Caprese Salad my way…

 Let’s get something straight, salad is for girls. What I mean to say is ordinarily salad isn’t something I would get exited enough to write about (the  word salad conjures up dodgy visuals of pale shredded iceberg lettuce served in a chilled bowl with a little fork) but this one is different. I prefer to think of Caprese salad as a celebration of good produce rather than a salad. It is simple, flavorful healthy & above all else, exiting! I made mine big enough to feed 3 & then consumed it all on my lonesome without any guilt whatsoever.

Use the best quality ingredients you can find & afford, your mouth will thank you.

 Caprese Salad

• 3 Large sweet smelling tomatoes (use whatever variety you prefer)
• 3 Bocconcini (or any mozzarella, I am curious to try a smoked variety with this soon)
• 1 bunch of basil
• Extra virgin olive oil
•  Vinna cotto (you could also use a balsamic vinegar but I prefer the sweetness of vinna cotto)
• Flaked sea salt
• Black pepper
• Ciabatta (as much as you like, I obtained an individual Ciabatta from the markets that morning)
• I Clove of garlic
• 1 Tablespoon of melted butter
• Micro Herbs to garnish (optional)

Slice the tomatoes & bocconcini, you want the bocconcini as thin as you can get it. Arrange alternating layers of Tomato, basil leaves & bocconcini on a serving plate. Generously sprinkle the salad with olive oil, vinna cotto, salt flakes & cracked black pepper. Set aside to let the flavours mingle. Melt your butter in the microwave for about 15 seconds & add a splash of olive oil. Heat a griddle pan over high heat, cut your Ciabatta in half or slices & brush generously with butter/oil mixture. Grill the bread cut side down, once bread is nicely toasted cut the garlic clove in half & rub across the hot bread. Garnish with micro herbs & serve your salad with bread  & a big smile.

Whoops! You can see my shadow!

Look at all that yummy freshness mingling

Chocolate mud cupcakes

As far as baking bloggers go I am something of a freak & a weirdo. It’s to do with chocolate, I think it’s a bit overrated as a flavor. It’s not that I don’t enjoy it, I do so frequently & passionately…I just don’t believe it to be the grand-daddy of all flavorings. Personally I am deeply & forever enamoured with vanilla. Mr Bake & Bloom however is a bonafide chocoholic. He sincerely believes that vanilla is not an actual flavour & is merely the absence of chocolate!

One thing I can agree on though is mud cake, with the addition of coffee & a little help from my friend vanilla. I struggled for ages with mud cake recipes but I think this is a goodie & surprisingly simple to make.  I really suggest you invest in a mixing bowl with a pouring lip to make this one, as the batter is really runny & goes everywhere if you try to portion it out using a spoon.

Chocolate mud cupcakes

• 200g good quality butter
• 250g good quality dark chocolate
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 tsp instant coffee
• 1/4 cup raw cocoa powder
• Seeds of half a vanilla pod scraped out with a spoon
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 3 free range eggs
• 3/4 self raising flour
• Chocolate coated coffee beans to decorate if desired

 Preheat oven to 160c & place cupcake liners in tray. Place chopped butter, chocolate, water & coffee in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave uncovered on high for 2 minutes & stir until smooth. Add sifted cocoa & flour to warm chocolate mixture & stir until combined, stir in vanilla, sugar & lightly beaten eggs. Pour cupcake batter into liners & bake for approx 20 minutes or until wet crumbs cling to a bamboo skewer inserted into the middle.  Allow to cool & top with chocolate ganache & a single chocolate coated coffee bean.

Chocolate ganache

• 250g dark cooking chocolate, chopped
• 1/3 cup cream

Combine chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir with a wooden spoon until smooth. (Make sure none of the steam ends up in the chocolate or the ganache will curdle)  Remove bowl from heat. Set aside at room temperature to cool, stirring occasionally, until ganache is thick and spreadable. **tip, if like me you’re pathetically hopeless at making ganache & it does curdle. DON’T CHUCK IT AWAY! You can save it! I add about 1-2 cups of icing sugar & stir until smooth. You now have a beautiful chocolate icing instead.

Makes approx 12 regular cupcakes.

Pear, maple & pecan cupcakes

End of a season & the beginning of a new chapter…

There was a time when I didn’t think much of babies or of children in general. As my younger sister puts it, they’re sticky & smell of sickly citrus. They leave greasy little fingerprints all over the place & they’re honest when any decent person ought not be. As you grow older these annoyances somehow become the most enticing thing about beginning a family. Nowadays, while I’m not quite ready to make a few little bakers of my own, the idea seems a lot more romantic than it once did. 

One of my co workers gave birth to her second child this weekend. It is in the spirit of new life I decided to create some cakes this weekend, cupcakes to be precise. I had a bunch of beurre bosc pears left, they’re approaching the end of their season, words cannot express how much I love these solemn looking fruits. I often say compared to their bright green cousins that they look quite grown up. 

I adapted this recipe slightly to suit my own taste with the addition of organic coconut palm sugar which has a deep caramel flavour & is a great substitute for brown sugar as it has a much lower GI, I love the stuff! This recipe would work equally as well with apples. This recipe is deceptively simple, particularly the cake batter which has a texture not unlike a muffin but looks like a posh little tea cake. 

Pear & pecan cupcakes

(adapted from Woman’s Weekly: Cupcakes, Cheesecakes & Cookies)

 Pear & maple buttercake:

• 230g of grated pear, I used Beurre Bosc
• 60g of good quality butter softened
• 35g self raising flour
• 110g plain flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 a cup organic coconut palm sugar (brown sugar will also do)
• 1/4 cup organic maple syrup
• 2 eggs at room temp
• 1/3 cup roughly chopped pecans
• 1/3 cup roughly chopped pear or…apple

 Pear butterflies:

• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 medium Beurre Bosc pear shaved thinly

 Fondant icing:

• 1 500g packet of fondant chopped coarsely
• 1 egg white
• food colouring

Pear Butterflies: Preheat the oven to 120c. Finely slice your pear using a mandolin if you have one or a very sharp kitchen knife. Prepare a sugar syrup by combining the sugar & water in a small saucepan over medium heat & stirring until sugar is dissolved.Brush the pears on both sides with the sugar syrup & place on a baking tray & dry in the oven for about 40 minutes. To be honest I got a bit impatient with this step & turned up the heat to do it a little faster. My pears were a bit chewy, which might have been a result of my tampering. Finally take the pears out of the oven & pinch down the middle to create the little butterfly shape. I left them to cool hanging on a wire rack. work quickly as they become quite stiff.

 Pecan Maple Cupcakes:Preheat the oven to 170c & line a 12 hole cupcake pan with white paper cases. Drain the fresh pear & remove as much liquid as possible. Beat the butter, sifted flour, cinnamon, sugar, maple syrup and eggs in a large bowl with an electric hand mixer on low until all ingredients are combined & mixture becomes pale. Stir in fresh pear nuts & dried pear. Divide mixture among paper cases keeping in mind you do not want the top to protrude over the top of the case. In fact I only half filled them & I still think that was a little too much. Bake for around 30 minutes & turn onto a wire rack to cool.

 Fondant Icing: Place the fondant in a microwave safe bowl & microwave for around 30-40 seconds until soft & smooth (the original recipe called for faffing about with a double boiler for what seemed the best part of my youth before I gave up & stuck the bowl in the microwave which worked much better) Using a fork quickly stir in the egg white & 1-2 drops of your desired colour, I chose blue for the new baby boy. Smooth over the top of the cupcakes with a hot spatula or butter knife to a nice smooth finish & top each with a pear butterfly.

 Enjoy with friends, family or new mothers…