Fluffy Pikelets

A parent requires a great deal of devious know-how. Often mind games and trickery are involved to get the goods into tiny bodies and picky little eaters. My mum used to try to disguise the left over breakfast porridge by adding it to our after school pikelets. It was a pretty ingenious way of getting more fiber into us and not wasting food. She inspires me-waste not, want not, right? Sometimes when I sweep the floor at home, my toddler and two preschoolers make sure I feel guilty at the amount of food swept from under the table and into the bin. It could feed a small army, I assume. Don't even get me started on the amount of remnants I find in the bin-bananas with one bite taken out of them, crusts from lunches that my daughter has snuck in there when I popped out of the room for a quick bathroom trip. I'm pretty sure we're fermenting various fruits under the couch, regardless of how frequently I sweep. That funky odor you may smell on entering the house? Possibly a lost orange stashed somewhere impossible, slowly rotting away.
Just kidding.
But sometimes this food wastage makes me thinking about how repetitive the snacks can become for the kids. That's when I make an emergency batch of soft, fluffy pikelets, sans the porridge. A small spread of jam on these warm little beauties and the plate is soon completely cleaned off. If you wanted, you could even make them bigger to make pancakes-they really are the same thing just in a different size. My favourite use for this recipe is making mini ones and stacking them with a fresh berry on top and a skewer through the middle-perfect appetizers and a great party food idea!

FLUFFY PIKELETS (Adapted from Taste.com)

3 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/4 cups Self Raising flour
2 tbsp sugar
extra butter for cooking

Place butter, milk and egg in a medium bowl. Add the flour and sugar. Beat with the electric beaters until incorporated and smooth. Heat  a teaspoon of extra butter in a large frypan; turn the heat down to low. Dollop the batter in spoonfuls onto the hot pan, leaving a little room for spreading. Flip the cooking pikelets when small bubbles come to the surface and the bottom is golden. Cook the other side until golden also. Serve with a spread of jam, or stack the small ones with a toothpick down the centre with a berry garnish on the top. The small stacks also look really pretty with a fine sprinkling of icing sugar on the top.

Makes approximately 12snack sized pikelets, or 6 snack stacks

Zesty Lime, Prawn and Avocado Appetizers

My husband and I just got a wee bit closer to the big 3.0. I am loathed to say those two numbers together, probably because as a kid, 30 was so, so over the hill already! Now, getting closer to topping that "hill", it looks pretty darn young. My kids must think we're geriatric. Hold on-is that a grey hair? Darn!
Sometimes, the tolls of running around as a mum of three toddlers hits me. That aching back. My knees, why don't they do that any more? Since when did I become unable to vigorously tree climb? Life can get so fast paced, sometimes we, young and old, forget to slow down and sit down until we crash-or our knees give out. (Says I, sitting at the computer with a cup of coffee and a block of chocolate-my feet are up!)
When things get crazy though, and you still want to impress the socks off your visitors with snazzy hors d'oeuvres, these zesty prawn appetizers come to the rescue, and will delight you with their easy assembly and gourmet-ity. (yeah I made that up). I served them at a party I held for hubby and they were gone within a few minutes. They were delightful not only in appearance but in their exquisite taste and that array of different textures all experienced simultaneously. Citrus and seafood are such a winning combination. And I cannot say no to avocado. Ever.

ZESTY LIME, PRAWN & AVOCADO APPETIZERS (adapted from I Wash You Dry)

24 raw prawns, peeled, tails removed
salt to taste
1 lime, zested and juiced

3-4 soft bread wraps (alternatively use 24 tortilla chip scoops if you can source them)
1 large avocado (I used Hass variety-always a winner!)
1/3 cup sour cream
bunch of fresh coriander or basil

