Coconut Cream Pie

Hi!
If there is anyone out there who has been expecting updates every week, i'm sorry I seem to be failing at that lately.  I've gotten into Pinterest and all I seem to do is look at pins whenever i'm online, it's pretty amazing the things you find on there lol.  Anyway, today I have Coconut Cream Pie!

Yay! I'm quite happy with the way it turned out. It's another recipe i've never made before so I wasn't really sure what to expect.  My family loved it but i'm pretty sure they just love any type of pie lol.  It was not too sweet and it was creamy.  The coconut gives it an interesting texture.

Here is the recipe :)

Coconut Cream Pie Recipe

Ingredients

For the Pastry:

• 175 grams plain flour
• 100 grams cold butter (cut into small pieces)
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk

For the Filling:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups milk
• 4 eggs
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup flaked coconut

For the Vanilla Whipped Cream:

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 3 tablespoons icing sugar

Method

1. For the Pastry, put the flour, butter, icing sugar, egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of cold water into a food processor. Using the pulse button so the mix is not overworked, process until the mix starts to bind. 
2. Tip the pastry onto a lightly floured surface, gather together until smooth, then roll out and gently press the pastry into a lightly oiled pie dish. Trim and neaten the edges.  
3. Prick the base with a fork, line with foil, shiny side down, and chill for half an hour to an hour (or overnight).Bake the pastry case 'blind' (filled with dry beans) for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and bake a further 5 to 8 minutes until the pastry is pale golden and cooked. Set aside.
4. To make the Filling: In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt over a medium heat. Gradually stir in milk. 
5. Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture is thick and bubbly. Reduce heat to low and cook 2 minutes more. Remove the pan from heat.
6. Separate the egg yolks from whites. Beat the egg yolks slightly. 
7. Gradually stir 1 cup of the hot mixture into yolks. Return the egg mixture to the saucepan and bring the entire mixture to a gentle boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes before removing the pan from heat.
8. Stir butter, vanilla, and coconut into the hot mixture. 
9. Pour the hot filling into the baked pie crust and leave it out to cool.
10. To make the vanilla cream topping: In a mixing bowl, Combine the cream, vanilla essence and icing sugar and beat to soft peaks and spread on top of the cooled coconut cream filling. Sprinkle with toasted coconut and serve. 

Tip: When you are making the filling, watch the saucepan like a hawk because if you turn away for a minute, it may start to burn (I may or may not be speaking from personal experience...).  Make your pie crust well before you start the filling. I tried to multitask by keeping an eye on the pie crust in the oven while making the filling on the stove. Not pretty.

Moral of this story: Don't be a hero, Multitasking isn't kind to the uncoordinated.

Happy Halloween :) even though its like 12:45am so technically, its not halloween anymore.  Next week I will try to post something halloween related since Bakery Story has Halloween items for a limited time.

♡ B

Pecan Pie

So I lied at the end of my last post. Pecan Pie post is finally here (two weeks later! Ooops)

Ok, so my Pecan Pie looks nothing like the one from Bakery Story LOL but it's all about the taste right? I've never tried pecan pie before so I was keen to give this recipe a go. I liked how the pecans are arranged on the bottom of the pastry shell before you pour the liquid on top and as the pie bakes, the pecans rise to the top. I probably sound stupid 'coz I was totally like OMG magic! haha. I had hard times trying to cut slices without the pecans falling off and leaving big gaping holes lol.

Pecan Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

For the Pastry

• 175g plain flour
• 100g cold butter , cut into small pieces
• 1 tbsp icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk

For the Filling

• 90g butter, melted
• 2/3 cup golden syrup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup pecan nuts

Method:

1. For the Pastry, put the flour, butter, icing sugar, egg yolk and 1 tbsp cold water into a food processor. Using the pulse button so the mix is not overworked, process until the mix starts to bind. 
2. Tip the pastry onto a lightly floured surface, gather together until smooth, then roll out and gently press the pastry into a lightly oiled pie dish. Trim and neaten the edges. The pastry is quite rich, so don't worry if it cracks, just press it back together. 
3. Prick the base with a fork, line with foil, shiny side down, and chill for half an hour to an hour (or overnight).Bake the pastry case 'blind' (filled with dry beans) for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and bake a further 5 to 8 minutes until the pastry is pale golden and cooked. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, melt the butter, stir in golden syrup, brown sugar and lightly beaten eggs. 
5. Add sifted flour and baking powder, stir until smooth. 
6. Sprinkle pecan nuts over the baked pastry base, then pour in the filling mixture. 
7. Place the pie in the oven and bake at 180°C for 30 minutes until firm and dark golden brown.

