Oma's One and Only Dutch Apple Tart- Chelsea Winter

OMG have I got a ton of stuff to blog about. In fact no doubt I will have forgotten where I got a recipe from it's been so long since I have made it! I'll do my best to remember but I really can't promise anything. Life for our household is pretty full on. With working shifts full-time (and having 6 weekends in a row), my boys being at school and all of that routine, trying to keep on top of housework, varying other commitments and all of Harry's dance stuff there is precious little time for anything else. While I always talk about having people over for dinner or lunch, the reality is that we barely see anyone socially. Time for a change.....she said.....famous last words I think!

Anyway I made this delicious and easy tart/cake for my recently bought Chelsea Winter cookbook. For those NZ Masterchef followers out there, you will know she won it last year. I can't say she was my pick and I can't even remember what converted me to liking her but regardless of what it was she is actually a very good and accessible cook. Her book is well worth it and if you have a Facebook account 'like' the page. You might find yourself a convert like me! This recipe is really yummy and would make a good afternoon tea cake or a simple dessert.

Oma's One and Only Apple Tart (Chelsea Winter 'At My Table')

5-6 medium apples (I used Braeburn and Granny Smith)
1 Tbsp each lemon zest, lemon juice and cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp grd ginger
1 Tbsp sugar
150g butter, slightly softened and cubed
200g sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
220g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 Tbsp milk
1/2 c blueberries
2 Tbsp apricot jam
1 Tbsp boiling water

Preheat oven to 160 C fan bake (or 180 C). Grease a 20cm springform tin with butter and dust with some flour (tip out the excess).

Peel and core the apples and cut into segments (cut into quarters then again 2-3 times). Put into a bowl and add the lemon zest, juice, cinnamon, mixed spice, ginger and the 1 Tbsp sugar. Mix well to combine and coat the apple and set aside.

Cream the butter and second measure of sugar together until thick and pale. Add the eggs one at a time beating after each addition. Add the flour and baking powder and mix until just combined then mix in the milk. You will have a thick creamy batter.

Spread and thin layer of batter in the base of the tine. Gently place a ring of apple slices very close together all the way around the inside edge of the tin, lightly pressing them down. Put the 'fat' end of the apple towards the outside of the tin.. Repeat with another layer inside each previous ring until the batter is totally covered with apples. Pour over the lemony liquid (I barely had any) over the apple. If there is a lot only put over half. Scatter over the blueberries. Put the remaining batter over the top and spread as best you can do. Repeat with the apple slices.

Bake about 1 hour or until golden, puffy and set in the middle.

Make a glaze with the apricot jam ad boiling water and brush all over the cake.

Do not store in the fridge.

Golden Syrup Steamed Pudding

With custard and cream

I know I seem to post only sporadically but as I am so busy the last thing I think about is my blog. In fact I remember to take photos but because I leave it so long to post I forget where I got the recipe from! Believe you me it can get very very frustrating sometimes. This week I have been stuck in the house with a sick Harry. He has been so sick that he hasn't even done any ballet practice....and anyone who knows him would know that this is not usual for him. He has even had to miss ballet today much to his disappointment. Anyway because I have had this enforced time at home (it always feels way worse to be at home  when it isn't something you have planned), I have had time to do things I wouldn't normally have done...like sort out my messy and far too full spare room. This bedroom is my overflow kitchen as I have too much stuff to keep in my kitchen.....signs of being a hoarder for cookware maybe? 

Anyway I digress. Because it has been winter here, (even though you wouldn't think that lately), I always feel like making stodgy steamed puddings and warming casseroles etc so this night I really felt like an old fashioned steamed pudding. I had tried one earlier in the week from Simon Gault's new cookbook. That recipe was your 'if it doesnt' sound right it probably isn't' kind of recipe. I knew it couldn't work yet I went ahead and followed it to the letter. BIG MISTAKE! It was awful...dense, stodgy in a bad way and downright disastrous  This recipe I found in Linda Hallinan's column in the Sunday Star Times magazine. It was delicious and all things that a good old fashioned steamed pudd should be. Try it whatever you do. You could make it with jam as well I would think but I love the caramely flavour golden syrup so I stuck with that.

