When my sister’s birthday approached she requested one thing: for a cake that involved mousse. Challenge accepted!
Tag Archives: cakes
Father’s Day Mud Cake
This would have to be one of the most last minute celebratory cakes ever. I mean, I literally woke up on Father's Day, went "Oh, I should make dad a cake", realised I had 3 hours before he was coming over, and I was cooking him a beef osso bucco that was going to demand my oven for an hour and a half.
Quick, think, think, what do you have in the house? Chocolate. Strawberries. Dad loves mudcake and strawberries. WIN.
So I went digging through my usual chocolate cake books to try to find a moist chocolate cake recipe. I have tried so many chocolate cakes, but always fail to find the one. You know, that one chocolate cake that is so rich and moist that you can feel coronary failure approaching just thinking about it?
I got what you usually get when you totally rush a cake; something that was not very aesthetically pleasing. But who cares when you get a cake that tastes so good?
Cook Book Challenge: Week 2
The first season of MasterChef coincided with two other significant events for me: the first cake decorating book my dad bequeathed unto me, and the time around which my dessert-loving boyfriend and I stopped spending every waking hour at live music concerts and more time hanging out at home and, subsequently, cooking for him.
It reignited a love of food and baking that I’d had flashes of as a child, but had lost touch with as other things filled my life.
Julie Goodwin, Australia’s first MasterChef, won many hearts during a competition throughout which she often appeared out of her league. She was so lovely I couldn’t be upset when she beat my favourite contestant, Poh, in the Grand Final. But I think the moment she won the most hearts was when, during one of the final challenges, she revealed the idea for her cook book. Every chapter to tell of a chapter in her life. It would be filled with stories and photos of her family and their favourite recipes. But the final chapter would be left blank, for us to fill with out of tales, photos and recipes.
Win she did, and with her publishing deal she released exactly the book she’d promised on the show, titled “Our Family Table”.
Asparagus Cake
I must admit, I had a bit of bakers-block for this month’s "green" theme challenge on bakebakebake. The only thing that came to mind was mint, and, well, that had been done. As had almost every other thing I thought of. When they did a pandan chiffon cake on MasterChef, I drew inspiration from there… until none of the pictures accompanying the recipes I found had the lovely green colour I wanted.
It was after a bout of Googling images using a green filter that I sprung upon the idea of an asparagus cake.
Sounds gross, no?
Well, it’s not flavoured asparagus.
Though I'm sure you've already guessed the flavour of the cake…
Dragon’s Lair Cake
The second I heard about the Zoology Master Baker Bake off at Uni, I was so excited at the prospect. To fill in some blanks, I’m studying a Master of Zoology at The University of Melbourne. The associated social club throws events just for post graduate students. Last year, in my gap year, I’d seen the signs for the bake off up around Uni and was so sad I couldn’t partake. So this year I was so excited. In fact, my friends told me they wouldn’t stop pestering me until I signed up.
The only dilemma: what to bake?
I figured a sleepy dragon couldn’t go far astray.
White Chocolate Cream Gateaux
Once upon a time, I used to bake every week for my Uni friends. These days, I’m lucky if I get the chance to bake once a month. The funny thing is, you’d think the less you bake the more ideas you would have, no?
Well. When the final presentation for my Communicating Science and Technology session came around, I thought I should bring along some cake to out end-of-class pizza party.
Aaand that’s about where the thought ended. I have been completely uninspired lately.
Hence, this last-minute rush job:
Easter Basket Cake
I love Easter. It’s a time where my love for chocolate in baking can be justified. This Easter I decided to host a party at my place. It was a lovely time to get together. But more than that, it was also an excuse to make lots of my favourite things: finger food. I love making all those small and fiddly things, finding new ways to miniaturise classics. Everything from mini tandoori pizzas to tiny burgers, lamb korma on mini papadums and gow gees… the list went on. But my favourite is and always will be the desserts. I shall do a follow up post later of all the mini desserts, but for now I will turn to the sole item that was not mini: the cake.
This is one I had been wanting to do for a while. I was just waiting for the right time of year to do it. A cake that looks like a basket. Hopefully. In fact, I would be wrapped if you looked at it and thought it was just a basket.
Chocolate Cake Box Tier
I’ve been much to busy to bake, let alone post about it lately. Though, when my 23rd birthday approached I just had to make time to. My problem? My muse had totally abandoned me. I had no idea what to do. Then I randomly saw a picture of a round brown box with green trimming around the lid. I dislike green as a colour generally. There are precious few shades of it I like. Something stuck me about this colour scheme that I absolutely fell in love with. The whole theme for the party ended up following suit.
With the billion assignments I have, as well as working, my research project, general house duties and all the finger food I had to make for the party, I needed something simple, classy and not fiddly. This is an idea I had been sitting on for a while. Though I imagined it in white, as a wedding cake tier. I never imagined how ridiculously long it would take to make the boxes.
Gateau Tiramisu
Another birthday, another new adventure. This time I thought I’d try my hand at something different. I never do boozy cakes: I dislike the taste of alcohol. But hey, it’s only the birthday girl who has to like it!
Peach and Orange Mousse Cake
Another cake for my boyfriend, this one for his 28th birthday. Again I wanted to stay away from fondant, and again I decided to tackle my arch nemesis: gelatine.
So many firsts in this cake. So the fact that it a) set, and b) was edible, was a HUGE relief. Especially since I was taking it to his place to be demolished by a bunch of people who, unlike my family, love cheesecake!
Cakecrumbs 