Next time: Coconut Cream Pie (notice I said next time and not next week LOL I will aim for next week though!)

♡ B

Podium Cake

Hellooo! I know i'm just a tad bit late on the Olympics front but I made Podium Cake.  I'm just gonna say it's to celebrate Valerie Adams finally receiving her gold medal a little over a week ago YAY!

Here is a screen shot of what the entire cake looks like in my bakery.  I decided to decorate and photograph the whole cake this time because it has a few different decorative elements and it would've been weird for me to just fondant a little slice of cake haha.

So this is my Podium Cake.  I've never worked with fondant before so this was quite fun for me.  I guess I cheated because I used a ready-to-roll packet of fondant but moulding all the elements and putting them all together in the end took ages for me (or maybe i'm just really slow haha).

I started off by making a double batch of a basic vanilla cake, split the batter into two bowls and then coloured one with pink food colouring and the other with blue.  I baked them separately and left them to cool completely.  

After the cakes had cooled, I cut them up and arranged them into the appropriate levels to resemble the podiums.  I made a basic buttercream frosting to sandwich the two different coloured cakes together and coated the whole cake structure with the buttercream so that the fondant would have something to stick to.  

The fondant is quite easy to mould, it's like working with playdough.  I bought a plain white fondant and coloured it with gel colouring.  I find gel colours the easiest to work with because you only need a small amount for an intense colour (I think normal food colouring might affect the consistency of the fondant too, i'm not too sure).

I looked up tutorial videos on YouTube to learn how to make the flowers and with the rest, I sort of winged it LOL.

I like how fondant give cakes such a nice finish and there is so much you can do with it.  It's no that nice to eat though haha.

Next week: Pecan Pie

♡ B

Eclairs

I had a week off from work and since I had nowhere to go and no one to go with...I baked.  With all this extra time on my hands, I wanted to bake something that I thought would be a little bit challenging so I chose Eclairs.  I didn't think Eclairs would be too hard to make until I watched an episode of "Chelsea New Zealand's Hottest Home Baker" where they had to make choux pastry and they were all nervous because apparently even the best pastry chefs have trouble with it.  My baking skills are pretty average so I was prepared for an epic fail.

I don't know if you can tell from this picture but this is the first batch that went into they oven.  They puffed up perfectly and it looked like they were burning so I took them out early and they deflated like balloons lol.  Making the pastry is a pretty simple process but it's the baking part you have to worry about.  When I put in my second batch, I decided to cover them with a sheet of tin foil about halfway though to stop them from burning but still allow them to continue baking.  I learnt that the pastry has to dry out on the inside so it doesn't collapse.

My second batch turned out better but to be honest, no one is going to care if the pastry is flat when you fill it with the cream and coat it with chocolate NOM! These are dangerously addictive.  Picture is slightly out-of-focus because it was about 5pm and I didn't have a lot of daylight left but I HAD to take a photo of it because my family was home and the eclairs would've been all eaten before the chocolate had time to set. No joke.  I think I messed up the chocolate part (too runny?) because I didn't read the instructions properly. My bad.  It still tasted good, I mean, it's pastry, cream and chocolate...how could that not taste good?

I even had a little bit of pastry left over to make some cream puffs.