Golden Syrup Steamed Pudding

Grease a 1 L pudding basin (I use a ceramic one) and put about 1/2 c golden syrup in the bottom (you could use less if you like).

Cream 100 g butter and 1/2 c sugar until light and fluffy then beat in 2 eggs and stir in 1/4 c apricot jam. Fold in 2 c flour, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Dissolve 1 tsp baking soda in 1 c warm milk and add to the mixture then spoon into the pudding basin. Cover with a couple of layers of greaseproof paper (put a pleat in the top), and tie string around the top. Steam about an hour but I found mine was a little undercooked so next time would go for a 1 1/4 hours. Make sure the pot doesn't run dry so add boiling water as you need it.

Baking for Nightshift- Chocolate Mud cake

In the last Canvas magazine was a selection of Chocolate cakes by Donna Hay. So far I have made two of them (the next one to be posted once I photograph it). I find her recipes a bit hit and miss sometimes. I love her photography and food styling however so still subscribe to her magazine on the ipad even though I rarely cook from them. Both of the cakes I have tried have been right off with the timing. In fact this one I baked for a full 20 mins less and I feel it was still a little overcooked. It was, however, rich and delicious and very easy to make. It's probably more suited to a dessert as it could have done with some cream on the side but the girls still managed to eat it all over the busy night shift we had. As you can see in the photos above the ganache was still pretty runny but who cares....chocolate is chocolate is chocolate!

Chocolate Mud Cake

250 g butter, chopped
200 g dark chocolate, chopped
1 1/3 c milk
1 1/2 c caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 c plain flour, sifted
1/4 c self raising flour, sifted
1/4 c cocoa, sifted

Preheat oven to 150C and lightly grease and line a 22 cm non stick pan.

Place butter, chocolate, milk, sugar and vanilla in a pot over a medium heat and stir until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

Add eggs and whisk to combine. Pour into a large bowl and add the flours and cocoa and whisk until smooth. Bake about an hour but check after 50 mins or so until cooked when tested with a skewer. Allow to cool completely in the tin.

Either dust with extra cocoa powder or else ice with ganache for an over-the-top chocolate hit.

Creme Caramel

I have always wanted to try making Creme Caramel and even though it seemed simple I have read about many many disasters....mostly with getting the thing out and looking lovely. I saw this recipe in the Saturday Herald's Canvas magazine by Donna Hay. My natural instinct is to then go online and proceed to over-read more recipes to confuse myself and make me doubt the recipe I had originally seen. Although I did do that, I ended up biting the bullet and going with the first one I had seen. I figured it could be a bit of a costly mistake as it uses 6 eggs! But sometimes you just have to take the plunge and I'm glad I did because this dessert is delicious! We all loved it. 

The caramel was perfect and taken just to the right point where it was rich and dark but not burnt. The custard was delicious just like a good baked custard should be. They came out of the ramekins easy too. The only bummer is that not all the caramel comes out and because it's so good it seems like a waste. I dipped the bases of my ramekins into a small amount of boiling water so the caramel would melt and they would unmold easily. I also ran a sharp knife around the edge of the custard. So this dessert is easy, delicious and well worth making. I'm sure it will be in hot demand with my family. If you want to give this a go you can find the recipe here. 

Chocolate Mocha Pots with Cinnamon Shortbread

The little jars are the Gu dessert containers....you get to buy a dessert AND keep the jar!

The other night we went out for dinner to a friends house and I, of course, offered to take dessert. After trawling through multiple recipe books, blogs and cooking magazines and getting totally overwhelmed by the shear volume of recipes (my own fault I know), I finally settled on two. The first was the Hazelnut Pavlova Gateau Cake from Julie Le Clerc's newish book and this was the second one. I forgot to take photos of the the Hazelnut one which is ok as I don't think it was really my sort of thing so I probably wouldn't have posted it on here anyway. It did look lovely though.....

