Easy Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

I don’t know if there is anything better on a hot summer’s day than a vanilla ice cream, especially if you make it yourself! This recipe is super easy, I remember making this ice cream with my Nana when I was quite young. She’s spent quite a bit of time in hospital in recent months and wasn’t sure where the recipe for this would be, so I’ve had to have a play and am incredibly happy with the result.

Ingredients:
600mls cream
395g condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla paste

Method:
Whip the cream until soft peaks form.
Add the condensed milk and vanilla paste to the cream and continue to beat until very thick.
Scrape into a loaf tin (or similar that is suitable for freezing) and cover in cling wrap. Freeze overnight (at least 6 hours) before serving.

This recipe could not be simpler, it as fantastic by itself as well as making a delish side for the cheesecake in the picture above. Max (who is nearly 3!) enjoyed the ice cream just as much as I did, it was lovely being able to share a baking (well technically not baking, but you know what I mean) memory from my childhood with him.

Vanilla ‘Gender Reveal’ Cupcakes

One of the cool things about going back to work and starting at a new school has been making some awesome new friends! One of my lovely new friends Ashle is expecting her first baby in a couple of months, after her 20 week scan I whipped up some ‘gender reveal cupcakes’ for a bit of fun and shared them with colleagues at an after school meeting. If you are expecting or have a friend who is this might be a neat way to reveal the sex of your baby to friends and family.

Ingredients:
Cupcakes
3 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste
½ cup of unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup buttermilk

Buttercream:
250g butter softened
5 cups icing sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons hot water (warm icing makes the colour take better)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
blue or pink food colouring

Method:
Preheat your oven to 180°C. Prepare two cupcakes/muffin pans by lining them with (gender neutral!) cupcake papers.
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set flour mixture aside.
In another bowl/bowl of your electric mixer add the butter and vanilla paste. Using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and vanilla mixture on a medium-high speed. Until light and fluffy
Add the sugar to the butter mixture, one cup at a time. Beat for about 1 minute after each cup.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Add about one third of your buttermilk and mix to the butter mix before adding your a third of your flour mix flour mixture ensuring it has been incorporated properly after each addition. Continue to add the liquid and flour mixture until it all has been added to the cupcake batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking cup liners about two thirds of the way through.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until a skewer can be inserted into the centre of each cupcake comes out clean or they ‘spring back’ when touched.
Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack. Let cupcakes cook completely before decorating.

Decorating instructions:
To make the buttercream, cream butter in or with a mixer until pale. On a low speed add icing sugar alternating with hot water and vanilla essence. Continue to beat until light and fluffy or until it’s reached a consistency you are happy with. At this stage you can either add the colouring to your mix and beat it in or divide your mix and colour so that you end up with a variety of colours.
To make the cupcakes ‘gender reveal cupcakes’, remove about ¾ of the vanilla frosting and add it to an icing bag. With the remaining ¼ of the frosting, add either blue or pink food colouring for the cupcakes’ centre filling. Once completely blended, add blue/pink frosting to a second icing bag.
Using a cupcake corer tool (if you are lucky enough to own one) or a small sharp knife, cut a hole on the top centre of each cupcake.
Remove the cupcake ‘core’ and fill with blue or pink frosting.
Add cupcake core back to the top of the cupcake and pat it down.
Frost the top of the cupcake with the white vanilla frosting, to get the swirl look that I achieved I recommend  Wilton 1M tip.

Raspberry and Vanilla Mini Muffins

These Raspberry and Vanilla Mini Muffins are so cute, and so yummy!  They are quick and easy to make and are a great little treat.

Makes 24.

1 ½ cups self raising flour
⅓ cup caster sugar
1 cup reduced fat vanilla yoghurt
80g reduced fat margarine or butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
½ cup frozen raspberries

Preheat the oven to 180°C.  Grease two 12 hole mini muffin tins.
Mix the flour and sugar together in a large bowl.  Add the yoghurt, margarine, egg and vanilla to the flour and stir until combined.
Roughly chop the raspberries, and then fold through the mixture.
Fill the muffin holes with the mixture.  Bake for approximately 18 minutes or until the tops of the muffins are golden.  Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.  If you like, dust with icing sugar before serving.