Eclairs Recipe

Ingredients

For the Choux Pastry

1 cup flour 

a pinch of salt
1 cup cold water
80g unsalted butter, cubed
3 large eggs, lightly beaten

For the Cream Filling

500ml cream

1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

For the Chocolate Icing

150g dark chocolate
60g soft unsalted butter
1/4 cup boiling water

Method

1. Sift flour and salt onto a piece of paper. Place the water and butter into a saucepan and heat until butter melts.
2. Bring liquid to a boil then quickly put in all the flour at once. Remove the pan from the heat and beat just enough to bring the mixture together into a smooth dough.
3. Turn the mixture into a bowl and leave to cool for 10 minutes. With an electric mixer, beat the eggs, in small amounts, into the cooled mixture. Continue beating until the mixture is very glossy.
4. Preheat oven to 200ºC. Line two baking trays with nonstick baking paper.  Sprinkle trays with cold water to create steam during cooking as this will help the choux pastry rise.  Spoon or pipe onto prepared baking trays.
5. Bake for 15 minutes until puffed, then reduce oven to 180ºC and cook for a further 30 minutes until dry inside and golden brown.
6. Remove from the oven and using a knife, pierce a hole in the base of each choux puff. Cool on a wire rack.  
7. For the filling, whip the cream, vanilla essence and sugar together.
8. For the icing, melt chocolate and water together over very low heat until just melted. Beat in softened butter. 
9. For the assembly, carefully cut each eclair in half, fill with whipped cream and spread a thin layer of icing onto each eclair.

Enjoy :)

♡ B

Lemon Meringue Pie

Hi!
Told ya i'd update this week haha.  I made Lemon Meringue Pie for the very first time years ago, like maybe 7 years ago? Man, that makes me sound/feel old LOL.  I like how the meringue is all fluffy and it looks so light and crunchy.  So with that in mind, I made this Lemon Meringue Pie and I was looking forward to that crunchy top but it was soft when it came out of the oven!  My younger self was obviously disappointed and at the time, I just put it down to my fail baking skills and never attempted to make it again haha.

Now, in the present day, I like to think that my skills as a baker have slightly improved over the years so I was ready to attempt the Lemon Meringue Pie again.

The pastry turned out pretty good, a little burnt but it wasn't too dry or crumbly.  The lemon part set perfectly and had a good flavour.  All in all, it turned out quite well and all the flavours kind of balanced each other out BUT my meringue stayed soft and spongy and it burnt. Sadface.  Is there some Lemon Meringue Pie expert out there who can tell me if the meringue is supposed to go crunchy?? Because I know the meringue part of a pavlova goes crunchy...I don't know, maybe thats a different kind of meringue...Anyway, this is a quick and easy pie to make (if you pre-make the pastry) and it looks really nice (if you don't fail the meringue like I did lol).

Lemon Meringue Pie Recipe

Ingredients

For the Pastry

• 175g plain flour
• 100g cold unsalted butter , cut in small pieces
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk

For the Lemon Filling

• 2 tablespoons cornflour
• 100g caster sugar
• finely grated zest 2 large lemon
• 125ml fresh lemon juice (from 2-3 lemons)
• juice 1 small orange
• 85g butter, cut into pieces
• 3 egg yolks and a 1 whole egg

For the Meringue

• 4 egg whites, room temperature
• 100g caster sugar

Method

1. For the pastry: Put the flour, butter, icing sugar, egg yolk (save the white for the meringue) and 1 tablespoon of cold water into a food processor. Pulse until the mix starts to bind. 
2. Tip the pastry onto a lightly floured surface, gather together until smooth, then roll out and line a pie dish. Trim and neaten the edges. The pastry is quite rich, so don't worry if it cracks, just press it back together. 
3. Prick the base with a fork, line with foil, shiny side down, and chill for half an hour to an hour (or overnight).
4. Preheat the oven to 200ºC. 
5. Bake the pastry case 'blind' for 15 mins, then remove the foil and bake a further 5-8 mins until the pastry is pale golden and cooked. Set aside. (Can be done a day ahead if you want to get ahead.)
6. Lower the oven to 180ºC.
7. While the pastry bakes, prepare the filling: 
8. Mix the cornflour, sugar and lemon zest in a medium saucepan. 
9. Strain and stir the lemon juice gradually into the pan. 
10. Make orange juice up to 200ml with water and strain into the pan. 
11. Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth. 
12. Once the mixture bubbles, remove from the heat and beat in the butter until melted. 
13. Beat the egg yolks (save white for meringue) and whole egg together, stir into the pan and return to a medium heat. Keep stirring vigorously for a few minutes, until the mixture thickens and plops from the spoon. (It will bubble, but doesn't curdle.) 
14. Take off the heat and set aside while you make the meringue.
15. Put the egg whites in a large bowl. Beat until soft peaks form, slowly add caster sugar a little at a time, beating well until thick meringue is formed.  
16. Quickly reheat the filling and pour it into the pastry case. 
17. Immediately put spoonfuls of meringue around the edge of the filling then spread so it just touches the pastry. Pile the rest into the centre, spreading so it touches the surface of the hot filling, then give it all a swirl. 
18. Return to the oven for 18-20 mins at 180ºC until the meringue is crisp and slightly coloured. Let the pie sit in the tin for 30 mins, then remove and leave for at least another half hour to an hour before slicing. 

