Gingerbread Cupcakes with Maple Cinnamon Buttercream

Every Christmas I make gingerbread men, but this year I thought I would try something slightly different - gingerbread cupcakes! This recipe is from my favourite cupcake recipe book 500 Cupcakes. I topped the cupcakes off with a maple cinnamon buttercream using Na's basic buttercream with the addition of one tablespoon of maple syrup instead of milk and one teaspoon of cinnamon. The cupcakes turned out really moist and lovely with the addition of crystallised ginger for that extra bite. Merry Christmas! Mi xo

Christmas Tree Cupcakes (Banana Bread & Coconut)

As promised...a recipe for banana bread christmas tree cupcakes with coconut buttercream for those crazy people like my boyfriend who don't like choc mint! 

Old Fashioned Chocolate Ice Cream with Brandy Snap Baskets

What better way to welcome the warmer days than to indulge in a delicious ice cold dessert, Mr Mi's old fashioned chocolate ice cream so creamy and rich served in a brandy snap basket covered in strawberries and lashings of Hershey's chocolate syrup. YUM! Mi xo

Christmas Tree Cupcakes (Chocolate & Peppermint)

These Christmas trees featured alongside Mi's delicious red velvet cupcakes last Christmas and were part of our very first blog post! Unfortunately, the recipe was not included in that first post...just a pretty picture. So here it is...just in time for Christmas!

Mad Hatter's Tea Party!

This Christmas will be MiNa's second Christmas, can't believe it's been almost a whole year since we had our first baking collaboration together Christmas cupcakes which eventually resulted in MiNa's Food Adventures! The theme to our work Christmas party this year was Mad Hatter, so Na and I decided to make Mad Hatter/Alice in Wonderland themed sugar cookies. We used the sugar cookies recipe from Na's teapot and teacup post and the royal icing recipe from Bec Loves Baking blog which uses pavlova magic instead of egg whites, this can be found at your local supermarket. I found the quantity to be to much for 45 - 50 sugar cookies so I think I will halve the recipe next time. Na made the gorgeous teapot, teacups and teabags and I made the hearts, clocks and hats (which I was told looked a bit like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle!). I used an edible food pen to write the numbers and hands on the clock cookies. No Christmas party would be complete without a gingerbread house, so along with a couple of colleagues from work we decided to make a castle for the Queen of Hearts as well! Needless to say, I think we have reached our baking quota for the year! Mi & Na xoxo

Hungarian Tart

Another tried and true recipe from my mum for HUNGARIAN TART. It's basically a buttery shortbread with a strawberry jam filling. I'm not exactly sure if this is traditionally Hungarian but it's what we've always called it! 

Naan Katai (Semolina Shortbread)

This delicious crumbly biscuit has been a family favourite for pretty much all of my life. The recipe was passed from my grandmother to my mother and now to me. It was a bit difficult to write the exact recipe because a lot of it is done by feel as opposed to measurements. My advise would be to practice till you get it right!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday Cake

This post is dedicated to my friends N&B and their gorgeous little boy Josh. They are the most amazing parents and little Josh is such a happy, relaxed and easy-going bub. Mr Mi and I are soon to be parents and they are an inspiration! The very hungry little caterpillar (aka Josh) turned one recently and his mama wanted to make him a hungry caterpillar cake for his birthday party. After a few searches I saw this amazing cake, so we set on another fondant adventure to attempt this cake. I used my favourite basic vanilla cake recipe and Na's buttercream to make a four layered sponge cake. We covered the cake in ready rolled icing and Josh's mama hand cut the fruits and made the amazing caterpillar. We were pretty proud of our efforts and needless to say we were completely sugared out after a slice of the rainbow caterpillar cake. Happy first birthday Josh! Mi xoxo

Classic Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream

Nothing beats a classic vanilla cupcake with Na's delicious buttercream. I swear by this recipe as seen in my earlier post. I use it for cupcakes and cakes. It is so easy, throw everything in a bowl and beat until well combined! YUM! Mi xo

Silo by Joost

Hidden away in one of Melbourne's laneways is a little cafe called Silo. It is another offering from the creative mind of Joost Bakker (pronounced "Yoast"), who is also responsible for The Greenhouse in Perth.

