beach-friendly lunch, which he duly packed in an eski for us to enjoy on the beach.
Le Menu de la Plage de Chef Markii
Roast chicken focaccias with whole-egg mayonnaise, cucumber, tomato and pepper
Olives, sundried tomatoes (with toothpics), kabana
Ginger Beer
Fruit kebabs - pineapple, pawpaw, strawberries, watermelon, honeydew melon
George and I also bought a couple of little additions from Safeway on the way to Mark's house.
Salada lite poppyseed crackers
Black Swan spinach & pinenut / roast pumpkin dip
Diet coke with lime
Schweppes Agrum (pink, citrus flavoured soft drink)
George & Focaccia
Picnic bits
Fruit Kebabs - what genius, putting the fruit on sticks made it easier to eat, and less prone to sand infestation!
Fruit Kebabs
Look at the fanned strawberry. Mark says, "That's my attempt at garnish". Very nice.
Frozen Grapes. You know, I've never had grapes like this before, but they're brilliant. And now I don't think I could have them any other way!
Awesome day, awesome food, awesome friends!
Ever since our blogger dinner, I've been inspired to update here much more often! Woohoo!
Last night I went out clubbing with my friend Georgina, and at about 1:30am, we started getting very hungry.
Me: You hungry?
George: WHAT???
Me: YOU HUNGRY?
George: YES!
Me: What do you wanna eat?
George: WHAAAAT???
Me: WHAT... DO... YOU... WANNA... EAT?
George: WHAAAAAAT???
Over the racket of hard house music emanating from the speakers next to us, the conversation was going nowhere fast, so I typed all the suggestions for food into my mobile phone to show her.
Stalactites Hungry Jacks KFC Chilli Padi
She wanted Stalactites, which I was very happy with. We were in St. Kilda, but there are some things worth travelling for!! So we left the club, and were heading towards the car, when suddenly... from a flourescently-lit window... we saw a sign...
New! Subway's Beef Teriyaki Sub! 8 grams of fat or less!
... and our minds were changed. So into Subway we went. We decided, cunningly, to purchase one footlong sub and share it, rather than two 6-inchers, thus saving ourselves about $4. Niiiice.
George: One footlong beef teriyaki sub please.
Subway Girl: Toasted?
George: ...to me... Toasted?
Me: Er... yeah.
Subway Girl: Salads?
George: Lettuce, tomato, onion, olives please.
Subway Girl: Do you want cheese?
George: Yes.
Subway Girl: Swiss, tasty or cheddah?
George: Er... Swiss!
Subway Girl: What sauce do you want?
Me: RANCH DRESSING!
Good God I love ranch dressing. Thank-you to my American hermana Lisa for introducing it to me!
We went and ate our sub in the car, which then smelled unmistakably of onions the next morning. But it was worth it.
Magic Subway
Sub - teriyaki beef, Swiss cheese, American ranch dressing. It's globalisation in a sandwich, and it was fantastic!
The next morning...
This morning, I started work at 11am, and popped down to Mrs. Fields to pick up breakfast, which I ate in the staffroom. I got a latte and a blueberry muffin for $5. It was awesome! It was soft and fluffy on the inside, and full of blueberries. And you know how muffin tops usually rock whilst the bottoms suck in comparison? Not this time! The outside was crusty, even on the bottom. The top was sprinkled with a fab sugary-buttery crust. Insane. So good, in fact, that I immediately had to text message a mate...
This muffin is fucking awesome.
Muffin & Coffee
I hadn't had Mrs. Fields in so long, I'd forgotten how good they are.
At work, one of my co-workers, Michael, had a similar idea, and had gotten an Oreo Brownie, a chocolate chip muffin and a latte for breakfast (from a different shop).
Michael: I love working at Melbourne Central! You can get everything here!
Last night I went out clubbing with my friend Georgina, and at about 1:30am, we started getting very hungry.
Me: You hungry?
George: WHAT???
Me: YOU HUNGRY?
George: YES!
Me: What do you wanna eat?
George: WHAAAAT???
Me: WHAT... DO... YOU... WANNA... EAT?
George: WHAAAAAAT???
Over the racket of hard house music emanating from the speakers next to us, the conversation was going nowhere fast, so I typed all the suggestions for food into my mobile phone to show her.
Stalactites Hungry Jacks KFC Chilli Padi
She wanted Stalactites, which I was very happy with. We were in St. Kilda, but there are some things worth travelling for!! So we left the club, and were heading towards the car, when suddenly... from a flourescently-lit window... we saw a sign...