Wow! 18 steps makes it seem like an epic recipe but if you have pre-made pastry, it saves a lot of time.

Ok I need sleep now.  Bye!

♡ B

Cinnamon Rolls

Hello!
Yes, I suck at updating.  I was totally going to post this on Saturday but my day went like *snaps fingers* and then it was time for me to sleep.  I think all this baking is starting to make its mark on my belly...that and just sitting around watching Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz on my days off isn't helping lol.

Anyway, I made Cinnamon Rolls yay!

Look at my first batch LOL! Lucky I decided to make a double batch so I could afford to experiment and fail with presentation of the cream cheese frosting.  It looks like cheese sauce haha!

I was really happy with how they turned out.  I think if you drizzle chocolate or whatever sauce on something, it somehow makes it look more appealing.  I didn't have any cinnamon sticks lying around and one cinnamon roll on the plate looked lonely so I gave it a friend.

You can find the recipe here I was totally sold on this recipe though the photos (especially the last two) I wish mine turned out that golden and delicious looking plus I couldn't really look past this recipe when she calls them the "Best Ever Ever EVER Cinnamon Rolls".

Don't forget to read the recipe carefully.  They take a while to make because you need to wait for the dough to rise but if you have the time and patience, they are worth the effort.

I will update next week, promise!

♡ B

Sugar Cookies

Hi :)
Today I decided to try and get back into my baking groove so I made some sugar cookies.  I wasn't feeling so great yesterday, I couldn't stop sneezing and my eyes were watering and itching like crazy but i'm glad i'm feeling soooo much better today 'coz i really needed to bake something.  I'm trying to stick with my plan to bake/update this blog at least once a week.

My Sugar Cookies turned out pretty darn good, if I do say so myself LOL.  They don't take long to bake and it's only like 1 minute between being perfect and being burnt, yes, I found that out the hard way...Anyway, once you decorate them all pretty with icing and sprinkles no one will notice that they're burnt haha.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg (beaten, room temperature)
• 1 tablespoon milk
• icing sugar for rolling out dough

Method

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, place butter and sugar and beat with an electric mixer until light in colour.
Add egg and milk and beat until combined.
Turn the mixer to a low speed, gradually add the flour mixture and beat until the mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl.
Divide the dough in half, wrap in baking paper and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 180ºC

Sprinkle surface where you will roll out your dough with the icing sugar.
Remove dough from the refrigerator, Sprinkle rolling pin with icing sugar. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick.  Move the dough around and check frequently underneath to make sure it is not sticking.
Cut into desired shape (I used a small drinking glass to make my circle shape).
Place onto a greased baking tray and bake for approximately 15 minutes or until the cookies are just starting to turn brown around the edges, rotating the baking tray halfway through baking time.
Let the cookies sit for 2minutes after you remove them from the oven before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool completely.  Decorate as desired.

To Make the Icing

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons milk

Method

In a medium mixing bowl, combing icing sugar, butter and vanilla extract.  Use an electric hand mixer to beat together until the mixture is smooth, adding enough milk to make a good spreading consistency.  Add food colouring
Frost cooled cookies, sprinkle with sugar sprinkles if desired.  Set aside until frosting is set.


Thats all for now! I'm off to go do something boring like read or sleep.