Na recommends: Banana porridge (top right)
Na's boyfriend recommends: Muesli (bottom left)

Silo can be found at 123 Hardware Street, Melbourne. Na xo

Happy Halloween!

Mini-pumpkin cakes with pumpkin spice cream cheese frosting.

Peanut Brittle

A few years ago, a friend gave me an old-fashioned confectionery cook book for my birthday - Hope & Greenwood Life is Sweet. I remember flicking through the pages and salivating at all the yummy treats. In all honesty, I was a little afraid of trying these recipes…fear of failure! Sugar has never really been my friend, at first it seems to take forever to change colour then the next thing you know it’s turned from a nice golden colour straight to burnt and useless. A friend’s birthday was coming up and I thought it was about time to take up the challenge. I went and bought myself a sugar thermometer as recommended by Miss Hope and decided to make some “proper peanut brittle” it seemed easy enough. So there I was with my sugar thermometer waiting ever so patiently for the sugar to get to 149 degrees Celsius. Miss Hope said it would take 30 minutes probably more and not to turn up the heat as it would burn. Anyway, an hour later with the help of Mr Mi and a blister from sugar exploding on my finger we finally got to 149 degrees Celsius! The peanut brittle turned out pretty well for a first attempt and I do hope that my friend liked his edible present. Mi xo

Green Tea and White Chocolate Cookies

You may recall from a previous post that my Mum doesn't really have a sweet tooth and loves green tea hence the green tea cupcakes for her birthday. I've had recent success with making earl grey tea cookies and since my mum was visiting on the weekend I thought to myself why not try making green tea cookies. I used the same recipe for the earl grey tea cookies, using matcha instead of earl grey and a handful of white chocolate chips (about 50 g). I rolled the cookies dough into a log, wrapped in baking paper, placed in the fridge for about an hour, sliced and baked. Easy. If you enjoy green tea and want to try something a bit different this is the cookie for you. Enjoy! Mi xo

Peanut Butter and Jam Cupcakes

These little cakes came into being thanks to a mildy humorous story. I was walking back to work, munching on a sandwich and enjoying the sun rays, when I heard the raucous laughter of university students. They walked past and through the relaxing sounds of Neil Young coming out of my headphones, I overheard one of them say very proudly "I havn't had a peanut butter and jam sandwich in such a long time and now I have two!". There he was, marching proudly with not one but two of almost everyone's childhood favourite.

I'm not quite sure why I found this amusing but it made me smile so I thought I'd use it as inspiration for a cupcake recipe. To be honest, I'm always trying to turn almost every idea into a cupcake recipe. This one turned out pretty well I think. The recipe is as follows:

Little Lemon Puddings

It's been a little while between posts, I've been moving house and trying to cope with a new oven. After an initial baking disaster I managed to bake something without burning it! Turns out my oven is way too hot and I had to turn the temperature down by 40 degrees. My sister came over on the weekend to see our new place, so I decided to make one of her favourite desserts Bill Granger's little lemon puddings. These puddings are really quick and easy to whip up and perfect when you are in the mood for something sweet but light, however, be warned they rise beautifully in the oven but sink quickly when out of the oven. The photo below was taken while the the puddings were in the oven and as you can see the ones closest to the front have already started to sink.

Carrot Cake

Today is Father's Day! To celebrate this, my dad requested a carrot cake so a carrot cake is what I made...

Raspberry Friands

I've had a little bit of a baking drought lately, just been busy with life and haven't had the time to make anything. Last night, it was my turn to bring along some food to share with everyone at choir rehearsal with so little time to prepare I decided to make something that was easy to whip up yet delicious and satisfying. Raspberry friands are kind of my thing, I always make them and it seems to please everyone. I started off using the recipe from my favourite little 500 cupcakes recipe book, the only thing is it uses 6 egg whites which isn't a problem when Mr Mi feels like making ice cream which uses the 6 egg yolks but we don't always have time to whip up both! So I tried to source out another recipe that uses whole egg. I'm quite fond of this recipe, the egg yolks gives the friands extra richness. I had to use patty cases to line the tin, as my friands always got stuck. Try this recipe out, it's super-easy and tastes really good. Mi xo

Chocolate and Walnut Oat Cookies

I had a hankering for a biscuit that incorporated oats and chocolate so I tinkered with my favourite chocolate chip cookie recipe and came up with this! They're slightly crispy on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside, which is just how I like them!

