Vanilla Cupcakes

Who said egg and dairy free cooking has to taste less than great, or look less than great for that matter!

This recipe can be made with eggs/dairy or without using a dairy free marg and rice milk and the Orgran 'no egg replacer'.

Ingredients:
125gms butter, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups SR flour
1/2 cup milk

1. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric beater until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition until just combined.
2. Fold in the flour and milk gently until mixture is smooth, spoon the mixture into paper lined muffin pans.
3. Bake in a moderate oven for 15-20mins until cooked and golden.

Icing

For a dairy free icing I mix icing sugar mixture with dairy free marg and a bit of vanilla or rice milk - mix butter/marg with electric mixer until pale and slowly add the sugar for a 'fluffy' icing, beat for a couple of mins after you mix it all together. You can then add some melted dairy free choc, cocoa powder or peanut butter for a bit of flavour.

Mars Bar cheesecake

A Woman's weekly favourite and now a favourite in our house too!

Prep time: 30 mins (plus refridgeration time)
Cooking time: 5 mins

Ingredients:
250gm plain chocolate biscuits
150gm butter, melted
2 tablespoons brown sugar
20 gm butter, extra
300ml thickened cream
50gm milk chocolate, chopped finely
3 teaspoons gelatine
1/4 cup (60ml) water
2 x 250gm packes cream cheese
1/2 cup (110gm) caster sugar
3 x 60gm mars bars, chopped finely

1. Blend or process biscuits until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add butter; process until just combined. Using one hand, press biscuit mixture evenly over base and side of a 20cm sprinform tin, cover; refridgerate about 30 mins or until firm.
2. Meanwhile, combine brown sugar, extra butter and 2 tablespoons of the cream in small saucepan; stir over low heat, until sugar dissolves, to make butterscotch sauce.
3. Combine chocolate and another 2 tablespoons of the cream in another small saucepan; stir over low heat until chocolate melts.
4. Sprinkle gelatine over the water in small heatproof jug; stand jug in a small saucepan of simmering water. Stir until gelatine dissolves; cool 5 minutes.
5. Beat cheese and caster sugar in medium bowl with electric mixer until smooth. Beat remaining cream in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Stir lightly warm gelatine mixture into cheese mixture with mars bars; fold in cream.
6. Pour half of the cheese mixture into prepared tin; drizzle half of the butterscotch and chocolate sauces over cheese mixture. Pull skewer backwards and forwards through mixture several times  to create marbled effect. Repeat process with remaining cheese mixture and sauces. Cover cheesecake; refridgerate about 3 hours or until set.

SERVES 8

tips. Because of the long refridgeration time this recipe is a good one to prepare a day ahead.
You can melt the chocolate and cream in a microwave oven - cook on high for 1 min and stir twice while cooking.
Don't use the 'dessert' labelled cream cheese, it is too soft for this recipe and the cake won't set firmly.

Mmmm...Pizza!

Tonight we had delicious home made (that is from scratch) pizza! My wonderful husband spent parts of the day making the dough and then putting together a delicious feast. We had a Magherita and a Vegetable pizza.

It is a very simple recipe that we found in the Gourmet Traveller  "Italian Cookbook".

Pizza dough
2 tbsp olive oil
7 grams dried yeast
1 tsp caster sugar
450gm (3 cups) plain flour
350ml lukewarm water

1 Combine olive oil, yeast, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 350ml lukewarm water in a bowl and set aside until foamy (2-3 minutes).
2 Gradually add flour to the wet ingredients (in a large bowl) until a rough dough forms, then turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (6-8 minutes).
3 Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in size (1 - 1 1/2 hours).
4 Knock back dough, knead lightly, then cover and set aside until doubled in size (45 min - 1 hour).
5 Meanwhile, preheat over to 250 degrees celcius. Place two heavy-based oven trays in oven to heat.
6 Divide dough into quarters then form four 30cm diameter circles with the palm of your hand or a rolling pin and place each on a piece of baking paper. Spread pizza topping over bases, then bake in batches on heated trays, using baking paper.

