Lemon Meringue Pie

After visiting Jamie Oliver's Italian restaurant, I was inspired to recreate his lemon meringue pie. The great thing is that he shared a lemon meringue pie recipe in one of his magazine issues. That's so nice of him!

 Whether it's the same recipe that we had at his restaurant, I'd have to say it's pretty close. 

I've made this recipe about two times before this, but never had the chance to take a picture before it all disappeared.

 

Thank you Jamie.

Milk Chocolate Cupcakes

I forgot to tell you that I got a new oven. Yes! A new oven!! The previous oven was almost two decades old and every time I wanted to bake something, I had to wedge the door shut with a cricket bat and a chair. It makes me so excited to see these little babies grow.

 Look how pretty their round domes are.

 In a matter of minutes, they're blooming.

 Now for some grooming with my new cupcake decorating kit.

 I promise you the love hearts have nothing to do with Valentine's Day.

 

 

Milk Chocolate Cupcakes

Makes 12 cupcakes or 24-30 mini cupcakes

 

Ingredients:

125 grams unsalted butter

125 grams caster sugar

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

125 grams self raising flour

75 grams milk chocolate chips

 

Method:

Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius and prepare 12-hole muffin tin (or mini muffin tin). In a bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the beaten eggs and then the vanilla extract and mix together well. Sift the flour into the bowl and fold it into the mixture. Stir in the milk chocolate chips. Spoon the mixture into the cases until two-thirds full. Bake for 12-20 minutes until a light golden brown. Leave to cool for a few minutes before removing from tin. Allow the cakes to cool completely before decorating. 

Oreo Cheesecake Pretzel Bites

These little gems are awesome when you've got a morning tea party to cater for. For a colleague's birthday the next day, I found an abundance of oreo cookies in the cupboard so I blitzed up four packets of oreos-that's about half a kilo of oreos in these babies!

 

Sandwiched between pretzels. Coated in white chocolate and sprinkles. They were a hit!!



Recipe can be found at Sally's.

Some Sweet Potato Pie

Last year was a humbling year; my first year working fulltime. It was a humbling experiencing seeing how working class people balance all aspects of their life when a third of their day is spent at work. Another third of my day was spent recuperating from work, while the other third is spent preparing for  work.

But I haven't stopped baking during this period, in fact I have attempted recipes that have stayed with me throughout the year because baking is my de-stresser, my pastime, and a delight. So let me share with you my first bake of the year: a sweet potato pie.

 

 

Recipe from  Joy the Baker.

Matcha Dark Chocolate Chip Chiffon Cake

The house was a mess, my room was a mess, the kitchen was a mess, and the bathroom was a mess. You ever have one of those days when you just can't stand it no more. I had to get out the mop and bucket, the scrub and detergent, and cloths and sponge. And you know what, today's experiment looked kind of like a mess too. 

I don't often make chiffon cakes, as you can see, it involves a quite a bit of technique and precision. The ratio of dry ingredients to wet ingredients can really affect the end product. The way you prepare the ingredients can affect the outcome whether the cake holds up or deflates. Hey, but have a go and you'll find chiffon cakes quite interesting to bake, and a delightful light sponge to eat.

 It involves beating egg whites until glossy and firm, and then folding two very different mixtures together.

There's no butter or oil on the sides of the tube pan because when the cake bakes, it sticks to the edges of the pan in order to support the form of the cake.

One brave step forward into exploring chiffon cakes means many more recipes to experiment with. The most important is to have fun during the day (...I even had fun cleaning).

You can find the recipe at Happy Home Baking.