Android Birthday Cake

It was Mr Mi's birthday recently and after our successful Red Velvet Cat Cake, I wanted to have another attempt at making rolled icing cake decorations. His favourite colour is green and Android devices seems to be his latest obsession (well...has been for a while!) so it seemed fitting that I make him an Android birthday cake. For the cake, I used the same recipe for Pandan and Coconut Cupcakes, it's so lovely and moist! I sliced the cake in half and filled the middle followed by cake top with a variation of Na's butter cream, replacing vanilla essence with 1/2 tsp pandan and 1/2 teaspoon coconut essence. The Android or "Andy" as Mr Mi likes to call him was made out of rolled icing and coloured using Wilton Gel Colours bought from The Raspberry Butterfly. Andy was then outlined with chocolate writing fudge. The cake turned out pretty well and was enjoyed by all. Happy birthday Mr Mi! Mi xo

P.S. Did I mention that I made him an Android softie too? :)

Andy softie can't wait to try the Android birthday cake!

Lamb Roast

A few Sundays ago, it was Mother's Day and to celebrate this, I decided to make a hearty lamb roast as a treat for my lovely Mum. I have never made a whole roast dinner by myself before so the task was a little daunting but after finding a wonderful recipe by one of my favourite home cooks, Sophie Dahl, I couldn't believe how easy it was! The recipe comes from Sophie's second cookbook entitled "From Season To Season: A year in recipes". I fell in love with Sophie ever since I watched her cooking show "The Delicious Miss Dahl". Her background is in modeling and writing and yes, she is the granddaughter of the renowned British writer Roald Dahl and actress Patricia Neal.

Sophie Dahl preparing a lovely leg of lamb.
Picture from her book "From Season to Season"

The recipe is called "Sheriff's Marinated Lamb" because it was passed on to her from her father-in-law who was the High Sheriff of Bath. The marinade was so easy to make and all I had to do was rub it all over the leg of lamb and leave it for 2 hours or so, to soak up all of the delicious flavours. Then I just put it in the oven and like magic, a couple of hours later there was a juicy lamb roast! I served this bronzed beauty with roasted potatoes, steamed peas, carrots and pumpkin, garlic sourdough bread and a leafy green salad. Pick up a copy of Sophie Dahl's From Season to Season. I absolutely love her and I hope you will too! Na xo

         Roald Dahl. Photo source.          Patricia Neal in Hud. Photo Source.

Hong Kong Dim Sum

Tim Ho Wan, 2-8 Kwong Wah St, Hong Kong, China

Images from top to bottom and left to right: steamed vegetables and crispy BBQ pork bun (cha siu bao), steamed dumpling Chiu Chow style, eggplant, spinach and mushroom dumplings, prawn dumpling (har gow/xia jiao), crispy BBQ pork bun (cha siu bao), pan fried turnip cake, pork and prawn dumpling (siumai).

WARNING: Be prepared to wait for a table! We came early one Saturday morning (or so we thought) to have dim sum for breakfast, we were there by 9:40 am and the restaurant opened at 10:00 am. By then there was already a line up that went down the block and around the corner. Mr Mi collected at an order form and we ticked off the dishes we wanted, seemed easy enough. When we finally arrived at the front of the line we were given a number (36) and asked to come back two hours later. What? Did I hear that correctly, two hours? Yes, two hours. According to Lonely Planet and a number of other review articles, this place has the best dim sum in Hong Kong so we thought to ourselves sure let's just wait it out. Meanwhile, we head down the road for a couple of egg custard tarts to see us through. Two hours later, they were only up to number 23...waiting, waiting finally sat down at 1:30 pm! By then, I was thinking these dumplings had better be the most amazing dumplings I have ever tasted.

Ginger Nut Biscuits

This recipe comes from a book published in 1987 called "Cakes and Baking" by Australia's culinary superstar, Margaret Fulton. My sister found this piece of written treasure hiding in the corner at an old book fair. It's full of recipes for traditional sweet treats such as vanilla slice, queen cakes and coconut macaroons, but the recipe that I knew I had to try first was for ginger nuts. I love ginger because it gives you such a warm and comforting feeling, which is perfect for colder days. In the book, Margaret says "Once you have made these you will never want to buy them again". Well said Margaret and so true! The recipe is as follows:

Red Velvet Cake

Our friend's birthday was coming up and we wanted to make her a super special cake. For the base, I made a red velvet cake with lovely cream cheese frosting. Mr Mi and I had some fun making the cat out of rolled icing. It turned out okay for our first attempt, don't you think? The cat was inspired by this amazing cake. To colour the cake and fondant I used Wilton gel colours (use sparingly). Happy birthday Katty! Mi xo

Fresh Ground Sandwiches & Espresso

Fresh Ground is a great little hotspot in eastern suburbia that has become quite a favourite of mine. I regularly frequent it for a quick weekend lunch. The sandwiches are amazing, packed with fillings and made to order. There's a huge variety of combinations to choose from but I recommend the "No. 1" (chicken, lettuce, cheese, tomato and herb mayo) on turkish or sourdough bread or the "No. 5", which is similar but has chilli mayo and avocado (pictured). Other menu items include salads, freshly squeezed juices and something I've been wanting to try for a while is turkish raisin toast with ricotta, walnuts and honey for breakfast. Maybe next time! I'm a tea drinker but I hear the coffee is pretty amazing here too!

The look and feel of the space is cool and inviting. The walls are covered in beautiful Florence Broadhurst wallpaper and there's a big communal table in the middle. There are also smaller tables dotted about the place. The service is always fantastic! In fact, there was one particular occasion where I wasn't feeling too well and the guy at the counter said "I'll make you a juice that will make you feel better!" How nice! It was a carrot, orange and ginger juice. It was delicious and yes it did make me feel better!

Fresh Ground is open for breakfast and lunch, Monday to Saturday and is located at 154 Belmore Road, Randwick, NSW. Enjoy! Na xo

Cake Pops Recipe

My dear friend Miss T agreed to share some of her  baking secrets, here she talks about the new craze "cake pops". They look so yummy! Thanks Miss T. Mi xo

Cake pops made by Miss T.

Move aside cupcakes, the world has found another way to combine flour, eggs, butter and sugar in a new delicious way. Apparently everyone knows about these scrumptious treats except me. So I decided to leap onto the bandwagon and make a batch.

I'm definitely no mathematician but here is a rough formula:

Cake pops = (cake + frosting) + dip into chocolate + decorate.

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Making lemon meringue cupcakes can be quite a laborious process that can require a bit of elbow grease but what I'm about to present to you is the cheats version! Maximum reward with minimum effort! This is how you do it...

Chocolate & Raspberry Tart Recipe

I've always thought to myself that if things don't work out for me as a scientist, then my back-up occupation would be a voice actor for an animated film preferably Disney and preferably a princess but if not then any cute critter will do. So how happy was I when my extremely talented writer friend Miss T (who is also an incredible baker) asked me to read the part of Snow White! Hooray! To celebrate this happy occasion I decided to bake a tart. Hair black as ebony and lips red as blood = dark chocolate and raspberry tart, well...sort of. I've never made this sort of tart before and so raided my cook books to find one, enter 500 Chocolate Delights. I love these little books, especially 500 Cupcakes. The tart was easy to make and turned out pretty well with a delicious light and mousse-like texture. Miss T, this post is dedicated to you, thank you for letting us be a part of your artistic journey and for all the times you fed us yummy treats! Mi xo