Vanilla Cupcakes by Lydia Bakes

Hello lovely followers of Baking Makes Things Better, it’s Lydia from Lydia Bakes here.  Thank you for having me today, I am truly honoured to be guest posting for Melissa and Courtenay.  As you know, the three of us organised a little get together and decided on a high tea picnic.  We were blessed with gorgeous weather (although I did end up getting severely sunburnt - my fault!) and had a great afternoon getting to know each other while sampling some delicious baking.

Although the idea was to bake something new and exciting I was having a bit of a blonde moment and thought I’d just bring something I’d made before.  Oops!  In any case, I think cupcakes deserve to be at a high tea!  So here is a very simple vanilla cupcake recipe.  This recipe is not your typical beat-the-butter-and-sugar type, but rather aims to be more like “packet” cake mix where you add oil to your batter. I adapted the recipe from Glorious Treats and find it has been more reliable than my last vanilla cupcake recipe!

Makes approximately 24.

Ingredients:
Cupcakes:
2 ½ cups cake flour (see below for instructions on how to make this)
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup oil (vegetable or canola)
1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk with 1tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice)

Vanilla Buttercream:220g butter, softened
3 - 4 cups icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
2 - 4 tablespoons milk

Method:
Preheat oven to 180°C and line two muffin tins with cupcake cases. 
Mix up buttermilk (if you're making your own like I always do) and set aside, this will look funny and chunky when you go to use it later.
Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl, stir together and set aside.
Beat eggs for about 20 seconds and gradually add sugar.  Beat for another 30 seconds.  Add vanilla and oil to egg mixture and beat.  Add a third of the flour mix to the eggy mixture (make sure your beater is on a low setting or the flour will fly everywhere!) and beat.
Add half the buttermilk and beat, then add another third of the flour.  Add the remaining buttermilk and then the flour and beat until combined.
Pour the cake batter in to cupcake cases about ⅔ full and bake for 12 - 14 minutes.  Cool in tin for five minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.  Wait for them to cool down completely before icing.

Vanilla Buttercream:
Beat butter for a few minutes until nice and fluffy. 
While butter is mixing (if you have a stand-alone mixer) sift icing sugar into a large bowl and set aside. 
Add vanilla to the butter and beat for about 30 seconds.  Add the sifted icing sugar one cup at a time.  When icing starts to get lumpy add a tablespoon of milk.  Continue adding milk until you reach the consistency you like.
Tint your favourite colour and pipe on to cupcakes with a large star tip (my favourite is Wilton 1M).

Cake Flour Recipe (makes one cup):
Place 2 tablespoons of cornflour in a measuring cup.  Spoon normal flour into the measuring cup, use a knife to scoop away the extra on top of the cup.  Sift the cup of flours at least 3 or 4 times to mix them together.

I decorated these cupcakes using the famous cupcake swirl and topped them with a mini fondant rose. You can find tutorials for both of these techniques on my blog, Lydia Bakes.

Thank you so much for having me. I loved collaborating with Baking Makes Things Better and I get a feeling this will not be the last time we bake together!

Stacked Pavlova with Vanilla Cream and Dark Chocoalte Ganache

After watching the previews of Jamie’s Family Christmas, as part of Food TV’s November line up, the idea of Christmas traditions started to run through my mind. In the first episode of the series Jamie shows you how to make the perfect roast turkey, my family hasn’t been much of a turkey family over the years – although Wendy (my Step Mum) makes a mean roast turkey along with what seems like the more traditional (at least in NZ) ham every Christmas Eve. There is something about Pavlova that screams Christmas to me, I think it’s because my Mum only ever really made them for or around Christmas. I haven’t yet perfected the tall, white, perfect pav but recently started making this stacked version which is so simple and decadently delicious, I think I can see it becoming a Christmas tradition in my house.

Ingredients:
Pavlova
5 egg whites
1½ cups caster sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Filling
1¼ cups cream
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
250 grams dark chocolate
25 grams butter
¾ cup cream