Preheat the oven to 190C (375F)
Line a shallow tray with baking paper, and spray with a thin coating of oil. Set aside.
In a small bowl, combine 1 tsp of lime zest and 1/2 tsp salt and mix together until combined. Rub each of the uncooked prawns in this mixture and arrange on the prepared tray. Bake for 5-8 minutes, or until the prawns turn pink from grey and start curling up into themselves.
Let to cool and then place them in a container in the refrigerator.
To make the shells, cut the bread wraps into 24 rounds with a cookie cutter (mine is approximately 4cm wide) Place each of these rounds into a greased 24 hole mini muffin tray and weigh down the centres with pastry weights or rice. Bake at 180 C until browned and crispy (about 15-20 minutes)
Remove from oven, take out the weights, and allow to cool.
Before assembly, peel and deseed the avocado. Place it in a small bowl with 1 tbsp of the lime juice and combine, mashing the avocado to combine the two ingredients. To assemble the appetizers, dollop a little sour cream into each cup, spoon some of the avocado on the side and top with a prawn and a leaf of corriander or basil. Serve.

Makes 24

How to make the bread wrap cups (in picture form)

Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit Themed Baby Shower

Seriously, who are those women? You know, the ones who have a baby shower that looks perfect beyond words and everything matches like nothing you've seen. Who ever knew there was so much pastel in the world? I am in awe of these people! Despite the fact I know I'll never hold one of those adorable parties we all see pasted all over Pinterest (and realistically, they're probably put together by party planners who charge hundreds for the display) I can but use these gorgeous photos as inspiration. And I did so in creating this Peter Rabbit themed Baby Shower for my friend Danielle.

One of the easiest themes I could have come across for my friend's baby shower was Beatrix Potter's character Peter Rabbit. It's such a cute baby shower theme, and quite neutral or genderless too. My friend didn't know the sex of the baby so this was a good one to go with. It was very economical to set up too, using Mr McGregor's veggie patch as the main table layout theme. I made sure I went grocery shopping up at the fresh veggie market the day before, so all my usual veggies were used in the display--cabbages, carrots, pumpkins bunches of herbs and yellow squashes. I arranged a plate of strawberries piled on a cake stand, and spread the table with other delicious edibles such as choc oreo mint truffles decorated as cabbages (white chocolate coloured green), fondant bunny and veggie topped cupcakes, individual dips in a cup with matchsticks of carrot, celery and cucumber, and a magnificent bassinet and baby carved out watermelon and surrounded by fruit salad...

The Peter Rabbit cake was of course, according to theme, a delightfully moist carrot cake. Peter Rabbit himself was made of fondant, or white icing as some call it. You can also model him from gum paste or the likes. I firstly looked for a tutorial on how to make a Peter Rabbit figuring and I couldn't find anything to my surprise. So I basically worked with two pear shapes of fondant-a large one for the body, and a smaller one for the head which I turned on a horizontal angle and sat upon the larger pear shape. I cut out from blue fondant a rectangle and draped it over the rabbit's back and added smaller rectangles onto the sides to act as sleeves to the jacket. I couldn't get a nice dark tone for his fur by adding brown food dye to the fondant, so I opted to paint him with the brown after he had dried, and it worked very well, giving him a nice multi-tonal look to the fur.
The vegetables that he sat amongst were likewise created from fondant. For the cabbage leaves that surrounded the cake and encased the fondant baby, I selected a nice veined leaf from the garden (geranium) and gave it a wipe over and left it to dry. Then as I rolled the green fondant, I lay this leaf over the fondant to give it this delicate imprint.

 

Mummy to be Danielle surprised us all with this show stopping carved watermelon baby in a bassinet. The head is made from cantaloupe, the nose a green grape and the eyes are black grapes. It was surrounded by kiwi fruit, yellow watermelon, red watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes and honeydew melon. Yum!

On this cake stand we have carrot cake cupcakes turned into McGreggor's veggie patch! The veggies are made from fondant, and the soil made from crushed oreos. The icing is cream cheese frosting with a bit of green food colouring.

