a little bit savoury | a whole lot sweet
So when I looked up on the very top shelf of my pantry recently, which I don’t often see given my short stature, I discovered there were four boxes of Oreo cookies up there, patiently waiting to be turned into something delicious (not that they aren’t delicious eaten straight from the packet).
With some friends coming over to visit, I was in the mood to make something chocolate so it was the perfect opportunity to whip up this very simple, four ingredient, No Bake Oreo Chocolate Tart.
When organising my best friend’s baby shower, I asked what sweet treats she would like me to make for the day. At the top of the list was macarons and despite my Popcorn and Malteser Macarons being M’s favourite, for her baby shower she asked if it was possible to make some that tasted like one of her favourite lollies.
It just so happened that they were my favourite lolly as well so I set about creating these Pineapple Lolly Macarons.
As I was catching up on my YouTube subscriptions, this little cake appeared in the list for one of my favourite channels, Cupcake Jemma. The hubby happened to be around at the time and watched it with me then requested I make it immediately. Unfortunately for him, there were no blueberries in the house, but the next day I headed to the shops to pick up some to make this ridiculously delicious Blueberry Crumble Cake.
On a somewhat recent shopping trip I came across some freeze-dried fruit powders from The Melbourne Food Depot at a local store. As I was checking out the different varieties, I spied the passionfruit powder and immediately picked it up as the hubby and I both looooooove passionfruit.
It did take me a little while to get around to using it, which is normally the case for anything, but as I was in the mood to make macarons for some folks we had coming around, and it also turned out to be October’s Daring Bakers challenge, I decided to grab the powder and an extra ingredient, to make Popping Passionfruit Macarons.
Usually when I have bananas that are reaching the end of their life I make banana bread or a banana cake but this time I wanted to do something different. I also was in the mood for making some scrolls and knowing that Sally from Sally’s Baking Addiction has some amazing scrolls (or rolls as they are sometimes called) on her website, a quick search resulted in a recipe which met my needs.
So for your viewing and eating pleasure, I present Banana Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Scrolls.
I was a little late this month checking out what the Daring Bakers Challenge was for June, but I am sure glad I checked as this little number turned out to be super delicious. Thankfully we were having visitors this weekend which meant I could make this dessert to share so the hubby and I wouldn’t have to eat it for the next week, not that either of us would have minded I suppose.
We were asked to create either a Charlotte Royale or a Charlotte Russe. A Charlotte Royale is made in a bowl lined with swiss roll cake slices (similar to the Southern Bombe) where the Charlotte Russe is assembled in a loose bottom pan lined with ladyfingers. I decided to go for the latter as when looking for inspiration I came across an all chocolate version which was just calling my name.
I had grand illusions of another macaron tower recently with five brightly coloured, different flavour macarons to go with a sprinkle cake I was making. One would be the old favourite of Cherry Ripe Macarons, and the other four brand new ones I have had on my wish list to make.
Well for three of them I made the buttercream, but that was as far as I got, but one did end up with its shells and I am glad they did because I was very happy with how these Jaffa Macarons turned out.
For the latest birthday cake at the hubby’s place of employment, a sticky date cake with butterscotch sauce was requested. As with the hummingbird and carrot cake I have made them previously, this was another that I had not attempted before so I checked my trusty Women’s Weekly Classic Cakes book, which of course contained said recipe, and got to work.
Once again it was the hubby’s friend J’s birthday, you may remember him from the Purple Corset Cake, which meant something mint flavoured was on the menu. Although I was considering trying something new this year, in the end I stuck with an oldie but a goodie being a mint cheesecake chock full of Peppermint Crisp and crème de menthe liqueur on top of a nice, thick, Oreo base.
Before I met my husband I had never eaten a Portuguese Tart. There is a woman at our local farmers market who sells different pastries, including these little beauties and he brought one home for me to try. Needless to say I absolutely loved it.
Jamie Oliver has a recipe for Quick Portuguese Tarts in his 30 Minute Meals cook book which we have made a couple of time that uses créme fraîche rather than making a custard and the hubby and I have made those a couple of times as they’re quite delicious. After a recent order of my Oreo Cookies and Cream Cupcakes, I had some leftover egg yolks so I thought I would make a more traditional Portuguese Tarts using a recipe from Bill Grainger.
