Tag Archives: white chocolate

Topsy Turvy Australia Day

A little bit of a twist on the most delicious traditional treat Australians have shared with the world. Who would have thought spongecake, chocolate and coconut would be such a magical combination?

An Australian, that’s who 🙂

The spongecake is dense, but soft and rich, and when it melts onto your tongue along with the white chocolate, you melt right with it – just like any dessert should make you!

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A Party To Remember

Can I just rewind the clock and take it back to Christmas time of 2014? Can I take you back to reminisce about all that overeating and indulgent gift giving we all participated in for this post?

I was meant to do this post nice and close to New Years but then I saw running behind schedule, then I went to the Gold Coast and well… now I think I am on track!

I know it is not going to be a hardship or anything for you to turn back time again! Your Instagrams totally showed me how much fun you all were having!

And maybe… you saw mine?

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Guest Post: ShenANNAgans

It is officially socialising time – parties, gatherings, theme parks and just chilling well… everywhere! I have been baking a little but give me a week more and I will return 😀

Just a note though to all you lovely people, my comments have for some reason been going into spam for a LOT of your blogs! I am looking into getting it fixed but till then, I promise I am still visiting and loving every minute! Be sure to check your box and unspam me though!! If I have liked your post, most probably a comment will be in your spam 😛

Anyways, so now we have two more guest posts left, and I would love to introduce you all to Anna from ShenANNAgans! A mix of fabulous recipes, life stories and classy events with a massive douse of humour each time, her blog is one of my favourites!

Enjoy! 😀

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Superfoods #2: Coconut Sugar

How lucky am I? A couple of days back, Justin from Cheap Super Foods Australia, contacted me, asking me to try some wonderful up and coming raw, organic ingredients from their huge range. As if I could turn down a huge opportunity like that! I know many bloggers, especially Vegan, focusing on all these new foods, so I knew I had plenty of inspiration to start making recipes.

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But what are superfoods? Why is using them considered ‘super’ but using caster sugar, isn’t? We are not being ingredient-ist here, but the term ‘superfoods’ means that particular ingredient has been classified as Food with high nutrient and phytochemical content that may confer health benefits. It has few negative properties if any, considering it is highly unprocessed (natural), does not contain contaminants, saturated fats, artificial ingredients or food additives.” – Wikipedia

When I say ‘phytochemicals’, I mean naturally occurring beneficial chemical compounds in plants, such as antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and polyphenol. I used this think anything ‘organic’ equated in some way, to marijuana and hippie food, tasting like dirt despite any ‘benefits.’ Since I started food blogging, I have learnt a heck of a lot about all of it, and am glad to learn that is not the case! 🙂

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Think Pink!

We have so many celebratory options in October it seems it is not even funny. Any type of celebration you want seems to be available in this month which kind of makes it really awesome. If I be brutally honest, it should be a holiday month. Do tell the board of education that 😉

But seriously, let’s see, do you want…

  1. A scary movie marathon? – Halloween
  2. To stuff yourself like there is no tomorrow? – Thanksgiving (admittedly not for all countries, Australia included, but I go along with it anyway ;))
  3. To have a night to let loose – Octoberfest

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Baking & Bugs

Bonjour mes amis, I have a question to ask you all… don’t you absolutely love baking at night? In my case I love it especially when everyone is out but even when everyone is asleep, you can still just wiggle down in your jammies and no one will look at you with raised eyebrows when you eat the batter 😉 (more than one spoon… shhhh no one is looking)

So that was the kind of evening I envisioned for myself yesterday night when my family was out, my brother was asleep and it was just me, my impulse and a huge bag of chocolate chips, blocks and ingredients begging to be used 😀

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CCU Undercover + A Wannabe Gozleme

This song is the most adequate to start this post with 🙂

Donned in her evening gown, her earrings swinging, she clutched her… clutch, walking determinedly in her high heels though they slipped in the sand. She could hear the Bedouin camp’s music, the smell of musky incense drawing her in as she came closer.

She held her phone to her heart, her only resource to secretly document every manoeuver, mistake and perfection. Finally, she pulled back the silken flaps of the camp, heavy gold cords holding them loosely shut to immerse herself in the world of rich wines and exotic foods.

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Give Me A Grin For Easter 2012

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh – IT IS CHOCOLATE SEASON MY FRIENDS 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

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No joke I get a little bit excited (and a little bit hyper) because

  1. There are chocolate bunnies, eggs, carrots, designs etc. as far as the eye can see in every window display
  2. Easter Warehouses open which are long endless rows of chocolate!
  3. I am eating chocolate as I type

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A Bleeding Cake Due To My Mistake

Even though today is April Fool’s Day (Happy April Fool’s Day!) I am not fooling you when I say I baked up a little bit of a disaster two nights ago 😛

I am serious, I was almost cringing but in the end, masked it real fine 😀

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It all began like this…

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Meet my subconscious mind. Most of the time she is a happy person but has a tendency to get a little temperamental when it comes to things I really adore, such as chocolate (I think you got a little whiff of her dangerous side here)

The cake I was planning was to be a graduation present. I mean honestly, that is awesome right? Graduation and cake go together like apples and pie, chocolate and peanut butter, just as much as birthdays and cakes 😀

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So while my conscious mind was getting all excited, I have come to believe my subconscious mind got pricked in the wrong spot.

