Merry Christmas and Happy Macaron!

Howdy All! 

Well, Christmas is pretty much over for another year (although I do have 1 more christmas lunch this Sunday...) Got some good gifts, including my favourites - Adriano Zumbo's cookbook, a $100 gift voucher for Matchbox, and a boxful of Twilight goodies (ok, so I may have bought that last one myself...but I didn't open it till christmas!).

Zumbo and the other 3 cookbooks I got for christmas!

I can't wait to get in this weekend at make some of the Zumbarons! Although probably not some of the wilder flavours in the book like Kalamata Olive, Salt & Vinegar or Raspberry Beetroot...

Zumbarons are Macarons, just with some more bizarre flavours. Now, don't get Macarons confused with Macaroons, there's a whole 'O' of difference! Macaroons have coconut, Macarons do not, they are based on meringue.  But if you want a more technical definition, check it out below.

"A macaron is a sweet confectionery made with egg whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food coloring. The macaron is commonly filled with buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two cookies. Its name is derived from an Italian word "maccarone" or "maccherone". The cookies is meringue-based: made from a mixture of egg whites, almond flour."

- Wikipedia

 In case you haven't seen the book, the flavours in there are:

Sticky Date

Licorice

Salted Butter Popcorn

Strawberry Bubblegum

Blackened Vanilla Bean

Chocolate Mayo

Chocolate Marshmallow

Chocolate Orange

Chocolate H20

Cherry Coconut

Vegemite

Pandan Coconut

Raspberry Beetroot

Kalamata Olive

Mandarin & Tonka Bean

Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Jelly

Chocozumbo (chocolate & corn)

Salt & Vinegar

Chocolate Salt & Vinegar

Rice Pudding

Caramel au Beurre Salė (salted butter caramel)

Salted Milk Chocolate Caramel

Chocolate Banana

And don't worry, i will be taking lots of photos and let you know how they turn out. I cant wait!!!!!!

OMG, No way! Isn't That.......

I have been lucky enough over the past couple of years to see and also meet some famous celebrity chefs. One of my favourite events each year is the Perth leg of the Good Food & Wine show, held at the Perth Convention Centre. I go with my mum each year, sometimes other join us, sometimes its just her and I. Its a great day out - if you have never been before, they are held in Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Adelaide and Brisbane every year.

In 2010, I met Tobie Puttock and got him to sign his latest book, 'Italian Local'. I am a big fan of Tobie, after first seeing our Aussie lad on my all-time favourite chef Jamie Oliver's TV show many years ago (2002 to be specific!). I have hated myself ever since that day in 2010 as it was the one time I didn't take a camera with me!!! :( :( :(

 

 

In 2011, at the Next Food & Wine Festival, I got to meet Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris, of MasterChef fame. I also got them to signed their collaborative book 'Your Place or Mine?'

 

 

At the 2011 show,  I also saw Marion Grasby, from MasterChef series 2, and she was nice enough to take a photo with us.

We also watched Matt Moran who made a surprise appearance at Gary and George's Celebrity Theatre show, and Alistair Mcleod who played host.

I cant wait for 2012! It will be a while yet till the Celebrity Guests are announced, but its worth the wait.

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Its a fairly quiet day here as dad works away (gets home tomorrow). Went over to my Aunt and Uncles place for Brunch, which was nice, but now am back home so thought i would show you what i baked yesterday.

I had the urge to bake banana muffins, so searched the net looking for a recipe. Found this one for Double Choco-Banana Muffins. However,  must say, i was not all that happy with the results.  They didn't rise a lot and were rather dense and a bit tough....i wont use this recipe again - flavour was good though.

Here's me all set to start cooking! I got this apron when i bought a box set of Seasons 1 & 2 of Cake Boss

The recipe itself was pretty straightforward to make. A tip i have leant through baking is that instead of getting your sifter/sieve out for the flour (or buying one if you haven't already got one), just stick the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them together using a whisk. Less effort than a sifter and just as effective!

 

So instead of making big muffins, I made little cupcakes instead, with some pretty liners that were left over from a previous batch of cupcakes. Whacked in the oven, patiently wait for them to cook and then cool.

Now, normally i use a recipe for my frostings as well, which usually end up being either a buttercream or cream cheese frosting. This time i did one a little different. Now i recently discovered this fantastic Australian online store USA Foods, which as the name suggests, stocks USA foods (I know, shocker, right!?) So i had placed an order of various items, including Reese's Peanut Butter chips (like choc chips, only PB), some chocolate bars and Goober Chocolate. I also purchased a tub of Toasted Marshmallow Creme (AKA 'Fluff') for use in Whoopie Pies that i often make. I had some of this marshmallow goo left over, so decided to make my frosting from that, some cream and icing sugar, and it turned out good, pretty sweet and fairly sticky when trying to frost the cakes, but flavour was great!

I was going to take these over to Brunch this morning, so in the spirit of christmas, i made a tree! Tada! They went down a treat :)

Previously, on Survivor.....heyyyy who changed the channel?!?!

Okay, okay, so a bit of a weird title, but i basically just wanted to give a rundown of the sort of things i have baked before, in the medium i know best - SONG!!!!

Wait no, thats not right....I meant PHOTOGRAPHY! Check out the photos below for a taste of the things i have made...There would be more photos, but i'm sure many of you know just how reliable computers are...  :K (Yes...my lovely computer crashed a while back and naturally i hadn't back up my photos for a while...)

So okay, this technically isnt baking, but who hasn't had a go at Chocolate Crackles before??

 This cupcake of Cookie goodness was the result of watching The Cupcake Show podcast from Harwood Podcast Network

This gorgeous cake is Chocolate Guiness Cake, courtesy of a recipe from Nigella Lawson. Everyone who has ever tried it has loved it!

These gorgeous little chicks of cuteness are Cake Pops! I have only ever made them once (and i technically didn't bake) as they are soooooo fiddly! but i think the cute factor made it worth the effort

This is the awesomeness of a Giant Cupcake Mould! I have a silicon one, which isn't exactly the best, as chunks of cake get stuck to the mould. Still looks great, but if you want to buy one, i would suggest going for the metal, as others who have used those ones say they work much better.

Chocolate Tarts, both white and milk, with toffee banana on top

An experiment i did for my Twilight themed 23rd birthday party, Vampire Bite cupcakes

The Pièce de résistance, the cake I decorated, inspired by the cover of Twilight

I do believe introductions are necessary...

Hi Everyone!

My name is Louise, I am twenty-four years old and live about an hours drive south of the city of Perth, Western Australia. Blah Blah Blah...

Okay... now that the boring part is out of the way, on to the reason why we are all here. I love baking. It's something I had done for many years, starting way back when, helping mum make cakes in the kitchen.

These days, I love to cook, but in particular, baking. Cakes, pies, tarts, cookies, muffins... the list goes on. I adore relaxing on the couch on a Saturday afternoon watching various cooking shows - they have so many ideas, tips and tricks!

I decided to start this blog as way to share the things I've made (helped along by the photos I take of my scrumptious creations) and also to spread around the tips I know. So please, stay tuned!