Daring Bakers First Challenge!! Marquise on Meringue!

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

As it was my first Daring Bakers challenge, i was a little nervous. Seeing the quality of other members' creations was quite intimidating, but i had fun :D  My Variation to the recipe was I made a dark choc marquise with a touch of cinnamon, nutmeg and brandy, a vanilla bean meringue, brandy caramel(which was too delicious for words!), cinnamon and nutmeg toasted macadamia's and added some chunks of roast pumpkin tossed in cinnamon and nutmeg to give it a pumpkin pie type flavour. All in all it was pretty tasty and i was happy with my first challenge :D

the oven roasted macadamias

dee-licious!!



using a lighter to caramelise my meringue, the lengths you go to when you cant be bothered to buy a blowtorch!


 

my finished product :)



Mamak & Ready Steady Cook Trip!

So i have a confession to make - i am absolutely obssessed with watching Ready Steady Cook! I just love it, although it always makes me so hungry whilst watching! Luckily ive been able to go watch the tapings a couple of times now which i would recommend to all, its such a fun day out :D

So mid 2010 a friend and i got tickets to go again and being in Sydney gave us a wonderful excuse to add in a little trip to Mamak ;)  My sister Lisa and i found out about Mamak one night while walking through Chinatown, and all of a sudden we see a rush of people head towards a door, the line spanning back quite a bit. Not having any clue what was happening, i turned to Lisa and said "Quick, ill go line up and you see what were lining up for!". Hahaha. The fast moving staff and cooks ensure a quick turnover of customers, so your wait wasnt very long at all. Plus you dont even notice the wait due to the wide glass window showcasing the chefs stretch and cook the roti, which is quite fascinating, not to mention mesmerising. Before that night i never realised how much i loved Malaysian cuisine and in particular, Roti.

So when i let her know we'd be in the city she made sure to come for some Roti Kaya($7.50, roti filled with pandan and coconut), our favourite! Its flaky, buttery roti filled with the most delicious sweet filing and i could easily eat a whole one to myself!

This time we also tried the Cendol $6, pandan noodles in coconut milk, shaved ice and syrup; which was so interesting and different texturally to any other dessert i have ever eaten.

Mamak
15 Goulburn Street, Haymarket. Phone: 9211 1668.

Channel 10 studios
1 Saunders Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009

Kitchen Tea Baking Time!

So my best friend got married last month and as her maid of honour i was in charge of planning her kitchen tea, meaning loads of baking :D
I decided to try out a Red Velvet Cake and also a Dulce De Leche Cheesecake - Delish!

Some of the spread!

The beautiful bride to be with the Red Velvet

Me putting the final touches on the cheesecake

Dulce De Leche Cheesecake with toffee shards!

I've been told both were very tasty and enjoyed by all!

First blog - wonka cake!

Howdy bloggers :)

This is my first ever post, i decided it was a necessity to start my own blog after becoming so addicted to food blogs recently! So to start off here's a picture of a Wonka bar cake i made last year, its a bit dodgy(im terrible with fondant icing!) but it was my first attempt so i hope you like!