Bye

♡ B

Raspberry Macarons

Hello! Yes its been forever since my last post.  I've been busy, lazy and distracted lol.  It was my brothers 21st birthday party on Saturday so i had to help out with the preparations and there were tons of leftovers and the most GIANT-normous cake i've seen in my life, no joke and yes i made up the word "giant-nornous" so with the mass amount of food, i haven't needed to bake anything.  Hopefully, since the olympics are over, i can get back to baking and blogging.  Every one of our athletes did an amazing job whoop! Not to mention YAY! for Valerie Adams who gets the gold medal in shot put after that Balarusian woman tested positive for drugs :O Ok people, Don't do drugs.

Now onto the sweet stuff...

I first discovered macarons after watching the final of Masterchef NZ, season 2, where they had to make a macaron tower.  I thought they looked to cute and sounded like they tasted delicious so i found a recipe and they turned out pretty good.  So when it came to making Macarons again for this mission, i was pretty confident.  As you can see from this photo, this time around, they turned out kinda bad LOL.  They shouldn't be this flat or soft...

Macarons are quite easy to make, but at the same time, its really easy to get them wrong.  My mum liked these so much, i gave her the recipe to give them a go...

So this is my mums attempt...I was like "what happened?!" and she gave me a sad face.  It looks like she hacked at it with a chainsaw lol.  I think she just undercooked them coz Macarons stick like crazy to baking paper if they aren't baked long enough.

Anyway, I'm a bit of a perfectionist sometimes so I decided to try again...

This is my second attempt, they turned out much better.  From what i've read, they should be crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.  Don't they look like lil burgers? haha reminds me of Spongebob's Krabby Patties LOL.  One day i'm going to make a whole bunch of these in different colours, i reckon they would make nice gifts.  So I just noticed that the bakery story macarons have a raspberry filling and i just used white chocolate ganache oopss.  You could just add some fresh or frozen raspberries to the ganache.  If you are having trouble with these, like I was, watch some "how-to" videos on YouTube.  You might want to double the batch 'coz these don't last long :)

Raspberry Macaron Recipe

Ingredients

For the Macarons:

• 70g almond meal 
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 egg whites (room temperature)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• a few drops of raspberry food colouring

For the Ganache:

• 75g white chocolate
• 3 tablespoons cream
• 3 tablespoons icing sugar

Method

1. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Place the almond meal and icing sugar into a food processor and pulse until combined.
3. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until they are frothy, add the sugar gradually and continue to beat until it forms stiff peaks.  Add the food colouring.
4. Using a spatula, gently fold the almond mixture into the egg mixture.  Fold until the mixture folds back onto itself, it is important not to over fold.  It should have a consistency like lava.
5. Place mixture in a piping bag with a 2cm opening.  Pipe onto the lined baking tray about 3cm in diameter.  You should get 12 single macarons on each tray.
6. Leave the macarons to sit on the bench for about 30mins so the macarons form a kind of skin.
7. Preheat the oven to 140ºC.
8. Bake the macarons for 18-20mins.

To make the Ganache:

1. Place the chocolate and cream in a glass bowl and place in the microwave for 1 min.  Whisk gently to combine.
2. Stir in the icing sugar and leave until thickened.
3. Once thickened, place mixture in a piping bag or spoon onto the centre of half of the macarons and sandwich with the other half.  

-Enjoy :)

♡ B

Blueberry Muffins

I've been pretty distracted from my blog lately, olympics anyone? It only happens once every four years so i'm like addicted.  OMG last night was amazeballs, two gold medals for NZ! Those guys are beasts! Plus it put us in the top 10 on the medal table for like 5mins and it was like suck on that Australia! LOL i'm totally joking, i love Australia.  Anyway, did I just get way off topic or what?

I love blueberry muffins! I found this awesome recipe to make these massive sized muffins (well in my opinion, they are massive lol).  They taste pretty good thanks to the crunchy, cinnamon sugar topping nom nom.

The biggest muffins i've ever made! Almost the size of my face! Not actually...but they were big!
This recipe should make 8 massive muffins.

Blueberry Muffin Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk or buttermilk
• 1 cup of fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC
2. Grease muffin tin or line with muffin cups.
3. In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder.
4. Place vegetable oil in a 1 cup measuring cup, add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup.
5. Mix this with the flour mixture.
6. Fold in the blueberries
7. Fill in the muffin cups right to the top and sprinkle with the crumb topping mixture

To make the crumb topping:

In a bowl, mix 1/2 sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon.  Rub together with your fingers until it resembles rough breadcrumbs.
Sprinkle over muffins before baking.
Bake muffins in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

-Enjoy :)

Rainbow Cupcakes

Yay!

