Tag: Cupcakes

September 2003 – Birthday Party, Cheesecake, Jelly Bean, Boom!

“That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane”…so begins the fabulous REM song, “It’s The End of The World As We Know It”.  And for me, this year actually began with a 7.6 magnitude earthquake when we were holidaying in Darwin.  Last month we celebrated my birthday in absolute chaos (more on that later) whilst on holiday in Port Douglas. And when I say chaos, I mean a total f*cking nightmare.  So when the random number generator chose “Birthday Party, Cheesecake, Jelly Bean, Boom!  I thought it might be a good chance to reset and have a little party to make up for the day that was ruined!  The vehicle of choice for this month is Super Food Ideas, from September 2003 and I went in search of party food.  

Butterfly Cakes

But first, let’s take a little wander down the memory lane to the heady days of September 2003.  R Kelly’s Ignition (Remix) was #1.  Less said about that the better I think.  Finding Nemo was top of the box office and The Da Vinci Code was still the most popular book!  

The Menu – September 2003

Birthday Party Menu

Margarita

Now, I can’t think of a much better way to kick of any birthday celebration than with a classic Margarita!  And this one was perfection!!!!!  I 

Margarita

 

The cocktail napkin you see in the above photo was one of a set of napkins I bought in Port Douglas.  They are all super cute and also an inspiration to make the rest of the cocktails featured on them! 

And as with the margarita, the first four days of our holiday were wonderful.  Port Douglas is such an amazing place.  Rainforest, reef and beach – great restaurants, perfect weather….the only downside is the crocodiles…and the murder birds!  

Margarita Recipe

Margarita recipe

Seafood Pizza

As you may have noticed, I love my seafood!  This nicely leads me to where our holiday turned paradise into a nightmare.  Day 5 of our holiday, which was my actual birthday we had planned to move from our PD central apartment to a house around 10km out of Port Douglas.  It was also the night of The Matildas v England final of the Women’s World Cup.  We had been out for a lovely dinner the night before so the plan for my birthday was to grab a seafood platter from Port Douglas when we left and then enjoy the evening in our house.  Dip in our private pool, , bit of football on the telly, champagne on ice, and our gourmet seafood platter…could life get any better?

Seafood Pizza 1

Better?  No.  What we hadn’t figured was that it was about to get a whole lot worse!  

We turned up at the house, for which we had a confirmed booking from one of the largest, if not the largest booking agencies in the world.  The Fussiest Eater sends a text to the owner asking for the keypad number as the gate is locked. We are there for about 5 minutes when a woman comes out of the house.  “Can I help you?” she asks.  “Oh, yes, you probably just got our text.  We’re here for our holiday”  

Apparently we weren’t. 

In the time that we had made our booking and our actual holiday, the house had been sold.  It was no longer holiday accommodation.  

It was now 3:00pm on a Saturday, we had no place to stay for the next four nights and we had a rapidly warming seafood platter on the back seat of the hire car. 

Seafood Pizza Recipe

Seafood Pizza

Party Pies

Party Pie1

You know this is an Aussie Meat Pie because the secret ingredient is a spoonful of Vegemite!  I made mini versions of this pie – in Australian we call these Party Pies so they were perfect for my Birthday Party Menu!

Now back to Port Douglas.  The Fussiest Eater began calling the owner of the house. He confirmed that he had sold the house and had told the booking agency to cancel all future bookings.  I started trying to find us accommodation.  The first place I found wanted $15,000 for the four nights.  The second $6000.  Finally, we were able to find a studio room back in Port Douglas for the four nights for a price that we could actually afford.  And that had a fridge in which we could put the seafood platter!  From there we called the booking agency who offered to not only refund the cost of the house but also to pay for the emergency accommodation.  

The following day we were also able to move into a one-bedroom apartment in the same complex which was a lot better than the studio but still how we had wanted to spend the last few days of our holiday. 

As of today though, the booking company have yet to refund us the money for the second Port Douglas Apartment.  We are idiots who did not get their OG offer in writing and they are now saying that as the second apartment was cheaper than the house technically we are not out of pocket.

Technically they ruined my birthday and did not deliver on the holiday we paid for and expected. 

Technically I could have chosen the house that cost $15000 instead of that studio apartment as our alternative accommodation and technically they would have had to refund us the difference. 

I didn’t want to be an arsehole. 

I’ll leave that up to them.  

Meat Pie Recipe

Aussie Meat Pie

 

Chewy Almond Crescents

We now turn to the sweet part of our birthday party menu.  These were great!  Really tasty and not overly sweet.  You couldn’t really taste the apricot jam which was a shame.  When I make these again, I will maybe add some chopped-up dried apricots into the mix.  Or maybe add a glaze with the jam.  They were delicious regardless.  These would be great with a cup of tea or coffee or equally with a little glass of Baileys! This was probably my favourite thing on the menu.  I also loved the butterfly cakes but they were similar to cakes I had made before.  These were all new and I was so happy to discover them!

