WOW MA HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
The big 4-0!!! Can’t believe it you old grandma you… wait no take that back, too young for kids, panic mode etc…
Sorry back to the norm :p
To everyone out there reading this post, my mum is a very special woman. For her 40th, my family went all out because she deserved nothing but the best.
Here is why:
I swear, my house is a cookie baking factory this weekend – and none of them chocolate which should truly come as the biggest surprise!!! What is going on???
Well, anyways, do you remember me explaining my almond meal dilemma to you?
Yes well, I scrapped the traditional shortbread I was planning to make and opted for this delicious almond shortbread recipe from Joy of Baking – I obviously adore her almond cookies 🙂
There is really not much to say about these cookies – as expected from any good shortbread, they have a melt in your mouth texture and crumble at the touch of a finger. Be warned that no matter how much you prick (mine is so holey it’s not funny!), your biscuit will definitely puff up at one stage and then suddenly deflate – no need to worry 😀
It’s apt don’t you agree that I should discover the delights of polenta at exactly the same time we get our new boat for the pool – THE EXPLORER 200?
While in the pool my bro and myself hope to discover treasure, sunken ships, mermaids and maybe the earring I lost last summer. We shall go on adventures way beyond the edge of the earth (the end of the pool) and we shall conquer all in our way (yeah, I’m looking at you dead bugs in the pool!)
We shall maneuver around the coral reefs and stay clear of huge rocks which would cause our boat to crash (deflate…)
We have an overload of almond meal in our house. Don’t ask me why because I myself do not understand but all I know is that at once stage, there were over 10 packets :p
I really gained an appreciation I suppose for almond meal this way through my grandmother’s almond burfi, this delicious frangipane tart and many other sweet dishes. This appreciation however did not whether away the massive supply of almond meal however.
So I decided to find a delicious almond meal cookie recipe because as you know, that is one of the few ‘desserts’ or ‘sweet things’ which is eaten at my house on a regular basis (I question my background sometimes!). The opportunity was also perfect since my grandparents needed a nice large batch for a trip as well. I love coincidences like that!!!
I headed over to Joy Of Baking and found these cookies – Speculaas. Yes, I had no idea what they were but by substituting all almond meal and no plain flour, I knew I would use up quite a bit of meal so I really wasn’t too bothered.
Yes, yes I know it ALWAYS soothes pain. And today was no exception.
You see, I have a beautiful new phone and it refuses to sync with iTunes. My back up, songs etc. etc . are failing to back up.
I am a stressy person when it comes to these things in life.
Put two and two together and you will see that I am currently in quite the possition!!!
So I went to my trusty Nutella jar and ate a sandwich (bananas toasted with nutella in bread is quite the thing to usually perk me up)
Didn’t work – needed more Nutella and *GASP* pantry was empty. No this is not really a surprise since I refrain from buying too much Nutella due to my immense love for it.
So I thought and thought and with the banana brain food (I know it is a healthy sandwich deep down!) and remembered an idea I thought of a while back – Nutella Milk.
Today was my first attempt at making brown butter. It was successful. I was proud. The berry bars turned out great. I was uber proud. But it also got me thinking of first attempts in general.
They are big things, moments in life which you do and don’t want to forget depending on circumstance. My first attempt at essay writing – little bit of fail there. BUT my first attempt at swimming. Successful (I know, I was so young but when I got into that water, it really wasn’t scary and it was ok – but just to make it clear swimming/sport – except netball – is not really my thing).
I have a tendency to go overboard. Whether it be decorating, amount of time spent on hair, listening to a single song. I always go overboard.
While this may not always be a good thing, it certainly is in cooking. I go overboard with the amount of time I spend on cooking, the amount of time I recipe hunt and I am generous in regards to essences and add-ins. This is what made this cake such a good choice. And I think I can definitely go overboard for the family receiving it. They are awesome (and have a very adorable dog :))
This is a repeat cake. I know, what in the world am I doing, repeating recipes instead of trying new ones from the insanely huge list I have pending.
But I am not sorry for this.
You see, I know a very sweet family who specialise in a love for honeycomb. And caramel. And cheesecake. And I think you know which cake I repeated. But I promise you won’t recognise it 😉
All curtains aside, do you remember the scary, oh so creepy spider cake? Oh my, it gives me shivers thinking about it (heavy sarcasm in my voice :D) – What I do actual feel are little tingles of pleasure when I think about this cake. Its richness, creaminess and overall edibility factor was enormous.
I suppose a girl does when it comes in a cake like this… it is rich, moist and a little bit naughty – nah, I’m kidding, its rum essence 🙂
Rum essence really kicks up the whipped cream layer of this cake – it does add extra flavour and matches really well with the orange and chocolate cakes throughout this cake – YUM!
Now the frosting for this cake, please use all of it otherwise you will end up like me – I KID YOU NOT but I did manage to eat AT LEAST 1 cup of frosting – oh yeah, it was so pure, sweet and chocolate-y…
Without further ado ladies and gents, I give YOU (yep lucky you) this recipe for RUM LAYER CAKE! Wait no, there is further ado – A little warning that the cakes my cooking partner and I made were a little well, um cracked so after splitting and layering we managed but the cake was almost about the fall and crack and splosh down… BUT I will make sure you won’t have any disasters (and ours looked nice inside!) AND teach you how to make chocolate leaves 😀
Part two in my Diwali baking endeavours! Also made during the excitement hype of my end of exams night was the Nutella Fudge and then today, I learnt about the delights of truffles – White chocolate and lemon to be precise 😀
These were made for a very special family I have known since birth… good friends with a preference for sans oeufs here’s to you!
How can I describe making these – they are fun, they are easy and when you get to eat Nutella by the spoonfuls, I think they are a pretty big part of your daily eating plan (is that just me, really?)
These small (you can chop the fudge up largeor make HUGE balls of lemon truffles) delights are extremely amazingly delicious. The flavour punch you get from each is awesome and balance of flavours totally works!!!
Go Bake Yourself 