Sunday 9 April 2017

Apparently the best carrot cake recipe ever....

At this time in the world when all there seems to be is grimness, 2 weeks ago our family / group of friends received some absolutely sensational news......

Kevin and Elea are getting married. Kevin proposed and of course Elea said yes.

Everyone loves a wedding and especially when the bride and groom totally and utterly belong together and just sprout happiness and its just fabulous to have some goodness for all.

Along with all the chaos and mayhem of a wedding, of course the priorty is for the bride and groom to say I do .... however its also a chance for friends and family from all over the globe to come together and just have a bloody good time.

And when Sareybear and the family walk through the gates at Sydney Airport in November its going to be like a scene out of Love Actually .... I can safely say there will not be a dry eye in the terminal.

I digress. For Els and Kevin’s engagement party, they have requested a carrot cake … so a carrot cake it will be …. But one like no other!!!

Hence today, on a beautiful Sydney autumn arvo I have been practicing a carrot cake recipe that I have dug deep to find that has come from someones Uncle Maurice's cousins neighbour who had a grandmother that made this carrot cake for all family occasions.

I have been making carrot cakes for yonks and always try a different recipe …however this one tasks for pineapples ….pineapples????

Pineapple on its own - good.
Ice cream – good.
Pizza – no no.
Hamburgers – absolute no no... you should be banned from eating hamburgers. Totally disrespectful.

Also as I was ticking of the ingredients… there is a glaze to make… Glaze??? On a carrot cake? I have only ever made a lemon cream cheese icing… oh well, lets give it a whirl as I listen to the best of the 90's on one of the foxtel music channels .... great songs!!! Good times. 

First lot of ingredients to be mixed in together.... Notice the whipped up pecans too... not walnuts. Great addition.

All mixed up and ready to go in. 
First up was the muffins... and please take note of the cake tester. When life sometimes gets all a bit overwhelming just be grateful that someone invented something so simple and even had to write what is on it to remind us all.
Next up were the icing ingredients ... I grew the lemon too just quietly. And that gorgeous looking knife??? That belongs in a set of 5 which was a xmas present from David which has changed the way I look at knives forever. I have never owned proper knives before .... they are superb. Sharp and superb. 
Lemon cream cheese frosting all good go to. 
Here is the glaze making its celebrity appearance ... Still wasn't convinced at this stage.
Glaze poured all over the cake and ready to be turned around 3 x times and put back in the oven ... one of my little superstitions... 
Note to self and all. Do not touch the glaze when it comes straight out of the oven. Its really hot.
Let the cake tester do its job.
Here is the carrot cake shared with fabulous dear friends upside down ... sorry I can't work out how to turn it around ... 
Cam's going in ... would love to say that little Sammy and Gus loved the cake, however they were more interested in the chocolate and lollies that I bought over for them ... oh well ... Cam, Jo and Gerbs made up for it. And I wish we had daylight in the background ... behind us is the most spectacular view of Curl Curl. Just bliss. 


Sunday 26 February 2017

Because its a Monday ... I thought I would try making a pinata cake.....

Its been a while since I have written my blog and I have missed it, but its been busy 12 months, however you need to make time for what you love to do ... so thought as its a Monday and I had some time, I would attempt (attempt should be written in CAPITALS) a piƱata cake ... also known as a smash cake as you literally smash into the chocolate to get to the lollies ...

The pics for this blog literally tells the story ... what the pictures do not show is the moment the balloon which had just been dunked in chocolate - popped. Big time popped ..... and the chocolate you can imagine has gone everywhere .... I even just looked up to the ceiling to take a moment and sure enough there is sprinkle polka dots of chocolate splattered on the roof too .... Whoopsies ...

So here we go ....

In theory, and all the youtube clips I have watched, they said to melt chocolate in a bowl and then dip the balloon in the bowl, let it set, then pop the balloon and whammo ... you are meant to have a chocolate dome ... YEAH BLOODY RIGHT!!!! They neglect mention how many attempts it took them!!! 

Glass bowl ... check. Specialist Helicopter balloon (we have them readily on supply if anyone needs any balloons just quietly) ... check. Big big saucepan check.




Chocolate buttons melting away ...



You never actually get tired of the melted chocolate smell ... or stirring it it around the bowl.



Look out ... here we go ... 1 x balloon going into the chocolate to make my dome .... 



Here is me giving gravity a bit of helping hand .... and stand by for the explosion of chocolate. EVERYWHERE I TELL YOU!!!



Never fear ... I don't give up and love a challenge ... out comes the cake tin.



Ohhh look at me with my ideas ...



Very therapeutic. Straight to the new fridge freezer which is just the highlight of our lives at the moment for David and I. It even crunches ice. 



Makes up for my disaster before .... lovely and smooth.



Time to prep the lollies ....



And this is the end result ... lovely and colourful and how I going to withhold myself by not smashing into it as there are lollies are the dome too .... time will tell.