You Are Viewing Sweet and irresistable

Ok seriously. Cream cheese icing is more complex than a car engine. I have always made my version of a cream cheese icing for my cupcakes but I wanted a recipe without butter to top the carrot cakes for my recent course.

So I used the recipe everyone uses. Right? It’s on every blog, every Pinterest recipe and featured in Rachel Allen’s books . It’s just cream cheese and icing sugar. So why did I make gloop at every attempt?
Yes I only used Philadelphia, Hulett’s icing sugar and my kitchen Aid.  And yes I was sober at every attempt.

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I made my favourite sponge cake for my baby’s  first birthday as her party is only next week. http://www.cookstudio.co.za/my-favourite-sponge-cake/

Much better than chocolate or vanilla…

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Melt chocolate and dip the wooden spoon into the chocolate and shake against the side of the bowl to get rid of excess chocolate. Place on a non stick mat to set. Melt white chocolate and place in a small jiffy bag. Cut a small hole and drizzle lines along the top end of the chocolate. Set and serve with a strawberry and mascarpone or a chocolate mousse. Add coconut oil to white chocolate if it not melting to a thin consistency.

Pour melted chocolate into ice trays, when it starts to set insert wooden cutlery and chill. Remove, decorate and serve with hot milk

Cheats Ferrero Rochers DELICIOUS! (24)

250g milk or dark chocolate
25g hard coconut oil
½ cup rice crispies
½ cup crushed nuts
nutella

Melt chocolate and coconut oil and add the nuts and rice crispies to combine. Spoon 1 tsp of the mixture into a 24 hole mini muffin pan. Freeze for 2-3 minutes to cool and set. Add about ½ -1 teaspoon of nutella to the top of the mixture and then top with remaining mixture. Pop back in the freezer for about 5 minutes to firm up then remove and plate. These can also be kept in the fridge in summer.

Using silicone ice trays or chocolate moulds, make chocolate donuts or naughts and crosses

Make Oreo pops by separating biscuits, adding a bit of melted chocolate to “glue” down and ice-cream stick, re-assemble, dip in chocolate and decorate

Serve shot glasses with fun fillers like Kahlua  for guests to pour into their hot chocolate. Get the labels from http://www.weddingstyleguide.com.au/wedding-ideas.html

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1. Place chopped strawberries in the bottom of a champagne glass and drizzle with sparkling wine ( Like JC Le Roux red) or champagne
2. Layer the glass with mini red velvet cupcakes and icing
3. Pop in a sparkler, light and serve (look out for the star shaped ones at Woolworths)
4. Garnish with candy canes, cherries or fresh cream and a dusting of cupcake glitter

As an easy alternative to dessert (especially for a “finger” or snack menu) serve little milk shake shots.
For an adult version dip the rim of a shot glass or small Island glass into chocolate and allow to cool. Fill with ready-made milkshakes like Woolworth’s double thick Praline or chocolate brownie shakes (delicious) and add a shot of Frangelico or Chocolate Vodka.
Decorate with candy canes (Woolworths) and festive straws (In Good Company). Slot “holy” biscuits through the straw (try Bakers Milk Chocco Break and Cadbury’s biscuit bites).

Alternatively pop a ferrero Rocher on top and serve with little wooden spoons (Makro).

For Pink and Pretty shots dip the rim of the glass into white chocolate and Hundreds n’ Thousands. Fill with strawberry drinking yoghurt and decorate straws with marshmallow lollies (Woolworths), Bunting (Kamersvol), marshmallows and pastel coloured Fox’s party rings.

Gingerbread takes me right back to my childhood, as it’s an old fashioned cake that few people still make today. The secret however is stem ginger, not just ground ginger and old fashioned treacle or molasses.

I like loaves smothered in butter rather than drizzled with icing, but I also had this loaf with a dollop of fresh lemon curd (and the butter of course) which was rather delicious. The best accompaniment for this however, is a cup of sweet tea to soothe the ginger burn in your throat; the best part.
Gingerbread

225g butter, softened
225g light muscovado sugar
225g golden syrup
225g black treacle
225g self-raising flour, sifted
225g wholemeal self-raising flour, sifted
4 teaspoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons stem ginger (from a jar), chopped
2 free-range eggs, beaten
300ml milk

1. Line a deep 23cm square cake tin or large loaf pan with baking paper
2. Place the butter, sugar, golden syrup and black treacle into a pan and heat gently until the mixture has melted evenly. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Sift the flours and ground ginger into a bowl and add the stem ginger and mix gently.
4. Pour the cooled butter mixture into the flour.
5. Add the eggs and milk and beat with a wooden spoon until well combined.
6. Pour the cake batter into the tin and level the surface with a palette knife or the back of a spoon.
7. Bake at 160 ˚C for 50 minutes, or until the cake has risen and is golden-brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

I have a new friend, who is wheat and nut intolerant. Suddenly I have developed a cautious sense of reading labels, discovering wheat in the strangest of products, from toasted seeds (yes Melissa’s toast their seeds with wheat…) to teriyaki and oyster sauce. (more…)