This was the second choice and the recipe comes from Peter Gordon's new cookbook called 'Everyday' While I don't normally go for his style of food this book is lovely and a little less 'fusion' than his other ones. This recipe is very very rich so if your aren't a diehard chocolate lover I wouldn't go for this. The cinnamon shortbread are pretty good too and are baked as a whole then sliced afterwards. I have never made shortbread this way before but I have to say it does give you nice clean cut lines. Next time, though I would cut the cinnamon down to maybe 1 tsp as I found it a bit strong. Oh and by the way all the liquid ingredients are weighed rather than measured because he says it makes it more accurate.

Chocolate Mocha Pots with Cinnamon Shortbread

280 g milk
250 g cream
2 tsp espresso ground coffee (the grains not the made espresso), or instant coffee
100 g caster sugar
4 egg yolks
200 g dark chocolate roughly chopped

Place the milk, cream, coffee and 50g caster sugar into a pot and slowly bring to a simmer stirring frequently. Turn the heat off, cover with a lid and leave to infuse for 10 mins.

Take the lid off and slowly bring back to the boil stirring as you do.

Whisk the egg yolks with the remaining 50g caster sugar. When the milk has come back to heat, whisk about a 1/3 of it into the eggs, then pour it back into the pan with the rest of the cream mixture.

Stir over a moderate heat until the custard coats the back of a spoon (takes 2-4 mins). Take off the heat and whisk in the chocolate until it's incorporated, then pour through a fine sieve a couple of times to remove the coffee grounds (if this is what you have used). Pour into glasses or ramekins and put in the fridge for about 4 hours.

Serve with some lightly whipped cream on top and the shortbread.

Cinnamon Shortbread

250 g unsalted butter at room temperature
160 g caster sugar
250 g flour
130 g cornflour
2 tsp ground cinnamon (I think 1 tsp would be enough)
1 pinch salt

Preheat oven to 170C and line a tray with baking paper.

Cream butter and sugar. Sift together the flour, cornflour, cinnamon and salt and mix gently into the creamed mixture.

Pat out on the tray with your hands or a rolling pin until you get a rectangle about 1 cm thick. Cut with a sharp knife into squares or bars.

Bake 20-25 mins until golden then cut them again where you have already cut. cool on the tray for 5 mins then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

Berry and Pomegranate Charlotte

Tonight I had my lovely and most dearest friend Annie, Deb and their lovely son Jesse (also known as the 'Miester') over for dinner. Annie and I have been friends for over 24 years....isn't it amazing when you can say you have got friends who have lasted for that long? I have only a few other friends with that kind of longevity...my friend Leigh is most notably one them! With life being so busy you realise how little time we get to spend with these people who are so precious to us. Sometimes it's all we can do to get through our working week (especially when you are a shift worker and going against the grain of every other 'normal' working person), looking after our children, doing all the normal house stuff and keeping up with family. At times, though, I realise with horror how long it has been since I have spent time with any friends. You forget how important it is to maintain these friendship and 'feed' them, instead focusing on all the everyday stuff. I guess the same could be said for any relationship.....

Anyway I digress. Tonight I made a lovely dip which I heard Helen Jackson talk about on the radio the other morning. I roasted 2 red peppers, took the skins off and blitzed them with some roasted cashews, a bit of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and some good EVOO. I have to say it was delicious especially for how simple it was. I also made, amongst other things the Annabel Langbein Sausage and Caramelised Onion Tart and the Zucchini and Feta one too. A plain rocket salad, the Spicy Eggplant salad from Ripe's cookbook and some plain cooked corn on the cob accompanied it. I also made some lovely marinated Chicken Wings done in Indian spices and cooked on the BBQ (recipe found in Monday's Herald bite) for the kids but in fact they also ate the pizza too.

For dessert I made Annabel Langbein's Vanilla and Citrus Terrine from her latest book but I was really underwhelmed by it. On the way home from a 4 hour shift this morning I had a quick change of mind and bought the ingredients for this Berry and Pomegranate Charlotte which I had seen in the Sunday Star Times this morning. It is lovely BUT next time I would make a couple of changes. It is a celebration of all that is good about summer....berries! And I think it looks pretty stunning too.