To make a pizza that was friendly for our sensitive tummied master 1 we cooked and mashed pumpkin and scattered vegetables and ham over the top. The proof is in...well the pizza.

You can't have your cake...

And eat it too! But seriously, who wants to leave a cake and not eat it? Even when it is deliciously gorgeous I would still rather eat it.

Hamish, our big boy is now 4! This also marks the end of birthday season for our little family, and thank goodness for that. I'm all birthday caked out!

My Women's Weekly cake book served me well for the birthday season. Hamish's cake for preschool was the basic vanilla cake and his cake for home was the chocolate cake.

Rich Chocolate Cake:
1 1/3 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
125gm butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla essence (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup water.

As with all the recipes I do these days you can substitute, in this case I use Orgran No egg replacer and I used tablelands dairy free margarine instead of butter. I find it make things lighter using the dairy free options anyway.
This recipe you just sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and then add all remaining ingredients and combine. Increase speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes or until mixture is smooth and changed in colour. Spread into prepared pan and bake until cooked.

I added a little something with the buttercream to jazz up an otherwise ordinary cake. This meant putting a layer in the middle of the cake.

A messy shot, I know! BUT it was a quick photo to show the middle. I have to say it was a delicious cake. The butter cream, also a Women's Weekly recipe and again substituted with the dairy free marg and rice milk instead of cows milk.

Butter Cream:
125gm butter, softened
1 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture
2 tablespoons milk

Beat butter in small bowl with eletric mixer until as white as possible. Gradually beat in half of the icing sugar, milk then remaining icing sugar. Flavour and colour as required.

And the result is delicious!!!!!! And here is the birthday boy himself

This morning's baking...

...is tonight's dessert!!!

Anyone who knows me knows that I love food. I love making it, I love sharing it, I love eating it, I love looking at it, I love watching it being made. I love it! So to write a whole blog update on food is not really a surprise, well at least it shouldn't be.

Whilst I sit here feeling helpless for all the North Queenslanders currently being hit by Cyclone Yasi I am eating away my mornings baking. This morning we had a lovely playdate with some new Perth friends, Hamish and I baked some delicious Carrot and Pineapple Cakes to share with our friends <3

Here is the delicious recipe and a dodgy picture of my dessert! YUM!

Mini Carrot Cakes (The Australian Woman's Weekly)

Ingredients:
-1/2 cup (125ml) vegetable oil
-3 eggs, beaten lightly
-1 1/2 cups Self Raising Flour
-3/4 cup caster sugar
-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
-2 cups firmly packed coarsely grated carrot
-3/4 cup (160gm) drained crushed pineapple

Cream Cheese icing
-50gm butter, softened
-1/2 cup (120gm) cream cheese, softened
-2 1/2 cups icing sugar mixture

Mini Carrots (for decorating)
-6 dried apricot halves
-green snakes

1. Preheat oven to moderate. Grease 6 hole muffin pan (or in our case prepare pans of choice).
2. Mix oil, eggs, flour, sugar and cinnamon in large bowl with a wooden spoon until combined. Stir in carrot and pineapple.
3. Pour mixture into prepared pan holes. Bake in moderate oven (35 for large muffins, 15 for small) until muffins spring back when lightly touched.
4. Meanwhile, make cream cheese icing and mini carrots.
5. Spread cold cakes with cream cheese icing; place carrots on cakes, seam-side down.

Cream cheese icing: Beat butter and cream cheese in small bowl with electric mixer until light and flussy; gradually beat in icing sugar.
Mini Carrots: Place apricots in cup, cover with boiling water; stand 10 minutes. Drain apricots; dry with absorbent paper. Cut snake into six 3cm lengths. Place one snake piece at the top of one apricot half; roll apricot half around snake, allowing snake to protude from one end. Make several thin cuts in snake for carrot top.