When i saw these cupcakes, I started googling "how to make rainbow cake" and i kinda became obsessed with the idea of making this epic, layered, rainbow cake.  I even bought a cake leveler and gel colours! LOL One day this rainbow cake will happen but for the meantime, this is my attempt at rainbow-fyed cupcakes.  Haha rainbow-fyed, I just googled "rainbow-fyed" and the search results came up with rainbow fried rice LOL whaaaaatt? Seems like you can rainbow anything these days lol.

My rainbow cupcakes turned teeny-weeny and since, I found, there was not a lot of batter to work with, it was quite hard to spread each coloured layer to the edges for an even colour distribution.  So i'm going to post the recipe I used with double the amount of ingredients so this recipe should make 12 decent sized cupcakes. 

Before I do that, here is another picture i took of my batch of cupcakes looking all cute with their butter cream frosting.  My first ever attempt at piping icing on a cupcake too! It was fun.  I watch way too many cake shows on tv...

Rainbow Cupcake Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup caster sugar

250g unsalted butter (softened)

4 eggs (room temperature)

2 cups self-raising flour

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

6 tablespoons milk

food colouring or gel colours (I used gel colours) 

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC.  Line a 12 hole cupcake tray with cupcake papers.

2. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy

3. Beat the eggs in one at a time, adding a little flour each time until the ingredients are combined.

4. Add the vanilla essence and mix.  Then add the milk one tablespoon at a time mixing after each addition

5. Divide the mixture into 6 bowls

If you are using food colouring:

In bowl 1 - add half a cap of red food colouring

In bowl 2 - add half a cap of red and half a cap of yellow

In bowl 3 - add half a cap of yellow

In bowl 4 - add half a cap of green

In bowl 5 - add half a cap of blue

In bowl 6 - add half a cap of blue and half cap of red

If you are using gel colours, add tiny amounts of colour at a time until you reach the desired colour.  Less is more, when it comes to the gels. 

6. Divide the purple mixture between the 12 cases.  Repeat with the other mixtures in this order: Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red.

7. Bake in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in a cupcake comes out clean.

You can enjoy them as they are or you can top them with buttercream frosting.

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter (softened)

3 1/2 cups icing sugar

1 teaspoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/8 teaspoon salt

Method

1. In a bowl combine butter, sugar and salt.  Beat until blended.

2. Add the milk and vanilla and beat for an additional 3-5 minutes or until smooth and creamy.

I found this "how to" on frosting cupcakes here.  

Mine pale in comparison :(

It's 2:15am :O time to catch some zzzz

♡B

Red Velvet Cookies

Red Velvet cookies! They look like macarons lol
Most of the recipes I found online used Red Velvet cake mix from a box but I eventually found a recipe to make them from scratch.

I've been wanting to bake red velvet for awhile, I've always liked the idea of it being red and chocolate flavoured haha.

Red Velvet Cookies with Cream Cheese Filling Recipe

Ingredients

For the cookies:
2 3/4 cups plain white flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
225g unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons red food colouring
1 tablespoon vanilla essence
3/4 cup buttermilk

For the filling:
1 cup cream cheese
100g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
a pinch of salt
4 cups icing sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.  Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In another bowl, beat butter at medium speed until creamy.  Gradually add sugar, beating well.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in food colouring and vanilla.
4. Add flour mixture alternatively with buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.  Beat at low speed until blended after each addition.
5. Spoon the mixture onto the lined baking tray, leaving about an inch between each spoonful.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are set.  Cool on the tray for 5 minutes before moving them to wire racks to cool completely.

To make the filling

1. Beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla and salt at medium speed until creamy.
2. Gradually add icing sugar, beating at low speed until smooth.

When the cookies are completely cool, sandwich the cookies together with the filling.

-Enjoy :)

Banana Bread

Um hi
I feel like its been ages since my last post but its only been a week lol
Anyway, I baked this last week but i've been really delayed with my posts.  I usually post soon after I bake and photograph but I was feeling a little unmotivated and lazy plus I had to work an extra day (which shouldn't be an excuse since i normally only work 4 days a week but i'm using it as an excuse anyway).

