condensed milk cookies

For me, these cookies were the result of major boredom. They are easy peasy to make, using just three basic ingredients and then you can pick and choose whatever you want to compliment the cookies – I used milk chocolate chips and sprinkles. Find the recipe here (yet another one from the Raspberri Cupcakes blog!).

freycinet

Despite living in Tasmania for many years, I only just made my first trip out to Freycinet earlier this month. And wow, it was absolutely stunning! I've tried to capture the untouched beauty of gorgeous Wineglass Bay and Hazards Beach through these photos, and also hopefully prove to my lovely Brisbane friends that Tasmania isn’t just all about two-headed, six-fingered people =P 

chocolate and raspberry layered cake with macarons

After many, many long months, I finally managed to find some time to blog again! =)

So last month, I made this cake for my housemate’s birthday – a devil’s food cake layered with raspberry and white chocolate ganache, coated in dark chocolate ganache and topped with fresh raspberries and vanilla macarons filled with raspberry and white chocolate ganache – and it was absolutely delicious! And yes, whilst a little time consuming it was well worth seeing it demolished in just over a day.

The cake itself is beautifully moist and scrumptious, so much so it’s definitely going to become my staple chocolate cake recipe from now onwards. Both the ganaches were easy enough to make, and you can most definitely change the quantity of raspberry puree in the white chocolate and raspberry ganache to suit your taste preference. Spreading the dark chocolate ganache on the outside of the cake proved to be very annoying as always – I still haven’t mastered the skills to do it very well!

For the macarons, I used a beginners macaron recipe considering the epic fail that was my first batch of macarons from a couple of years ago (I’ve been intentionally avoiding making macarons ever since). But my second attempt, thankfully, was much better! If you’re not overly keen to try your hand at the macarons, you can always buy them from a store, or simply top the cake with raspberries alone which still looks amazing.

Find the recipe for the cake here, and for macaron beginners I’d recommend using this macaron recipe.

chocolateria san churro

I've been hanging out for San Churro for way too long, and let's just say that churros and chocolate are NEVER a bad idea! We got the churros fiesta which came with heaps of deliciously warm churros (that were crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, some coated with icing sugar and some with cinnamon sugar) and sooooo many pots of beautiful melted chocolate and caramel to dip them in. And the hot caramel dulce de leche drink I ordered was so beyond amazing that it was pretty much finished instantaneously. San Churro is definitely going to be the first place I visit next time I'm in Brissy, and looking at their extensive and scrumptious menu I think I'll slowly have to try everything on it, starting with their desserts and macarons...

happy birthday to me

Having come across this gorgeous four-layered vanilla cake on the Raspberri Cupcakes blog, I chose my birthday as the perfect excuse to make it. With just one cake tin, it was a little time consuming baking four separate cakes but after seeing the finished layered product, it was definitely time well spent! The cake itself was slightly dense, but still delicious especially in combination with the vanilla buttercream. Things got extremely messy when it came to decorating the cake with sprinkles, so be prepared to clean up afterwards! I also made some mini bunting to sit on top which I think added a lovely final touch to the cake.

very vanilla

With so many flavoured cupcakes available these days, vanilla cupcakes seem to sometimes get forgotten. I personally love the flavour of vanilla, so vanilla cupcakes remain one of my favourite types of cupcake. Whilst I’ve sworn on this vanilla cupcake recipe for years now, I thought it was time to find a new one bursting with even more vanilla flavour.

I spent a lot of time searching the internet and came across this recipe, which is a result of a fellow baker and food blogger who was on her own quest to find the ulimate vanilla cupcake recipe. And wow, it is an amazing one! The cupcake is light, fluffy and very, very vanilla-y! I decided to keep it simple and team the cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream. It was heaven. I also decorated the cupcakes with handmade fondant glitter butterflies, which were quite time-consuming to make, but ended up looking really pretty.

For those wanting to make a vanilla buttercream, here’s my approximate recipe: 1) beat 250g of softened butter in a bowl until pale, 2) gradually beat in about 3 cups of icing sugar, tasting occasionally and adding more according to taste, and 3) finish off with a teaspoon of vanilla essence. The more you beat the ingredients together, the more fluffy the buttercream becomes, and the more amazing it is to bite through when eating the cupcake. You can also find a delicious vanilla swiss meringue buttercream frosting here.

new shanghai

Deep fried chicken with special garlic and chilli sauce.

Pan fried pork dumplings containing broth.

Rainbow beef - deep fried shredded beef tossed with sweet and sour sauce and sesame sauce.

Pork belly braised overnight in sweet soy sauce.

Steamed mini pork buns.

Whenever I visit Brisbane I find myself continuously eating, thus I’m always inadvertently searching for new and exciting restaurants to dine in. New Shanghai, located in Queens Plaza on the mall, is definitely my most favourite new find. Their menu is extensive and packed full of delicious dishes. The dumplings we ordered were by far the best dumplings I have ever eaten, and the rainbow beef stood out as my favourite main dish. Be sure to accompany your meal with the lime chiller drink – both lusciously light and refreshingly flavoursome. Overall, beautiful food, cooked to perfection and served in no time at all.

raspberry friands

I’m so used to making cupcakes and then having to whip up accompanying frosting that I had completely forgotten how easy and quick something is to bake when you don't have to worry about more than one component! These raspberry friands are the perfect example. They are super quick to make, beautifully moist and most of all, really scrumptious (the batch I made barely lasted a day). Find the recipe here.

lime and coconut cupcakes

The beautiful combination of lime and coconut flavours creates this easy peasy, light and super delicious cupcake. I added in some lime juice as I thought the lime rind itself didn’t quite give enough lime flavour to the cupcake, and I also topped the cupcakes with some shredded coconut. This recipe was taken from a cupcake book I got given for my birthday last year.

Lime coconut cupcakes

250g butter, softened

2 teaspoons coconut essence

1 tablespoon finely grated lime rind

1 1/3 cups (290g) caster sugar

4 eggs

2/3 cup (160mL) milk

1 1/2 cups (120g) desiccated coconut

2 1/2 cups (375g) self-raising flour

Coconut cream cheese frosting

60g butter, softened

160g cream cheese, softened

2 teaspoons coconut essence

3 cups (480g) icing sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC/160ºC fan forced. Line two 12-hole standard muffin pans with paper cases.

2. Beat butter, essence, rind, sugar and eggs in large bowl with electric mixer until combined.

3. Stir in milk and coconut, then sifted flour. Divide mixture among cases, smooth surface.

4. Bake cupcakes for about 25 minutes. Turn onto wire rack to cool.

5. Make frosting by beating butter, cream cheese and essence, then gradually beat in sifted icing sugar.

6. Spread (or pipe) cupcakes with frosting and decorate.

xx