Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

I am writing this blog post in haste as a few people have asked me how to make this delicious dessert. To me, its the cupcake of all cupcakes. If you are going to cook something naughty, you might as well make it good. And by gosh... red velvet cakes are GOOD! This recipe is inspired from Sweet Pea's Kitchen Blog, who in turn was inspired by Martha Stewart's recipe. 

(ps. I don't think too highly of this first picture. I think I might have to re-make them during the day so I can post a nicer looking cupcake. I'm sure my colleagues, who seem to score the left overs, won't be too devastated about it). 

Makes 18 cupcakes | 45 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour (sifted)

2 Tablespoons cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1½ cups caster sugar

1½ cups vegetable oil

2 large eggs (at room temperature)

2 Tablespoons Queens Box Pillar Red food colouring

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup milk

1½ teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

(for the icing)

220g Philadelphia cream cheese

3 cups icing sugar (sifted)

2 teaspoons vanilla extra

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and line muffin pan with paper liners. Mix together plain flour, cocoa and salt; set aside.

2. Beat sugar and oil using a mixer (with paddle attachment preferred) until well combined, then proceeding to  add eggs one at a time. 

3. Alternate in adding the flour mixture as well as the milk and food colouring in two to three batches.

4. In a separate bowl, stir together the baking soda and vinegar which will foam up. Add this to the batter and mix in. 

5. Fill the cupcake papers with batter. Ensure the batter is distributed evenly and is three-quarter's full. Place the muffin tray into the oven and cook for 20 minutes, rotating the tray half way through to ensure consistent baking. 

6. Pierce the centre of the cupcake with a toothpick; if cooked, the toothpick should come out clean. Transfer muffin pan to wire racks to cool completely before removing the cupcakes.

7. Combine the icing ingredients and mix together until smooth. Spread or pipe the icing onto the cupcakes.

Simple Banoffee Pie

I went to work one day and told my colleagues about the dilemma I was facing - I had some over-riped bananas and I didn't quite know what to do with them. I know I've posted a few banana-based recipes on my blog but I wanted to try something different. One of my colleagues suggested I try Banoffee Pie.

I did a quick Google search and found Taste Australia's recipe to be quick and simple. I knocked this up one work night to bring to work for my colleagues to try. I was nervous because not only had I not seen or know of this type of pie, I didn't even know what it was meant to taste like! When my husband and I tasted it, it was delicious but we weren't entirely sure whether what we were tasting was right. To my relief, my colleagues loved it and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this recipe was!

Serves 12 | 20 minutes + chilling time

Ingredients

2x packets of Coles sweet shortcrust base (six to a packet)

1x 395g sweetened condensed milk

70g brown sugar

50g butter

Bananas

Thickened Cream for Dolloping

1. Place the pre-made shortcrust bases onto a baking tray and warm up in the oven for approximately 5 to 10 minutes on low heat. Remove from the oven and let it sit in the fridge until needed.

2. Over low heat, combine the sweet condensed milk, sugar and butter in a saucepan. Cook, stirring continuously until you get a nice, thick consistency. Be sure not to boil the caramel while mixing.

3. Once you get that thick consistency, pour the hot caramel evenly among all the bases. Place the caramel tarts into the fridge, covered with plastic wrap, to chill and set the caramel.

4. Once the caramel has been set, peel and thinly slice bananas to place on the top.



5. Top the pies up with a generous dollop of thickened cream and serve immediately to enjoy.

Cookies and Cream Ice-cream Cake with Maltesers and Strawberry

When I think of ice-cream cake, I think of the store-bought Napoletana flavoured cakes with sprinkles on the top. I have come across many ice-cream cake recipes but many failed to appeal to me because they all seemed to take so much effort, or that it required a machine. So when I came across this recipe I thought it was perfect for the lazy cook that I am. So few ingredients, relatively inexpensive ingredients and familiar flavours meant I was keen to try and make my first ice-cream cake! 

Makes for 12 | 15 minutes plus chilling time
Ingredients
1 tub of 2L vanilla ice-cream
2 packets of Maltesers

¹/₂ packet Oreo cookies, crushed

1 punnet of strawberries, diced and for garnishing

1. Line a cake tin with glad-wrap and cover the base with Maltesers from the two packets.

2. Soften the ice-cream in the microwave at 30 second intervals. Soften the ice-cream to the point where it is still partially frozen but you can still mix and mould. Using a 1200 watt microwave, it took me 1 minute. When softened, mix in strawberries and cookies.

