It's all about family and food: Short Black Cupcakes and a Visit with a Friend

My friend Michele and I are old school friends. We both braved and suffered through going to St Mary's College and became best friends who did everything together. She is the only school friend I have any contact with and even after many years of losing touch with each other as she did her big OE, when we re met it was as if no time at all had past. That's the true sign of a great and life long friend. I met Kym and Mary when I was only about 18 years old through Michele who had met them through a flatmate of hers. Many a great and memorable party was had at their place in School Rd, Morningside and (other than Michele), they really mark the beginning of my adult years. Kym's extension of his arm is his camera and he has always been able to see life through it's lens in an incredibly unique way. His archives of life must now be phenomenal as even when I knew him, we used to spend hours looking through his many many photo albums. I would love to one day see the photos of that time of my life and remember how things really were and maybe re live a little of it. That's the beauty of photographs!

Kym now lives in Melbourne and we were lucky enough to score a bit of his time to catch up properly over some Margaritas, nibbles and of course home baking (is there ever any occasion where home baking isn't a requirement?). It was a lovely few hours spent with old friends remembering the good old days and talking of the present too. I whipped up my delicious lemon shortcake which is an absolute favourite and these Short Black Cupcakes from Donna Hay. I'm not sure if I would make the icing this way again but I was still glad to make something a little different even if I didn't love it. I'll give you the recipe though and you can choose for yourself. The cupcakes themselves were delicious and very very easy to make so I'll do those again.

Short Black Cupcakes

125 g butter, softened

3/4 c caster sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 c self raising flour

3 Tbsp cocoa

1/2 c milk

100 g dark chocolate, melted and cooled to almost room temperature

Preheat the oven to 160 C (140C fan bake). Line muffins tins (the recipe uses mini muffin tins which must give it the 'short black' name but I used normal tins and got about 15 cupcakes).

Cream the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each one. Sift over the flour and cocoa and mix well. Fold through the milk and stir through the chocolate. Spoon into the tins.

Bake about 20 mins for the normal sized tins (or about 10 mins for the mini ones)

Coffee Icing

1 c caster sugar

1/4 c water

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

2 Tbsp instant coffee

3 egg whites

Place the sugar, water, cream of tartar and coffee into a pot. Stir over a high heat until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Place the egg whites into a bowl and beat until soft peaks form. With the motor running slowly pour in the syrup and beat until thick and glossy. Spread over the cupcakes and grate over some dark chocolate. Enjoy with old friends.