Cloudy Pink Old Fashioned Lemonade

 This little beauty of a recipe was copied down into a little note pad in grey lead pencil when I was about 8 years old. It comes out of a 1950's kid's cookbook, and was by far my favourite thing to make in the kitchen at that age. It's so simple and so tasty, and a great way to keep the kids both occupied and cool in the summer holidays. It's the best home made lemonade recipe I have come across--it pleases kids and adults alike. It's old fashioned goodness--cloudy, sweet and lemony, without gassy bubbles. These days lemonade is rarely without fizziness, and I have had a few people recommend, after a glass of this refreshing drink, that I should add bubbles to it. I personally like it the way it is--it reminds me of how it would have been way back when that cookbook was written--chilling in Granny's fridge in a tea-towel covered jug. You could add sparking water to the concentrated lemonade in place of the cold water if desired however, to modernise it if preferred. Prepare yourself for a refreshing crowd pleaser! This is a frequently requested recipe.

CLOUDY PINK OLD FASHIONED LEMONADE

1 cup sugar
3 lemons, juiced (1/2 cup)
4 cups cold water
drop or two of red or pink food colouring

Put the sugar and 1 cup of water into a large saucepan and place over medium heat. Boil for five minutes. Then add remaining water and remove from heat. Add the lemon juice and stir through the water. Leave to cool and serve with ice.

Serves 4

Strawberry Topiary

As a table centre peice for a shabby chic style high tea, I thought a strawberry topiary would work a treat. It stood 40cm tall and stood atop a french provincial style candle stand I purchased from Dusk. It brought out "wows" from the guests and they all enjoyed pulling a couple off each during the afternoon tea I threw. I recommend placing this in the centre of a round table within arms reach of all your guests. I made the mistake of placing this in a place where only one side of a table could reach, and topiary was picked at from one side and the ball ended off overbalancing in the end because one side was all strawberries and the other was bare. If you cant place this in the centre of a small round table, I recommend rotating the topiary every so often, so that the strawberries are taken from all sides.
This would be great on a table at Christmas, for a baby shower, wedding or any sort of girlie or feminine party. It looks decadent and fancy as a table centrepeice while offering your guests a fresh, healthy, gluten free fruit option.

Step by Step Strawberry Topiary How To

You will need:

6x 250g punnets of strawberries
1x 15 cm Styrofoam ball
1x candle holder or similar stand (this must have a metal prong in the centre to secure the ball)
cocktail toothpicks
a small knife

Secure the styrofoam ball in the centre of the candle holder. The stand you choose should have a metal spike in the centre to hold the ball on securely. Glue may be another option if your stand doesn't have a spike in the centre.

Cut the leaves from the strawberries. Cut as closely to the leaves as possible, taking off as little fruit as you can. Keeping a little bit of the "woody" part of the top of the strawberry helps in holding it to the toothpick, so it doesnt just slide off. Reserve the leaves for the final touches of the topiary. These will be used to fill any gaps in the completed topiary.

You will see above that the toothpick is inserted into some of the harder part on the top of the strawberry. This is the goal in the following steps--it doesn't have to be completely centred as long as its well secured in the strawberry. Unlike the picture above, the toothpick goes into the foam ball partway before the strawberry is inserted.

Insert one toothpick partway into the top of the foam ball. Positioning is not very important yet, but it helps if you put the strawberries on the ball evenly so that the ball does not overbalance as you are creating the topiary.

 Push the strawberry onto the toothpick, ensuring that the wood is driven through the thick/woodier part of the strawberry top.

 Carefully push the strawberry downwards to the foam ball. If the toothpick end pops through the top point, ensure you push subsequent toothpicks a little further into the foam ball before topping with the strawberry.

Continue this method over the top of the styrofoam ball.Do not worry to much if there are gaps, as these will be later filled with the strawberry leaves.Try however to limit the size of any gaps, choosing strawberries that are the best size for particular areas.

Continue securing the strawberries until the entire surface is covered in strawberries.