Method:
Preheat your oven to 120°C. Use a 20cm round cake tin to trace *four circles on to the back two large pieces of baking paper which will go on two baking trays.
Place your egg whites on the bowl of your electric mixer and beat using the whisk attachment on a medium to high speed until you get soft peaks.
Lower your mixer to a medium speed and gradually add the caster sugar. Continue to mix until thick and glossy before adding the vinegar and vanilla essence.
Once the vinegar and vanilla essence are properly mixed in you can turn off the mixer and spoon the mix onto the four circles you earlier traced out. Use a spatula or the back of a large spoon to spread the mixture evenly so the disks are nice and flat.
Bake in your preheated oven for 1 hour before turning it off and leaving the door ajar to let them cool completely.
Once the pavlovas are nearly cool you can make your ganache by putting the chocolate, butter and 3/4 cup of cream into a large heatproof bowl and put that on top of a pot of simmering water (make sure the water will not touch the bottom of your bowl) to create a double boiler. Stir the ingredients until they have melted and come together before setting it aside to allow it to cool to a consistency that is spreadable.
Using an electric mixer, mix the 1 1/4 cup of cream and vanilla paste until it is thick.
To assemble your stacked pavlova spread ganache over the bottom layer and then top with cream, repeat with the next two layers. Dust the top pavolova with icing sugar and melt any excess ganache in the microwave and drizzle it over.
* I always make four disks in case one crumbles or rises too much. You can use three or four layers if all of them turn out perfectly.

So there you have it. I find it easier than a standard pavlova to get right. Does it look like something you might want to add to the Christmas day menu at your house? Do you have any special traditions cooking or otherwise?

If you want to check out Jamie’s Family Christmas and get into the spirit of the season (albeit a little bit early for some people – if your like me however the timing is perfect!), it premieres tonight on Food TV, SKY channel 9. And, if after watching you think you’d like to decorate you place with awesome paper fans just like Jamie has then head on over to The Pretty Baker and buy up large so you can have your place looking as great as the Oliver’s, while your there I promise it’s worth a look checking out their Christmas stock!

Chocolate + Vanilla Marshmallows

These are a little tricky to make, but only because you have to use glucose syrup and that stuff is super sticky!  You also need a candy thermometer.  I made chocolate and vanilla marshmallows; the recipe below makes one batch of your chosen flavour. 

My Vanilla Marshmallows turned out the best.  They were light and fluffy, and oh so dainty.  While mixing the chocolate ones I got excited about an email I received and decided to call Courtenay to share the news.  I turned the mixer off because it was a bit too loud while I was on the phone and when I get back to mixing the chocolate batch the mix had gone a bit thick and I forgot how long they still had left to be mixed.  So, I’m not sure if I over or under mixed them, but they had trouble holding their shape.  They tasted good, they just didn’t look appealing.

Icing sugar, for dusting tin
4 teaspoons powdered gelatin
1 ½ cups sugar
100ml glucose syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted (if making chocolate marshmallows)
Extra icing sugar and cocoa powder for dusting

Grease a 20 x 20cm tin.  Dust the inside of the tin with icing sugar (combined with a little bit of cocoa powder if making chocolate marshmallows), coating the the tin thoroughly.  Set aside.

Place the gelatine in a mixing bowl with 80ml of water.  Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

Add the sugar, glucose syrup, and 80ml water to a small saucepan.  Stir over a medium heat until the sugar and syrup has dissolved.  Bring to boil until it reaches 125°C on a candy thermometer.  Remove from the heat.

With mixer on medium speed, carefully stream the hot syrup into the gelatin.  Once the mixture has become pale / white and increased slightly in volume, increase the speed to high  and add vanilla.  Continue to mix for 8 minutes.  Be careful not to over mix as this can result in a tough marshmallow (well, tough for a marshmallow).

If you are making chocolate marshmallows, add the cocoa powder to the mixture and when incorporated, turn mixer back up to high speed and mix for a few more seconds.

Pour into prepared tin and smooth out with spatula (hot water will stop this from sticking).  Cover with cling film and put in the fridge to set, preferably overnight.

Dust a bench with icing sugar (mixed with a little bit of cocoa powder if making chocolate marshmallows) and turn the marshmallow mixture out.  Transfer onto a chopping board and cut into squares (I used a hot wet knife).  Place some icing sugar (mixed cocoa powder if needed) in medium bowl.  Put the marshmallow squares into the bowl and coat the sides with the icing sugar.  Shake off the excess icing sugar.  Store in airtight container.

Vanilla Passionfruit Cupcakes

Thinking – “Ooooh that cupcake looks pretty… but a little bit familiar”?  That’s because it is.  I have been wanting to experiment with this flavour for a little while now and used the idea of my Lemon Meringue Cupcakes to give it a go.  If you want to do the same all you need to do is use your favourite vanilla cupcake recipe, like this one (halved) or you could use a packet mix if cupcakes aren’t your strong suit (I recommend Betty Crocker Vanilla Cake Mix if you want to go down this track).