Chewy Almond Crescents

Accomodation saga continued….As of today though, the booking company have yet to refund us the money for the second Port Douglas Apartment.  We are idiots who did not get their OG offer in writing and they are now saying that as the second apartment was cheaper than the house technically we are not out of pocket.

Technically they ruined my birthday and did not deliver on the holiday we paid for and expected. 

Technically I could have chosen the house that cost $15000 instead of that studio apartment as our alternative accommodation and technically they would have had to refund us the difference. 

I didn’t want to be an arsehole. 

I’ll leave that up to them.  

Chewy Almond Crescents Recipe

Chewy Almond Crescents2

Lemon Curd Butterfly Cakes

These were so pretty and also delish.  I loved the tanginess of the lemon curd with the sweetness of the cupcake!

Lemon Curd Butterfly Cakes

The one-bedroom apartment was great.  However, on the first night, I was woken at around 2 a.m. by the sound of what sounded like a woman screaming. Channelling my inner Nancy Drew,  I got out of bed and looked out the window but the side street the room looked out on was deserted.  I was just getting back into bed when I heard it again.  This time I went to the main room to look out of the front windows but the main street which we overlooked was also quiet.  I went back to bed.  I heard the same noise once again at around 5 a.m. This time I wondered if maybe someone in the neighbouring rooms was having an argument as again there was no movement on either street.  

There was no mention of any attack on the news the following day so I went about my business.  As we were walking back to the apartment from dinner I heard the same noise.  This time though I was able to see that it was coming from a bird that we had just walked past.  A quick Google Search identified these murder birds as Bush Stone Curlews.  Thankfully no Nancy Drewing needed for me on the second night.  Or thereafter.  

Lemon Curd Butterfly Cakes Recipe

Lemon Curd Butterfly Cakes

 

My Nigella Moment  – Passionfruit Glazed Shortbread

For first-time readers, this refers to the moment at the end of Nigella Lawson’s cooking shows when she sneaks back to the fridge to have another bite of something delicious.  In the context of these Twenty Years Ago posts, it is something contained in the magazine that does not fit with the overall menu theme but I’m sneaking it in either because I made it and it was really good, or I just didn’t have time to make it but it was one of the most appetising things in the mag!

I love shortbread and passionfruit so these were high on my list of things to make.  They would have also fit in nicely with my birthday party theme but I ran out of time and had to choose between the Almond Crescents and these.  In the end, I have eaten Passionfruit Shortbreads before whilst the Almond Crescents were something new to me so I chose them.  These though?  High on my list of things to make!  And believe me, when I do…I will definitely be popping back to the biscuit tin, Nigella Style, for just one more!

Passionfruit Glazed Shortbread Recipe 4 (1)

 

Super Food Ideas really came through for my birthday-themed menu!  As did Port Douglas for my birthday holiday.  Despite the…ahem…hiccup with the accomodation, PD remains one of my favourite holiday destinations!!!! 

 

 

Orange and Poppyseed Cupcakes – November 2002

Hello Friends!!!  For today’s twenty years ago post, I am cooking from the November 2002 issue  of Super Food Ideas. Let’s see if the mag lives up to it’s name! Today’s theme is picnic food.  These orange and poppyseed cupcakes would be perfect for a spring picnic and were delicious to boot!  Sadly our weather has not been kind.   It has been very cold and rainy so my picnic ended being on my dining room table!

Orange and Poppyseed Cupcakes

My Picnic Menu

Picnic Menu

 

Chicken Club Sandwich

I love a club sandwich but for some reason, I only ever eat them when ordering  from a hotel room service menu.  This one was ok.  No bacon which was disappointing but the addition of avocado was nice.  There was a weird instruction to add tomato sauce (ketchup) into the avocado mix.  I ignored it. because….ewww.  You can do beter November 2002!

Chicken Club Sandwich

Here’s the recipe.

Chicken Club Sandwich recipe 3

 

I am not going to talk about the Mac and Cheese  bites here because, I ended up changing the recipe so much that I am going to do them as a separate post! But we came here for Orange and Poppyseed Cupcakes so here they are!

Orange and Poppyseed Cupcakes2jpg

I don’t think I have tasted orange and poppyseed anything before.  There was a time when I was absolutely addicted to the lemon and poppyseed muffins at Muffin Break.   It got so all the people I worked with  knew how much I loved them so even if I had not gone past the Muffin Break that morning, my colleagues would let me know if the lemon and poppysed muffins were on the menu.  These cupcakes were very reminiscent of those muffins.   In fact though, I did not have enough orange zest  to top all the cupcakes (possibly because I spilt so much of it all over the recipe) so there is a mix of lemon and orange zest on all of them making them even more nostalgic for me.