Take the strawberry leaves to fill any gaps (I should have used more but I was in a hurry to snap this photo before guests arrived. Alternatively use clusters of mint leaves for larger gaps--this is also very aromatic and offers a breath freshener to your guests too)

Chicken Bacon Meatballs

It's been a pretty strange six months for me. Being pregnant has thrown out my whole cooking roll--my sweet tooth, my insatiable desire to create and taste and share. This could be an explaination for my 18 month old daughter waking up at 2 am and repeatedly crying "Cupcake! Cupcake! Cake!"
Withdrawal symptoms.
Really, all I want to do is sleep, or put my feet up, or shop online for things I'll never use and clothes that will probably never fit me.
Savory food seems more appealing--as does green stuff and everything on the healthier side of life.
Got to get my mojo back.
Last weekend I had a catering job for a cocktail party and made these delicious meatballs. Chicken meatballs, to be precise, and good thing it wasn't my party or I wouldn't have stopped eating them until the plate was clean. They're full of simple goodies like bacon and herbs and smothered in a little tomato paste--and oh--chicken mince now stops my heart. I think I'm in love with it.
I've only worked with chicken mince for one recipe before. It was when I was working as cook at this adorable cafe called the Marmalade Deli. It was a quaint, shabby chic little place  that felt like your own, and we served these amazing Chicken Burgers. I will share the coveted recipe some time soon, as I have some more chicken mince in the freezer to be devoured. In the meantime, here's the recipe for the chicken bacon meatballs, which make a fantastic appetizer for any party or gathering. They were raved about.

CHICKEN BACON MEATBALLS (Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

2 slices bread, torn up into small pieces (fresh or stale is fine, should make 1 cup)
1/3 cup milk
2 rashers bacon, very finely diced
1 small red onion, very finely diced
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
salt and pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
500g chicken mince
2 heaped tbsp tomato paste, divided
1 tbsp dried parsley (or 3 tbsp finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley)
1/2 -3/4 cup dried breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 200C.
In a small bowl, place the shredded bread and milk, and leave it to soak for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the diced bacon, onion and garlic in half of the oil. Season with salt and pepper and cook over a medium heat until the onion is softened. Set aside off the heat.
Drain any excess milk from the bread, squeezing out what you can. Discard the milk.
In a large bowl, place this bread with the bacon mixture, beaten egg, the mince, 1 heaped tablespoon of the tomato paste and the parsley. Combine until thoroughly incorporated. Sprinkle a little of the dried breadcrumbs over the mixture. If the mixture seems too wet to make into balls, add more breadcrumbs. Roll into approximately 50 balls and place on two baking paper lined trays. In a small bowl, combine the last tablespoon of oil with the last tablespoon of tomato paste and stir until incorporated. Brush the tops of each meatball with this paste, and place in the oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve warm.

NOTES: these meatballs freeze well, and are perfect as a prepare ahead appetizer.

Savoiardi and Roses Engagement Cake

My weekend rocked. I got to spend the whole day with a lovely young pastry chef who showed me and some other women the art of croissant making. When she started talking about how the weather affects baking, I knew she was a cook after my own heart. Yes...someone to lament with me!
She talked about melting ingredients and things like the humidity of Queensland making it impossible to get the macaron's shine on, and how butter bursting from between the layers of croissant pastry dough while rolling was not uncommon.
Melting!
If you know about Queensland, It happens to have at least 6 months of summer weather, and it's quite a tropical climate. Think hot and sticky. It's great holiday weather, but when it comes to baking, it can definitely mean struggle street.
So when my long time friend asked me to make a cake for his soon to be wife and his engagement party, I had flashbacks of oozing rolled fondant, sticky figurines and chocolate panels that melted in on cakes, sliding layers and butter cream icing that just wouldn't hold and all such nightmares. But my mouth said yes. Every time I make a fancy cake I swear I'm never going to do it again. The time and stress that goes into it, plus the unsatisfying results, which I like to blame on the weather, are part of this swearing.
So I was determined to think up a cake that could not melt, would not melt, and was simple, elegant and fancy enough to be an engagement cake--one that was doable with little people present and swinging from my legs.
It ended up being a two tier cake, the sides lined in sugar crusted savoiardi sponge fingers and tied with ribbon, topped with a gorgeous array of salmon coloured roses and green ferns (that did all the hard decorating work for me.)