Berry and Pomegranate Charlotte

1 c sugar (next time I would use 1/2 c)
1/2 c water (I would use 1 c water next time so it isn't so sweet)
2 Tbsp pomegranate molasses
1 1/2 c raspberries (I used 2 punnets of blueberries, 1 punnet strawberries and 1 punnet raspberries all up)
1 1/2 c blueberries
400g mascarpone
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp icing sugar
18 savoiardi biscuits

Line a terrine mould or loaf tin with clingfilm.

Place the sugar and water into a pot and cook over a low heat for about 10 mins without stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Stir through the pomegranate and simmer a further 5 mins.

Place all the berries into a bowl, pour over the sugar syrup, mix well and cool.

Beat together the mascarpone, vanilla and icing sugar.

Layer into the mould beginning and ending with the biscuits. I went biscuits, berries, marscarpone and biscuits. Wrap tightly top prevent leaking when inverted (I forgot to invert mine).

Chill 4 hours flipping halfway.

Christmas Food

A most spectacular Pav...if I do say so myself!

Cherry and Lemon Tart

Tiramisu Truffles

White Chocolate and Coconut Truffles

Well the food excesses of Christmas day are over! I feel like all I did yesterday was eat and eat.... after a few days of cooking and baking and therefore just about expiring in the awful humid heat we have had. I went through packets and packets of butter (I think about 6-7 at least), tons of sugar and flour not to mention the chocolate!

For gifts I made a lovely butter shortbread and Annabel Langbein's amazing Chocolate Chip Biscuits which are my current favourite (they are on here). Then Harry decided that he wanted to give home baking to the family as his present instead of buying something which I loved the idea of. However it did mean lots more baking to do the day before Xmas. He made Caramel Shortbread and a Crispy Shortbread recipe which you can find on the Foodlovers website. If you like your shortbread to have some crunch then this is the recipe for you....delicious! I wish I had taken some photos of these but in the rush I just didn't even think about it. I also baked Pecan tarts and Xmas Mince Pies (all homemade including the Xmas mince).

For breakfast I kept it pretty easy with delicious Paneton pastries and Croissants accompanied with Te Horo jam and the phenomenal Lewis Creamery butter. If you haven't tried this butter yet, it's really worth it for a special occasion. It's pretty pricey but the flavour is like nothing you would have had before....unless you remember the way butter used to be! I also had a platter of lovely fresh fruit and some good yoghurt to go with it as well as good coffee and of course bubbles!!

Lunch was at George's and if I do say so myself, we always put on a great spread. This year I did boneless leg of lamb which I BBQ'd and served with a lime, chilli, ginger dressing and lots of lovely fresh herbs, potatoes roasted in duck fat (these were amazing and I think were quite possibly the star of the meal), a smoked salmon, avocado and rocket salad. George did a ham, a duck and mango salad, a roasted beetroot salad and some delicious mustard fruits. For dessert I made up a platter of the Pecan and Xmas tarts, Tiramisu truffles, White Chocolate and Coconut Truffles; a Cherry and Lemon tart (from Baking Dish...it was like a Lemon tart without the pastry), and a stunning Pavlova. I always use the recipe from Nigella's How to Eat book and this time used 6 egg whites. I think it looked like my best one yet. However Pavlova isn't my favourite thing and instead I tend to go for Russell's amazing Berry trifle so I don't know first hand how it tasted. 

Finally dinner was a more sedate and easy BBQ so I took some Broken Glass Jello (it always goes down well with the kids) and a Stripey Chocolate Cheesecake. I didn't even remember to take photos sorry.

So that was our day of excessive eating. I hope you all had a lovely day too with lots of lovely family time and lots and lots of good food. Merry Xmas!

Individual Lemon Delicious Puddings

Lemon is one of my most favourite flavours...along with vanilla, chocolate and caramel. I think almost everyone has a recipe for the easy and divine dessert. It's almost like a souffle top with a lemony curdy saucy bottom. The best thing is that it saves well and reheats beautifully in the microwave the next day while still being light as if it has just come out of the oven. There are a gazillion recipes for this so I kind of mixed and matched one and was rewarded with this. Apparently people pour cream over it but I prefer it just as it is. Mariam this is a recipe for you because I KNOW you will love it!

