The pictures above are just some of the entries that have come in after the SPCA cupcake day which ran on Monday 30 August. The cupcakes pictured above are in the running to be crowned ‘The most creative cupcake’. More entries can be seen on the official website and you can vote for your fave too.
Recipe:
130g butter (softened)
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
2 large ripe bananas (diced into small pieces)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoon hot milk
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add bananas one at a time, again beating well after each addition. Stir baking soda into hot milk and add to mixture. Sift flour and baking powder into mixture and fold. Place mixture into a 20cm greased cake tin and bake at 180˚C for 50 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched (or until you can insert and then remove a skewer cleanly). Leave cake in the tin for 10-15 mins before turning it out on to a cooling rack.
Banana cake is best served with chocolate or cream cheese icing. Enjoy!
Living and Giving have half price deals and 25% off all kitchen gadgets. Discounts are off the normal retail price and are not additional to to existing reductions. The offer also excludes the purchase of gift vouchers. The sale ends on Sunday 12 September and runs while stocks last.
Stevens are have a 30% off sale, storewide on Thursday 26 August. The offer excludes already discounted items, online orders, special orders and the purchase of gift cards.
So, this is what happens when you combine Wilton green chocolate melts with a silicone space invaders ice cube tray.
It was a bit fiddly getting the chocolate into parts, like the little feet things these guys have, but it was very easy to pop the chocolate out once it had set.
CAKE JOURNAL
This is a cute site with heaps of really good decorating tutorials – lots of pictures and easy to follow explanations. A browse through the gallery on this site is great if you’re wanting some ideas for your baking. http://www.cakejournal.com/
MING MAKES CUPCAKES
I like how this website is set out like recipe cards – there is a picture of the cupcake or biscuit on the left and next to it is the recipe. The cupcakes look amazing – they look simple but probably took ages to make. Scrumptious. http://mingmakescupcakes.yolasite.com/
WHAT KATIE ATE
This is a really gorgeous food photography blog. The photos, taken by Katie Quinn Davies, are just like something out of a Donna Hay book. And I love Donna Hay. Everything looks so delicious and inviting. I love the vintage accessories that she uses to style her photographs. http://whatkatieate.blogspot.com/
MY FOOD DIARY
I like the design of this website – scroll through the photos and when you hover over them the recipe pops up. Cool. The photos (taken by the boyfriend of the site’s owner) are really good too. http://www.mycookingdiary.com/
I hadn’t attempted to make ginger crunch for a good ten years when the other day I got a craving for it and decided to whip up a batch! It was delish and easy to make.
To start with you will need to make the base, it requires:
125g butter
½ cup sugar
1 ½ cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift in flour, baking powder and ginger and mix with the creamed mixture. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured flat surface and knead well. Press the dough into a 20x30cm baking tin lined with baking paper and bake at 190˚C for 20 minutes or until it is a light golden brown.
I recommend making up the icing while the base is cooking, for the icing you will need:
75g Butter
1 - 1 ½ cups of icing sugar (add 1 cup and continue to add by the tablespoon until you have the desired colour/consistency)
2 tablespoons golden syrup
3 teaspoons ground ginger
Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until the butter is melted while stirring constantly. Pour the hot ginger icing over the hot base and cut into 24 squares before it gets cold.
Enjoy!
I love sweet lemon treats. Every time that I go to the garden centre cafe near work I buy a piece of their lemon slice. Every time I go to a coffee club shop I purchase one of their lemon tarts. At the moment, in my kitchen, there is a bag of lemons just waiting for me to make something delicious out of them. I am looking forward to it very much.
On Sunday while Courtenay and I were out shopping we popped into Milly’s on Ponsonby Road. We both got ourselves some Wilton Candy Melts to try out - we had seen them on Bakerella’s website previously, but had never seen them in store anywhere before.
I got myself a hearts candy mould to try out my Candy Melts with – very easy peasy to use, just fill up the moulds with chocolate (like you are making ice cubes – omg, idea alert – you know how you can get funny shaped ice cube trays, like space invaders? Well I’m thinking the silicone trays could just as easily be used to make chocolate shapes) and empty them out when set. You could add stuff like nuts or coloured sprinkles to the moulds too.
Okay – so my (Courtenay’s) attempt at using my Candy Melts didn’t come out anywhere near as cute as Melissa’s, I piped in the pink as suggested on the moulds packaging, but, I think it would have been better and I would have had a far nicer finish if I had spooned it in like I have in the past. I was going to give it a second attempt but have come up with what I think will be a far better use for my melts so check back soon :-)
At the end of the month, on the 30th of August, it is the SPCA cupcake day. This is a great way to get baking and help a charity at the same time. The idea is that after registering with the SPCA you make cupcakes to sell on the Friday. Proceeds and any donations you receive go to the SPCA. There are competitions, with prizes up for grabs that you can enter too, such as baking the most cupcakes, raising the most money, the most creative decorating and even the most extreme situation you can eat a cupcake in.
Check out their website for more information, decorating ideas, and even a recipe for Pupcakes – cupcakes for your dogs!
Hello people,
It’s your chance to have your say. I’ve added a poll to the right hand side of our blog asking you about the content you want to see. Please make a vote or leave a more detailed comment on this post. Let us know your thoughts and opinions :)
Thanks,
Melissa
This afternoon I battled (well, I didn’t battle, I behaved quite politely really) the hordes of people who decided to spend a wet, rainy Sunday at The Auckland Food show.
After looking around all the exhibitors I went and watched Sophie Gray do a cooking demonstration in the theatre they have set up at the show. She made Tagliatelle with chicken and lemon dressing, Lamb biriyani one pan and a Fragrant lemongrass chicken curry – the recipes can all be found on the food show website.
There were lots of my fave foods on display – delicious yoghurt, heaps of pesto’s and olive oils, different meats, soups, wines. Stand outs for me at the show would be (since I am a chocolate truffle lover) The Seriously Good Chocolate Company – yummy yummy truffles. I will be keeping an eye out for them in stores (and according to their website, the duty free store at the airport is a stockist – just another reason to get excited about my upcoming trip to Melbourne in September!). You can find a stockist near you or buy their products on their website. Also, I have to mention Cathedral Cove Macadamias – my friend Jarrah and I love their flavoured Dukkah’s (we usually pick some up if we go to the French Market in Parnell). You can purchase their products, get recipe ideas, and find more information on their website.
Can’t wait ‘till next years show.
