La Couronne

I popped in here today (after visiting the Auckland Art and Craft fair held at the Auckland Art Gallery – which was excellent btw).  It is a cute little cake boutique / bakery on Lorne Street in Auckland city.

My review is: YUM! 
There are lots of beautiful pastries and sweet things to eat.  They make fancy cakes too.  My brother and I purchased the stuff below to try and it was delish (excuse the photography tho – the pic  is taken on the roof of my car with my crappy phone because I didn’t have my camera on me and I couldn’t wait to eat).

 
And, that is Oreo cheesecake in the background of the photo.  Mmmmm mm.

La Couronne
5c Lorne Street, Auckland City
Ph: 09 379 7668,  Fax: 09 379 7667
www.lacouronne.co.nz

Orange Cake

 
While I was away over the weekend I had a gorgeous warm orange pudding for dessert, it was divine and reminded me that our friend Natalie (yes, the same Natalie that shared that fantastic brownie recipe) had given me a recipe for a beautifully moist orange cake and it is too good for me to not share with you!

250g butter
1 ½ cups caster sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoon grated orange zest
Juice of 2 oranges
2 cups self raising flour

You will need a 20cm cake tin and to pre-heat your oven to 180˚C.
1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Add the zest and beat in a third of the orange juice, then a third of the flour and repeat with remaining juice and flour.
4. Pour into tin and bake for an hour.

To ice I mixed 20g of softened butter with a quarter cup of icing sugar and then started mixing in the juice of one orange and icing sugar alternately until I had an amount and consistency I was happy with.

BTW – it is fantastic warm or cold! Enjoy :-)

Pecan Pie

After making my inspiration collage on pecan pie, I finally built up the courage to give making one a go :)  It was really easy – I don’t know what I was so scared of.  The butterscotch sauce that you make to pour over the pecans is divine – I kept eating it while I was trying to cool it down to add the eggs in.  I suspect this pie is not very friendly on the hips, but you know what, it tastes too good to pass up.

Serves about 10.

Sweet short pastry:
2 cups standard flour
1 ¼ cups icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
250g cold butter, cubed
2 –3 tablespoons icy water

Place all the ingredients – except the water – into a food processor.  Pulse until combined.
With the motor running, add enough water to the dough to form a ball.
Press into a greased 25cm round flan pan.  Chill for 1 hour.

Filling:
350g pecans, chopped coarsely
1 vanilla bean
2 cups cream
1 ¾ cups brown sugar
100g butter
2 eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 170˚C.  Place an oven tray in the middle of the oven to heat.
Place the pecans onto the uncooked pastry base.
Slice the vanilla bean in half and place it with all the ingredients – except the eggs – in a saucepan.  Heat the mixture until the sugar dissolves to make a butterscotch sauce.  Remove the vanilla bean, cool the sauce and add the eggs.

Pour the sauce over the pecans.  Place the flan pan in the oven tray and fan bake for 1 ¼ hours or until the pie has just set.  Serve in wedges.

 

Done.  Easy as pie aye?

Living and Giving Cookware Sale

Living and Giving are having a cookware sale, ending on Sunday 1st August.  A full range of sale items can be viewed on their website.  The little paper cupcake cases that Courtenay and I use are included too :)

Blueberry Jam & Cream Cheese Muffins

 
This is an old ‘food in a minute’ recipe (a little TV advertisement segment we get in New Zealand).  You can make these with whatever flavour jam you like – I’ve experimented and haven’t found a bad flavour yet.

Makes 12.

2 ¼ cups self raising flour
½ cup caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
¾ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
100g butter, melted
2 tablespoons golden syrup
6 tablespoons blueberry jam
¼ cup cream cheese

Sift the flour and sugar into a bowl and make a well in the centre.
Mix egg, milk and vanilla essence together.  Stir into the dry ingredients along with the melted butter and golden syrup.
Half fill 12 well greased muffin tins.  Place a heaped teaspoon of jam and a teaspoon of cream cheese into the centre of each muffin.

Carefully cover the jam and cream cheese with the remaining muffin mixture.  Bake at 220˚C for 12 – 15 minutes, or until well risen, golden and firm to touch.
Cool in the tin for 5 minutes.  Serve warm, dusted with icing sugar.

Paper Baking Cups

I’m just showing off – I have new baking cups to play with!
The ones on the left are by Robert Gordon and I picked them up at Living and Giving.  The three tubes on the right are by Paper Eskimo and I found them at Borders.

Natalie’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie

This is a recipe that Courtenay and I got off Natalie, a friend and work colleague of ours.  She brought this into school once and we just had to have the recipe.

100g cocoa
200g butter, melted
400g caster sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
90g flour
200g chocolate chips / buttons

Sift cocoa into a large mixing bowl.  Add the melted butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla essence.  Mix to a smooth paste.

Sift in the flour.  Add in the chocolate chips.  Mix, then pour into a 20cm x 20cm tin.

Bake for 65 minutes at 150˚C.  Voilà!

Inspiration: Pecan Pie

I made this collage just for me.  I love Pecan Pie and I want to give making one a go, but I am a little scared.  They look complicated.