Lemon Delicious


2 lemons, zested and juiced
50g butter, softened
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
3 eggs, separated
3 Tbs self raising flour
1 1/4 cups milk
Cream to serve

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease 4-5 ramekin dishes.

Cream the lemon zest with the butter and sugar until pale and beat in the egg yolks.

Whisk the egg whites until firm. Fold in the flour, lemon juice and milk then stir gently until the mixture is smooth. Fold in the egg whites.

Pour the batter into the prepared ramekins. Place into a baking dish and pour hot water to reach halfway up the sides of the dishes.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until set, then serve hot with cream.

Sticky Date Cupcakes with Toffee Cream Cheese Icing

The very lovely Meredith on her last night shift

The other night at work was Meredith's last night so was an excuse to eat lots of yummy food and celebrate/commiserate the next step in Meredith's life....namely the BIG OE! Meredith is a truly lovely person. While she is young she is able to relate to a huge range of people. She has a huge amount to offer not only in a professional context but in a personal context too. While everyone is thrilled that she and her partner Paddy get to see the world and have lots of new experiences, I think it's fair to say that we have lost an amazing nurse, work colleague and friend...and I have lost one of my baking mates/students too. Have a fantastic time away Meredith. I really hope you and Paddy have a fantastic time and that you stay safe and happy.


For Meredith's last night, I decided upon these cupcakes which I saw on a lovely NZ blog I follow called Baking=Love. Anyone with English heritage would know what a Sticky Date/Toffee Pudding is. It is a delicious pudding made with dates which have been chopped up and soaked in a mix of boiling water and baking soda. So while you might say that you don't like dates, you don't end up with a datey kind of flavour. It is always topped with a toffee or caramel sauce which only adds to it's decadence and richness. YUM!!!


The mix for these cupcakes is very, very liquid. I was sure that I had done something wrong but they ended up being tender and soft and just perfect once they had cooled. For the frosting I added 2-3 c icing sugar to make it more pipeable as I found the recipe just made it too soft. As well as that I omitted the cornflour as it just didn't seem right. The salt just makes the topping even more delicious and I used Fleur De Sel sea salt which has an almost floral flavour to it...I mean anything salted caramel HAS to be good doesn't it? I used a can of caramel condensed milk as because I was in the middle of night shift I had neither the time nor the inclination to watch over a simmering pan of water for a few hours.


So give these cupcakes a go and whatever you do make sure they aren't lying around or else you might just be tempted to eat them all up yourself.

Vanilla Creme Brulee

This year for Mother's Day I decided I would cook dinner instead of us going out. I know this might seem a bit odd as on this day we are supposed to relax and have lots of treats. BUT I actually really enjoy cooking and my most relaxing thing is to spend time in the kitchen. So for dinner I made Lamb Shanks in a Port sauce, creamy Potato Mash and Pea Puree (my new favourite way to have peas). Dessert was this delicious Vanilla Creme Brulee which is one of my favourite desserts. It also happens to be Harry's favourite too so he was thrilled when I told him this was what I was making. After looking at a ton of recipes I ended up making up my own (taking a bit from here and there) and boy oh boy was it good! No it is most certainly NOT WW-friendly but hey, it was Mother's Day!


Vanilla Creme Brulee


500ml cream
100ml milk
5 egg yolks
100 g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp good vanilla extract (I would have used beans or vanilla paste but have just run out so had to use a fantastic extract instead)


Heat the oven to 140-150 C


Gently heat the milk and cream so it is almost to the boil. Add in the vanilla.


Whisk the egg yolks with the caster sugar until pale, then slowly add the heated cream/milk mixture. It's a good idea to temper the eggs first by adding in a bit of the heated milk and mixing it in first. This means you are less likely to cook the eggs than if you added all the hot cream at once. 


Sieve into a clean pot and heat gently stirring all the time until the custard  starts to thicken. Pour into ramekins (I got 4 good sized ones but it could have stretched to 5). Put into a bain marie (which is a water bath)....basically you put the ramekins into a bigger roasting dish and pour in hot water until it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.


Bake about 20-30 mins until the centres have a little bit of wobble to them when you gently jiggle them.