“If this cake is a gift, that I means I do not get to eat it. Not happy. Not happy at all”

Churning out angry vibes...

Churning out angry vibes…

Meanwhile, I am happily planning an extravagant over the top deal filled with deliciousness. So I come up with this plan

  1. A Bundt Cake
  2. A Chocolate Mudcake in a bundt tin
  3. A layered chocolate than white chocolate mudcake in a bundt tin
  4. A tunnel of strawberry jam running in between the two layers
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  5. Final thought: Tunnel of Jam Neopolitan Bundt Cake – yay, woohoo, yea 😉

“Nooooooooooooo… I will not let her give away my cake, no, I want it. Two types of chocolate – NEVER!”

I collect ingredients, organise the bench and get to work…

“Eureka…..”

Ruins my cake - pre baking...

Ruins my cake – pre baking…

I do think now my subconscious mind thinks she is cleverer than my conscious mind. What she does not realise is all that bombardment of English analysis on my conscious mind does help in thinking outside the square when it comes to cooking… and now mistakes 😉

Back to the story…

I am happily making my chocolate batter, mixing melted butter and chocolate, attempting to not eat the packet of choc chips and fiercely keeping a spoon away from the batter.

No problems? Check

Beautiful devour-me batter? Check

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Moving on to the white chocolate batter my subconscious mind comes in for a chinwag… not a jolly one either 😉

“You will add 2 eggs, not one”

I was making half of both mudcake recipes to layer them. The chocolate cake had 4 eggs. The white chocolate cake had 2. And I added 2 eggs to the batter made for 1 egg. And it got liquidy. Very very liquidy.

Before adding eggs...

Before adding eggs…

I begin freaking out. Silently in my head while keeping a cool composure 😉

“Mwah hahahahahaha. Now the chocolate mudcake will be baked and all for me…”

So I work quick and randomly add in an extra 1/2-3/4 cup flour into the batter.

“What is going on….”

Dump in a couple of extra tbs caster sugar. Taste the batter and although I have no idea what the consistency should be like, I give it a shot anyhow because it tastes alright 🙂

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In a greased-sugared Bundt tin, I pour the chocolate batter, add a tunnel of jam and then pour on the white chocolate batter.

The white chocolate batter engulfs the dark chocolate batter and I know there will not be any layering. And that the ‘natural’ swirling will not be a pretty sight.

“It will look too ugly to give… and I get a full cake – could this day get any better”

This is how my cake comes out. A patchy marbled mudcake complete with a jam swirl. Oh dear… My cake is bleeding…

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Post refrigeration: The final step

Icing – I use white chocolate icing and drizzle it over. Ok not absolutely ugly anymore. Popped in some strawberries. Hmm…

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“You are a perfectionist U, you won’t give something that looks so blah to anyone, save it for yourself [me] and relax…”

I needed some green – the strawberry leaves were  pretty average and brown-green. No thanks. And then mummy dear swoops in for the win. “Why not colour some icing green and do a design on top of the white?”

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“No, no, noooooooooooooooooooooooo” – Defeated subconscious mind…

And that is what I did. And it actually made a very, um, mistakable cake, quite presentable as a graduation cake. Taste? Obscenely delicious reviews all round 😀

Conscious mind: Uno

Subconscious mind: Zero

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Honestly here is what I learnt from all my baking mistakes

  1. Keep the recipe closer to you at all times
  2. Do not try a new idea for something so big
  3. Cake layering is not the same as cheesecake on top of brownie batter layering
  4. The subconscious wants are not stronger – learn to control oneself consciously 😀

Always into self improvement my friends!

 

Marbled Jam Swirled Mudcake

Marbled Jam Swirled Mudcake


Anyhow, so you know what this cake was meant to be all about. Here is how I would make it now if I wanted it to look pretty sans icing 😉

To swirl

  1. Pour in batters and jam alternating to each other till they are finished (roughly go for 1/2-3/4 cup jam)
  2. Swirl gently and you are good to go 😀
Sorry I took a bite out but just look at that crumbiness!

Sorry I took a bite out but just look at that crumbiness!

This recipe was a keeper – it was soft, moist and the two mudcake flavours complement each other considerably while the jam surprise in some bites is awesome! Of course the icing too is a killer 😀

Enjoy mes amis! I look forward to properly trying this cake again one day 😉

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P.S Thank you Heidi (@ The Young Grasshopper) for awarding me with the Versatile Blogger award – it is much appreciated 😀 – I will be posting about it next time 🙂 – Thanks again my friend!

Combination Chocolate-y Celebrations

Warning: Before this post begins, please take into account that this post is extremely long, has two recipes involved and has an overdose of chocolate and photos

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Wow, it feels like such a long age since I last posted! Don’t be mad at me 😛 – After my last post which was delicious but healthy, sugarless and with a lack of chocolate, I knew my next post had to have a chocolate explosion – and what better way to do that I ask you than by doing a chocolate filled combination post??? 😀

64Willy Wonka: [hands Charlie a ladle full of chocolate] “Try some of this. It’ll do ya good. You looked starved to death!”

So where does the ‘celebration’ part of all this come into play? Well for one, my mummy is returning home after going overseas 😀
Finally, no more cleaning and dusting and cooking – jokes jokes (especially if you are reading this mum ;))

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