New! Subway's Beef Teriyaki Sub! 8 grams of fat or less!
... and our minds were changed. So into Subway we went. We decided, cunningly, to purchase one footlong sub and share it, rather than two 6-inchers, thus saving ourselves about $4. Niiiice.
George: One footlong beef teriyaki sub please.
Subway Girl: Toasted?
George: ...to me... Toasted?
Me: Er... yeah.
Subway Girl: Salads?
George: Lettuce, tomato, onion, olives please.
Subway Girl: Do you want cheese?
George: Yes.
Subway Girl: Swiss, tasty or cheddah?
George: Er... Swiss!
Subway Girl: What sauce do you want?
Me: RANCH DRESSING!
Good God I love ranch dressing. Thank-you to my American hermana Lisa for introducing it to me!
We went and ate our sub in the car, which then smelled unmistakably of onions the next morning. But it was worth it.
Magic Subway
Sub - teriyaki beef, Swiss cheese, American ranch dressing. It's globalisation in a sandwich, and it was fantastic!
The next morning...
This morning, I started work at 11am, and popped down to Mrs. Fields to pick up breakfast, which I ate in the staffroom. I got a latte and a blueberry muffin for $5. It was awesome! It was soft and fluffy on the inside, and full of blueberries. And you know how muffin tops usually rock whilst the bottoms suck in comparison? Not this time! The outside was crusty, even on the bottom. The top was sprinkled with a fab sugary-buttery crust. Insane. So good, in fact, that I immediately had to text message a mate...
This muffin is fucking awesome.
Muffin & Coffee
I hadn't had Mrs. Fields in so long, I'd forgotten how good they are.
At work, one of my co-workers, Michael, had a similar idea, and had gotten an Oreo Brownie, a chocolate chip muffin and a latte for breakfast (from a different shop).
Michael: I love working at Melbourne Central! You can get everything here!
Granola
This morning I made "Andy's Fairfield Granola" from Nigella Lawson's Feast. This is one of my favourite recipes, and definitely the one I've made the most often out of Feast. Recently my breakfasts have been quite lackluster... so I'm looking forward to having a good bowlful of healthy deliciousness tomorrow morning.
Me: Hey guys, I'm gonna make the Nigella cereal again.
Dad: Oh yes! Oh yes! Yes yes yes!
One thing, I used malt syrup instead of golden syrup, and I didn't add any sugar at all (the recipe calls for 100g brown sugar, in addition to honey and syrup. I've always found the granola a bit sweet anyway. And this way, even if it's not sweet enough, we can just add more sugar as we eat it.
I think the taste is fine though... Dad's been picking at those trays all day long...
Well this is the most action Sarah Cooks has seen in a long, long while!
I’ve only just realised that there are quite a few food bloggers in Melbourne who, like myself, are keen on eating and cooking and blogging! Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been getting acquainted with some of these blogs (links to come shortly), and really enjoying reading them.
Tonight I had the opportunity to meet a few of them, Cindy, Ed and Jamie, at an industry dinner at The Trust restaurant on Flinders Lane in the city.
The reason for the event was to celebrate the appointment of Spencer Patrick as the new head chef.
There were delicious canapés, drinks, and a lot of chat.
I didn’t get photos of all the food (because of bad lighting and hunger…), but this is what we tried…
Carpaccio of beef: celeriac remoulade, truffle mayonnaise, parmesan
Parfait of chicken livers: sauternes jelly and toasted brioche
Salmon Roulade
Terrine of ham hock: fried quails egg and pineapple compote
Tempura zucchini flowers: filled with Milawa goats cheese, basil and sauce vierge
And the sweets…
Panna cotta: champagne jelly and poached strawberries
Creme Brulée
Chocolate Soup with a marshmallow raft
Before the dinner, I was working until 7pm, and we’d had a function, which involved, funnily enough, passing around canapés. Usually, after a function, if there’s any food left over (and there always is), we get to scoff it. However, tonight, knowing that a (no doubt vastly superior) canapé dinner was available to me, I refrained from stuffing my face at work. Big mistake! Even though the food at The Trust was delicious, it came in very, very small serves, and not very frequently. So after The Trust, still a bit pekish, we headed down to Supper Inn, in Chinatown. Giggity giggity.
dinner part 3
Crispy Suckling Pig
Gai laan
Delicious!
