Friday 19 October 2012

Sticky Jam cupcakes



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My sister hates Sticky Date pudding. In her opinion, dates are not edible. I on the other hand, love the goey delicousness that makes sticky date pudding so wonderful. When the request for cupcakes came, I knew I had a challange:

Make sticky date cupcakes- without the dates.

I decided to adapt a chocolate cake recipe, as most chocolate cakes have jam in them. If I could subtract the coco and icing suger from the recipe, I should have a sticky cupcake recipe.

So I did,

I was a little worried over the mixture colour, as grey sludge does not look like an appealing cupcake mixture. However, once the cupcakes were cooked they turned a nice brown colour.

My adaptions weren't entirely perfect (Big surprise!) as the cupcakes were super sweet. I coated them in Dark chocolate gnash, and added frozen chocolate flowers on top: Perfect!

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To make these cupcakes you will need:
1. 75g butter at room temperature
2.125g  caster sugar
3. 2 eggs
4. Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
5. 1/2 cup blackberry Jam (Or if blackberry isn't to your taste, another jam will work fine)
6. 1 and 1/4 sifted self-raising flour
7. 1 teaspoon sifted bicarbonate of soda
8. 2/3 cup of milk

Step 1. Preheat an oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Take 3 cupcake trays and fill them with patty pans.

Step 2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a mix master/ or similar. Add the eggs gradually, and beat in the vanilla and jam. 

Step 3. Turn the speed down to low (1-3) and add the combined flour and bicarb soda alternatively with the milk.

Step 4. Pour the mixture into the cupcake trays and cook for 15 minutes or until brown.

Step 5. Turn the cupcakes onto a wire tray and allow to cool. Ice and eat!

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  P.S.I left some of the cupcakes un-iced and they were deliciously sticky!

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Rainbow Cupcakes


When I was little ~ 11 and under~ my favourite ice-cream was rainbow. As a kid I never bothered trying other flavours, I was firm in my understanding that there was No better flavour then rainbow.

I've moved on. Today I eat the delicious and mature flavours of macadamia and raspberry.
However every once in a while I have an urge to make cook something pretty, not because I'm craving cake (Although I was!) , but because pretty food makes me smile.

A faint trace of my early ice-cream choices still remains, so I made Rainbow Cupcakes.

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I know right? Feel those cupcakes cravings consume you~ and go make your own.

You will need:

A cake/cupcake batter ( I used the plain cake recipe from The Common Sense Cookbook)
4 different food dyes
A cupcake tray
Cupcake cases
A lot of spoons (I used about 6)
 4 small bowls

1. Take the bowls and fill them almost to the top with cake batter.
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2. Stir a different dye into each bowl, until the colour is evenly mixed.


3. Start with one colour and place a small spoonful of batter in each cupcake case. Repeat with all of the remaining colours.

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4. Even out the top of the cupcake,and very gently shake the tray until the batter is in the cupcake case shape.

5. Bake for 20min or until a fork comes out clean when stuck in a cupcake.

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Ice and eat!

Tuesday 9 October 2012

Chickpea Fritters

These delicious fritters are healthy and nutritious. When I make them for my family we have them hot in bread rolls with salad and Greek Yogurt, or cold in lunches.

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To make these chickpea delights you will need:
1 cup of Self-Raising flour
4tsp of coriander seeds
2tsp mild paprika
a pinch of salt
pepper (to your taste)
3tsp cumin seeds
1/3 cup of water
Olive oil
One small onion (diced)
2 eggs
600g can of chickpeas (drained)

1.Grind the coriander, pepper, paprika, salt and cumin into a fine dust. Take a food processor and mix the flour and spice mixture.

2.Whisk the eggs and water together in a separate bowl, and add to the dry mixture.

3. Process this mixture with the chickpeas and onion until it is blended to a smooth consistency.

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4. Coat a non-stick frying pan with olive oil and place on a low heat. Drop heaped spoons of batter on the pan, and cook until golden. When both sides are evenly cooked transfer to a warm plate and serve.

Enjoy!

Monday 8 October 2012

Super Quick Ice Cream

 Last weekend I made this ice-cream.
It is wonderful and super-duper easy!

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It's kinda a cheats way of making ice-cream cause it doesn't start from scratch. However it is very quick and tastes delicious! 

You will need:
Some cheap- vanilla ice cream
Strawberries/ Tinned apples
A teaspoon of sugar for ever two scoops of ice-cream.
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Take all your ingredients and process them in a blender/food processor. When the mixture is smooth, pour it into a sealed container and leave in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours.
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Perfect for a hot Summer afternoon!

P.S. A friend of mine has a mulberry tree, and she made a sorbet with the fruit.
When she gave me some of the sorbet I found it a little too sweet, so I used this recipe to make ice-cream (Minus the sugar of course). It was fabulous!