SAVOIARDI AND ROSES ENGAGEMENT CAKE DIRECTIONS

2x 20cm round cake tins
2x 15cm cm round cake tins
3 cake mixes
A good quantity of thick butter icing (I used about 1 kg of icing sugar)
3-4 packets mini savoiardi fingers or sponge fingers (I bought 4 and used 3 but they do break easily so its good to have spares)
1.5 metres ribbon
2 dozen roses
small green florist island
a small flat dish 

According to the instructions of your recipe or cake mix box, bake two 20cm cakes using two of the cake mixes. Divide the third cake mix evenly between the two smaller cake tins and bake.
When all the cakes have cooled and are ready for assembly, arrange the first of the 20cm cake on a cake board or cake stand. Lather the top with icing and proceed to place the second 20cm cake on top of this. Lather this layer with icing also. Continue with the remaining smaller cakes, ensuring that they are positioned directly in the centre of the larger cakes. Ice the top of the final layer. Ice the sides of the bottom layer of the cake, and carefully stick the savoiardi fingers neatly around the edges. Ice the second layer and repeat this process. The sponge fingers should hold together by themselves with the help of the icing, but you can tie both layers with ribbon for a pretty effect, and to ensure their stability.
On the day of serving, take the small flat dish and fill it with water. This dish should be small enough so that it is hidden by the roses once they are arranged. Cut the florist island to fit inside the dish. Allow the water to soak into the island. Cut the stems of the roses short and arrange over the top and the sides of the island. Hide any tell-tale green foam island popping through the edges with foliage from the rose stems, or some delicate ferns or gyp. Position the bouquet and dish on the top of the cake and refrigerate until serving time if your climate is a hot one. (The roses stay fresher in the refrigerator.)

Pastel Bird Cage Cake

I think I've lost my mojo. It sometimes happens when I get sick. Or burn something. Or a special cake melts due to the heat.
I'm pretty sure all those things happened to me in the last two weeks. My little daughter turned one, and I attempted to make her a pink and white birdcage cake, covered in pastel rolled fondant roses.
It turned out looking like the leaning tower of Pisa, after I made the mistake of icing the layers with buttercream icing.
In summer.
In Brisbane.
With weather forecasts of close to 40C.
We tried to salvage the cake by putting it in the aircon, but even still, the cake leaned and leaned  and slipped and slid until it cracked horizontally half way and the top looked like it would topple. Due to the leaning, the icing began to tear and the white chocolate used for the cage lines began to crack and bow.
Thanks to my husband, we saved the cake from completely falling into a heap. He came to the rescue just before it collapsed and propped it upright with a small cushion against the wall. Oh the things you have to do to save cake sometimes!
Despite all this, I think, before it leaned all the way over and cracked, it looked pretty in all its pastel glory. My little darling was wrapped in it.  Thank goodness for her one year old eyes overlooking the flaws. I couldn't wait for the party when I could finally let the darn thing collapse as it so desired.

To learn how to make your own rolled fondant roses, follow the tutorial here.

Forbidden Fairy Foam

This is a tooth fairy's greatest nightmare. She'll be working extra hard after the kids have eaten some of this forbidden fairy foam--a gorgeous gold dusted, pink spotted cloud of sugary deliciousness. The tooth fairy would never visit me when I had a bad tooth fall out as a child, so maybe she will get a chance to sit back and relax if you have a few...or make them for your daughter's birthday party and send the kids home bouncing off walls.
You won't believe it, but these faux-meringue creations are made of three simple ingredients, and would make a great  and fun project for when the kids are home and on school holidays. It's almost like a scrumptious science experiment, and best of all, they're made in the microwave, so you don't have to turn the oven on and heat up the whole house. They start off as a sticky, coloured marble, and billow up within moments into great fluffy clouds. Yes, there will be stickiness, lots of excitement, possibly some crumbly powdery stuff to sweep up. But the look on the faces of those kids crunching through this forbidden fairy foam is delightful. I had to hide them. My son would stop at nothing to get another, and another. He pulled the table cloth off the buffet just to bring them to his arm's reach, and quickly became a sticky, meringue flavoured little boy. All the better to kiss, I say.
And it wasn't just he who enjoyed this pretty stuff. They look so unique and elegant, you could easily serve mini ones at a high tea or girl's get together, topped with roses or some other feminine garnish. They would also be fabulous for a treat at a little girl's birthday party, with a touch of edible glitter on the tops (be sure to send the kids outside to eat them!)