3. Once mixed through, transfer the ice-cream into the cake tin and pat down firmly. Leave in the freezer for the ice-cream to re-set again and serve when ready to eat.

Notes and Variations

This is a really versatile recipe in that you can mix and match the ingredients to create an ice-cream cake you like. The vanilla ice-cream can be replaced with other ready-made flavours and the strawberry can be substituted to other fruits such as frozen raspberries. 

Portuguese Custard Tarts

These custard tarts are very similar to one I buy all the time at my local bubble tea cafe. They are so sweet and the perfect accompaniment to my cup of tea. My husband scoffed these down in an instant and while I prefer them warm and fresh out of the oven, he informs me they are still just as good when refrigerated.

Makes 12 | 45 minutes plus cooling time
Ingredients
3 egg yolks

¹/₂ cup caster sugar
2 tablespoon corn flour (corn starch)
200g thickened cream

²/ ₃ cup milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry


1. Whisk egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a saucepan (not over heat).

2. Gradually whisk in the cream and milk until smooth.

3. Place the pan over medium heat and cook until the mixture is a nice thick mixture. It generally happens when the mixture reaches to a boil. Remove from heat then mix in vanilla extract.

4. Transfer the mixture into a bowl and cover with Glad-wrap to cool.

5. When your mixture has cooled, pre-heat your oven to 180°C. Cut the pastry sheet in half and lay each pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface, using your rolling pin to create 10cm in diameter circles to make cups. Press the pastry rounds into the muffin tin.

6. Spoon the cooled custard into the pastry cases and bake for 25 minutes or until pastry and custard are golden.

7. When cooked, remove the muffin tray from the oven and leave the tarts in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring on a wire rack to completely cool. Serve and enjoy :)

** Original recipe from Almost Bourdain **

Mini Almond Muffins

These bite-sized mini Almond muffins pack a punch when it comes to flavour and sweetness. Fantastic with a cuppa and even great for the kids; you'd never guess this was a low fat recipe adapted from a Weight Watchers recipe. 

Makes approximately 24 mini muffins | 25 minutes
Ingredients
125g almond meal
50g flaked almonds
3 tablespoons self-raising flour

³/₄ cups caster sugar
120g egg whites (approximately 4 XL egg whites)
80g butter, melted


1. Preheat your oven to 200°C. Combine dry ingredients into a bowl and mix through.

 

2. Add egg whites, vanilla and melted butter and stir well to ensure all the ingredients are mixed through.

3. Grease your mini muffin tin with oil and spoon the mixture in.

4. Bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes turn off the oven but continue to let the muffins cook for a further 5 minutes before removing and letting it cool completely on a wire rack. 

Notes and Variations
To make this a true Weight Watchers recipe, replace the butter with Weight Watcher's brand Canola Spread.
The original recipe requires you make standard size muffins and each muffin is valued at 3.5 points.

** Original recipe from Weight Watchers Cakes & Bakes **

Double Choc Caramel Slice

This recipe is not for the faint hearted! So sweet, so chocolatey, so JOY!

Makes approx 24 slices | 25 minutes plus chilling time
Ingredients
250g Arnott's Choc Ripple Biscuits
100g Butter, Melted
395g can Condensed Milk
30g Butter
2 tablespoon golden syrup
200g chocolate (100g dark / 100g milk)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil


1. Preheat your oven to 160°C or 140°C if you have a fan forced oven and line a tin with non-stick baking paper (a slice tin with a 28cm x 18cm dimension is ideal). Put all the biscuits into a food processor to create crumbs.

2. When all the biscuits are crumbed, add the 100g of melted butter and process again until evenly mixed.

3. When the butter and crumbs are mixed through, transfer it into the slice tin and using the back of a spoon, press down the biscuit crumbs to distribute and form a smooth base. Put the base in the fridge until needed.

4. Combine condense milk, 30g butter and golden syrup into a small saucepan. Cook over medium to low heat until lightly golden Be sure to stir regularly.

5. When golden and while it is still warm, pour the caramel mix over the chilled biscuit base. Smooth the caramel mix gently and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

5. After baking let the base and caramel mix cool completely. Once cooled, combine chocolate and vegetable oil.

6. Pour the chocolate/oil mixture on top of the caramel mix and then chill until set.

7. To divide, slice in half width-ways and divide this portion into 3 lengths, then cut each into four squares. Repeat for the other half.

Notes and Variations
The caramel portion of my slice looks very runny in these photos because I don't think I caramalised it properly when cooking it over the stove. Then on top of that, I also don't think I let it chill for long enough in the fridge. So what I would probably suggest is that you take your time in step 4, as well as taking a little bit of extra time in chilling. The wait, though long, would be well worth it. As you can see, I couldn't wait. Having said that, it still was delicious.

