Valentines Rocky Road treats

It's got to be the easiest treat to make, but looks so adorable when it's all wrapped up and tied with ribbon. I couldn't resist making these for all the teachers at work. I whipped them up pretty quickly the night before and had them all packaged up and ready in no time. The great thing about rocky road is that you are not tied to any particular ingredient. For the chocolate you can use white, milk or dark or evencombine all three to make a lively tri-coloured version. For the surprises inside there's the choice of maltesers, marshmallows, snickers bars, rice krispies, dried fruits, jellies to name a few...you are only limited by your imagination! Melt your chocolate, toss in the goodies, pop into a flat tin (lined with cling wrap) and leave in the fridge. These are great to make with kids. Just make sure you're not around when they start eating them! After 15 years of teaching one thing I know for certain is that children + chocolate = DISASTER!

Lemon crepes...lovely and light

The lemon kick continues...and as well as being a cake snob I am also a pancake snob. There's nothing I hate more than being served a big thick greasy pancake...especially one with doorstep sized chunks of banana or pineapple. Believe me, what I have just described are served up on a daily basis in just about every bungalow and homestay across Bali. When I make pancakes they MUST be like crepes...wafer thin. I have an amazing pancake pan that aids me wonderfully in this process. A simple batter of 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of milk and 1 egg usually does the job. Today however, I decided to put in 2 tablespoons of my deliciously divine vanilla infused whiskey. The concoction has been brewing away quietly in a dark corner for a few months and has now turned into a very rich vanilla essence. The addition of this ingredient really managed to enrich the batter with such an amazing vanilla aroma while they were cooking in the pan. It made the pancakes taste completely different. This will certainly be an ingredient that will be included every time. And how do I like my pancakes? With a sprinkling of sugar and a squeeze of lemon, of course. How do you like yours?

lovely lemon scones

I can still recall when I was working in Singapore not all that long ago, the lemon scones that were sold in the basement coffee shop. They were so good that fellow teachers and I used to gloat if we were lucky enough to get one of the few they had on sale each morning. And the reality...how incredibly simple they are to make. There is something about scones that is just so wholesome and good. Even more so when flavoured with one of my absolute favourite flavours - lemon. Of course, the key to it all is a generous lemon drizzle on the top and suddenly you have a fabulous start to the day...

christmas shortbread stars...

you just have to make star-shaped biscuits for Christmas. it really is a must because they just look so pretty. I got this recipe from a friend as when I tried her biscuits they just seemed to melt in your mouth. the recipe is incredibly simple...2 cups of flour, 1/3 cup of icing sugar, 2 tablespoons of rice flour and 250g of butter. you rub in the butter and then knead into a dough and roll out the dough. it's super easy and great to make with kids. you bake them for about 15 minutes until lightly browned and then dust with icing sugar. pop in a jar and serve to Christmas visitors...Merry Christmas everyone!

apple streusel bundt cake...full of surprises...

this was absolutely delightful. it came about due to a sincere craving for something that tasted like my nana's apple pie but yet had a cinnamon swirl going through it. so I used dorie's double apple bundt cake recipe, with apple butter and grated apple in it. I omitted the cinnamon and instead hunted down a streusel recipe so that I could but the streusel in the middle of the cake. I found a recipe with butter, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and nuts. easy peasy! naturally I was extremely worried, as one always is with bundt cakes, that the streusel topping would stick to the pan and I'd be left with half a cake. thankfully though it came out pretty clean with only a bit of the skin missing. once it was iced with a vanilla bourbon glaze, it was ready to be delivered to the barbecue I was attending. the cake was delicious, however as it had only been baked that morning I feel it didn't have enough time to settle and the flavours to emerge. it also crumbled a bit, again I think in hindsight it would have been better to cook it the night before. the streusel swirl was delicious and gave a real intense kick to the cake. just wish I'd got a photo of the middle!

chocolate ganache topped devilish cupcakes...

so, i have always wanted to try making ganache but for the longest time thought it was a really difficult process. how wrong was i? it really couldn't be easier. you just make sure you have decent dark chocolate...I like 70% or more for the flavour and some cream. you melt the chocolate. heat up the cream. mix the two together and there you have it. the best part is how the consistency changes as it cools. if you want a thin glaze you pretty much pour it over your cake straight away. if you want butter icing type consistency you let it cool for twenty minutes or so. or if you'd like to make some chocolate truffles, pop it in the fridge until it is a thick fudge like consistency. it's wonderful and I can't believe I shied away from using it before...as you can see it make a perfect topping to my devil's food cupcakes...

a bundt full of rainbow...

what do you make someone on their birthday that guarantees a smile and exclaims of surprise? why, Rainbow Bundt Cake of course! the reaction to this cake is the same every time...just real looks of joy at a rainbow in a cake. followed by questions 'how did you do it?'. the procedure is surrisingle simple really...just takes a wee bit longer to add in the colours to the separated batter. the best part is that from the outside it just looks like regular cake. it's when the recipient cuts into it that the real surprise takes place. i like the colours to be really vivid to bring out the effect of the rainbow. you can't have a pale rainbow! this was made for Sarah's birthday and i'm so glad it filled her special day with rainbows :)