It was a fun evening, lovely to meet everyone!
I’ve only just realised that there are quite a few food bloggers in Melbourne who, like myself, are keen on eating and cooking and blogging! Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been getting acquainted with some of these blogs (links to come shortly), and really enjoying reading them.
Tonight I had the opportunity to meet a few of them, Cindy, Ed and Jamie, at an industry dinner at The Trust restaurant on Flinders Lane in the city.
The reason for the event was to celebrate the appointment of Spencer Patrick as the new head chef.
There were delicious canapés, drinks, and a lot of chat.
I didn’t get photos of all the food (because of bad lighting and hunger…), but this is what we tried…
Carpaccio of beef: celeriac remoulade, truffle mayonnaise, parmesan
Parfait of chicken livers: sauternes jelly and toasted brioche
Salmon Roulade
Terrine of ham hock: fried quails egg and pineapple compote
Tempura zucchini flowers: filled with Milawa goats cheese, basil and sauce vierge
And the sweets…
Panna cotta: champagne jelly and poached strawberries
Creme Brulée
Chocolate Soup with a marshmallow raft
Before the dinner, I was working until 7pm, and we’d had a function, which involved, funnily enough, passing around canapés. Usually, after a function, if there’s any food left over (and there always is), we get to scoff it. However, tonight, knowing that a (no doubt vastly superior) canapé dinner was available to me, I refrained from stuffing my face at work. Big mistake! Even though the food at The Trust was delicious, it came in very, very small serves, and not very frequently. So after The Trust, still a bit pekish, we headed down to Supper Inn, in Chinatown. Giggity giggity.
dinner part 3
Crispy Suckling Pig
Gai laan
Delicious!
It was a fun evening, lovely to meet everyone!
Cupcakes
White Layer Cake with Chocolate Chips topped with Peanut Butter Icing
11/22/2005 11:31:00 PM
I’m back!
This is only the second non-How to Eat recipe I’ve made during my whole project, and it was worth it!
At the start of the exam period, my Magnolia Bakery cookbooks arrived in the mail from Amazon. They’re soooooo gorgeous! I ordered The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, More from Magnolia and The Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook. They’ve got wonderfully decadent American style recipes in them – Red Velvet Cake, Oreo Brownies, Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Pie, Strawberry and Rhubarb Pie, Caramel Apple Pecan Cheesecake… the list goes on.
I had my last exam for the year on Monday, and I decided that I just had to make something out of these books. There’s no way I could wait until after I finish Sarah Discovers How to Eat! However, as I’m still not even half-way through Nigella's book, I have to be very selective about what non-How to Eat recipes I make. There were many tempting photos and delicious-sounding recipes in there, but ultimately, The Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook’s White Layer Cake with Chocolate Chips topped with Peanut Butter Icing seemed too good to resist. The recipe is designed to be made as one big layer cake, but I chose top make them in cupcake form to distribute amongst my friends at uni who still have exams.
This morning, I made the batter, which is pretty simple. Just cream butter and (a lot!) of sugar, add flour, baking powder, salt, milk and vanilla extract, beating well. After this you fold through some beaten egg whites and chocolate chips. A bonus of doing this recipe meant I finally got to defrost some of the many eggwhites that are sitting, baggied-up, in my freezer.
Bake them for 20 minutes at 180 degrees, and a batch of down-home-goodness is your reward!
Unadorned cupcakes
The icing that they suggest to put with the cake is peanut butter icing. Peanut butter and chocolate is an ambrosial combination - have you tried Baskin Robin's Peanut Butter Chocolate ice-cream?
This icing, like the cupcakes, is also simple to make but you've just got to be careful to make sure you beat it for the appropriate amount of time. One thing, though, Magnolia and Buttercup Bake Shop icing recipes are notoriously sweet, so I didn't put quite as much as stipulated. The recipe asks for 3 cups icing sugar to 1 cup of combined butter and peanut butter. Ahem. I started off with 2 cups of icing sugar, and then added 1/4 cup more at the end, because I was afraid it wouldn't be stiff enough to ice the cupcakes swirlingly.
Anyway, all you've got to do to make the icing is beat butter and peanut butter until creamy, then beat in sifted icing sugar and cocoa powder and milk. Then it's done!
Icing
I've got quite a few photos of the cupcakes... and that's because they were gorgeous!