Orange and Poppyseed Cupcakes3jpg

Orange and Poppyseed Cupcakes – The Recipe

The original recipe was for one large cake.  For  cupcakes, just drop the cooking time,  Mine were ready in 25 minutes.

 

Orange and Poppyseed Cupcakes Recipe2jpg

 

My Nigella Moment

What is a Nigella moment?  You know how at the end of each episode of a Nigella tv show, you see her popping back to the fridge for just one more bite of something?  My Nigella moment this month is a recipe I cooked from the mag that did not fit with the picnic theme.  It was a salmon fillet with wasabi mayo.  I served mine with some edamame sprinkled with furikake, pickled ginger and some not very Japanese but very delicious oven fries!  In the interest of brevity, I have not included the recipe but, if you like the sound of it and want to do your own trip back in time, hit me up in the comments!

Salmon with Wasabi Mayo

I hope you’ve enjoyed time travelling back to November 2002 with me.

Have a great week!

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REPOST – Devil’s Food Cupcakes

What better way to end my devil themed blogiversary party than with some Devil’s Food  from the Domestic Goddess?

I adapted Nigella’s recipe into cupcakes and much deliciousness ensued!

Devil's Food Cupcake1

These were easy to make, and tasted amazing!  A deep chocolate flavour and they were (apologies in advance) super moist.  They also lasted for close to a week in the fridge…we are after all only two people and the mix made 15 cupcakes.  I took half  into work to share the love but someone managed to eat all of his half by himself.  Not so fussy after all it appears!

Devil's Food Cupcake2jpg

If you head over to You tube you can see Nigella make this cake herself and hear her utter my favourite phrase of the clip when she speaks about mixing the cocoa, muscovado sugar and hot water into  a “malevolently dark syrup”.  It is Devil’s Food Cake after all!

Devil's Food Cupcake3I pretty much followed Nigella’s recipe except that I added a tablespoon of coffee granules into that same “malevolently dark syrup” because it wasn’t already rich and dark enough!  Also because I made cupcakes, I adjusted the cooking time.  Mine were in the oven for 18 minutes.

Devil's Food Cupcake4Can I just say….that frosting!!!!!  OMG.   I ate so much of it I felt sick.  Then I ate some more because it was so good!

 

Print

Devil’s Food Cupcakes

A luscious chocolate cake with a rich chocolate frosting. Sinfully Good!

Ingredients

Scale

For the Cake

  • 50 grams best-quality cocoa powder (sifted)
  • 100 grams dark brown muscovado sugar
  • 250 millilitres boiling water
  • 1 tbsp coffee granules (optional)
  • 125 grams soft unsalted butter (plus some for greasing)
  • 150 grams caster sugar
  • 225 grams plain flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs

For the Frosting

  • 125 millilitres water
  • 30 grams dark brown muscovado sugar
  • 175 grams unsalted butter (cubed)
  • 300 grams best-quality dark chocolate (finely chopped)
  • Sprinkles to decorate

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4/350°F.
  2. Line muffin pans with cupcake liners. I made 15 cupcakes from this mixture but the number of cupcakes will depend on the size of your containers.
  3. Put the cocoa, the coffee, if using, and 100g / half cup dark muscovado sugar into a bowl with a bit of space to spare, and pour in the boiling water.
  4. Whisk to mix, then set aside.
  5. Cream the butter and caster sugar together, beating well until pale and fluffy.
  6. While this is going on, stir the flour, baking powder and bicarb together in another bowl, and set aside for a moment.
  7. Still mixing, add the vanilla extract into the creamed butter and sugar . Then drop in 1 egg, quickly followed by a scoopful of flour mixture, then the second egg.
  8. Keep mixing and incorporate the last of the flour. Then fold in the cocoa mixture, scraping the mixing bowl well with a spatula.
  9. Divide this batter into the cupcake liners, filling to just over halfway.
  10. Place in the oven and cook until a skewer comes out clean – it was around 18 minutes for me but will depend on the size of your cupcakes.
  11. Remove from the tins and cool on a wire rack.

For The Frosting

  1. Put the water, 30g / 2 tablespoons muscovado sugar and 175g butter in a pan over a low heat to melt.
  2. When this mixture begins to bubble, take the pan off the heat and add the chopped chocolate, swirling the pan so that all the chocolate is hit with heat, then leave for a minute to melt before whisking till smooth and glossy.
  3. Leave for about 1 hour, whisking now and again.
  4. Spread or pipe the frosting over the cupcakes.
  5. Decorate with sprinkles or your decoration of choice.

Notes

If you want to make this as a large cake, watch Nigella’s You Tube clip or you can find the recipe here

If you’re serving these to guests or even if there is just two of you, make sure you spirit one of these away in case you have the need for a Nigella inspired midnight feast!

Devil's Food Cupcake5

Have a great week!

The Devil Cocktail

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