High Tea

Over the summer Melissa and I went to high tea, at the Langham Hotel in central Auckland. We really enjoyed it but thought we could probably do better ourselves.  Over the weekend we put this theory to the test and made high tea for a group of the girls we work with.

We had a fantastic time putting it together and an even better time sitting down to enjoy it with friends. Our menu consisted of cupcakes, caramel brûlée slice, mini bacon and egg pies, melting moments, scones with jam and cream, and petite sandwiches.

There will be numerous posts to follow with recipes, so you too can create the delicious goodies we enjoyed or maybe even put together your own high tea. 

 
 
 

Update…

Hey,

The other week I finally got on to getting us a shorter web address. You can now access our site by using www.bakingmakesthingsbetter.com – no need for the ‘blogger’ bit before the ‘.com’.

Also, Courtenay and I are putting on a high tea tomorrow, so expect some new posts in the coming days :)

Ciao,
-Melissa

Cupcakes Dominate!

It seems that cupcakes are everywhere at the moment, but I never thought I would see a cupcake shaped motor vehicle.  However, it’s happened and I just have to share it with you!

Lemon Tea Muffins

  
I’m on holiday and I thought I’d make myself a little treat. If you’d like to give these gorgeous little muffins a try, you will need:

1 cup flour
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1teaspoon salt
½ cup fresh lemon juice
2 eggs
finely grated rind of 1 lemon
60g butter, melted and cooled (slightly)

Topping:
¼ cup melted butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ cup sugar

1. In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

2. In a separate bowl add lemon juice, eggs and lemon rind to melted butter.

3. Stir into dry ingredients.

4. Spoon batter into a prepared muffin tin and bake at 190˚C for 15-20 mins or until a skewer is inserted and comes out clean.

5. Remove from tins while still warm , brush with melted butter and lemon juice (mixed together) and sprinkle with sugar.

6. Enjoy!

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

Want chocolate cake?  Want it now?  Try this…

 
An email got sent around school last week with this recipe.  I decided to save it and give it a try.  I’m thinking that this quick little cake would make an excellent last minute dessert served up with cream. It is super easy to make and quite similar to the mini steamed puddings I have posted about.

Serves 1 (well, probably 2!)

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
A small splash of vanilla extract
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

Place the dry ingredients into a large microwave safe mug and mix well.  Add the egg, milk and oil, and mix thoroughly.  Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract and mix again.

Place into the microwave and cook for 2 and a half minutes at 1000 watts.  The cake may rise up over the top of the mug – this is normal.  Allow to cool a little and turn out onto a plate if desired.

Easter Treats

I love holidays! Not just because it means I get time off work, but, because it’s an excuse to theme my baked goods. I have made two different lots of Easter goodies this year. I have been wanting to attempt “flooding” biscuits for a while now and was inspired to after seeing this.

The recipe for the shortbread biscuit is there as well as the icing. I used the shortbread recipe found in the good old Edmonds cookbook as I am familiar with it and know that it works for me. To cut the cookies I used an Easter Egg shaped cookie cutter I already had. Finally, to pipe I used a Kuhn Rikon Deco icing set I got from Living and Giving.

  So without further ado…

  Cute but a bit messy. I am determined to practice and get better, but they did taste good and I just loved the colours. In fact, pink and blue have become my signature colours for Easter 2010.

My second lot of baking was a batch of cupcakes to take to a family gathering for Easter Sunday. I used my ‘Easy Peasy Chocolate Cake’ recipe from an earlier post and put the mixture into the gorgeous cupcake papers Melissa got me for Christmas.

Yum!

Yummier!

To ice I used a simple butter cream recipe and added pink colouring, and a Wilton 1M tip in a large disposable icing bag to get that pattern.

Check out those cute Easter Egg  sprinkles !

But they still looked like they were missing something…

Adorable chocolate bunnies = Perfect!

I made the chocolate bunnies by melting some chocolate buttons and placing it in a mould I picked up at Spotlight.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

La Cigale French-style Farmers Market

So, this isn’t really about baking, but I am in food heaven at the moment.  This morning I went to ‘La Cigale’ – a French-style farmers market in Parnell, Auckland.  Jarrah came along too and we were both pleasantly surprised with what we found as neither of us had been before.

I tried some Baklava for the first time, indulged in some delicious fudge from ‘Oh Fudge’,  and picked up some of my fave yoghurt – Piako gourmet yoghurt in the Mixed Berry flavour (I’m actually glad this is not available in the major supermarkets because I scoff it – apart from the market, there is a list of stockists on their website).  I also grabbed myself some Alvita tamari toasted seeds.  I find them yummy either eaten as is, or sprinkled on lightly buttered fresh bread.  Jarrah got herself some baklava, tomato relish and aioli.

Next time I go I am planning on eating crepes and purchasing some macadamia dukkah – I decided I had already spent enough $$ this time :)

The La Cigale French market runs every Saturday (8am – 1pm), Sunday (9am – 2pm) and Wednesday (12 midday – 6.30pm).   69 St. Georges Bay Road, Parnell.  Check out their website for more details and some recipes.