FORBIDDEN FAIRY FOAM (adapted from Scrumptious)

1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 cups icing sugar
a few drops of pink food colouring
edible glitter or edible gold dust (optional)

Place the egg white and the vanilla in a small bowl. Beat briefly, until the egg has broken down and there are no stringy bits. In a medium sized bowl, place the icing sugar, and make a well in the centre. Gradually add the egg mixture to the icing sugar, slowly incorporating the icing sugar into the wet mixture. You may not have to use all the egg, but combine until all the dry is mixed into the wet to make a thick, pliable icing, the consistency of thick dough. Add a little more icing sugar if it becomes too sticky, it should not leave residue on your hands when you handle it. Dab a little food colouring onto the mixture and twist it randomly through the icing until you have a marbled effect. Roll into walnut sized balls and place in the centre of 7cm round paper patty pans. (If you are using smaller pans, make the balls smaller, and lessen the cooking time accordingly). Sprinkle the tops of each with edible glitter or edible gold dust.
Place 6 at a time inside the microwave on the turntable, in a circle. This ensures they all cook at an even rate. Set the microwave on high and at a setting of two minutes, just to be on the safe side. Start the cooking, watching carefully. After about 30 to 45 seconds, the balls will melt, then start to billow at a rapid rate. They will stop billowing momentarily, then cook for a further 30-45 seconds. Each microwave has different powers so you will have to do a trial run to begin with to see if your fairy foams will have to be cooked for more or less time. The outer should be crisp and firm to touch on removing, as will the inside. If the insides are brown, you have cooked them too long.

Makes approximately 20.

Chocolate Fudge Marshmallow Cupcakes

My husband forgot to take the baking out of the house when he left for work this morning. It's a bit like the garbage bins for other married couples, I suppose. You know when the man doesn't take out the rubbish when it needs to go? Well, Luke forgot to take out the baking. I can't face those cute little cupcakes starring at me and screaming "Eat me!"
You might think, if it's like taking out the bins, I'd get mad. No, actually, taking out the bins for me is a welcome bit of exercise and fresh air. When the baking isn't taken out, it increases the risk of needing to do more exercise because of its dangerous, tempting, fattening  and delicious nature. But somehow that still doesn't make me mad. Especially when the baking looks this cute.
I've turned to the computer as a distraction. But...all I can think about is blogging about them. Oh why did he have to forget them?
I managed to palm a few off to visiting family members who popped by for a cuppa. And my son ate the tops off about three, so the numbers were gradually going down without any being consumed by yours truly. 
Okay, I admit to trying one, for quality control. Got to make sure they're edible, after all.
They are, by the way.
These mini muffins are packed full of delicious chocolatey decadence. They're not only chocolate flavoured, but have chunks of chocolate through out, and are topped with another layer of chocolate and large pillowy pink and white vanilla marshmallows. Finished off with a scant dusting of cocoa powder, these make elegant little nibblies for an afternoon tea with the girls.

 

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE FUDGE MARSHMALLOW CUPCAKES

125g butter
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cups caster sugar
1/2 heaped cup plain flour
a pinch of baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
150g large marshmallows (24 in total)
1/2 cup chocolate chips, extra
extra cocoa powder to decorate, if desired

Preheat oven to 180C.
Melt the butter and the sugar in a saucepan and stir. Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa into a bowl. Pour the butter mixture, eggs, and vanilla into the flour mixture and combine thoroughly. Add the chocolate chips and stir through. Spoon the mixture into a 24 hole silicone mini muffin tray (alternatively muffin cases) and cook for 20 minutes or until firm. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before removing.
Place the extra chocolate chips in a microwave proof bowl. Heat on high for 20 seconds at a time, stirring between intervals so as not to burn, until almost melted. Stir until smooth and place a teaspoon of melted chocolate onto the top of each cupcake. Before the chocolate sets, place a marshmallow on top of each. Sprinkle with cocoa powder to finish off, if desired.

Makes 24.