Chocolate cupcakes with toasted marshmallow frosting

I was closing the many tabs I had open on my tablet and saw that I had searched for a chocolate cupcake and toasted marshmallow frosting recipe. It must have been after I watched an episode of nerdy nummies or came across it on Pinterest. Whatever it was it had me thinking of cupcakes and that marshmallow frosting for two days!

I wasn't too keen on the recipe for the cupcakes so I only used the frosting part of the recipe and adapted a mississippi mudcake recipe I had from the hummingbird bakery book.

We reduced a few things and changed the quantities a little. They still came out very rich so if you're after a lighter chocolate cupcake this is not the recipe. I might try a lighter one next but I do love me some mudcake =).

This recipe makes about 24 large cupcakes or 50 mini cupcakes. If you make a smaller batch remember to reduce the frosting quantities too.

Chocolate cupcakes

165g unsalted butter
400g Caster sugar
2 eggs
300g plain flour
95g coco powder
1.5tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
250ml of buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
250ml of boiling water

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C
2. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each egg.
3. In another bowl, sift the flour, coco powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt together. Mix buttermilk and vanilla in a jug. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar in three additions, alternating wit the buttermilk mixture. Mix well on medium speed. Slowly add the boiling water, mixing until combined.
4. Line a cupcake tin (or mini cupcake tin) and fill each one to the top or about a mm below. They rise a bit and the mini cupcakes don't sink very much so I like to fill them up and get a nice round top.
5. Bake for about 15 mins or until a skewer comes out clean.
6. Leave to cool before frosting.

Marshmallow frosting

4 large egg whites at room temperature
1 cups granulated sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Pinch of fine salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Prepare a bain marie.
2. Whisk together egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt. Heat mixture on the bain marie until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Take off the heat and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Then whisk on high until stiff peaks form.
4. Whisk in vanilla extract.
5. Transfer to a piping bag with a star tip and pipe generously onto each cupcake.
6. Using a blowtorch toast the marshmallow frosting, being careful not to burn them.

Serve immediately or store in an airtight container for 3 hrs .

Edit: We had left overs that we kept out at room temperature for a few days and still tasted great! Make sure you pipe the frosting on all the cupcakes and toast them before putting them away or you'll need to rewhip the frosting.

Enjoy

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Bridge St Garage

We heard about this place from a friend of ours. She's American and is always on the lookout for great American style restaurants.
The place was packed out on a Friday night. The front of the restaurant was deck out with high tables and tall bar stools giving it more of a bar feeling and closer to the back of the restaurant were booths and normal height tables.

Entrees! A must try with American style places is buffalo wings! These are spicy chicken wings with a sticky coating of BBQ sauce served with a blue cheese sauce. These were pretty mild in comparison to some other places I didn't need the cheese sauce as much to bring down the spiciness.

Garage Buffalo Wings ($15)

There were about 6 wings, the boys were too hungry I didn't get my camera out fast enough :).
We also also ordered the guacamole with corn chips ($13.50) and the lamb lollipops ($22). The guacamole was nice but nothing really special. The lamb lollipops were really nice, cooked just right, it was succulent and went really well with the chimichurri sauce. Not sure if it really worth the $22 but worth a try if you really love lamb.

Sticky pork ribs ($36)

Next up our mains! K ordered the sticky probably ribs, his endless quest for the best ribs. They were nice, pretty tasty and the salad was nice too. It was the best ribs we've had and the portion could have been a little bigger.

Gaucho Burger ($19.50)

The burgers come with some incredible wedges/ hand-cut potato, they're crunchy on the inside and soft on the inside. The Gaucho burger was tasty with a nice juicy patty and I love their tasty chimichurri sauce.

New York cut steak ($32)

New York cut steak, it looked good and my friend said they cooked it really well. He finished it.pretty.quickly and.as you can see he was pretty much about to start as I was snapping a photo.

Sweet potato chips ($9)

Onion rings ($8)

We ordered 2 sides. They were both covered in the most delicious beer batter.

Deep-fried southern crispy chicken ($22)

Now my dish, Deep-fried southern crispy chicken, ohh so good but so bad. I could not get enough of this batter it was delicious and it wasn't overly oily. It came with 4 pieces of deep fried chickeny goodness. The coleslaw side was great for breaking it up as it was getting to be a bit much after two pieces. As much as I wanted to, I could not finish all the chicken. I was getting pretty full and we still had dessert coming.