The first step is as simple as adding a quarter cup of passionfruit curd to your mix and bake for the specified time, or until you can either touch the middle of the cupcake and it bounces back, or insert a skewer and have it come out clean.

The second step is once your cupcakes have cooled you need to scoop out the centre of your cupcake – I used my half teaspoon measure (but could have scooped a little deeper this time around) and fill the hole with passionfruit curd.

I chose to top my cupcakes with a cooked glossy meringue which is easier to do than it might look:
Meringue Topping
2 egg whites
150g caster sugar

Whisk egg whites and caster sugar in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water for approximately 5 minutes (until sugar has dissolved - when you rub some of the mixture between your fingertips it won't feel grainy). Move bowl to mixer, using whisk attachment mix until stiff peaks form and the mixture thick and glossy.

Kiddy Cupcakes

As some of you may remember I have been on the hunt for a vanilla cake/cupcake recipe that is as good as the Betty Crocker Vanilla Cake mix, these aren’t quite as moist or quite as sweet as the Betty Crocker ones BUT the mix makes about 26-30 cupcakes depending on the size of your cupcake papers and kids seem to love them – making them perfect for kids parties, school bake sales or cake stalls.

Ingredients:
250g butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2½ cups flour
½ cup cornflour
4½ teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Buttercream:
250g butter softened
5 cups icing sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons hot water (warm icing makes the colour take better)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
food colouring

Method:Pre-heat your oven to 180°C and line your baking tin with cupcake cases.
Cream the butter in sugar until light an fluffy, add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Sift the flour, cornflour and baking powder into a separate bowl.
Alternate adding the flour mix and milk & vanilla essence to the creamed mixture, beat on a low setting to combine.
Spoon the mixture evenly into cupcake cases. Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes or until a skewer can be removed cleanly or they bounce back to the touch.
Leave cupcakes to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.
To make the buttercream, cream butter in or with a mixer until pale. On a low speed add icing sugar alternating with hot water and vanilla essence. Continue to beat until light and fluffy or until it’s reached a consistency you are happy with. At this stage you can either add the colouring to your mix and beat it in or divide your mix and colour so that you end up with a variety of colours.


Tip: When you ice your cupcakes you can spread the buttercream with a knife or pipe it like me, I used a Wilton 2A round tip on the blue cupcakes and 2D tip on the pink cupcakes iced like roses (the effect is achieved when you frost from the centre and move out).  The swirl effect (like the blue ones pictured below) is achieved when you start from the outside and move in to the centre in an upward motion. You can then top your cupcakes with all types of sprinkles, edible glitters or cupcake toppers.

Cinnamon Cupcakes

I made these for the high tea we had at Melissa and Simon’s a few weeks ago.  I also made mini versions at Christmas but hadn’t posted the recipe as I wasn’t able to get a photo to share with you until now!

To make you will need:
1 ½ cups of sifted flour
1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
100 grams of butter, softened
¾ cup of brown sugar, packed
1 egg (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
¾ cup of milk (room temperature)

Preheat oven to 180°C. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in in a bowl. In a separate large bowl beat the butter, cinnamon and sugar until light and fluffy, add the egg and vanilla and mix well.
Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of milk. Beat lightly after each addition just enough to combine the ingredients.
Divide the batter between 12 medium cupcake papers so that each is ⅔ full.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until you can remove a skewer cleanly. Cool completely before icing.
I recommend icing with a vanilla buttercream.

 

Vanilla and Raspberry Treats

Last weekend my little sister Georgina turned 21 so we had a family afternoon tea to celebrate and also to say farewell and good luck as she is leaving us to start a new career that requires her to be based in Dubai. I was charged with making some sweet treats, originally I had planned on making cake pops but they were a major fail! So I resorted to a quick fix and made some tried and true meringues but fancied them up by piping them and adding a ½ teaspoon of raspberry essence and a ½ teaspoon of pink food colouring to half the mixture.

 
The mini cupcakes were made using the Betty Crocker Vanilla Cake Mix, once they were cool I put some raspberry jam in a piping bag and filled the centre of each cupcake with jam and topped them with a pink butter cream frosting (to which I also added a 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry essence) and sprinkles.

 
The lovely looking cake was delicious and was purchased by my Mum from the City Cake Company in Mt Eden.