Remove to cool then put into the fridge for at least 3-4 hours (but preferably overnight). 


When you are ready to serve sprinkle the cold custards with icing sugar. I have used caster sugar in the past but it takes longer to caramelise than icing sugar. Go over the top with the blow torch until melted and crunchy.


Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

Sticky Toffee Pudding

So last night I had the family over for dinner minus my dad who is currently in Australia. When I was trying to decide what to make for dessert I thought of these puddings that my friend Caroline always makes. I had remembered they were a Delia Smith recipe but I couldn't see it in any of the cookbooks I have of hers. A quick search on Google resolved this easily. Delia Smith is a culinary icon...she's the British version of our very own Dame Alison Holst or the American version of Julia Child/Paula Dean or the Australian version of Margaret Fulton. They are the tried and true, whose recipes almost always work, the icons of everyday and sometimes a bit different food.  


These puddings lived up to their reputation of being easy to make, light and totally delicious. My step dad is from America...the South to be a bit more precise and he had never heard of them. That's because they really are a quintessential English pudding. No doubt there is an American version out there but as far as I know these are English in origin. The dates are softened and even though I don't really like dates, they don't taste very 'datey' in this pudding. The toffee sauce just elevates it all to a sublime level. I added in pecan nuts as directed in the recipe but I really don't think they added too much, if anything, to the finished product. Softly whipped cream is, to me, essential to cutting through the sweetness. Delia cuts the tops off and turns them upside down which probably helps the presentation but I just kept them as they were. I doubled the recipe to make more so I had some in the freezer to have on hand and the recipe doubled nicely.


As Dons and my sister Rochene are both Gluten intolerant I found a GF version online and by all accounts it was fantastic so I'll put that recipe on after this one even though I don't have a photo of them.


Sticky Toffee Pudding

175 g stoned dates, chopped

½ tsp vanilla extract

¾ tsp bicarbonate of soda

75 g butter, at room temperature

150 g caster sugar

2 large eggs, beaten

175 g self-raising flour, sifted

For the sauce:

25 g pecan nuts, chopped

175 g soft brown sugar

110 g butter

6 Tbsp cream Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease 8 Texas muffin tins or ramekans the same size.

Put the chopped dates in a bowl and pour175 ml boiling water over them.

Then add the vanilla extract and bicarbonate of soda and leave to one side. Next, in a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together, beating until the mixture is pale, light and fluffy.

Now gradually add the beaten eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition.

After that, carefully and lightly fold in the sifted flour using a metal spoon, and then you can fold in the date mixture (including the liquid). You'll probably think at this stage that you've done something wrong, because the mixture will look very sloppy, but don't worry: that is perfectly correct and the slackness of the mixture is what makes the puddings so light.

Now divide the mixture equally among the eight containers, place them on a baking tray and bake in the centre of the oven for 20-25 minutes. When they're cooked, leave them to cool for 5 minutes, then, using a cloth to protect your hands, slide a small palette knife around each pudding and turn it out. If they have risen too much you may have to slice a little off the tops so that they can sit evenly on the plate. Now place the puddings on a shallow, Swiss-roll tin. Next, make the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a saucepan and heating very gently until the sugar has melted and all the crystals have dissolved.

To serve the puddings: pre-heat the grill to its highest setting, and pour some of the sauce evenly over the puddings. Place the tin under the grill, so the tops of the puddings are about 13 cm)m from the heat (knock off any nuts on the top to prevent them browning) and let them heat through for about 8 minutes. What will happen is the tops will become brown and slightly crunchy and the sauce will be hot and bubbling. This step isn't essential though and the puddings could be heated in the microwave before serving.


Serve with extra sauce and either softly whipped or pouring cream.


Gluten Free Sticky Toffee Puddings



55g soft, room temperature butter
1/3 c packed light brown sugar
1 large egg beaten
½ c gf flour
¼ c almond meal
2 tsp vanilla extract 
½ c (75 g) stoned, chopped dates
1/3 c boiling water
1/2 tsp baking soda 
½ tsp baking powder 
Pinch of salt



Preheat oven to 180C and grease Texas muffin tins or normal muffin tins. 