Trio of ice cream ($9)

There were 4 dessert items on the menu and they all sounded great so we got one of each and shared.
The trio of ice cream flavours were vanilla strawberry and mango. That mango ice cream was the best! It tasted like a weiss bar.

New York cheesecake ($12)

The cheesecake was nice. I would've like it to be a little bit more moist but it was fine.

American apple pie ($12)

Apple pie is a little hit and miss with me I generally like sweeter apples so this one was a little bit too tart for me. The raspberry sauce didn't help with that. So of you don't like things too sour either I'd have it without the berries.

Garage brownie ($10)

And the best for last the garage brownie. This was my favourite dessert. The brownie was warm and chocolatey with just the right amount of nuts. The rhubarb ice cream was really light and complimented the chocolate really well.

I'd like to try a few other things on the menu, like the pulled pork and fish tacos, so we'll definitely be paying this place another visit.

I love all the art on the walls and the little details like servicing our bill in a piston and the exposed copper piping in the bathroom.

And it wouldn't be a garage without cars.

Check out the bridge st garage menu on their website.
Bridge St Garage
17-19 Bridge st, Sydney
(02) 9251 9392
Visited May 2014

Simple Macaroons

As part of our sweets making day I put up a picture of the fantastic macaroons my friend taught me to make. We made purple/ lilac colored ones half choc peppermint and half choc passionfruit flavoured.

A mini one just for fun

For the shells we need:

140g egg whites (room temperature

180g caster sugar (split into 2 seperate bowls)

160g icing sugar

160g almond meal

Food coloring

Essence (Optional)

• First we sift almond meal and icing sugar into a bowl and set aside
• Mix egg whites in a bowl on low speed with an electric mixer until there is no more liquid.
• Then add in one of the bowls of caster sugar. Gradually increase speed and beat until the mixture forms stiff peaks.
• Add the second bowl of caster sugar, mix until the sugar has dissolve and the meringue forms stiff peaks.
• Add coloring to the mixture of dry ingredients, essence can also be added at this stage if you wanted the flavoring in the shells rather then the filling. Lightly mix color through.
• Tip into the meringue mixture. Starting slowly stir mixture together making sure all ingredients are combined. Then start scratching the surface while accelerating as you stir. You can be a bit rough at this point because you want to knock out some of the air.
• The mixture will become more liquid and it is ready when it falls off the spatula easily and takes about 20 seconds to ooze back. If the fallen part just sits on top then keep mixing.

• On a lined baking tray pipe out the shells trying to keep consistent sizes. After piping is finished take both sides of the tray and bang it a couple of times on a hard surface. This is to get rid of some air and to settle the imperfections from piping.

• Preheat oven to 150 degrees and leave the macaroons to sit in room temperature until they form a skin. Bake in the oven for approximately 12 minutes or until they are solid when touched.

• Leave them to cool before piping in the filling.

Ganache:

100g Dark Chocolate

90g of thicken cream

20g of Butter

1/3 can of passion fruit pulp or

1 tsp of peppermint essence

1. Melt chocolate in the microwave and mix in the butter and thichken cream.
2. Split into two portions. In one portion add in a few drops of peppermint essence and mix.In the other portion sieve in the passionfruit pulp and mix.
3. Put mixtures into the fridge until ready to use or is set. Should be less liquidy.

To assemble:

• Match up the shells together
• You can either use a piping bag or we just used a spoon. Place a bit in the center of one side and place the other half on top and give it a little squeeze. The filling should come just out to the edges.

We got the recipe off YouTube but used a slightly different ganache recipe. It's a French chef making the macaroons and a domestic kitchen. Enjoy!

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Cocoa Chiffon cake

For over a week I'd been craving pandan cake but when I went to the Asian supermarkets in Auburn, none of them had pandan leaves or essence. Not wanting to drive to cabramatta we decided to at least have chiffon cake.

I found this recipe from the group recipes website but we just made the cake and not the icing. We also adjusted some of the amounts, 7/8 cups is a bit fiddly to measure out. The link to the original recipe is below if you want to checkout the original.

Also we accidentally added bicarbonate soda instead of baking powder, so the cake turned out a little more dense then what's expected of chiffon cake. It was still tasty even if it didn't turn out exactly how we wanted.