** Original recipe from Coles Recipes **

90 Second Nutella Chocolate Cake

When my sister showed me this recipe I just *had* to try it. I'm sure everyone can relate to those times after dinner where you think, 'I could really go for some cake right now' but can't be bothered baking? Well this recipe is just perfect for those occasions; you can cook cake less than it takes to make 2 minute Maggi noodles. And not only is it great for satisfying those random cake cravings, but the serving is just right for two (a small serving for two or a massive serving of one depending on how bad you want cake) and it is SO easy for the kids to do too. Can you believe it took longer to write this blog than it did to make the cake? 

Makes 2 small serves or 1 decent serve | Less than 5 minutes

Ingredients 

2 tablespoon Nutella, extra for topping

1 egg, beaten

1 heaping tablespoon flour

¹/₂ teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cocoa powder

1 tablespoon brown sugar

A dash of milk for the topping

1. Put all the ingredients (except for the milk) into a bowl and mix, ensuring there are no flour lumps.

2. Grease a big microwavable bowl or two small bowls (like ramekins) and pour the batter into it. 

3. Place one bowl in the microwave on medium power for 80 seconds and then check for fluffiness. When you are happy with the result, warm up extra nutella and mix with milk to get a runny chocolate to pour over your cake.

Notes and Variations

Now I must emphasis that the '90 second' bit to the title of this recipe is a variable; the power of your microwave, as well as how soft you like your cake, is going to determine this value. When I made this recipe, I was using a 1200 watt microwave so when I mention the timing of zapping this cake into the microwave, please adjust it accordingly to your microwave. 

While the recipe title does say 90 seconds, I didn't like the consistency of the cake when cooked for that long. So it took me a couple of goes to get it to the consistency that I liked, which is what I have written in the recipe. The original recipe, and others like it, did say it would take a few goes before you had something you were happy with. 

** Original recipe from Back to her Roots blog **

Churros Con Chocolate

Churros are to my understanding a doughnut originating from Spain which is dipped in a thick hot chocolate and eaten at breakfast time. In Western culture, it is enjoyed more as a dessert. I love visiting the Churro cafes here in Perth but alas they are not very local to me. So I decided to try a few recipes and found this to be the closest to what I would order from the Cafe, the only difference being the price and convenience of enjoying these in my own home. This recipe is definitely a family and friend pleaser and is best, I think, served warm.

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 cup water
4 tablespoons butter
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon sugar
3 eggs
oil for frying
Cinnamon sugar to coat
Sauce
50g thickened cream
1 block of eating chocolate


1. In a saucepan, mix together water, butter, sugar and salt over medium-high heat and bring it to the boil.

2. Add the flour all at once and mix with a wood spoon until well mixed and no flour lumps. Remove from heat and let it sit, off the heat, for a minute.

3. Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Add one egg at a time and mix with your hands, or alternatively, use an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a wooden spoon. When all the eggs have been mixed in, you should have a very thick but smooth batter.

4. Heat some oil in a frying pan (or a deep heavy skillet) at medium/high heat. As you wait, scrape the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.

5. When the oil is hot, pipe the dough into the oil and cut with scissors. Be sure not to overcrowd the pan and turn the churros over as each side is cooked to a golden brown colour.

6. When cooked, remove from the pan and place onto a paper-towel lined bowl to soak in the oil and immediately season with the Cinnamon sugar.

7. To cook the dipping sauce heat the thickened cream in a saucepan. When it is hot (not boiling), place the chocolate in the cream in small pieces to allow it to melt easier.  Continue stirring the chocolate and cream until you get a smooth consistency.

8. Serve warm and enjoy!

Notes and Variations
My Churros Con Chocolate recipe makes for very dense churros so if you want something that is a little bit more fluffy, reduce the amount of flour amount to one cup.
The type of chocolate you use for the dipping sauce is entirely up to your taste buds. My family loves dark chocolate, but they don't complain if I serve up milk or white chocolate. To be a little bit adventurous, you could also use caramel, whipped cream or ice cream as a dip.
If pastry bags aren't a common item in your pantry, most major supermarkets stock disposable piping bags which can be found in the cake section. This is what I use because I hate washing (just don't throw away the tips!)
Finally, when I make this I find it makes a big batch of churros, to the point where I can save half of the batter for me to fry up the next day. This recipe is truly for those who want to have a churros feast!