So this is my banana bread...

I'm not gonna lie, i'm pretty proud of my little loaf of bread.  Even though it doesn't look all loafy (yeah I made up that word) as the one from Bakery Story, I think my first attempt at banana bread turned it pretty good.  The bananas i used weren't over-ripe and my bread might've been slightly undercooked 'coz it was starting to burn so i took it out of the oven early haha.  Anyway, it tastes good.  I was hoping to toast a piece in the toaster and try it with butter. OMG Banana flavoured toast, how amazing would that have been? If only my dad and brother didn't inhale everything i make :(

Link to the recipe here

I might start posting the recipes on my blog instead of just posting links, if i have time.

I'm trying something different with my photos.  More close-up so you don't have to look at my kitchen bench, not to mention the fact that i'm having trouble finding any decent light in my house :/

Ok bye

♡B

Madeleine Cookies 

Boom! I feel like i'm on a roll lol I have two items to post today :D

I didn't know what Madeleines were until i googled them haha. They are little french cakes that are baked in madeleine tins to give them their shell-like appearance.  I'm on a budget so i went with the cheaper option and bought a silicone madeleine cake mould plus it was bright pink and i'm a sucker for pink.

Look at those sneaky madeleines, trying to escape out of their moulds.

Aren't they cute? Google tells me that madeleines are supposed to be very light, delicate, sponge cakes but mine didn't really turn out light.  I may have over-mixed or under-mixed it somehow but i followed the recipe which requires, at one stage, to beat on high for 5-10mins and i only mixed it for 5 mins.  Anyway, it's a matter of trial and error.  At least they look cute.

This is the recipe i used for my Madeleines here

Lemon Muffins

I had some lemon left over after i used lemon zest for my madeleines so i decided to cross another item off the list and make lemon muffins!

Yeah, my presentation skills fail. Sorry.  I can never get my muffins to look as big as the ones they sell at bakeries :( 

I read the recipe wrong anyway and put in the lemon juice instead of the lemon rind when i was supposed to leave the lemon juice to mix with sugar and pour over the baked muffin haha.  It was an epic fail 'coz i had just put them in the oven and i saw the lemon rind sitting on the table so i quickly pulled them out of the oven, sprinkled a bit of rind into each and stirred it through slightly LOL.

Anyway, because of the added lemon juice, the muffins didn't turn like they probably should have.  They taste okay though...

Lesson learnt, read the recipe properly.  

Escuse the bad lighting again in both of my photos, Auckland had a downpour of rain yesterday and it scared the sun away.  Yay for winter.

♡ B

Peanut Butter Cookies

Hi

I'm not a big fan of peanuts or peanut butter but i had a whole jar of it in my pantry so i made the peanut butter cookies.  Wow i think i just wrote "peanut" way too many times in that sentence...

I know they look nothing like the Bakery Story ones but i couldn't find a peanut butter cookie recipe that had actual peanuts in it LOL. I did consider adding peanuts in the end but the mixture was already super dry, crumbly and hard to mold into shape so i decided against it.  So these are my very attractive peanut butter cookies...

You should also know that my brother has a slight allergy to peanuts so whenever he eats them, he gets an itchy tongue and barfs it out.  It's not one of those serious allergies coz he can eat some nuts and this with traces of nuts.  I knew he couldn't eat these so i made a small batch and told he not to eat any.

My brother obviously found them irresistible because despite telling him he wouldn't be allowed to eat them, he sneakily went behind my back (literally) and ate one.  He found out the hard way, you should always listen to your big sister :)

p.s. he's fine, he was only upset that he threw up all of his protein shake lol poor boy *pat pat*

♡ B

Pumpkin Pie

I've been wanting to make a pumpkin pie for a while now.  Ever since high school when one of my classmates made one for his examination in home economics class.  His was amazing and suprisingly sweet (I expected it to be more savory)

Sorry about the poor lighting in this photograph, apparently my kitchen doesn't get that much sun in the middle of the day...I usually take photos in the late afternoon but this one lonely piece of pumpkin pie was lucky enough to survive being inhaled by my family so I had to move fast with this one lol

Can I just say that pumpkin pie from scratch is probably the most high maintenance thing that I think i've ever made, well for a newbie like me lol.  