Cupcakes on plate in front of book
I took 5 cupcakes to uni in an ice-cream container, and met up with my friend An for coffee at our favourite cafe. Best coffee on campus, cute baristas, you can't go wrong!
Swirly latte and cupcake
They give you little Tiny Teddy biscuits with your coffee, and I just couldn't resist taking the following picture...
Teddy bear
Cupcake
After we had coffee, An and I headed to the library, where Adri and Giselle were studying - Adri for her Chartered Accountancy and Giselle for some engineering subject. The poor, poor girls. I think they need as much energy as they can get! Good luck guys!
Studying
Giselle Studying
There were 7 leftover, and my family and I had them for dessert tonight. They are, indeed, fabulous, and I can totally understand why the Magnolia Bakery has become such a well-recognised food institution! The cake is fragrant, moist and tender crumbed, the icing rich, sweet, full of chocolatey peanut butter goodness, and the perfect complement to the cake.
There's a shitload of icing left over. We're having it on toast for breakfast.
Yee-haa.
This is only the second non-How to Eat recipe I’ve made during my whole project, and it was worth it!
At the start of the exam period, my Magnolia Bakery cookbooks arrived in the mail from Amazon. They’re soooooo gorgeous! I ordered The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, More from Magnolia and The Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook. They’ve got wonderfully decadent American style recipes in them – Red Velvet Cake, Oreo Brownies, Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Pie, Strawberry and Rhubarb Pie, Caramel Apple Pecan Cheesecake… the list goes on.
I had my last exam for the year on Monday, and I decided that I just had to make something out of these books. There’s no way I could wait until after I finish Sarah Discovers How to Eat! However, as I’m still not even half-way through Nigella's book, I have to be very selective about what non-How to Eat recipes I make. There were many tempting photos and delicious-sounding recipes in there, but ultimately, The Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook’s White Layer Cake with Chocolate Chips topped with Peanut Butter Icing seemed too good to resist. The recipe is designed to be made as one big layer cake, but I chose top make them in cupcake form to distribute amongst my friends at uni who still have exams.
This morning, I made the batter, which is pretty simple. Just cream butter and (a lot!) of sugar, add flour, baking powder, salt, milk and vanilla extract, beating well. After this you fold through some beaten egg whites and chocolate chips. A bonus of doing this recipe meant I finally got to defrost some of the many eggwhites that are sitting, baggied-up, in my freezer.
Bake them for 20 minutes at 180 degrees, and a batch of down-home-goodness is your reward!
Unadorned cupcakes
The icing that they suggest to put with the cake is peanut butter icing. Peanut butter and chocolate is an ambrosial combination - have you tried Baskin Robin's Peanut Butter Chocolate ice-cream?
This icing, like the cupcakes, is also simple to make but you've just got to be careful to make sure you beat it for the appropriate amount of time. One thing, though, Magnolia and Buttercup Bake Shop icing recipes are notoriously sweet, so I didn't put quite as much as stipulated. The recipe asks for 3 cups icing sugar to 1 cup of combined butter and peanut butter. Ahem. I started off with 2 cups of icing sugar, and then added 1/4 cup more at the end, because I was afraid it wouldn't be stiff enough to ice the cupcakes swirlingly.
Anyway, all you've got to do to make the icing is beat butter and peanut butter until creamy, then beat in sifted icing sugar and cocoa powder and milk. Then it's done!
Icing
I've got quite a few photos of the cupcakes... and that's because they were gorgeous!
Cupcakes on plate in front of book
I took 5 cupcakes to uni in an ice-cream container, and met up with my friend An for coffee at our favourite cafe. Best coffee on campus, cute baristas, you can't go wrong!
Swirly latte and cupcake
They give you little Tiny Teddy biscuits with your coffee, and I just couldn't resist taking the following picture...
Teddy bear
Cupcake
After we had coffee, An and I headed to the library, where Adri and Giselle were studying - Adri for her Chartered Accountancy and Giselle for some engineering subject. The poor, poor girls. I think they need as much energy as they can get! Good luck guys!
Studying
Giselle Studying
There were 7 leftover, and my family and I had them for dessert tonight. They are, indeed, fabulous, and I can totally understand why the Magnolia Bakery has become such a well-recognised food institution! The cake is fragrant, moist and tender crumbed, the icing rich, sweet, full of chocolatey peanut butter goodness, and the perfect complement to the cake.
There's a shitload of icing left over. We're having it on toast for breakfast.
Yee-haa.
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