Hong Ha

I've eaten a few vietnamese rolls over the years but my absolute favourite comes from a little bakery called Hong Ha in Mascot. I always get the chicken roll with chilli and it never disappoints! They also offer pork rolls, chicken and cheese rolls and other delicious baked goods. When you arrive at Hong Ha, expect a queue that goes out the door but don't be discouraged as this usually moves quite quickly and it will be worth it!

Hong Ha is located at 1151 Botany Road, Mascot, NSW. Na xo

Muppet Cupcakes

Photography by G.P.

A group of us went to Miss T's house over the weekend for a "Muppet Cupcake Extravaganza". Our quest was to re-create these amazing hand cut and hand painted edible Muppet cupcake toppers. When Miss T first proposed the idea, I have to admit...I thought to myself these are going to be really tricky but I was ready to take the challenge. Miss T led the team by baking a batch of delicious vanilla cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes. My task was to assist with all things sugary, Na's basic buttercream and the fondant! I printed out some pictures and we traced them onto baking paper to help with cutting out the shapes, although some of the characters such as Beaker made by Miss T's mum was cut free hand! After a few hours of colouring the fondant with Wilton gel colours and painstakingly cutting out tiny little fondant shapes, I think the results speak for themselves - twelve lovely too-cute-to-eat Muppet cupcakes. We were very pleased with our efforts! Needless to say, I had a bit of a sugar-ache that evening (and the next morning!). I wonder what our next cupcake project will be? Love Mi xoxo

Photography by G.P.

Flourless Orange Cupcakes with Candied Orange

Mr Mi loves the little flourless orange muffins from Luxe Bakery (and I love them too)! So I decided to try and make these sweets treats for him. After some searching, I came across this great recipe from Citrus and Candy. I followed the recipe exactly as written, except instead of using a cake tin I used muffin tins to make 22 cupcakes and reduced the baking time to 20 minutes. To decorate, I made some candied orange slices using this recipe, replacing white sugar with raw sugar resulting in a nice caramel syrup. The cupcakes were lovely, moist and the candied orange finishes it off nicely. Mr Mi gave it a 10 out of 10 and thumbs up, he especially loved the candied orange. Try it out, you won't regret it. Mi xo

Cornbread

I made some cornbread to accompany a recent texan themed family dinner, complete with steak, mash potatoes and home-made baked beans. Having never made cornbread before, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Unlike your average loaf of bread, this corn variety doesn't require yeast and can be made to be savoury or sweet by adding sugar or honey. The end result is quite a heavy bread that's delicious, addictive and extremely filling! If you want to have a go at making these southern delights; just follow these simple steps:

Christmas in July

I usually only make gingerbread once a year at Christmas time. Our friends recently invited us to a Christmas in July dinner, complete with ham, Christmas presents and carols! I decided to re-create my favourite recipe for gingerbread. It never disappoints, soft and chewy with a hint of spice and the lovely full flavour of molasses. Yummy! Mi xo

Teapot and Teacup Sugar Cookies

I love cookie cutters and hope to one day have quite a collection but until recently, all I had were circles, flowers and gingerbread man shapes. The other day I found myself in a situation where I was faced with a wall of cookie cutters! All shapes and sizes! There was so much to choose from but once I saw the teapot and teacup shaped cookie cutters, I knew they were coming home with me that day. 

Le Petit Creme, Darlinghurst

Eggs benedict with salmon and toasted brioche.

I'd been wanting to try Le Petit Creme for a while, so when I had to be at Darlinghurst at the crack of dawn on a Sunday morning and it happened to be Mr Mi's birthday, I thought what a perfect excuse to head here for brekky (not that I need an excuse to go out for breakfast!). It was pretty busy, but we managed to squeeze into a table in the corner. The breakfast was so delicious and we were both totally satisfied, will definitely come here again. Mi xo

Scrambled eggs with ham and toasted brioche.

Na Zdrowie Polish Restaurant

Pierogi - Polish dumplings

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I decided to have a dinner date at Na Zdrowie Polish Restaurant. The name "Na Zdrowie" translates to a toast to good health. We had been there before and loved the food and felt it was time to return for seconds. It was a blistering cold night in Sydney but once we were inside Na Zdrowie with dumplings in our belly, it felt very warm and cosy. If you ever eat at this restaurant, please try the pierogi;  soft, pillowy, melt in your mouth, polish dumplings. There are 3 different fillings to choose from and you can have them boiled or fried. We got them boiled with a white cheese and potato filling. Delicious!