Lovely light lemon bundt cake

there is nothing like lemon. it just has a lovely zing to it that makes you feel fresh ad alert. it must be one of my favourite scents. and although i haven't posted for a VERY long time, i still have been baking. i'm particularly enjoying bundt cakes and have baked many over these past months. part of the reason i've been offline is because my domain expired and i have been to hell and back to try and get it back. however, i am without success and am now contemplating a name change. so it's back to my blogspot address until i figure out my next move. meanwhile, here is something to wet your taste buds...this is deliciously light. made with yogurt and real lemons, it was moist and fluffy. i made it to bring into work and it was gone in 5 minutes with hungry teachers slicing off doorstep slices and coming back for seconds :)

Marbled Banana Chocolate Bundt Cake...now there's a mouthful!

banana and chocolate, chocolate and banana...always a good combination in my book and in this bundt cake a little bite of perfection in every piece. i've been making this recipe for a while now and it is a firm favourite in my household and is frequently requested...again i am blessed to be living in a country where when you go to the supermarket there is a selection of maybe 5 or 6 different types of bananas on sale and each variety perfect for different uses. i think this is the secret that makes this cake so good. i use pisang ambon, which means banana ambon, ambon being a place in Indonesia where the banana comes from. the bananas are deliciously sweet and soft and the longer you leave them the more sweeter the taste. the original recipe calls for 4 mashed bananas, i use 6 when i make this because the bananas gives such a lovely moistness to the cake as well as the addition of a cup of yoghurt. there's something about bundt cakes...they just look so comforting and adorable that i love making cakes in my super-expensive but most worth it bundt pan...ABSOLUTE comfort food!

cupcakes dressed as rainbows...for halloween...and much more...

so i needed a challenge for this year's Halloween cupcakes and what better challenge than to attempt 'rainbow cakes'...because let's face it...anyone who is insane enough to go to all that trouble of dividing up batter, adding food colouring, then spooning each colour patiently into each cup in layers...well it takes time, patience and a whole lotta love for rainbows. and thankfully i have all those ingredients...as well as the ones necessary for the cupcakes! i just used a regular vanilla cupcake recipe that i'm sure is lurking around my site somewhere and then i divided it up and added the food colours. easy to make but time consuming to complete...but so fun when they come out of the oven and you see rainbows baked into cakes and then you take a bite...and wow! you just feel sunshine and love oozing out of you. unfortunately the one in the photo was not the best specimen, the rest had to be divided up amongst party guests so this one was the 'extra' photo model that i made but unfortunately didn't have quite enough batter for...hence the uneven lopsidedness to it...!

these were made for a halloween party last night, and not just to celebrate halloween because every year halloween has a special meaning for me now, for not only is it my favourite celebration of the year, it is also the day exactly a year ago when i met a very special someone who has cascaded into my life with such grace and brought all the colours of the rainbow with him back into my days. and so these were made for halloween, for a one year anniversary and for love...

i would absolutely make these again, even with all the time it took because the look on people's faces as they bit into them was joy unrivalled in itself. they are just such happy little cakes and next time i might attempt a big cake if it's someone's birthday because i think the effect of the rainbow might just be a little more perfect in a big cake.

sunshine and joy in a cup...on sale NOW!

ok today is a super happy, sunshine-y, joyfilled day...my cupcakes went on sale today at Green Ginger House in Jl. Pantai Brawa, Canggu, Bali...the flavour of the day...lemongrass-lime cupcakes...a lemongrass cupcake with lime cream cheese frosting and little candied limes to decorate. may this be the beginning of a beautiful realtionship and may airy fairy cupcakes be instantly snapped up and orders abound...here they are all happily lined up in their transportation case waiting to go...don't they look happy...i can almost hear them chirping...'we're going on sale, we're going on sale, hey-ho the merry-oh, we're going on sale'...:)

cheesecake brownies...a perfect combination

i totally forgot i made these while i was in ireland and was browsing through my photos and found them. cheesecake brownies...don't knock 'em till you've tried them...the combination of chocolate and cheese together is so incredibly good and these were so delicious hot, straight from the oven with a big blob of vanilla ice-cream. i could have eaten them all (and probably nearly did!) because i fell blissfully in love with these two paired together, so as to create a cozy little love-triangle between us. i think, if i also remember correctly there was guinness mixed in with the chocolate batter because i was on a guinness kick, what with being back at home. and i remember now that the guinness enhanced the chocolate particularly well, making it rich and fudgy. don't ask me where the recipe is...i think scribbled on a piece of paper down the back of some table in my parents house in ireland. i know i scoured the internet for a couple of recipes and then did a bit of a merger between them. it might reappear though...at some point