Put dates in heat proof bowl and pour boiling water over them. Add vanilla extract and baking soda. Cream butter and sugar together until fairly light, creamy and fluffy.  It won’t get as fluffy and creamy with brown sugar as with granulated sugar, but flavor is better. Slowly beat egg in, beat well after each addition, it might look a bit curdled but that's fine.


Mix flour, almond meal, salt and baking powder together and carefully fold into butter mix. Don’t over mix, it will still look dry and floury.


Gently fold date and liquid into mix. It will now look sloppy, lumpy, not like a normal cake batter.

Place on baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes. They wont rise like the other puddings but they still tasted light and yummy. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.


Follow the same process as you do for the normal puddings above.

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Wow it feels like forever since I last posted. Needless to say it has been a busy time. In the last couple of weeks I have been to Sydney for a conference, come back and caught up with all that needed doing since I had been gone, got back into the swing of being a mother of two boys and gone back to work! The night before I left we had a little get together for mine and my mum's birthday as on the actual days I was working night shift. 


I was mum's 21st birthday present as I was born only 2 days after she had her 21st. Imagine that! Being largely pregnant with your first baby and going into a long and difficult labour and delivery all on the milestone that is turning 21! For a couple of years it was just me and my mum until she met my lovely dad when I was nearly two. She had struggled a lot...especially having a baby on her own in the 1960's which was a little taboo (to put it mildly). It still amazes me that she pulled it off, as back then there were no benefits to help women in that situation and adoption was more the norm rather than the exception it is today. Life was hard for my mum as she had to go back to work when I was only about 6 weeks old, put me into daycare and negotiate all that went with having a little baby at a time when this was largely socially unacceptable. Thanks goodness she had the guts to not feel the pressure to adopt me out or allow my grandparents to adopt me. My mum is an amazing woman and I'm very lucky to have her. So on our birthdays we try to do something to mark the occasion.


This year I made a whole of of yummy nibbles and in the interest of it being a birthday celebration had to make these cupcakes. This recipe is from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book and I have long wanted to try them. I saw them blogged about which not only reminded me about the recipe (when you have so many it can get a little confusing), but also said how delicious they were. And they are! If you love Tiramisu (as I do), you WILL love these cupcakes. The cupcake recipe was easy and delicious and the syrup only makes them better. You will think that there is no way you will use it all up, but you do and they aren't soggy and over-syruped at all. And of course anything with mascarpone has GOT to be good. So these are for you mum xxxxx


Tiramisu Cupcakes (Martha Stewart 'Cupcakes')


Cupcakes


1 1/4 c flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 c milk
Vanilla paste or extract (about 1 tsp) 
70g butter
3 large whole eggs and 3 egg yolks at room temperature
1 c sugar


Oven to 170C. Line muffin tins (I got about 26). 
Sift the flour and baking powder together (If you are using unsalted butter ad in 1/2 tsp salt. Heat the milk until bubble just appear around the edge. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla then stand for about 15 mins.


With an electric mixer on medium, whisk together whole eggs, yolks and sugar. Set over a pan of simmering water and whisk my hand until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is warm. Remove the bowl from the heat. With the electric mixer on high speed, whisk until the mixture is fluffy, pale yellow and thick enough to hold a ribbon on the surface when the whisk is lifted.


Gently but thoroughly fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture in 3 batches; stir a 1/2 c of the batter into the milk mixture to thicken then fold that into the batter until just combined.


Fill the muffin tin 3/4 full and bake about 20 mins. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.


To finish brush the tops with the coffee syrup until all the syrup has been used. Allow the cupcakes to sit for 30 mins then put the mascarpone frosting on top and dust with cocoa powder.


Coffee Syrup


1/3 c espresso or strongly brewed coffee
1/4 c marsala or Kahlua 
1/4 c sugar


Stir together until sugar is dissolved.


Mascarpone Frosting


250g mascarpone
1 c cream
1/2 icing sugar


Whisk cream until stiff peaks form. Whisk the mascarpone and icing sugar together and gently fold this into the mascarpone.

My lovely friend Andrea and I

Harry and Ruby

Yum!