For the mains, I got the Kielbasa, which is a smoked polish sausage with potatoes and pickles and my boyfriend got Schabowy, more commonly known as schnitzel. We washed down this hearty meal with a clear juice called a Kompot, which tasted like stewed apples and cinnamon. It was like apple pie in liquid form! Na zdrowie!

Kompot

Na Zdrowie is located at 161 Glebe Point Road, Glebe, Sydney and is open every night from 6pm. Na xo

Earl Grey Tea Cookies

I was recently in a Steampunk inspired production of The Mikado and wanted to make something in theme to give to the cast and crew as thank you presents. I came across these amazing Steampunk Cookies, she used this recipe to make Earl Grey tea cookies. At first, the thought of using tea leaves in a biscuit did seem a bit strange to me but trust me you will not be disappointed by the result. The biscuits were buttery and crispy with a slight hint of Earl Grey...not too strong. I tried to re-create the cog shape using two circle cookies cutters and a small rectangular one, it was not very successful...the cookies spread quite a bit as they cooked and so turned out a little bit more like flowers! Oh well, I guess it's the taste and thought that matters the most. Mi xo

Chocolate Chai Cupcakes

A slight modification of the chai cupcake recipe that I posted earlier. I was asked to make a batch of my chai cupcakes for a special occasion but I wanted to change it up a bit since I was growing a little tired of basic vanilla. I'm a chocolate fiend, so the first thing that came to mind was adding chocolate to these spicy chai cakes. You can find my full recipe on the Chai Cupcakes post. Just add 2 heaped tablespoons of cocoa powder to the basic vanilla cupcake batter. Simple! Next time, I would like to make them a little bit more chocolatey by adding some choc chips or melted chocolate. Na xo

Eschalot Restaurant, Berrima

Trio of Cuttaway Creek raspberry - soufflé, sorbet & jube.

We recently met up with family for a joint birthday celebration and decided to head to the lovely town of Berrima for lunch. After a quick online search of restaurants in the area, I came across Eschalot Restaurant which looked absolutely perfect for the occasion. We were seated in a small dining room, which was lovely as it felt like our own private dining area. Everything on the menu looked so delicious I had trouble deciding, in the end I ordered the seared scallops as an entree and had the pork fillet as a main. The food was so yummy that I forgot to take photos! You can probably tell by now, that I still had room for dessert given the number of dessert photos in this post. No, I didn't eat everything you see here. I ordered the raspberry souffle and it was absolutely divine, so light and perfectly paired with the sorbet. Mr Mi had the jaffa mousse cake which was also delicious and my sister had the creme brulee. Needless to say, I was seriously stuffed after all that food and if that wasn't enough my tea was served with petit fours! If you are ever around the Southern Highlands, I highly recommend this place, the food is fabulous and so is the service. After lunch, we wandered down the main road and I bought myself a jar of homemade lemon butter from the Little Hand-stirred Jam Shop. YUM! Love Mi xo

Chocolate jaffa mousse cake with vanilla, honeycomb ice cream.

Vanilla crème brûlée with poached rhubarb.

Petit fours.

Coffee and Walnut Layer Cake

It's no secret that I'm a tea lover. Having said this, I sure do love my coffee when it comes in dessert form! I came across this recipe for coffee and walnut layer cake while flipping through one of my favourite cookbooks; Kitchen by Nigella Lawson. In the book, Nigella reflects back to when she was a child. She made this coffee cake every year for her sister's birthday so I thought, if a child could make this, I can too! Basically, all the ingredients go into a food processor and are blitzed till a smooth batter forms. The batter is then divided into 2 sandwich tins so that you end up with 2 perfect layers for the layer cake! This was great for me because I'm hopeless at cutting a cake perfectly in half.  I then made the delicious coffee buttercream and decorated the cake with walnuts. If you would like this simple recipe, pick up a copy of Kitchen. I think it's Nigella's best book so far! Na xo

MiNa's Thursday Lunch: Pot Pies & Pudding

Lentil (centre) and chicken (top right) pot pie with sweet potato mash and peas.