a return to the old country with Guinness Brown Bread

so how does one celebrate stepping back into the Emerlad Isle after an absence of 2 years? well what better way than with some Guinness Brown Bread. when it comes to Guinness, i am very proud to say that us Irish are a bunch of snobs...yes, that's right, there is such a thing as a Guinness snob...basically no Irish person would ever really enjoy a pint of the 'black stuff' beyond the Emerald Isle...and even within the Emerald Isle itself there are certain pubs where we would go purely to drink Guinness because of the way the pint is 'pulled' from the tap. it is a culture here...so to really enjoy my return to the 'old country' i needed to incorporate some of the black stuff into my baking to truly get back into the mood...the bread turned out delicious. it was rich and full of the flavour of the Guinness. if i made this again though, i wouldn't add the demerara sugar because i think it made it too sweet and less bread-like and with the treacle already added i think it provides enough sweetness to the bread. and according to others who have tasted Guinness bread, it should be a tad darker...so i would need to re-think how to darken the bread some more because it didn't appear dark enough for my liking. but overall i was really pleased with the result...with no eggs or yeast in this recipe, it both rose and was of a traditional irish bread density.

Guinness Brown Bread

450g coarse wholemeal

2 level teaspoons bread soda

25g pinhead oatmeal

4 tablespoons demerara sugar

50g margarine

1 tablespoon treacle

400 ml guinness

preheat oven to 190C and lightly grease a 2lb loaf tin

put margarine and treacle in a saucepan and allow margarine to melt

meanwhile put wholemeal, oatmeal and sugar into bowl. sieve in bread soda and mix well

when margarine has melted add guinness and stir

add liquid to dry ingredients and mix well

transfer to tin and bake for about 40-50 minutes until risen

wrap in a clean cloth and allow to cool.

eat slathered with good creamy butter...you know you want to...

kek batik...

so this is batik...indonesia's famous fabric designs that they are very proud of...

and this...

is kek batik or batik cake...which i am very proud of...

and no, it wasn't baked in my antique oven...i seem to be having a bit of a blockage with the oven for the moment and found out about this delightful cake when i was in Singapore recently. a friend had it at their house for Hari Raya and when i tasted it i fell instantly in love with the taste, flavour, the whole deal...the cake was very chocolately, with a fudgey-cake like consistency and yet the sweetness of the biscuits mixed in there too. a perfect combination! so when i got back to Bali i had a search on the internet and found a few recipes and decided to just take my chances, pick one and hope for the best. making the cake was easy. it's all done on the stove top - eggs, butter, sugar, milo, cocoa, condensed milk and vanilla extract. then when you reach the right consistency you mix in the broken up biscuits, put it in a baking tin and stick it in the fridge overnight. i was worried that it wouldn't set and firm up properly. but it set wonderfully and was easy to slice too. i made this for a get-together at a friend's place and it went down a treat. seconds all round and lots of lip licking and tongue smacking! oh, the joy to be able to add another no-bake to my repertoire!

an absolute MUST to make and try yourself!

italians do it better...with italian brownie muffins

i came across this recipe on a blog called italialicious and it just kinda caught my eye in that it had a whole cup of olive oil in it! i mean first of all, i have NEVER used olive oil when baking muffins so i was curious to see what the effect was. the blog itself is a delightful array of italian recipes from pasta to tiramisu. i have thoroughly enjoyed reading through the many recipes.

so anyway, i got everything together and was surprised at the texture of the batter. i mean it was pretty dense and kinda had a gelatinous quality to it...i had a moment of...'oh no' but pushed on because one of the many joys of baking (thank god) is that don't always be fooled by the batter.

i deviated from the original recipe a bit in that i don't trust essences here in indonesia. mostly because, most of them look like substances you might have used in chemistry lab experiments when you were at school...bright orange, yellow...thick, scary, flourescent...you get the idea...(i'll take a picture next time i'm in the supermarket just in case you don't!) so i didn't add any orange essence or zest. but everything else i kept to.

popped them in the oven and they rose really well. still need some fiddling with the oven though, because a couple were a tad too well done on top for my liking - someone mentioned i should go to the beach and get some sand and spread it on a tray and leave it at the bottom of the oven to distribute the heat more evenly, it could be time to do this as the muffins on the sides of the tray are baking faster than the ones in the middle.

anyway out they came (i'd also sprinkled some chocolate chips on top) and cooled off.

then came the taste test...these were very cake-like, as opposed to fudgey (which some more american brownies can be, but often i find fudgey textures to be very heavy) and had a very good strong chocolate flavour (which probably had a lot to do with the one cup of ghirardelli cocoa that went in - carried with love from singapore as not available in indonesia!) i really enjoyed them and found them to be rich, without being heavy and moist without being fudgey. a nice combination both of flavour and texture.

in this case...i might just have to agree that italians definitely do it better :)