Cocoa Chiffon cake
Serves 8

Ingredients
100mls of boiling water
1/4 cup of cocoa
1 cup of sifted "soft as silk" flour ( we used gluten free wheat flour)
1 cup of sugar
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 cup of salad oil
4 unbeaten egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp of cream of tartar

Method:

• Mix cocoa and boiling water and stir until smooth.
• In a mixing bowl sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
• Make a well and add in order; salad oil, unbeaten egg yolks, the cooled cocoa mixture and 1/2 a tsp of vanilla. Beat with a spoon until smooth.
• In a large mixing bowl, whip eggs hits lightly. Add the cream of tartar and whip until it forms stiff peaks.

• Pour cocoa and egg yolk mixture gradually over the whipped egg whites, gently fold together with a rubber spatula until just blended. DO NOT STIR.

• Pour into an ungreased pan at once. Bake at 160 C/325 F degrees for 50-55 minutes.

• The cake is ready when a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool for a bit and over turn onto a plate.

Yum yum.

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Pork Rolls - Meadowbank

A little gem we found a few years ago in meadowbank. The little bread shop underneath the apartments serves the best pork rolls you can get. Even compared to the pork rolls you can get in cabramatta I'd save myself the trip and go to to this place.

The pork rolls are $4 each, it's packed full of three kinds of pork, pickled carrot, cucumber, lettuce, fried onion and soy sauce. The rolls a so huge by the time the ladies are finished making them that they wrap the ends up in cling wrap before serving it in the bag.

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Takoyaki!! Yum

After watching a cute anime episode where two kitty cats fought and chased after a takoyaki, I definitely had a huge craving for one :p.

We prepared all the ingredients for the filling and prepared the batter. If you aren't a fan of octopus you can make vegetarian ones or use different types of meat. We used some cabanossi, zucchini, sweet corn! And one of my favorites is using the laughing cow cheese, either on it's own or with sweet corn.

We used a mistral brand dutch pancake maker, it's a good one to get because there is an electric bottom so you can make it at the table or you can take the iron pan off and use it on the stove. It also has a picture of an octopus on it haha so maybe they should just name it takoyaki maker.

 

So when all the ingredients are ready spray the moulds with oil. Half fill each mould with batter and put in your filling, then fill with more batter til the mould is full. Wait for the batter to crisp up a bit, this next part gets a bit messy. Pour more batter onto the pan so it overflows and start turning and tucking in the overflowed batter into the takoyaki with skewers. Repeat that until they form into nice crispy balls.

They can be served immediately but the filling is super hot. Pour mayonnaise or bulldog sauce on top and Bonita flakes before serving. Enjoy!

All this talk of takoyaki I think we should make it again :)

Takoyaki batter Recipe

2 eggs
200g wheat flour
680ml icy water
1 tsp granulated dashi
2 tsp soya sauce
Pinch of salt

1. Crack eggs into bowl and whisk.
2. Add icy water, dashi, soya sauce, salt and whisk together
3. Add flour, sift in 1/3 at a time and mix

 

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Sweet sweet dessert day!

Yesterday a friend came over to show me how to make macaroons and in our excitement we ended up turning it into an awesome cooking day. We made macaroons, a roast pork for dinner, a snow egg and a little creme brûlée.

Here are a few peek previews and I'll link in the posts soon.

Our purple ( which turned out a lilac colour) macaroons.

My pork roast, a method I've trial over many years, its not perfect but pretty good almost every time, no major disasters.

Our snow eggs which we ended up making over three weeks. It was worth it in the end!! Extremely yummy and once we got it right it think it was as good as the one we had at quay.

And lastly our creme brûlée which we made last minute because we had a lot of egg yoke left over. It hasn't yet been eaten so I'll put up another photo of the sugary caramel top when we do.

After all that we'll definitely have to hold off on the sugar for a while :) ...... Maybe ;)

Thanks for the awesomely fun day Jancypants.

 

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Parramatta Pheonix

Phoenix in parramatta is open where the Borders used to be, level 5 towards the cinema. The place hasn't gotten much traction yet it's still quiet even at peak times. We've tried it out twice and found that it had improved the second time round.

To make sure we had a base for comparison we got our favourites ;).

What I like to call the footballs. Savory mince wrapped around a sweet mochi like skin and a crispy shell.

Glazed char siew buns, kens favourite.

Prawn in rice noodle sheets

Chicken and sticky rice, wrapped in a banana leaf.

Vege dumplings and prawn dumplings

Chicken feet

Egg tarts

Salt and paper squid

Desserts! Watermelon and jelly and silky tofu. Yum yum :)

The food isn't bad though not as good as the rhodes branch. The only thing we found a little annoying is that the cart servers were really trying to up sell their wares.

Other then that it was a pleasant experience.

 

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