Every Thursday at our workplace, we have what's called "Thursday lunch" where we take turns cooking lunch for all our work buddies. It's been a long standing tradition and is a great way to bring everyone together. Soon it was our turn and for weeks leading up to the day we dreamt up all these fabulous dishes that we would make...then we stopped and realised that we had to make it for 30 odd people and suddenly we decided to re-think the plans and make something that is easy to upscale yet still delicious. This is when Jamie Oliver came to the rescue! We are both big fans of his cookbook Jamie's 30-Minute Meals, so turned to this for inspiration. What would people want to eat on a cold winter's day? Steaming hot pot pies with a side of mash and peas topped off with soft-centred chocolate puddings, raspberry coulis and double cream! Perhaps this was also inspired by our recent trip to the Pie Tin.

Vanilla and Rose Water Cupcakes

For Mr Mi's recent birthday bash, Mi asked me to make a batch of cupcakes to accompany her brilliant Nyan Cat Cake. I wanted to keep it simple so I decided to make a basic vanilla cupcake with a pleasing swirl of buttercream frosting on each one. I gave the buttercream a bit of an exotic touch by adding just a hint of rose water essence. The full recipe is as follows:

Nyan Cat Birthday Cake

Mr Mi had a second birthday celebration (lucky man!) and this time I decided to move on from the Android cake and set myself a new challenge. Mr Mi loves Nyan cat, I had no idea what it was until he showed me a few months ago. Who would have thought a cat stuffed inside a poptart with rainbows coming out of its bottom would be so popular? Although I have to admit that after watching it I couldn’t get the song out of my head for days! After seeing this amazing Nyan Cat Cake from Grace Cakes, I thought I would give it a go.

For the cake, I used a basic vanilla cupcake recipe with the addition of the zest of one orange. I divided the cake batter into four portions and coloured each portion red, yellow, green and blue using Wilton gel colours. Then, I gently placed each of these portions into a cake tin one at a time to create a layering effect. For the buttercream, I used Na’s recipe with the addition of the zest of one orange and 2 tablespoons of orange juice. Now, the Nyan cat took a good few hours to make…if you attempt this I suggest making it well in advance and storing in an airtight container. I traced an image from the Internet using baking paper and used this as a template to cut out the shapes from ready rolled icing. It was a fun experience, that was until I started to cut the pixels out for the poptart sprinkles…by then I was ready to have a break! It is a simple design, but don’t be fooled...cutting all those square edges out and assembling takes time! The cake turned out pretty well and was enjoyed by all. Love Mi xo

The Pie Tin

Mi and I recently went on a lunchtime adventure in search of the perfect pie. Having heard so many good things about The Pie Tin in Newtown, we knew we had to try it out. There's nothing better than a hearty pie on a cold winters day and these pies sure did put the roses back in our cheeks! There is a wide selection of savoury and sweet pies, as well as delicious side dishes. Mi ordered a lamb and rosmary pie and I got a roast pork pie with apples. We also shared some sweet potato mash and mushy peas. We smothered our pies with tomato sauce and gobbled them down. They were delicious and the pastry was PERFECT! Word to the wise...they do not provide knives here, only sporks and eating with your hands is encouraged! 

After we ate our savoury pies, we could not leave without trying a sweet one. The display cabinet was way too tempting. There was so much choice! It took us a while to decide but we finally settled on a slice of coconut and lime cream pie, which was amazing! Next time I would like to try a slice of the apple pie, which is probably the biggest apple pie I have ever seen in my life! Next time you're in the mood for a pie, try one from The Pie Tin but I insist that you treat yourself to a sweet one as well!

The Pie Tin is located at 1 Brown St. Newtown, NSW. Enjoy! Na xo

Butterfly Cupcakes

I absolutely love the smell of vanilla cupcakes baking in the oven. I've made a lot of cupcakes in my time and I still think the best recipe for a basic vanilla cupcake is equal portions of butter, sugar and flour. I got this recipe from 500 Cupcakes one of my favourite baking cookbooks. It's super easy and you can't go wrong. In fact it's very similar to Na's basic cupcake batter in her recent post Lemon Meringue Cupcakes. Just make sure the butter and eggs have come to room temperature before beating together.