My process went something like this...de-seed the pumpkin, cut the skin off, cut into cubes, roast in oven, mash it, push it through a strainer to remove the lumpy bits...The pumpkin process itself was like a workout for my arms haha.  I also had to make and blind bake the pastry which wasn't hard but combined with the pumpkin process, it took quite a long time.  

I chose the long way to do everything but I could've used a food processor to speed up the pumpkin mash lol and I could've used canned pumpkin but i don't even know if we sell that here haha

Anyway, so there you go pumpkin pie.  It was gone in less than a day so it must've been good.  Try it for yourself, I used this recipe Boom

K bye 

♡ B

Peach Cobbler!!

I didn't even know what peach cobbler was until i made it haha.  I googled a recipe and it was super simple to make and tasty.  Its that kind of dessert you make when you don't have a lot of time or ingredients.

LOL it looks a little sad but I don't have an ice-cream scoop so I just scooped the ice-cream on with a spoon haha.  It's like an apple pie but with peach and a crispy, buttery crust. I used this recipe here

The best thing about this challenge (besides eating the end results) is that I get to try out new recipes for deserts i've never even heard of. 

Anyway unrelated to my Bakery Story challenge....since it's so cold and pouring with rain outside, I was craving something hot, buttery and savory after all the sweet things i've been baking.  I decided to make some Cheese Scones

I love how easy and yummy these are. Hot, cheesy, crunchy *drools* total comfort food and the perfect winter warmer.  This cold, rainy weather didn't stop my neighbor from getting out there and mowing his lawn in his raincoat lol. Good on you neighbor man!

♡ B

Brownies!

Hi
I didn't have to work on Thursday, my first Thursday off in like forever! Not really forever but a reeeaaally long time. Anyway i'm on holiday (if you consider saying at home a holiday) so instead of lying in bed all day watching re-runs of Dr Phil and stuffing my face full of super addictive potato chips (which was super tempting) I decided to bake some brownies...

We didn't have any eggs and to be honest, I was far too lazy to change out of my track pants and venture out into the cold (yes its winter here, my fan heater is my new best friend) to get eggs haha. I was starting to look for an eggless brownie recipe but luckily super mum came to the rescue and got me some eggs while she was at the supermarket! Yay thanks mum, these brownies are for you...except for two 'coz i already gave them away...

Yeah, I know, I kinda fail on the decorating front. I used a heart shaped cookie cutter and made a piping bag out of baking paper and Sellotape.  I just used melted chocolate but it got a little out of control LOL

You can find the recipe I used here

and since i failed so hard with my first attempt at decorating with a piping bag, here is a pic of my second attempt, using a different design...

♡B

Helloooo yay its bakery story time! I haven't decided if I want to actually make the drink items yet. I think i'm gonna see how I go with the whole baking side of things first.

Anywho, I baked something today! Yay for getting the ball rolling.  I have to admit that, until today, I hadn't actually baked anything from scratch for a few months 'coz i've been too busy with work or just too lazy haha.  With lack of time and motivation I had been resorting to baking cake from a box *sigh* shame on me.  No cheating with cake in a box for this mission, I'm hoping to improve my skills by making everything from scratch :)

Yeah, I started off with an easy one.  I think Bakery Story meant chocolate chip cookies but they ran out of room so they ditched the 'chip' part and went with "chocolate cookies" lol.  Chocolate Cookies in Bakery Story take 5 minutes to bake but in reality, they took me a little bit longer...It's been so long since i've actually baked something from scratch, i've missed it so much. I findit kind of therapeutic and relaxing. 

 I made chocolate chip cookies nom nom nom. Yeah, i've already eaten like four of them :/ I didn't have anychocolate chips so I just chopped up some chocolate melts. I guess that makes them chocolate chunks.  Anyway, I've resigned myself to the fact that I wont be able to make anything look as good as the animations on Bakery Story but i'll do my best :)

If anyone wants to try these, you can find the recipe i used here :)

This is just the beginning, i'm so excited!

♡ B